Date Approved

7-6-2026

Embargo Period

7-6-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology

Department

Clinical Psychology

College

College of Science & Mathematics

Advisor

Meredith Jones, Ph.D.

Committee Member 1

DJ Angelone, Ph.D.

Committee Member 2

Christie Rizzo, Ph.D.

Committee Member 3

Steven Brunwasser, Ph.D.

Committee Member 4

Tenelle Porter, Ph.D.

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

This two-part dissertation investigated two distinct, yet interconnected aspects of young mothers’ wellbeing which span individual and interpersonal factors. Study 1 examined how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are related to parental stress, and how symptoms of anxiety and depression might mediate this association. Within a sample 255 young mothers with an average age of 22.2 (SD = 2.3), the pooled results of a parallel mediation model across 10 imputed datasets indicated a significant average direct effect of ACEs on parental stress (0.25, p < .01), suggesting that experiencing a history of ACEs was significantly associated with more parental stress. Study 2 examined the relationship between young mothers’ romantic attachment, emotion regulation, and dating violence (DV) victimization. In a different sample of 256 young mothers with an average age of 19.8 years (SD = 1.1), more avoidant (less secure) romantic attachment styles (β = 0.26, SE = 0.1, p < 0.01) and more anxious romantic attachment styles (linear component β = 3.81, SE = 0.9, p < 0.001 and quadratic component β = -2.86, SE = 0.9, p < 0.01) were significantly associated with greater DV victimization. Future research may extend this work by using longitudinal designs to test bidirectional links between interpersonal and emotional wellbeing factors among young mothers.

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