Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: African-American youth from economically-disadvantaged, urban families and communities are disproportionately exposed to stressful life conditions, placing them at increased risk for mental health problems (Gonzales & Kim, 1997; Grant et al., 2000). Improving adaptation to stress has been identified as one of the most promising approaches to preventing the development of problems during adolescence (Sandler, Wolchik, MacKinnon, Ayers, & Roosa, 1997). A subset of a broader domain of the ways children and adolescents adapt to stress is coping (Compas, 1998). Especially within the domain of adolescence, the general pattern of strategies youth use to cope with stress impacts their current and future emotional adjustment (Compas et al., 2001). Coping research with African American youth has found evidence for racial discrimination predicting use of culturally-relevant coping strategies (Gaylord-Harden & Cunningham, 2009) and suggests that low-income African American youths may draw upon other unique and culturally-relevant coping strategies that are not captured on existing measures of universal coping strategies. Culturally-relevant coping strategies attempt to take into account cultural and contextual factors that may affect the manifestation and utilization of coping strategies. Culturally-relevant coping strategies are derived from a particular cultural worldview or orientation (Noh & Kaspar, 2003; Beru, 2002). For African American youth, culturally-relevant coping strategies may be based in an Afrocentric worldview that is rooted in African philosophies and cultural traditions (Utsey, Adams, & Bolden, 2000; Chambers et al., 1998). African American youth possess varying levels of identity with this Africultural orientation (Jagers & Mock, 1993). Spirituality, kinship, identification with the African American community (i.e. collectivism/communalism), and emotional debriefing are hallmark features of this ideology. These coping strategies are reflected in a 34-item measure called the Youth Africultural Coping System Inventory (Y-ACSI; Gaylord-Harden & Utsey, 2007). The four factors of the Y-ACSI include: Emotional Debriefing (managing stress by expressing oneself emotionally and creatively); Spiritual-Centered Coping, (spiritually-based attempts to manage a situation); Maintaining Harmony, (creating a harmonious balance with environmental stimuli and others); and Communalistic/Collectivistic Coping, (coping through relationships with others; Utsey at al., 2000). Given the unique coping patterns of African-American boys, the current study sought to validate the Y-ACSI measure in a sample of African American adolescent males and to examine whether these culturally-relevant coping factors protect against stressors such as racial discrimination. In a sample using 248 African American high-school males (M age=15.15) confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine factor loadings of each item for their respective latent factors and hence determine unidimensionality. Preliminary findings demonstrate that the model provided a reasonable fit for the data (Χ2 (21) = 27.318; RMSEA=0.042; CFI=0.991; NNFI=0.984; SRMR=0.046) indicating that the four-factor of the Y-ACSI was replicated in this sample. Additionally, all factor loadings were significant, with the exception of Emotional Debriefing’s influence on the “Creative” parcel. Results underscore the importance of developing culturally-relevant measures to explore and understand the coping processes of this underrepresented group and will be discussed in regard to culturally-derived protective strategies for African American boys in dealing with stressors.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Inmate work has played a long and important role in the history of corrections. However, it has only been within the last several decades that prison work has shifted from being a mostly exploitive enterprise to a form of correctional treatment and rehabilitation. Much of the research on inmate work focuses on a small handful of outcomes variables, namely post-release employment and recidivism. While important, these measures alone fail to shed light on other potential measures of success that take place within the prison environment. If work is to be framed as a potential intervention, then positive change while still incarcerated must be understood as well as measured. Mature coping is seen as the ability of inmates to cope positively and maturely with their situation and environment. This study utilizes a mixed methods approach. Quantitatively operationalizing the concept of mature coping and measured via inmate survey, along with workplace measures, and the further exploration of inmate work perspectives though individual inmate interviews. This research seeks to describe the role of workplace environment, culture, and social support in providing a place within the prison environment where inmates can make positive change and seek to cope maturely with the prison experience.

Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: By applying the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Message Processing (LC4MP, Lang, 2003, 2006a, 2006b), this study aims to improve our understanding of coping behavior by examining its relation with dual motivational systems.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Emerging adults are the most at risk group of Americans for STIs and unwanted pregnancies. Because they frequently discuss sex-related issues and concerns, understanding the assistance friends provide each other may provide insight into how they may encourage or deter healthy sexual behaviors. Stressor severity, interactional goals, and perceptions of power were tested as factors prompting social support and communal coping. The mediating effects of communicative coping assistance on relational satisfaction and coping satisfaction were also examined. Survey results indicated all three factors were related to informational, nurturant, tangible, and esteem support and problem-solving communal coping, and these forms of coping assistance mediated the association of legitimate, expert, and referent power with relational satisfaction. Results suggest the Model of Communal Coping (Lyons & Meade, 1995; Lyons et al., 1998) could be extended into an explanatory coping theory and offer insight into how friends’ may influence one another’s sexual behaviors.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: U.S. prisons oversee an overwhelming number of individuals with mental health needs and severe mental illness, which presents a significant challenge to correctional administrators and staff who are often untrained and unprepared to respond to their attitudes, behaviors, and needs. Given the high prevalence of mental health problems amongst the incarcerated, knowledge of protective factors is important. The aims of this study are to examine whether coping styles contribute to changes in mental health, as measured by the Symptom Checklist Revised (SCL-90-R), for those who experience incarceration in Arizona. Data are obtained from a longitudinal study of adult males who were interviewed upon their arrival in a maximum, close, or medium custody correctional facility. Follow-up interviews are then conducted six months following their placement. Implications for research and correctional policy will be discussed.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: Imprisonment is a time punctuated by significant restrictions of autonomy, liberty, and security. Those who are incarcerated experience a variety of negative experiences and stressful events from the moment they enter a correctional facility throughout the duration of their carceral experience and beyond. As a result, these restrictions and negative events are likely to lead to emotional and behavior patterns that can result in a variety of adverse outcomes. At the same time, however, findings from prior research have found that the experience of incarceration varies significantly amongst those who are incarcerated. Few studies have explored these prison experiences and the strategies that incarcerated persons use to cope with imprisonment. Using semi-structured interview data from 300 incarcerated males housed in medium, close, and maximum custody, the current study fills a gap in research on the effects of incarceration by exploring how individual-level coping strategies change during the first year of incarceration and whether these coping strategies are related to various adverse behavioral and relational outcomes over a one-year time period. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for research and correctional policy that emanate from our results.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Stress and coping play a major role in the development of psychopathology. Despite their importance, our understanding of the factors that influence the development of coping skills in early childhood is limited. This is particularly true of research on the parent’s role. Although we know that parental warmth, consistency, and authoritative discipline are positively associated with the development of effective coping styles, we have limited information on the specific mechanisms through which parents influence children’s coping.
For the current abstract, data was collected on 187 families recruited from Head Start centers; families consisted of Latino children ages 2-5 and their mothers. Children were asked to complete a challenging and stressful task, Milton Bradley’s Operation game, with the assistance of their mothers. Children were instructed to remove the pieces without touching the sides. If the child accidentally let the piece touch the side of the opening, a loud buzzer sounded. Mothers were told that they could help their child in any way that they wanted, but that they were not allowed to do the tasks for the child. Information was also collected on their children’s ability to delay their gratification, using Mischel’s well-known bell task, where children could accept a small food reward or wait for a larger reward. Children who are better able to delay gratification in the preschool years are found to be more verbally fluent, able to better cope with stress, less distractible, more intelligent, and more self-assured than their peers later in life (Mischel et al., 1989; Shoda et al., 1990). They are also found to have greater positive adjustment (Eigsti et al., 2006).
A detailed event coding system was developed to describe maternal scaffolding during the Operation game and child coping strategies during the delay of gratification task. Based upon their correlations with successful wait time, both “effective” and “ineffective” child delay strategies were coded. Results showed numerous correlations between maternal scaffolding in one situation and child coping in the other. Specifically, mothers who praised their children’s strategies during the Operation game had children who used more effective child strategies in the delay of gratification task including shutting out stimuli (e.g., covering eyes), preventing movement (e.g., putting hands under table), and distraction with an object other than the reward (e.g., inspects object). Mothers who criticized their children’s strategies during the Operation game had children who used the ineffective delay strategy of distraction with reward (e.g., manipulates reward), and mothers who downplayed the importance of success on the Operation task had children who were less likely to play a game with the reward in the delay of gratification task (an effective strategy that often involves cognitive transformation of the reward stimulus). Finally, highly restrictive or directive mothers had children who were less likely to use the effective strategy of distraction with an object other than the reward. Implications of these findings for understanding maternal socialization of children’s coping will be discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study investigated the social support and coping mediation of the effects of obsessive relational intrusion and stalking victimization on victim symptoms. SEM with over 1000 respondents indicate: (1) Victimization and coping responses predicts symptoms; (2) social support adequacy is weakly related to symptoms; (4) gender moderates these relationships; and (5 the influence of ORI/stalking on negative symptoms is mediated by the use of coping strategies and the adequacy of social support.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this study we explored emotional-approach coping and problem-focused coping of women with ovarian cancer (OC) and of women with breast cancer (BC) and the importance they attributed to information and emotional support from nurses and from physicians. Methods included a survey of 61 women with either breast cancer (n=31) or ovarian cancer (n=30). The findings revealed that women with BC had a higher level of problem-focused coping style, and attributed less importance to physicians’ emotional support and to nurses information and emotional support compared to women with OC. Coping styles were related to differences in perceived importance of physicians and of nurses’ information and emotional support. These findings have the potential to improve communication between women and their health care providers, as well as to advance the understanding of the importance of communication in coping with cancer.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Scholars have argued that communal coping, or individuals assuming joint responsibility for a stressor and acting on it as a collective, serves an important stress reduction function. Yet, there are few quantitative tests of this claim. The purpose of this study was to examine communal coping as a stress moderator and the conditions under which it enhances psychological well-being. Using a cross-sectional survey of 118 parent-adolescent dyads, the results of a series of multi-level models indicated that communal coping was a significant stress moderator, but only for parents. Additional analyses, however, revealed that the degree to which communal coping contributes to psychological well-being for parents and adolescents depends upon the family’s living conditions and access to community support. The results also suggest that communal coping contributes to psychological well-being above and beyond individual active coping and social support. Finally, a new fifteen item Communal Coping Scale (CCS) was developed.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study explored the relationship between narratives and para-social interactions with characters in a stigmatized group, those with depression. Specifically, it examined how humorous narratives, coping tendencies in a narrative, and personal coping tendencies of a reader can increase amusement levels and in turn, increase para-social interactions with a stigmatized group. An experiment (N = 79) tested the effects of humorous narratives, coping strategies used in a narrative about a person struggling with depression, and coping strategies of the readers to predict amusement level of the narrative, which then led to para-social interactions. Results found that a significant three-way interaction among the variables when predicting amusement level. Amusement level significantly predicted para-social interactions. Implications and future research directions about reducing stereotypes and in-group/out-group perceptions in the media using humor and coping strategies are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper begins with an explanation of the human security and development crisis created by the high rates of HIV infection in Africa more generally, and southern Africa in particular. Wide-spread changes in the region (demographic, economic, social, and political) foster new development challenges. It is useful to understand how Africans themselves have come to understand this crisis and the metaphors they use to make sense of the changes in their lives. In the second part of this paper I highlight some of the metaphors used to express concerns surrounding HIV/AIDS in the region. Metaphors provide insights into local realities and struggles; revealing perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of individuals. Metaphors enable individuals to cope with a serious issue but can also perpetuate problems by ignoring their root causes and severity. The research for this paper draws on interviews with individuals from southern Africa as well as cartoons, images, and posters pertaining to HIV/AIDS. Specific themes emerge in the use of metaphors including gender inequality, hopelessness, powerlessness, and poverty. The paper concludes with an analysis of the relationship between the use of metaphors and potential behaviour change and their implications for development.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Political disempowerment and disenfranchisement of ethnic and religious communities as citizens of Middle Eastern states seem to have provided fertile ground for political radicalism and terror. In such countries civic activism and civil society also seem not to develop, while states establish authoritarian characteristics and practices. However, as the US foreign policy toward the region began to promote democracy by force since 2003, various states began to introduce democratic practices by default. However, it is still uncertain whether democratization by force can foster democratic regimes to set root in the Middle East. This paper focuses on the viability of democracy in the Middle Eastern states with Muslim societies.As Putnam, Linz and Stepan, Barber and others have unearthed spontaneous development and consolidation of democracy seem to be associated with the availability and scope of well-established citizenship and social capital, on the one hand, and strong yet non-interventionist state, on the other. Therefore, civil society ? state interface seems to be critical in explaining the emergence and performance of democratic regimes, and the Middle East should be no exception. In this paper, utilizing Dryzek?s classification of state ? civil society interface, and paying special attention to the intrusiveness and effectiveness of the state vis-à-vis the civil society, a typology of Middle Eastern countries will be attempted. With the aid of that classification, Muslim countries of the Middle East will be compared with both viable and non-viable democracies the Southern and Eastern Europe. Consequently, some clues and evidence pointing to the role of civil society ? state interface in establishing and promoting viable democracy in Muslim countries will be unearthed. Hence, an assessment of the viability of democracy in the Muslim countries of the Middle East can be made.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: What kind of political system existed during lynching? Contra the weak state thesis, I will argue that the U.S. chose not to deal with lynching. Using Ernst Fraenkel's dual state model, I will argue that this period was one of constitutional anarchy.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study investigates ways in which feminist identity moderates the relationship between gender-related stress and coping styles in women. Using feminist interview methods, the researcher explores personal stories of how a small but diverse sample of U.S. feminist activists cope with oppression and the challenges inherent in their socio-political activism.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: In this study, over 100 participants completed self-report questionnaires measuring demographic variables, religious identity, religious coping styles, and well-being. Beyond replicating a positive relationship between religious salience and psychological well-being, this study suggests a unique relationship between well-being and frequent use of negative religious coping in African American women.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In a prison setting some offenders engage in a specific type of sex offense, namely public masturbation, and many escape any meaningful form of punishment. Some actors even derive certain rewards by engaging in this type of behavior, though this same act would be considered repugnant and often illegal in other social situations. This paper will re-examine previous interview data with male inmates who admitted to intentionally exposing themselves to female correctional employees. Suggestions will be given as to how correctional administrators can reduce or possibly even eliminate this deviant form of behavior that has the potential to be very humiliating for custodial staff members.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: African American women are more likely than any other ethnic group to experience intimate partner violence. This is an astonishing fact and one that can be changed through information. As clinicians learn about African American's help seeking behaviors they can help them more effectively

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Despite the pervasive and frequent occurrence of discriminatory experiences in the lives of African Americans, studies examining how young African Americans deal with this phenomenon while at the same time maintain their psychological well-being are almost nonexistent. The role gender plays in how African Americans cope with discrimination also remains largely ignored even though black women are at an elevated risk for depression relative to their male counterparts. This study examines the relationship between depressive symptoms, discrimination, gender, and coping among 431 African American young adults. Multivariate analyses were conducted using Data from Wave I of a study on psychiatric and substance use disorders in South Florida (Turner and Gil 2002) and included 1,000 males and 500 females in the Miami-Dade County Public School system. 500 additional females from the same cohort were later randomly selected to achieve equal numbers of males and females. Consistent with previous research, findings indicate that discrimination is positively associated with depressive symptoms among young black adults. Findings also indicate that higher levels of racial identity are related to lower levels of depressive symptoms for young black men and higher levels of problem focused coping are associated with lowered symptoms for young black women. This suggests that the relationship between discrimination and psychological well-being is similar for African American males and females, but that women and men reach the same outcomes through different pathways.

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Under the Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (Hope VI) “revitalization” initiative, central city public housing complexes are being demolished and replaced by “mixed-income communities.” This paper presents findings of fall 2006 ethnographic research involving a sample of twenty five African-American women heads of household affected by Spartanburg’s, (SC) revitalization program. The study provided the opportunity to capture the experiences and perspectives of these women relative to their relocation and assess the impact of the relocation. The detected trends among this sample suggest that relocation largely imposes hardships exacerbated by the lack of assistance and information the SHA provides to relocated households.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The goal of this study was to understand how diabetes patients view and use information as they manage their disease. Through in-depth interviews, we queried patients about information sources and treatment adherence. Patients relied most heavily on their doctors for information, particularly upon initial diagnosis. As time passed, they began relying on other sources of information, with those who adhered to their treatment regimen relying on different sources than those who did not fully adhere.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The online forum “HPV”, found on the website positivesingles.com (2007), was examined in order to better understand the empowering aspects of this technology. Responses to forum threads were analyzed as to discern how people with a sexually transmitted disease communicate about their diagnoses in order to gain control over their situation. Members were found to engage in three rhetorical strategies used to cope via identification with other members: (a) victimization, (b) self-determination, and (c) responsibility.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: The study examined in what ways and to what degree, if any, school superintendents perceive stress and what, if any, coping mechanisms were engaged. Moreover, the study sought to identify any significant differences between the frequency of stressors by gender and coping mechanisms utilized by female and male leaders. Study findings revealed that there is a statistical difference between the types of coping mechanisms utilized and effectiveness between male and female superintendents. While no significant difference exists between the overall occupational stressors experienced by gender, the frequency data identified high levels of stress among over 50% of the superintendents. Implications of this research study were identified in the areas of leadership preparatory programs, as well as education in stress management skills reform at the district level.

Publication Type: Paper Proposal
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: During the past three years, of the Mbeki presidency South Africans witnessed the sacking of the deputy president following an excruciating court case against Jacob Zuma. The case’s outcome led to Mbeki resigning from office seven months before his term was due. This judicial drama is juxtaposed with escalating instability in neighboring Zimbabwe, xenophobic attacks that rocked the country in May, and eventually a formation of a breakaway party, Congress of the People (COPE), by disgruntled members of the ANC. As South Africans gear up for their fourth democratic election between the months of April and June 2009, it is compelling to ask: should we anticipate a surprising outcome or a further consolidation of African National Congress (ANC) dominance? This paper seeks to discern the main drivers that will determine the outcome of the 2009 elections. It will be argued that it is unlikely that a change in government will take place in South Africa. Therefore we should expect to see that the ANC will yet again get the approval of the majority. However, the advent of an opposition from the ruling ANC contributes to a shift from race and ethnicity as a criteria in voting behavior to opposition politics.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper is drawn from a chapter in my recently completed dissertation which explores the lived experience of inequality by examining how two processes, the rise in income and wealth inequality and the privatization of risk, shape the lives of fifty families from across the socioeconomic spectrum in Silicon Valley. Through over 100 in-depth interviews and ethnographic research, my study finds that in an ever more stratified society, wherein families are increasingly expected to manage their own risk, security is emerging as a more salient basis of social class division. My study documents how families across the socioeconomic spectrum respond to the macroeconomic story that surrounds them by tracing the various types of security projects the families pursue in coping with that story. This particular chapter examines how some families relied on their churches as well as their spirituality to manage and address their security needs and anxieties. While many research participants in my study, regardless of class background, were religious, the interviews in which religion and faith came up most frequently when discussing issues of security were those with participants who have experienced immense economic difficulty and who have confronted hardship on a more consistent basis. This finding leads me to argue that in matters related to security projects, religion plays a more central role for those at the lower end of the class ladder.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: : Subcontracting or multi-client call centres (SCCs) are highly flexible organizations. Acting on exceedingly uncertain markets, their economic success depends on a high level of organizational adaptive capacity. The paper explores three in-depth case studies concerned with how market uncertainty is absorbed within organizations and their consequences for work organization and labour relations. Each of the three call centres is characterized by a specific profit strategy aimed at both maximising the organization’s profits and controlling for market uncertainty. The organizations’ capacities to successfully pursue their profit strategies, therefore maximizing their profits and reducing the impact of market uncertainty, are dependent on their abilities to dispose of internal resources and to mobilize external resources. Firm level labour relations are characterized by struggles for control over these resources. Thus, each SCC’s mode of controlling market uncertainty structures their work organization and labour relations. For each case study interviews were conducted with employees, works councils, and management representatives as well as union officials.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: For over forty years, community psychology has been committed to reducing social stigma and giving voice to people coping with serious mental illness. Research suggests that personal contact between the public and people with psychiatric disabilities in particular contexts can help reduce social stigma surrounding mental illness. Unfortunately, opportunities for this marginalized group to share their stories, demonstrate their personal expertise, and meaningfully contribute to their community are often quite limited. The challenge for community psychologists is to help create social settings where adults with mental illness are recognized and valued.

The poster presentation describes the development and effectiveness of Speaking from Experience, an innovative speakers’ group consisting of people with psychiatric disabilities and their families. Members of the speakers’ group give 30-minute presentations in which they share with audiences their personal experiences and provide information on mental health and advocacy issues. The poster provides background on the core values and development of the speakers’ group, and outlines the basic elements of Speaking from Experience presentations. Results of a qualitative study of 14 speakers are presented that examined adults’ motivations for becoming speakers and the meanings ascribed to being part of the group. Speakers’ views about sharing their experiences about mental illness in public, the personal significance of educating others, and the power of contributing to their community are presented. The implications of creating alternative social settings for people with psychiatric disabilities and their families for community research and action are discussed.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: It has been well documented that the survivors of Hurricane Katrina have endured an incredible amount of trauma. After natural disasters, perceptions of discrimination and low social support can sometimes exacerbate psychiatric distress (Weems, et al, 2007) among marginalized populations. The present study sought to understand how high scores on traumatic stress measures might predict scores of depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and how contextual factors and self-reported resilient behaviors might serve to moderate these relationships. Using the specific context of class, ethnicity, and gender to frame these questions, the researchers investigated unique experiences of traumatic stress and resilience among the diverse groups represented in the current sample. It was hypothesized that minority, female, and low SES status would contribute to higher vulnerabilities to health outcomes, and that contextual factors may influence how resilience was expressed. Participants included 208 individuals who had experienced Hurricane Katrina firsthand. Over 55% of this sample was African-American; most participants were also male. Data were collected in Columbia, SC, and in New Orleans, LA. Participants completed a semi-structured qualitative interview and questionnaires measuring health outcomes, psychiatric distress, hope and social support. Using mixed methods with an intersectionality framework, the researchers gathered qualitative data to understand traumatic experiences and resilient behaviors. Results indicated high levels of psychosocial stressors were related to increased levels of health outcomes. In addition, results show varied responses in outcomes unique to ethnicity, gender, and class.

Publication Type: Single Paper Format
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Contemporary research about educator stress and burnout will be presented and analyzed. Coping strategies and resiliency development processes successfully used by educational leaders will be reviewed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Heteronormative biases exist not only in our lifeworld in general, but in our scholarship as well. Using the propositions of Co-Cultural Theory, the present study explores the negotiation of masculinities in the workplace. Through hermeneutic phenomenology, four "co-researchers" share their lived experiences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered in a hegemonically masculine environment. The author hopes that the present study takes organizational communication a step closer in creating LGBT-conscious work/family scholarship.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Previous research on the relationship between television viewing and fear of crime concentrated mainly on socio-demographic variables and direct experience as control variables. In criminology personal risk perception is considered to be an important predictor of fear. A few media studies have integrated that variable into the television-fear association. This paper will go a step further by including perceived ability to cope with crime as a second component of fear. A random sample of 711 adults was queried about their media use, personal crime risk perception, perceived ability to cope and fear of crime. It was predicted that television viewing would be indirectly related to fear of crime through crime risk perceptions and perceived ability to cope with crime. Path analysis corroborated this proposition, although different television genres showed different relationships with both risk perception and perceived coping ability.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines the meaning of politics in everyday legal practice using the case of Chinese criminal defense lawyers. Based on 181 in-depth interviews with criminal defense lawyers and other informants in 21 cities across China, we argue that lawyers’ everyday politics have two faces: on the one hand, lawyers potentially can challenge state power, protect citizen rights, and pursue proceduralism in their daily work; on the other hand, they often have to rely on political connections with state agencies to protect themselves and solve problems in their legal practice. This double meaning of politics explains the paradoxical motivations and coping strategies that are frequently found in Chinese lawyers’ everyday work. Our data show that the Chinese criminal defense bar is divided into two categories, namely, the politically liberal lawyers and the politically embedded lawyers, with the two ideal-types converging only at the top of the bar. They also suggest that political lawyering is not merely short-term mobilization or revolutionary struggle against arbitrary state power, but an incremental everyday process that often involves complex strategies and conflicting interests. With the empirical findings, we call for an engagement of two long-standing law and society traditions, namely, lawyers’ everyday work and political lawyering.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study utilizes Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) to address the following questions about female offending: (1) Are females who experience strain and have poor coping skills more likely to react with depression and self-directed behavior, such as drug abuse?; (2) Do mindfulness techniques developed through cognitive therapy have the potential to counter negative affect and antisocial behavior? If low self-efficacy and a lack of legitimate coping strategies contribute to offending, it follows that mindfulness techniques may be interjected to increase self-efficacy and turn females away from offending. High levels of self-efficacy increase coping ability and help create supportive relationships and a positive living environment, which counters negative behavior and prevents recidivism (O’Brien, 2001). Since mindfulness techniques help control negative emotionality (Giluk, 2009), it is proposed that they may also be used to help an individual gain control over their behavior, increase efficacy, and mediate criminal behavior.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the course of an autoethnographic journey, the author seeks to understand the interplay of attachment and ambiguous loss in family transitions enacted by marital dissolution. By exploring the encounters of her own family, the author aims to develop an evocative account of sibling relationships: the meaning of reorganizing, renegotiating and relating post divorce. The significance of communication in coping with change is evident in this shared family process.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In the wake of the 12-year civil war, El Salvador has widespread poverty, community violence and an alarmingly high crime rate. A survey was conducted with 189 teachers in El Salvador exploring rates of community violence exposure , positive and negative religious coping, PTSD, and depression. Based on data from focus groups with Central American aid workers, questions on collective religious coping were created and added to the brief RCOPE for the survey. PTSD levels were measured using the Los Angeles Symptom Checklist, and depression was measured using the CES-D. In multiple regression analyses, community violence exposure, negative religious coping, and gender were found to significantly predict both depression and PTSD levels among teachers. Implications for support of teachers in areas of Central America with high levels of community violence exposure will be discussed.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Abstract: Background & Aims: The study examined and compared use of coping strategies among groups of Israeli Jewish and Israeli Arab adolescents who faced missile attacks during the Second Lebanon War (July-August 2006). Relationships between the different coping styles and psychological outcomes of anxiety, anger and hope levels were also examined in the two groups.
Methods: Data were gathered from 303 Israeli adolescents (231 Jews and 72 Arabs) 12-19 years old that filled out self reported questionnaires among which demographics; Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS); State Anxiety; State Anger; Psychological Distress (SPD) and index of Hope.
Results: Both Jewish and Arab adolescents used mostly positive and active social coping strategies to deal with the war. Similarities were indicated on most of the coping styles as well as in some relationships between different coping styles and stress reactions. Coping styles of ‘mental and behavioral disengagement’ and ‘external locus of control’ were linked with more negative stress reactions while ‘positive growth’ was negatively linked to anger. Besides these significant similarities some differences were also emerged as Arab youths used more collectivist oriented strategies. The Hope index was linked only in the Arab sample to ‘positive growth’ and ‘social active’ coping styles while ‘venting emotion’ was linked to anxiety, anger and SPD among Jewish adolescents.
Conclusions: The results indicate that the two groups, belonging to two different cultures but facing the same stress situation, used mostly similar coping styles. These styles however found to be some differently linked to the psychological outcomes. The results will be discussed on the background of the interactional approach to stress and coping. Cultural, social and situational factors will be considered as well.

Publication Type: Presentation
Abstract: This paper presents the results of an online survey show how lesbians use humor as a way to disarm and neutralize potentially toxic homophobic verbal interactions. Respondents from throughout the U.S. describe the content of the humor, circumstances in which they do and don't use it, and benefits they experienced.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Limited research has been conducted on stalking since it was first criminalized in 1990. Only a handful of studies on clinically-relevant characteristics exist and most focus on DSM diagnoses, attachment abnormalities, and motivational typologies. This study sought to expand this knowledge by examining coping strategies as they relate to Obsessive Relational Intrusion (ORI), a concept included on the continuum of stalking related behaviors. Results reveal small-to-moderate correlations between strategies used after a social conflict and subcategories of ORI behaviors. Furthermore, results suggest that treatment should include processing of how traditionally positive strategies may be used to achieve more appropriate goals.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Despite the importance of family environment for women with breast cancer, little is known about the relationship between family environment and computer-mediated social support (CMSS) groups for breast cancer patients. To further understand this relationship, we examined the effect of family environment as a predictor for the patient’s use as well as a moderator for benefits from CMSS groups. Data were collected from 111 patients in a discussion group on the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) intervention. These findings support the view that family environment plays a crucial role in (a) predicting the breast cancer patient’s participation in and (b) moderating the positive coping strategy from CMSS groups.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines changing attitudes, attention, and avoidance of advertising as well as experience with different media for early (born between 1979 and 1987) vs. late (born between 1985 and 1993) millennials. The Persuasion Knowledge Model is used as a basis for understanding how audiences develop attitudes about persuasive attempts (e.g., advertising messages) and use this information to "cope" with future advertising interactions. This investigation extends work done by Speck & Elliot (1997) and Moore (2004) by comparing both traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio, television) and the Internet. Using survey methodology, this research examines “coping” behaviors associated with exposure to today’s abundant advertising messages. Results suggest that between the five media, early vs. late millennials report very different attitudes toward advertising, attention to advertising, avoidance of advertising, and media usage. Implications for advertisers wishing to target millennials are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines the mechanism underlying the effects of computer-mediated social support (CMSS) on cancer patients’ coping strategies, distinguishing between the effects of the expression and the reception of emotionally supportive messages. 237 breast cancer patients participating in CMSS groups were included in the analysis. Findings show that the effects of (a) CMSS group use and (b) emotionally supportive expression on patients’ positive coping strategies are mediated by perceived bonding among breast cancer patients.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Violence can threaten individual well-being and tear at the social fabric of communities. Alternatively, suffering can mobilize social coping and mutual support. Thus, high levels of both risk and resiliency can be found in settings of political violence. The current study examined the role of social coping as reflective of risk and resiliency in Northern Ireland, a setting of sectarian conflict. Specifically, hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling to investigate whether social coping buffers or exacerbates the negative impact of sectarian crime, nonsectarian crime, and perceived intergroup hostility on maternal mental health. Controlling for mother’s age, both nonsectarian crime and perceived intergroup (Catholic/Protestant) hostility predicted greater psychological distress for mothers in Belfast (N=631). Mixed support was found for the buffering and depletion moderation hypotheses; social coping functioned differently for nonsectarian and sectarian crime. Greater social coping buffered mothers from exposure to nonsectarian crime, but exacerbated mental health problems when facing sectarian crime. Results suggest social coping is a complex phenomenon, particularly in settings of protracted political violence. Implications for interventions aimed at alleviating psychological distress by increasing mother’s social coping in contexts of intergroup conflict are discussed.

Publication Type: Workshop/Demonstration
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Performance anxiety is the natural human response to fear and something all individuals experience periodically. Although this presentation focuses on musicians’ stage fright, it is important to recognize that a major performance is not the only trigger for this response. It can just as frequently occur as a consequence of daily life while pursuing normal activities (i.e. taking an important test, interviewing for a job, making a speech, or performing on a music recital). For some students, their weekly music lessons can be perceived as frightening experiences and can activate a stress response. These fears can be traumatic enough to cause students to stop their music studies. For others, excessive performance anxiety can stand in the way of their achieving their maximum potential. Rather than focus on one specific strategy for handling performance anxiety, this demonstration will address the issue of stress management through a range of presented options. This will enable the teacher/student/performer to determine which combination of approaches might be most beneficial. Handouts will be provided. The strategies to be discussed will include: 1. lowering heart rate/fitness; 2. muscle relaxation; 3. cognitive thinking; 4. imagery; 5. desensitization; 6. medical advances; and 7. essential and practical advice.

Whether or not a teacher personally experiences debilitating performance anxiety, it remains essential for today’s teachers to educate themselves on this issue and have an arsenal of ready strategies to offer their students, should the need arise. Pretending the problem does not exist is no longer an option. Performance anxiety, if understood and managed, can actually serve to enhance performance. The goal of this presentation is not to provide strategies for entirely eliminating the physical and psychological sensations associated with performance anxiety, but to provide ways to begin viewing these natural physical and psychological responses as beneficial and integral to an exciting and successful performance. Those in attendance will come away from this presentation with strategies to share with their students that can turn those feelings of apprehensiveness into a positive rather than adversarial presence. Discovering that they can perform in front of others can enhance students’ self-confidence and ultimately positively affect the way they approach every aspect of life.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines the impact of gender on coping behaviors and felt experiences of homeless adults in rural areas. Data from a qualitative study that includes in-depth interviews with 55 homeless adults in Michigan's Upper Peninsula suggest coping options and preferences, and felt experiences vary substantially by gender. Homeless men appear to have a wider range of coping options they find acceptable and are typically more at ease with their life situations than women. Women tend to use formal services like shelters more often then men, however, many reported being fearful of shelters and social services in general. Women participants also frequently reported having tremendous anxiety with respect to safety and their abilities to maintain relationships with family members, including children, while homeless. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: It has been suggested that there is a connective function played by religiosity in terms of protection against and or the reduction of psychological disorders (Francis Robbins, Lewis, Quigley and Wheeler, 2004), with Pargament (1997) suggesting that religion and religious involvement may protect psychological and physiological health against the impact of stress, indicating that religion may cause a modification of the processes involved in stress appraisal and that religion, therefore, may act as a defence mechanism and coping strategy. In terms of exposure to conflict, Park, Cohen and Herb (1990) have indicated that religion may influence not only a one’s understanding of an event, but also the method chosen in order to deal with that event. Research in this area conducted in Northern Ireland has suggested that the Christian church has a highly positive effect on abilities to cope with the political violence in the province (McWhirter, 1983). However, similar research by Roe (1993) has indicated that although commitment to religious ideology can assist in positive development, attempts at community development can be truncated by this religious commitment and, in some cases, this religious ideology can actually serve to exacerbate the conflict. The current study aimed to assess the religious beliefs, exposure to political violence, and psychological well-being of members of the Northern Irish population. The findings of this assessment will be discussed with reference to previous research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: America’s prisons are rapidly graying with many inmates who will reach old age in prison (Sabol & Couture, 2008). Prisons are a highly stressful environment, especially for older adults (Aday, 2003). Research has shown that older adult prisoners are at a heightened risk of victimization and stress-related physical and mental health consequences (Aday, 2006; Falter, 2006). Whereas research suggests that prisons are a stressful environment, we know little about older adult prisoners’ use of coping resources to manage stress and confinement. This mixed study used a correlational design and a sample of older prisoners (N=320) housed in the New Jersey Department of Corrections (2010). An anonymous questionnaire using open and closed end questions was mailed to older prisoners. Qualitative data was analyzed using Tutty and colleagues (1996) qualitative data analysis scheme. The majority of older adult prisoners (83%) reported prison as a stressful experience. Many older prisoners reported using coping resources such as engaging in spiritual (meditation, religion), physical (exercise), cognitive (reading), and emotional/expressive coping (music, drawing, and writing). These findings provide support for alternative treatments as a means to assist prisoners, especially older adults, cope with confinement and to maintain their physical and mental well-being.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper presents the results from a study of the relationship between ways of coping and serious prison misconduct and violence. The study was conducted in a Northeastern prison system and focused on serious prison misconduct and violence in its maximum and medium security facilities for men. The study administered surveys to 312 prisoners who voluntarily participated in the research from a pool of 600 chosen through a stratified random sample. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 of the prisoners surveyed who had recently been involved in serious prison misconduct and violence, as well as with 26 staff at four facilities who had a great deal of contact with prisoners involved in such misconduct. The results demonstrated that ways of coping are correlated with involvement in serious misconduct and violence. The study also collected information on prisoners’ trait emotions—anger, anxiety, and depression—and analyzed the effect of trait emotions on the relationship between ways and coping and serious prison misconduct and violence.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Recently released offenders often face numerous barriers during reentry from prison to society. The coping strategies of female offenders often differ from those of their male counterpart. This research stems from similar studies conducted on male offenders’ coping strategies during the reentry phase. The participants in the study are females who have been recently released from prison (n=20). The research question, which will be investigated, further asks, “What characteristics describe how individuals cope with the reentry phase.” The research question is derived from similar studies conducted with male participants, but will seek to analyze a gendered approach to this phenomenon. In an effort to capture how women cope with reentry, interviews were used to investigate themes surrounding an individuals coping strategies once released. Data for this study combine quantitative and qualitative analysis. The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS; Endler & Parker, 1999) was used to determine coping strategies and reentry barriers.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: How can we deepen participation with marginalized groups through curriculum, centers, and programming from ethnic studies, queer studies, and disability studies? What are the best ways to form coalitions with various student groups across campus and thus build more interest in and recognition for WGS both in terms of students and from the perspective of the university? Under conditions of time-famine, how do we connect to the campus and larger community?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Despite the well-documented relationships between social and personal coping resources and mental health, there is limited information on racial-ethnic differences in the availability and mental health significance of coping resources within the context of stress exposure. Using survey data from a racially-ethnically diverse community sample of young adults in Miami, Florida (N = 1,410), the current investigation assesses whether racial-ethnic groups (non-Hispanic white, African American, Cuban, and Nicaraguan) differ in: (1) the levels of perceived family support and self-esteem and (2) the degree these resources are associated with depressive symptoms when experiencing chronic stress exposure. Results indicate that non-Hispanic whites benefit more from higher levels of perceived family support than African Americans when experiencing greater chronic stress. However, African Americans benefit more from higher levels of self-esteem than Nicaraguans when experiencing greater chronic stress. Implications of these results, as they relate to racial-ethnic disparities in mental health, are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: With growing numbers of older adults living at a distance from adult children and other kin, the elder widow(er) must take a proactive role in stabilizing life after enduring the loss of their lifetime partner. Past research often focused on psychological well-being after becoming widowed in terms of how one coped internally (i.e. religious and spiritual coping) as well as support offered by friends and family. More recently, one’s own proactive behaviors have come to light as equally important buffers in ameliorating negative outcomes (Kahana & Kahana, 2003). This paper considers adaptation prior to widowhood as well as one and two years post-widowhood among a cross-section of elders who were part of a longitudinal study of retirees to the Sunbelt. Results show that as time passes, widows became more socially involved.This paper serves as a preliminary look at social participation as part of a larger model of coping with widowhood that will be tested using a longitudinal design in order to achieve a larger sample size. Exploring social participation in a sample of dispersed older couples will provide unique insights on how people living in a retirement community, often removed from many of their family members yet possibly closer to a network of peers, proactively transition into widowhood.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Communication policy research has a tradition of intellectual self-reflection about epistemological matters, applied theories and methodological approaches. There is thus a history of intense debates about the role researchers should take in policy-making and fundamental criticism regarding their (lacking) political significance. This presentation first revisits these debates and then discusses the present state of communication policy research and its actual influence on political practice. It challenges the assessment that communication policy research is “without a real world role” and demands that scholars move from being self-conscious to being self-confident about their relevance to communication policy-making without losing sight, however, of the need to enhance, among other things, our theoretical and methodological skills. The presentation discusses these issues with reference to media change that challenges communication policy and to governance structures that open up new opportunities for informing policy-making processes.

Publication Type: Individual Presentation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: African American men face many socio-cultural, academic, and negative dilemmas that generate stress experiences and identity conflicts that are specific to them as a group. These dilemmas include denigrations to their manhood, e.g., physical beatings, castration, police brutality, lynching, educational tracking, and high rates of prison incarceration. Unfortunately, the outcomes of these denigrations have been the creation of stressors that have prevented African American men from expressing their full potential as men and human beings. These stressors, in turn, may lead to psychological pressures that negatively affect their health. The purpose of this presentation will be to explore the impact that positive racial identity development may have on the health outcomes of African American males to help them live longer and healthier lives.

Publication Type: Undergraduate Poster Presentations
Review Method: Peer Reviewed

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Due to mixed findings in research on the effects of online peer support on psychological wellbeing, there is a need for longitudinal studies explaining why and when online support group participation is beneficial for cancer patients. We expected that effects depend on patients’ level of emotional approach coping. 133 Dutch breast cancer patients filled out a T0 and (six month later) a T1 questionnaire, assessing online activity within the support group, emotional approach coping and psychological wellbeing. Results showed three-way interactions of time, online activity and emotional approach coping on wellbeing. For patients who were active online, a low score on emotional approach coping caused an increase in wellbeing, while patients actively approaching emotions did not show this beneficial effect, but reported highest wellbeing overall. For patients less active online, approaching emotions caused an increase in wellbeing, while patients low on emotional approach coping felt slightly worse over time.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examined battering men's perception and reaction to perceived transgressions from their partners. Participants were referred to the study from centers for treatment and prevention of family violence in Israel. A key content category emerging from the interviews was the experience of change as they participated in IPV intervention programs. Most men described an epiphany in their experience of reacting to the perceived transgressions. From past to present two sub-categories emerged: One related to behavioral response and the other to change in their self and partner perception.
Four types of change in coping were identified: in search of control; in search of justice; rediscovery the self; rediscovery of the "we-ness". The analysis focused on the components of the experience of change such as changes in violence, in perception of gender, responsibility, control, couple balance, satisfaction, retaliation and communication. Implications for therapy were outlined.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The current research examined how repeated trauma exposure may affect the psychological and social wellbeing of male firefighters (n=64) in two suburban fire departments outside Houston, Texas. The questionnaire included the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Anxiety Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Brief Cope Inventory, and the Burnout Inventory. Findings supported study predictions. There was a significant negative correlation between firefighters’ perceptions of social support and their perceived stress (r=-.271, p=.016); and a negative correlation between firefighters’ anxiety and their use of humor for coping (r=-.259, p=.020). The questionnaire also included an optional open-ended question where participants were instructed to write about any emergency response calls that had “stayed with them emotionally”. An interesting finding from responses to the open ended question was that the majority of these responders specifically described helping children in heart-wrenching, life-threatening, or life-lost situations.
Overall, study findings strongly suggest that first responders are affected emotionally and cognitively by the emotional intensity of emergency responses. These findings inform counselors who work with first responders and the people who train them. Fire departments can also benefit by gaining a better understanding of how to best support firefighters as they cope with traumatic stress. Limitations are also discussed.

Publication Type: POSTER
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Rates of sexual violence among Latina women show that that 1 in 6 have experienced sexual victimization in her lifetime. Few studies investigate coping and resiliency following sexual assault for Latinas. The purpose of this literature review will examine current gaps in the literature and new directions for future research.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: General Strain Theory (GST) has not been applied to explain ethnic differences in crime and deviance as often as gender differences. Furthermore, a small number of previous studies on GST and ethnic differences have paid little attention to Asian Americans in comparison with other ethnic counterparts. To address this neglected issue, we examine whether GST helps explain differences in deviant coping, including delinquency, between Asian and non-Asian American adolescents. First, we hypothesize that Asian American adolescents are expected to show lower levels of deviant coping than their African American, Hispanic, Native American, and, to a lesser extent, white counterparts. Second, we also expect ethnic differences in types of deviant coping as Asian American adolescents are more likely to internalize strain (e.g., drug use) than their non-Asian peers who tend to externalize (e.g., violent and property offenses). Finally, we hypothesize that the key variables of GST, strain and negative emotions, explain the observed ethnic differences in the amount and type of deviant coping with alternative theoretical variables of control and social learning held constant. To test these hypotheses, we applied latent-variable structural equation modeling to analyze the first two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Women police officers use various strategies to cope with workplace problems related to their gender and/or racial-ethnic status. This study examines the effectiveness of women police officer’s coping strategies. Based upon data obtained during in-depth interviews with 22 women police officers from four different race-ethnic groups, and differing levels of seniority and rank in two metropolitan police departments, this study reveals the effectiveness and outcomes of various coping strategies used to cope with workplace problems related to their gender and/or racial-ethnic status. This includes the effectiveness and outcomes of a wide range of coping strategies, including constructive and planned coping strategies, as well as self-control coping strategies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Communication technology is widely used to organize work and personal life more efficiently, but it can also cause new qualities of stress in users. The present study explores professional users’ perceptions of stress induced by one specific communication device, the smartphone. Additionally, it examines which kind of coping strategies they apply. First, based on Lazarus’ stress theory (1966), ‘communication stress’ is conceptualized. Second, a qualitative interview study with N = 10 smartphone users is conducted. The results show that the experience of communication stress depends on various factors inherent both in the communication environment and the person him- or herself. Moreover, the coping strategies postulated by Lazarus seem to be less effective with regard to stressful smartphone communication. We propose a hierarchical structure of coping strategies against smartphone stress that is based on five coping levels, and discuss perspectives for future work on communication technology, stress, and health outcomes.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Women police officers experience workplace problems unique to their gender status, as well as their racial-ethnic status. This study examines women police officers experiences with workplace problems based upon gender and race-ethnicity and the various constructive and planned problems-solving and self-control coping strategies that they draw upon to cope with these unique workplace problems. Based upon data obtained during in-depth interviews with 22 female officers from four different race-ethnic groups, and differing levels of seniority and rank in two metropolitan police departments, this study reveals the various constructive and planned problem-solving and self-control coping strategies that women officers to rely upon to cope with workplace problems related to their gender and racial-ethnic status. This study also reveals how women’s coping strategies have changed over a 30 year period as women have increased in numbers in the organization and have moved up in levels of seniority and rank. This study also considers the reported influence of coping strategies on addressing workplace problems.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Latina/o queer undergraduates are a double minority within the university system in that they must balance their Latina/o culture in an environment that is centered in White beliefs and practices and values heterosexism. As a small student population given their race (Saenz & Ponjuan, 2008) and their sexual orientation (Zea, 1999), their double minority status can lead to a number of educational challenges (e.g., discrimination, prejudice, marginalization) and well-being concerns (Velaszquez, 2004). Given the stigma and limited expression of homosexuality within the Latina/o culture, few studies have focused their attention on these processes.
In order to understand the unique personal and educational challenges encountered by this group, the Psychosociocultural (PSC) framework (Castellanos & Gloria, 2007; Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000) was implemented to examine the Latino male educational processes and their means to cope with unique psychological, social, and cultural challenges that hinder their adjustment and well-being. The two main research questions addressed are: (1) What are the educational challenges that you experience as a Latino gay undergraduate within the university? and (2) What are the types of coping mechanisms that gay Latino males use while in the university? Each question included follow-up questions that addressed the psychological, social, and cultural dimensions of their experiences. A sample of eight Latino queer, gay, homosexual, and bisexual undergraduates attending a four-year university was secured through on-campus student organizations. Students completed a demographic questionnaire and then participated in an audio-recorded interview lasting approximately 30 minutes each.
At this time, the interviews have been transcribed and a team is in place to begin the qualitative analyses. It is anticipated that the study’s findings will shed light on the lived experiences of Latino males in higher education. As Latino males contend with lower graduation rates, determining different statuses and experiences is necessary to provide the best and most useful support in propelling their positive coping strategies and ultimate well-being and academic success.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Response to disasters has typically been associated with a system of command and control by emergency responders to structure coordination and decision making from a centralized authority. However, recent disasters provide evidence that volunteered geographic information (VGI) collected from individuals within impacted communities offer an alternative system of response where citizens communicate autonomously and rapidly. Through increased use of smartphones, GPS enabled digital cameras and social media, people can help with disaster relief efforts by providing critical information about assets, infrastructure and location where official and authoritative data is difficult to gather or may never have existed. While credible information is critical to successful disaster management, VGI provides an abundance of real time data that can be used to manage uncertainty and improve situational awareness and adaptability both for responders and those impacted by disasters.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: How we cope with the many stressors that we encounter throughout our lives has implications for our wellbeing. By affecting how individuals appraise stressful events, communication can either prolong or ameliorate physiological and emotional responses to stress. This study investigated the effects of hope-inducing and rumination-inducing messages on heart rate and state anxiety after a stressor. Continuous heart rate was monitored for 127 college students (64 female, 63 male) throughout an experiment that included a performance stressor and messages designed to (a) cause feelings of hope, (b) evoke rumination, or (c) be a distraction (control). Heart rate varied by message, such that heart rate was lowest in the hope condition. State anxiety was lower in the hope and distraction conditions than in the rumination condition. Overall, the study implies that hope evocation messages may be an important tool to add to our supportive communication toolbox.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: It’s widely accepted that certain temperamental and behavioral characteristics can place children at greater risk for the development of internalizing problems, particularly in the presence of environmental stressors. Research has shown that children’s ability to cope with emotional stressors can greatly impact their risk for developing internalizing problems, and may carry important implications for intervention. Little is known regarding the agreement between parent and child reports on children’s use of coping strategies. Research examining parent-child agreement in reports of childhood internalizing disorders have shown that correspondence can be rather inconsistent, ranging from low to moderate at best (Achenbach et al., 1987; Kazdin et al., 1983; Rapee et al.,1994). This can be troublesome given the heavy reliance placed on parental reports in child research. The goal of this study is to examine parent-child agreement on reports of child coping and internalizing symptoms and to explore the potential moderating effects of temperamental factors.

The current study examined the concordance rate between parent-child reports of child internalizing symptomatology and children’s coping styles to situations eliciting negative emotions, including anger, sadness, fear, and worry. Potential moderating effects related to child temperament were also explored, namely negative and positive affectivity. Self-report measures of anxiety and depression (RCADS; Chorpita, Yim, Moffitt, Umemoto, & Francis, 2000) and of coping responses to negative emotion situations (ERACQ; Halpern & Brand,1998) were administered to a sample of 62 children (36 boys, 26 females; mean age=9.66 years, SD=0.07) and their parent. Coping responses were coded into 4 overarching types: engagement (e.g., problem-solving), disengagement (e.g., avoidance or escape), maladaptive (e.g., retaliation), and no coping. Coping strategy use was averaged across negative emotions to yield a coping response style summary score for children and parents. Additionally, child self-report on the PANAS-C questionnaire (Laurent, Potter, & Catanzaro, 1994) was used to measure the temperamental traits of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).

Results indicated significant parent-child agreement on reports of depression (r = .35, p<.05) and anxiety (r = .32, p<.05). Child and parent reports of coping styles were largely unrelated, with the exception of a positive association between child-report of disengagement coping and parent-report of no coping strategy use (r= .26, p<.05). Regression analyses showed that the correspondence between children and parents’ report of depressive symptoms varied as a function of degree of child-reported PA; agreement increased in cases of low PA and weakened as PA increased, with absence of agreement in cases of high PA (∆R2= .09, F(1,58)=7.03, p<.05).

These findings suggest that parent-child agreement is moderate with regards to reporting of child internalizing symptoms and is extremely low for reports of use of coping strategies.
Parents were more consistent with their children in reporting depressive symptoms in the absence of positive affect, and parent-child agreement decreased in the presence of higher PA. It is possible that parents of children who exhibit more temperamental traits of positive affect may be less attuned to the presence of depressive symptoms in their children, resulting in lower parent-child agreement.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: How children cope with peer stressors may help determine vulnerability to psychological symptoms. The present study adds to the literature by using the perspectives of multiple reporters and daily diary data to examine how coping moderates the association between peer stressors and internalizing symptoms in a diverse sample of children (N = 47, mean age = 11.21), and their mothers (n = 47) and fathers (n = 39). Specifically, this study examines how engagement and disengagement coping strategies moderate cross-sectional associations between children’s reports of two peer stressors – peer problems and low social acceptance – and parent- and child-reports of child internalizing symptoms.

For 40 consecutive weekdays, children provided reports of peer problems at school. A variable was created to identify children who reported an average of one or more peer problems per week. A measure of low social acceptance was created by averaging two scales: the Harter Self-Perception Profile for Children: Social Acceptance subscale (Harter, 1985a) and the Harter Social Support Scale for Children: Classmate Support subscale (Harter, 1985b). Scores were reverse coded such that a higher score indicates lower social acceptance. Child internalizing symptoms were measured via child report on the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS; Chorpita et al., 2000) and parent report on the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991). Mother and father CBCL reports were averaged when possible. Finally, coping strategies were measured using the Responses to Stress Questionnaire- Social Stress Version (Connor-Smith et al., 2000).

Multiple regression analyses modeled child internalizing symptoms as a function of one coping strategy, one peer stressor and their interaction. As shown in Table 1, there was a marginally significant interaction between disengagement coping (i.e., avoidance) and both low social acceptance (b3 = 10.18, p < .10) and peer problems (b3 = 15.85, p < .10) in predicting child-reported internalizing symptoms. There was a significant interaction between peer problems and both primary engagement (i.e., problem-focused) coping (b3 = 3.71, p < .05) and secondary engagement (i.e., emotion-focused) coping (b3 = 4.39, p < .05) predicting parent-reported child internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that disengagement coping strengthened the association between peer stressors and internalizing symptoms (see Figure 1). In contrast to prior research, engagement coping strategies also strengthened these associations. The same pattern was seen in all cases of moderation: at high levels of peer stressors, more frequent use of the relevant coping strategy was associated with increased internalizing symptoms; at low levels of peer stressors, coping was not associated with symptoms.

The current findings suggest that children’s self-reported attempts to cope with peer stressors are positively associated with internalizing problems at high levels of peer stressors regardless of the specific coping strategy employed. Notably, a child who is not bothered by some degree of social isolation would not report using many coping strategies, even if he or she reports peer stressors. Thus, rather than how adept children are at managing peer stressors, coping strategy scores may be better indicators of how distressing social isolation experiences are for individual children.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The death of a family member can cause intense bereavement, creating psychological and behavioral risk for survivors (Roberts et al., 2013). To facilitate healing, families often use religious coping strategies and talk about the death (Pargament et al., 2005). We explored the frequency and nature of parent-child communication about death within families that recently experienced death. We assessed predictors of communication and of the bereaved children’s well-being. We predicted that parent religiosity and adaptive coping would predict more frequent parent-child communication about death, and that more frequent communication and parents’ warmth, religiosity, adaptive coping and positive religious coping would predict better child outcomes, whereas parents’ psychological control, maladaptive coping, and negative religious coping (e.g., anger at God) would predict worse outcomes.

We sampled 24 bereaved parents with at least one child from 8 to 14 years who had experienced the death of a family member within the last five years. Parents completed surveys on their religiosity (BMMRS; Idler et al., 2003), parenting (CRPBI-30; Schuldermann & Schuldermann, 1988), coping strategies (Brief RCOPE; Pargament et al., 2011; Brief COPE; Carver, 1997), and frequency and content of their parent-child communication about death since the family member’s passing (Bradbard et al., 1992). Additionally, parents completed surveys on their child’s emotional and behavioral symptoms in the last six months (SDQ; Goodman, 1997; CHIP-CE; Riley et al., 2004).

Table 1 summarizes survey data. Almost 80% of parent-child dyads discussed death at least weekly. Children were active during conversations, initiating half; 85% of parents reported that children asked questions. The three most frequent topics were special memories of the deceased, heaven, and God.

Frequency of parent-child communication was related (all at least p < .05) to parental warmth/acceptance (r = .55) and negatively to parental psychological control (r = -.57). Communication frequency related to more child prosocial behaviors (r = .48) and inversely to children’s hyperactivity (r = -.55), social problem solving (r = -.46), and overall difficulties (r = -.41). Communication frequency was lower when parents were higher in negative religious coping (r = -.41), private religious practices (r = -.48) and adaptive coping strategies (r = -.43). Perhaps the private religious and adaptive coping tactics help parents feel better and thus less compelled to discuss the death. In regressions to predict frequency of communication about death, the only significant parent predictor was warmth/acceptance of their children (β = .43, p = .03). Using child variables as predictors, less frequent communication was predicted by children’s hyperactivity (β = -.48, p < .01) but also better social problem solving (β = -.46, p = .01) (Table 2). To predict children’s emotional and behavioral problems, frequency of communication was not significant; only parental psychological control predicted more problems in children (β = .53, p = .01).

Our study illuminates a difficult aspect of family life and points to the value of assessing both parent and child characteristics, including religiosity and parenting dimensions, to understand parent-child communication about death and to predict children’s well-being in bereaved families.

Publication Type: Presentation
Abstract: This study investigated the long-term psychosocial of the last war on Gaza Strip on children’s psychological distress. It was hypothesized that a combination of risk variables (i.e., children’s characteristics and war traumas), and protective variables (i.e., variations across children’s coping strategies) would be predictive of children’s behavioral and emotional disorders, neuroticism and PTSD. Participants were 205 males and females aged 9 to 18 years. Questionnaires were administered in an interview format with participants at schools. Results indicated that approximately 30 percent of the Palestinian children who were exposed to higher levels of war traumas during the last war on Gaza have developed PTSD with excess risk for co-morbidity with other disorders such as emotional symptoms and neuroticism. The findings revealed that children with lower family income reported higher levels of emotion and behavioral disorders and neuroticism. While emotion focused coping was positively associated with emotional and behavioral problems, neuroticism, and PTSD, problem focused coping was negatively associated with neuroticism only. The clinical implications of these conclusions were discussed to formulate cognitive-behavioral coping interventions that can lead to positive outcomes in the post trauma environment.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that children’s cognitive appraisals of and coping response to stressful events were differentially related to their mental health adjustment (e.g., Holen, Lervag, Waaktaar, & Ystgaard, 2012). Specifically, threat appraisal, or one’s assessment of harm or future loss, has been associated with children’s higher behavioral problems (e.g., Gerard, Buehler, Franck, & Anderson, 2005), whereas coping efficacy, or the belief that one can deal with the demands of a stressful situation, has been associated with better adjustment (e.g., Sandler, Tein, Mehta, Wolchik, & Ayers, 2000). However, there is little knowledge on the interrelations among children’s appraisals, coping strategies, and coping efficacy and their joint associations to adjustment. Moreover, because the majority of coping research has been based on European-American samples, little is known regarding the cross-cultural generalizability of the theory on coping and adjustment. The goal of this study is to examine the concurrent relations among stressors, coping responses (threat appraisal, coping strategies, and coping efficacy), and behavioral problems in a sample of Chinese school-aged children. We also tested whether appraisal/coping/coping efficacy mediate the relations between stressors and behavior problems.
The sample included 610 Chinese children (50.2% girls, M age = 11.6 years, SD = 0.6, age range = 10.0 – 13.6 years) and their parents and teachers recruited from two public schools in Beijing, China. Children reported on their experience of negative life events (stressors), threat appraisals, coping strategies, and coping efficacy using the following measures respectively: Negative Life Event Checklist for Chinese School Age Children (NLEC-CSAC, Zhou et al., 2008), Threat and Worry Appraisal Scale (TWAS, Sheets et al., 1996), Child Coping Strategies Checklist (CCSC; Ayers et al., 1996), and Coping Efficacy Scale (CES, Sandler et al., 2000). Children’s internalizing and externalizing problems were rated by parents, teachers, and children (Achenbach, 2001; Peterson & Zill, 1986).
Results of structural equation modeling (Figure 1) suggested that threat appraisals were associated with higher internalizing and externalizing problems, but coping efficacy was related to lower internalizing and externalizing problems. Moreover, the greater number of stressors was associated with higher threat appraisals and lower coping efficacy, which mediated the relations between stressors and behavioral problems. These findings suggested that high threat appraisal and low coping efficacy are important risk mechanisms through which children develop behavior problems under stressors. With regard to coping strategies, we found that a greater number of stressors predicted higher avoidant coping, which in turn predicted higher internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, no significant relationships were found between active, distraction, or support-seeking coping and behavior problems, nor were they related to the number of stressors. Active and distraction coping, however, were associated with higher coping efficacy. These results were consistent with the findings for European-American samples, indicating that there are some cross-cultural similarities in the roles of coping responses in children’s development of behavioral problems. Thus, by targeting children’s threat appraisal, coping strategies, and coping efficacy, intervention programs can prevent or reduce mental health problems in children experiencing significant life stressors.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Instrumental and relational peer victimization are common stressors during middle childhood that predict maladjustment (e.g., Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005). One factor that may contribute to victimization is impaired social problem solving (i.e., a failure to select constructive social goals and identify appropriate behaviors to accomplish those goals; Crick & Dodge, 1994). There are findings that physically (but not relationally) victimized youth exhibit social problem solving difficulties in response to instrumental peer provocations (Garner & Lemerise, 2007). However, additional research is necessary to assess problem solving in response to relational provocations (e.g., social exclusion), as these stressors may be particularly salient among relationally victimized youth. In addition, as negative emotional arousal may promote “acting without thinking” (see Crick & Dodge, 1994), patterns of physiological reactivity indicative of negative emotionality (e.g., high blood pressure reactivity; see Murray-Close, 2013) may reduce the role of cognitive processes in predicting victimization. Finally, given gender differences in victimization, effects may differ for boys and girls (Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005). Thus, the present study explored whether social problem solving regarding peer conflict scenarios (relational and instrumental) predicted victimization (physical and relational), and whether blood pressure reactivity and gender moderated these associations.

Participants (N = 209 4th – 6th graders) completed an adapted version of the Social Competence Interview (Ewart & Kolodner, 1991) in which they relived one recent relational (e.g., being left out) and one instrumental (e.g., having property destroyed) victimization experience. Participants also brainstormed their ideal ending to the recounted scenario, behaviors they could enact to reach that ending, and the expected consequences of those behaviors. Social problem solving was coded based on participants’ ability to successfully generate behaviors that would result in consequences matching their ideal ending (Cronbach’s α > .80). Diastolic blood pressure reactivity (DBPR) was measured in response to reliving the victimization experience. Thus far, 113 participants’ interviews have been coded (Mage = 10.23 years; 55% girls). Parents also reported on children’s physical and relational victimization (adapted from Cullerton-Sen & Crick, 2005).

Correlations (Table 1) showed that instrumental problem solving was associated with lower levels of relational victimization, and relational problem solving was correlated with lower levels of both forms of victimization. Hierarchical linear regression analyses (Table 2) revealed a significant interaction between instrumental problem solving and instrumental DBPR in predicting both physical and relational victimization. Simple slope analyses revealed that deficits in instrumental problem solving were associated with higher levels of physical victimization (β = -.19, t = -2.29, p = .03) and relational victimization (β = -.43, t = -4.22, p = .00) among participants with blunted instrumental reactivity, but not among those with elevated reactivity.

Results suggest that poor problem solving in both types of scenarios predict peer victimization. Moreover, for instrumental problem solving, effects primarily emerged among youth with blunted reactivity, potentially reflecting a process whereby high reactivity reduces the role of cognitive processes and promotes “acting without thinking.” Implications for research and intervention will be discussed. Future analyses will examine these effects within the fully coded sample.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Reducing the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among African American youth is a national priority. African American female adolescents are at higher risk for STIs than their male counterparts. Although personal behavior (e.g., condom non-use) is important to consider, sex partners’ behaviors (e.g., partner’s sexual concurrency) are even more predictive of females’ STI acquisition (Auerswald et al., 2006). The current study emphasized and examined an important set of modifiable factors related to emotional experiences and coping with emotions within partnerships, which may improve our understanding of why adolescents maintain relationships with high-risk sex partners. We examined correlations among emotion and coping variables and adolescent girls’ self-perceived risk of getting an STI from her sex partner, as well as her actual STI status (assessed by biologic test).
A cohort of urban adolescent females (n = 80, 16-19 years old, 96% African American) were recruited from outpatient adolescent and STD clinics to participate in an 18-month study of perceived STI risk. Participants reported quarterly on each of their sex partners. Data for the current analysis come from the 6 month assessment and are restricted to reports on main sex partners (n = 71, 92% African American). Questionnaire items assessed partner-specific coping with emotions along 2 dimensions: Emotional Processing, active attempts to explore and understand one’s emotions (4 items, α = .82); and Emotional Avoidance, unwillingness to experience negative emotions or efforts to eliminate negative emotions (4 items, α = .68). Participants also rated over previous 4 weeks how much they trusted, felt close to, and loved their partner; how important it was for her to feel close to the partner; and their perceived risk of acquiring an STI from this partner.
Self perceived risk of contracting an STI did not correlate with specific infections (i.e., chlamydia, gonorrhea), but was correlated with a range of partner-specific emotion coping and emotional experience variables. Self perceived STI risk was negatively correlated with enjoyment (r= -.27, p=.020) and emotional approach coping (r= -.30, p=.009). Emotional approach coping was also positively correlated with love (r=.48, p<.0001), closeness (r=.28, p=.02), trust (r=.24, p=.04), and importance of feeling close (r=.36, p=.002). In contrast, emotional avoidant coping was positively correlated with feelings of anger (r=.30, p= .010). Surprisingly, avoidant coping was generally unrelated to relationship variables or perceived STI risk. There was a marginal trend toward positive correlation between avoidant coping and love (r=.22, p=.06). Thus, results suggest that attempts to understand oneself and one’s sex relationship, as well as one’s perceived enjoyment in the relationship, results in lowered perceived risk for STI acquisition, which itself is unrelated to actual STI status 3 months later. In addition, these results indicate that emotional approach and avoidance coping are related but distinct self-regulation styles that are differentially associated with perceptions of sexual relationships and STI risk.
In summary, investigating girls’ emotions and coping strategies may identify factors that characterize adolescent women’s relationships with high-risk sex partners. These factors can then be targeted with psychosocial interventions to reduce STI risk.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Contemporary research in the parenting domain increasingly focuses on children’s and adolescents’ active contributions in shaping the socialization process (Kakihara & Tilton-Weaver, 2009). In the current research, we applied a coping perspective (Skinner & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2007) to better understand how and why adolescents react in specific ways during new interactions with their parents. As the family context may serve both as a source of adaptive coping socialization but also as a potential stressor (e.g., Power, 2004), the current longitudinal investigation tested whether previous socialization experiences to some extent determined how adolescents react in future potentially stressful situations. Thereby, we focused specifically on a situation of parental rule-setting (involving a parental request to study more), which may pose a potential threat to one’s autonomy. Skinner and Edge (2002) distinguished between four ways of coping with autonomy threat, that is, oppositional defiance (i.e., bluntly rejecting authority), rumination (i.e., constantly worrying about the situation), negotiation (i.e., engaging in a constructive dialogue) and accommodation (i.e., flexibly adjusting one’s goals and priorities). In the current investigation, we tested whether youngsters growing up in autonomy-supportive and responsive families would display more constructive coping reactions (i.e., more negotiation and accommodation, less opposition and rumination).

In a sample of 311 children (age range = 9-14 years at T1), we assessed the children’s perceptions of autonomy-supportive vs. controlling parenting and parental responsiveness, using well-validated questionnaires (Barber, 1996; Grolnick et al., 1991; Schaefer, 1965). Four years later, 112 (36%) children completed the same parenting measures again. In addition, they read a hypothetical scenario, in which the parent was depicted as formulating a request to study more (randomly formulated in either an autonomy-supportive or controlling fashion). Then we assessed the degree to which they would cope with the depicted situation through oppositional defiance, rumination, negotiation, and accommodation. This was done through new as well as through existing questionnaires (e.g., Vansteenkiste et al., 2014). All measures were reliable (αs of .79 and higher).

Latent change modelling was used to model initial levels and changes in the parenting variables across time. These were modeled as predictors of the adolescents’ coping reactions to the hypothetical situation. We controlled for the (autonomy-supportive vs. controlling) style of the formulation of the request. As is shown in Figure 1, children initially scoring high on perceived autonomy support were more strongly inclined to react through negotiation and accommodation, four years later. In addition, increases in perceived autonomy support significantly predicted more negotiation and more accommodation in response to the hypothetical situation as well. Further, higher initial levels of perceived autonomy support predicted less rumination, and increases in autonomy support also predicted a lower likelihood to react through oppositional defiance. The results for parental responsiveness were very similar (see Figure 2). Specifically, higher initial levels as well as increases in perceived responsiveness predicted more negotiation and accommodation, and less oppositional defiance. Associations with rumination were not significant. In general, our results indicate that adolescents’ reactions to new parent-adolescent interactions are partly influenced by previous socialization experiences.

Publication Type: Roundtable
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study explored the relationship between chatting in concurrent multitasking situations and learning performance of college students. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to several web-based multitasking situations while learning from different video contents. Two of the interventions required chatting as a concurrent multitasking activity. Through the tracking feature of the system, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to investigate how students regulated their chat while learning.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The clinical literature has established a modest, but significant relationship between mental disorder and violence, especially in the context of substance abuse. In recent years, criminological interest in this relationship has grown, but researchers have yet to determine the causal mechanisms responsible. While clinical research indicates that the relationship between mental disorder and drug and alcohol use is dynamic, few criminological studies have examined the possible impacts of maladaptive coping and key personality factors such as disinhibition/impulsivity and negative affectivity/neuroticism on this dynamic. Drawing upon the psychological and criminological literatures, the present study attempts to test an interdisciplinary, integrated theory of strain, self-control, and negative affectivity/neuroticism to propose a causal mechanism among severe mental disorder, drug and alcohol use, and violence. We test these ideas using the Mac Arthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, a longitudinal study of patients released from psychiatric inpatient hospitalizations. We estimate multilevel regression models that nest waves of observation within people. Contrary to expectations, a clear maladaptive substance use coping effect could not be established; however, a subsequent examination revealed a relationship between certain clinical factors and violence. Data limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Neighborhood variations in crime and delinquency have frequently been explained from a social disorganization perspective, however, Agnew’s (1999) Macro Strain Theory also suggests that macro-level strains may also influence offending at the neighborhood level. Agnew (2006) has further suggested that, while neighborhood characteristics such as economic disadvantage and residential mobility have been shown to reduce a community’s ability to control crime, neighborhood disorganization may also motivate offending through its effect on individual-level strain processes. First, residents within disorganization communities may be more likely to experience strains conducive to crime. Second, neighborhood disorganization may affect other variables central to the General Strain Theory [GST] process, such as residents’ levels of negative emotionality, conventional social support and informal social control, such that they are more likely to engage in criminal coping strategies. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, we examine the multilevel relationships between community social disorganization, individual-level strain and youth engagement in violence. This study therefore serves as a critical first step in clarifying the extent to which GST processes account for the relationship between neighborhood disorganization and violence.

Publication Type: Panel Paper
Abstract: The Holocaust committed against about 6 million Jews in World War II is regarded as the focal point of European memory culture (Leggewie 2011). Usually, it is expected that mediatizations thereof propagate human value orientations. But the coping with historical traumata may also include stereotyped constructs of "the enemy" and reinforce current conflict behavior. Data from the international research project "Broadcasting History in the Transnational Space" on the reception of a Holocaust documentary in five European countries (Austria, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine) show similarities, but also culturally determined differences. Finally, the results are discussed in a more general perspective of trauma processing and compared with the reception of the "Holodomor" (where millions of Ukrainians starved during the 1920ies and 30ies) and the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians during the Lebanon war in 1982.

Publication Type: Extended Abstract
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Due to the increasing pressure on healthcare systems, robots may provide a solution. However, little is known about how people’s prior emotional state may affect the perception and acceptance of such robots. Following appraisal theories of emotion, preliminary research found that particularly the appraisal of coping potential is important in acting as mediator between prior emotional states and perceptions of a healthcare robot. Hence, the current study focused on how actual coping may influence subsequent robot perceptions. Contrasting previous studies, Study 1 (N=101) used a real humanoid robot but results were somewhat confusing; while manipulations were effective, effects on robot perceptions were not in line with previous studies. Because the novelty aspect of interacting with a real robot may have blurred results, we conducted Study 2, in which participants interacted briefly with the robot before the actual study. Preliminary results are exciting and will be presented at the ICA conference!

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: For individuals with a chronic illness, such as type 2 diabetes, a multitude of factors may influence the ways people manage and cope with their condition. This study compares characteristics of the illness and characteristics of a patient’s romantic relationship as factors that predict coping behaviors for individuals with type 2 diabetes. We identify illness uncertainty (Mishel, 1990) as a feature of chronic illness that influences coping and, drawing on the relational turbulence model (Solomon & Knobloch, 2004), we identify relational uncertainty and interference from partners as relationship characteristics that affect coping. Using Amazon Mechanical Turk, we recruited 500 participants who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and involved in a romantic relationship to complete an online survey about the experience of their illness in the context of their relationship. Structural equation model results showed that relational uncertainty and partner interference were both positively associated with the perceived threat of discussing the illness, whereas the effect for illness uncertainty was nonsignificant; thus, relationship characteristics were a more robust predictor of perceived threat than illness characteristics. In turn, the perceived threat of discussing the illness was negatively associated with treatment compliance and positively associated with topic avoidance about the illness. Treatment compliance was also negatively associated with topic avoidance. Implications for health and relationships are discussed.

Publication Type: Panel Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires are two major cities in South America, with many features in common. They are city symbols for their countries, and they have high levels of inequality. They are also plagued by periodic floods. In 1966, a large flood in Rio de Janeiro caused over 200 deaths. In 1985, an even larger flood displaced circa a hundred thousand people in the greater Buenos Aires. Studies of these urban floods have focused on their negative impact on the victims, mostly poor. News reports underlined the affected population’s refusal or impossibility to leave their residences in high-risk areas, and puzzled over their insistence to return to the same places, even after these large catastrophes. The poor, it seems, didn't know better or couldn't do better.
Our research in both cities reveals a more complex relationship of the urban poor and the urban nature. Through archival research and oral interviews in the neighborhoods of City of God and Praça da Bandeira, in Rio de Janeiro, and La Boca and Belgrano, in Buenos Aires, all areas known for the vulnerability to floods, we have identified several popular strategies to co-exist with floods, as they were incorporated in the everyday urban life. The residents were not oblivious or ignorant to the risks, and previous floods were not forgotten: they rather become learning memories for individuals and communities. Sometimes, floods made a particular coveted real estate more affordable for poor residents, and therefore were seen as an opportunity rather than a disaster. Other times, communities created their own coping strategies to protect those who were more vulnerable, with temporary housing and food. And in both cities, floods often represented a window of opportunity from neglected communities to vent grievances and to request support from the state.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Evidence indicates that communication with close relational partners is significantly associated with how individuals cope with and adjust to the stress of cancer, its treatments and side effects, and the overall disruption of having a serious illness. Many studies across several different disciplines have investigated connections among various communication behaviors (e.g., disclosure and support), coping strategies (e.g., humor and denial), and psychological adjustment (e.g., depression and anxiety). However, there has not yet been a systematic review of this body of work until now. The comprehensive, integrative review presented in this manuscript provides a description of the studies in this domain, and offers a summary of how communication and coping tend to be (a) conceptually and operationally defined and (b) theoretically linked in terms of causality. Only 37% of studies were grounded explicitly in theory. In the end, four distinct meta-theoretical chains were identified, with two being most prominent in the literature.

Publication Type: Paper Abstract
Abstract: Objectives: In the United States, where 795,000 people have a stroke every year, stroke is the leading cause of paralysis, affecting nearly 1.8 million persons. Yet we have no rehabilitation protocol aiming to optimize coping and resilience in these patients, in part because we don’t know how to assess their first-person experience from the outside. Patients in a locked-in syndrome (LIS) experience a full-body paralysis with no cognitive impairments. They present a high-stake and unique opportunity for a post-phenomenological approach to inform medical care. Methods: In this study, we used the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) and the Self Continuity Questionnaire (Nizzi et al., 2012) to investigate how different coping strategies relate to multiple subjective outcomes such as preserved sense of self, suicide ideation and quality of life. We surveyed 44 chronic LIS patients in 2010 and 2016. At follow up, 9 patients had died and 18 responded. Results: In line with previous literature, we parsed coping strategies into active vs avoidant coping. Active coping was correlated with quality of life, sense of self and body representation, but negatively correlated with depression (r=-0.3). Avoidant coping was negatively correlated with body representation (r=-0.5), sense of self (r=-0.5) and quality of life (r=-0.3). Importantly, avoidant coping was correlated with suicide ideation in the past 6 months (r=0.5) and with depression (r=0.6). Conclusions: In our sample, active coping strategies were optimal to support post-stroke quality of life as measured by multiple indices. Practice implications: Connecting the subjective experience of patients to quantifiable constructs, informed with ideas from postphenomenology, opens leads to train patients in subjectively and measurably more effective coping strategies to support their sense of self after a stroke.

Publication Type: Paper Presentation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Theory and prior research suggest that involvement in leisure, recreation, and other pro-social activities in prisons is associated with positive behavioral and emotional outcomes. Additionally, some studies report that many inmates utilize such resources to cope with the stress of incarceration. The majority of existing studies, however, focus on a narrow scope of programs and activities and do not provide statistical evidence of the strength and significance of the associations. To address this gap in the knowledge base, the current study tests the stress-coping model developed by Richard Lazarus (1966). Using inmate survey data, we examine the role of participation in a comprehensive range of daily activities in coping with stress.

Publication Type: Abstract
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study explores customers’ perceived prevalence of fraudulent (positive or negative) product
reviews on today’s social media, its impact on their purchase decision making, and their coping
strategies to deal with such reviews. We first reviewed the existing literature, and then reported
our findings based on open-ended survey responses.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: While there has been national discussion of violence against women, relatively little attention has been paid to what scholars call the war on girls and more specifically, the war on inner-city Latinas. This war has two facets: Latinas face high rates of violent victimization and high rates of incarceration. Using grounded, intersectional, and Critical Race analysis, this study aims to improve understanding of the war on Latinas by investigating gang-affiliated Latina mothers’ experiences of and responses to violence (victimization and perpetration). The sample involves 20 young, gang-affiliated women from Los Angeles, California who became mothers as teenagers. The qualitative methods used, including semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation interviews, allow participants to counter dominant ideologies when sharing their experiences and voice their experiential knowledge. The analysis of the study entails examining various types of violence: physical, structural, community, sexual, and victimization. Preliminary findings suggest that gang affiliated mothers have survival strategies they employ to resist and cope with violence, such as seeking close networks for support. The study provides recommendations for prevention and intervention that can be used to interrupt cycles of inequality for the mothers and their children.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Adopting a compensatory model of media use that differentiate between efficient and inefficient ways to cope with distressing life situations by using video games, the present paper examines how common game motivations (achievement, social motivation, immersion) and different forms of passion towards video games (harmonious passion and obsessive passion) signify coping efficiency. For that purpose, we conducted an online survey (N = 4731) obtaining a diverse sample of gamers with different game preferences and motivations, heterogeneous scores on psychosocial factors (perceived stress, social interaction anxiety, and loneliness) as well as varying prevalences of negative gaming outcomes. Statistical analyses provided further evidence for the conception of video games as a potentially efficient and inefficient coping tool that has either a compensatory (when motivated by social interactions or harmoniously used) or an escalating connection (when motivated by escapism or obsessively used) with negative outcomes depending on the severity of their psychosocial problems.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Our paper investigates how people cope with their anger about terrorism. Using two experimental studies, we examine whether providing an opportunity to act in an emotion-consist way reduces anger or exacerbates it.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Although black adolescent boys growing up in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty experience disproportionate amounts of peer loss, the effects of loss on their emotional and relational trajectories have been understudied. Because of their social position, teenage black boys are likely to face the extreme disenfranchisement of their grief after the violent death of a peer, which can make their grief more complicated and damaging. This ethnographic study examines the everyday interactions and relationships through which boys make meaning of the violent death of a friend, as well as the role loss plays in their school-based peer group. Through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and social media analysis, I investigate the experiences of a group of students during the year following the shooting death of their close friend/classmate. I find that although the boys are generally silent about their grief, making both individual and collective efforts to push thoughts of their friend out of their mind and conversations, many actively work through and display their grief in material and symbolic ways – online, in the private space of their bedrooms, and on their bodies. The boys compassionately support each other through their shared trauma, but the feeling rules that function within their peer groups and the larger social context restrict the kinds of emotional displays that are acceptable (with some exceptions). For some, this may be a necessary survival skill, but for others there may be longer-term consequences to this continued emotion management.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Raising a child with autism comes with great responsibilities, including finding and navigating the necessary health-care resources. Mexican-American low-income communities face barriers when trying to find adequate doctors and schools. This study was done in the Southside of Chicago. We interviewed four families and discussed the challenges they faced when raising a child with autism. Some factors that were taken into consideration were the spouses relationship, religion, and more. Parents face issues with family support, often they do not always realize the lack of attention they give their other children. Siblings of children with autism overcome jealousy after learning more about autism. We also interviewed an expert in the field with a sibling with autism. Overall, we examined the impact that low income families face while raising their child with autism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: I utilize a mixed-method approach based on 300 surveys and 52 in-depth interviews with low-income, urban Black women and girls ages 16 to 54 from two high-crime neighborhoods in Wilmington, Delaware. I examine the variation in adapting to and coping with structural strain, specifically through the use of violence and/or crime or involvement in street life, the spectrum of networking behaviors and activities that manifest through both legal and illegal activities in urban Black spaces, as a means of personal and economic survival. Applying a cross-sectional design and a methodological framework called Street Participatory Action Research (Street PAR), I address four research questions: First, I examine the relationship between structural strain and street life among these women across age. Second, I analyze variations in how low-income, urban Black women cope with and adapt to structural strain, and how some strains are potentially more conducive to involvement in street life than others. Third, I examine how coping mechanisms—social, psychological and economic— mediate the effects of the strain-crime and strain-violence relationships among the women. Lastly, I analyze how racial-ethnic identity moderates the relationship between strain, violence and crime, and how awareness of Blackness as an identity strengthens or weakens this relationship. Ultimately, I argue that although structural strain imbues deleterious effects on poor communities of color, modes of adaptation and coping strategies differ among urban Black women as a function of their relationship to the streets and access to structural means of opportunity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The burden of Alzheimer’s disease includes not only the degenerative effects of the illness itself, but also its disruptive impact on individuals’ lives, including through the promotion of comorbid mental health problems. Building on social support theory, this study examines whether or not supportive relationships moderate the link between cognitive impairment and depression among older adults. I analyze longitudinal data collected from 691 participants at an Alzheimer’s Disease research clinic, with each participant observed annually between 1990-2018. The sample includes information about participants’ clinical “study partners,” typically a confidant or primary caregiver. I use mixed effects negative binomial regression models to examine which characteristics of study partners (including educational attainment and level of commitment) are associated with participants’ depressive symptoms. I find that greater participant and study partner education are both associated with reduced depressive symptoms. However, the benefits of a more educated study partner are conditional – greater study partner education is only associated with reduced depressive symptoms among the most impaired and the least educated participants. In contrast, study partner commitment is not associated with participants’ mental health. These results suggest that the most vulnerable older adults have the most to gain from access to educated supporters who are prepared to take on a care manager role. I discuss implications for social support theory, including the need to examine the link between patients’ needs and supporters’ capabilities. Promoting caregiver education and training could help alleviate the secondary health consequences of cognitive impairment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Recently, scholars have developed interest in fostering processes of collective problem solving for continuous improvement in schools. However, little is known about how such processes arise in schools operating in adverse contexts. When adversity poses seemingly intractable problems, groups may develop coping behaviors that defend against, rather than enable resilience for, learning. Using participant observation, this paper investigates how educators’ ways of coping with adversity in one school inhibit or enable collective problem solving.

Publication Type: Roundtable
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to gather baseline data on student perceptions of educator behaviors, developmental challenges such as stress, and racial discrimination in the classroom as mediators for their academic success. Focus group interviews were conducted with 56 male and female 9th grade students. Subsequently, a survey instrument will be developed to measure how students cope with stress and racial bias and discrimination. Ecological systems theory will guide the focus of this research.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Stress has become an inevitable part of a principal’s life. The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the levels of burnout and the social emotional competencies of Lebanese principals in public and private schools and explore how they face their daily stressors. The preliminary findings show that mindfulness was positively correlated with several of the emotional regulation measures as well as experience. The qualitative analysis elaborated on the experiences of principals.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Abstract: Prior studies have suggested that the children of registered citizens experience some sort of harassment, discrimination, or stigma based on their fathers’ registration status.  These findings, however, were derived from their parents’ cognitive appraisals of encounters rather than directly from the children’s themselves.  To explore this area of study, we spoke with eight adult children of registrants and found differences in experiences and coping strategies across children depending on mothers’ coping styles, if these children were victims of abuse, and the age at which their fathers were convicted.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In recent years, a new wave of terrorist attacks is plaguing the world. Specifically, London has become an attractive target for radical terrorist attacks by progressive techniques such as vehicle assault. As terrorist attacks continue to become more extreme, there is a need to develop innovative approaches to diagnose locations more prone to terrorist attacks by accessible means such as vehicle attacks. Situational crime prevention (SCP) is used as a theoretical framework to evaluate the current counter-terrorism strategies. The present study measures the density of foot traffic and the locations of security bollards on the streets near the Big Ben and Buckingham palace tourist attractions in London, England. To estimate an average of people at risk, third-party applications are used to both collect and geographically display the data. The findings of this study demonstrate which locations serve as potential targets for vehicular attacks. This study offers an innovative technique that can be used by researchers and law enforcement worldwide to access situational crime through geographic information systems.

Publication Type: Research Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines a stress-coping process that involves cyberbullying as a stressor, perceived stress as a mediator, and reflective smartphone disengagement as a coping strategy, accounting for gender, dispositional, and cultural specificities of emerging adults from the United States and Indonesia. With substantial invariance across countries, findings show that cyberbullying is related to higher perceived stress, which, then again. is associated with disengagement from smartphones, in particular amongst American men and people with higher self-esteem.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Police stress research has traditionally treated coping mechanisms as part of the independent variables. We have accumulated rather consistent support of a strong correlation between coping mechanisms used and the type/level of police stress measured. In the current study, we reverse the order of previous research inquiry and treat police coping mechanism as a dependent variable. Particularly, we probe for the possible institutional and individual correlates. Based on survey data from a large police department in the east coast, our nested regression models incorporate a multitude of demographic variables, multi-dimensional measures of police psychological and organizational variables. We found that officer race and their levels of anxiety and somatization were significant predictors of the coping mechanisms used. Suggestions for future research are included.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Much research has shown that Blacks have similar or better mental health compared to Whites once socioeconomic status is controlled for (Williams and Harris-Reid 1999; Williams et al. 1997; Kessler et al. 1994; Robins and Regier 1991). Although it has been speculated that Blacks have similar mental health due to their additional coping resources offsetting disadvantages due to race, no research has documented these offsetting effects. I use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test these effects for Black-White differences in adolescent mental health. I find that Black adolescents have more coping resources than White adolescents as indicated by them having greater social support from family, more social ties to neighbors, greater involvement in religious activities, and higher self-esteem. White adolescents are higher on only one coping resource compared to Black adolescents – they receive more social support from friends. These additional coping resources explain why Black adolescents have similar depression and positive well-being to White adolescents and partially explain why they have lower alcohol abuse compared to White adolescents.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The experience of rural poverty, although it has much in common with the urban setting, is nonetheless unique. This paper looks in depth at the choices that the rural poor make in order to survive and cope with low incomes and unemployment. Based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic research, it argues that in a small, tight-knit community, the actions and behaviors of the poor are subject to greater social scrutiny than in an urban area. The insularity and lack of anonymity in the field site means that everyone’s family history and current situation is known, and reputations are extremely important in deciding the degree of social support a person or family receives. Reputations and community standing are also very influential in determining who will be considered for the few available jobs. Behaviors and coping mechanisms that are commonly practiced in urban settings, and that may be economically rational, can thus be irrational in the rural setting. The importance of local cultural norms, and the heightened degree of social censure for those who do not exhibit adherence to these norms, exerts pressure on the rural poor to choose only coping strategies that are culturally acceptable, regardless of their economic rationality. This finding helps explain the propensity for self-provisioning and subsistence activities among the rural poor, as well as the lower incidence of welfare use and illegal activities in the rural setting.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We evaluate: (1) the specific coping strategies used by “near-old” widows and widowers at three time periods: within 24 months following loss, 24 to 48 months after loss, and four or more years after loss; and (2) the extent to which each of four coping strategies (i.e., problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, religious coping, and social support) protects against (or elevates) depressive symptoms and alcohol use among near-old bereaved men and women. Analyses are based on data from the most recent wave (2003-04) of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), a long-term study of men and women who were born in 1939 and are now in their mid 60s. Our findings suggest that no one strategy is uniformly effective in coping with loss; a strategy’s effectiveness depends upon one’s gender and on the time elapsed since one’s loss. One’s coping strategy does not matter in the near term after loss, when depressive symptoms are most acute. Men who have been bereaved for more than four years and who use emotion-focused coping suffer from elevated depressive symptoms and high levels of alcohol consumption. Problem-focused coping is particularly effective for women in the later stages of bereavement. Social services and interventions for the near-old bereaved should be tailored to meet their specific needs and vulnerabilities, with the recognition that these needs may change as time elapses since the loss.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using in-depth interviews with forty infertile women and 363 responses to a web survey for infertile women, I explore how women’s relationships have changed because of their infertility, and what impact this has on the self. Specifically I explore how infertile women cope with negative social support given by people close to them. Infertility not only prevents the infertile woman from achieving her goals, it also prevents the significant people in her life from achieving theirs. She is expected to become a mother. Failing to meet this expectation affects her relationships. Previous research suggests that infertility should affect the woman’s relationship, which should then affect the self. This is a reactive model. This paper suggests that infertile women are more active than that. Rather than suffer the damage to the self negative support might cause, the women in this study are not passive objects subject only to the influences of others. Many women in this study reconstructed their relationships and networks in order to minimize the impact on the self that receiving negative social support might cause.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Nine months after her mother died in an automobile accident, the first author interviewed seven other college students on how they had been affected by the death of a parent. This research report shows how even something as personal as the death of a parent is also an all too common social experience; both in terms of its frequency, but also in terms of how students cope with a parent’s death. Social relationships shape psychological adjustments. Interview questions ranged from “Tell me, in as much detail, what happened when your parent died?” to “Tell me about life since your parent’s death?” Respondents lost parents in different ways, but their losses have affected each of them in similar life-altering ways. Relations with remaining relatives, friends, and peers became more intense. Respondents also reported acquiring new fears directly related to the ways in which their parents died. Finally, respondents stayed connected to dead parents via memories, objects, and dreams. This paper helped the first author cope with her mother’s accidental death by teaching her that she was unfortunate, but not unusual. We hope this paper will help others (including supporters as well as those who lose a loved one) understand how people live after death.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: ABSTRACT
In this essay, we examine the idiosyncratic development of the communication field in Israel against the background of structural dilemmas, built in the communication field: first, emphasis on research orientation or on professional, journalistic training; and, second, firm boundaries of the field based on the mother disciplines of the humanities or social sciences or, alternatively, open boundaries ready to adopt research topics and methods anchored in different disciplines that touch upon communication phenomena.
The paper relates to the current debate on these issues In US and Europe and suggests a theoretical framework based on criteria anchored in sociology of science. These criteria are then applied to the analysis of the process of institutionalization and development of the Communication Institute (CI) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) from its foundation in 1964 through the 1990s. The study is based on documents from the HUJ archive and Guttman Institute for Applied Social Research; curricula and catalogs of communication departments in Israel and interviews with senior researchers in the field.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Anticommunist sentiment was a driving force behind institutional design in the postcommunist era. Many new governments in Eastern Europe employed anti-Communism to distance themselves from their predecessors, to bring legitimacy to their new leadership and to advance their political and economic agendas. The importance of anti-communism, however, extends well beyond the realm of political rhetoric. It informed policy choices, shaped perceptions of legitimacy and constrained political alliances. In some instances, anti-communist sentiment and the need to break decisively with the past directly translated into anti-communist legislation. These laws seemed to serve as necessary steps to cope with past acts of collaboration and to redress injustices under the old regime. This paper assesses three programs in particular: lustration, property restitution and the declassification of secret service files in order to understand the role of formalized anti-communist programs in the founding of the new political and economic order.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Muslim women are perceived to have predominantly traditional self-identities and social roles and thus are believed to be less adept to adjust to modern societies. The truth is, immigrant women?s experiences in general and Muslim women?s experiences as immigrants in particular are quite diverse and complex. Within today?s increasingly globalizing world, more and more Muslim women find themselves in modern or modernizing situations and are able to successfully adjust their traditional selves to fit the needs of a modern lifestyle. In this paper I will look at first and second generation Muslim women in the US to find out how different factors (i.e. psychological, religious and cultural) affect their adjustment process and how they cope with the demands of the US society.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Introduction: Little information exists concerning types and timing of strategies that help emergency medical services (EMS) personnel cope with critical incident stress (CIS). Mitchell’s critical incident stress debriefing consists of three components delivered within 12-72 hours: psychoeducation, detailed discussion, and sharing of emotional responses. The effectiveness of neither the program nor it components has been established. Objective: To identify the types and timing of strategies which emergency responders naturally use to cope with CIS. Method: Volunteer paramedics, supervisors and dispatchers, recruited during a mandatory continuing education program in a large urban EMS organization, were offered a choice of individual or group interview. Nine groups (n=34) and 34 individual interviews were conducted. Stratified sampling ensured gender and job description representation. Semi-structured interviews focused on detailed description of strategies used in coping with CIS, their perceived benefit, and recommendations for improving recovery. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed, along with field notes. Coding trees were developed and themes categorized to reflect broad and more specific themes, using the constant comparative method. This entails a systematic, iterative examination and categorization of the text. Transcripts were coded independently by three researchers and compared regularly to ensure inter-rater reliability. A computerized qualitative data analytic programme (NVivo) was used to verify coding schemes. Ethnographic content analysis, an integrated method that combines enumeration of textual data with descriptions of contextualized meaning and communication patterns, was used. Results: Preliminary analysis of the individual interviews reveals that subjects identified workplace resources used immediately after the incident as central to recovery. They identified a ½-1 hour ‘time-out’ period with peers, along with expression of support from management, as important factors. Those who preferred specific discussion chose to do so in the days and weeks following the event. Conclusions: This study highlights the perceived early role of workplace resources, differentiates the types of discussion considered useful at different times, and introduces the perceived role of management in recovery from CIS. EMS organizations may be able to facilitate employee recovery by introducing simple administrative policies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This essay considers the obstacles facing the currently developing nations, specifically in Latin America. The growth and strength of multi-national corporations (MNCs) is considered.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: We explore psychology undergraduates’ knowledge of sexual harassment, sexist discrimination, and role conflict and how it might impact their future careers. Participants estimated whether they would face these difficulties and how they might cope, indicating whether they would be more likely to seek resolution on their own versus with help from others.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The linguistic turn in philosophy and in understandings of politics should have made clear the constructed nature of our political realities, and this has become an influential aspect of theoretical developments, yet the main features of the international system are not necessarily amenable to reconstruction in practice. In this paper an examination of the emerging discourses of global environmental politics will indicate the challenges it faces in coping with existing political practices, and the prospective patterns of conformity to environmental policy norms that may be candidates for future strategies in global environmental politics. In doing so it aims to relate theory and practice in GEP.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Adolescents with homosexual and bisexual orientations (“sexual minorities”) are more likely to experience mental health problems than other adolescents. In this study, I examine how this mental health disparity changes in young adulthood, including depressive symptoms, suicide idealization, deviance, smoking, and drinking as mental health outcomes. I hypothesize that sexual minorities experience greater improvement in mental health because their major life decisions (e.g., relocation, going to college, choosing careers) incorporate their attempts to reduce the chance of experiencing discrimination and to maximize their life chances as sexual minorities. Following this argument, I also hypothesize that among sexual minorities, those who take these proactive life decisions experience greater mental health improvement than other sexual minorities. To test these hypotheses, I use two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Interpreting the results, I discuss how adolescent sexual orientation and sexual minorities’ attempts to cope with stigma influence various aspects of adult life.

Publication Type: Paper (prepared oral presentation)
Abstract: Several theories have been formulated in different academic fields to explain the under- representation of women in political institutions in most countries. Empirical studies have focused mostly on institutional and structural variables. Fewer researchers have been able to contact directly top women politicians. We lack reliable measures which focus on personal, interpersonal and environmental obstacles, postulated by conciliation, gender differences, gate keeping and media access theorists; and explore how women politicians cope with them. One of the aims of a wide research on women in politics was to construct two short scales measuring women’s perceived obstacles (WIPOS) and women’s coping efficacy in politics (WIPOCS). Three hundred forty-nine Italian women politicians, 240 elected at local level and 109 at national level (70% of all female members of parliament) completed two questionnaires listing obstacles and coping perceptions. Exploratory factor analyses were carried out on a random half of the data set to detect the number of core factors measured by each list and to identify the simplest markers of each factor. Two and four major core dimensions labeled External and Internal Obstacles and Mass-Media, Empowerment, Conciliation and Gate-Keeping coping efficacy accounted fro most of the variance in WIPOS and WIPOCS ratings. Confirmatory factor analyses of selected markers carried out on the other half of the dataset yielded the following well fitting models: a two-factor model with correlated factors for the WIPOS and a hierarchical factor model positing a general coping factor along with four specific coping efficacy factors for the WIPOCS

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: In this research, we study the adjustment problems of male inmates in Taiwan. Our primary goal is to understand how prisons affect individuals based on a transactional model of the causes of human behavior (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984).
To understand the process of adjustment in prison, we adopt longitudinal method to look at the prediction of future behavior base on current behavior. The measurements were collected at three different times with each subject over a period of 12 months (two waves have been completed insofar).
In the current study, inmate’s adjustment was hypothesized to be effected by personality at the beginning of their term and through coping variable, then by imprisonment environments gradually. This data was analyzed by using a multi-group structural equation model. Models from three different times were compared to see if there is any difference.
In the first wave, besides of individual demographic did not affect inmate’s adjustment, locus of control, stress of incarceration affected cognition and emotions indirectly through coping strategies and locus of control also had a direct effect on these outcomes. The second wave, using the 2nd wave of data, we find similar results, except stress of incarceration has a direct effect on cognition and emotions.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We discuss the coping strategies used by death row exonerees as they attempt to reestablish relationships and rebuild community post-release. Drawing from the stigma management literature, we examine both the reactive and proactive strategies used by exonerees and the conditions under which these strategies are deployed. We also expand on Becker's notion of the "falsely accused deviant," noting those strategies unique to such a group. Findings are based on extensive interviews with death row exonerees over a two year period. The exonerees were identified from the "innocence list" kept by the Death Penalty Information Center. The participants vary by age, race/ethnicity, region of the country, years of time spent in prison, and years since release/exoneration. Post-release, the exonerees faced difficult obstacles and most often were provided for by their families, supporters, and attorneys. As exonerees, none were eligible for post-prison social services. Only one received monetary compensation from the state.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: According to the modified labeling theory of mental illness, stigma beliefs–the expectation that individuals will devalue and discriminate against psychiatric patients–should increase patients’ use of three coping behaviors: concealing treatment history, educating others about mental illness, and withdrawing from social interaction. Using Interact, a computerized version of affect control theory that simulates social interaction, we examine the way that stigma sentiments (evaluation, potency, and activity associated with the cultural category “a mentally ill person”) and diagnostic category (adjustment, affective, and schizophrenic) jointly shape the expected use of these behaviors. As predicted, stigma sentiments increase affective patients’ expected use of these coping behaviors, but contrary to predictions, stigma sentiments reduce adjustment and schizophrenic patients’ expected use of these behaviors. Diagnosis also affects patients’ coping style: schizophrenic patients are predicted to educate more often than they conceal or withdraw, while adjustment and affective patients are predicted to conceal and withdraw more often than educate. Also, consistent with predictions, stigma sentiments increase patients’ expected use of education over secrecy and withdrawal. However, we also found that diagnostic category shapes the relationship between stigma sentiments and expected use of specific coping behaviors, with the affective patient results matching predictions most closely.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Since the early 1990’s, marriage scholars and activists have increasingly cited commitment as the key to long-term marital quality and stability (Love, 2007; Stanley, Markman and Whitton, 2002). “Commitment” has become a buzz word in the marriage-preserving community, and is considered by many to be the cornerstone for the public preservation of marriage (Doherty, 2001; Stanley, Rhoades, & Markman, 2006). In this paper, I briefly revisit my dissertation findings that are relevant to commitment and husbands’ job loss experiences. In doing so, I share my data about how couples’ subjective notions of commitment impacted the presence of hostility for some couples. Findings indicate that positive affect, as demonstrated in subjective notions of commitment, can influence marital quality despite external circumstances. While it is impossible to understand from this study the importance of commitment to coping with adversity, it appears as if relationships are what we make of them. Subjective notions of commitment and marital quality are reflexive, and can cause us to construct our external circumstances in different ways.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of psychological health during a physical health crisis. Drawing on the psychological concept of resilience, we hope to expand stress theory to allow for a greater focus on positive adaptation to adversity. Research on meaning-making and benefit-finding among breast cancer patients indicates a real possibility of shedding new light on the dynamic nature of psychological health. We are conducting in-depth qualitative interviews, as well as administering a brief questionnaire with standardized measures of depression, anxiety, and resilience, to a group of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Our specific aims are to: gain a greater understanding of the stress process associated with breast cancer treatment and explore the relationship of stress and coping to resilience; to explore how women’s identities are influenced by the diagnosis of breast cancer and how the meaning behind these identities may change due to the breast cancer diagnosis and treatment; to study the process by which some women turn a distressing event such as breast cancer into a meaningful or beneficial experience; and to explore the relationship between psychological health and disease outcome.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: We use ethnographic data to explore how institutions shape the ways in which HIV positive black women begin to come to terms with their illness and create strategies to effectively manage their health status. As the quality and accessibility of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) improve, so too do the life chances of HIV positive individuals. Examining black women’s HIV coping trajectories sheds light on how institutional and individual factors shape how they grapple with HIV disease and other negative life events closely tied to their marginal social locations. We argue that ‘framing institutions’ shape the form and tenor of coping processes by offering initial information about one’s status, a conceptual framework with which to understand what it means to have HIV, language to talk about one’s condition, and resources to initially begin to restructure one’s life in a wake of a diagnosis. We contend that framing institutions play a critical role in how women accept their changed health status, deploy information and resources to aid in the management of disease symptoms and problems, and construct a framework and language through which to understand and talk about their HIV experience. Ultimately, we highlight how social institutions shape women’s movement from beliefs and behaviors that suggest that they are ‘dying from’ this disease to attitudes and actions consistent with the notion that they can ‘live with’ HIV.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study explored the associations between individuals’ perceptions of coping potential during hurtful interactions in the family and the perceived causes of hurt. Each coping potential type—hurt-focused, emotion-focused, communication-focused, perpetrator-focused, and problem-focused—was significantly associated with the causes individuals assigned to their hurt feelings. Importantly, the way that family members explain their hurt feelings reflects important differences in their perceived ability to cope with their feelings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: As part of a larger on-going ethnographic research project, I conducted in-depth interviews with a group of Latino/as that had been out of prison for less than two years. My main objective was to hear, in their own words, about the obstacles encountered throughout the reentry process, as well as to learn how they dealt with the enforced socio-economic barriers all along. Major themes that were covered were: (1) difficulties in securing employment; (2) further contact with the Criminal Justice System; (3) experience with NYC shelters; (4) aspects involved in their transition to independent living; and (5) future plans and expectations in life.Recent releasees struggle to regain their identities as social beings, within an environment that is frequently hostile to them.
My interviewees' accounts illustrate how they had to learn to interact with their former communities, as well as to deal with changes brought about while they were locked up. The memories and accounts of urban spaces; social exchanges with old acquaintances; how to make use of public services… in summary, they find themselves fighting to re-establish a sense of personhood within a space that is unfamiliar to them, and from which they are perpetually excluded as full-fledged citizens.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Fifty years after their expulsion and displacement from their homeland, over 3 million Palestinian refugees are still registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). This study focuses primarily on the Palestinian refugee women population in one of the camps in Jordan-Al Wehdat camp. A qualitative study was conducted to examine gender-based domestic violence among the women interviewed and the different coping mechanisms/strategies and modes of adaptation among the female population. Questions asked of the female refugee population assessed the impact of social, economic and cultural norms on that society, and how these factors contribute to the worsening conditions of “domestic” violence leading to different coping mechanisms adapted by the women. Reported findings and policy recommendations will be submitted to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) through the Al-Wehdat center for implementation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This project is designed to understand coping with separation from children, the impact of race on the patterns of treatment, and the influence of familial background characteristics on present criminal behavior. To explore policy implications for processing female offenders using a holistic approach, data for this study were collected from 200 women in jails in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, and New York. Twenty interviews were also conducted on women currently housed in jails and a few who had been released from the correctional institution. The findings of this research project support the contention that although there are programs that aim to treat the female offender and her addictions, there are fewer that incorporate family reunification, developing parenting skills, and counseling and treatment for mothers and their children. If the criminal justice system will not provide additional alternatives to incarceration, there must be an increase in funding for gender-specific treatment programs and greater emphasis on family- based correctional programs in order to successfully treat the female offender.

Publication Type: Paper Abstract
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: We explore the implications for social science researchers of a technological stratigraphy of research libraries laid down in recent decades. Scholarly knowledge embodied in physical formats and situated in specific locations has been overlaid by a troposphere of networked information distributed across spaces that appear amorphous and open yet also studded with nodes of privilege and inscrutability.

Our particular concern is the transformation of scholarship and research among students, scholars, and librarians who must cope with the layers of technology, and their respective epistemological assumptions, cognitive overhead, and divergent resources.

Explorers of the first layer could navigate by the latticework conventions of academic disciplines and a library science intended to facilitate readers' access to physical packages of knowledge – books, journals, archives – in both conceptual and physical space. Description, representation, and location of a package would point the reader to its content. The reader would work in representational and analogical contexts to discover the package's contents. The interaction with the contents would establish their relevance to his/her purpose, and perhaps transform his/her understanding of the research goal.

Movement though the outermost layer is by an information science of search and retrieval. Searchers retrieve documents whose contents match searched-for characters, choosing from an algorithmically ranked list of results. The searcher has the content of retrieved documents a mouseclick away; his/her burden is to work out their contexts, historical and disciplinary, and fit them to a task. Despite the apparent simplicity of today's search engines, the information science approach places high cognitive demands on the searcher to translate academic research needs into efficient searches, and then to pull together the results.

As the World Wide Web expanded, librarians have been largely bypassed as professional knowledge-mediators and struggle to redefine themselves. As libraries try practically to “work” on all strata, a peculiar political economy emerged.

We propose a model for interpreting how people cope as they delve through the layered technologies. This model accounts for a tendency toward disciplinarity, an excessive reliance on received knowledge frameworks, on the one hand, and laterality, an obliviousness of them, on the other. We also suggest some ways to mitigate these tendencies.

We look at three parts of the university: experienced scholars, who bring navigational frameworks derived from disciplinary conventions and professional experience; students, whose frameworks appear to be ad hoc, but who can be taught to apply others; and librarians, who must negotiate multiple frameworks as counselors to readers/searchers and as managers of information resources.

This paper foregrounds the university library as a space in which epistemological contests affect knowledge creation, distribution, and creation. Sometimes the effect is very evident and political, as when the library chooses what information resources to buy or stop acquiring. Sometimes it is more subtle, as signifying what knowledge is authoritative. Yet, perhaps reflecting the ambiguous status of librarians and librarianship in the university, the praxis of librarians is little analyzed outside the library literature, save sometimes as proxies for the state of knowledge in an era.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In this study, we will use multiple-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to compare male and female college students on their coping activities, problem resolution and the association between coping and problem resolution. Participants were asked to respond to a survey about their experiences with a self-identified traumatic event. Totally, 2880 participants were recruited from colleges in Taiwan and 62% of the participants were women. It is hypothesized that males and females perceive helpful strategies differently and the consequent problem resolution is predicted with different strength by coping factors. The results and implications of the study will be discussed in the convention paper.

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This Informal Discussion Roundtable will provide an opportunity to discuss and explore conceptual and methodological issues related to stress and coping, as well as the policy concerns around implementing stress and coping programs in the workplace. Questions that will be considered are: (1) how do we take stress and coping research outcomes and apply these findings in programs across diverse work populations; and (2) what additional considerations are needed to implement stress and coping research outcomes to different work sites?

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Eating disorders are a highly challenging set of illnesses that are poorly addressed by clinical interventions alone. Social support can have positive impacts on individuals managing eating disorders, however they rarely seek it from others. Understanding what prevents people from seeking or accessing social support is critical to improving eating disorder outcomes. This study employed in-depth interviews to illuminate a variety of reasons why people chose not to seek social support when managing eating disorders.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Numerous studies have investigated the effect of Interactive Cancer Communication Systems (ICCSs) on cancer patients or caregivers’ health benefits. Research in this area, however, has focused mostly on the direct effects of an ICCS on positive health outcomes, rather than the psychological mechanism of the ICCS effect. This study examines the effect of perceived caregiver bonding in an ICCS (the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System, CHESS) on caregivers’ coping strategies, assuming that perceived bonding is one of the core curative factors that result from using an ICCS. 246 caregivers were randomly assigned to either the Internet with links to high-quality lung cancer websites or access to CHESS, which integrated information, communication and interactive coaching tools. Findings suggest that the perceived bonding has positive impacts on caregivers’ appraisal and problem-focused coping strategies, and it mediates the effect of ICCS on the coping strategies 6 months after the intervention began.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: There are currently over 1.8 million American veterans of the Afghan and Iraq wars. A significant percentage of these men and women will return to the US after their deployments with mental health problems. The majority of these men and women, however, fail to attain mental health treatment and care. Since so many avoid or fail to access mental health services, hundreds of thousands of vets rely solely on each other, close relations, or no one at all to get through their trauma and readjustment. In this study I interrogate the informal network of care and counseling which operates independent of health bureaucracies like the VA. Using ethnographic research and interviews, I examine the processes of informal coping and advising, paying particular attention to the effect of male and female soldiers’ networks on mental health definitions and outcomes as soldiers adjust to civilian life. This paper will present preliminary findings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper uses data from waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to examine the mental health of non-Hispanic black and white young adults. Following the work of Jackson et al. (forthcoming) we show that the association between stress and depression is significantly higher for blacks who do not engage in at least one unhealthy behavior compared to other black respondents. We show that the stress coping mechanism of unhealthy behaviors among blacks is not evident among whites. These findings contribute to the paradoxical association between mental and physical health disparities; although blacks exhibit far worse physical health compared to whites, there are very little differences in population mental health levels. According to these results, some of this paradox may be accounted for by elevated rates of unhealthy behaviors among blacks compared to whites.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to test a narrative sense-making metaphor intervention with targets of social aggression in order to facilitate communicative coping by reducing negative mental health symptoms and affect. Forty girls from six middle schools participated in the intervention. Analyses revealed significant treatment effects, including decreases in mental health symptoms between Times 1 and 3 and decreases in negative affect between Times 1 and Times 2, 3, and 4.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper explores the capacity of the Grand Coalition government for domestic and international leadership in European Union affairs, considering arguments that the process of European integration has entered into a more pluralistic, contested and politicised stage. In its empirical part, the paper argues that in spite of a decentralised institutional setting of EU policy-making and the emergence of a number of controversial policies, the Merkel government has generally succeeded in articulating coherent positions and executing leadership at the EU level, while also facing the limits of consensus on European integration in the domestic arena.

Turning to the question whether a shift (or even a transformation) of EU policy-making is observable during the incumbency of the first Merkel government, a rationalist actor approach is applied to demonstrate that only a moderate increase of veto players has occurred that has not greatly changed the existing incentive structure for parties to choose between effective policy coordination and party political contestation of EU issues. More notable changes, however, are observed at the level of norms and discourses, where a highly pragmatic and interest-led discourse has been applied by the government as the key norm entrepreneur of European policy-making, and an increasing readiness of parties both the left and right is observable to hold moderately Euro-sceptic views.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With its massive impact on patients, families, and health care providers, it is important to consider the role of communication in managing Alzheimer’s disease, which will affect an estimated 106 million people in the world by 2050 (Brookmeyer, Johnson, Ziegler-Graham, & Arrighi, 2007). For nurses and care assistants,who are both the largest group of professionals to provide mental health care (International Council of Nurses, 2008) and the group most in regular and close contact with patients and their families (Caplan, 1976), understanding the interpersonal dynamics involved is key to successful treatment. This study will examine the link between social support and uncertainty management in the relationship between nurses and families coping with Alzheimer’s disease. Although some research has examined the benefits and dilemmas of social support in close personal relationships (Goldsmith, 2004), few studies have examined the role of formal health care providers in communicating social support or managing uncertainty for families.This study used a grounded theory approach to investigate the experiences of 30 nurses and care assistants in Alzheimer’s care facilities. Nurses and care assistants participated in a single, face-to-face semi-structured interview on experiences of uncertainty and social support. Transcribed interview data was analyzed using constant comparative methods. This paper examines (a) the role of social support in managing uncertainty in formal relationships between nurses and families and (b) potential dilemmas that nurses face in communicating social support to families. Future training for nurses and interventions to help families cope with Alzheimer’s disease can be enhanced by this study.

Publication Type: POSTER
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: For this study of the usefulness and scientific grounding of popular self-help books for coping with infertility, mental health professionals specializing in infertility-related distress rated books along several dimensions. While the top-rated book was written by a doctoral psychologist, some books written by former patients outperformed books by professionals.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Recent data released by U.S. government agencies indicate that there is some positive news on the economic front and that we are slowly emerging out of the crisis that started in 2008. But we are not out of the woods yet. Many communities across the country are still struggling with high home foreclosure rates, painful cuts in funding for schools and other public services, the closure of state parks, furloughs in public sector workplaces, high unemployment rates, and other problems that have been caused or exacerbated by the crisis. The circumstances have exacerbated health disparities and particularly disparities with respect to mental health of individuals and families in urban environments. Project ReBOUND was launched to investigate: (a) how the web of communication resources – interpersonal channels, new and ‘old,’ mainstream, local, and ethnic media – people connect to in their everyday lives helps them make sense, cope, and resolve problems related to the uncertain economic environment; (b) if/what neighborhood/community structural characteristics (such as SES, residential tenure) mediate/moderate the foregoing relationships; and (c) if neighborhood-level social support, collective efficacy and belonging mediate/moderate the relationship between communication ecology and residents’ stress related to economic conditions. This paper is based on data from a pilot study conducted in the New York metropolitan area via an online survey (N=300) and data from the first wave of data collected in a mid-size city in upstate New York through a mail out survey (N=400). Authors will discuss findings to date, as well as their implications for community and policy interventions intended to reduce health disparities and particularly disparities with respect to mental health of individuals and families in urban environments.

Publication Type: Roundtable Paper
Abstract: Understanding and navigating challenging gender arrangements in CJ departments. The simultaneous use of multiple constructive, problem-solving coping strategies and self-control strategies while maintaining a productive research and academic agenda.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Past research has suggested that police officers experience high levels of occupational stress (Gershon, 1999; Violanti & Aron, 1994; White et al., 1985) and that such stress may be associated with increased risks for partner aggression (Can et al., 2008; Neidig et al., 1992). The purpose of the present study was to examine how well the four types of coping mechanisms suggested by Lazarus and Folkman (1984) serve to buffer associations between police stress and partner aggression.
Mediation analyses will be conducted using the four steps suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) to examine whether associations between POLICE STRESS and PARTNER AGGRESSION (separately for verbal aggression and physical violence) are explained by each of the possible coping behaviors and conditions: smoking, drinking alcohol, sleeping, exercising, daily servings of snack foods, daily servings of fruits and vegetables, positive affect ratio to negative affect, household income, and family-of-origin and police-family support. Results may be used to develop "STRESS PROTECTION" programs to guide officers to coping behaviors most associated with reduced risk for stress being displayed as partner aggression.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Drawing on the stress process model, our primary interest in this paper is in examining the association between depression and two forms of perceived racial discrimination – discrete life-time discriminatory events and everyday chronic experiences of racial discrimination. Our second focus concerns the potential moderating effect of perceived family social support and coping styles. The coping strategies we consider include passive-coping (e.g., ‘accepting discrimination as a fact of life’), active-coping (i.e., ‘doing something about it’), self-focused coping (e.g., ‘getting mad’), and John Henryism (i.e., ‘working hard to prove them wrong’). Using data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) on over 3,000 African Americans, we find that chronic discrimination is associated with depression, but discriminatory life events are not. Perceived family support moderates the association between chronic discrimination and depression among women, but not among men. Passive-coping moderates the chronic discrimination-depression relationship among women, but is unrelated to men’s depression. Respondents who report active coping are less depressed than other respondents, but this association reverses among women who report above-average levels of perceived chronic discrimination. Self-focused coping efforts are negatively associated with depression among men, but not among women. We also find that John Henryism – a coping response that has been linked to poor physical health – is associated with lower depression among respondents who report low or average chronic discrimination but not among respondents who report higher levels of perceived discrimination.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The link between victimization and offending is well established in the literature, yet an unexplored causal pathway within this relationship is concerned with why some individuals choose to engage in maladaptive coping in response to victimization. In particular, we argue that those with low self-control may be attracted to problematic yet immediately gratifying forms of coping post-victimization (e.g., substance use), which may increase their likelihoods of violent offending in the future. Using three waves of adolescent panel data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, this research examines whether: (1) individuals with low-self control are more likely to engage in substance use coping following violent victimization, and whether (2) victims with low self-control who engage in substance use coping are more likely to commit violent offenses. The results support these predictions, even after controlling for prior offending, peer influences, prior substance abuse, and other forms of offending. The implications for integrating general strain and self-control theories, as well as for our understanding of the victimization-offending overlap, are discussed.

Publication Type: Symposium Paper
Abstract: Educational leaders are pushed through high-stakes accountability to facilitate an ethical and just workplace while attempting to achieve successful organizational goals and visions. Effective leaders acknowledge the need to maintain health of the internal leadership qualities as well as external leadership qualities. When it is agreed that leadership is not action in isolation, but the coming together of values and core beliefs, the parameters of study can widen to include variables such as processes and the interplay of directional feedback through the unique synergy of spirituality. This study quantitatively analyzes the correlation between spirituality via the routes of religion and existentialism and the ability to cope with stress while experiencing higher life satisfaction, noting divergence between men and women. The participants used self-administered surveys to note their spirituality, life satisfaction, and interpersonal conflict at work. The data were analyzed through a Pearson correlation to obtain degree and direction of the relationship between spirituality, life satisfaction, and happiness. Simple regression analyses were also performed to determine any predictability between the variables. Religious well-being and existential well-being scales were bifurcated for analysis. The study clearly showed a strong relation between life-satisfaction and existentialism. The results also showed a similar strength between life-satisfaction and religion. Therefore, conscious spirituality can combine with leadership capacity to create a strong antidote to the fear organisms face with perceived chaos under the guise of change. It is plausible that there would be a significant difference in leaders who understand chaos capacity empowerment and leaders who are chaos capacity impoverished.

Publication Type: Session Paper

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This research focuses on the tenure of foreign law firms’ presence in the Chinese legal market in the past 20 years and argues that the development of Chinese legal market as well as the Chinese market economy parallels the changing entry strategies that foreign law firms choose to use since early 1990s. We reviewed the historical trend of foreign law offices’ development in China and examined the employee profiles of foreign law offices in China in the preliminary study. We found a disparity between American law firms and other foreign law firms in terms of the entry time, entry speed, as well as the educational background of their employees. Chinese government has specific and strict rules over the opening and operation of foreign law practices in China. In the context of the government protectionism, we would like to future examine the following questions: 1) why foreign law firms at different time point and from different countries choose different strategies to enter the Chinese legal market; 2) How legal ambiguity is involved in the practice of foreign law firms in the Chinese market and how does it change across time with the change of foreign law firms’ role in Chinese legal market; 3) How the change of foreign law firms’ role in the Chinese legal market affect the change of career development plan of their employees in China offices?

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: A prison sentence is, by definition, supposed to inflict harm upon the offender who is incarcerated. However, the degree to which prisoners experience distress, commonly referred to as the “pains of imprisonment, vary considerably. This variation is in part a consequence of the disparity in prisoner’s capacity to cope to distress, complications caused by reduced mental health, and social support structures. Informed by past work which examined past research on formal prison misconducts (French and Gendreau, 2006), and recent work on offense parallel behaviors (Daffern, Jones, Howells, Shine, Mikton, and Tunbridge, 2007), this poster contributes to existing literature by examining the influences of social support, mental health, and coping patterns to problematic prison behavior (not limited to formal prison misconducts). Statistical findings and application to prison policy are discussed.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The current study draws on theoretical research across multiple disciplines to propose a new, integrative model of perceived stress and coping as an interactive process between an individual and his or her environment. Data from a meta-analysis of 103 studies of perceived stress among police officers is used to conduct a preliminary test of the model. The data reveal the predictor domains tested make equally important, if modest, contributions to the process, suggesting the traditional approach of analyzing so-called “operational” versus “organizational” sources of police stress may be ignoring the nuanced contributions of a variety of factors on this complex process.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper posits that online social support plays an important role helping to cope with unemployment, and facilitate the search for new employment. Based on a structural equation model, we develop and test the influence of online-mediated, enabling and caring social support on job search self-efficacy that may positively encourage the job search behavior of unemployed persons. In addition, we control the model for the factors gender, age, user experience and attitude towards the Internet. Based on 2,400 telephone interviews with unemployed individuals in Germany, we identify and confirm online social support as influential driver of job search behavior. Our results show that social support derived from new information and communication technologies does counteract to a certain degree the adverse effect of being unemployed. Furthermore, our model confirms that these relationships differ in gender, age, user experience and attitude towards the Internet.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The emerging comparative political economy literature on the Great Recession of 2008–09 has offered useful leverage to analyze the causes of and responses to the Great Recession of 2008–09. In particular, important analytical insights have emerged in three areas of inquiry. First, cross-national differences in the severity and duration of the crisis illustrate the utility of studying the Great Recession as an endogenous crisis—that is, a consequence of past national policy choices. Second, cross-temporal studies of economic recessions reveal that the dominance of market liberalism led governments to cope with the Great Recession using policy instruments that were different from those employed in reaction to previous recessions. Third, government partisanship and electoral politics, as country studies illustrate, affected not only economic policies in the run up to the recession, but also influenced the profile of counter-cyclical programs and of post-stimulus austerity measures. So far, these research endeavors have devoted much more attention to the crisis experiences of great economic powers and Eurozone countries. The purpose of this study is to incorporate the study of Canada in the above inquiry areas.

The paper makes three arguments. First, the downside of the recent Canadian business cycle—specifically, its macroeconomic and financial characteristics—were shaped to a large extent by prior economic policies. Since the mid-1980s, Canada has followed a growth policy strategy that has hitched the country’s economy to the American economy. Consequently, the American recession precipitated a slump in Canadian exports by a magnitude unseen in previous recession cycles, triggering an immediate nosedive in business investments and rise in the unemployment rate. Furthermore, the absence of a systemic banking crisis but presence of pockets of financial instability in the latest business cycle was attributed to policy practices in Canada’s financial system. The partial deregulation of the home mortgage market and occurrence of regulatory oversight lapses of the fast growing asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market in the run-up to the recession introduced vulnerabilities in the country’s financial system. These unsettling dynamics, however, failed to destabilize the system as a result of the palliative effects of the preexisting banking regulatory regime.

Second, the crisis response of the governments of Canada and of other rich OECD countries corroborates a key aspect of the ascent of the market liberal paradigm that began some thirty years ago. The recent counter-cyclical policies were designed with the objective of curtailing the growth of the public sector while employing incentive-based instruments to achieve market-led recoveries. At the same time public expenditures increased because of automatic stabilizers and stimulus spending, public officials in Ottawa and other capitals were aiming to contain their costs. With fiscal austerity on their minds, governments announced one-time, short-term stimulus packages and hemmed in social welfare expansion. Further, preference was given to pro-growth instruments such as tax expenditures, tax cuts, and public infrastructure investments in order to catalyze a private sector led recovery.

Finally, I argue that the direction and substance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s economic policies during the period from 2006 to 2012 were shaped by both partisan and electoral politics. In contrast to previous cycles of economic crisis in which partisanship worked in a predictable fashion in Canada, the influence of partisan politics on economic policies pursued before, during, and immediately after the Great Recession varied. The policy effects of partisanship are evident leading up to and in the wake of the Great Recession, but milder during the crisis. I attribute the latter to the influence of electoral politics which tends to blur partisan distinctions.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Shared beliefs about war atrocities committed not only by the outgroup but also by the in-group play a major role in post-conflict reconciliation. Even years after the cease-fire, in fact, a competitive victimhood may often last, trying to assign to the in-group only the role of the “true” victim of violence (Bar-Tal, 2009). On the contrary, in order to achieve a sound reconciliation, it is important to recognize the responsibilities of both victims and perpetrators (Nadler & Shnabel, 2008).
Our contribution aims to explore consequences on young Italians of different typologies of narration about in-group war crimes committed during the invasion of Ethiopia (1935-36). These atrocities are well-know by historians but still unknown to the vast majority of Italians (Del Boca, 1995). In particular we are developing a line of research exploring the effects of evasive vs. parrhesiastic (Foucalt, 1983) narratives. We hypothesise that speaking the truth about in-group war crimes is a more effective social action since it not only recognises the needs of empowerment of the victims, but also enables descendants of perpetrators to frankly come to terms with their history (Leone & Sarrica, 2012).
Data were collected trough quasi-experimental procedures. Dependent variables were measured through multiple tools including self-reports, FACS, multimodal analysis of reactions, observation of restorative behaviours. Results show that young people exposed to parrhesiastic narratives about in-group war crimes display more surprise, anger and negative emotions than those exposed to evasive description. However, they also show more restorative intentions. Theoretical and applicative developments are discussed.

Publication Type: Individual Paper
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: According to Agnew’s General Strain Theory, strains contribute to one or more negative emotions, creating pressure for corrective action. Crime is one way to reduce the negative emotions that result from strains. The factors that influence how individuals cope with the strains and negative emotions through crime may include the ability to cope with strains in a legal manner, the costs of criminal coping, and disposition for criminal coping. Using a sample of 615 middle- and high-school students in China, this study examines the conditioning effects of weak self-efficacy (as a measure for the ability to cope with strains in a legal manner), lack of conventional belief (as a measure for the costs of criminal coping), and strong affiliation with delinquent peers (as a measure for disposition for criminal coping) on anger that results from parental punishment. The results show that only affiliation with delinquent peers functions as a significant moderator of the relationship between anger and delinquent behavior after controlling for the effects of self-efficacy and conventional belief. When adolescents have more delinquent peers, anger is more likely to result in delinquent behavior.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Given the persistence of traditional gender roles, tension resulting from combining ‘work’ and ‘family’ is found to be especially high in women. This research tries to detect whether and to what extent gender roles hold after divorce. As new partnerships and newly composed families do not generally correspond to the ideal type of the traditional family, we have reason to suppose they don’t. We question how both family-to-work- and work-to-family spillover relate to the structure of the post-divorce family for women and men (taking into account partner status and the presence of children –including descent and custody); and to what extent coping mechanisms may interfere. We use the data from ‘Divorce in Flanders’ (Mortelmans et. al. 2011), gathered in 2009-2010, and select 3678 divorcees (1776 men and 1902 women) who are in paid labor and are younger than age 60. Gender specific linear regressions using PASW 18.0 are performed. Although both men and women report more problems of work interfering with family than vice versa, results reveal that gender roles do seem to persist in post-divorce families: (1) overall, a new partner seems to lower family-to-work spillover in men and work-to-family spillover in women, and (2) it is especially for women that children are an important source of combination pressure. No differences by custody-type were found, but descent does seem important. Finally, half-time employment and external help may to a certain extent aid in coping with spillover, but important gender differences were found.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Knowledge and innovation increasingly determine competitiveness and is therefore a major topic for national governments. An inventory of national innovation policies, show a continued effort on strengthening the links between science and industry. But there is also a considerable amount of variety in innovation policy: for example, the way of prioritising research and business activities (Izsak and Griniece 2012). Variety is relevant: the effectiveness of policy measures depends heavily on the institutional and path-dependent configuration of a country (Whitley 2007).

In this paper we focus on the Netherland. In the Netherlands firms are traditionally organized within sectors. Recently, the Dutch government has introduced the so-called Topsector policy. It combines elements of generic and specific policy. The choice for nine international competing sectors indicates specific policymaking. A relatively compact regulatory framework by the ministry of economic affairs that applies to all sectors is on the other hand quite generic. Furthermore, the high degree of freedom on topics of funding, IPR and human capital that is given to the leaders of the sectors again allow for very sector-specific measures. Policy makers aim at creating a win-win situation through benefiting of the advantage of focussing resources on a selected number of sectors on the one hand and within these sectors employing a high degree of shared responsibility between researchers and firms.
It is interesting to investigate the new policy program to learn lessons, also for other countries. The relevance and success of the Topsector policy can be examined on at least two different levels. On the first we ask ourselves whether this type of policy is effective in the Netherlands given the institutional set-up of the country. Second, how a national framework works out in nine different sectors.

Following Hall & Soskice (2001), the Netherlands can be characterized as a coordinated market economy. But it has also elements of a more liberal market economy, such as large multinational firms operating on a volatile stock-market. Some of the nine sectors are expected to prosper in a more coordinated institutional setup such as Water and Horticulture. Other sectors, such as Life Science and High-tech are expected to function better in a more liberal institutional environment. Is it possible for sectors to realise ‘creative incoherence’ between national model and sectoral needs (Crouch, Schroder & Voelskow 2009)?
Within the Topsector policy framework, science and business sector agree on a long-term roadmap. If firms and universities allocate there R&D according to this agenda, they receive a grant from government. We compare sectors in how successful they are in attracting private commitment. It follows from the research that this is easier in sectors with a considerable number of large firms and in sectors with an extensive tradition in public private partnerships.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study aimed to examine organizational members’ work-life conflict experiences and coping mechanisms. Survey results of a national random sample of communication professionals (N = 565) added another layer to the individual-centric work-life conflict literature by examining the impact of the larger organizational environment and professional association on workers' conflict experiences. We found that a negative work environment could largely increase workers’ self-reported levels of work-life conflict yet a strong identification with their profession and larger professional community could help mitigate such conflict. More alarmingly, a heightened level of work-life conflict would vastly discourage workers’ proactive coping mechanism. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Keywords: negative organizational environment, professional identification, work-life conflict, proactive coping

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Relying on data from 116 audio recordings of in-depth interviews in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, , this research applies a sociorational choice framework in exploring coping behaviors and felt experiences of homeless adults with children. Findings suggest services for homeless families are available but many avoided agencies because they feared being reported to child protection services. Assistance offered by extended family was often limited to a portion of the family and in many cases there were strings attached—e.g., leaving a partner, giving family members custody of a child, financially contributing to the household, sharing food stamps. Help from friends was limited for many homeless families due to space and financial constraints. Parenting while homeless created anxiety for many participants as they struggled to meet their children’s needs while avoiding detection from anyone who may threaten to break up their families. Implications for policy, services and theory are presented.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Hispanic migrants (documented and undocumented) living in peri-urban neighborhoods along the US-Mexico tend to be marginalized by city and county governments, leaving them with little access to health care and exposed to environmental hazards. Such is the case of a colonia called Westway, which is located near several environmental hazards that could play a role in the health of its population; these include a steel plant, Interstate 10, a truck stop, and other small manufacturing plants. We seek to capture how residents cope with their chronic illness (e.g. cancer, asthma and depression), as well as describe people’s perceptions of the causes of their chronic illnesses including their physical environment. To do this we conduct 20 in-depth interviews with chronically ill residents, complementing an ongoing community health survey being administered through a Community Based-Participatory Research (CBPR) project, currently being funded by the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center (HHDRC).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study seeks to develop an instrument for the strategic planning process based on customer satisfaction. To identify the quality dimensions, a Critical Incident instrument was adopted. The result was the creation of 13 macro-dimensions to evaluate tourism services. A competitive position matrix was developed based on the differences between evaluations of the service received and the expectations, in their three levels, ideal, predicted and minimum. The proposed matrix yielded seven competitive positions. Based on those competitive positions, we suggest four sets of loyalty strategies: sales effort, non-interactive communication strategies, benefits and interactive communication strategies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Agnew’s general strain theory (GST) conceptualizes crime as an adaptation to strain and its resultant negative emotions. This notion of crime as a form of coping behavior is essential to the GST explanation of crime, but efficacy of criminal coping is not a focal issue of the theory. As a result, GST research on the effectiveness of criminal coping continues to remain scant. The present study intends to fill the gap in research on the coping efficacy of crime not only to contribute to the GST literature but also address the tendency of criminology to focus more on causes than consequences of crime. Specifically, this study examines whether delinquency and drug use help adolescents cope with their negative emotions, depression and anxiety, controlling for variables of social bonds and deviant peer association as well as sociodemographic variables. It applies a latent-variable structural equation modeling approach to analyze panel data from the first two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Buffering Theory has been used to explain how perceived social support functions to manage stress, but this study also explores the use of humor related self-disclosure as a means of enhancing social support. College students (N = 254; 61% male) in either a close friendship (n = 144) or romantic relationship (n = 110) anonymously completed a questionnaire about their use of humor to self-disclose, perceived social support, and global stress levels. Path analysis indicates that individuals with a higher humor orientation use humor more to self-disclose, thus enhancing the perceived availability of social support, and subsequently reducing stress.

Publication Type: Poster
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Prisons are a stressful environment, especially for older adults (Maschi, 2011) and there is a lack information on how older prisoners use coping resources to manage prison. This mixed methods study (concurrent design) used an anonymous mailed survey (e.g., standardized measures including the Coping Resources Inventory and open-ended questions about stress and coping) with older prisoners (N=672) housed in the NJ Department-of-Corrections (2010). Data analysis consisted of a quantitative correlation analysis and qualitative content analysis using preexisting categories of stress and coping (cognitive, emotional, physical, spiritual, social). An inverse correlation was found between stress-level and coping resources (r=-.38,p=.001). Qualitative results fell within these coping resources domains that included engaging in spiritual (meditation, religion), physical (exercise), cognitive (reading), and emotional/expressive coping (music, drawing, and writing). These findings suggest that alternative treatments that incorporate coping resources for older prisoners to cope with confinement and to maintain their physical and mental well-being.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Studies of women in the military suggest that there are high levels of harassment towards U.S. service women. Prior research finds that the prevalence of stereotypes not only exists but that it is an accepted and expected part of the female military experience. Through data that emerged from semi-structured in-depth interviews, this paper finds that instead of challenging stereotypes, female service members try to mitigate their saliency for their own individual experiences within the military. Additionally, prior research suggests that there are significant barriers to reporting harassment in the military. This study argues that not only are there administrative barriers to reporting, but that in cases of harassment women are intentionally blocked from accessing reporting procedures. Not only are women restricted from using the administrative system that could help them report and punish harassment they experience—they are often sanctioned through that system by higher ranking officers for attempting to use it. I argue that this constitutes an additional form of harassment—bureaucratic harassment. The women in this study report experiences with bureaucratic harassment and administrative intimidation that serve as additional barriers to reporting. This leaves many women to either cope with or develop creative strategies to manage the harassment they experience. At times, these strategies include women exiting the military all together. Not only is this an unsatisfying result for the individual service woman, but it contributes to the problem of few female leaders and high ranking officers in the U.S. Military.

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In keeping with the theme of this year’s Meetings, "Hard Times: The Impact of Economic Inequality on Families and Individuals”; I propose an Informal Roundtable Discussion on how teaching sociologists cope with the disclosures of violence that come with such courses as criminology, family/domestic violence, sex and gender, social problems and others. These issues cut across economic lines in some measureable ways, and this discussion will be for intersectional sociologists who connect class, gender, race, sexuality and other inequalities in our teaching and activism.

I have been studying and teaching critical feminist criminology, as well as been active in violence prevention education for over 20 years. Currently, I lead the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program (MVP-MCC) at the inner-city campus of a community college. Many of my students are Criminal Justice and Human Services majors who survive in abject poverty and have experienced significant trauma. Although I have never been directly seriously victimized, I regularly experience compassion fatigue and was recently diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), most likely caused by the cumulative secondary and vicarious trauma of working with survivors and perpetrators of violence.

The opportunity to share and learn from others is sincerely appreciated, as I work to grow my violence prevention program and learn effective coping skills for my team, students and self.

Publication Type: Multiple Paper Format
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This presentation offers a teacher preparation module for fostering candidates’ awareness and advocacy of elementary student resiliency behaviors. Qualitative research of candidates’ awareness and effectiveness of the module are presented.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Smart devices and improved Internet access are steadily enhancing possibilities to stay in touch with others in any social situation and from any conceivable location. With emails and alerts being received on smart devices in addition to SMS and instant messages, the amount of incoming messages has remarkably increased compared to simple feature phones. This calls for strategies that allow to cope with a large amount of constantly incoming information. Therefore, the research interest of this paper is firstly on behaviors of permanent connectedness and evolving strategies to cope with the non-stop exchange of information. Secondly, the interest focuses on feelings about constant connectedness as well as on feelings that are reported about a temporary loss of Internet access.
An online survey with 178 university students in Germany revealed that students use specific responding strategies to deal with persistent communication sent by others. Results show that an active reading of messages is postponed to avoid the necessity to give an immediate answer to texts. But at the same time, read receipts (that tell the sender that the message has been read) lead to generally faster responses with shorter content.
In students the feelings of being permanently online and connected elicited strong emotions about the perceived necessity to be available constantly. This necessity was experienced especially strong when there was a perceived loss of connection during an absence of Internet access. A loss of Internet access was perceived with conflicting positive and negative emotions. Positive feelings of more freedom and relaxation contradicted negative feelings of exclusion and loss of control. Constructs that previously have been mentioned in the literature, like the fear of missing out and the need to belong, were motives for the participants’ online use. In addition to their own online behavior, students reported feelings of being annoyed about others’ permanent online use in various social situations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Research on social support during the past two decades has been marked by the growth in scholarship examining supportive communication in computer-mediated contexts among individuals coping with illness. In an effort to summarize and advance this body of research, a meta-analytic review of content analyses was conducted. Across the 41content analyses examining social support messages shared in health-related contexts online, informational and emotional support messages were most prevalent. Additionally, the prevalence of particular types of support messages varied based on several stressor dimensions relevant to illness. Nurturant forms of support were more common among content analyses examining health conditions likely to threaten personal relationships and involve loss in the form death. Action-facilitating types of support were more common among content analyses examining more chronic conditions. The findings from this project offer insights about the nuanced ways in which computer-mediated communication is being used as resource for coping with illness.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: The rapidly changing social and technological parameters of media use challenge the common perspectives on media literacy development and training. While literature most often focusses on intergenerational heritage primarily based on different forms of (natural) interventions, the results of 26 guided interviews show the importance of two complementary strategies: Especially in case of upcoming new media technologies the radio/print generation (born in the 1930s), the TV generation (born in the 1950s), and the mobile media generation (born in the 1980s) acquires their media literacy mainly by transgenerational negotiation and media use per proxy. In contrast to their media literacy adoption strategies the aforementioned media generations regulate their descendants’ media use based on customs of their own parents. The presentation shows that the specific interplay of the two contrasting behavior patterns leads to both generation specific media use practices as well as new forms of transgenerational media use.

Publication Type: Undergraduate Roundtable Presentation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed