The validity of the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) for use with adolescents was investigated. Also, a path model of blood pressure based on the cognitive social learning theory was tested using sets of biological (i.e., family history of hypertension and age), psychological (i.e., public self-consciousness, private self-consciousness, suppressed anger and outwardly expressed anger), and lifestyle (i.e., relative weight and smoking) variables.Subjects were 169 female and 124 male adolescents from the southeastern United States. Parents provided information about the subjects' family history of hypertension and health. Subjects completed the SCS and Anger Expression Scale and a health questionnaire. Subjects' blood pressures, weights, and heights were assessed. Data from all subjects were used for the SCS analyses. Data from 36 subjects who reportedly had health problems or used drugs with cardiovascular effects were excluded from the path model analyses.The SCS data were factor analyzed. Based on the initial analysis, four items were excluded from the data. The subsequent factor analysis suggested that the SCS is a valid measure of the dimensions of self-consciousness in adolescents. Test-retest reliabilities and internal consistencies of the SCS showed reasonable reliability. Comparisons of the SCS scores between college students and adolescents and between female and male adolescents were made.The path model was tested separately for males and females on both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), using hierarchical multiple regression analyses of sets. Although the variables collectively explained a significant amount of variance in DBP and SBP for both sexes, few had significant direct and total effects on DBP and SBP, and none had indirect effects on DBP or SBP. Sex differences emerged in the variables' effects on DBP and SBP and the variables' effects on other variables. DBP and SBP increased as relative weight increased for both sexes. No other variables influenced SBP or DBP for males or SBP for females. Females with a positive family history of hypertension had higher DBPs. Females' DBPs decreased as private self-consciousness increased. The implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

This study addressed slowed, paced, diaphragmatic breathing as an adaptive technique for persons in stressful life circumstances. Ninety-six U.S. Army National Guard and Reserve trainees on active duty voluntarily participated over 12 days according to one of three conditions: (1) The treatment group (n=35) was instructed in and given four 10 minute sessions of slowed, diaphragmatic breathing paced to the flashing of two lights (one red and one green) which cued a 4 second inspiration and a 4 second exhalation; (2) The attention control group (n=31) counted flashes on an identical light apparatus for four 10 minute sessions; (3) The no treatment control group (n=30), was given four 10 minute breaks during concurrent periods. All subjects were pretested and posttested with the A-State form of the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory and the Mooney Problem Checklist. These scores were the two dependent variables. Analysis ofvariance of pretest scores indicated no significant differences among group means. Two univariate analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Null hypothesis 1, that there would be no difference among posttest means for A-State Anxiety, was rejected. Null hypothesis 2, that there would be no difference among posttest means for Mooney Total, was upheld. Post hoc comparisons (Sheffe) between groups on the A-State measure revealed that the treatment group reported significantly less anxiety than the attention control group. But no significant difference was found between the treatment group and the no treatment group. Similar findings were reported by Holmes, et al. (1978). Procedural and nonspecific effects on the outcome and implications for future research were discussed.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the study was to identify factors which caused teacher job stress as perceived by junior high/ middle school teachers. An additional purpose of the study was to determine what strategies junior high/middle school principals used to alleviate or manage teacher job stress.A teacher questionnaire was developed for use in the study involving teachers. Three-hundred and eight teachers responded to a fifty-four item questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed for the combined responses and for discrepancies between respondent sub-groups, i.e., tenure, non-tenure, male, female.An open-ended questionnaire was developed for use in the study involving junior high/middle school principals. Sixty-four principals responded to the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a ranked list of forty-seven job stressors. The principals were asked to review the list of job stressors and to indicate ways they alleviated or managed teacher job stress.The two most stressful teacher job stressors, with a rank of ore and two of forty-seven job stressors, were caused by students. The remaining eight of the ten top causal factors of teacher job stress were: (1) uncooperative parents, (2) maintaining self-control when angry, (3) too much paperwork, (4) lack of public faith and support, (5) misunderstanding or misinterpretation resulting from ineffective communication, (6) verbal abuse by students, (7) too much time required on activities unrelated to actual teaching, and (8) conflict of concurrent demands of home and job responsibilities.Of the job stressors ranked eleven to twenty of the forty-seven job stressors, four were caused by management, three job stressors were caused by students, two job stressors were caused by colleagues, and one was caused by job task requirements.Specific activities, procedures, or policies frequently reported by principals respondents for alleviating or managing teacher job stress were reported. In general, the activities were: (1) staff cooperation, (2) inservice on stress and time management, (3) good student discipline, (4) good administrative organization and planning, (5) principal visibility, interaction, and accessibility, (6) elimination of some tasks at school, (7) good principal and staff communication, (8) principal and staff team effort, (9) parent support, and (19) an identification and understanding of causal factors of teacher job stress.The review of related literature placed more emphasis than did principals on the need of each individual teacher to develop a personalized approach in acquiring stress coping skills. Some examples of individual coping skills included: C1) good health and exercise, (2) regularity in life, (3) good attitude, (4) changing life style if current life style was not conducive to stress, (5) gain experience and work towards mastery of tasks, (6) good person qualities, (7) assign priorities and establish goals, (8) being cooperative with others, (9) establishing good social interactions, and (10) develop stress buffers and stress relievers.

No description available.

Research indicates a relationship between prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) and attention levels in children. Studies with non-human primates suggest that both exposure to PNMS and the timing of a stressor during pregnancy are associated with greater attention problems in offspring; however, this has not been sufficiently tested in humans because of methodological constraints. We explored the relationship between objective and subjective measures of PNMS for 85 women who were pregnant during the 1998 Quebec Ice Storm and attention levels in their 5.5 year-old children, while controlling for socioeconomic status, child's sex, and maternal state anxiety. As a group, children in the study displayed significantly less attentive behaviour compared to a standardized norm. Boys in this group were significantly less attentive than girls. Objective PNMS exposure during 1st trimester correlated positively with attention problems in the children, accounting for 15.2% of the variance in attention levels as rated by Kindergarten teachers. In a behavioural task to detect sustained attention difficulties and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms, children exposed during the 3rd trimester obtained significantly worse scores compared to children exposed in other trimesters. However, in this case, objective and subjective PNMS appeared to act as protective factors, raising the possibility of the presence of another unknown mechanism that negatively affected the attention variables.

This study explores the tremendous pressure Japanese students must endure in the pursuit of academic achievement. It identifies the sources of student's pressure and discusses the cultural, social, and economic conditions that influence a fiercely competitive educational system. The focus of this study is the impact of academic pressures on Japanese students. / Japanese education is a single-minded drive for achievement that results in what many refer to as examination hell. The university entrance examination is at the root of the pressures that are placed on students and is the primary mechanism responsible for driving competition. The life-long ramifications of students performance on this examination are far reaching. As a result, the pressures that are exerted upon students to achieve are overwhelming. Mothers, teachers, peers, and society contribute to the pressures that are placed on students to achieve, while many children continue to fall victim to emotional, psychological, and physical harm. / The study provides richly descriptive narrative accounts of student's experiences, thoughts and feelings seen from a student's perspective. The study gives voice to Japanese students and invites them to tell it like it is.

Typescript. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hawaii, 1986. / Bibliography: leaves 164-175. / Microfilm. / ix, 175 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Current theories of PTSD propose that impaired retrieval of trauma memories may impede processing of these memories and subsequent trauma recovery. This thesis investigated memory retrieval processes in trauma survivors with and without symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and in non-traumatised individuals exposed to a highly arousing event. Study 1 examined deliberate avoidance of unwanted memories in recent trauma survivors. The results indicated that attempts to forget were associated with poorer recall of forgotten information, but the size of this effect did not depend on the presence or absence of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD). Study 2 investigated automatic retrieval inhibition in trauma survivors with or without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results suggested that repeated retrieval of trauma-related information by individuals with PTSD can cause inhibition of related, but unpractised information. Studies 3 and 4 examined the relationship between the vantage point of trauma memories, avoidance and posttraumatic stress symptomatology. The findings indicated that recalling a traumatic event from an observer perspective is associated with post trauma avoidance. They also showed that an observer vantage point in the initial few weeks after trauma is associated with poorer long-term post trauma adjustment. Studies 5, 6 and 7 were analogue studies which analysed the impact of heightened arousal on memory retrieval in novice skydivers. The results suggested that elevated arousal can interfere with retrieval of information related to the arousal-inducing event. Study 7 also indicated that autobiographical memory for the event may be impaired. Finally, Study 8 examined the qualities of trauma memories that were accessed via different modes of retrieval. The results provided evidence that intrusive memories were experienced as more realistic and with more intense affect than memories for the same event that were deliberately retrieved. Together, the findings of this program of research extend current theories of PTSD by highlighting the mechanisms through which retrieval of trauma memories may be impaired. The results suggest that the quality of trauma memories is affected by avoidance processes, elevated arousal and level of conscious control the individual exerts over retrieval.