2017 Theses and dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11274/13269
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Browsing 2017 Theses and dissertations by Subject "Adolescents"
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Item Family ties of African American parental incarceration on adolescents: Family service professionals’ perceptions(11/9/2017) Grays, Totundra R.; Armstrong, Joyce; Brock, Linda J.; Hwang, Shann HwaResearch suggests that a myriad of factors contribute to juvenile incarceration including a history of parental incarceration. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore family service professionals’ perceptions of the relationship between African American parental incarceration and African American adolescent incarceration. This study also examined what resources and services are needed to reduce recidivism and prevent the intergenerational cycle of incarceration. Three research questions guided this study: Q1. What are the perceptions of family service professionals regarding the relationship between African American parental incarceration and adolescents’ incarceration? Q2. What resources are needed by African American families of adolescents who have been incarcerated to reduce recidivism and break the intergenerational cycle of incarceration? Q3. What services are needed by African American families of adolescents who have been incarcerated to reduce recidivism and break the intergenerational cycle of incarceration? Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and Billingsley's African American Family Functioning Model were used as the theoretical frameworks for this study. Ten family service professionals with experience working with juveniles and their families were included in this study. Demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed for relevant themes and concepts. Two overarching themes and seven subthemes were identified from the study. The first overarching theme identified macro factors influencing juvenile incarceration as viewed through the context of a systems lens. The second overarching theme identified micro factors influencing juvenile incarceration as viewed through the context of an individual lens. The participants discussed gaps and necessary resources and services needed to break the cycle of familial incarceration. Recommendations for future studies and implications for professionals working with incarcerated adolescents and families were discussed.Item The impact of sex, bullying, forced sexual contact, and body dissatisfaction on depressive symptoms and suicide risk(12/14/2017) Romanus, Amy; Sadri, Mahmoud; James, Williams; Marshall, David, Ph. D.This study explores the effects of these behaviors on adolescents. Traditional bullying, cyber bullying, sexual assault and body dysphoria's effect on depression and increased suicide risk are the focus of this dissertation. Data from the 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) is analyzed for this purpose. Logistic regression and multiple regression are used to explore the relationships between these variables. Adolescent females appear to be at increased risk of depression and suicide due to school bullying, cyber-bullying, sexual assault and body dysphoria. Results from the YRBSS indicate that many high school students are engaged in health-risk behaviors associated with suicide: a leading cause of death among teens in the United States. The results support the hypotheses that adolescent female victims of traditional bullying, sexual assault and body dissatisfaction are more at risk of depression and suicidal thoughts, plans and implementation. Cyberbullying had a stronger impact on whether boys reported that they felt sad and hopeless, made a suicide plan and were a suicide risk than it did for girls.