Browsing by Subject "Coping"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Cognitive-Affective Strategies and Early Adversity as Modulators of Psychosocial Stress Reactivity in Children and Adolescents
    (2013-09) Johnson, Anna
    The transition to adolescence is a key period in the reshaping of systems central to emotion and stress, including maturation of neural networks involved in cognitive-affective regulation and neuroendocrine changes driven by pubertal hormones. Adolescents experience an increased prevalence of everyday stressful events and seem to exhibit increased biological stress reactivity in response to psychosocial stressors. However, there is limited developmental evidence regarding what strategies adolescents use to regulate responses to stressors and even less evidence regarding how these regulatory strategies impact physiological stress reactivity. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore cognitive-affective strategies and early life experiences as predictors of physiological reactivity to a social stressor before and after the pubertal transition. The first study examined associations between cognitive-affective strategies and cortisol reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test for Children in typically developing children and adolescents. Across age and gender, higher trait levels of cognitive reappraisal of emotion predicted higher cortisol reactivity. The second study extended these findings by testing the impact of early life stress on the development of cognitive-affective and stress regulatory systems before and after the pubertal transition. In contrast to findings within the typically developing youth, cognitive-affective strategies did not predict cortisol reactivity in post-institutionalized internationally adopted youth. Findings are discussed in terms of future research directions and implications for the development of intervention efforts to promote self-regulation during the transition to adolescence.
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    Coping with Racial/Ethnic Discrimination: The Role of Color-Blind Racial Ideology among Asian Americans
    (2016-08) Lee, Joyce
    The present study examined how Asian Americans (N = 404) experience and manage racial/ethnic discrimination in both its explicit and ambiguous forms. Color-blind racial ideology also was examined as a moderator in the association between racial/ethnic discrimination and negative affect (anger and anxiety), social state self-esteem, and behavior following a racist event. Results from this experimental vignette study showed that Asian Americans experience more anger and anxiety when confronted with explicit racial/ethnic discrimination. Asian Americans who were more racially color-blind about racial privilege experienced less anxiety when confronted with ambiguous discrimination compared to Asian Americans with less racial color-blindness. Asian Americans used a variety of strategies to respond to racial/ethnic discrimination. These strategies ranged from disengaging from the source of stress or engaging with the stressor in both positive (neutral or warm/friendly) and negative (contentious) ways. Asian Americans who were more racially color-blind about institutional discrimination were less likely to engage as a response to discrimination. Furthermore, when confronted with ambiguous discrimination, Asian Americans were more inclined to positively counter ambiguous discrimination than be disengaged from it. Asian Americans respond differently to explicit and ambiguous forms of discrimination and use a variety of strategies to manage and negotiate their racialized status.
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    Coping with the Pandemic: A Qualitative Exploration of How Female Millennial Consumers Use Retail Therapy
    (2023-05) Langefels, Erika
    The focus of this dissertation study was to explore retail therapy behaviors of female millennial consumers in the novel context of the coronavirus pandemic. Personality was an additional attribute examined to understand how it impacts attitudes and behaviors towards shopping in these conditions. This study took a qualitative grounded theory approach by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews of 19 millennial women, most of whom had partners and children. The findings suggest themes that seek to redefine the meaning of retail therapy and offer new factors driven by the pandemic that led to an increased need to seek retail therapy. Online shopping led to an increase in package deliveries to the home which made shopping behaviors more visible to partners, creating a new dynamic of feelings of guilt within relationships. Inventory shortages both online and in store created frustration for participants that exhibit completionist type personalities. This study demonstrates how retail therapy shopping itself has changed – RT theory should be defined more broadly to include treat shopping as a reward for good outcomes or avoidance of negative ones, and that shopping for treats for others is a form of RT. Additionally, novel conclusions about relationship guilt and completionism as factors that drive retail therapy shopping have changed because of the pandemic are discussed. Outcomes of this study offer several theoretical implications by contributing to existing studies on retail therapy and related topics, as well as offering a novel research approach of qualitative research. Practical implications of this study are realized by providing insight to the retail industry on the female millennial consumer’s therapeutic shopping needs in a post-pandemic paradigm.
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    Perceptions and coping strategies of dental hygienists practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (2022-02) Christensen, Shelah
    Purpose: This study investigates perceptions and coping strategies used by dental hygienists during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, March 1, 2020 until present. The Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping was used as the framework for this study. Methods: An electronic questionnaire (QualtricsTM) with questions in three domains: demographics, perceptions, and coping strategies, was emailed to dental hygienists in five Midwest states, summer of 2021. Participants were asked to indicate perceptions of and coping strategies used, while practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic since March 1, 2020. Bivariate comparisons between respondent demographics and survey responses regarding coping, risks, and strategies were computed using Fisher’s Exact Test. Survey responses were both analyzed as the original 5-point Likert scale and a collapsed 3-point Likert scale assessing overall agreement, disagreement, and neither agreement nor disagreement. Results: Completed questionnaires totaled 167, with a 4.4% response rate. Majority of respondents were white females aged 56 or over, were employed full time, and had been in practice for ≥ 21 years in private general practices. Reduction in working hours was reported by 8.4% of respondents, and 7.2% reported leaving the profession. Perceptions of practicing during the pandemic were reported as experiencing increased risk of infection, a threat to the health of self, family/loved ones, and more physically demanding. The vaccine aided in reducing risk perceptions. Adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were used while practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Dental hygienists perceive practicing dental hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic as putting themselves and family/loved ones at risk of contracting the virus. Respondents reported dental hygiene practice is more physically demanding than before the COVID-19 pandemic and dental hygienists are more easily agitated and worried. Dental hygienists are finding ways of coping with these stresses by engaging in practice to improve mental health, using personal relationships for support, exercising, turning to spirituality, and using social media more than before the pandemic. Dental hygienists in this study reported reduced hours of work, leaving the profession, and considering a different profession, contributing to workforce attrition.
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    Research Study of the Lived Experience of Alopecia Areata for Women During Early Adulthood.
    (2017-06) Bemmels, Heather
    Objectives: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune condition that causes baldness in men and women; however, it may be especially distressing for women given social standards and expectations for beauty. This sporadic condition can present with various extents of hair loss that unexpectedly relapse or remit across time. The present phenomenological study aimed to describe the lived experiences of early adult women with AA who developed it in pre-adolescence or adolescence, to provide greater understanding of the experience of having AA over time. Method: The present study is guided by phenomenological methods, including interpretive phenomenological analysis. Following in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six female participants ages 27-36 with current, active AA, who developed their AA between ages 10-16, data were transcribed and analyzed at an individual and general (i.e., cross case) level for themes. Results: Responses to initial awareness of AA or increasing hair loss were not uniform, with participants’ psychological experiences ranging from not being bothered to life-altering and devastating. Physical sensations and visual reminders of increased hair loss can pull participants out of their everyday experiences, with possible helplessness regarding inability to stop the loss. Losing hair was sometimes experienced as a deep emotional loss, and was sometimes so devastating that years felt “dark” or “lost.” Participants encountered uncertainty regarding when their hair might fall out, as well as unpredictability with others’ reactions. Participants often experienced normality with friends and family, but occasional rejection and derision from others led to certain spaces or situations feeling unsafe for revealing AA. Participants often concealed their AA with various approaches, including wigs or hair pins, which might lead to self-consciousness about the AA or wig being discovered. At some point, these routines become “automatic.” Disclosing about AA to others increased vulnerability and openness, which might have negative (e.g., fear of negative reactions) and positive (e.g., deeper relationships) implications. The threat of AA being incidentally discovered can be distressing even after decades of having AA, but for some, making an intentional choice to reveal AA (e.g., openly telling others, not wearing a wig) led to freedom and comfort with the tradeoff of possible increased attention through stares or questions. Discussion: AA impacts individuals’ lives in a variety of ways, and the impact can differ across time, situations, and relationships. AA can produce a great deal of distress that persists after more than a decade of living with it. For others, AA is less distressing. Psychologists and other providers might best serve individuals with AA by better assessing their individual experiences of the condition. Future research might investigate the process of how some individuals with AA come to greater acceptance of or appreciation for their AA.
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    The Role of Stressor Controllability in Regulatory Strategy Use Effectiveness: A Daily Diary Examination of Strategy-Situation Fit
    (2022-09) Mischel, Emily
    The current study sought to increase understanding of college student regulatory strategy use by examining the strategy-situation fit hypothesis using daily diary methods. Specifically, the study examined the role of controllability of a stressor on the associations between strategy-situation fit and well-being (with different strategies hypothesized to be more adaptive in high or low control situations). Participants were 221 undergraduate students, 18 years or older from two Midwestern universities, who completed daily diary surveys electronically for 14 days during the Fall 2020 semester. Measures were included to assess regulatory strategy use (i.e., problem-solving, reappraisal, acceptance), stressors and stressor controllability, and well-being indicators (i.e., positive and negative affect, depression and anxiety symptoms, perceived stress, problem resolution). Several multilevel models were used to test hypotheses. Problem-solving and reappraisal use were positively associated with stressor controllability whereas acceptance was negatively associated with controllability. On days when students experienced more objectively controllable stressors, they reported greater well-being than on days with less controllable stressors. Each regulatory strategy was associated with greater well-being. Use of acceptance was most consistently associated with greater well-being across indicators. Interactions between controllability and regulatory strategy use in predicting well-being indicators were largely nonsignificant and did not support the strategy-situation fit hypothesis. The exception was that students reported lower perceived stress when they used more problem-solving in high-control situations than if they used less problem-solving. Results are discussed in terms of previous research and future implications.
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    Sing, Muses, of the Grief of Achilles: An analysis of the grief of Achilles in the Iliad using Coping Theory and Grief Psychology
    (2021-05) Baumer, Erin
    Within the study of the Iliad, few scholars have attempted to take a psychological look at the characters within the epic. This thesis takes a look at how the character of Achilles grieves and copes with the death of his companion, Patroclus, through the lenses of modern Coping Theory and Grief Psychology.
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    Who eats their feelings, and who sweats them out?: Understanding how individuals and their romantic partners use eating and exercise for emotion regulation
    (2022-04) Jones, Rachael
    Researchers argue that individuals’ emotion regulation affects their long-term health outcomes by leading them to engage in health behaviors to cope with their stress and negative emotions. However, there is a need to isolate health behavior for this purpose from individuals’ typical health behavior, and to include health-promoting behaviors, such as exercise, in addition to health-compromising behaviors, such as eating junk food. Furthermore, emotion regulation and health behavior often occur around close others and are influenced by them, highlighting the need to study the social context around these processes. Thus, this dissertation examines how individuals’ and their romantic partners’ emotion regulation and typical health behavior predict their use of eating and exercise to down-regulate negative emotion. Participants reported their typical health habits and use of eating and exercise for emotion regulation, including how frequently they engaged in the behaviors and how they deviated from their typical health behavior when doing so. Participants’ balanced (i.e., constructive and effective) emotion regulation was measured by well-established self-report surveys as well as by their behavior during conflict discussions with their romantic partners, which was coded by trained observers. The results indicated that balanced emotion regulation was not related to individuals’ typical health behavior but was related to their health behavior for emotion regulation. Furthermore, participants reported significantly changing their typical health behavior when using it to cope. Actor Partner Interdependence Model regressions revealed that participants lower in self-reported balanced emotion regulation engaged in eating for emotion regulation more frequently than those higher, especially if they were women. Their typical junk food consumption was not predictive. In contrast, those who typically exercised more in their daily lives used exercise for emotion regulation more frequently than those who exercised less. They also tended to increase their exercise more when using it to regulate their emotions, especially if they were men. Balanced emotion regulation was not related to individuals’ use of exercise to manage their feelings, although those higher in balanced emotion regulation used exercise significantly more often than they used eating for this purpose. Individuals’ partners’ tendencies were sometimes associated with individuals’ eating for emotion regulation, but not with their exercise. Self-reported balanced emotion regulation was more strongly related to other variables than was behavioral balanced emotion regulation. These findings suggest that health behavior for emotion regulation differs from typical health behavior, more dysregulated individuals may eat (but not exercise) more often to cope with their negative feelings, and experience with exercise may be needed to employ physical activity for emotion regulation.