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<p> This applied theoretical paper explores the underlying capacity for caregivers to raise emotionally intelligent, well-adjusted children who grow up able to respond effectively to the demands of a complex world. A guiding supposition of the research is that diminished access to institutional privilege, especially when unrecognized and unprocessed by caregivers, is likely a risk factor connected to a variety of deleterious outcomes associated with the social determinants of health as defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This connection resulted from asking the question, &ldquo;How does the underlying capacity for caregivers to understand and manage diverse and complex dimensions of their personal identity, especially in terms of how they relate to institutional power and privilege, serve as a protective factor in meeting the developmental needs of their children for a safe, stable, and nourishing emotional environment?&rdquo; To answer this question, two well-respected theoretical orientations were identified that each spoke to half of the question, but when brought together, could much more elegantly address many more aspects of the question in an integrated and holistic fashion. Specifically, John Bowlby&rsquo;s Attachment Theory provided important context as to what developmental needs children have for a safe, stable, and nourishing emotional environment. On the other hand, Jean Baker Miller&rsquo;s Relational-Cultural Theory was adept at offering a nuanced perspective on understanding diverse and complex dimensions of personal identity, especially as those dimensions interfaced with institutional privilege. Bringing these two perspectives together and synthesizing them into a new approach, an approach named Attachment-Informed Relational-Cultural Therapy, was the culmination of the research. One important outcome of the research was how it framed secure attachment as an unearned privilege (i.e. attachment privilege) that is affected by and simultaneously affects multiple variables in the caregiver and child dyad. These variables can themselves then become either protective factors supporting further secure attachment or risk factors threatening to damage or destroy it. Through the process of linking childhood attachment themes to the theme of access to institutional privilege it is hoped a greater capacity may be achieved for supporting caregivers in understanding and managing diverse and complex dimensions of their personal identity.</p>

<p> Child maltreatment models view risk as a complex constellation of factors that emphasize parents&rsquo; trauma experiences and regulation processes. Attachment research has shown that mothers&rsquo; representations of childhood attachment and caregiving places their children at developmental risk. Studies to date have evaluated contributing factors separately, but little research considers mothers&rsquo; past and current experiences combined with relational trauma and familial regulation patterns. The current research adopted an integrated perspective using known maternal risk factors, and extended existing research in several unique ways by examining association with both adult trauma and childhood trauma; caregiving representations; pathological mourning; and capacity for emotion regulation. Seventy-five mothers with children between 19-74 months (40% boys) from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds completed assessments of maltreatment risk, adult attachment, caregiving, relational trauma, parenting stress, and emotion regulation. Maternal representations of attachment were significantly related to risk, with unresolved mothers demonstrating the highest risk. There were significant positive associations between risk and relational trauma &ndash; both frequency and subjective distress with parents and partners. Helpless and heightened caregiving representations, parenting stress, and emotion regulation were also all significantly related to risk. This is the first study to consider maltreatment in the context of relational trauma as defined by Bowlby&rsquo;s (1980) model of pathological mourning. Risk scores were significantly greater for mothers classified in pathological mourning groups than other mothers. These findings punctuate the effects of problems associated with mourning attachment trauma on maternal regulatory capacities and parenting risk. Implications for infant mental health research and intervention are discussed.</p>

<p> This liberatory participatory action research involved a collaborative inquiry by unaccompanied minors from Central America. Using participatory action research and a liberatory approach, the study followed the youth as they investigated and shared their experiences in the systems of custody and legal protection that exist for unaccompanied minors in the United States. The research question, developed with the youth, was what is the experience of unaccompanied minors as they journey to the United States? Their collaborative inquiry is reflected in the mural that they created and their complementary written personal narratives. The co-creation of the mural and personal narratives developed their self-awareness as they discovered and understood their social placement. The research question also stimulated the participants&rsquo; consideration of taking action for social change through the sharing of their experience with the public. The work of these youth took place in the accompaniment of adults who witnessed the participants&rsquo; inquiry and shared knowledge with them about the journeys of other unaccompanied minors. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> accompaniment, collaborative inquiry, liberatory psychology, youth participatory action, unaccompanied minors.</p>

<p>Echo and Narcissus is one of the most famous myths in Western culture. This thesis explores the personal and archetypal significance of the character Echo. Topics addressed are early childhood trauma, affect regulation, borderline personality disorder, the relationship between self and other, and the theory of dialectics. Texts are examined from psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, existential philosophy, interpersonal neurobiology, and behavioral psychology. Using a hermeneutic approach to compare these texts, this paper tracks the archetypal dynamic of Echo and Narcissus over time and across a variety of disciplines. By looking for traces of Echo and Narcissus in multiple contexts, this thesis offers a fresh take on a familiar story. </p>

One in five youth suffer from mental illness, and even more experience subclinical symptoms, yet this pathologic focus ignores factors of mental health that contribute to flourishing. The vast majority of research on emotional intelligence and subjective well-being has been conducted on adults and little is known about their relationship to social-emotional adjustment in youth, particularly across socioeconomic status and age. The present study examined the social-emotional adjustment (using the BASC-SRP and CBCL-YSR), subjective well-being (PANAS-C and BMSLSS), and teacher-rated emotional intelligence (Pfeiffer Emotional Intelligence Scale, Revised – Teacher Report) in 136 youth (61% female) across age (mean = 12.6 years old) and socioeconomic status (32% low income). Regression and moderation analyses did not reveal any significant relationships or moderating influences between the constructs and variables. Suggestions for future research to consider separately examining the factors of emotional intelligence in relation to components of subjective well-being and facets of social-emotional adjustment are discussed. Future research is strongly encouraged to further investigate factors of mental health alongside maladjustment and sub-clinical mental illness in an effort to clarify the complex relationship between these variables and inform the development of efficacious prevention and intervention programs for youth. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2016. / April 19, 2016. / Adjustment, Emotional Intelligence, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Well-being, Youth / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven I. Pfeiffer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Christopher Schatschneider, University Representative; Frances Prevatt, Committee Member; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member.

<p> Research on the negative impact of divorce on children&rsquo;s well-being is extensive and indicates that, on average, children from divorced families suffer from more adjustment difficulties than those whose families remained intact. However, few studies have been done on the specific long-term effects on individuals who experienced parental divorce when they were particularly young. Are there maladaptive behaviors, or other implications for adult adjustment? This study explores the adaptive functioning of a college population of young adults whose parents divorced between the ages of two and seven. Participants completed questionnaires on demographic information, current level of functioning, parental marital status, and survey items taken from reliable measures. The responses of participants who were between the ages of two and seven during time of divorce were compared to the responses of two control groups: individuals whose parents divorced after the age of seven, and individuals whose families remained intact. Results indicated that marital status grouping (early divorce, later divorce, or intact family) did have a significant effect on certain aspects of adaptive functioning. Adult children of early childhood divorce indicated lower formal educational attainment, lower financial status, more reports of mental health diagnosis, higher number of transitory adult intimate relationships, less secure attachment to father, lower self-esteem, and greater learned helplessness than both later childhood divorce and intact family participants. The developmental timeframe in which divorce occurs plays a key role in young adult adaptive functioning.</p><p>

<p> This thesis explored the role of sexually explicit material (SEM) on the Internet in adolescent sexuality and education. Does SEM on the Internet affect adolescent sexual attitudes, behaviors, and other facets of sexual functioning, such as fantasizing, masturbation, and sexual self-esteem? In addition, is the Internet becoming the new sex educator? The sample consisted of 492 college students (340 females, 152 males) between the ages of 18 and 23 who took an anonymous, online survey. Among the sample, 98% had seen SEM before the age of 18, first exposure typically occurring around the age of 12. The most popular reason for seeking SEM on the Internet was curiosity. It was found that with more exposure to SEM on the Internet, there was more permissive sexual attitudes, higher levels of sexual behavior, and more sexual fantasizing. In addition, masturbation was more SEM-dependent and compulsive with more exposure. Further, more exposure was related to the twelve aspects of sexuality. For instance, more exposure was related to higher sexual self- esteem, higher sexual-preoccupation, higher sexual-satisfaction, and lower sexual-fear. While males were seeing more SEM on the Internet than females, both males and females were seeing SEM on the Internet for the first time around the same age, though females had more negative feelings about it, and their sexual attitudes and behaviors were similarly affected. It was concluded that SEM on the Internet is a normative adolescent experience and that the Internet is the new sex educator, as adolescents are using it as an informational resource.</p><p>

<p> This thesis seeks to explore the association between ego threat and coping in terms of cognitive strategies and behavioral tendencies. Moreover, the current study is also intended to use attachment dimensions as an underlying mechanism to understand the impact of ego threat on coping. Within the internal working models of attachment theory, the current study seeks to examine two major questions: (1) what strategies individuals use to cope with ego threatening events: and (2) how attachment associates with coping strategies during various ego-threats conditions? The results had a significant impact when individuals were presented with ego threat scenarios suggest that individuals are most likely to use state coping of emotion focused disengagement followed closely by state coping disengagement while experiencing an ego-threat condition. However, all state coping strategies (e.g., state coping engagement, state coping disengagement, state coping problem focused engagement, state coping emotion focused engagement, state coping problem focused disengagement, and state coping emotion focused disengagement) had a significant impact when individuals were presented with ego-threat scenarios. The results of association between attachment dimensions and state coping strategies across ego-threat conditions were not significant. Further this study implies ego-threat conditions make it more likely for individuals to use dysfunctional coping strategies such as state coping disengagement and emotion focused disengagement. Overall, the study has implications for enhancing our understanding of internal working models of attachment and the tendency for ego-threat to impact coping strategies, emphasizes the potency of ego-threatening events as they impact self-view and efficacy of coping solutions.</p><p>

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries