Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chairperson

Angela Clarke, PhD

Committee Member

Jodi McKibben, PhD

Committee Member

Loretta Rieser-Danner, PhD

Abstract

Black adolescents from high-risk neighborhoods are a population that is consistently exposed to stressors. An adolescent who experiences consistent stress without adequate coping resources or regulation strategies is at a higher risk of negative mental and physical health outcomes, highlighting the importance of identifying what an individual needs to be resilient in the face of stress. A theoretical framework related to resilience strengthening, the Systematic Self-Reflection model, outlined three components that contribute to the potential to overcome adversity, termed Capacity for Resilience. The full model has been examined across different target populations, but none have specifically looked at the Capacity for Resilience among minoritized youth. This present study aimed to fill this gap by testing this segment of the model among a sample of Black and multiracial adolescents from high-risk neighborhoods. Additionally, this present study aimed to assess whether involvement in a community intervention program would act as a buffer for adolescents who did not have adequate social resources for coping and lead to resilient outcomes. Results indicated that there was a significant relationship between the social coping resource of parental support and emotion regulation, and between emotion regulation and resilient beliefs. Findings also showed that emotion regulation, along with social coping resources, contributed significantly to the prediction of resilient outcomes at the same time point. However, results did not find that attendance in a community intervention program acted as a moderator for youth with lower social coping resources. Study limitations and implications for future research and practice are discussed.

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