Browsing by Author "Wesche, Rose"
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- Dating and friendships in adolescence: Variation across same-sex and other-sex romantic partnersWesche, Rose; Kreager, Derek A.; Ramirez, Nayan G.; Gupta, Shivangi (Wiley, 2023-05)This research examined associations between dating and number of friends for rural adolescents with same-sex and other-sex dating partners using longitudinal sociometric data (N = 2826; 55% female, 87% White, mean age = 14 at baseline). In multilevel models assessing within-person change, boys gained female friends when they were in same-sex romantic relationships, compared to when they were single. In contrast, girls in same-sex relationships lost female friends and gained male friends. Adolescents in other-sex romantic relationships gained same-sex friends compared to when they were single. Results advance understanding of adolescent social and sexual development, suggesting that sexual minority adolescents find allies when dating but may struggle to maintain same-sex friendships.
- Having 'The Talk': Parents' Decision Making Related to Communication with Children about SexMurray, Michelle Marie (Virginia Tech, 2024-06-25)Parent-child communication about sex is widely understood to be important to sexual health and wellness of adolescents and young adults. Though parents report wanting to communicate with their children comprehensively, adolescents often report this communication does not meet their needs. This study uses symbolic interactionism to explore how parents understand and make meaning of family communication about sex and how these meanings influence their decision making when it comes to family communication about sex. Eight couples participated in an observed development of plans to communicate with their children about sex and semi-structured dyadic interviews about their decision-making process. Transcriptions of the observational data and interviews were analyzed alongside the written plans developed during data collection using grounded theory methodology. Parents recognized communication with their children about sex to be an important opportunity to keep their children safe and prevent negative experiences while instilling values that will help children make healthy decisions. Rather than prescribing specific topics of conversation and times to communicate with them, parents focused on fostering strong relationships with their children and shared they would allow their kids to direct conversations. They identified clear goals for communication with their children about sex, but hoped to do things differently than their own parents by being open to questions their children bring up and addressing issues as they arise.
- I Had My Senior Year Taken From Me: Understanding Emerging Adults' Coping Strategies while Transitioning to College during the COVID-19 PandemicBegley, Caroline (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-15)Times of transition are laden with ambiguity, and the move from high school to college has an additional component of role changes to add to this uncertainty. In the spring and summer of 2020, this transition was disrupted by the changes brought on by the pandemic, affecting social norms, routines, and overall mental health outcomes. For professionals such as counselors and advisors to be able to provide specialized support, it is important to understand emerging adults' experiences at this time and to identify factors that helped them cope with this transition. Understanding the development of coping strategies has direct implications for both therapy and clinical practice which can work together to provide a higher quality of care for the people affected by the stress of major life transitions. In this study, I used a mixed-methods design to understand the experience of emerging adults who graduated high school during the pandemic, and the relation between tolerance for ambiguity and coping strategies, resilience, and psychological impact.
- Longitudinal Associations between Peer Victimization and Positive and Negative Risk Taking in Adolescence and Young AdulthoodGamache, Jordan (Virginia Tech, 2022-12-13)Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by an increase in risk taking. However, this is not always adverse, as risks can be classified as both positive and negative. Adolescence is also a period of time in which social relationships, particularly among peers, become increasingly salient, and as such, peer-related factors are often connected to risk-taking in adolescence. While peer relationships can provide adolescents with social support, they can also be harmful when they manifest in peer victimization. Thus, this study sought to understand the associations between positive and negative risk taking and relational and physical victimization in adolescence and young adulthood. Data were collected from 167 adolescents across five time points, approximately one year apart. Adolescents completed questionnaires that assessed their risk-taking perceptions and likelihood as well as peer victimization experiences. Results demonstrated that there were no significant cross-construct associations between positive and negative risk-taking perception and relational and physical peer victimization across adolescence. However, additional analyses examining positive and negative socially-related risk taking revealed a significant association between positive socially-related risk perception and relational victimization such that higher initial levels of positive socially-related risk perception predicted a slower decline in relational victimization across adolescence. Results also showed that overall, higher levels of risk-taking perception in adolescence predicted decreased levels of risk-taking likelihood in young adulthood, and that higher initial levels of physical and relational victimization in adolescence predicted higher levels of positive and negative risk-taking likelihood in young adulthood, respectively. Findings highlight the connection between peer victimization and positive and negative risk perception in adolescence, the potential risk-taking outcomes in young adulthood resulting from peer victimization experiences and risk-taking perception in adolescence, and most importantly, the differential roles of positive and negative risk taking in adolescence and young adulthood.
- A Longitudinal Examination of Family Factors in Childhood Anxiety: The Role of Parental Anxiety and Child Emotion DysregulationKrizova, Katarina (Virginia Tech, 2020-10-01)Theoretical models specify that anxiety aggregates in families. Research confirmed maternal anxiety as a predictor of childhood anxiety; however, very little evidence exists in support of paternal anxiety's role in child anxiety as well as about potentially reciprocal relationships between parental and child anxiety. The parent-child anxiety transmission mechanisms are also not fully understood; the majority of previous research focuses on the child's acquisition of anxiety symptoms from a parent via cognitive processes. Recent integrative theoretical models propose that child emotion regulation processes might be involved in parent-child anxiety transmission. The current dissertation aimed to address these gaps in literature. Both studies utilized data from over 800 mothers, 400 fathers, and their children drawn from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development. Measures of maternal anxiety, paternal anxiety, child anxiety, and child emotion dysregulation were collected over a nine-year period when children were between the ages of 6 and 15 years. Study I provided evidence of significant indirect effects from parental anxiety to child anxiety through child emotion dysregulation for both mother-child and the father-child relationships. Child emotion dysregulation was non-significant in the father-child path of a family model, despite significant direct effects. The results provide evidence for child emotion dysregulation as an underlying process of parent-child anxiety transmission. Study II provided evidence of significant bidirectional predictive links of maternal anxiety and child anxiety across ages 6, 8, 10, and 15 years tested in a mother-child cross-lagged path model. Significant predictive paths from paternal anxiety to child anxiety were found from ages 6 to 8 and a significant predictive path from child anxiety to paternal anxiety was found from age 10 to age 15 in a father-child cross-lagged model. Additional tests of family models confirmed that there were unique effects of both maternal and paternal anxiety on child anxiety over time. The results show the long-term impact of both maternal anxiety and paternal anxiety on child anxiety as well as child anxiety's reciprocal effects on parental anxiety. Both studies demonstrate the importance of both mothers and fathers in childhood anxiety etiology.
- Narratives of Personal Health and Sexual Education of Emerging Adults with DisabilitiesToman, Madelyn M. (Virginia Tech, 2023-09)Disabled communities’ sexualities have been historically oppressed. Currently in the Unites States, public school curricula do not include inclusive sexual education and students with disabilities are often left out of classrooms that discuss any amount of personal health and sexual education. Research on the disabled population is filled with samples of non-disabled individuals imposing their opinions for a population that they do not belong to. The purpose of this study was to understand how emerging adults with disabilities learned about personal health and sexuality. Individuals with varied disabilities were intentionally included to add breadth the research field. Narrative interviews captured individuals’ lived experiences. The final sample consisted of eight individuals (75% female, 87% white, mean age of 21.5). After analyzing interviews using thematic narrative analysis, four story types were generated. Findings highlighted the lack of formal supports and access to adequate, relevant information about sexuality for disabled communities, as well as informal sources of information, like families and media. Findings also emphasized people’s agency in seeking out information on their own, as well as variability in people’s readiness and use of information about sexuality. Individuals’ disability symptoms and personal characteristics need to be considered when crafting universally applicable personal health and sexuality education. There are also opportunities for theoretical integration of disabilities and sexuality research.
- Queering LGB+ Women's Sexual ScriptsTarantino, Mari R. (Virginia Tech, 2023)The invisibility of lesbian, plurisexual, and gay (LGB+) women in sexual health research is of particular concern when it comes to understanding and supporting their safer sex practices. Results of a qualitative secondary analysis of sexual decision-making interviews among 22 LGB+ cisgender women showed that LGB+ women both reify and push against heteronormativity in their sexual partnerships. By queering definitions of “sex” beyond heterosexual intercourse, leaning into trust as a foundation of new sexual partnerships, and promoting accessible and realistic hygienic strategies for STI prevention, LGB+ women queer, or reimagine, new sexual scripts. These results highlight the need for relationship and sexual health scholars to direct focus towards the promotion of holistic sexual and relationship education and research which reflects LGB+ women’s various sexual desires, goals and needs.