UMD Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM: THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS, COPING, AND HEALTH AMONG BLACK COLLEGE STUDENTS(2024) Brown, Rabia; Lewis, Jioni A.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black college students endure racial microaggressions in higher education, and current research highlights how racial microaggressions can negatively impact the health of Black college students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between racial microaggressions in higher education, coping strategies (education/advocacy, resistance, detachment, drug/alcohol use, and internalization), and health quality in Black college students. Participants included 155 Black college students that took an online survey as a part of a larger study conducted at a large Southeastern historically white university. Results from the hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that racial microaggressions were significantly and negatively associated with mental and physical health quality in Black college students. Additionally, results from the mediation analyses found that detachment coping significantly mediated the association between racial microaggressions and mental health in Black college students. This study provides further evidence of the negative impact of racial microaggressions on the health and well-being of Black college students.Item Anxiety and Anxiety-Coping in Children's Picture Books(2023) Hui, Janisa; Wang, Cixin; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The contribution of this study is to provide an understanding of how picture books educate young children on the common experiences of anxiety. This qualitative study used thematic analysis to analyze 82 English children’s picture books for infants and young toddlers (0 to 5 years old) that were published in 2020. Picture books in this sample portray anxiety in a way that match with the clinical knowledge of childhood anxiety in terms of characterization and signs of anxiety. This study identified five major themes of anxiety-eliciting situations, namely schools, bad things happen, being alone, health and diversity. The findings of this study also include themes and patterns of coping strategies that were used by the protagonists; finding comfort, inhibiting emotions, solving problems, recognizing and expressing emotions and culturally-related strategies are the five themes that summarize the coping strategies found in this sample. Across all types of anxiety-eliciting situations, finding comfort is the most frequently presented coping strategy. This study holds implications for caregivers, teachers and clinicians, through which they can have an idea of how anxiety is presented in some recently published children’s picture books in their use of the books for educational or clinical purposes. Publishers may also take reference on the gaps noted in this study to diversify the content of anxiety-related picture books.Item Disenfranchised Victims of the Opioid Epidemic: Predicting Grief and Growth after an Opioid-Related Loss(2022) Hill, Erin McKendry; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over 75,000 people died from opioid drug overdoses between April of 2020 to April of 2021, compared to 46,000 deaths in 2018 (CDC, 2021; Wilson et al., 2020). Left behind are family members, significant others and friends struggling with grief as opioid-related losses are highly stigmatized and disenfranchised. Theoretically informed by the model of resilience (Mancini & Bonanno, 2009), as well as the transactional model of stress, appraisal and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), this study examined the role of disenfranchised grief, social support, and coping in prolonged grief and posttraumatic growth among a sample (n = 159) of people bereaved by the loss of a family member, romantic partner or friend due to an opioid-related death. Together, disenfranchised grief, social support, and coping predicted 43% of the variance in prolonged grief and 36.6% of the variance in posttraumatic growth. Specifically active emotional coping predicted unique variance in both outcomes. Findings from this study have important implications for research and clinical practice to improve grief outcomes for this unique yet extensive population.Item Will there be a season? The impact of COVID-19 on anxiety within NCAA student athletes compared to non-athlete university students(2021) Peterman, Kirsten; Smith, J. Carson; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)COVID-19 triggered psychological stress. College aged students and student athletes are among those vulnerable to mental health. The purpose of this study was to compare anxiety and potential moderators between student athletes and non-athlete students during the pandemic. Data were retrieved using survey methodology via Qualtrics. Student/athlete status was not related to anxiety (p=0.503). CF (p=<0.001), FFC (p=<0.001), and TFC (p=0.016) were associated with anxiety. There were no differences in coping between groups, however, greater TFC was related to greater anxiety in non-athlete students (p=< 0.001). Communication from AD’s (p=0.010) and teammates (p=0.033), as well as access to resources (p=0.036) were associated with anxiety in student athletes. Communication from coaches did not impact anxiety (p=0.545). Overall, anxiety during the pandemic was high. FFC may act as a protective factor, whereas TFC may worsen anxiety. Social support, access, and communication are crucial in times of uncertainty.Item Secondary Traumatic Stress, Financial Stress, and the Role of Coping in Understanding Southeast Asian American Mental Health(2019) Truong, Nancy Nguyen; Miller, Matthew J; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study advances the literature by jointly examining two stressors (secondary traumatic stress and financial stress) hypothesized to impact the mental health of the Southeast Asian American (SEAA) community and focused on the experiences of generational stress with SEAAs. This study also examined how coping moderated the relationship between stress and mental health. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to test whether secondary traumatic stress, financial stress, direct and indirect coping (entered in Step 1), and the interactions between stress and coping (entered in Step 2) predicted mental health. Participants included 134 self-identified 1.5-generation and second-generation SEAA adults who completed an online survey. Consistent with emerging research, increased financial stress and secondary traumatic stress significantly predicted poorer mental health. Further, indirect coping significantly predicted poorer mental health. Contrary to expectations, none of the moderation effects were significant. Post-hoc analyses were also conducted. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are addressed.Item COPING AS A MEDIATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS REACTIVITY AND TEACHING OUTCOMES(2019) Kim, Margaret Jordan; Teglasi, Hedwig; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To understand the origins of burnout in early-career teachers, the current study proposed that individual differences in stress reactivity and coping effectiveness would contribute to end-of-year teaching outcomes for student teachers in their final teaching placements as interns. Stress reactivity is a biologically-based individual difference that influences the intensity and duration of an individual stress response, while coping is the process through which external and internal stressors are addressed. Patterns of coping behavior and stress reactivity are often linked in research, as reactivity is thought to influence the intensity of stress, and thus also the emotional experiences with which individuals must cope. A preponderance of research investigates specific coping strategies and this study instead focuses on coping effectiveness in the face of negative emotions and challenging conditions. Two distinct mediation models were proposed. The first model hypothesized that stress reactivity would influence teaching self-efficacy indirectly through self-rated coping efficacy, and results revealed a significant negative indirect effect. This suggests that stress reactivity negatively influences one’s perceptions of their ability to cope with their emotions, which in turn has a negative influence on perceptions of teaching self-efficacy. The second model predicted that stress reactivity would influence evaluations of student teacher performance, through performance measures of coping effectiveness. Mediation analysis did not reveal a significant indirect effect, but did reveal a significant positive pathway from performance coping to supervisor evaluations of student teachers. A significant positive correlation between stress reactivity and performance coping was also identified and stands in contrast to the negative correlation between stress reactivity and self-rated coping efficacy. The unique direction of association across methods of measurement underlines the idea that performance and self-rated measures capture distinct facets of a construct, and that multiple approaches to measurement are crucial for a full understanding of functioning under stress. Results from the performance model open the door for continued investigation of alternate methods for understanding and assessing individual differences in coping. Implications of the findings for literature on stress reactivity, coping, and teacher stress and burnout are discussed.Item THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL AGGRESSION VICTIMIZATION AND WOMEN’S ANXIETY: ALCOHOL USE AS A MODERATOR(2018) Mauss, Jasmine Marie; Epstein, Norman B; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Intimate partner aggression is a serious concern, creating problematic issues among individuals and couples in romantic relationships. Psychological aggression, specifically, has shown to have detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Victims of such abuse often times find different ways to cope with the negative feelings that accompany being a recipient of partner aggression. The present study examines psychological aggression in relationships and its resulting associations with female partner anxiety symptoms. Further, the study explores alcohol use as a possible coping strategy and the way this tactic moderates the relationship between partner aggression and anxiety. Results from the study show that there was no significant association between partner aggression and anxiety symptoms and that alcohol use did not act as a moderator for this association. However, it was found that for two subtypes of psychological aggression (domination/intimidation and denigration) there were negative associations between aggression victimization and anxiety. Unlike the other subscales of psychological aggression (hostile withdrawal and restrictive engulfment), which showed no significance, higher levels of domination/intimidation, restrictive engulfment, and denigration were associated with lower levels of anxiety. Implications of the findings for future research and clinical practice are discussed.Item Adaptive Coping in African American Adolescents: The Role of Mother-Adolescent Relationship Quality, Parental Monitoring, and Racial Socialization(2018) Greene, Diamond; Smith-Bynum, Mia A; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Adolescence can be a stressful stage of development for adolescents and their families; however, it is particularly stressful for African American adolescents who also have to deal with additional stressors such as racial discrimination, which can be detrimental to one’s mental health. The purpose of this study is to examine how: (a) adolescents’ perception of mother-adolescent relationship quality, (b) adolescents’ perception of parental monitoring from their parents, and (c) adolescents’ perception of racial socialization (e.g., cultural coping with antagonism) messages, predicts adaptive coping strategies. The sample included 111 African American adolescents (55% female), ranging from ages 14 to 17 (mean age = 15.50), residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area between 2010 and 2011. The median household income for this sample is $60,000-69,999. Results showed that adolescents’ perception of positive mother-adolescent relationship quality and receiving racial socialization messages, specifically cultural coping with antagonism messages, were significant predictors of adaptive coping.Item "Triggered": How the exposure to or experiences with Police are affecting Black Women's psychological functioning(2018) Madison, Jordan Ashley; Mittal, Mona; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Interactions between the Black community and the police have gained national attention recently. There is emerging literature on how being a victim and/or being exposed to these deaths and other incidents of police brutality is affecting the Black community. This study used qualitative interviews to explore the relationship between the exposure to and interactions with police and Black women’s psychological functioning and to further the understanding of coping strategies being used by Black women (n=5) to deal with this stressor. Results indicated that Black women feel fear, hyper-vigilance, and the randomness of negative interactions with the police. They reported using prayer, activism, and avoidance as ways to cope and discussed needing therapists to normalize therapy, as well as acknowledge and understand their experiences. Findings have the potential to address a significant gap in literature and can inform the development of trauma-informed programs for Black women.Item Understanding Teacher Stress: Relations of Implicit and Explicit Coping Processes with Teaching Outcomes(2017) Kim, Margaret Jordan; Teglasi, Hedwig; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Teacher attrition within the first three years is a growing problem in the US. The current study focuses on teacher stress from a novel perspective by assessing how teachers cope with stresses of the profession at the earliest point in their careers – during their training. Coping is defined as a transaction between a person and their environment, influenced by conscious choices and automatic processes. Research relies on explicit measures (self-report on Likert scales) to assess coping, but critics note this approach is limited and does not assess the whole process. In addition to Likert scales, this study incorporates implicit measures (narratives, the Thematic Apperception Test), to examine the implicit processes of coping. As predicted, significant correlations were identified within, but not across methods of measurement. Implicit but not explicit measures were significantly correlated with external evaluations of teacher effectiveness. Implications for coping theory and measurement are discussed.