The challenges that face student-athletes when they retire from formal sport participation coincides with their loss of their athletic identity (how much they identify with their athlete role), often geographic upheaval, uncertainty of the future regarding alternate roles, and change in social support systems, which make this period more difficult to adjust to. This study explored the experiences of the retirement transition of graduating student-athletes. The current study aims to examine this unique experience through qualitative investigation into the collective experiences of student-athletes to identify overarching relevant themes common throughout this experience. The participants were 13 student-athletes who graduated in the Spring Semester of 2017 (May- June 2017), played their sport at a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Institution at the Varsity level, and were not continuing to play their sport at the elite level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants between five and eight months post-graduation. Thematic analysis was used to categorize participants’ responses and allow for an in-depth investigation of different factors affecting personal adjustment throughout this period. The five overarching themes identified were: the need for social connection, the impact of a goal-oriented mindset, preparedness for the transition, translatable skills from being a student-athlete, and the perspective of their own identity and purpose. The ability to shift perspective to retrospectively appreciate the student-athlete experience, while incorporating it as one part of their overall life journey, is discussed as a protective factor for positive transition outcomes. As the large majority of collegiate athletes do not continue to play their sport professionally, this population is in high need of continued guidance. The present work can inform interventions to aid student-athletes in this difficult transitional period. Mentorship from previously graduated student-athletes, coaches, or administrative programs are suggested as a tangible positive intervention strategy based off of the results.

Numerous studies have established that during the transition to parenthood couples experience changes within their relationship as well as in their overall mental health. The present study examines these changes specifically through conflict interactions. The author proposes the more conflict that occurs within a relationship, the lower each individual's self-esteem; the lowered self-esteem then leads to signs of depression. The present study's analysis consisted of two primary aims: 1) examine the association between romantic relationship conflict and mental health by using a proposed mediational pathway, in which self-esteem explains the connection, and 2) explore gender differences. The study aims were examined using secondary data analyses of Dr. Kristin Mickelson's study on couples transitioning to parenthood (Baby TIME Study). Results varied by conflict type as well as gender. When conflict was measured by perceived negative spousal interactions, results showed that the proposed mediational pathway was significant for men, but not for women. When conflict was measured by frequency of spousal arguments, results showed that the proposed mediational pathway was significant for women, but not for men. Furthermore, the results from this analysis indicate that during the transition to parenthood, men and women are affected by conflict differently in regards to their self-esteem and further their reported levels of depression.

Depression is a prominent world disorder. Many prior studies have examined the biological, cognitive, and social elements of depression; however, few studies attempt to examine what role culture plays in this disorder. If culture plays such a large role in human development, it only makes sense that it would have an impact on a society's depression experience. Furthermore, conformity has been found to play a large role in the behaviors and mood states of adolescents. If conformity holds such control within this population, it is likely that said conformity could be adapted to any decided behavior. Although there has been research conducted on depression, culture, and conformity separately, these concepts are not often looked at in unison. For this reason, the current thesis focuses on the interaction between depression, culture, and conformity by defining depression-culture and depression-conformity, examining the manifestation of these concepts within American society, and analyzing the effects of these concepts.

The author examined the relationship between social intelligence and attachment style, specifically how attachment style affects how individuals respond to social intelligence training. Students at the Herberger Young Scholars Academy, a school for the highly gifted, completed an online social intelligence training program through the Social Intelligence Institute and were assessed on a number of items. These items include the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS), the Attachment Questionnaire for Children (AQ-C), and a daily diary measure in which they recorded and rated their social interactions day to day. All participants were found to be either securely or insecurely attached, and those that were insecurely attached were further divided into insecure anxious attachment style and insecure avoidant attachment style. It was hypothesized that those with a secure attachment style would have higher initial TSIS scores than those with an insecure attachment style. It was also hypothesized that insecurely attached individuals would benefit more from the social intelligence training program than securely attached individuals indicated by "In tune" scores from the daily diaries, and insecure avoidant individuals would benefit more from the program than insecure anxious individuals indicated by "In tune" scores from the daily diaries. None of these hypotheses were supported by the data, as there was no significant difference between the initial social intelligence scores of the three attachment styles, and none of the variables measured were found to be significant predictors of "In tune" scores. Key Words: social intelligence, social intelligence training, attachment, attachment style, children, adolescents, gifted, IQ, high IQ

Physical pain and social pain are two types of pain humans experience. Physical pain is defined as any pain experienced upon bodily injury, whereas social pain is defined as the pain experienced upon social injury when social relationships are threatened, damaged or lost (Eisenberger & Lieberman, 2004). Both physical and social pain can be experienced as acute or chronic, acute lasting for up to three months, and chronic lasting for more than three to six months. Studies on acute and chronic social pain have shown that social pain leads to less empathy. The Pain Overlap Theory suggests that social pain and physical pain share similar neural networks and underlying processes. If social pain and physical pain overlap in the brain, then it would be expected to see a similar reduction in empathy when experiencing acute and chronic physical pain. Therefore, it was hypothesized that those who suffer from chronic physical pain will be less empathetic overall, and they will be less empathetic to others in physical pain and social pain.

Older children are expected to serve as support substitutes when parents are not able to adequately provide the support needed to their younger siblings. This exchange of resources may influence the individual who is serving as a substitute to experience feelings of obligation and resentment that can ultimately lead to mental health symptoms. The term mental health is broadly conceptualized in this thesis as negative affect and positive affect. Online surveys were conducted on a sample of 170 Arizona State University students to analyze whether the provision of sibling support was related to worse affect. Hypotheses included: 1) provision of support from the student to the sibling will be related to lower positive and higher negative affect, 2) sibling support provision will be related to greater feelings of obligation and resentment, 3) obligation and resentment will mediate the relationship between sibling support provision and affect and 4) gender differences exist in the mediational relationship of sibling support provision, obligation/resentment, and affect. Results showed that sibling support provision is related to higher levels of both negative and positive affect. Moreover, provision of sibling support was significantly related to feelings of obligation and resentment. There was also some evidence for a mediational model, such that there was an indirect effect of sibling support provision on negative and positive affect through feelings of obligation, but not resentment. Lastly, females experienced significantly greater feelings of obligation to provide support, while males experienced significantly greater feelings of resentment. However, there was no evidence of a moderated mediation by gender. These results suggest that sibling support provision is related to affect and one potential explanation is the feelings of obligation engendered by the sibling support provision.