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Browsing by Author "Barenz, Jennifer Diane, author"

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    Modeling effects of trauma and stress on disordered eating and substance abuse: the role of experiential avoidance and meaning in life
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Barenz, Jennifer Diane, author; Steger, Michael F., advisor; Conner, Bradley T., committee member; Davalos, Deana B., committee member; Eakman, Aaron M., committee member
    Traumatic or stressful life events often compel people to avoid internal experiences such as negative thoughts, emotions, and memories. The process of avoiding painful internal stimuli is commonly referred to as experiential avoidance (Hayes et al., 1996; Hayes et al., 2004). While often effective in the short-term, experiential avoidance has been shown to increase risk for behavioral disorders, including disordered eating and substance abuse. Additionally, individuals with eating disorders frequently struggle to establish a coherent sense of meaning and identity (Fox & Leung), indicating that meaning in life is relevant to the study of disordered eating. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses were used to explore relationships between traumatic or stressful life events, experiential avoidance, meaning in life, disordered eating, and substance abuse within a multivariate model. SEM analyses revealed a good fit between the proposed structural model and the data present in two large samples of undergraduate students. Individual regression analyses also explored meaning in life and experiential avoidance as predictors of treatment outcomes in a sample of individuals diagnosed with eating disorders.
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    Trauma, symptomology, and meaning in life: a comparison between clinical samples and healthy controls
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Barenz, Jennifer Diane, author; Steger, Michael, advisor; Eakman, Aaron, committee member; Henry, Kimberly, committee member
    Research has shown that people who report living meaningful lives are better able to cope with trauma, integrate the past, present, and future into a guiding narrative, and report higher levels of self-esteem and life-satisfaction (Baumeister et al., 2013). Most research to date has examined meaning in life among psychologically healthy individuals, with a very limited number of studies examining meaning in life among psychologically disordered individuals. The current study seeks to address this gap in the literature by comparing levels of meaning in life between a sample of individuals diagnosed with eating disorders and OCD (n=101) and comparing it with data from a nationally representative control group (n=2014). This study also examined how meaning in life related to symptom severity and trauma history within the clinical sample and proposed that presence of meaning may moderate the relationship between trauma history and symptom severity. Results revealed significant differences between the clinical and control group in levels of both presence of meaning and search for meaning. However, meaning in life did not significantly relate to symptom severity or trauma history in this sample. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.