PSYCHOLOGY

Examining the Path from Adverse Childhood Experiences to Faith Maturity: Self-Compassion as a Mediator (P)

Presenters: Cameron Chadwick, Halle Garner, and Mary Beth Propes

Faculty Project Advisor: Mollie Carter-Neal

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period including faith exploration and maturity. Research has explored adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and emerging adulthood, but little research concerns how this trauma impacts faith during emerging adulthood. Self-compassion is a body of research wherein its impact on faith maturity is limited. This study adds to research on the impacts of ACEs on faith maturity including self-compassion as a mediator. Participants (n=245) at a private, religiously affiliated university self-reported ACEs, self-compassion, and faith maturity. Results of the path analysis suggest a negative relationship from ACEs to faith maturity. Results indicate participants reporting more ACEs also endorse higher self-compassion, which is positively associated with faith maturity. This is the first study that establishes self-compassion as a partial mediator of the relationship from ACEs to faith maturity, such that when emerging adults with ACEs develop selfcompassion, they are more likely to gain faith maturity.

A Path from Social Media Social Comparison to Self-Compassion to Academic Grit (P)

Presenters: Faith Baker, Grace Bowerman, Isabella Flowers, and Rafael Tobler

Faculty Project Advisor: Mollie Carter-Neal

Academic grit, long-term persistence toward academic goals, is known to be a factor in academic success and program completion (Brooks, 2019; Li & Li, 2021). Social comparison is known to be associated with variables related to self-worth, which are known to be associated with academic outcomes, such as academic grit. The current study narrows this framework to examine relationships between social media social comparison (SMSC), self-compassion, and academic grit. Participants (n= 245) responded to a one-time survey assessing SMSC, self-compassion, and academic grit. The primary hypothesis of this study was not supported due to the lack of direct effect of SMSC on academic grit. Notably, this is the first study of the variable of SMSC in respect to academic grit in undergraduate students. Therefore, more research on the effect of SMSC on academic grit needs to be conducted. Nevertheless, an indirect path from SMSC to SC to AG was found.

Race as a Function of Social Connectedness and Social Identity at a Predominately White Institution (P)

Presenters: Sarah Edgren, Karah Martin, Katelin Rainey, and Madison Webb Faculty Project Advisor: Mollie Carter-Neal

This study examined group differences and relationships between social identity and social connectedness based on race. We hypothesized that there would be group differences in the strength of social identity and feelings of social connectedness among white and non-white students, that race would predict social identity and social connectedness, and social identity would mediate the path from social identity to social connectedness. Participants (n = 245) included traditional undergraduate students at a predominantly white, private, religiously affiliated university, who endorsed their race and responded to the Social and Personal Identity Scale (SIPI) and the Social Connectedness Scale (SCS). We found group differences between students of color and white students on social connectedness and social identity at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Counterintuitively, students of color reported higher social identity and social connectedness. Additionally, the path model suggests that social identity partially mediates the relationship between race and social connectedness. n