Matching Items (5)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: adolescents
- Creators: Division of Teacher Preparation
Description
Obesity in Hispanic youth has reached alarmingly high levels, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. In Mexican American children ages 6-11 years, 41.7% are overweight and obese, 24.7% are obese and 19.6% have a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than the 97th percentile. While personal, behavioral, and environmental factors contribute to these high rates, emerging literature suggests acculturation, self-efficacy and social support are key influences. The one-group, pre- and post-test, quasi-experimental design used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) method to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the 8-week intervention. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was used to guide the design. Measurements included an analysis of recruitment, retention, participant satisfaction, observation of intervention sessions, paired t-tests, effect sizes, and bivariate correlations between study variables (acculturation, nutrition and physical activity [PA] knowledge, attitude and behaviors, perceived confidence and social support) and outcome variables (BMI z-score, waist circumference and BP percentile) Findings showed the SSLN program was feasible and acceptable. Participants (n = 16) reported that the curriculum was fun and they learned about nutrition and PA. The retention rate was 94%. The preliminary effects on adolescent nutrition and PA behaviors showed mixed results with small-to-medium effect sizes for nutrition knowledge and attitude, PA and sedentary behavior. Correlation analysis among acculturation and study variables was not significant. Positive associations were found between perceived confidence in eating and nutrition attitude (r = .61, p < .05) and nutrition behavior (r = .62, p < .05), perceived confidence in exercise and nutrition behavior (r = .66, p < .05), social support from family for exercise and PA behavior (r = .67, p < .01) and social support from friends for exercise and PA behavior (r = .56, p < .05). These findings suggest a culturally specific healthy eating and activity program for adolescents was feasible and acceptable and warrants further investigation, since it may fill a gap in existing obesity programs designed for Hispanic youth. The positive correlations suggest further testing of the theoretical model.
ContributorsStevens, Carol (Author) / Gance-Cleveland, Bonnie (Thesis advisor) / Komnenich, Pauline (Committee member) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Committee member) / Arcoleo, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In previous research, Luthar and Barkin (2012) found that across three different samples collected from three high-achieving schools, adolescents reported elevated rates of maladjustment behaviors, which include substance use, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, past research has also indicated that these maladjustment behaviors are related to parent relationships. A group of high-achieving adolescents that research has not yet focused on are those attending boarding schools, who may have higher-quality relationships with parents due to less daily strife. This study aimed to examine high-achieving adolescents across five samples from five high schools, two of which were boarding schools. This study hypothesized that the high-achieving adolescents attending both boarding schools would report lower rates of substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and lower rates of perceived parent criticism and expectations in comparison to those attending the day schools. Substance use, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and parent relationships were measured using self-report measures that were completed by students attending these schools. Results showed that both boarding schools reported elevated rates of substance use in comparison to the three day schools and these rates measured above national norms. At the same time, both boarding schools reported lower rates of internalizing and externalizing symptoms when compared to rates reported by the day school students. This study also found that there were differences among parent relationship measures, such as criticism and expectations, among all school samples. Results of this study also showed that aspects of parent relationship, such as parent knowledge, were associated with rates of substance use among all school samples. In summary, boarding school students showed elevated substance use, similar parental relationship quality, and lower mental health symptoms compared to day school students. For all students, some aspects of the parental relationship were related to levels of substance use.
ContributorsTaracena, Emily Gabriella (Author) / Luthar, Suniya (Thesis director) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Early adolescence is a pivotal stage of social and emotional development. Socialization traditionally occurs in person, but social interactions via technology (e.g., social media, video games) have grown in popularity. However, little research has been conducted on how early adolescents interact with technology and how these interactions relate to their socialization as well as other factors such as reading habits or academic achievement. Seventh and eighth grade students (n = 719) completed a survey that captured information about their technology use, their academic habits and performance, and extracurricular involvement. It was hypothesized that those involved in more extracurricular activities would use the internet more socially and that internet use would be negatively correlated to both academic performance and recreational reading. Responses indicated that a majority of students have access to technology (e.g. internet, computers, television, gaming consoles, and tablets) in their homes. Social media use differed drastically between platforms. Analyses indicated a relation between amount of extracurricular activities on social television watching and social internet use, but not on social gaming. A significant negative correlation was found between recreational reading and time spent socializing online, but there was no significant effect of these factors on academic performance. Thus, hypotheses were partially supported by the relation between amount of extracurriculars and social internet use and the negative correlation between time spent socializing online and recreational reading.
ContributorsHorner, Kate Elizabeth (Author) / McNamara, Danielle (Thesis director) / McCarthy, Kathryn (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Education and Prevention: An Open Communication Against the Sexual Abuse and Grooming of Adolescents
Description
With the assistance of my thesis committee, I created a podcast to fulfill my objective of interviewing survivors of sexual abuse/grooming practices and their support systems. I utilized this method to have in-depth discussions and provide people with a safe space to share their experiences. By doing so, we were able to reflect on the areas in which professionals can improve on recognizing signs of abuse in their communities. My goal was to show how training teachers to recognize signs of trauma is essential for effectively assisting the population we serve. Ultimately, this came down to what instruction was taught in the Teachers College. Curricula centered on properly managing trauma in the classroom, including sexual abuse, should be required for courses in the upper and lower division degree program for Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.
ContributorsReineke, Lindsay (Author) / Panneton, Teresa (Thesis director) / Goodman, Brian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor)
Created2022-12
Description
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is one of the most common chronic diseases in youth and it has been shown that adolescents have the worst glycemic control of any age group. The objective of this study was to develop, test and evaluate the feasibility of an online intervention (Can-Do-Tude) that uses the principles of motivational interviewing (MI) to deliver tailored diabetes self-management education to adolescents with T1D. Bandura’s efficacy belief system was used to guide the design of this study.
The study used a multi-phase, multi-method approach. The first phase (alpha) of this study was a qualitative descriptive design to examine the intervention’s fidelity. Evaluation of performance was conducted by experts in the fields of MI, T1D, adolescence and/or online education. The second phase (beta) was a quantitative descriptive design conducted in order to evaluate feasibility by examining the acceptability (recruitment, retention and satisfaction) and implementation (diabetes self-management self-efficacy) to determine whether the intervention was appropriate for further testing.
First phase findings showed that the intervention passed all measures with the content experts (n = 6): it was functional, accurate, usable and secure. Improvements to the intervention were made based on reviewer recommendations. For the second phase 5 adolescents between 14 and 17 were enrolled. Three adolescents completed all 4 weeks of the intervention while 2 completed only 3 weeks. Participants (n = 3) rated satisfaction on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from “not at all” satisfied (1) to “very much” satisfied (5). There was a positive response to the intervention (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55). Implementation was measured by a pre- and post-test for diabetes self-management self-efficacy. Participants (n = 3) demonstrated overall improvements in diabetes self-management self-efficacy (Z = -2.952, p = .007).
Implications for further Can-Do-Tude research are planned at a metropolitan diabetes center using updated technology including an application platform. Although the sample was small, findings indicate that the intervention can be conducted using a web-based format and there is initial evidence of improvement in self-efficacy for diabetes self-management.
The study used a multi-phase, multi-method approach. The first phase (alpha) of this study was a qualitative descriptive design to examine the intervention’s fidelity. Evaluation of performance was conducted by experts in the fields of MI, T1D, adolescence and/or online education. The second phase (beta) was a quantitative descriptive design conducted in order to evaluate feasibility by examining the acceptability (recruitment, retention and satisfaction) and implementation (diabetes self-management self-efficacy) to determine whether the intervention was appropriate for further testing.
First phase findings showed that the intervention passed all measures with the content experts (n = 6): it was functional, accurate, usable and secure. Improvements to the intervention were made based on reviewer recommendations. For the second phase 5 adolescents between 14 and 17 were enrolled. Three adolescents completed all 4 weeks of the intervention while 2 completed only 3 weeks. Participants (n = 3) rated satisfaction on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from “not at all” satisfied (1) to “very much” satisfied (5). There was a positive response to the intervention (M = 4.28, SD = 0.55). Implementation was measured by a pre- and post-test for diabetes self-management self-efficacy. Participants (n = 3) demonstrated overall improvements in diabetes self-management self-efficacy (Z = -2.952, p = .007).
Implications for further Can-Do-Tude research are planned at a metropolitan diabetes center using updated technology including an application platform. Although the sample was small, findings indicate that the intervention can be conducted using a web-based format and there is initial evidence of improvement in self-efficacy for diabetes self-management.
ContributorsPaul, Linda Louise (Author) / Komnenich, Pauline (Thesis advisor) / Spezia Faulkner, Melissa (Committee member) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017