According to the transactional theory of stress and coping, threat appraisals influence coping and adjustment. Previous research has shown that threat appraisals mediate relations between violence exposure and adjustment, but few studies have examined links between threat appraisals and coping. The current study examined relations between violence exposure, threat appraisals, and coping among typologies of victimized adolescents. The sample included 159 predominately African American adolescents (M = 12.1). Path analyses were used to test whether threats of negative evaluation by self and others mediated relations between violence exposure and avoidance and positive reframing coping, respectively. Results did not indicate mediation or differential relations between study constructs for victim typologies. Significant direct effects were found between violence exposure and negative self-evaluation and positive reframing, such that greater violence exposure was associated with a greater likelihood of self-blaming and positive reframing. These findings have implications for youth violence prevention and intervention efforts.

Global climate change has brought about not only rise in global temperature, but also other climate anomalies such as severe storms, droughts and floods. To reduce damages from these disasters, both the government and public need to take preparations. This study aims to explore the factors that may influence the public's flood preparedness. The explored factors were derived from Rogers¡¦s (1983) protection motivation theory and Grothmann and Patt's (2005) model of private proactive adaptation to climate change. A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of Kaohsiung citizens, 490 of whom lived in flood-prone areas and the rest 210 lived in other areas in Kaohsiung. A total of 264 citizens responded. Results showed that threat appraisal and coping appraisal could affect the intent to prepare, and threat appraisal was affected by reliance on government and disaster experience. These suggest that if the government wants to increase people's flood preparedness, it should both (a) make people alert to the severity and high possibility of future floods, and (b) make people believe that they could take affordable and effective measures to reduce their flood damage.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2008. / Title from screen (viewed on August 27, 2009). School of Nursing, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Tamilyn Bakas, Joan Kessner Austin, Susan M. Perkins, Susan J. Pressler, Linda S. Williams. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 219-236).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability with over 5 million American adults experiencing physical, psychological, and/or social limitations related to stroke. Although depressive symptoms and poor quality of life (QOL) are key outcomes for stroke survivors, little is understood about how these outcomes are affected by stroke survivors’ evaluation of their experience. The concept of cognitive appraisal, an evaluation of the meaning of a situation for one’s well-being, may explain some of the factors associated with post-stroke depressive symptoms and QOL. The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with post-stroke depressive symptoms and QOL using a conceptual model derived from the transactional theory of stress originally proposed by Lazarus and Folkman. Three aims guided this study: to determine whether (a) depressive symptoms at 4 months after stroke are predictive of stroke-specific QOL at 10 months; (b) perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism at 1 month after stroke predict depressive symptoms among stroke survivors at 4 months; and (c) threat appraisal at 1 month after stroke is a mediating variable between perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism at 1 month after stroke and depressive symptoms at 4 months. A secondary analysis of data from 392 stroke survivors in the Randomized Trial of Treatment for Post-stroke Depression (AIM study) was conducted. Using a descriptive correlational design and multiple regression analyses, longitudinal associations among perceived social support, self-esteem, optimism, threat appraisal, depressive symptoms and stroke-specific QOL were examined. Perceived social support, self-esteem, and optimism were significantly associated with threat appraisal. Threat appraisal was significantly associated with post-stroke depressive symptoms. Stroke-specific QOL was found to be stable between 4 and 10 months. Partial mediation of the relationship between the explanatory variables and depressive symptoms by threat appraisal at one month post-stroke was demonstrated. In conclusion, threat appraisal is an important factor to consider in future research and intervention development in relation to post-stroke depressive symptoms.