Date of Award
Fall 11-20-2012
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Kathryn Grant, PhD
Second Advisor
Susan Bennett, PhD
Third Advisor
Patrick Fowler, PhD
Abstract
Many urban youth are exposed to substantial rates of stressors within different levels of their environment which increases their likelihood for experiencing negative mental health outcomes. Some emerging research suggests that traditional individually-based and family-based protective factors have a limited role in protecting urban youth facing community-based stressors. This study examined whether community-based protective factors moderated the relationship between community-based stressors and psychological symptoms in a sample of 384 urban youth recruited from three schools in the Midwest region. Some support for hypothesis I was found. In particular, community-based protective factor (i.e. religion) was found to lessen the impact of exposure to community violence on parent reported Time 2 total psychological symptoms. On the other hand, relying on school-based supports was not found to mitigate the link between community-based stressors and youth reported Time 2 total psychological symptoms. This study also examined whether community-based protective factors promote healthier mental health outcomes by strengthening protective factors which exist in more proximal systems such as individually-based (i.e. coping) or family-based protective factors. No support for hypothesis II was found. Overall, findings from this study suggest that compared to individually-based or family-based protective factors, community-based protective factors were more likely to serve as moderators of the relationship between community-based stressors and psychological symptoms. Secondly, it suggests that community-based protective factors do not function uniformly across community-level stressors and psychological symptoms. The results found in this study have implications for developing interventions aimed at promoting well-being in urban youth. Future research should continue to use theory and previous findings to build this literature.
Recommended Citation
Tailor, Megha, "An Examination Through An Ecological Lenses of the Relationships Among Stressors, Protective Factors, and Psychological Outcomes in the Lives of Urban Adolescents" (2012). College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations. 35.
https://via.library.depaul.edu/csh_etd/35