Worksite Health Promotion for Low-Wage Workers: A Scoping Literature Review

To determine: (1) What research has been done on health promotion interventions for low-wage workers and (2) What factors are associated with effective low-wage workers’ health promotion

Telling the Story of Stepfamily Beginnings: The Relationship between Young-adult Stepchildren’s Stepfamily Origin Stories and their Satisfaction with the Stepfamily

The current study adopts a narrative perspective in examining the content of 80 stepchildren’s stepfamily origin stories. Results reveal five types of stepfamily origin stories: Sudden, Dark-sided, Ambivalent, Idealized, and Incremental. Results support the hypothesis that story type would predict differences in family satisfaction; stepchildren who described their stepfamily origins as Idealized were more satisfied than those whose origins were Dark-sided or Sudden. Overall, participants framed their stepfamily identity more positively when their stepfamily beginnings were characterized by closeness, friendship, and even expected ups and downs, rather than when they were left out of the process of negotiating or forming the stepfamily and when the beginnings were tainted by issues they considered to be dark. Stepparents or practitioners may benefit from these findings by examining the means by which stepparents may involve stepchildren in the process of stepfamily courtship, facilitate closeness, and set up realistic expectations for negotiating stepfamily life

Why do lifespan variability trends for the young and old diverge? A perturbation analysis

Background: Variation in lifespan has followed strikingly different trends for the young and old: while overall lifespan variability has decreased as life expectancy at birth has risen, the variability conditional on survival to older ages has increased. These diverging trends reflect changes in the underlying demographic parameters determining age-specific mortality. Objective: We ask why the variation in the adult ages at death has followed a different trend than the variation at younger ages, and aim to explain the diverging patterns in terms of historical changes in the age schedule of mortality. Methods: Using simulations, we show that the empirical trends in lifespan variation are well characterized using the Siler model, which describes the mortality hazard across the full lifespan using functions representing early-life, later-life, and background mortality. We then obtain maximum likelihood estimates of the Siler parameters over time. Finally, we express lifespan variation in terms of a Markov chain model, and apply matrix calculus perturbation analysis to compute the sensitivity of age-specific lifespan variance trends to the changing Siler model parameters. Results: Our analysis produces a detailed quantification of the impact of changing demographic parameters on the pattern of lifespan variability at all ages, highlighting the impact of declining childhood mortality on the reduction of lifespan variability and the impact of improved survival in adulthood on the rising variability of lifespans at older ages. Conclusions: These findings provide insight into the dynamic relationship between the age pattern of survival improvements and time trends in lifespan variability

The Relationship Between Adolescents\u27 Self-Reported Mental Health Characteristics and College Enrollment Behaviors

More college students are reporting adverse mental health concerns that negatively influence their student success than in previous years (Center for Collegiate Mental Health, 2020; Xiao et al., 2017). Postsecondary literature lacks evidence to support the influence of adolescents’ adverse mental health characteristics on future college enrollment behaviors. Using Terenzini and Reason’s college impact model (2005) and Arnett’s emerging adulthood theory (2015), the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between adolescents’ self-reported mental health characteristics and future college enrollment behaviors. This study was part of an ongoing, longitudinal study, the Adolescent Academic Context Study (AACS) that investigated student characteristics and their relationship with academic achievement and school climate. This study focused on 555 11th grade students, their scores on three mental health measures (self-esteem, hope, and depression), and their college enrollment data obtained via the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC). Quantitative analysis found: (a) White students were more likely to enroll in college than ethnically minoritized students; (b) students who enrolled in college immediately following high school were more likely to graduate with a college certificate or degree; (c) students who stopped out of college were less likely to graduate from college than those students who had continuous college enrollment; (d) the 11th grade students who eventually enrolled in college had higher levels of self-esteem and hope than those 11th grade students who did not enroll in college, and; (e) the 11th grade students who eventually graduated with a college certificate or degree reported higher levels of self-esteem and hope compared to those participants who did not graduate with a college certificate or degree. Several implications for policy, practice and future research developed from this study. More licensed mental health professionals must be available in K-16 settings to aid with life transitions and self-esteem, anxiety, and depressive feelings. Future researchers can investigate other precollege characteristics that may impact college enrollment (stereotype threat and perception of achievement). Finally, researchers should consider focusing on the non-college enrolled person’s mental health characteristics and their decision to not enroll in college

A Theoretical and Empirical Examination of links between Self Determination Theory and Reversal Theory: Psychological Need Satisfaction and Meta-motivational State Reversals

The poster will present theoretical arguments and pilot data from two laboratory-based studies that examine links between Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) and reversal theory (Apter, 1982). SDT discusses innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, satisfaction of which is essential for psychological health, well-being, and exploration of inherent growth tendencies. Reversal theory proposes four mutually exclusive pairs of meta-motivational states which are characterised by distinct ways of interpreting one’s own motivation (e.g., telic vs. paratelic: Apter, 2001); regular reversal between states is required to be considered ‘psychologically healthy’ however, the precise triggers of reversals are unclear. It is argued that need satisfaction and thwarting may act to induce a reversal. Further, we suggest that lability and frequency of individuals' reversals may contribute to well-being through enabling a balanced satisfaction of one's needs (cf. Sheldon & Gunz, 2009; Sheldon & Niemiec, 2006). Using environmental manipulations of need satisfaction (e.g., Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994) and implicit association tests to identify meta-motivational states, the pilot data will establish whether need thwarting causes frustration induced reversals (e.g., from conformist state to negativistic state), and whether need satisfaction causes satiation induced reversals (e.g., from telic state to paratelic state). From an applied perspective the ability to induce reversals and achieve a balance of need satisfaction may prevent maladaptive behaviours associated with both need thwarting and inhibited reversals