Graduation Year
2006
Document Type
Ed. Specalist
Degree
Ed.S.
Degree Granting Department
Psychological and Social Foundations
Major Professor
Shannon M. Suldo, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Linda Raffaele Mendez, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Elizabeth Shaunessy, Ph.D.
Keywords
psychopathology, academic achievement, high-achieving students, school functioning, social-emotional functioning
Abstract
This study investigated the mental health of high school students enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) High School Diploma Program (n =139) in a large, southeastern high school. Mental health was assessed using both positive indicators (life satisfaction, academic achievement, academic self-efficacy) and negative indicators (psychopathology) indicators of adolescent social-emotional and school functioning. Findings from this study include that IB students perceive more stress than their general education peers, yet maintain mental health that is equivalent or superior to that of their general education peers. The role of coping in predicting mental health outcomes in IB students was also investigated. Findings indicate that specific coping styles are differentially related to mental health outcomes in this sub-population of adolescents. Furthermore, coping styles moderate the influence of stress on global life satisfaction and internalizing psychopathology. These findings suggest that participation in the academically rigorous and time-intensive IB program is not harmful to the mental health of high school students, and in fact may be beneficial, as evidenced by the superior academic functioning of students in the IB program.
Scholar Commons Citation
Hardesty, Robin B., "Stress, Coping, and their Prediction of Mental Health Outcomes in International Baccalaureate High School Students" (2006). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3869
