Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Susan Calkins; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 7, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-59).

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2010. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/7/2010). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-55).

M. Ed. / The learning disabled pupil often finds himself a stranger in the world of learning, in view of his backlog and difficulties in educational experiences. Research shows that these children already experience failure at the onset of schooling and are hardly ever Existing parent guidance and stress control programmes were investigated in detail. A survey indicated that there were certain guidelines and measures which could serve to design an appropriate parent guidance programme relating to stress control of learning disabled pupils. It could be concluded that the survey of literature constituting this study indicates beyond all doubt that a parent guidance programme relating to the stress control of learning disabled pupils could prove invaluable in the learning experiences and behaviour changes of these children. able to revert this failure orientation to success. Repetitive failure and persistent learning difficulties contribute to a poor self-esteem, poor achievement motivation and eventually chronic negative stress. In reviewing the literature the role of parents con= cerning their learning disabled child's experiences came to light. Parents of these children often find themselves at loggerheads with each other, their child, teachers and education systems. In braving the effort to learn, the learning disabled child needs the close understanding support of his parents. Literature indicates further that parents are viewed as the most important and accessible agents of change in a child's life.

No description available.

The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to examine the lives and experiences children of incarcerated parents from a theoretical perspective through an application of the social stress process. Previous research on children of incarcerated parents has neglected to add a theoretical component to their research, which is the intention of this research. The results will be organized around the theoretical domains of the stress process applied to findings from the analysis of eleven qualitative interviews of mothers and/or caregivers of youth(s) of an incarcerated parent. Guided by analytic induction, the themes that emerged from the transcripts were applied to the theoretical propositions of the social stress process: stressors, mediators, and manifestations. Stressors experienced by children of incarcerated parents include: the incarceration of a parent, financial difficulties, and residential instability. Stress mediators include: coping mechanisms and the importance of maintaining familial ties during parental incarceration. The manifestations or outcomes include: internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

Four hundred nine tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade high school students were surveyed to determine the percentage "at risk" for suicide and to compare the "at risk" group with those who were determined to be not at risk on the variables friendship, life stress, and self-esteem. The "at risk" group was determined by positive responses to questions about suicidal thoughts as well as by a high score (determined normatively) on the Hopelessness Scale (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974). The literature has shown that suicidal behavior can be represented by a continuum beginning with suicidal ideation and ending with the completed act so those who have thought about suicide are at greater risk than those who have not. Two primary analyses were conducted. In the first, two multivariate ANOVA's were carried out wherein high and low risk defined one independent variable and gender defined the other. Scores on self-esteem, life stress, and friendship served as the dependent variables. Those not classified as either high or low risk were excluded from this analysis. When compared to low risk individuals, high risk subjects were found to have significantly poorer quality friendships, lower self-esteem and had experienced more life stress in the previous year. When sex difference was the dependent variable, only life stress was significant with females reporting more stressful life events. For the secondary analysis, all subjects were included and multiple regression analysis was used to predict a) hopelessness, and b) suicidal ideation using self-esteem, life stress, and friendship as independent variables. The three variables in combination were better at predicting ideation (R² =.36) than hopelessness (R² =.24). Life stress was a significant predictor in both equations and was the best predictor for ideation. Self-esteem was the best predictor for hopelessness. Friendship entered into both equations, but only contributed significantly to the variance in hopelessness. / Ph. D.

The study was designed to provide empirical data investigating children’s level of sense of humor with the severity of the hassles reported by the children. The sample included 82 children, 50 boys and 32 girls, ranging in age from 8-11 years, and representing the third, fourth, and fifth grades. Both male and female children participated in the study. The Hassles Scale for Elementary School Children (HSESC), a 22-item checklist, was administered to the children to assess the frequency of selected important hassles and the severity of the hassles. Subjects indicated those items that occurred in the past week and rated the severity of all the hassles on a 5-point Likert type response scale. The Children's Self-Rating of Humor (CSRH) questionnaire, a 20-item questionnaire, was completed by the children to evaluate children's level of sense of humor. Subjects rated each question on a 5-point Likert type response scale. Subjects were administered the scales individually and in small groups. To provide a more in-depth understanding of children’s use of humor, a subsample of 12 children, six boys and six girls, randomly selected to represent the three grade levels and high and low humor scores participated in a follow-up interview. The results of this study did not provide support for the contention that children with a high sense of humor would report hassles as being less upsetting as compared with children with a low sense of humor that would report hassles as being more upsetting. Further results seemed to indicate that the use of humor in stressful situations depended more on the child’s perception of the severity of the hassles rather than on the child's perceived level of sense of humor. The less upsetting the stressful situation was to the child the more likely the child would use humor and the more effective humor was in dealing with the stressful situation. More importantly, this study indicated that when humor was used it was not specific to the stressful situation but rather as a distraction, a more general coping mechanism. A recommendation for future research should include the need for a better understanding of how children produce humor in stressful situations. Also, future research should focus on investigating the differences in the effects of different types of humor on stressful situations and the timing of using humor on whether it is an immediate or delayed response to a stressful situation. Future studies should focus on the cognitive processes of children’s humor when applied to stressful situations. / Ph. D.

Children's use of inanimate transitional objects when coping with daily hassles was examined in this study. Mothers of 50 children, aged 2- to 3-years, rated their children on frequency of hassles, intensity of reaction to daily hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. No significant differences were found between those children with an inanimate transitional object and those without such an object (<u>p</u>>.05). Among those children with objects, a significant object effect on frequency of hassles (<u>p</u><.05) and a significant object effect on coping effectiveness (<u>p</u><.05) were found. Post hoc analyses indicated that children using soft objects (X̅=31.87) were rated as having more hassles than children using their thumb (X̅=18.88), and children using soft objects (X̅=l.34) were rated as coping less effectively than children using their thumb (X̅=.75). Among those children with inanimate transitional objects, significant positive relationships were found between: frequency of hassle, intensity of reaction to hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. The results indicated that children who use their thumb as an inanimate transitional object had fewer hassles and cope more effectively than children who use a soft object. The results also suggest that increased object use was related to an increased number of hassles, as well as more intense reactions to hassles and less effective coping. Based on these findings, future research suggestions were made. / M.S.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The first objective of the study was to explore whether a correlation exists between anxiety symptoms and stressful life events within a sample of marginalised South African youths. The second objective was to examine the psychometric properties and cross-cultural validation of the Dominic-R when administered within the aforementioned sample. The participants consisted of a sample of 185 children aged between 10- and 15- years. Children completed three self-report questionnaires, namely the Dominic-R, the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and a modified version of the Major Life Events Checklist (MLEC-M). Results indicated that albeit rather weak, significant positive correlations were nonetheless obtained between the total Dominic-R and SCAS scores, and stressful life events experienced. Furthermore, the psychometric properties of both the Dominic-R and the SCAS were moderate (convergent validity) to acceptable (internal consistency) for the sample. The implications of these results provide tentative evidence for the utilisation of the Dominic-R within South African samples. The limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eerste doelwit van die studie was om vas te stel of daar ‘n korrelasie bestaan tussen angssimptome en stresvolle lewensgebeure binne ‘n steekproef van gemarginaliseerde Suid-Afrikaanse jeugdiges. Die tweede was om ondersoek in te stel na die psigometriese eienskappe en kruiskulturele validering van die Dominic-R soos toegepas op voorafgenoemde steekproef. Die deelnemers het bestaan uit ‘n steekproef van 185 kinders tussen 10 en 15 jaar oud. Die kinders moes drie selfverslagvraelyste invul, naamlik die Dominic-R, die Spencekinderangsskaal (Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – SCAS) en die aangepaste weergawe van die Kontrolelys vir Belangrike Lewensgebeure (Major Life Events Checklist – MLECM). Alhoewel redelik swak, het resultate tog getoon dat daar ‘n beduidend positiewe korrelasie was tussen die algehele Dominic-R- en SCAS-tellings. Verder was die psigometriese eienskappe van beide die Dominic-R en die SCAS gemiddeld (konvergente geldigheid) tot aanvaarbaar (interne konsekwentheid) vir die steekproef. Hierdie resultate bewys tentatief dat die Dominic-R bruikbaar is binne Suid-Afrikaanse steekproewe. Die beperkings van die studie en aanbevelings vir verdere navorsing word bespreek.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-04T18:29:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcia Maria Bignotto.pdf: 807791 bytes, checksum: cbd31bd6800c47196215c3fea0f860fa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-10 / The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a new method for treating stress, designated stress control training for children (known locally as TCS-I) in the reduction of the symptomatology of stress in children between 8 and 9 years of age. The TCS-I was composed of 16 weekly meetings lasting 90 minutes each, in group session, and was based on cognitive behavior theory. The participants consisted of 20 children equally divided into two groups: the GTCSI which received the TCS-I training and the GC (control group) who had 16 weekly sessions with a psychologist, which did not involve stress control. Initial testing evaluated the symptomatology of stress, the stressors which the children would normally encounter in their everyday lives and what were the confrontation strategies they used. Using the quadriphase model as a theoretical benchmark which emphasizes four phases in the stress process, namely alert, resistance, near-exhaustion and exhaustion, results show that 60% of children were in the near-exhaustion phase, with a prevalence of psychological reactions. The stressors most mentioned by the children were internal in nature, and related to feelings of anxiety and situations related to impaired self-esteem. It was also found that they made use of numbers and types of strategies that were not sufficient to control their levels of tension. The two groups were compared before and after the GTCSI sessions. Initially, the groups showed no significant differences in terms of the level and phase of stress they were facing. After intervention, it was noted that the GTCSI showed a significant reduction in their level of stress when compared to the control group. It was concluded that stressed children, when subjected to stress control training specific to their needs, are capable of developing confrontation skills and achieving a reduction in levels of stress. It was also concluded that TCS-I is very effective in reducing stress in children and the internal sources of this stress. / Este estudo objetivou testar a efic?cia de um m?todo novo de tratamento do stress, designado treino psicol?gico de stress infantil (TCS-I) na redu??o da sintomatologia do stress em crian?as de 08 anos a 09 anos anos de idade. O TCS-I se constituiu de 16 encontros semanais de 90 minutos de dura??o, em grupo, e se baseou na teoria cognitivo-comportamental. Os participantes foram 20 crian?as distribu?das igualmente em dois grupos: GTCSI que recebeu o TCS-I e outro (grupo comparativo GC) que teve 16 encontros semanais com a psic?loga, n?o direcionados ao controle do stress. A testagem inicial avaliou a sintomatologia de stress, os estressores com os quais as crian?as se deparavam no dia a dia e quais estrat?gias de enfrentamento elas utilizavam. Considerando-se como referencial te?rico o modelo quadrif?sico que enfatiza quatro fases no processo do stress: alerta, resist?ncia, quase exaust?o e exaust?o, os resultados indicam que 60% das crian?as encontravam-se na fase de quase exaust?o, com preval?ncia de rea??es psicol?gicas. Os estressores mais mencionados por elas eram de natureza interna e se referiam a sentimentos de ansiedade e situa??es referentes a uma autoestima prejudicada. Verificou-se ainda que faziam uso de um n?mero e tipo de estrat?gias que se mostrou insuficiente no controle de seus n?veis de tens?o. Os dois grupos foram comparados antes e ap?s a interven??o do GTCSI. No inicio, os grupos n?o mostraram diferen?as significativas quanto ao n?vel e fase do stress na qual se encontravam. Ap?s a interven??o, observou-se, que o GTCSI apresentou uma redu??o significativa no seu n?vel de stress quando comparado ao GC. Concluiu-se que as crian?as estressadas quando submetidas a um treino de controle de stress espec?fico ?s suas necessidades, s?o capazes de desenvolver habilidades de enfrentamento obtendo redu??o nos n?veis de stress. Concluiu-se tamb?m que o TCS-I ? muito eficaz na redu??o do stress infantil e das fontes internas de stress.