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Department of Human Development and Family Studies

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100455
These digital collections include theses, dissertations, and faculty publications from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. Due to departmental name changes, materials from the following historical departments are also included here: Child Development and Family Relationships.

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Browsing Department of Human Development and Family Studies by Subject "adolescent"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Exploratory effects of a mindfulness+lifestyle program for type 2 diabetes prevention on parental psychosocial adjustment in families of Latino adolescents
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Daniels, Raquel, author; Shomaker, Lauren, advisor; Bellows, Laura, committee member; Ortega, Lilyana, committee member
    Latino adolescents have a particularly high risk of developing youth-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Latino families frequently experience high levels of stress due to a variety of social/environmental factors including stigma, discrimination, immigration, and acculturation. Culturally adapted, family-based intervention programs designed specifically for Latino adolescents to increase healthy eating and physical activity show strong potential to reduce adolescents' risk of T2D. Yet, existing programs rarely address the heightened psychological stress faced by Latino families, which is likely to interfere with making lifestyle changes. It is possible that the integration of mindfulness-based training into a culturally-adapted, family-based lifestyle program will result in more favorable family functioning and parental psychosocial adjustment than a lifestyle program alone. The current thesis project was a secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial designed to pilot a 6-week/12-session culturally-adapted, family-based lifestyle intervention, with and without a mindfulness-based training component, in N = 18 Latino families with adolescents at risk for T2D. The aims were to explore the comparative effectiveness of the mindfulness+lifestyle intervention, versus lifestyle only, on parent psychosocial adjustment and to characterize to what extent changes in parent psychosocial adjustment corresponded to changes in adolescents' own psychosocial adjustment and degree of risk for T2D. At baseline, immediate post-intervention, and six-months follow-up, parents completed validated survey measures of parent perceived stress and parent depression symptoms. Family functioning also was assessed at baseline. At all intervals, adolescents self-reported their levels of perceived stress and depression symptoms, and adolescent risk for T2D was determined from body mass index (BMI) metrics, insulin resistance, and fasting glucose. The analytic plan included analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) as well as a reliable change index. Correlations were used to describe simple correspondence between parent and adolescent characteristics. ANCOVA results indicated that changes in parent depression/stress at post-intervention and six-month follow-up not differ by intervention. Reliable change analyses revealed that one parent from each condition experienced a reliable change decrease in perceived stress and one parent from the lifestyle only condition experienced a reliable change decrease in depressive symptoms. In correlation analyses, greater decreases in parent depression symptoms were correlated with greater decreases in adolescent perceived stress at post-intervention, and this association was apparent in the mindfulness+lifestyle condition as opposed to lifestyle only. Also in mindfulness+lifestyle only, higher baseline family chaos and baseline parental depressive symptoms were correlated with greater decreases in adolescents' insulin resistance. These highly exploratory findings require follow-up in a larger, adequately powered trial, but suggest the possibility that family and parental psychosocial characteristics relate to health outcomes in adolescents at-risk for T2D among Latino families taking part in mindfulness+lifestyle programming. Consistent with a selective or indicated prevention framework, families with more psychosocial difficulties may stand to benefit the most from integrative health interventions.
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    Exploring the potential utility of a mindfulness-based intervention for promoting intuitive eating in adolescents
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Cutler, Addie K., author; Shomaker, Lauren, advisor; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, committee member; Mueller, Megan, committee member
    Metabolic diseases and other illnesses related to high weight are increasing in prevalence, which is of particular concern in adolescent populations due to the long-term health implications. Intuitive eating (IE), the ability to eat when hungry, stop when satisfied, and consume the foods that one prefers, has been inversely associated with body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and, as such, is a construct of interest in the field of adolescent wellness. In theory, adolescent IE would be related to both greater mindfulness and less disordered eating. Yet, relatively few studies have examined IE in adolescents and even fewer studies have explored whether mindfulness-based intervention affect IE in adolescents. In this master's thesis, I explored the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on increasing dispositional mindfulness and increasing IE in adolescents at risk for excess weight gain using baseline and 3-year follow-up data from a pilot randomized controlled trial of N=54 adolescent girls (55%) and boys 12-17 years old who were experiencing above-average weight or had a family history of experiences with obesity. Youth were randomized to either a mindfulness-based group intervention or health education control group for 6 hours spread over 6 consecutive weeks. Mindfulness and disordered eating were measured on validated self-report instruments at baseline and 3-year follow-up. IE was measured through adolescents' report on the Intuitive Eating Scale-2, measured only at 3-year follow-up. There were no significant differences between groups in mindfulness, disordered eating, or IE at 3-year follow-up. Disordered eating at 3-year follow-up was negatively correlated with total average IE at 3-year follow-up. These findings are limited based on the small, pilot nature of the study indicating that further research is needed in this area.
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    Mindfulness training and the mindfulness-stress buffering hypothesis: implications for adolescent stress
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Allen, Margot, author; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, advisor; Prince, Mark, committee member; Quirk, Kelley, committee member
    The importance of addressing health outcomes associated with stress through managing stress is widely documented. The mindfulness-stress buffering hypothesis offers a potential solution for mitigating health outcomes associated with stress, but research examining mindfulness-stress buffering hypothesis in adolescent populations yields mixed results. To address inconsistency in the association between stress and mindfulness found in previous research, the current study examined whether participating in a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) allowed adolescents to remain mindful under stress through examining the association between stress and mindfulness both within and between-person before, after, and during an MBI. Between-person results indicated that, at baseline, there was a significant negative relationship between stress and mindfulness but that there was no significant association between stress and mindfulness after completion of an MBI; however, these associations were not significantly different from each other. Within-person, during the first three weeks of an MBI, there was a non-significant trend level positive relationship between mindfulness and stress; during the final three weeks, this positive association was significant. Results generally supported previous research that hypothesized that adolescents may not have the innate capacity to remain mindful when stressed, effectively using it as a buffer. Additionally, results indicated that adolescents may display more mindfulness when stressed, compared to their average levels of stress.
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    Positive parenting as a mediator of the association between mindful parenting and adolescent adjustment
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Adams, Melanie S., author; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, advisor; MacPhee, David, committee member; Brown, Samantha, committee member
    Mindful parenting is characterized by parents paying intentional, present-centered, and nonjudgmental attention to their children and their own parenting. Empirical and theoretical support points to mindful parenting as a protective factor associated with lower incidence of adolescent behavioral problems and mental health issues such as externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Likewise, positive parenting behaviors that engender close and secure parent-child relationships have been shown to be a protective factor in reducing adolescent maladjustment. The current study was guided by three aims. The first aim was to examine whether adolescent reports of mindful parenting are negatively associated with adolescent reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, as has been found to be the case with parent reports. The associations between mindful parenting and adolescent adjustment were found to be negative and statistically significant across parent gender and adjustment outcome. The second aim was to examine whether adolescent reports of positive parenting practices mediate the association between mindful parenting and adolescent adjustment. The third aim was to examine whether mediation differs for reports of mothers' and fathers' mindful parenting. The interrelated positive parenting behaviors of parental autonomy granting, overcontrol, trust, and reaction to adolescent disclosure were analyzed as a factor variable and entered in the model as the mediator. Associations were examined at baseline without intervention and from an adolescent perspective rather than the more common parent perspective. Structural equation modeling was conducted using Mplus to test whether positive parenting practices mediate the association between parental mindfulness and adolescent adjustment. Adolescents' perception of mindful parenting on part of their mothers versus their fathers was found to make a larger perceived contribution to overall positive parenting in the household. Results of analyzing four separate models indicated that associations differed by parent gender and adolescent adjustment outcome, with significant mediation for all models with the exception of fathers' mindful parenting paired with the outcome of adolescent internalizing behavior. The finding of no significant direct pathways in the presence of significant indirect pathways of mediation models across outcomes and for either mothers or fathers is a consistent finding bolstering preliminary indications that the contribution of mindful parenting on adolescent adjustment may indeed be mediated. Overall, results provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that positive parenting mediates the association between mindful parenting and adolescent adjustment, while providing support for the notion that patterns may differ by parent gender. A better understanding of whether positive parenting practices might act as mediators of the benefits of mindful parenting has implications for parenting intervention work that could consider pairing mindfulness instruction with lessons on these specific positive parenting behaviors to optimize the buffer to adolescent maladjustment.
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    The role of social relationship functioning in suicidal ideation among adolescents at-risk for adult obesity
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Elliker, Elyse, author; Shomaker, Lauren, advisor; Lucas-Thompson, Rachel, committee member; Brown, Samantha, committee member
    Prevalence of child and adolescent obesity represents a public health crisis in the United States and globally. Having tripled over the last 50 years, current rates of obesity show that approximately 18% of children aged 2-19 years in the United States are affected. While metabolic health consequences of obesity are of great concern, including insulin resistance and impaired glucose, obesity also is related to a range of adverse psychological concerns, including depression and suicidal ideation. Indeed, there has been an alarming rise in adolescent suicidal ideation and behavior, and a possibility that heavier youth are at higher risk. Yet, theoretical and empirical data support the possibility that positive social relationship functioning may play an important moderating role, by buffering the effects of weight discrimination on suicidal ideation in youth with overweight and obesity. In the current master's thesis proposal, I conducted a secondary analysis of the cross-sectional associations among social relationship functioning, suicidal ideation, and metabolic health characteristics in 90 adolescents aged 12-17 years (50% girls) at-risk for adult obesity. Adolescents completed survey measures of social relationship functioning and survey/interview measures of depression and suicidal ideation. Height and fasting weight were collected to determine body mass index (BMI) indices, and body fat was measured via air displacement plethysmography. A fasting blood sample was analyzed for fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and insulin resistance. I explored the bivariate associations among social functioning, depression, BMI, metabolic indices, and without suicidal ideation. Then I tested BMI/metabolic indices, social relationship functioning, and their interactions as a predictor of suicidal ideation, controlling for depression symptoms in order to evaluate the unique relation of BMI/metabolic indices and social functioning with suicide ideation. Nearly 30% of adolescents reported suicidal ideation. Contrary to hypotheses, results showed that neither BMI/body fat nor metabolic indices were related to suicidal ideation, nor did social act as a moderator of these associations. Accounting for age, sex, and BMI z, depression was robustly related to higher odds of suicidal ideation. Most dimensions of social functioning related in bivariate analyses to suicidal ideation, and some dimensions, even when accounting for depression symptoms and other covariates, showed a trend-level or significant association with suicidal ideation. These results point to the prevalence of suicidal ideation in adolescents at risk for adult obesity and suggest that elevated depression symptoms are the primary marker of risk for suicidal ideation in this population. Additional research with larger samples and longitudinal data are needed to further test the role of social functioning in mitigating, or perhaps mediating, suicidal ideation risk in adolescents at risk for adult obesity, as well as research into other possible protective factors.