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Factors That Help And Hinder Experience Of Reflective Functioning In An Attachment-Based Intervention: An Enhanced Critical Incident Technique Analysis Of Parents’ Experiences, Shelly-Ann Peart James

Dissertations, 2020-current

This study explored parents’ experiences as it relates to their capacity to think about their child’s thinking and feeling, Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF), an attachment theory construct. PRF was explored in the context of an attachment-based intervention, the Secure Child Program (SCP), that focuses on children and their families. Parents’ voices were centered in this study through the employment of narrative research methodology, specifically, the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique. Participants consisted of seven parents within the SCP. A semi-structured interview developed for the study was informed by extant measures of PRF. Findings indicate helping and hindering categories with the vast …

Brief Report: Supporting Families In Intensive Treatment For Pediatric Anxiety And Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, Jacqueline Sperling

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Pediatric anxiety rates have doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic (Racine et al., 2021), but access to care has not increased commensurately (Panchel et al., 2021). Intensive group- and family-based outpatient treatment that implements cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention (ERP) for pediatric anxiety disorders and OCD is a treatment design that treats more children at one time and may facilitate treatment momentum with its intensive nature so that new patients can be treated sooner. This paper describes CBT-based interventions from an intensive treatment program for pediatric anxiety disorders and/or OCD that involves parents and that can be applied …

Childhood Irritability: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective, Ola Mohamed Ali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Irritability, defined as a low threshold for anger, is a transdiagnostic feature of diverse forms of psychopathology and a rapidly growing literature implicates it in child maladaptation. Existing literature has focused on characterizing irritability in children with psychopathology, using conceptualizations and methods designed to assess more severely maladaptive behavior, usually via parent report. However, emerging work suggests that, even in the absence of dysfunction, normative variations in irritability are associated with increased risk for disorder, suggesting that irritability in childhood is a quantitatively distributed trait that covaries with vulnerability to psychopathology. Additionally, parent-report methods may be subject to an array …

The Relationship Between Poverty And Behavior Problems : Examining The Role Of Family And Parental Factors From An Ecological Systems Perspective, Alaina Marie Wodzinski

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The large number of children from low-income households or living in poverty are at increased risk for a range of negative outcomes, including behavior problems. The Family Stress Model is a framework that can be used to describe how poverty may shape the development of behavior problems through its influence on family processes, including parental mental health, parenting, and household environment. While the Family Stress Model has been widely replicated, studies have rarely examined the context of infancy and toddlerhood, during which family-related processes tend to be more impactful in child development. Therefore, the present study evaluated two adaptations of …

Effects Of Parenting And Self-Efficacy On Diet, Family Mealtime And Weight-Related Outcomes In African American Adolescents, Haylee Michele Loncar

Theses and Dissertations

Despite substantial research and concern, adolescent overweight and obesity continues to be a significant public health problem. Theory based on developmental literature emphasizes the role of adolescent self-regulatory factors, like self-efficacy, in health behavior engagement and weight-related outcomes. There is also extensive literature that highlights parents’ role in promoting self-regulatory development through warm and responsive behaviors and practices. However, few studies have considered longitudinal associations and changes in weight-related outcomes over time, as well as moderated effects by parenting. This study assessed longitudinal associations between adolescent self-efficacy parenting factors and adolescent BMI, diet, and family mealtime to fill gaps in …

Parenting And Students' Gpa In The Latino Population: An Exploratory Study, Carolina Arboleda

Dissertations

The present study experimentally investigated Latino high school students’ grade point averages (GPA) and the parenting styles used by their parents based on Baumrind’s (1968, 1971, 1989, 1991) theory of parenting behaviors. Participants (N=52) were asked to take a survey of 62 questions total addressing three parenting dimensions as measured by the Escala Parental Breve to categorize their parents’ behaviors into parenting styles. Participants also responded to demographic questions such as English proficiency, household income, parents’ education level, and other relevant factors impacting parenting and GPA. Results from the study were limited as there was a limited number of participants; …

When Crying Turns To Hitting: Examining Maternal Responses To Negative Affect, Brooke Edelman

Theses and Dissertations

Most children exhibit some form of physical aggression in the first years of life, and physical aggression is particularly common in toddlerhood (Hay, 2005; Lorber et al., 2017; Lorber et al., 2019; Nærde et al., 2014; Tremblay & Nagin, 2005). Further, aggression is conceptualized as a byproduct of frustration and related negative affect (Berkowitz, 1989), and early physical aggression is empirically linked to anger (Lorber et al., 2015). The current study is part of a body of research examining early aggression and will explore the mechanisms by which children’s negative affect escalates to aggression in a brief conflict episode. Given …

Emotion Control, Overreactive Parenting, And Mothers’ Executive Functions, Serah Jaya Narine

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests that mothers’ emotion control difficulties are associated with their self-reported and observed overreactive parenting. Specifically, mothers who have difficulties managing their negative emotions and experience more anger, are more likely to discipline harshly. In addition to this emotional process, evidence suggests that poorer cognitive executive function (EF) is also associated with mothers’ use of overreactive discipline. However, the association between EF performance and overreactive parenting is inconsistent. The purpose of this study is to assess how different EFs may moderate the association between emotion control and overreactive parenting. I hypothesized that (1) mothers’ emotion control would be negatively …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Parenting: The Childhood Correlates Of Rejection Sensitivity During Pregnancy And Subsequent Effects On Future Parenting, Preeya Desai

Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-

Adverse early childhood experiences, including trauma and rejecting parenting behaviors, have been shown to affect later functioning, including one’s sensitivity to rejection in interpersonal relationships. The current study aimed to examine the early predictors of rejection sensitivity in a sample of at-risk pregnant women whose thoughts about parenting may be particularly activated. It was hypothesized that less caring remembered parenting would be related to greater rejection sensitivity during pregnancy. In addition, a relationship between history of childhood trauma and rejection sensitivity in pregnancy was predicted in this sample. Participants included 83 pregnant women who were randomly assigned to receive an …

A Nonconcurrent Multiple Baseline Evaluation Of An Independence Intervention To Treat Child Anxiety, Matthew Fastman M.S.

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Rates of child and adolescent anxiety have increased markedly over the past decade (Haidt & Twenge 2021; Parodi et al., 2021). Exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy is considered the gold standard in the treatment of anxious children (Hofmann et al., 2012). However, many clinicians refrain from using exposure due to concerns about its safety, effectiveness, and ethics (Deacon et al., 2013; Whiteside et al., 2016). We propose a novel treatment approach for child and adolescent anxiety that draws on research in child development (e.g. Daddis, 2011) and is considerably simpler to administer than traditional exposure-based approaches. This new approach is composed of …

Serious Conduct Problems And Callous Unemotional Traits In Offending Adolescents: Unique And Shared Contributions Of Parenting And Community Risk, Elizabeth R. Corning

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A growing body of research has suggested that parenting behaviors influence the development of youth conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional traits (CU). However, few studies have examined how parenting impacts CP and CU growth over time, and whether these associations differ based on the presence of additional community-level risk factors. This study used data from the Pathways to Desistance project (N = 1,354) to investigate how distinct parenting behaviors (i.e., positive parenting, harsh parenting, and parental knowledge) impact the initial level and growth in CP and CU across four years among adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system. Interaction effects …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Parenting: Does Emotion Regulation Buffer The Effect Of Negative Early Care Experiences On The Cortisol Stress Response And Subsequent Caregiving?, Erin Rochelle Mckay

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A phenomenon known as the intergenerational transmission of parenting, where children tend to parent their children in a manner similar to how their own parents provided care, has received notable attention within developmental research. While several mechanisms focusing on cognitive and psychological factors have been proposed, there is less research examining biological mechanisms within the intergenerational transmission of parenting framework, especially when considering caregiving behavior exhibited in the context of child distress. Further, few studies have examined parent attributes which may disrupt the intergenerational transmission of parenting. The current study seeks to examine the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response as …

The Role Of Hostile Attribution Bias In The Relationship Between Parental Adversity Exposure And Observed Parental Sensitivity, Ashley Lauren Waters

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Exposure to adversity throughout the lifespan, including poverty, has been shown to influence parental sensitivity, or a caregiver’s ability to perceive, accurately interpret, and then respond appropriately to a child’s bids or behaviors. Given that adverse experiences can influence social cognition, it may be that hostile attribution bias (HAB, the tendency to interpret ambiguous social information as hostile), may be a mechanism accounting for the association between adversity exposure and parental behavior. The study aimed to contribute to the understanding of the determinants of sensitive parenting by evaluating the relationship between parents’ adversity (selfreported childhood, adulthood, and lifetime cumulative exposure …

Examining The Impact Of Attachment And Parent Socialization Of Emotion In Childhood On Emotion Regulation In Maltreated Adults, Nikki Major

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and adult emotion regulation by examining parenting processes of emotion socialization and attachment security as possible mechanisms accounting for this relationship. It was hypothesized that maltreated adults would retrospectively report more unsupportive responses from parents/caregivers, greater attachment insecurity, more difficulty with emotion regulation, and using expressive suppression more than cognitive reappraisal. It was also hypothesized that unsupportive responses to emotions and attachment security would both indirectly effect the relationship between child maltreatment and adult emotion dysregulation.

Method: A sample of 226 participants from Amazon Mechanical …

Early Childhood Impulsivity And Parenting Predict Trajectories Of Externalizing Psychopathology, Emma Stewart

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Parenting is a consistent predictor of child externalizing symptoms; however, the role of caregiving variability (i.e., variation in a caregiver’s parenting behaviour) is poorly understood. We examined whether characteristic parenting style and parenting variability predicted externalizing symptoms in 409 children (M_age = 3.43 at baseline, 208 girls). We assessed parent positive affectivity (PPA), hostility, and parenting structure at child age three using three behavioural tasks designed to vary in context, examining variability by modeling a latent difference score reflecting the range for each dimension. We assessed children’s symptoms at ages three, five, eight, and 11. Lower hostility predicted fewer …

The Interplay Between Parental Executive Functioning, Parental Stress, And Parenting Skills Across A Parenting Intervention, Taylor Landis

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral parent training (BPT) interventions are the gold standard treatment for preschoolers with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and have been shown to improve parenting, and therefore children’s behavior. However, treatment outcomes are dependent upon various child and parent factors. Less research has examined predictors of treatment response in preschoolers, including parental factors, which is important given the known benefits of early intervention.

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts focused on parent and child executive functioning (EF), and intervention outcomes for children with ADHD and their parents. Study I examined the extent to which individual differences in EF and emotion regulation …

Examining The Influence Of Parenting Practices On Youth's Sleep Health During A Sensitive Developmental Period, Juliana Acosta Lievano

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sleep problems among youth are highly prevalent and associated with mental and physical health concerns. During early adolescence, youth’s sleep health is at risk for disturbance, and problems with sleep around this developmental period have been shown to longitudinally predict escalating rates of anxiety and depression later in adolescence. Sleep-related behaviors are embedded within the family system and as such they are influenced by familial processes including parenting practices. However, the influence of parenting practice on young adolescents’ sleep health has been understudied. Moreover, there is limited evidence on the concept of nighttime parenting as it relates to youth’s sleep …

Motherhood And Me (Mom-Me): The Development Of An Acceptance-Based Group For Women With Postpartum Mood And Anxiety Symptoms, Victoria A Grunberg, Pamela A Geller, Kelley Durham, Alexa Bonacquisti, Jennifer L Barkin

PCOM Scholarly Works

Untreated postpartum mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) place women and their families at risk for negative biopsychosocial sequelae. Innovative and tailored treatments are needed to address potential disruptions in maternal functioning. Third-wave cognitive-behavioral approaches, including acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), hold promise for optimizing functioning given the focus on values-based living, rather than symptom reduction.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an innovative psychotherapy group for women with symptoms of PMADs.

Methods: This seven-session group, Motherhood and Me (Mom-Me), includes selected skills training from ACT, DBT, and Emotion-Centered …

Perceived Parenting, Personality Traits, And Personality Pathology In An Adult Sample, Elizabeth Concetta Vento

Theses and Dissertations

Parenting practices influence offspring’s emotional and developmental behavior. The present study explored the relationships between retrospective ratings of perceived parental care in childhood and general and pathological personality traits in adulthood. Participants were comprised of three adult samples college undergraduate students (N = 105; 69% female), ages 18 to 33 (M = 19.70, SD = 2.28), general population (N = 99; 63% female), ages 18 to 83 (M = 44.71, SD = 16.27), and comedians (N = 111; 33% female), ages 18 to 67 (M = 37.24, SD = 11.20). Data from participants were aggregated from a larger study done …

Let Go And Let Grow: An Assessment Of A School And Community-Based Intervention Encouraging Independence In Children, Mary Elsharouny

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Overinvolved parenting is on the rise, despite its association with negative outcomes for children (Twenge, 2017; American Psychological Association (APA), 2019; Segrin et al., 2013). Its emerging counterpart, free-range parenting, urges parents to offer their children more independence and less supervision (Skenazy, 2009). However, no quantitative, peer-reviewed research has been conducted on the effects of independent task engagement on children’s independence and resilience. The present study evaluated the effects of The Let Grow Project (Skenazy, 2018), a school-based intervention aimed at increasing resilience and independence in children by assigning homework to engage in tasks independently. Children completed measures of independence, …

The Impact Of Parent Training On Epigenetic Age Acceleration In Disadvantaged Children, Alexandra Sullivan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Early adversity exposure impacts many children annually, putting them at risk of prospective health problems. This study tests whether participating in a behavioral parent training intervention predicts differences in a biomarker predictive of health outcomes, epigenetic age acceleration, in a sample of majority Latinx three-year-old children (n = 62) with developmental delay and elevated behavioral problems. Participation in the parenting intervention was unrelated to a) between-group differences in epigenetic age acceleration at follow-up and b) differences in within-group change from baseline to follow-up. However, some evidence suggested the presence of an effect of parent training on decreased epigenetic age acceleration …

Social Cognition, Impulsivity, And Emotion Regulation Factors In Aggressive Behavior Among Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder., Kelly E. Slaughter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) exhibit greater levels of aggressive behavior than their typically developing peers, often resulting in impairment in social and family functioning. Aggressive behavior is often differentiated into two functions: reactive, or “hot-blooded” and proactive, or “cold-blooded” aggression. Prior research has identified several factors contributing to aggressive behavior within a general population, including emotion dysregulation, negative urgency, social information processing (SIP), and parenting behaviors. A paucity of research has examined these factors within an ADHD population. Thus, the present study aimed to examine social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive factors associated with aggression among children with ADHD. Specifically, …

Examining The Bidirectional Relationships Between Maternal Intrusiveness And Child Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study From Infancy To Middle Childhood, Hannah Hunter

Masters Theses

Myriad parenting behaviors have been linked to the development of internalizing disorders in children. Intrusive parenting, which is characterized by autonomy-limiting behaviors that hold the parent’s agenda above that of the child, seems to uniquely contribute to the onset of child anxiety. In laboratory tasks, anxious mothers demonstrate greater levels of intrusiveness when compared to nonanxious mothers, suggesting that intrusive behaviors may be one mechanism through which anxiety is transmitted from parent and child. Other studies suggest that parental intrusiveness is evoked in the presence of an anxious child, providing evidence for bidirectionality. The current study investigated the bidirectional effects …

The Influence Of Parent-Child Relationships On Female Sexual Functioning: A Review Of The Literature, Laura Tillman

Dissertations

This literature review is an examination of the impact of parental communication of sexual functioning in women. Women have many commonalities of sexual experiences and receive similar messages as children and adolescents in regards to their sexual behavior. Current attitudes towards women’s sexuality and sexual functioning and the outcomes that a lack of communication can warrant are areas of importance for this literature review. This Clinical Research Project (CRP) examines how frequently parents communicate about sexual topics with their child, how parents communicate, and parental feelings surrounding discussions. Parenting models and attachment styles are reviewed and how childhood experiences shape …

Longitudinal Associations Among Individual Factors, Parenting Behaviors, And Medical Responsibility In Youth With Spina Bifida: Mediation, Moderation, And Growth Analyses, Alexa R. Stern

Dissertations

The objective of this research was to examine how youth individual factors (neuropsychological functioning and depressive symptoms) and maternal and paternal acceptance, behavioral control, and psychological control were associated with child medical responsibility among youth with spina bifida (SB). These longitudinal studies examined multimethod, multi-informant data from families of youth with SB, their parents, and teachers. The first study used bootstrapping methods to examine two competing, mediational pathways through which depressive symptoms, executive functioning, and attention were associated with medical responsibility over time. The second study used moderation analyses to examine how parenting behaviors moderated the relationship between these cognitive …

How Divorce, Interparental Conflict, And Parenting Styles Relate To Young Adult Emotional Regulation, Madison Jernigan

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Emotional regulation has been linked to one’s ability to establish social relationships, as well as the onset of multiple psychological disorders, such as anxiety and depressive disorders. Researchers are beginning to better understand the development of emotional regulation; however, there is still debate surrounding what role familial factors play in this development. This study sought to better understand three factors that impact families: divorce, interparental conflict, and parenting styles. Specifically, this study hypothesized that participants whose parents are divorced and experienced high levels of interparental conflict would experience poor emotional regulation. Additionally, this study hypothesized that participants who perceive their …

Parent Status And Post-Traumatic Stress Severity Experienced By Refugees, Holly Taylor Weldon

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Rates of post-traumatic stress in adult refugees are exceedingly high, occurring at ten times that of the general United States population. The current study examines an understudied, but common, potential risk factor to the exacerbation and maintenance of severe post-traumatic stress symptoms in refugee populations: parenting. While parent status is an established correlate of PTSD in other populations (i.e., veterans, broadly defined immigrants), no studies have examined how parent status is related to post-traumatic stress symptoms in refugee populations. The current study draws upon a clinic-presenting sample of 150 refugee adults. Linear regressions were employed to determine (1) whether parent …

Bidirectional Associations Between Parenting Practices And Child Conduct Problems: The Moderating Role Of Callous-Unemotional Behavior, Elizabeth R. Corning

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A growing body of research has evidenced bidirectional associations between parenting practices and the development of conduct problems in children. However, studies examining the effect of child callous-unemotional (CU) behavior in the context of these reciprocal associations have produced mixed findings. This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 4,898) to investigate bidirectional associations between parenting practices (i.e., positive and harsh) and child conduct problems across ages 3, 5, and 9 and determine if these associations are moderated by child CU behavior. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that higher positive parenting at age 5 was associated …

Coparenting Among Families Of Treatment-Seeking Adolescents: Associations With Coping Behaviors And Psychological Adjustment, Andrew Joseph Flannery

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent decades, the family literature has demonstrated that the influences of coparenting spread through the entire family system and also uniquely affect child and adolescent psychosocial outcomes. For example, extant evidence shows that coparenting influences the connection between marital conflict and adolescent psychosocial outcomes. However, the period of adolescence is underscored by novel stressors, as teenagers experience biological, psychological, social, and cognitive transformations. Moreover, the median age of onset for mood, anxiety, substance use, and impulse-control disorders is before 25 years of age and most frequently during adolescence. Additionally, the manner in which adolescents cope with stressors may buffer …

Longitudinal And Concurrent Contributions Of Verbal And Physical Scaffolding To Toddlers’ Inhibitory Control, Anton Petrenko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Executive function (EF) is crucial to lifespan development and environmental factors have been found to impact its development. Previous research has shown that parenting can make meaningful impacts on children’s EF, with scaffolding receiving broad support. Scaffolding refers to an adult’s ability to guide a child through a challenging task without providing too much or too little support. However, many of the studies which have examined scaffolding have been done in preschool- and school-aged samples, with limited research conducted in younger samples. Very few studies have separately examined verbal and physical components of scaffolding, which may differentially contribute to children’s …