Whitney Skaggs
Author: Whitney Skaggs | Majors: Psychology and Biology
My name is Whitney Skaggs, and I am studying Psychology and Biology in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I am conducting my research in the Psychology department under the supervision of Dr. Grant Shields. I started my research project in the fall of 2021 and plan to continue into the spring of 2022. In the spring, I plan on finishing up my project and defending my thesis before graduating in May.
I am studying the effects of different coping styles on the generation of dependent stress among college students. Stress is a commonality for most students while in college. This research may help better determine why people suffer from more dependent stress than others. It can also aid in future research on how to help college students better manage their stress.
In the spring of 2020, I set out to find a research lab where I felt like I would fit. I started by listing some topics in Psychology that I was most interested in and could see myself doing research with. I then used this list to look at the research labs on campus that studied these topics and topics related. By doing this I was able to narrow down which research labs I wanted to talk to, see what kind of studies they were doing, and see if I would be a good fit. I talked to a couple of professors before I decided on Dr. Shields and ASCAN lab. Once I joined the lab, Dr. Shields was a big part of helping me decide exactly what kind of research I wanted to do with stress. He let me bounce ideas off him while also providing me with past research to aid in my decision-making process.
Over the last 6 months, I have learned a lot about stress and different coping styles. Before starting this project, I did not fully understand the differing types of stress and how they can affect your health (especially your mental health). The two types of stress that I have learned a lot about are independent and dependent stress. Independent stress is something you have no control (i.e., losing your job because the company shut down), and dependent stress is something you do have control over (i.e., losing your job because you showed up late every day). Dependent stress has not been studied extensively and it is a big factor in stress among college students, so I chose to focus on this type for my study. I have also learned that there are two major types of coping, emotion-focused and problem-focused. These coping styles have been studied in relation to depression and anxiety but never to dependent stress. I am excited to see what the results show in how these may be correlated.
During my research, at times I was unsure of where to find resources that I may need or supplemental research to aid in how I conducted my study, but my research mentor (Dr. Shields) was always able to help me navigate through each problem that came. He is the one that guided me in applying for the Honors College Research Grant that has allowed me to pay participants for participating in my study and allow me to spend as much time as I need on it.
In this coming semester, I will finish up my data collection and analysis. Once I have my results all finished up, I will defend my thesis and start working towards publishing it.