DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/C1BY-TB50
Defense Date
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Clinical Psychology
First Advisor
Terri Sullivan
Abstract
Adolescent dating violence occurs far too frequently in early adolescence and is related to adverse mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress symptoms. One focus within this literature has been to determine and better understand how protective processes may function in influencing relations between risk factors and dating violence victimization. A protective factor that has not been explored in the dating literature is positive outlook. The current short-term longitudinal study investigated whether dating violence victimization at Time 1 predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms at Time 2 among African American middle school students and examine whether positive outlook moderated or mediated this relation. Data were collected from 824 adolescents (52% female) in the sixth (n = 283), seventh (n = 249), and eighth (n = 292) grades who reported a current or recent dating relationships (i.e., within the past three months) at Time 1. All participants identified themselves as African American or Black. Results showed that dating violence victimization at Time 1 did not predict posttraumatic stress symptoms at time 2. Further, positive outlook did not function as a moderator or mediator of this relation. Lastly, the DVV x positive outlook interaction did not vary by gender.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
10-30-2020