Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2005 - 20082

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Author: search.filters.author.Patel, SheetalSubject: search.filters.subject.Psychology, General

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    WELL-BEING AND NEGATIVE MOOD OF SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: CONTRIBUTIONS OF ADULT ATTACHMENT, ACCULTURATION, AND RACIAL IDENTITY
    (2008-07-08) Patel, Sheetal; O'Brien, Karen M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Traditional psychological theories of development (e.g., attachment theory) have been criticized for their inability to fully explain well-being and negative mental health outcomes in ethnic and racial minority populations (Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake, & Morelli, 2000; Wang & Mallinckrodt, 2006). Specifically, the intersection of developmental theories and salient sociocultural variables in predicting the well-being of Asian Americans has not been well elucidated, as little research has been conducted in this area. Yet, the need for understanding the mechanisms underlying the well-being of Asian Americans has been rising as the Asian American population is the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States (Zhou, 2004). The goal of this study was to extend knowledge regarding the applicability of attachment theory using a cross-cultural lens. Specifically, this study examined the joint contributions of a traditional developmental theory and sociocultural variables to better understand optimal development and well-being among South Asian Americans. This study advanced knowledge by finding that for South Asian American college students, adult attachment, acculturation and racial identity account for robust variance in the prediction of self-esteem, anxious mood, and depressed mood. Adult attachment, acculturation and racial identity accounted for variance in self-esteem, and more specifically, avoidant attachment, anxious attachment, and racial identity's internalization accounted for unique variance in self-esteem. The variance in anxious mood was accounted for by adult attachment, acculturation, and racial identity, with racial identity's conformity status accounting for unique variance in anxious mood. Finally, adult attachment, acculturation and racial identity accounted for variance in depressed mood. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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    Career self-efficacy of Vietnamese adolescents: The role of individual, microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem variables
    (2005-04-22) Patel, Sheetal; O'Brien, Karen M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Individual (gender and acculturation), microsystem (social support), exosystem (social class), and macrosystem (racism) variables were examined as predictors of career decision-making self-efficacy, career planning and exploration efficacy, and education and vocational development efficacy in a sample of 80 Vietnamese middle school students in the Washington D.C. area. These students experienced high levels of career decision-making self-efficacy, career planning and exploration efficacy, and education and vocational development efficacy. English language acculturation accounted for unique variance in the prediction of career decision-making self-efficacy and career planning and exploration efficacy, whereas English language acculturation and peer support accounted for unique variance in the prediction of education and vocational development efficacy. Suggestions for future research and interventions are provided.