College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

Winter 3-19-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Jocelyn Carter, PhD

Second Advisor

Kathryn Grant, PhD

Abstract

Based on the current literature examining associations of stress and psychopathology in adolescents, several types of stress (e.g., violence exposure, economic-related stress) have been identified as particularly salient in lowincome, urban adolescent populations (Grant et al., 2003; Natz et al., 2012). This population also has been shown to be at heightened risk for problems including internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Identifying specific pathways through which urban, low-income adolescents develop specific emotional and behavior problems in response to particular stressors would be helpful in the development and selections of as the targets of interventions that disrupt mediators that link particular stressors to particular outcomes. In the present study, 201 urban adolescents completed a battery of questionnaires assessing stressful life events and emotional and behavioral problems in a short-term longitudinal study spanning six months that assessed their emotional and behavioral problems in response to stressors typically experienced in urban, low-income environments. Two stressor-outcome specificity models will be tested to better understand the mechanisms through which depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors emerge among urban, low-income adolescents in response to economic loss and

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