Jennine S. Rawana

York University · Department of Psychology

Objective We tested the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness-based intervention (bMBI) for emerging adults (EAs) experiencing anxious and depressive symptoms. Specifically, we examined: (1) whether there are improvements in mental health outcomes among participants at post-intervention and in a one-month follow-up, and (2) whether initial health va...

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a proposed psychological disorder characterized by a pathological preoccupation with healthy eating. The purpose of the current study was to clarify the relationships between ON and related forms of psychopathology. In addition, we sought to explore whether there may be subtypes of ON and if ON is associated with BMI, gen...

Background and Objectives The process model of emotion regulation (ER) focuses on strategies used to manage emotions, while the abilities model emphasizes the extent one adaptively responds to negative emotions. We sought to clarify the relationships between components of ER based on both of the abilities (i.e., dysregulation) and process (i.e., st...

Background Effective emotion regulation is central to emerging adults’ positive psychosocial adjustment. Research has focused largely on intrapersonal emotion regulation processes (i.e., individuals’ tendencies to regulate their emotions on their own). Consequently, there is limited understanding of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER), which emp...

Mental health issues among children and youth have been identified as a major concern locally and internationally, which has urged professionals to respond to the high prevalence rates and mitigate the effects of mental health problems on development. School is an important context to address mental health, as children and adolescents spend a signi...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and eating disorders are common and concerning mental health disorders. There is both empirical and theoretical support for an association between ADHD and eating disorders or disordered eating. This systematic review aims to summarize the extant literature on the comorbidity of ADHD and eating disord...

Research suggests that eating- and weight-related disturbances (EWRDs) are key factors associated with depressive symptoms. However, it is unclear how EWRDs, and to a greater extent body appreciation, are associated with depressive symptoms among emerging adults. This study investigated the association between EWRDs, body appreciation, and depressi...

Strengths constitute an important element of developmental assessments. It is consistent with evidence-based practice to use assessment tools that adequately measure a given construct and are appropriate for use with their targeted population. The Strengths Assessment Inventory-Youth Version (SAI-Y; Rawana & Brownlee, 2010)-a self-report measure of...

The first aim of this study was to examine the association between different dimensions of family functioning and dysfunctional eating in a sample of Italian adolescent boys and girls. The second aim was to investigate whether gender moderates the relationship between family functioning and dysfunctional eating. Seven hundred and twenty seven adole...

This study examined the influence of physical activity on the trajectory of depression from adolescence through emerging adulthood (EA). Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Waves I to IV), latent growth curve modeling was performed to assess how physical activity and gender influenced depression across adolescence...

Although Aboriginal students encounter educational challenges, few post-secondary mentorship programs that facilitate positive educational and mental health outcomes within this population are described in the literature. This study describes the development and evaluation of a mentorship program for Aboriginal university students. Program developm...

Suicidality is a common and concerning issue across development, and there is a plethora of research on this topic among typically developing children and youth. Very little is known, however, about the nature of suicidality among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The purpose of the current study was to undertake a systematic liter...

The ability to regulate how emotions are experienced is central to psychological well-being. Developmental changes in emotion regulation (ER) strategies are unclear in the literature. Thus, a systematic review of the research literature was conducted in order to (a) describe normative ER development across childhood, adolescence, and emerging adult...

Aboriginal youth are at disproportionate risk for depression and substance use problems. Increasingly, developmental theories have shifted from focusing on vulnerabilities to protective factors for adolescent depression. In particular, theories emphasizing protective factors are relevant when understanding the mental health of Aboriginal youth. How...

Although depression is a common issue among youth, it is unclear how important developmental factors, such as body mass index (BMI), self-esteem, and eating-and weight-related disturbances relate to the development of depression across adolescence and into young adulthood. Gender differences in these relationships and the specific nature of these r...

This study aimed to evaluate the relative importance of body change strategies and weight perception in adolescent depression after accounting for established risk factors for depression, namely low social support across key adolescent contexts. The moderating effect of self-esteem was also examined. Participants (N=4587, 49% female) were selected...

The concepts of strengths and resilience are essential for understanding and promoting positive development in children and adolescents. These concepts have been studied in the research literature for many years and more recently have been applied to child and adolescent assessment and intervention research. However, strength and resilience based i...

QUESTION Question: Are adolescents who were born small or large for gestational age more likely to suffer symptoms of depression in response to stressful life events than adolescents born the appropriate size for gestational age? People: In total, 3732 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth who were assessed for dep...

PurposeDepression is a serious public health issue among adolescents; however, few studies have examined the role of protective factors, such as engagement in physical activity, on depressive symptoms. Preliminary evidence using community samples of mainly adolescent girls suggests that self-esteem may influence the benefits of physical activity on...

Some Aboriginal youth are at disproportionate risk of using substances and developing abuse and dependence disorders. However, not all Aboriginal youth misuse substances and limited research has examined the protective factors conferring against substance use among these youth. The present study aimed to identify protective factors related to the a...

The goal of this study was to describe the strength-based bullying prevention program, Strengths in Motion, and to evaluate the program utilizing a mixed-method design. Participants included students in Grades 4 to 8 from an intervention (n = 50) and a comparison (n = 53) school in Northern Ontario. Measures of bullying, strengths, and classroom cl...

Although there has been an increasing number of studies that has examined depression among adolescents from immigrant backgrounds, findings have been mixed, with some studies reporting that immigrant status is associated with risk, while others report that immigration status is linked to adequate or positive outcomes. Thus, it is important to explo...

Depression often emerges during adolescence and persists into adulthood. Thus, it is critical to study risk factors that contribute to the development of depression in adolescence. One set of risk factors that has been recently studied in adolescent depression research is eating- and weight-related disturbances (EWRDs). EWRDs encompass negative cog...

Students with emotional/behavioural difficulties (E/BD) continue to experience poor academic and psychosocial outcomes. Developing a better understanding of the ways in which indicators of these outcomes develop while students are still in early grades can assist in planning effective programming and alter negative trajectories. Accordingly, the pr...

The lack of an articulated model of parenting competence and the limited use of empirically based assessment procedures is a weakness of current parenting capacity assessment protocols. The current article attempts to address this issue through the application of attachment theory and research in assessing one of the most critical components of par...

Thesis (M.A.)--Lakehead University, 2001. Includes bibliographical references.