Background. Because there have been few studies examining resilience associated with postnatal (PN) depression, this study aimed at formulating and testing a theory-based model integrating both traditional resilience paradigms and non-traditional factors including existential beliefs about life, motherhood and religion. Method. Study hypotheses addressed prediction of PN depression, stress and resilience, and the confounding influence of negative affectivity (neuroticism). Study variables included PN depression (Edinburgh PN Depression Scale, EPDS), stress, neuroticism, self-esteem, mother's distress and ambivalence, purpose/meaning, religious belief, parity, age, marital and social status. They were assessed with standardized self-report instruments and, following a pilot, administered to a probability sample of women four months postpartum in a one-wave, community, postal survey. Because the overall response rate was so low (49%) only the Europeans were included in the study (N = 225; response-rate = 78%). Statistical hypothesis-testing included linear and logistical multivariate model-twilding techniques, and principal components analysis. Results. Sixteen percent scored in the major depression range (EPDS > 12), and 14% in the minor depression range. Depression was associated with stress, neuroticism, purpose/meaning, mother's distress and (marginally) religious belief, but not with self-esteem, mother's ambivalence, age, parity or social class. Although neuroticism was strongly associated with depression, and also overlapped with most psycho-social variables, nonetheless stress, purpose/meaning, and mother's distress maintained significant relationships with depression after neuroticism was statistically controlled. Stress was associated in part with the perception of losing one's freedom in the motherhood role (neuroticism controlled). When resilience was defined as high stress coupled with low depression, it was associated with low levels of neuroticism and mother's distress. When resilience was defined in terms of high levels of maternal satisfaction, it was associated with high purpose and low ambivalence. Principal components analyses revealed that (1) stress scores reflected two dimensions suggestive of distress and self-efficacy; and (2) depression, stress, neuroticism, self-esteem and purpose were markers for the same underlying component, whereas mother's distress and ambivalence were markers for another (unrelated) component. Conclusion. This study underlines the relevance of temperament, self-efficacy, self-transcendence, existential beliefs and motherhood-related cogniitions to the understanding of PN depression and stress. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen Myers-Bowman / Sibling relationships have often been studied with the goal of understanding the sibling influence on development of an individual. With the focus on development, research has often been limited to the time of life between the ages of birth to 18. Sibling research in adulthood has often been limited to examining siblings’ interactions in a particular context. Most of the research has examined siblings dealing with caregiving, family businesses, finances, or parental treatment. How siblings feel about their relationship, how the relationship has enhanced their lives, and what meaning individuals ascribe to that relationship through their lifetime has been understudied. This study focused on the meaning ascribed to a relationship between sisters by those in the relationship as well as the importance of sisterhood to the individual’s identity or perception of who they are because of the relationship. Participants responded to questions designed to gather information about what it means to them to be a sister in middle adulthood. The sisters indicated that the relationship held meaning for them though out their adult life. Parents were found to have influenced the relationship. In addition the sister relationship impacted the development of a sisters identity in multiple ways. For most sisters, they could not imagine who they would have become without the influence of their sisters.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Laura A. Brannon / Binge drinking is a serious health problem among American college students (Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee, 2000a). One technique that may reduce binge drinking is compliance. Cialdini (2001) defined compliance as taking an action because it has been requested and described sequential request tactics, including the commitment/consistency-based foot-in-the-door (FITD) tactic, and the reciprocity-based door-in-the-face (DITF) tactic. Cialdini claimed that these tactics yield automatic compliance. The present research investigated Cialdini’s automaticity assumption within the context of reducing binge drinking, by including a neutral or weak message along with the compliance request (consistent with Brannon & Brock, 2001). The main hypothesis was that compliance is not automatic, as demonstrated by differential compliance consistent with message strength. Parallel experiments investigated compliance with requests to reduce one’s drinking behavior (Experiment 1, N=129) or communicate about responsible drinking (Experiment 2, N=122). Participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions in each experiment. Consistent with the purpose of each experiment, participants indicated whether they would comply with initial requests consistent with FITD and DITF methodology, or were not asked to comply with an initial request (control); read either a neutral or weak message about the importance of moderate alcohol consumption; then responded to the target request (dependent variable) by reporting the likelihood that they would not drink excessively for one week (Experiment 1) or would discuss responsible drinking with someone (Experiment 2). Participants in both experiments completed demographic and alcohol consumption information and a social desirability measure (Strahan & Gerbasi, 1972). Data were submitted to 2(Strength) × 3(Appeal) × 2(Gender) ANCOVAs (drinks per occasion and social desirability were covariates). Experiment 1 revealed a significant Strength × Appeal interaction, with the DITF and FITD appeals eliciting lower compliance rates than the control appeal when accompanied by a weak persuasive message, thereby refuting Cialdini’s automaticity assumption. A significant main effect for appeal in Experiment 2 (DITF yielded lower compliance than FITD or control appeal) did not support Cialdini’s (2001) claim. Correlates of drinking behavior among college students are discussed, as are implications of the present research for compliance theory and reducing binge drinking on American college campuses.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Marsha A. Dickson / The blending of small percentages of organic cotton has been a successful way for apparel manufacturers to introduce organic cotton into their supply chain. However, little is known on how consumers perceive small percentage blended organic cotton apparel products. The purpose of this study was twofold. One goal was to identify the groups of consumers who might be interested in buying blended organic cotton clothes and find out what kind of labeling they preferred. The second goal was to find out more about the consumer’s attitudes and interest in purchasing the organic cotton clothing. Theory in consumer behavior, and social psychology provided the conceptual framework for the study. Major variables included in the study were environmental attitudes, attitudes of the consumers and important other people towards organic cotton clothing, skepticism toward environmental product claims, consumer self-identity, and future purchase intention. Data were collected with a mail survey of consumers, stratified by state population, that was randomly drawn from a national mailing list of health and natural foods consumers (usable response rate=14.9%, n=422). Factor analysis uncovered latent variables from among the large number of items. Conjoint analysis revealed which product attributes were salient and cluster analysis identified segments of consumers with different attribute preferences. Finally, multiple regression analysis was used to examine the causal relationships among variables affection future purchase intention. Percentage of organic cotton content, price, and labeling for fairly traded fibers and donations to cancer research were all attributes used by the consumers to decide how likely the would be to purchase an organic cotton t-shirt. Two segments of consumers (53%) used the percentage of organic cotton more than any other attribute to decide their purchase likelihood. Results from the multiple regression were used to make a model of socially responsible consumer behavior. The research makes numerous contributions. Apparel manufacturers will benefit from knowing that seeing even small percentages of organic fiber helps consumers decide to purchase organic clothing. Theoretical contributions include the determination that the relationship between future purchase intention and both self-identity and the personal norm is mediated by the consumers’ evaluation of outcomes of the purchase.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Mark A. Barnett / When adolescents are the subjects of developmental research into prosocial behaviors, the evidence suggests that both peers and parents are contributors to adolescents’ helping behavior. However, these two predictors are rarely studied concurrently. The present study explored the relative influence of parents and peers on (1) different types of adolescent helping (i.e., planned and spontaneous) and (2) different targets of spontaneous helping (i.e., friends, non-friends, and strangers) in 51 early (mean age = 12.54 years, 24 boys and 27 girls) and 57 middle (mean age = 16.82 years, 25 boys and 32 girls) adolescents. Adolescents and their parents completed parallel forms asking them to describe their planned helping as well as a questionnaire assessing past and anticipated future spontaneous helping of friends, strangers, and (for adolescents only) non-friends. Adolescents also reported their perception of their friendship group’s norm of helping as well as their level of identification with their friendship group. There was no clear age-related helping pattern, though a sex difference (females were generally more helpful than males) and an effect of target (friends were helped more than non-friends, who were in turn helped more than strangers) found in the adolescents was paralleled in the adults. Fathers’ planned helping was generally more strongly related to their adolescents’ planned helping than was mothers’ planned helping, though both mothers’ and fathers’ spontaneous helping of friends and family (though not of strangers) was strongly associated with their adolescents’ spontaneous helping. In contrast to parental variables’ relationship with both adolescent planned and spontaneous helping, peer variables were more consistently related to spontaneous than planned helping. Implications of the present findings, and proposed directions for future research, are discussed.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Briana S. Goff / Events of war have long been considered traumatic and research has found that those exposed to war may develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or psychological difficulties. Although research has indicated the instance of increased PTSD and other symptoms in returning Operation Iraqi Freedom/ Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) soldiers, it has yet to explore the trauma experiences of their female partners. The current study sought to address this limitation by exploring the ways in which partners’/wives’ primary trauma influenced the marriage relationship. Given the tendency for trauma to negatively influence relationship satisfaction, it was expected that the primary trauma experiences of the female partners of OIF/OEF soldiers would likewise negatively impact relationship satisfaction for both themselves and the soldiers. Results from this study indicated that female primary trauma, particularly trauma related to PTSD symptoms, has an influence on levels of relationship satisfaction, both for female partners and soldiers. Specifically, female partner re-experiencing symptoms were found to most significantly predict their own relationship satisfaction, while female partner arousal symptoms most significantly predicted soldier relationship satisfaction. Understanding female primary trauma may be important given the seeming sensitivity females have for developing PTSD and for experiencing symptoms that are chronic in nature. In addition, female civilian partners may play a key role in helping military families to function well throughout the deployment process given their assumption of major family responsibilities. Further, their emotional wellbeing may be considered a “family affair” due to the role that family relationships may serve in helping individuals cope with trauma, including returning soldiers. Indeed, civilian female partners appear to play a major role in helping military families cope with stresses associated with war and the deployment process. As such, the emotional condition of military families can no longer be considered solely within the realm of soldier trauma or secondary traumatization, but instead include consideration of the influence of female primary traumatic experiences.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Laura A. Brannon / Two studies address the serious problem of college student binge drinking. Both studies identify factors that improve the effectiveness of public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging responsible drinking presented through a website simulation. Study 1 tested four levels of Message Personalization (i.e., extent to which the PSA targets important aspects of the individual's personality) by comparing the effectiveness of messages matched to the person's Big Five personality traits, their actual self-schema, their ideal self-schema, or a non-personalized control message. Matching to actual self-schema has been found to be effective in past research. However, it was expected that the more thoroughly personalized the message, the more effective it would be. Results revealed that in no instance was the most thoroughly personalized condition (Big Five matched) or the alternate way of matching to schema (ideal self-schema) more effective than the actual self-schema matching. When designing PSAs, there appears to be a threshold of personalization. Research related to testing PSAs discouraging binge drinking should continue to pursue self-schema matching rather than the more complicated Big Five matching. Study 2 tested Person Matching (i.e., whether the PSA matches the person's self-schema type or not) and two types of Context Matching (i.e., whether the PSA matches the Topic or Values of the message context) to determine their relative influence on the effectiveness of the PSA. It was expected that PSAs matched to any of these factors would be more effective than messages not matched, and that Person Matching would be more influential on the PSAs effectiveness than the two types of context matching. Person Matching reduced intentions to drink while staying in/home, but Topic Matching reduced intentions to drink when going out, suggesting that different factors are important for PSAs targeting drinking behavior in different locations. The interaction of Topic Matching and Values Matching indicate that the PSA should not match the message context too closely. Again, there appears to be a matching threshold; increasing the number of factors the message matches does not increase message effectiveness, possibly because it makes the message too redundant with the webpage content.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Farrell J. Webb / The purpose of this thesis was to examine the well-being of adults from divorced and non-divorced family backgrounds. The thrust of this thesis was to examine if and how adult well-being is influenced by family background factors, specifically support, safety, religiosity and spirituality. Data for this analysis come from the National Survey of the Moral and Spiritual Lives of Children of Divorce, a nationally representative sample of 1,510 adults ages 18-35, evenly divided by either divorced or non-divorced backgrounds. Using Social Learning and Social Exchange Theories, a path model was created to inform and guide this investigation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify similarities or differences within and between groups and test hypotheses. Results indicate that adults from divorced homes, lower in spirituality and higher in religiosity experience lower well-being than adults from non-divorced homes, those with higher spirituality or lower religiosity. Childhood religiosity was not related to adult well-being for those from a divorced background. However, childhood religiosity demonstrated a positive relationship with adult well-being for adults from non-divorced backgrounds. The path model uncovered that, among other variables, income and family support were important predictors of well-being across groups. For the divorce group, education appears to be uniquely salient, while spirituality is more influential for the non-divorce group.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Laura A. Brannon / Previous research has repeatedly demonstrated that undergraduate students overrate others’ norm comfort with and consumption of alcohol (i.e., Prentice & Miller, 1993). This is a dangerous misperception, as students are increasing their personal alcohol intake and / or frequency in order to match their incorrect perception of how much everyone else is drinking. Already assuming that their peers are more comfortable with, and consume more, alcohol than they do, college students’ perception of norm alcohol use may be influenced by peer comments indicating approval / disapproval of alcohol use. Thus, the present study experimentally tested whether a positive or negative comment in reaction to a portrayal of excessive drinking would influence participants’ perceptions of drinking behavior among their campus peers, and whether the sex of the person making the comment differentially influences participants’ perceptions of each sex’s extent of participation in drinking. Participants’ perceptions of drinking behavior were not influenced by the confederate comment nor confederate sex; however, participants consistently estimated that the drinking norm is higher for males than females. Additionally, female participants perceived the drinking norm to be higher than did male participants. Participants’ ratings of the confederates did differ, however, depending on the comment; participants rated the confederates more favorably when the comment made was negative / criticizing of excessive drinking than when the comment made was positive / endorsing of excessive drinking.