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Browsing by Author "Henry, Kimberly L., advisor"

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    Emotion regulation in the context of daily stress across the adult lifespan
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Chui, Helena, author; Diehl, Manfred, advisor; Henry, Kimberly L., advisor; McCabe, David P., committee member; Kwiatkowski, Lynn M., committee member
    Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in psychological functioning across the lifespan. This study examined within-person variability and between-person differences in emotion regulation in adults of different ages. Participants (N = 239) filled out daily diaries and were interviewed daily for 30 consecutive days. Using the dynamical systems approach, emotion regulation was conceptualized as the tendency for affect to return towards the equilibrium. The study specifically examined the regulation of affect to return towards equilibrium in response to daily stressors. Results indicated that positive and negative affect showed a self-regulatory pattern, such that daily affect oscillated around the equilibrium and excessive departure from the equilibrium was avoided. For positive affect, the effect of daily stressors became non-significant when the control variable, physical symptoms, was entered in the model. Physical symptoms were associated with a faster return towards equilibrium when positive affect was above equilibrium. Whereas, when positive affect was below equilibrium, physical symptoms were associated with a slower return towards equilibrium. Neuroticism, self-concept incoherence, and age did not predict the regulation of positive and negative affect. The control variable, mean positive affect across 30 days, showed a significant cross-level interaction effect with daily stressors on the regulation of positive affect. Substantively, for individuals with higher positive affect in general, the effect of daily stressors on the regulation of positive affect was weaker. No within-person or between-person variables predicted the regulation of negative affect. Overall, these findings provided partial support that positive affect has a protective effect on emotion regulation. This study extends the current understanding of the regulation of daily affect and raises further questions for future research to test how emotion is regulated and how features of daily stressors are associated with the pattern of emotion regulation.
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    Longitudinal panel networks of risk and protective factors in youth suicidality
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Wallace, Gemma T., author; Conner, Bradley T., advisor; Henry, Kimberly L., advisor; Merz, Emily C., committee member; Riggs, Nathaniel R., committee member
    Rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are increasing among youth in the United States. Younger age at onset for STBs confers higher vulnerability to lifetime mental health concerns, yet relatively few studies have investigated STBs during the critical developmental period as youth transition from childhood into early adolescence. Several domains of risk and protective factors have been identified, however accurate prediction of STBs remains poor. Network analyses that can examine pairwise associations between many variables may provide information about complex pathways of risk for STBs, thereby improving the timing and targets of interventions. The present study applied a longitudinal panel network approach to elucidate potential risk and protective pathways for STBs across early adolescence. Data came from 9,854 youth who participated in the population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (Mage = 9.90 ± .62 years, 63% white, 53% female at baseline). Youth and their caregivers completed an annual measurement battery from when participants were ages 9-10 through 11-12 years (i.e., three timepoints). 1,699 youth reported past or present STBs at one or more study timepoints. Panel Graphical Vector Autoregressive models evaluated temporal within-person, contemporaneous within-person, and between-person relations between several previously identified risk and protective factors for youth STBs, including mental health symptoms, socioenvironmental factors, life stressors, and substance use. An autoregressive effect was observed for STBs in the temporal network. In the contemporaneous and between-subjects networks, STBs had consistent direct associations with internalizing symptoms, low-level substance use, family conflict, lower parental monitoring, and lower school protective factors. Possible indirect pathways were also observed, in which other mental health symptoms and stressful life events might contribute to STBs through internalizing. Results emphasize that family and school experiences are salient social risk factors for early adolescents. Age-specific interventions may benefit from prioritizing targeting internalizing symptoms and early substance use, as well as promoting positive school and family support. Results support the use of longitudinal network approaches to understand the complex interplay between STBs and different domains of risk and protective factors.
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    Perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among marginalized groups using an intersectionality framework
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Holm, Abby K. Johnson, author; Henry, Kimberly L., advisor; Crain, Tori, committee member; Faw, Meara, committee member
    This work uses Crenshaw's (1989) Intersectionality to quantitatively study intersectional experiences of discrimination and depressive symptoms among historically marginalized and ignored populations. Using a series of multiple mediation models, discrimination (attributed to gender, sexual orientation and/or race/ethnicity) was modeled as a mediator between identity and depressive symptoms among seven diverse identity-based subgroups from Project STRIDE (75% sexual minority, 50% racial/ethnic minority; Meyer et al., 2006). I hypothesized marginalized subgroups would experience more discrimination, and in turn, more depressive symptoms. All models were compared against the eighth, least marginalized subgroup: straight White men. Discrimination partially mediated the effect of identity on depressive symptoms for sexual minority Black women, but only when accounting for discrimination on the basis of all three marginalized identities (woman, Black, and lesbian/bisexual). Sexual minority Black men experienced significantly less/less frequent depressive symptoms relative straight White men; after holding constant discrimination (at 0 for both groups), this was also true for sexual minority White men. Despite the nuances to quantitatively modeling intersectionality and potential issues of generalizability, this work might serve as a framework for carrying out future quantitative intersectionality-based studies. Enacted, this work has the potential to create a healthier and more equitable society for all
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    Psychological distress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic: a structural topic modeling approach
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Tran, Thao P., author; Henry, Kimberly L., advisor; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G., committee member; Prasad, Joshua, committee member; Prince, Mark, committee member; Swaim, Randall C., committee member
    In this study, I focused on two closely related phenomena, namely psychological distress and distress-coping mechanisms during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. I examined participants' voluntary written responses to two open-ended questions on psychological distress and coping in an online survey using an unsupervised machine learning approach called structural topic modeling. I chose to extract 17 topics from the collection of participants' responses. Among these topics, 11 were mostly about different factors contributing to participants' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to, uncertainty due to the coronavirus, financial/work-related concerns, living conditions, and concerns about personal health and safety as well as the well-being of loved ones and others in general. Besides, I also found 5 topics discussing many ways people took care of their mental health during this challenging time. Surprisingly, one topic revealed different feedback people had for researchers who designed and implemented the survey. I also found cross-country differences in terms of the prevalence of each of the resultant topics. In summary, I documented a number of findings that are congruent with the existing literature on psychological distress and coping during the COVID-19 pandemic while at the same time, pointed out some important nuances in the qualitative responses of participants. Implications, strengths, and limitations, as well as directions for future research were discussed in the study.
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    Work-life balance in a Japanese sample: a person-centered approach
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Tran, Thao P., author; Henry, Kimberly L., advisor; Fisher, Gwenith G., committee member; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel G., committee member
    Work-life balance (WLB) has been linked to one's job satisfaction, well-being, and quality of life. Despite its importance, WLB remains elusive to many working people. The present study used a person-centered methodology called Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to answer three research questions: (1) Can people be categorized into meaningful exclusive and exhaustive latent groups of varying degree of WLB based on their experiences in work and life domains?; (2) To what extent do demographic variables predict membership in certain profile of WLB?; (3) Are identified profiles of WLB related to individuals' well-being? In a sample of over 700 middle-aged workers from Tokyo, Japan, I identified three distinct subgroups that qualitatively differed in their symptomology of balance. I referred to these as the Moderate WLB Profile that was family-oriented and partially engaged in their multiple life roles, the High WLB Profile that was fully engaged and efficient at managing their roles, and the Low WLB Profile that was partially engaged and inefficient at juggling among several life roles. Regarding demographics, age, gender, and marital status seemed to be important predictors of one's latent profile membership. Furthermore, the latent profile membership was predictive of one's well-being. In sum, the study results suggested that WLB is indeed critical to workers' well-being and hence, further efforts to boost balance are needed. One-size-fit-all policies of WLB may not work well for all employees. Understanding workers' circumstances is critical for more targeted interventions/policies to enhance balance.