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Life History Strategies and Defense-Related Pathologies

Edson, Talon L.
http://orcid.org/0009-0009-3768-5123
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1693926877098958

Abstract Details

2023, Psy. D., Antioch University, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology.
Existing frameworks of psychopathology have received criticism from evolutionary researchers. It is argued that mental health research lacks theoretical unity and that there is no comprehensive understanding of psychiatric disorders. Evolutionary researchers have posited that a paradigm of psychopathology informed by evolution could accomplish this aim. Drawing from evolutionary biology, life history theory provides such a framework. Life history theory is a subfield of evolutionary biology that examines how organisms allocate limited environmental resources over their lifespan in order to maximize their fitness. The strategies that organisms adopt in response to their environment are referred to as life history strategies. These strategies are graphed on a spectrum between two poles, fast and slow. The fast and slow life history classifications form the basis of the fast-slow-defense activation model of psychopathology which describes causal pathways for mental disorder. Within this framework, sex is a moderating factor between life history strategy and psychopathology. At present, there is little empirical research evaluating the fast-slow-defense activation model. The current research seeks to provide an analysis of the fast-slow-defense activation framework by exploring the relationship between life history strategy, sex, and defense activation disorders particularly, depression. It is expected that there will be a causal relationship between life history strategy and depression. Specifically, a fast life history strategy will predict for increased symptoms of depression. In addition to this, it is expected that women with fast life histories experience greater symptoms of depression. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu.
Sandra Kenny, Ph.D, M.B.A. (Committee Chair)
Stephen Southern, Ed.D. (Committee Member)
Chris Howard, Psy.D (Committee Member)
64 p.
Psychology; Psychotherapy
Evolutionary Psychology; Life History Theory; Psychopathology; Life History Strategies; Depression; Depressive Disorders; Fast-Slow-Defense Activation; Mental Health; Structural Equation Modelling; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; QIDS-SR

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Edson, T. L. (2023). Life History Strategies and Defense-Related Pathologies [Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1693926877098958

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Edson, Talon. Life History Strategies and Defense-Related Pathologies. 2023. Antioch University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1693926877098958.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Edson, Talon. "Life History Strategies and Defense-Related Pathologies." Doctoral dissertation, Antioch University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=antioch1693926877098958

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

antioch1693926877098958
80
© 2023, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Life History Strategies and Defense-Related Pathologies by Talon L. Edson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Antioch University and OhioLINK.