1,720,982 research outputs found
Predictors of psychological well-being among Asian and Latino college students
No full textThe aim of this study was to examine how acculturation, enculturation and perceived social support as mediated by sense coherence (SOC), a protective factor for negative mental health outcomes, predict life satisfaction and psychological well-being in 67 Asian-Pacific Islander and 261 Latino college students from two ethnically diverse public institutions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the overall models of acculturation, enculturation, social support, and SOC significantly predicted psychological distress and life satisfaction. Addition of sense of coherence reliably improved prediction of psychological distress and life satisfaction in Asian and Latino college students. Hypotheses regarding the mediating role of sense of coherence were partially supported. Sense of coherence only mediated the effects of perceived social support on psychological distress. Meanwhile sense of coherence fully mediated enculturation and partially mediated perceived social support on life satisfaction. Implications for research and practice with Asian and Latino college students are discussed.Acculturation, Enculturation, Life Satisfaction, Perceived Social Support, Psychological Well-Being, Sense of CoherenceCommittee members: Munyi Shea, Jessica Dennis, Douglas Stenstrom, Senqi HuThesis (M.A.) California State University, Los Angeles, 201
Perceived stress, race-related stress, social support, and psychological distress among Asian American college students
No full textThe purpose of the paper is to provide an overall perspective into the mental health of Asian American college students. Past studies have shown that mental health services are underutilized by Asian Americans due to cultural stigmas associated with psychiatric and psychological symptoms (Liang, Li, & Kim, 2004). Therefore, we hope the current study will provide an updated view on how Asian American students experience and deal with perceived stress, race-related stress, and social support, and specifically how each variable affects their levels of anxiety and depression. Past studies have explored similar variables experienced in the college setting such as acculturative stress, perceived racism, and social support among Asian Americans (Hwang & Ting, 2008; Iwamoto & Liu, 2010; Liang, Alvarez, Juang, & Liang, 2009). However, the current study will focus primarily on how culture can have a profound influence on how Asian American students acculturate during college, how they deal with family conflict, and how they utilize social support to cope with their experiences. Moreover, all these experiences are unique to an individual, and therefore there is a need to explore how Asian American college students experience anxiety and depression within their respective situations and environments.Committee members: Munyi Shea, Robert F Kennison, Jessica M Dennis, Senqi HuThesis (M.A.) California State University, Los Angeles, 2012Asian, College, Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, Race-Related Stress, Social Suppor
Predictors of psychological well-being among Asian and Latino college students
No full textThesis (M.A.)
California State University, Los Angeles, 2012Committee members: Munyi Shea, Jessica Dennis, Douglas Stenstrom, Senqi HuAcculturation, Enculturation, Life Satisfaction, Perceived Social Support, Psychological Well-Being, Sense of CoherenceThe aim of this study was to examine how acculturation, enculturation and perceived social support as mediated by sense coherence (SOC), a protective factor for negative mental health outcomes, predict life satisfaction and psychological well-being in 67 Asian-Pacific Islander and 261 Latino college students from two ethnically diverse public institutions. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the overall models of acculturation, enculturation, social support, and SOC significantly predicted psychological distress and life satisfaction. Addition of sense of coherence reliably improved prediction of psychological distress and life satisfaction in Asian and Latino college students. Hypotheses regarding the mediating role of sense of coherence were partially supported. Sense of coherence only mediated the effects of perceived social support on psychological distress. Meanwhile sense of coherence fully mediated enculturation and partially mediated perceived social support on life satisfaction. Implications for research and practice with Asian and Latino college students are discussed
Perceived stress, race-related stress, social support, and psychological distress among Asian American college students
No full textThesis (M.A.)
California State University, Los Angeles, 2012Committee members: Munyi Shea, Robert F Kennison, Jessica M Dennis, Senqi HuAsian, College, Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, Race-Related Stress, Social SupportThe purpose of the paper is to provide an overall perspective into the mental health of Asian American college students. Past studies have shown that mental health services are underutilized by Asian Americans due to cultural stigmas associated with psychiatric and psychological symptoms (Liang, Li, & Kim, 2004). Therefore, we hope the current study will provide an updated view on how Asian American students experience and deal with perceived stress, race-related stress, and social support, and specifically how each variable affects their levels of anxiety and depression. Past studies have explored similar variables experienced in the college setting such as acculturative stress, perceived racism, and social support among Asian Americans (Hwang & Ting, 2008; Iwamoto & Liu, 2010; Liang, Alvarez, Juang, & Liang, 2009). However, the current study will focus primarily on how culture can have a profound influence on how Asian American students acculturate during college, how they deal with family conflict, and how they utilize social support to cope with their experiences. Moreover, all these experiences are unique to an individual, and therefore there is a need to explore how Asian American college students experience anxiety and depression within their respective situations and environments
The Role of Spirituality in Psychological Adjustment among College Students
No full textAbstract
College-related stress such as academic workload, financial concerns, and interpersonal problems have been associated with college students’ psychological distress (e.g., Chow, 2007; Ross et al., 2005). This study examined how spirituality – comprised of religious well-being (one’s relationship with God) and existential well-being (one’s sense of life purpose)—may buffer against the effect of college-related stress on student’s experience of psychological distress, and enhance their sense of satisfaction with life. An ethnically diverse sample of college students from two public universities in Southern California and New Jersey was recruited. Multiple regression analyses showed that the overall model of spiritual well-being and college-related stress was statistically significant in predicting college students’ psychological distress and satisfaction with life. Moderation analysis indicated that existential well-being, but not religious well-being, significantly moderated the effect of college stress on students’ experience of psychological distress, but not on their satisfaction with life. Suggestions and implications for educators and counselors will be discussed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Femininity Stress and Help-Seeking Intentions in College-Aged Women
No full textYoung adults, including college-aged students, are at a higher risk for developing mental illness (Kessler et al., 2005), yet the utilization of mental health services among college students remains alarmingly low (Eisenberg, Gollust, Golberstein, & Hefner, 2007; Blanco et al., 2008). Additionally, female college students are susceptible to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001; Hunt, Sweeting, Keoghan, & Platt, 2006). Although female generally possesses more favorable attitudes towards seeking help (Nam et al., 2010), the knowledge of how their femininity experiences influence their help-seeking behaviors is limited. The current study employed the Theory of Reasoned Action framework (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) to investigate how women’s self-defined femininity stress, generic stress, and identification with one’s gender group influence their perceived social stigma, mental health help-seeking attitudes and intentions. 451 female college students from a university in Southern California completed an online survey. PROCESS model was used to examine the relationships among the variables and the mediating roles of stigma and help-seeking attitudes. Results demonstrated that subjective femininity stress and generic stress significantly and negatively predicted help-seeking intention, but positively predicted attitudes and stigma. Gender solidarity significantly and positively predicted attitudes, but negatively predicted social stigma. Additionally, social stigma and help-seeking attitudes were significant mediators in all proposed models. Overall, the findings suggested that femininity stress and generic stress impede help-seeking intentions via increased social stigma and negative attitudes towards receiving professional help. Moreover, solidarity with other women acted as a powerful protector against social stigma and promoted utilization of help. Limitations and implications of results are further discussed
Foster care: Mental health services’ effects on number of placement changes
No full textThe purpose of this investigation was to analyze protective and risk factors within the foster care system that contribute to negative outcomes in foster children. Although many studies have analyzed protective and risk factors separately, this study targeted both, protective and risk factors. The investigator examined mental health services (protective factor) effects on placement instability (risk factor) in foster children. Data were collected from Edmund Children’s Court (dependency court) case files through Los Angeles County CASA department. One sample of participants was analyzed (N=17) from Los Angeles County court files. The data that were collected from each file included case social worker reports, mental health services, court dispositions, and CASA reports. The results of the study indicated that although mental health services (protective factor) are in place in the life of foster children, there was not a significant relationship between mental health services and number of placement changes. Furthermore, the results indicated a significant association between parental substance abuse, parental incarceration, and number of placement changes in foster children. Participants with parental substance abuse had higher number of placement changes compared to participants who did not report parental substance abuse. In addition, parental substance abuse was significantly associated with parental incarceration. Parents with substance abuse histories were more likely to report having incarceration histories compared to parents with no substance abuse history. Nonetheless, even though these findings are consistent with past research on parental substance abuse and parental incarceration, due to the small size of the sample for this study, these findings cannot be generalized. The results of the study suggest that although mental health services are a great need for foster children and are in place; such services alone do not significantly decrease placement instability. Even though the findings were not statistically significant, this is not to say that mental health services do not contribute to positive outcomes or ameliorate behavior problems in foster children. Future research is needed to address the benefits of mental health services on placement changes by testing whether mental health services as delivered to foster children today are making a significant contribution to their well being or might need to be adjusted
The Effects of Viewing Alcohol-related Instagram Content on Emerging Adults’ Social Norms and Desire to Consume Alcohol
No full textResearch suggests that people consume the most alcohol in their late teens, and early to mid-twenties (NIAAA, 2014). Emerging adults in college are especially at risk for excessive alcohol use (Hingson, Zha, & Weitzman, 2009). They are also heavy users of media, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Adolescent exposure to alcohol use in movies is related to increased alcohol usage and risk taking (Wills et al., 2009). Furthermore, viewing alcohol-related content in Facebook posts among 13-15 year olds led to the belief that alcohol use was normative, and increased the reported desirability to use alcohol (Litt & Stock, 2011). Using the social norms theory of alcohol (Perkin & Berkowitz, 1986), we examine how viewing alcohol-related content in social media may lead to more liberal social norms and a stronger desire to use alcohol. An important question is whether presence of alcohol-related content and attractiveness of a social media poster will influence perceptions about alcohol and the desire to use alcohol. The present study examined the impact of experimenter-created Instagram posts (which manipulated images of alcohol and the attractiveness of the poster) on a diverse sample of emerging adult participants’ social norms about the acceptance of alcohol use and their desire to use alcohol. Two hundred and five college students (ages 18-25) viewed experimenter-manipulated Instagram posts, which showed an attractive or unattractive poster with or without alcohol. After viewing the posts, participants completed a series of surveys that measured their social norms for less and more severe drinking behavior and their desire to use alcohol. Approximately half of our sample reported that they did not drink alcohol and the social media posts did not affect their norms about and desire to use alcohol. Among alcohol users, however, viewing alcohol-related content did influence social norms and desire to use alcohol. Those who were exposed to alcohol-related posts perceived that the average person was more accepting of alcohol use, and they were more likely to report wanting to use alcohol. The results suggest that prior alcohol use may moderate susceptibility to alcohol-related social media content. The knowledge gained through this research may lead to potential prevention and rehabilitation of alcohol use via online safeguards and interventions
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