Military families experience numerous changes to their lives, including multiple and prolonged separations (Link & Palinkas, 2013) and frequent relocations (Weber & Weber, 2005). As a result concern has grown regarding the effects of these stressors on military families today, particularly for the two million youth in these families. This study sought to provide information regarding the stress process for military youth. Pearlin's Stress Process Model was used to examine the impact of social stressors on youths' outcomes with particular attention on context-specific stressors (Pearlin, Menaghan, Lieberman, & Mullan, 1981). This model identifies three components to explain the development of stress in individuals: sources of stress, mediators of stress, and manifestations of stress (Pearlin, 1999). Mediators of stress are the linking mechanism between the sources of stress and manifestations of stress. To test this stress process model, a sample (N =1,036) of military youth from four military installations (three within the United States and one within Europe) was analyzed. The Family and Community Resilience Laboratory (FCRL) at the University of Georgia (UGA) collected the data from military youth, ages 11 to 18, with the goal of understanding the effects of the military lifestyle on youth well-being. An exploratory latent profile analysis (LPA) and subsequent analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to address three primary research questions. First, to what extent do the six primary dimensions of the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE) identify unique coping profiles for military youth? Second, to what extent do context-specific military (parental separations, frequent relocations and parental rank) and normative (minority status) stressors indicate an association with specific coping profile membership for military youth? Finally, to what extent are the identified coping profiles associated with group differences in depressive symptoms displayed by military youth? Results of the exploratory LPA revealed four distinct coping profiles for military youth according to the identified model fit criterion, indicating that the optimal profile solution had been reached for the data. The profiles were labeled as the Low Coping profile, Medium Coping profile, Medium-humor Coping profile and High Coping profile. Youth in all four profiles reported engaging in low levels of maladaptive coping, thus the remainder of the discussion focuses on the adaptive behaviors used within the profiles. Members of the Low Coping profile engaged in all coping behaviors at low or infrequent levels. While those of the High Coping profile engaged in all of the coping behaviors relatively often. Members of the Medium and Medium-humor Coping profile reported scores that fell within the mid-range of the scale. However, the Medium-humor Coping profile differed as it had significantly higher scores on the subscale of Being Humorous. The second step of the analysis investigated the association between context-specific and normative stressors and the identified coping profiles for military youth. Multinomial logistic regressions found no significant results for the context-specific variables of stress. Minority status was found to be the only significant stressor and indicated that minorities were more likely to be members of the Medium Coping profile than the High Coping profile when compared to non-minorities. The final analysis conducted involved four one-way ANOVAs used to identify group differences in depressive symptoms displayed based on coping profile membership. Significant differences were found for each of the depressive subscales. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the general trend was that the High Coping profile reported the fewest depressive symptoms across all indicators. More specifically, in terms of Somatic Symptoms, significantly higher scores were reported for the Medium and Medium-humor Coping profile than those in the High Coping profile. For the Depressive Affect and Interpersonal Problems subscales, the Medium Coping profile reported more depressive symptomology than the High Coping profile. For Positive Affect, the Low Coping Profile reported significantly lower levels of positive affect than all of the other profiles. Each coping profile demonstrated significant, unique associations to depressive symptoms with the High Coping profile demonstrating the best overall mental health. Results demonstrated diverse coping patterns for military youth and these coping patterns are related to varying levels of depressive symptomology. Future research is needed to understand the development and trajectory of these coping behaviors and their long-term influence on mental health outcomes. Longitudinal research and the use of multiple reports by both parents and youth can be beneficial for further understanding of the stress process. For professionals who work with military youth, this information can be useful when developing interventions and prevention programs as the use of adaptive coping may serve to buffer against depressive symptoms. Military parents can also be provided with knowledge regarding behaviors that may serve as warning signs of maladjustment (e.g., the display of poor or infrequent coping behaviors). / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / July 2, 2014. / Coping, Depressive Symptoms, Latent Profile Analysis, Military Families, Youth / Includes bibliographical references. / Mallory Lucier-Greer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carolyn Herrington, University Representative; Ming Cui, Committee Member; Lenore McWey, Committee Member; Wayne Denton, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253629 |
| Contributors | Okafor, Ebony S. (authoraut), Lucier-Greer, Mallory (professor directing dissertation), Herrington, Carolyn (university representative), Cui, Ming (committee member), McWey, Lenore (committee member), Denton, Wayne (committee member), Department of Family and Child Sciences (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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