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Sense of Belonging, Emotion Regulation, Perceived Social Support and Mental Health Among College Students Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Psychology Theses & Dissertations Psychology Spring 2017 Sense of Belonging, Emotion Regulation, Perceived Social Support and Mental Health among College Students Sara Bock Davis Old Dominion University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Davis, Sara B.. "Sense of Belonging, Emotion Regulation, Perceived Social Support and Mental Health among College Students" (2017). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, Psychology, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/6v1z-dq56 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/psychology_etds/53 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Psychology Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SENSE OF BELONGING, EMOTION REGULATION, PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS by Sara Bock Davis B.A. May 2009, Wheaton College (IL) M.S. December 2014, Old Dominion University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculties of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, and Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY VIRGINIA CONSORTIUM PROGRAM IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY May 2017 Approved by: Robin J. Lewis (Director) Old Dominion University Desideria S. Hacker (Member) Norfolk State University Skye Ochsner Margolies (Member) Eastern Virginia Medical School James F. Paulson (Member) Old Dominion University Barbara A. Winstead (Member) Old Dominion University ABSTRACT SENSE OF BELONGING, EMOTION REGULATION, PERCEIVED SOCIAL SUPPORT AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS Sara Bock Davis Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology, 2017 Director: Dr. Robin J. Lewis Perceived social support (PSS) is linked to a range of beneficial effects, but the factors that influence the effectiveness of PSS are less well understood. In their Relational Regulation Theory (RRT), Lakey and Orehek (2011) emphasize the importance of distinguishing the role of individual factors from relational influences on PSS. This study tested the RRT by examining whether the association of PSS to three mental health outcomes (i.e., aggression, binge eating, depressive symptoms) varies by two individual factors: sense of belonging and emotion regulation. With a non-clinical college sample, a series of hierarchical regressions tested whether sense of belonging and adaptive emotion regulation (i.e., cognitive reappraisal) enhanced the association between PSS and mental health symptoms. Maladaptive emotion regulation (i.e., expressive suppression) was also examined, with the expectation of a weakened association between PSS and mental health. Results found few moderation effects as hypothesized, but trends indicated sense of belonging, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression primarily function independently of perceived social support, with PSS becoming a relevant buffer of low internal resources in the presence of greater mental health symptoms. Unexpected support for the RRT was indicated by the consistently detected beneficial effects of sense of belonging, which likely reflects relation influences as well as individual characteristics. Differences in the relations among these variables between European American and African American students were also explored. iii Greater PSS and sense of belonging were more strongly linked to lower binge eating for European American students, while lower suppression was linked to lower binge eating for African American students. Future research would benefit from a larger sample size of non- clinical college students, including symptom level as a moderator, and examining the effects of these variables in mediation models. iv Copyright, 2017, by Sara Bock Davis, All Rights Reserved. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The greatest appreciation is extended to my research mentor and dissertation chair, Dr. Robin J. Lewis. It is very much due to her patience, encouragement, and guidance that this project exists and that the process was rewarding. I could not have asked for a more flexible and knowledgeable guide. My gratitude also extends to my dissertation committee, Dr. Desideria Hacker, Dr. Skye Ochsner Margolies, Dr. James Paulson, and Dr. Barbara Winstead. The hours you spent reading drafts, and your feedback throughout the project, is deeply appreciated. I also wish to thank all of the members of my cohort for their support over these many years, particularly Drs. Oettinger, Kurtz, and Williams. Researching social support continually reminds me of the vital role my supportive friends and family have in my life. So much thanks is owed to all of those who supported me with kind words and actions. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 RELATIONAL REGULATION THEORY ...................................................................... 2 SOCIAL SUPPORT .......................................................................................................... 4 AGGRESSION .................................................................................................................. 5 BINGE EATING ............................................................................................................... 6 DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ............................................................................................. 8 SENSE OF BELONGING ................................................................................................. 9 EMOTION REGULATION ............................................................................................ 13 DIFFERENCES BY RACE/ETHNICITY ...................................................................... 20 THE CURRENT STUDY AND HYPOTHESES ........................................................... 23 II. METHOD ................................................................................................................................ 28 PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................................. 28 MEASURES .................................................................................................................... 29 PROCEDURE .................................................................................................................. 42 III. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................... 43 PRELIMINARY ANALYSES ........................................................................................ 43 HYPOTHESIS ONE ........................................................................................................ 45 REGRESSION ANALYSES ........................................................................................... 47 HYPOTHESIS TWO: SENSE OF BELONGING .......................................................... 48 HYPOTHESIS THREE: COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL ............................................... 53 HYPOTHESIS FOUR: EXPRESSIVE SUPPRESSION ................................................ 58 EXPLORATORY ANALYSES ...................................................................................... 64 SENSE OF BELONGING ................................................................................ 64 COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL ......................................................................... 70 EXPRESSIVE SUPPRESSION ........................................................................ 78 RESEARCH QUESTION ................................................................................................ 85 SENSE OF BELONGING ................................................................................ 86 COGNITIVE REAPPRAISAL ......................................................................... 92 EXPRESSIVE SUPPRESSION ........................................................................ 99 IV. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................... 109 AGGRESSION .............................................................................................................. 110 vii BINGE EATING ........................................................................................................... 112 Chapter Page DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS ......................................................................................... 114 RELATIONAL REGULATION THEORY .................................................................. 117 STRENGTHS OF THE CURRENT STUDY ............................................................... 118 LIMITATIONS .............................................................................................................. 120 IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERVENTION .................................................................... 122 FUTURE DIRECTIONS ..............................................................................................
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