In recent years, a group known as “Incels” has caught the public eye. The group consists ofmen who believe themselves to be in “involuntary celibacy”, without the means to ever finda sexual or romantic partner. The community is predominantly based online, organized innetworks and forums, where a worldview consisting of anti-feminism, sexual determinismand a hatred of modern society thrives. But why is the community successful, and how doesso many men end up on the forums? In this thesis, the mechanisms of the incel-forum areexamined by conducting a netnography on one of the larges incel-forums, incels.is, andevaluate the findings through a sociological lens. With this perspective, it is possible tounderstand incels as a societal phenomenon rather than something unique andindividualistic; because even though incels are unusual in their extreme rhetoric and actions,the mechanisms that influence them are not. By understanding incels within the specificcontext of love and sex in modernity, where romantic and sexual relationships have becomean important source for a sense of self-worth and romance and sexuality is in a state ofanomie, the level of misery expressed by members of the group becomes understandable.To combat this misery the power of groups becomes evident, where the expressions ofcontrol, status within the group, establishing group borders and creating a sense ofbelonging all contribute to protecting and strengthening the community. For incels, theforum becomes a place where meaning is created. In a state of anomie, incels reject societyand turn to retreatism, where the group becomes the place where they create their own setof strict rules and morals for the members of the community to follow.

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Sexual victimization is associated with risky sexual behaviors. Limited research has examined mechanisms via which victimization affects risk behaviors, particularly following different types of sexual victimization. This study examined self-worth as a mediator of the relationship between sexual victimization history: contact childhood sexual abuse (CSA), completed rape in adolescence/adulthood (adolescent/adulthood sexual assault [ASA]), and combined CSA/ASA, and two sexual risk behaviors: past year partners and one-time encounters. Participants were diverse (57.9% African American), low-income women recruited from an OB-GYN waiting room (n = 646). Women with a history of sexual victimization, 29.8% (n = 186) reported lower self-worth, t(586) = 5.26, p < .001, and more partners, t(612) = 2.45, p < .01, than nonvictims. Self-worth was a significant mediator only among women with combined CSA/ASA histories in both risk behavior models.

Sexual aggression is a pervasive issue on college campuses, and many risk factors have been studied in an attempt to understand and reduce perpetration. In the current study, I focus on men's history of child abuse, romantic rejection, and sources of self-worth as potential predictors of sexual aggression perpetration. As part of an ongoing online cross-sectional study (target N = 600), data were analyzed for 72 college men. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to characterize the current sample describe patterns of relationships between study variables. Results indicate that all forms of child abuse were significantly positively associated with each other, but only child neglect was associated with romantic rejection experiences in adulthood. Child abuse was also negatively correlated with family, virtue, and competition of sources of self-worth. Although too few participants reported sexual aggression perpetration to conduct inferential statistical tests in the current sample, patterns of means indicate that child abuse was higher among men who reported perpetration.

The primary focus of the present study was to delineate the relationships among variables comprising a proposed model of depression for middle school adolescents. The investigation of the validity of a newly proposed dimension of self-concept (i.e., ethnic evaluations) for African-American versus Caucasian adolescents was also a major thrust. An additional emphasis of the present study was to examine which variables (i.e., contextual, self-concept, and global self-worth) accounted for the greatest amount of variance in predicting depression scores for African-American and Caucasian participants. Approximately 1,100 adolescents were recruited for participation. Of these, 959 participants actually participated in the study with the final sample consisting of 792 participants (males n = 389, females n = 403). Participants ranged in age from 11 = 14 years of age and were in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The ethnic make-up of participants was as follows: Native American (1%), Asian (1%), African-American (32%), Caucasian (60%), Hispanic (1%), Pacific Islander (>1%), Biracial (3%), Multiracial (1%), and other (>1%) participants. All questionnaire sessions were conducted in a group format during a pre-selected class period (i.e., Health, English, or Science classes). Participants were administered a demographic information form, the Reynold's Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS), the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA), an Ethnic Evaluations instrument, the Acculturation Scale, the Dubow Social Support Scale for Adolescents, the How I Coped Under Pressure Scale for Children (HICUPS), and the Life events scale. Results revealed that self-concept and global self-worth were significantly and inversely correlated with depression scores. In addition, a newly created measure of ethnic evaluations proved to be a concurrently valid measure of self-concept for all participants and demonstrated differing rates of significance with depression for Caucasian and African-American participants. An examination of the proposed model for African-American adolescents revealed that social support, negative life events, physical appearance, athletic competence, and inter-ethnic evaluations were most significant in predicting depression. Results of the regression analysis for Caucasian adolescents revealed social support, negative life events, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, and global self-worth as accounting for the greatest amount of variance. / Ph. D.

Self-worth is a global self-evaluation of one's value as a person (Harter & Whitsell, 2003). Self-worth in children may be influenced by affective social competence (ASC), which involves abilities to effectively express, identify, and manage emotions when interacting with others (Halberstadt, Denham, & Dunsmore, 2001). Children diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) are likely to have poorer social competence (Burns et al., 2009). ODD is a commonly diagnosed, disruptive behavior disorder in children that involves symptoms of excessive argumentativeness, defiance, and anger (Loney & Lima, 2003; Pfiffner, McBurnett, Rathouz, & Judice, 2005). Children with ODD often report a lower sense of self-worth than non-diagnosed peers. Because experiencing positive emotions may be linked with emotional buffering from stressors and may bolster positive characteristics in individuals (Fredrickson, 2003), I studied components of ASC in regard to positive emotions in children with ODD. With 86 parent-child dyads, children's ability to recognize, encourage, and express emotions was studied alongside parents' reports of children's emotion regulation in relation to children's reports of perceived self-worth. Components of ASC were expected to be positively associated with children's perceptions of self-worth. However, results did not support these expectations. Discussion focuses on methods and future research. / Master of Science

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships among peer victimization, global self-worth, social support, and internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, social anxiety, and depression). Of particular interest were the potential mediating and moderating roles of global self-worth and social support in the anticipated relationships between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. All sixth grade children from a public middle school completed self-report measures representing the constructs previously described. Reported levels of peer victimization were found to be similar to those reported in previous studies. In addition, significant associations were found among all variables of interest, with the exception of social support and total anxiety. Global self-worth was found to partially mediate the peer victimization-social anxiety and peer victimization-depression relationships. These findings suggest that victimization experiences may negatively influence children's views of themselves and help explain the elevated levels of depression and social anxiety also reported by them. Furthermore, global self-worth moderated the peer victimization-total anxiety relationship, such that children with higher global self-worth reported fewer total anxiety symptoms than children with lower global self-worth. However, analyses failed to support the role of social support as either a mediator or moderator in the relationships examined. Findings are integrated into the literature regarding peer victimization and internalizing symptomology. / Master of Science

The social cognitive theory of Depression proposed by Rothbaum et al. (2008) integrates theory originating from the motivation, cognitive and rumination literature. Following stressors, those with vulnerable self-beliefs are predicted to adopt performance goals that aim to avoid threats to self-worth, necessitating protective mechanisms like rumination. Both the goals themselves and rumination serve to protect self-worth but are proposed to have depressogenic consequences. This theory, combined with literature on contingent self-worth and trait rumination in depression, led to an elaborated social cognitive model whereby rumination mediates the relationship between goal orientation and depression. The current study aimed to test this model. Seventy two healthy participants participated in an experimental manipulation of goal orientation prior to a difficult anagram task and rated their sadness, anxiety, and state rumination following a stressor and during a subsequent sustained attention task. The results suggested many of the hypotheses about condition differences were not supported and this may have been due to an unsuccessful task goal manipulation. However extrinsic contingent self-worth based on other’s approval was found to moderate the effect of goal orientation on task based depressive affect and rumination. For those reporting high contingent self-worth based on other’s approval, cuing a performance goal was related to significantly higher sadness and rumination following a stressor than cuing mastery goal. Findings suggest that therapy specifically focusing on assessing extrinsic contingent self-worth and associated vulnerable self-beliefs, and encouraging the adoption of mastery goals may be therapeutically beneficial in making people less reactive to stressful life events.

Objective—To explore the experience of psychological distress and wellbeing in emergency medicine (EM) consultants. Methods— A qualitative, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study based on interviews with EM consultants working in emergency departments (EDs) across South West England. 18 EM consultants were interviewed, representing a response rate of 54.55% across 5 EDs. The mean (SD) age of participants was 43.17 (5.8) years. All participants worked full-time as EM consultants, with the average years-in-role being 7.64 (5.76). The personal meanings that participants attached to their experiences were inductively analysed and explored alongside their perceived psychological health. Results— The analysis formed three super-ordinate themes: systemic pressures, physical and mental strain, and managing the challenges. Pressures within the ED and healthcare system contributed to participants feeling undervalued and unsatisfied when working in an increasingly uncontrollable environment. Participants described working intensely to meet systemic demands, which inadvertently contributed to a diminishing sense of achievement and self-worth. Consultants perceived their experience of physical and emotional strain as unsustainable, as it negatively impacted: functioning at work, relationships, personal wellbeing and the EM profession. Sustainability was promoted by the presence of social support and through evolving with the consultant role. Conclusions— EM consultants experience considerable physical and mental strain. This strain is dynamically related to consultants' experiences of diminishing self-worth and satisfaction, alongside current socio-political demands on EM services. Recognising the psychological experience and needs of EM consultants through promoting a sustainable EM consultant role could have wide-reaching benefits for the delivery of emergency care and physician wellbeing.