Browsing by Subject "Social support"
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Adolescents’ Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence, Delinquent Behaviors and the Role of Perceived Social Support(2022-05) Robinson, RenitaAn underestimated 10.7 million of the 52.7 million US children (ages 0-17) living with two parents live in homes where male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) between adults has occurred in the last year. Children’s exposure to IPV (EIPV) affects their behavior, development and educational outcomes. Adolescent’s exposure and behavioral responses to EIPV is understudied. This study uses a secondary analysis of data from the third National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence (the most comprehensive nationwide survey of the incidence and prevalence of children’s exposure to violence conducted to date) to explore the ways adolescents’ EIPV are associated with delinquent behaviors, and whether the perception of social support (SS) is a protective factor in the relationship between EIPV and delinquent behaviors. This analysis extends the understanding of the relationship between EIPV, delinquency, and SS: (a) It documented that SS was more protective for females than males. (b) While White non-Hispanic children experienced lower levels of EIPV and higher levels of SS, both “races” demonstrated a benefit from SS. 3) Measures of SS vary only minimally across the age ranges in this study. In contrast both measures of delinquency and EIPV got worse with age.Item Attention and support visibility in the receipt of social support(2013-07) Rutherford, Maryhope HowlandPrevious observational research on invisible support has demonstrated that both subtle support (a provider effect) and lack of awareness of support received (a recipient effect) are crucial in predicting positive outcomes in the invisible support process (Howland & Simpson, 2010). One-hundred and fourteen individuals and their romantic partners participated in a lab experiment attempting to establish the causal role of these two components in predicting perceptions of support and support outcomes. Two variables were manipulated in a social support context: the type of support received (invisible, visible, or no-support) and recipients' ability to attend to support received (via cognitive load). Participants were asked to complete a mildly stressful task during which they received a supportive note (containing a randomly assigned support manipulation message) believed to be from their partners. They were randomly assigned to receive the message under cognitive load or under no cognitive load. The overarching prediction was that individuals receiving invisible support under cognitive load would perceive the least amount of support and benefit the most from it. Additional hypotheses were formed concerning the moderating role of recipient and partner attachment anxiety and avoidance. While little evidence was found consistent with the predictions made, some results emerged that were consistent with invisible support theory and previous research.Item Cervical cancer screening behavior of Hmong women: a social network analysis(2012-09) Shweta, ShwetaThis study examined the relationship between health and cervical cancer networks of Hmong American women and their cervical cancer screening practices. Incidence of cervical cancer and cervical cancer mortality rates are high for Hmong American women (Mills, Yang & Riordan, 2005; Ross, Xie, Kiffmeyer, Bushhouse & Robinson, 2003). Cervical cancer mortality rates for Hmong American women are three times higher than Asian American and Pacific Islander women and four times higher than non-Hispanic White women (Yang, Mills & Riordan, 2005). Despite high cancer related mortality rates, the utilization of cervical cancer screening is low (Yang, Mills & Dodge, 2006). Regular screening is important as it helps to detect cancer early when the treatment is most effective (Tanne, 2012). Barriers to cancer screening in the Hmong community include a lack of education, low income, cultural beliefs, language, traditional health practices, and mistrust of the Western health system (Lee & Vang, 2010). Hmong people value social cohesion and community living and often consult community members for making health related decisions (Barrett et. al., 1998). Using network analysis and logistic regression, this study explored the relationship between specific characteristics of the cervical cancer network and cervical cancer screening practices of Hmong American women. The health networks of study participants included all friends, family, health care providers, or co-workers with whom they had discussed their health in the last one year. Likewise, cervical cancer networks included everyone with whom the study participants had discussed cervical cancer in the last one year. Analysis found that Hmong American women who had a cervical cancer network were more likely to be aware of pap tests, receive pap tests and be aware of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines than Hmong American women who did not have a cervical cancer network. Having a cervical cancer network was not significantly associated with receiving HPV vaccines or Hmong American woman's perceived need for cancer screening. When controlled for demographic variables, a cervical cancer network was not found to be a significant predictor of cancer screening practices. With regard to characteristics of members within the cervical cancer network, education was found to be significantly associated with the awareness of HPV vaccines. Analysis also found that income, number of years in the United States and ability to speak English were significant predictors of Hmong American women having a cervical cancer network. Further, income, education, and having a regular health care provider were also significantly associated with cervical cancer screening practices of Hmong American women. It is important that practitioners and policy makers use social networks as a resource to improve the utilization of screening services. Programs for encouraging screening should target clients and their networks. For developing culturally appropriate screening programs, policy makers should consult local leaders. Programs developed in consultation with community may be efficacious in convincing Hmong American women to utilize services regularly (Lee & Vang, 2010).Item A Comparison of a Web-based versus Face-to-Face Social Support-enhanced Weight Loss Program in Nurses: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial(2016-05) Sabo, JulieAbstract Background: Over one third of the United States population is classified as obese or overweight and obesity rates have remain unchanged over the last decade. Obesity and being overweight is the fifth leading causes of deaths globally. Lifestyle changes involving diet and activity can be difficult to initiate and even more difficult to maintain. Therefore, achieving and maintaining weight loss remains difficult for many overweight and obese people. Preliminary studies have shown success with weight loss programs that use social support methods other than face-to-face, such as individual support via telephone calls or remote personal support via web-based methods, as an adjunct intervention for weight loss. Objective: The aims of this study were to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a web-based (WB) versus face-to-face (F2F) social-support enhanced weight loss intervention. Method: Registered nurses who had a body mass index (BMI) of over 25 kg/m2 were asked to participate. Participants were randomized to either WB or F2F social support- enhanced weight loss intervention. All participants followed the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, and attended 12 weekly sessions with a social support component delivered via web-based or face-to-face. End points for feasibility were attendance, adherence with nutrition diary, and satisfaction level. End points for efficacy were weight, BMI, blood pressure (BP), and waist to hip ratio (WHR), and were measured at weeks one, five, eight, and twelve. Data were analyzed for between group differences using non-parametric tests. Results: A total of nine participants were enrolled in the study. Participants were all females, with a median age of 42.5 years in the F2F group and 36 years for the WB group. There were no differences between groups for the feasibility end points of attendance, adherence, and satisfaction levels. There were no differences between groups in all efficacy endpoints of anthropomorphic and BP measurements (except WHR) for all time points. WHR was significantly different between groups, with better outcomes in the WB group. The median weight loss in the WB group was 2.4 kg, and the F2F group 3.8 kg. The change in BMI for the WB group was 0.80 kg/m2 and for the F2F group 1.54 kg/m2. Conclusions: The similar feasibility endpoints of attendance, adherence, and satisfaction levels suggest that a WB social support-enhanced weight loss intervention may be acceptable and feasible alternative to a F2F social support-enhanced weight loss intervention. Conclusions regarding efficacy cannot be formed due to the small sample size and lack of power to detect clinically meaningful differences between groups. The lack of differences between groups is encouraging, and two participants in the F2F group achieved clinically meaningful weight loss of 4.7 and 14.6 kg. Overall findings of this study are consistent with previous studies. Continued studies in web-based methods of social support as an adjunct intervention for weight loss are needed.Item The impacts of social support and early life stress on stress reactivity in children and adolescents(2013-08) Hostinar, Camelia ElenaThe goal of the present study was to investigate the impacts of social support and early life stress on individual differences in HPA axis reactivity in children (ages 9-10) and adolescents (ages 15-16). The primary aims were: 1) to experimentally manipulate the provision of social support in the laboratory and examine its effect on levels of salivary cortisol in response to the Trier Social Stress Test for Children; 2) to investigate parenting quality variables that may moderate the social buffering effect based on coding of videotaped parent-child interactions; 3) to analyze the role of early life stress (orphanage-rearing versus birth family rearing) and current social network characteristics in predicting the cortisol response; and 4) to explore age and sex differences in stress reactivity and the social buffering of stress. A sample of 162 participants was recruited, roughly equally divided between the two age groups, experimental conditions (half were exposed to a parent support condition before the stress task, whereas half received support from a stranger), early life experience (adopted or non-adopted) and by gender. Analyses of cortisol stress responses revealed that in the non-adopted group parent support provided in the laboratory significantly dampened stress reactivity in children but not in adolescents when compared to the stranger support condition. Additionally, participants reared in orphanages showed atypical patterns of HPA reactivity and of responses to social support provided before the stressor. Implications and future directions are discussed.Item The mediating roles of fear of Compassion from self and others, self-compassion, and perceptions of social support on the relationships between self-criticism and depressive symptoms(2014-08) Joeng, Ju RiEmpirical studies indicate that people who harshly criticize themselves are likely to suffer from a range of psychological problems. Depression is one of the common psychological problems suffered by self-critical people (e.g., Cantazaro & Wei, 2010; Mongrain & Leather, 2006). However, despite observed relationships between self-criticism and depressive symptoms, there has been little to no investigation of the mechanisms in play in the prediction of depressive symptoms among self-critical people. The present study is an investigation of the relationship between self-criticism and depressive symptoms as mediated by fear of compassion, self-compassion, and the feeling that one is important to others dimension of one's perceptions of social support (aka perceptions of social support). To model these relationships, the Self-Criticism/Compassion Mediation model was developed and tested via Structural Equation Modeling. Undergraduate students at a midwestern university participated in the study and completed an online survey. A total of 206 completed surveys were analyzed. Goodness-of-fit indicators (e.g., CFI, TLI and RMSEA) showed that the Self-Criticism/Compassion Mediation model fit the data adequately. In this model, three-path mediated effects (Taylor, MacKinnon, & Tein, 2007) showed that fear of compassion from self and others, self-compassion, and perceptions of social support mediated the relationship between self-criticism and depression, with self-criticism positively related to fear of compassion, which in turn was negatively related to self-compassion and perceptions of social support, respectively, which in turn were negatively related to depressive symptoms. Additionally, a two-path mediated effect showed that self-compassion mediated the relationship between self-criticism and depressive symptoms in the negative direction. These results indicate that fear of compassion could be a reason that people who are more self-critical experience more depressive symptoms. Self-critical people's fear of compassion was related negatively to self-compassion in this model, indicating that the more afraid a person is of compassion, the less self-compassion that person has. Another reason, as indicated by these results, is that people who have a greater fear of compassion perceive others are not interested in them, which then leads to higher levels of depressive symptoms. In addition, a lack of self-compassion itself could also explain the relationship between self-criticism and depressive symptoms. The author of this study examined reversed relationships among the study variables, acknowledging that these relationships may also be interpreted in the other direction, and found the current interpretation is not only consistent with theory, but also fits the data better.These findings suggest that to reduce self-critical people's depressive symptoms, it is important to help them manage their fears of receiving compassion from self and others, to develop self-compassion, and to learn to reach out for social support. Implications for practice and future studies are discussed.Item Perceived need for mental health care, mental health service utilization, and satisfaction with care in elderly people.(2008-06) Nelson, Melissa MarieBackground. Elderly people experience symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses differently than younger people, and only half of elderly people with a probable mental illness use mental health care services. Nevertheless, most mental health care research has focused on younger people. This study examined relationships among attitudes toward care, quality of social support, severity of mental illness, presence of physical comorbidities or alcohol abuse problems, sociodemographics, possession of supplemental insurance, perceived need for care, rates of utilization, and satisfaction with mental health care for elderly people. Methods. Data were used from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), a nationally representative, cross-sectional study of community-dwelling people's mental illnesses and mental health care utilization patterns. Logistic and linear regression models were used to study perceived need, utilization, and satisfaction with care. Results. Perceived need for mental health care increased with severity of depression and anxiety, history of chronic physical conditions, and pressure to seek care. Among respondents who met diagnostic criteria for depression or anxiety, the number of mental illness symptoms experienced was still related to perceived need for care. The odds of using formal mental health care increased with severity of depression or anxiety and with history of chronic physical illnesses. When utilization was measured among respondents who perceived a need for care, however, most measures of mental illness severity and history of chronic physical illness were no longer significant. There was little variation in the satisfaction measure, and multivariate models of satisfaction were unstable. Conclusion. Many elderly people who meet diagnostic criteria for depression and/or anxiety disorders do not use mental health services or even perceive a need for these services. Additionally, physical and mental health are associated with perceived need, but other factors are responsible for determining utilization among those with perceived need. Further studies that include more detailed measures of psychosocial factors and satisfaction with mental health care are necessary to understand what factors lead elderly people to perceive a need for mental health care and what factors influence those who perceive a need for care to actually seek treatment and adhere to it.Item Social support mediates the relation between attachment and responses to potentially traumatic events(2013-09) Shallcross, Sandra LynnInsecure adult attachment is consistently related to posttrauma functioning, but this relation has rarely been examined prospectively across a wide range of potentially traumatic events (PTEs). In addition, the mediating mechanisms for this relation are not yet fully understood. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to assess whether pretrauma attachment orientation would predict changes in functioning following a PTE. The second aim was to determine whether social support would mediate this relation. Undergraduate students (N = 1,084) completed pre-PTE measures of psychological and social well-being at Time 1 (T1); 73% (N = 789) completed a follow up survey 2 months later (Time 2; T2). Those who reported experiencing PTE between T1 and T2 completed a final follow-up survey 4 months after T1 (Time 3; T3). Insecure attachment orientation predicted increases in PTSD, psychological distress and aggression, and decreases in social functioning from T1 to T3. These relations were mediated by perceptions of social support reported at T2. These findings have important implications for research and practice with populations exposed to potentially traumatic events.