Chronic stress contributes to a global burden of disease that include mental illness, cardiovascular disease and early mortality. One pathway linking stress responses to health outcomes involves cardiovascular response to psychological stress. Specifically, vagal response as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV) can be used to examine autonomic processes, dysfunction of which can predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The competitive academic climate on undergraduate campuses and insufficient time for recreation, rest and study, combined with inadequate coping skills can equate to consistent stressors that lead to subsequent stress and psychopathology among college students. Research demonstrates that reduced HRV can be observed among students during exam time, whereas increased HRV is observed in times of rest, suggesting that academic stress contributes to real-time physiological changes that, when prolonged, can be pathogenic in nature. Interventions aimed at influencing these processes via relaxation or other mind-body approaches have shown that enhancing meta-cognitive skills and other coping strategies have proven helpful in both improving perceived stress and psychological distress as well as improving HRV when compared with controls. This study investigates potential positive physiological effects of an eight-week Spiritual-Mind-Body (SMB) intervention, Awakened Awareness for Adolescents (AA-A), for undergraduate students. Specifically, we explore changes in HRV during resting, stress and recovery phases before and after the eight-week intervention. Additionally, we examine the association between change in self-report on measures of personal spirituality and psychological variables (pre-post AA-A), and changes across a host of HRV indices. Results include improvements in HRV recovery from stress and that a process of spiritual recovery is associated with these changes. SMB interventions that aim to improve spiritual and psychological functioning may promote psychophysiological resilience from stress.

The study examined the impostor phenomenon among undergraduate and graduate students at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Participants were recruited from various undergraduate and graduate programs at a PWI located in Northeastern U.S. There were 414 participants, all of whom completed an online Qualtrics survey, which included measures on demographics, sense of belonging, impostor phenomenon, mindset, perceived social support, and depression. Results indicated a significantly positive relationship between impostor phenomenon and depression. Perceived social support and sense of belonging significantly moderated this relationship. Female and Other (Transgender, Non-Binary, and Non-Gender-Specified) participants experienced a significantly higher level of impostor feelings than Male participants. Asian and Other (African American, Hispanic, Latinx, Middle Eastern, Biracial, and Multiracial) participants experienced significantly lower levels of perceived social support than White participants, but did not experience significantly different levels of impostor phenomenon or sense of belonging compared to White participants. Lastly, there was no significant relationship between fixed mindset and impostor phenomenon. In light of these results, there are several recommendations for universities, including increasing the amount of support groups.

This study examined the differences in racial groups across perceived stress and perceived disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic among undergraduate and graduate students at a Northeastern Predominantly White Institution (PWI). The sample consisted of 268 students who completed a Qualtrics survey measuring perceived stress, perceived disruptions during COVID-19, symptoms of anxiety and depression, motivation approach and sustained attention in addition to demographics. Results indicated a significant difference in disruption as reported by Non-Hispanic White students with more sources of disruption than non-White and Hispanic students. When rating the extent of disruption, non-White and Hispanic students reported significantly greater levels of disruption. While there were no significant differences between racial groups in reports of perceived stress, all racial groups reported moderate levels of perceived stress, consistent with other researchers in the pandemic. Increased levels of perceived stress were correlated to higher levels of symptoms of depression and anxiety, greater difficulty sustaining attention and a stronger likelihood of using both prevention and promotion approaches. Those with lower economic circumstances reported higher levels of anxiety, greater difficulties sustaining attention, and were more likely to be motivated to not fail. Graduate students demonstrated significantly higher symptoms of anxiety than undergraduates and international students were more likely to be motivated to not fail than domestic students. These results demonstrate a need for university wide support to address student stressors.

Background: As the majority of studies examining mental health during the pandemic are cross-sectional, little is known about the changes in mental health during the pandemic, especially in university students. Most studies indicate a worsening of mental health conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of German university students during the third wave of the pandemic in 2021 and to compare the results to a sample of a congruent cross-sectional study from 2020. Methods: Two cross-sectional and anonymous online surveys among university students were conducted (first survey: July-August 2020, N = 3,382; second survey: March-April 2021, N = 5,642). Mental health status was assessed with standardized measures (depressive symptoms, alcohol and drug consumption, and eating disorder symptoms), and social and emotional aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. In addition to descriptive statistics and group comparisons of the two survey samples from 2020 and 2021, respectively, risk and protective factors related to mental health were analyzed. Results: There were significant differences in severities of depressive symptoms and alcohol and drug consumption between the two online surveys from 2020 and 2021. Findings suggest an increase in the severity of depressive symptoms as well as alcohol and drug consumption. Significantly more respondents reported suicidal ideation in the survey from 2021. Lower self-efficacy, less social support and lower resilience as well as higher perceived stress and more loneliness were reported by the participants of the survey from 2021 compared to 2020. Regarding factors predicting mental health symptoms, being female was a positive predictor for hazardous alcohol use and anorexia nervosa in comparison to men. Further, younger age, being diverse, higher perceived stress and loneliness were positive predictors for all mental health outcomes. Conclusion: This study reveals an increase in severities of depressive symptoms, including suicidal ideation, drug and alcohol consumption among students. Being diverse, younger age, higher perceived stress and loneliness were mutual risk factors for higher depressive and eating disorder symptoms as well as alcohol consumption. Universities and health care policy should recognize and address mental health issues of young adults during ongoing times of crisis and invest in easy-to-access interventions.

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of internalized stigma of mental illness on the career development of college students with hidden disabilities. The availability of research investigating career variables within this population is limited and is primarily focused within the vocational rehabilitation arena. Therefore, one of the goals of the current study was to link separate bodies of literature on college students with disabilities, career development, and internalized stigma of mental illness. The second goal was to examine the interaction of internalized stigma of mental illness between career decision self-efficacy and career exploration on the perceived likelihood of achieving hoped for occupational possible selves (OPS). The study included college students with hidden disabilities and investigated variables related to mental illness and career. Participants were administered a background information questionnaire, the Career Decision Self-Efficacy scale (CDSE-SF), selected subscales of the Career Exploration Survey (CES), and the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale (ISMI). Contrary to hypotheses, career decision making self-efficacy, career self-exploration, and internalized stigma of mental illness did not have a direct effect on the perceived likelihood of achieving hoped for OPS. However, career environment exploration did have a direct and positive association with perceived likelihood of achieving hoped for OPS. Results further indicated internalized stigma of mental illness did not moderate the effect of career decision self-efficacy and career exploration on the perceived likelihood of achieving one's hoped for occupational self. Study implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

This dissertation includes three chapters focusing on policies directly related to improving college access and success. The first chapter focuses on lifetime eligibility of federal and state financial aid policies. The Pell Grant plays a critical role in helping students across the US to afford undergraduate education. In spite of its importance to the US system of higher education finance, relatively little is known about the optimal amount of time students should be eligible to receive Pell or other need-based grant aid programs. I exploit changes made during the Obama administration in 2012 that effectivelylowered the maximum lifetime eligibility for Pell from 9 to 6 years of full-time equivalent study. I use a student fixed effects model that estimates the impact of reductions in lifetime Pell eligibility on student enrollment and degree completion outcomes for community college and four-year college students at a large, urban public university system. Findings suggest that lower lifetime eligibility reduced the likelihood of student re-enrollment and lowered students’ academic performance. The policy change reduced the average amount of grant aid students received. Black and Hispanic students and community college entrants were most likely to be impacted by the policy change and attempted to offset declines in grant aid through increases in outside earnings. These results suggest that there are more effective policy levers to encourage enrollment through degree completion outside of the threat of financial aid loss. The second chapter centers on the role of guidance counselors in education production. Counselors are a common school resource for students navigating complicated and consequential education choices. However, most students have limited access to school counselors. We study one of the largest US policies to increase access to school counselors - California’s Supplemental School Counseling Program. The program increased the average number of high school counselors by .5 and reduced student to counselor ratios by about 40 students. Counselors hired as a result of the program had less experience on average. These changes led to modest increases in high school exit exam pass rates. Our findings hold important policy implications for schools to address persistent equity gaps in college access and rising concerns over students’ mental health. The third chapter offers further evidence on the efficacy and effectiveness of federal and state financial aid programs. I exploit discontinuities in the Pell Grant formula known as Automatic-Zero Estimated Family Contribution to estimate the effects of Pell Grant aid on community college student enrollment and financial and academic outcomes. I find suggestive evidence that increases in grant aid boost associate degree completion, but these increases do not translate into significantly higher bachelor’s degree completion rates or lower student debt burdens. These results fall in line with most of the empirical literature on Pell Grant aid effectiveness finding only modest effects of marginal increases in financial aid on degree completion. Findings further highlight the potential importance of combining efforts to improve financial aid programs with efforts to improve the transfer experience for degree-seeking, transfer-intending community college students.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequently associated with negative occupational, social and psychological outcomes among community samples of adults; as such, it is expected that college students with ADHD face similar struggles. The research targeting this group of individuals, however, is sparse and tempered by significant limitations. The current study aimed to address methodological limitations in the current literature by including instruments to formally diagnosis ADHD and comorbid disorders, utilizing psychometrically sound instruments and comparing functioning of college students with ADHD across gender and subtype. It was hypothesized that participants with ADHD would report lower GPAs, higher levels of emotional distress and negative relationship characteristics than participants without ADHD. It was also hypothesized that participants with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-C) would report higher levels of substance and alcohol use than participants with ADHD-predominately inattentive type (ADHD-I), and that participants with ADHD-I would report higher levels of anxiety and depression than participants with ADHD-C. Women diagnosed with ADHD were expected to report higher levels of anxiety and depression than men diagnosed with ADHD; whereas, men diagnosed with ADHD were expected to report higher levels of substance and alcohol use than women. MANOVA, ANOVA and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to test hypotheses. Results revealed no significant differences between the ADHD and comparison group on GPA and relationship characteristics. Participants diagnosed with ADHD did report significantly higher emotional distress than participants in the comparison group. No differences in GPA or relationship characteristics were found across ADHD subtype or gender. Overall, these findings provide evidence to suggest that college students with ADHD are functioning relatively well compared to their non-ADHD peers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which several psychological and personality variables relate to anorexic and bulimic symptomatology in female undergraduates. Past research investigating the relationship between such variables and eating disorders has been contradictory for several reasons, including lack of theoretical bases, discrepant criteria, or combination of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Recent investigators have concluded that it is important to examine subdiagnostic levels of eating pathology, especially within a college population. Thus, the present investigation used a female undergraduate sample in determining the extent to which several psychological factors--obsessiveness, dependency, over-controlled hostility, assertiveness, perceived control, and self-esteem--account for anorexic and bulimic symptomatology. Regression analyses revealed that anorexic symptoms were best explained by obsessiveness and then two measures of dependency, emotional reliance on another and autonomy. Bulimic symptoms were related most strongly to lack of social self-confidence (a dependency measure) and obsessiveness. Clinical implications and directions for future research are addressed.

The major purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized structural model that included many of the variables that have been found to influence people's attitudes toward seeking psychological help and investigate if these variables and their inter-relationships are different for young versus older adults. This study offers a more comprehensive investigation than previous research by testing and modifying two structural models of help-seeking attitudes, one for young adults and one for older adults. This makes it possible to examine how these variables differ for the two age groups.

Mindfulness – nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment - has recently garnered significant attention in psychological literature for decreasing clinical symptoms. Certain personality traits such as emotionality, however, can predict higher levels of anxiety and depression. The present study examines whether mindfulness mediates the relationship between personality traits and perceived stress and depression in nonclinical populations. A total of 321 participants from two samples—American and Japanese undergraduates —self-reported scores on measures of mindfulness, personality, perceived stress and depression. Cross-cultural comparisons following measurement invariance tests also allow for insight into the definition of mindfulness, especially given the Eastern religion origin of mindfulness. Results demonstrate that mindfulness partially mediates the relationships between personality clinical symptoms, particularly for extraversion and conscientiousness. These results can play an important role for developing mindfulness-based treatment and prevention programs and bridge an important gap between Western conceived and Eastern religion mindfulness. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection