acase@tulane.edu / In the nearly 30 years since the Convention on the Rights of Child (UN, 1989) first called for the inclusion of children in research, evidence has demonstrated the many benefits of engaging children as active participants in research. There exists a gap in qualitative research examining the psychological well-being of elementary-aged African American children. This study used child-friendly qualitative methodology to understand the psychological well-being of elementary-aged African American children living in New Orleans, Louisiana. The study explored children’s stressors, supports, and reactions to stressors and supports from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders: elementary-aged children, parents of elementary-aged children, and school teachers and administrators. The purpose of the study was to gain understanding of children’s unique perspectives and to inform culturally-appropriate school-based supports. To understand the unique and shared perspectives of the stakeholders regarding the constructs of children’s psychological well-being, the research used children’s ecomap drawings, focus group narratives, and interview data. Through the use of a deductive-inductive coding process, Support, Reaction to Support, Stressor, and Reaction to Stressor themes and codes were identified and defined. The findings revealed overlap and unique perceptions regarding children’s psychological well-being. Further findings, implications, future research directions, and limitations are discussed. / 1 / Emiliya Adelson

This study examined the effects of perceived sleep deprivation on psychological well-being using multiple linear regression techniques on a longitudinal, multi-institutional sample of students at four-year universities and colleges. Using a College Outcomes model as a theoretical foundation, this study examined perceived sleep deprivation's influence on psychological well-being at the end of four academic years, while controlling for institutional and student background characteristics that are theoretically associated with psychological well-being. Pre-test and post-test data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS) created findings suggesting sleep deprivation is positively related to total psychological well-being and the six subscales composing the complete measure (self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relationships with others, purpose in life, and personal growth). This study contributes to college outcome models by supporting the claims for the importance of healthy, habitual sleep in relation to student's ability to achieve overall psychological well-being, as well as the six subscales of the total model. This study has implications for higher education and public health policy, including practical applications for those involved with higher education, including students, staff, faculty, and administrators.

This study was conducted to determine whether learning specific writing techniques and discussing them in a small group is more beneficial to women than writ ing a journal using self-taught techniques, or not writing at all. Instruments used included the Beck Depression Inventory and the California Personality Inventory (Self-Acceptance and Well-Being scales). The literature review covers four general areas: a brief discussion of the impact of contemporary feminism on traditional therapy; an examination of feminist therapy, specifically its advocacy of consciousness-raising groups as a therapy alternative; women's self-reports on diary or journal writing; and information on modern non-literary journal uses including an investigation into the status of therapeutic uses of journal writing. A group model was developed and examined for this study using a modified consciousness-raising format to teach journal writing techniques and provide for group discussion of the writing practices. Pre- and posttest scores were compared among three groups of women (N = 52). An additional follow-up sub-sample was contacted (n = 25) to test statistical differences in writing frequency, number of writing techniques used and level of subjective satisfaction with personal writing. No empirical evidence was found to justify the supposition that structured journal writing groups are more beneficial than either self-taught, solitary diary writing or not writing at all. Includes bibliography for journal writers, outline for 8-week structured writing group, references, and recommendations for possible further investigation.

This research examined child-parent relationships from the perspective of the psychological well-being of parents during midlife and while launching children. A subsample of 1,253 parents from the National Survey of Families and Households was studied using variables from both waves (1988 and 1993) of longitudinal data. Fathers and mothers were analyzed separately for depression and self-satisfaction at the second wave (1993) in relation to their< perceptions of child, adjustment and child-parent relationships in 1988, and parents' employment and their marital status in 1993. Analyses showed that fathers' depression scores in 1 g93 were significantly related to fathers' perceptions of child adjustment (total and positive), and fathers' age, marital, and employment status. Mothers' depression scores were associated with their marital and employment status and with mothers' perceptions of child adjustment. iii Analyses demonstrated that fathers' self-satisfaction was related to all children having departed and to fathers' marital status, but not to fathers' perceptions of child adjustment. Mothers' self-satisfaction was more frequently related to their marital status and to perceptions of child adjustment but not to children having departed. The small number of significant associations between launching and parents' well-being suggests that either launching is not as highly associated with parental well-being as previously believed, or that launching is a more elusive concept than reflected by the measures used in this study. Age, employment, and marital status appear to be more salient to parents well-being than the departure of children as measured in these studies. The findings also suggest that some aspects of the role of parenting may not change significantly when children leave home. From the findings of this research, future research endeavors should reconsider the concept of launching per se as well as its relation to parents' wellbeing in mid life. Other factors such as marriage and employment should be more closely studied as being more strongly related to well-being in mid life than children's departures from home.

This dissertation builds upon stress and burnout research on school leaders by exploring the beliefs and practices regarding well-being and self-renewal of principals identified as successful. This study utilized a 3-fold framework that consisted of mind, body, and spirit, falling under the all-encompassing umbrella of thriving, asserting the three domains work together to support the optimal well-being of the leader. The research questions were as follows: (1) In what ways are principals' well-being and self-renewal supported by principals' personal beliefs and practices, district policies and practices, and educational programs and organizations? (2) To what extent does attentiveness to well-being and practices of self-renewal impact professional success and work satisfaction, and well-being and flourishing? This study included a diverse group of six principals, all identified as successful and all with three or more years of experience as administrators. The case study consisted of mostly interviews with some survey inquiry. The primary method of analysis was holistic descriptive and in vivo coding with loose applications of formal protocols provided by Saldaña (2009). In my final analysis the participant responses were organized into categories and layered into my pre-existing framework of mind, body, and spirit. The findings from the study revealed the current successes and challenges in the personal and professional renewal of principals. The findings yielded implications for research and practice specific to principals, school districts, and principal preparation programs.

This thesis examines women’s participation in community groups, in order to investigate the concept of ‘social capital’ and its implications for women’s mental well-being. Its aim is to examine the concept of social capital, and the ways it is linked with health, in a way that is attentive to gender and class inequity. For the purposes of this thesis, social capital is broadly defined as social relationships between people and the individual or community level ‘resources’ that can arise from these social relationships. Two different conceptualisations of social capital were considered in this study: the ‘communitarian’ approach associated with Robert Putnam, and the more ‘critical’ conceptualisation associated with Pierre Bourdieu. This research adopted a critical stance towards social capital, and focused upon four research questions: Firstly, what was the nature of participation in community groups among women who live in metropolitan Adelaide? Secondly, what were the personal outcomes that were perceived to arise from women’s community group involvement? Thirdly, what were the differences in the nature and perceived outcomes of women’s community group participation, according to social and economic factors? Finally, how did the nature and perceived outcomes of women’s participation in community groups relate to the ways they experienced their mental health and well-being? This study used qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate these questions. The quantitative analysis provided a preliminary investigation to complement the qualitative study, and involved the analysis of questionnaire data from 968 women in two contrasting areas of Adelaide. This analysis considered sociodemographic differences in the type and frequency of women’s involvement. The qualitative research involved the analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 women. The interviews explored the participants’ experiences of community group involvement; the personal outcomes that they felt arose from their involvement, their ‘lay accounts’ of their mental health, and how they felt community group involvement was connected with their mental well-being. This study found that women’s participation was shaped by gender and aspects of economic, cultural and ‘informal’ social capital. The qualitative data illustrated that women’s involvement was influenced, motivated and constrained by the gendered nature of their roles and responsibilities. These findings also highlighted contrasts among the participants in the types of involvement they undertook, and the personal outcomes of their involvement, according to their levels of material, financial and social advantage. This was supported by the quantitative findings, which revealed that the respondents’ participation in community groups, the type of group involvement they undertook, and the frequency of their involvement varied according to sociodemographic measures. The qualitative findings also identified how community group participation could lead to both positive and negative outcomes for individual women. Many participants reported the ways in which they felt their involvement enhanced their mental well-being. The qualitative data also illustrated how involvement could detract from mental well-being. In some instances, the negative consequences of participation had a severe and detrimental impact upon mental health. The findings of this study offer support to feminist criticisms of communitarian approaches to social capital, and to Bourdieu’s critical approach to understanding the concept. The study concludes that Bourdieu’s conceptualisation offers greater potential for considering how community group participation and ‘social capital’ can be used as a strategy to promote women’s health and mental well-being.

<p>In Sweden, there are considerable health differences between social groups and between women and men. Regardless of social position, women often report more symptoms than men. The aim of this study was to investigate how education is related to job satisfaction and to different aspects of well-being and symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of middle-aged women and men with children. Moreover, the study aimed to investigate the associations between education, job satisfaction, working-hours, partner status, number of children and various aspects of health. Regardless of gender, a long education was associated with significantly higher levels of general job satisfaction, sense of coherence, self-acceptance, purpose in life, personal growth and fewer physical and mental symptoms. General job satisfaction was a significant predictor of all health-related measures, apart from purpose in life. On the whole, men reported a better health compared to women who reported significantly more physical as well as psychological symptoms.</p>

<p> </p><p>Forskning tyder på en ökad brist på välbefinnande bland tjejer. Trots denna ökning mår de flesta tjejer bra. Olika faktorer påverkar tjejernas välbefinnande på diverse sätt. Syftet med föreliggande undersökning var att få en djupare förståelse för hur tjejer ser på sitt eget välbefinnande och vilka faktorer de upplever som viktiga för denna upplevelse. En kvalitativ undersökning med deduktiv ansats genomfördes med 8 tjejer som gick sista året på gymnasiet. Deltagarna intervjuades utifrån en halvstrukturerad intervjuguide. Materialet analyserades med meningskoncentrering. Resultatet visade att det viktigaste för att deltagarna skulle uppleva välbefinnande var att de tyckte om och accepterade sig själva. Tjejerna upplevde också det som viktigt, att påverkan från samtliga faktorer var balanserad och positiv.</p>

<p>Att vara egenföretagare är en anställningsform som blir allt vanligare och genom att skapa en förståelse för varför denna anställningsform växer ökar även kunskapen om egenföretagarnas drivkraft och trivsel. Motivation har en nära koppling till arbetstillfredsställelse och är en viktig del i egenföretagarnas vardag.  Studiens syfte var att skapa en förståelse om vad som påverkar egenföretagarnas arbetstillfredsställelse och även att ta reda på betydelsefulla motivationsfaktorer. Denna kvalitativa undersökning är baserad på intervjuer av 15 egenföretagare. Resultatet visade att en god arbetsmiljö, utmaningar och självständighet har en positiv påverkan på arbetstillfredsställelsen medan en hög arbetsbelastning påverkade arbetstillfredsställelsen negativt. Variation och skapande i arbetet, erkännande och utveckling visade sig vara bland de starkaste motivationsfaktorerna för att egenföretagare skulle fortsätta driva sitt företag.</p>

<p>I tidigare forskning finns ett samband mellan socialt stöd och reducerad stress. Även husdjur påverkar stressnivån. Denna enkätstudie tittade på om husdjur och civilstånd påverkar hälsa och stressnivå. Av de studenter som deltog i studien hade 35% husdjur. Resultatet visade inte på någon effekt på stress av att ha husdjur. Personer med partner upplevde inte mindre stress än singlar. Huruvida deltagarna bodde med sin partner eller ej spelade ingen roll för stressnivån. Husdjursantalet påverkade inte stressupplevelsen. En interaktionseffekt påvisades: Yngre singlar och äldre personer med partner upplevde mer stress än vad yngre personer med partner och äldre singlar gjorde. Studiens resultat skiljer sig från vad tidigare forskning då inga huvudeffekter av husdjur och partner kunde påvisas.</p>