Abstract

Stress and bullying are known contributors to depressive symptoms in adolescents. Prevalence of depressive symptoms in adolescents is estimated to range from 13% to 34% in recent studies. Ninth graders are in a transitional period developmentally, biologically, physically, and psychosocially. Few studies have examined the relationship between stress, bullying, and depressive symptoms from a biobehavioral perspective in 9th graders. The purpose of this study was to examine stress, bullying, and depressive symptoms including a biomarker of stress, salivary cortisol diurnal rhythm, to determine if there is mediation between the individual variables of stressful life events, perceived stress, bullying, and depressive symptoms. The theoretical framework was McEwen's Theory of Allostatic Load.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3720291; ProQuest document ID: 1725979472. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Susan G. Williams, PhD, RN

Sigma Membership

Zeta Gamma

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Descriptive/Correlational

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Stressful Life Events, Life Change Units, Perceived Stress, Cortisol Diurnal Rhythm, Adolescents

Advisor

Anne Turner-Henson

Second Advisor

Andres Azuero

Third Advisor

Lucrecia Collins

Fourth Advisor

Teena McGuiness

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

The University of Alabama at Birminingham

Degree Year

2015

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2022-08-16

Full Text of Presentation

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