School of Public Health

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.

Note: Prior to July 1, 2007, the School of Public Health was named the College of Health & Human Performance.

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    The Moderating Effect of Family Cohesion on the Association between Acculturation Gaps and Parent-Child Conflict in Immigrant Families
    (2015) Kim, Haedong; Epstein, Norman B.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Intergenerational acculturation gaps have been found to be a source of conflict in many immigrant families. However, there has been limited research regarding variables that can moderate the association between acculturation gaps and parent-child conflict in immigrant families. Using a sample of 2,971 adolescents selected from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) and guided by the ABC-X model of family stress, the present study investigated the moderating effect of family cohesion. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis results revealed that gaps in both host culture acculturation and heritage culture acculturation were significant predictors of parent-child conflict. Family cohesion only moderated the association between heritage culture acculturation gap and parent-child conflict. Interestingly, the direction of the moderation was not in the expected direction: higher family cohesion increased the association between degree of heritage culture acculturation gap and parent-child conflict. Implications for reducing stress in immigrant families are discussed.
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    Examining the role of stressful life events on cognition and determining mediating and moderating pathways among postmenopausal women
    (2011) Bibeau, Wendy; Young, Deborah R; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    BACKGROUND: Major life events, largely considered to be a source of great stress, are an inevitable process of the life span. Preliminary evidence suggests that the stress arising from major life events may serve as a risk factor for cognitive function decline. Evidence also indicates external (e.g., physical activity) and internal factors (i.e., psychological variables) can attenuate the physiologic effects of stress. Thus, there may be two important pathways through which stress affects health. PURPOSE: The primary aim of this dissertation was to investigate the independent and interactive effects of stressful life events on cognitive function among a sample of postmenopausal women. In addition, the possible moderating and or mediating role of external and internal factors on the relationship between stressful life events and cognitive function were examined. METHODS: Data from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, a randomly selected subset of the Women's Health Initiative Hormone Trial, were analyzed. To control for any treatment effects, only data from participants randomized into the placebo groups were pooled and used for all analyses, leaving a total of 3775participants. All participants had five data collections points, including baseline through four years of follow-up. Linear mixed effects models were used to answer all prospective research questions. Moderation and mediation models were used to determine presence of effect modification or mediation of external or internal variables. RESULTS: Our results appear to indicate that there was a negative relationship between stressful life events and cognitive function scores. Reporting an ill spouse/partner was associated with lower cognition scores compared to those without reporting a spouse/partner (B = -0.68, p < 0.0001). Exposure to three or more stressful life events at every data collection period was also associated with lower cognitive function scores (B = -0.61, p = 0.021). External factors did not appear to moderate this negative relationship; however, internal factors such as optimism, hostility, and negative expressiveness did. Specifically, exposure to more stressful life events was associated with less favorable psychological states, which in turn, were associated with lower cognitive function scores. CONCLUSION: Our results appear to lend support that exposure to certain life events and repeated exposure of stressful life events is associated with lower cognitive functioning. In addition, our findings provide modest evidence that psychological mechanisms are an important pathway through which stressful life events affect cognitive functioning over time among a representative sample of post-menopausal women. While stressful life events are largely unavoidable, the associated increased risk of cognitive function decline may be in part offset by various psychological factors.