Counseling Psychology and Human Services Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Counseling Psychology and Human Services Theses and Dissertations by Subject "Adolescence"

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    A Longitudinal Examination of Parent-Adolescent Relationship Quality Among Multiracial and Monoracial Adolescents
    (University of Oregon, 2022-10-26) Kennedy, Alyssa; Stormshak, Elizabeth
    Individuals who are multiracial comprise the fastest growing racial group in the U.S. The number of multiracial youth is growing at an unprecedented rate. However, multiracial youth often demonstrate worse mental and behavioral health outcomes compared to their white peers and equal or poorer outcomes when compared to other racial minority youth. Additionally, existing studies have indicated that multiracial youth have distinct experiences within their relationships with parents such as navigating more than one culture at home, encountering within-family racial discrimination, and receiving parenting from caregivers who do not share their race. Given the importance of the parent-adolescent relationship quality for adolescent development, there is a lack of studies aimed at understanding the quality of this relationship for multiracial youth and long-term outcomes associated with the parent-child relationship. No current studies have examined parent-adolescent relationship quality among multiracial youth over time. The current study sought to understand how parent-adolescent relationship quality changes over time during early adolescent and emerging adulthood periods, specifically for multiracial youth as compared to monoracial minority and white adolescents. Participants included 593 adolescents who completed questionnaires regarding their relationships with parents at four times points across early adolescence and three time points during emerging adulthood. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to examine differences among racial groups at initial time points and over time. Across early adolescence, multiracial youth demonstrated higher parent-adolescent conflict than monoracial minority and white participants. During emerging adulthood, multiracial youth had lower parent-adolescent cohesion than their white peers at 19-years-old and demonstrated a greater increase than the monoracial minority and white youth over time. Multiracial adolescents, however, did not differ from monoracial minority or white youth in other domains or time periods. All groups decreased in cohesion during early adolescence. Notably, there were significant differences found due to individual-level factors across all analyses. Results suggest that there may be distinct processes and aspects of relationships between multiracial youth and their parents that impact relationship quality during adolescence.
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    Adolescent Self-Regulation and the Influence of Peer Victimization: Examining Dynamic Interactions
    (University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Knoble, Naomi; Stormshak, Elizabeth
    Self-regulation is essential for successful social functioning, yet more remains to be understood about the influence of peers on this important developmental skill. This study examined the influence of verbal peer victimization on the growth of self-regulation across four years of early adolescence using parallel process growth modeling. For all adolescents, higher levels of self-regulation buffered early adolescents from the effects of negative peer interactions. In addition, early adolescents with initially low levels of self-regulation also had higher levels of depression and experienced higher levels of peer victimization than their better regulated peers. Importantly the Family Check-Up, a brief preventative intervention, resulted in improvements in self-regulation that was sustained over time. The relationship between peer victimization and self-regulation was not predictive; however, a significant persisting association was observed suggesting that improvements in adolescent self-regulation abilities help buffer youth from the impact of negative peer interactions. This research highlights the importance of the social context on the development of self-regulation during adolescence and contributes novel findings of the effect of contextual variables on self-regulation development. These findings support an ecological prevention approach, including family-centered intervention and social-emotional curricula, to promote increased self-regulation and reduce peer victimization among adolescents.
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    The influence of friendship on eating pathology during adolescence and early adulthood: An examination of conversations about appearance
    (University of Oregon, 2009-09) Arndorfer, Cara Lee, 1977-
    The purpose of this study was to examine how conversations about appearance between adolescents and their best friends predicted eating pathology during adolescence and early adulthood. Participants were 711 adolescents and their best friends who were observed using a videotaped observation protocol and completing a number of conversational tasks. The tapes of these friend dyads were coded for content relating to attitudes and behaviors regarding appearance, weight, and dieting. There were four types of appearance talk related to comments about other people's appearance, their best friend's appearance, their own weight and dieting, and other people's weight and dieting. Appearance talk was frequent in conversations between adolescents, especially comments about other people's appearance. Eating pathology was measured using the Eating Attitudes Test-26 during adolescence and as a symptom count during early adulthood. Eating pathology during adolescence predicted eating pathology during early adulthood. Adolescents who met clinical criteria for an eating disorder had higher rates of appearance talk than those who did not meet criteria. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between eating pathology and the four types of appearance talk. For females, talking about their best friend's appearance predicted adolescent and early adult eating pathology. For males, talking about their own weight and dieting predicted adolescent eating pathology. Talking about other people's weight and dieting also predicted early adult eating pathology for both males and females, even when controlling for adolescent eating pathology. Although appearance talk was common among adolescents, specific types of appearance talk predicted eating pathology differently for males and females. Furthermore, the most frequent types of appearance talk for males and females were not those that predicted eating pathology. This study supports the importance of the influence of friendship on eating pathology. Treatment implications are informed by these findings. This study informs future research and suggests the importance of observational methods in examining conversations about appearance.
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    An Investigation of the Effect of School Context, School Connectedness, and Academic Self-Efficacy on Multidimensional Outcomes Among Chilean Adolescents
    (University of Oregon, 2014-10-17) Graves, Lesley; McWhirter, Benedict
    In the current study, structural equation modeling is used to explore the complex relationships between environmental and individual factors as they influence multidimensional indices of adjustment among a sample of Chilean adolescents. The first aim was to examine the direct relationships between school contextual factors and both educational and socioemotional outcomes. The second aim was to determine the mediational effect of academic self-efficacy and school connectedness on these relationships. Invariance testing was then applied to the full structural model to determine whether demographic variables such as sex or school placement had significant moderating effects on path coefficients. Participants in this study included 893 (428 male and 465 female) 9th through 12th grade students sampled from four distinct high school settings in and around Santiago, Chile. The Chilean Ministry of Education identified three of the four schools as "priority" (meaning "high risk") public high schools based on academic achievement, area poverty, local economic prospects, and school demographics (e.g., drop-out rate). The fourth school is a private Catholic school that is partially subsidized by the government and located in central urban Santiago. Overall, findings from this study highlight that school contextual assets and stressors have a significant impact on the multidimensional adjustment of Chilean adolescents, both directly and by influencing individual academic self-efficacy and school connectedness. Direct relationships were found between school contextual factors and both educational and socioemotional outcomes. In addition, results highlighted the significant mediating effect of both school connectedness and academic self-efficacy in these relationships, reinforcing the central protective role of such factors in the school engagement and adjustment of youth. Lastly, invariance testing revealed significant differences in model fit between groups based on school type but not sex. Culturally embedded implications for intervention and future research are discussed.
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    Predicting when adolescent risky sexual behavior does not co-occur with other problem behaviors: A prospective study of family, peer, and individual factors
    (University of Oregon, 2010-09) Marchand, Erica J., 1977-
    Risky sexual behavior (RSB) places adolescents at risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, and research is needed to understand the predictors of adolescent RSB and targets for future intervention. The current study used the social contextual model of problem behavior development to examine family, peer, and individual influences on adolescents' sexual behavior and the relationship between RSB and other problem behaviors. Data were previously collected from 998 adolescents and their families. First, I examined the level of agreement between adolescents' and parents' perceptions of family relationships, parental monitoring, and adolescents' friendships and which perceptions were more strongly related to adolescent problem behavior. Pearson bivariate correlations between parent and adolescent perceptions were small. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that adolescent report was a better predictor of problem behavior than was parent report. Second, I assessed whether positive family relations, parental monitoring, family conflict, and parent-adolescent communication about sex in earlier adolescence were related to RSB in later adolescence. Structural equation modeling results suggested that the timing and frequency of parent-adolescent communication about sex and parent monitoring in earlier adolescence were related to RSB in later adolescence among the sample as a whole; results varied somewhat by gender. Third, I examined participants' membership in four risk behavior groups in late adolescence (low problem behavior, RSB only, substance use only, and RSB plus substance use), identified family, peer, and individual factors that differentiated teens in each group, and explored differences by sex and ethnicity. Females were more likely than males to report engaging in a combination of RSB and patterned substance use, and African Americans of both sexes were more likely than European Americans to report engaging in RSB in the absence of other behaviors. The variable that most reliably distinguished among risk groups for both males and females was friend drug use in late adolescence. Discussion considers reasons for these findings and highlights the roles of parent monitoring, parent-adolescent communication about sex, and gender and sociocultural factors in RSB prevention.