Kent State University

About: Kent State University is a education organization based out in Kent, Ohio, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Liquid crystal & Population. The organization has 10897 authors who have published 24607 publications receiving 720309 citations. The organization is also known as: Kent State & KSU.

Money Doesn't Talk, It Swears: How Economic Stress and Resistance Resources Impact Inner-City Women's Depressive Mood

Abstract: We examined the differential impact of chronic versus acute economic stress on depressive mood among a sample of 1241 low-income, single, European and African American women. Based on Hobfoll's (1988, 1989) conservation of resources (COR) theory, we predicted that acute resource loss would be more distressing than chronic economic lack. That is, although chronically impoverished conditions are stressful, the attendant resource losses created will be more distressing. We further predicted that mastery and social support would be more beneficial in offsetting the negative consequences of acute resource loss than the negative consequences of chronic economic lack, because acute loss creates identifiable demands that resources may address. Hence, we hypothesized that mastery and social support would show stress buffering effects only for material loss, not chronic lack. The findings generally supported the hypotheses, but mastery buffered only European American women's resource loss and social support buffered only African American women's resource loss. The findings are discussed in light of implications for prevention within theoretical and cultural contexts.

Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother–child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood.

Abstract: Although a link between attachment and peer relationships has been established, the mechanisms that account for this link have not been identified. The 1st goal of this study was to test emotion regulation as a mediator of this link in middle childhood. The 2nd goal was to examine how different aspects of emotion regulation relate to peer competence. Fifth graders completed self-report and semiprojective measures to index mother-child attachment, mothers reported on children's emotionality and coping strategies, and teachers reported on children's peer competence. Constructive coping was related to both attachment and peer competence, and mediated the association between attachment and peer competence, suggesting that emotion regulation is one of the mechanisms accounting for attachment-peer links. Constructive coping was more strongly associated with peer competence for children high on negative emotionality than for children low on negative emotionality.

Audience activity and media use

Abstract: (1993). Audience activity and media use. Communication Monographs: Vol. 60, Into the New Century, pp. 98-105.

Projection in surrogate decisions about life-sustaining medical treatments.

Abstract: To honor the wishes of an incapacitated patient, surrogate decision makers must predict the treatment decisions patients would make for themselves if able. Social psychological research, however, suggests that surrogates' own treatment preferences may influence their predictions of others' preferences. In 2 studies (1 involving 60 college student surrogates and a parent, the other involving 361 elderly outpatients and their chosen surrogate decision maker), surrogates predicted whether a close other would want life-sustaining treatment in hypothetical end-of-life scenarios and stated their own treatment preferences in the same scenarios. Surrogate predictions more closely resembled surrogates' own treatment wishes than they did the wishes of the individual they were trying to predict. Although the majority of prediction errors reflected inaccurate use of surrogates' own treatment preferences, projection was also found to result in accurate prediction more often than counterprojective predictions. The rationality and accuracy of projection in surrogate decision making is discussed.

Gender differences in work and well-being: effects of exposure and vulnerability.

Abstract: Evidence regarding women's differential exposure to job stressors has accumulated; however, there is also evidence that women are more vulnerable to stressors. Using a sample of 994 employed Canadians, a job stress model that evaluates the differential exposure and vulnerability of men and women to job stressors is tested. The analysis considers the direct and moderating effects of occupational self-direction, job demands, and co-worker social support on distress. Results provide support for the conditional effects of job demands. Two dimensions of occupational self-direction, substantive complexity and routinization, interact with one measure of job demands. Although women are exposed to lower substantive complexity and lower job control, the effect of these dimensions of occupational self-direction are similar for men and women, suggesting that differential exposure to job stressors does not account for women's higher distress. Results indicate that, controlling for exposure, marital status, and income, women are more vulnerable to the negative effect of job routinization.