Introduction: "A good coach can change a game; a great coach can change a life" (Wooden, n.d., para. 1). The focus of this dissertation was to explore associations between attachment of high school athletes to their coach and the athlete's ability to cope in the athletic environment. In looking at high school coach-athlete relationships…

High school students' lack of coping skills can be detrimental to their wellbeing, which has created a need for interventions in the educational system. A review of the literature provided evidence supporting the feasibility and effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions for adolescents. This study examined if and to what extent a difference…

Having same-sex parents is often linked with negative effects to the well-being of children into their adult years. The reported experiences from teenagers with same-sex parents and the stressors they experience are next to nonexistent. For this study, an interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted to understand how teenagers age 13-16…

The aim of this study is to better understand, from the perspective of Critical Race Theory, the experiences of adolescent males who are Black and living in the United States and to examine how they build resilience and survival skills. Participants were between the ages of 18 and 26 and asked to recall adolescent experiences as part of a…

High school athletes are not immune to mental health challenges. The persistent lack of state or national mental health guidelines for athletes has impacted high school athletes' abilities to access and apply resources in a mentally healthy manner. This can impact not only a high school athlete's career but can leave lasting effects on collegiate…

The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to better understand the senior year experience concluding with the post-secondary transition, stress, and coping through the eyes of recent high school graduates and members of the Class of 2020. Schlossberg's (1984) transition model was used as a theoretical framework to study the…

The October 2021 declaration of a national emergency for child and adolescent mental health resulted in the call for innovative methods for addressing barriers to seeking care, including the suggestion of mental health apps using transdiagnostic approaches. In line with this, the current study sought to validate the app "Amaru: The Self-Care…

School-based mental health treatment programs are vital for providing access to care, assessing trauma and risk to decreasing negative coping mechanisms for students attending public school in marginalized communities. This doctoral project focuses on a school-based mental health intervention program called PATHWAYS, which has been implemented in…

This content analysis used a critical lens to analyze the portrayal of characters victimized by abuse in adolescent literature. Child abuse is an issue prevalent around the globe (Berkowitz, 2017). The study analyzed ten adolescent novels published over a period of sixteen years to determine character traits and themes. The analysis was conducted…

Education on depression is an important part of social emotional learning. Lacking emotion regulation skills tend to lead to larger problems, such as academic struggles, disconnect from peers, strife at home and trouble in interpersonal relationships. Research in depression education or educational programs connected to mental health literacy are…

The entry of a child with a disability into the family system can contribute to unique challenges, and potentially, joys for their families. Designed from a psychological resilience framework, this post-intentional phenomenological study specifically focused on the process of adaptation for five older siblings who had a younger sibling with an…

Adolescence is marked by a period of stress with a portion of these individuals experiencing problems with anxiety. There are physical and psychological benefits of using animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for decreasing anxiety, however, the research on this is limited. The current study expands on the AAT literature by studying the additive effects…

Adolescents confront a plethora of physical and emotional changes, especially those alterations surrounding puberty. Body image disturbances have become commonplace with high school students, and school personnel seem to have had little success in fighting this problem. Teenagers with body dissatisfaction may also be at risk for mental health…

This study explored the perceptions of disability from the perspectives of Ethiopian immigrant parents who have children with disabilities. The study was guided by the research question: How do Ethiopian immigrant parents from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, who have children between the ages of 7-17 identified with disabilities and…

Alternative education students face many interacting challenges that put them at significant risk of dropping out of school (Carver & Lewis, 2010), as well as deleterious health and psychological outcomes, and intergenerational cycles of sociopolitical disadvantage (Laird, Kienzel, Debell & Chapman, 2007). Despite the persistent national…