Date

5-1-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Kevin R. Ganey

Keywords

Social and emotional learning (SEL), parent-child relationship satisfaction (PCRS), child anxiety, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), parenting styles, and influences of change (parent, child, therapy, and religion

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Social media culture is prevalent today, which encourages inclusion, exclusion, self-doubt, bullying, and other positive and negative social and emotional learning (SEL). Children are exposed to social media which has both positive and negative daily consequences. The prognosis and remission rates of anxiety are declining, with the risk of maladaptive regulation symptoms. A strong positive foundation of SEL promotes core identity, beliefs, morals, values, and interpersonal growth throughout a lifespan. Parenting styles (parent), the child’s psychosocial development (child), religious morals and values (religion), and psychotherapy (therapy) are influences of change that can help create healthy SEL. Therapy interventions are sought when the development of the child’s SEL becomes negative in normal interactions of parenting, school, community, and peer socialization. Enhancing parent-child interactions through therapy is the focus of this study. This research included children ages 10 - 15 with anxiety symptoms receiving Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) over eight sessions. This quantitative dependent t test comparison pretest/posttest study examined the correlations between therapy and parent-child relationship inventory (PCRI) scores and found a significant positive correlation to higher PCRI scores after SFBT had been administered. This study also considered four influences of change - parent, child, therapy, or religion - and found that therapy was ranked the highest influence from the parent’s perspective.

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