Inglis, Rachel (2010) D.I.Y. or Stand by Me: Investigating the Relationships between Communal Mastery, Self Efficacy and Coping on Adolescent Psychological Well-being. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
A myriad of life‟s adversities beset the adolescent. These come in the form of development hurdles and challenges (Frydenberg, 1997), and they require confidence and skills to manage successfully. Consequently, many studies have investigated and identified the determinants of successful development during adolescence. However, Western societies such as Australia traditionally focus on self reliance aspects over communal oriented aspects of successful adaptation and coping in adolescence (Dunahoo, Hobfoll, Monnier, Hulsizer, & Johnson (1998).
This research investigated the construct of communal mastery in adolescents, defined as the basic belief that close interconnection with the community enables one to successfully achieve goals because of one‟s membership in that community (Hobfoll, Schröder, Wells, & Malek, 2002). Communal mastery was compared to the construct of self efficacy in adolescents, defined as the basic belief in one‟s ability to exercise control over challenging demands and over one‟s own functioning (Bandura, 1997). The relationships between communal mastery, self efficacy, coping styles, and levels of depression, anxiety and stress were also investigated.
A cross-sectional survey design was employed in Study 1 to survey a non-clinical sample of 279 male and female high school students aged between 13 and 18 years. It was hypothesised that a negative relationship would exist between communal mastery and depression, anxiety and stress; and self efficacy and depression, anxiety and stress. The question regarding whether coping style would mediate a relationship between communal mastery and self efficacy, and depression, anxiety and stress was also investigated. A nonrandomised, matched control group (for age and gender), pre-treatment post-treatment design was employed in Study 2 to survey a clinical sample of four male and eight female adolescents attending a Child and Youth Mental Health Service (CYMHS) aged between 13 and 18 years. Participants completed the same set of surveys on each test occasion. Half of the participants were to attend group therapy sessions focused on building communal mastery and self efficacy beliefs, and the other half were receiving individual treatment for their respective mental health diagnoses. It was hypothesised that adolescents from a clinical sample would report weaker communal mastery and self efficacy beliefs compared to reports of adolescents from the non-clinical sample. Participants in both studies completed the General Self Efficacy Scale (GSE scale; Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), the Communal Mastery Scale (CMS; Hobfoll, Schröder, et al., 2002), the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS; Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993) and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Findings supported the hypotheses made and answered questions posed in both studies. In Study 1, adolescents reporting strong communal mastery beliefs utilised additional coping styles and experienced fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress than those endorsing strong self efficacy beliefs. Furthermore, communal mastery beliefs significantly contributed to the prediction of depression, anxiety and stress, whereas self efficacy beliefs did not. A path model showing the relationships found between variables was developed. In Study 2, clinical adolescents reported weaker communal mastery and self efficacy beliefs compared to reports of adolescents from the non-clinical sample. Further analyses showed that communal mastery and self efficacy beliefs could be strengthened with purpose-designed intervention in a clinical sample of adolescents. Results also showed that when communal mastery and self efficacy beliefs strengthened, additional „reference to others‟ coping style was utilised and levels of depression decreased. Finally, results also revealed that there was no notable change in communal mastery or self efficacy beliefs between baseline and pre-treatment test times.
Therefore, given that the current education system in Australia has a distinct focus on the independent self and competitive environments, encouraging the development of interconnections with peers, communities, families and school within the education system may lead to an improvement in adolescent coping and psychological wellbeing. Similarly, treatment strategies used to facilitate improvement in the clinical symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in adolescents could be bolstered by including strategies focused on strengthening interconnections with peers, communities, families and school.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Pretty, Grace |
| Qualification: | Masters of Clinical Psychology |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Jan 2026 03:09 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Jan 2026 03:09 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52435 |
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