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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    Predictors of White Adoptive Parents' Cultural and Racial Socialization Behaviors with Their Asian Adopted Children
    (2010) Berbery, Maria Luz; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study examined predictors of White adoptive parents' (N = 200) cultural and racial socialization behaviors with their Asian adopted children. Specifically, the study investigated White Racial Identity statuses, cultural and racial socialization beliefs, cultural socialization self-efficacy, and racial socialization self-efficacy as predictors of cultural and racial socialization behaviors. This study also tested a model which linked cultural and racial socialization beliefs to cultural and racial socialization behaviors through their respective types of self-efficacy. Findings revealed that parents' cultural and racial socialization beliefs were most important in predicting their socialization practices. There was not support for cultural socialization self-efficacy or racial socialization self-efficacy as moderators.
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    Adoptive Parents: At Risk or Resilient
    (2009) Merson, Erica Shawn; O'Brien, Karen M.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study advanced knowledge regarding the demographics of a nationally representative sample of adoptive parents and their use and level of satisfaction with adoption agency services, specifically that they are functioning well both psychologically and in their marital relationships and are satisfied with the adoption agency services that are being offered and used. It also examined the contributions of (a) psychological functioning at nine months postpartum, (b) infertility experiences, (c) tangible resources, and (d) the marital relationship in predicting the psychological health of adoptive parents at 27 months postpartum. Findings revealed that the psychological health of adoptive parents at nine months was the strongest predictor of depressive and anxiety symptoms at 27 months for both adoptive mothers and fathers, with tangible resources also contributing unique variance to the prediction of fathers' depressive symptoms. Moreover, marital hostility was found to partially mediate the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms at nine months and 27 months postpartum.