Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Alfonso Mercado

Second Advisor

Nicole M. Vélez Agosto

Third Advisor

Nan Li

Abstract

Disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEPs) serve to provide students with an alternative option to the traditional schooling environment. Adolescents who are enrolled into DAEPs often experience behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as substance use and disruptive behaviors which are often influenced by difficulty with emotion regulation. If emotion regulation difficulties are left unaddressed, students are likely to be re-enrolled into DAEP’s due to subsequent school conduct violations. In school settings, social emotional learning opportunities, such as therapy groups, are often offered to address these emotional and behavioral difficulties. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a culturally adaptive dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills group by offering it as a social emotional learning opportunity program that serves a predominately Latinx population on the US/Mexico border. A total of 40 participants participated in the current study, which included a total of 21 DBT skills groups and 19 Treatment As Usual groups. The current study utilized a repeated-measures ANOVA to examine changes between pre-treatment and post-treatment scores in difficulties with emotion regulation, substance use, and disruptive behaviors across the DBT skills group and TAU group. Additionally, t-tests were utilized to evaluate differences in teacher reported and parent reported scores of aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors comparing DBT skills group participants and TAU participants after treatment completion. Current findings demonstrated that difficulties with emotion regulation scores for time 2 (post-treatment) were significantly lower than at time 1 (pre-treatment). Additionally, there was a significant interaction between group membership (DBT skills group or TAU group) and time, indicating that changes in substance use scores differed across groups over time. Finally, based on teacher reports, aggressive and rule breaking behaviors were significantly lower for participants in the DBT skills group compared to the TAU group after treatment completion. These findings contribute to the growing research that highlights the benefit of DBT skills groups addressing adolescent psychological well-being and reducing risk-taking behaviors.

Comments

Copyright 2026 Amanda Amber Palomin. All Rights Reserved. https://proquest.com/docview/3409015449

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