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A Culturally-Sensitive Model Of The Development Of Child Anxiety., Jenny Marie Petrie Dec 2015

A Culturally-Sensitive Model Of The Development Of Child Anxiety., Jenny Marie Petrie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Explanatory models significantly enhance the understanding of etiological influences that place children at risk for anxiety, yet little is known about processes that promote resilient outcomes in children. While contextual factors influence risk and protective processes, cultural constructs have not been incorporated into existing models of anxiety and the role of culture remains obscure. The current study proposes a culturally sensitive model for understanding the etiological and mitigating processes underlying anxious symptoms in ethnic minority youth, and preliminarily tests basic components of the proposed model within a non-clinical community sample of 49 African American (AA) parent-child dyads who completed self-report …


Bibliotherapy As An Intervention For Aggressive Elementary Children, Kari Newman Sep 2015

Bibliotherapy As An Intervention For Aggressive Elementary Children, Kari Newman

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of bibliotherapy as an intervention for aggressive elementary children at a residential treatment center in the western United States. Bibliotherapy was provided for six children, three boys and three girls, ages 9 to 11, Caucasian and Hispanic, who took part in one of two groups. The study involved a multi-baseline design, beginning with a baseline phase, followed by two separate intervention phases comprised of eight sessions of bibliotherapy. Data gathered from almost daily observations along with pre- and post-intervention ratings of aggressive behaviors indicated that four of the six students demonstrated notable decreases in observed …


A Longitudinal Study Of Fathers' And Children's Depressive Symptoms, Marianne H. Tichovolsky Aug 2015

A Longitudinal Study Of Fathers' And Children's Depressive Symptoms, Marianne H. Tichovolsky

Doctoral Dissertations

Depression is a common, chronic condition that affects both adults and children and causes significant impairment across a variety of domains. Having a depressed parent puts children at risk for developing depression themselves. While there is considerable research examining the effects of maternal depression, relatively few studies have focused on paternal depression and its relation to child depressive symptoms. Longitudinal studies of paternal depression are especially scarce, and very few studies have examined both paternal and child depressive symptoms over an extended period of time. The present study examined whether and how paternal and child depressive symptoms covaried over a …


Participation In Sports And The Development Of Resilience In Adolescents, Jason Johnson Jul 2015

Participation In Sports And The Development Of Resilience In Adolescents, Jason Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents today are faced with an array of risk factors including sexual activity and drug and alcohol use, as well as environmental factors that are beyond their control, such as parental divorce and poverty. The attribute of resilience is an extremely desirable quality that, if developed, has the capacity to reduce the effect of many of these risk factors that many adolescents are exposed to. Sport participation is a potential intervention that a large portion of adolescents can have access to through school and community programs that could potentially foster resilience. The current causal-comparative, non-experimental study sought to add to …


Social Influences On Children's Option Valuations, Laura Pape Hennefield May 2015

Social Influences On Children's Option Valuations, Laura Pape Hennefield

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children use a variety of strategies to determine the relative value of the objects they encounter, ranging from simple heuristics to the integration of information from multiple sources. Do children also incorporate social information - specifically, information pertaining to others' preferences - into their object valuations? Valuation is an important component of economic exchange, and is key to assessing how resources are fairly distributed or favors reciprocated. As humans often need to make critical decisions with limited information, garnering information about value via social sources might be an adaptive strategy. This dissertation has two primary goals: (1) to develop methodology …


Suicidal Behavior Among Elementary School Students And Current Needs In Prevention Practices: A Survey Of Virginia School Counselors, Maranda K. D. Vandyke May 2015

Suicidal Behavior Among Elementary School Students And Current Needs In Prevention Practices: A Survey Of Virginia School Counselors, Maranda K. D. Vandyke

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Most of the research on suicidal behavior has focused on the middle and high school level, and an extensive review of the literature shows that more information is needed on the current needs and prevention practices at the elementary school level. In Virginia, school psychologists rated school counselors the top professional in elementary schools to lead suicide intervention and prevention efforts. Due to this, the current study examined 161 Virginia school counselors’ responses to an online survey to further explore intervention and prevention efforts among school professionals. Both school counselors and school psychologists noted that receiving additional training and having …


Assessing The Effect Of Race Saliency In Measures Of Children’S Implicit Bias, Veronica A. Glover May 2015

Assessing The Effect Of Race Saliency In Measures Of Children’S Implicit Bias, Veronica A. Glover

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The main goal of this study was to determine if race saliency affected responses on implicit measures of racial bias. Including racial labels in measures assessing implicit bias, particularly when presenting two racial groups vs. just one group, may inadvertently cue children that race is an important grouping variable and, in turn, increase the bias they display. We investigated 8- and 13-year old children’s performance on the affective priming task (APT), which does not use labels; the single category implicit association test (SCIAT) with Black faces and the SCIAT with White faces, each of which includes only one racial label; …


Social Skills And Executive Functioning In Children With Epileptic And Non-Epileptic Seizures, Ashley J. Levan May 2015

Social Skills And Executive Functioning In Children With Epileptic And Non-Epileptic Seizures, Ashley J. Levan

Theses and Dissertations

Prior studies have demonstrated that a sizeable percentage of children presenting to the epilepsy monitoring unit for evaluation of paroxysmal events (seizures) are found to have non-epileptic seizures (NES) (Asano et al., 2005). The importance of identifying NES cannot be overstated since misdiagnosis often leads to treatment with antiepileptic drugs, which may have side effects that may negatively impact cognition (Chen, Chow, & Lee, 2001) and perhaps even cognitive development. While studies in adults with epilepsy or NES have demonstrated impaired executive functioning and social outcome compared to healthy peers, less work is present among pediatric populations (Cragar, Berry, Fakhoury, …


Protective Factors And The Role Of Gender In Childhood Mental Health: Application Of The Interrai Assessment Protocol, Alexandria Lynch Apr 2015

Protective Factors And The Role Of Gender In Childhood Mental Health: Application Of The Interrai Assessment Protocol, Alexandria Lynch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present study examined how a child’s mental health is impacted by protective factors and his/her gender. Resiliency research has been growing in recent years as researchers recognize the value of focusing on strengths in individuals. Previous research has shown that certain protective factors help buffer against the negative effects of mental health disorders differently for males and females. The present study sought to explore this further. The participants were children and youth with severe mental health and behavioural challenges and were drawn from a tertiary care facility and other mental health organizations. The results revealed that the children and …


Using Structural Equation Modeling To Understand The Role Of The Family In Pediatric Asthma Contexts, Nour Al Ghriwati Jan 2015

Using Structural Equation Modeling To Understand The Role Of The Family In Pediatric Asthma Contexts, Nour Al Ghriwati

Theses and Dissertations

Family factors have long been associated with the psychosocial adjustment of children with chronic illnesses, such as asthma (Minuchin, 1975; Rapee, 1997). Research indicates that negative family factors may also contribute to child disease severity, via bio-behavioral mechanisms of effect (Wood et al., 2006); however, these pathways have yet to be examined with a comprehensive focus on more positive family factors. This study sought to examine whether factors such as family cohesion, problem solving abilities, and communication influence asthma symptom severity in children via their effects on child depression and anxiety symptoms. Using structural equation modeling, we identified significant indirect …


Young Adult Children’S Communicative Management Of Emotions About Divorce And Divorce Disclosures: Creating And Applying A New Measure, Jenna Shimkowski Jan 2015

Young Adult Children’S Communicative Management Of Emotions About Divorce And Divorce Disclosures: Creating And Applying A New Measure, Jenna Shimkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although scholars have examined the impacts of divorce on children, there has been little research focused on how children communicatively manage and make sense of their emotions following the divorce. Theoretically, the communication field is lacking in the knowledge of ways in which children of divorce handle the emotions that can arise in their new family system. This dissertation consists of two studies. Study 1 included identifying the strategies that young adult children report using to manage their emotions regarding parents’ divorce and creating a new measure based on children’s reports of these management strategies. Young adults reported using verbal …


Stakeholder Views On Behavioral Health Care In The Pediatric Primary Care Setting: A Qualitative Approach Towards Integration Of Care, Alexis Quinoy Jan 2015

Stakeholder Views On Behavioral Health Care In The Pediatric Primary Care Setting: A Qualitative Approach Towards Integration Of Care, Alexis Quinoy

Theses and Dissertations

The pediatric primary care setting has been discussed as playing a central role for the identification and treatment of behavioral and mental health disorders in youth. Although this setting is in a unique position to provide these services, there are many barriers to the integration of mental health care and pediatric primary care. The aim of this study is to examine perspectives of multiple stakeholders (i.e., patient, parent, nurse, resident, faculty, clinic director) in a pediatric primary care setting to explore barriers, behavioral and mental health needs, and facilitators to the integration and provision of mental health care for children …


Fear Conditioning And Extinction In Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Joseph F. Mcguire Jan 2015

Fear Conditioning And Extinction In Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Joseph F. Mcguire

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fear conditioning and extinction are central in the cognitive behavioral model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which underlies exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Youth with OCD may have impairments in conditioning and extinction that carries treatment implications. The present study examined these processes using a differential conditioning paradigm. Forty-one youth (19 OCD, 22 community controls) and their parents completed a battery of clinical interviews, rating scales, and a differential conditioning task. Skin conductance response (SCR) served as the primary dependent measure across all three phases of the conditioning procedure (habituation, acquisition, and extinction). During habituation, no meaningful differences were observed between …


Working Memory And Symptoms Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Children, Alison Margaret Colbert Jan 2015

Working Memory And Symptoms Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In Children, Alison Margaret Colbert

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disorder mainly characterized by high levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. Although ADHD is a topic of great interest in multiple domains, much remains to be explored before a thorough understanding will be possible. Recently, working memory (WM) has gained attention as a potential core deficit of ADHD. Therefore, theories of ADHD and WM may provide guidance for increased understanding of ADHD, and continued research on ADHD, guided by WM theory, will maximize the effectiveness of assessment and treatment for this disorder. The current study utilized a model integrating WM measurement and symptoms …


Lived Experiences Of Military Personnel Reintegrating With Their Preschool Aged Children, Rob Atchison Jan 2015

Lived Experiences Of Military Personnel Reintegrating With Their Preschool Aged Children, Rob Atchison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have indicated that school-aged children with a caregiver who had been deployed were more likely to exhibit emotional and behavioral problems. These problems were impacted by the ability of the parent at home to manage emotions so as to utilize appropriate parenting skills with the child. However, there remained an important gap in the literature regarding the experiences of the military personnel reintegrating with their preschool aged child. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to address the experiences of military caregivers with their preschool-aged children through semistructured interviews to better understand the variables that impacted the ability …


Examining Behavioral Reactivity And Cognitive Differences Within The Chc Theory Of Intelligence Among Children., Steven Matthew Jozwiak Jan 2015

Examining Behavioral Reactivity And Cognitive Differences Within The Chc Theory Of Intelligence Among Children., Steven Matthew Jozwiak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Linking cognition and behavior has long been an area of interest to the field of psychology in its endeavors to understand what innate factors influence human behavior. To date, the majority of research linking emotional reactivity to cognition has focused on single areas of intellectual functioning on specific diagnostic profiles or learning disorders rather than a comprehensive comparison to cognitive profile typology. Nearly all the research conducted to date continues to define cognition and emotion as disparate entities, rather than exploring a more integrated view of emotion and cognition. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine cognitive profile …


Teacher Perceptions Of Elementary Children's Internalizing Symptoms When Experiencing Parental Wartime Military Deployment, Letitia Henson Jan 2015

Teacher Perceptions Of Elementary Children's Internalizing Symptoms When Experiencing Parental Wartime Military Deployment, Letitia Henson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Military wartime deployment of parents has a powerful and potentially damaging impact on their young children. As tours lengthen and deployments of military parents become more frequent, the possible negative effects on the children increase proportionally. This quantitative, comparative study evaluated internalizing symptoms among 220 young children who had a parent currently on military deployment and a parent who returned from military deployment compared to a control group of same age peers whose parents were nonmilitary. Using the theoretical frameworks of attachment theory and ambiguous loss theory, the study investigated 3 internalizing symptoms: Anxiety/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed behaviors, and Somatic Complaints among …


Social Support Networks Among Children With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Laura Hapke Jan 2015

Social Support Networks Among Children With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Laura Hapke

Honors Theses and Capstones

Previous research using predominantly adult populations has found that social support is positively correlated with an individual’s quality of overall health and wellbeing. Given the limited research investigating social support among children, especially children with special needs, the present study explored the social support networks of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Nine children enrolled in an after-school program were observed interacting with others and were interviewed in group discussions about the sources of support they tend to rely on in their daily activities. Preliminary findings suggest that children relied on each other’s for help during the regular after-school …


“The Autism Adventures Of Watson & Holmes”: Puppet Theatre To Improve Elementary Students’ Knowledge Of And Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah N. Simon Jan 2015

“The Autism Adventures Of Watson & Holmes”: Puppet Theatre To Improve Elementary Students’ Knowledge Of And Attitudes Toward Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sarah N. Simon

Departmental Honors Projects

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a growing concern in schools across the nation. More students with high functioning autism are being mainstreamed, and students on and off the spectrum are being exposed to a wider variety of behaviors and new opportunities for friendship in school. Many students who fall on the autism spectrum suffer from the stigmatizing attitudes of their peers, and this stigmatization often stems from a lack of early education about mental health. Puppetry has been proven to captivate young audiences while teaching important messages in an entertaining and relatable way. The purpose of this …


Group Social Skills Interventions For Children With Aspergers: The Effects Of Parent-Guided Social Skills Software, Ryan M. Kelly Jan 2015

Group Social Skills Interventions For Children With Aspergers: The Effects Of Parent-Guided Social Skills Software, Ryan M. Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Asperger’s syndrome (AS) has recently become controversial as a unique pervasive developmental disorder. Although it is apparently different than low-functioning autism, it has been deemed too similar to high-functioning autism (HFA) to be considered a distinct diagnosis in the DSM-5 classification system. However, despite the removal of AS from the DSM-5, research shows that both AS and HFA are significantly different than autism with cognitive impairment (intelligence quotient <= 70), and therefore have different treatment needs. These needs primarily include specialized social skills training. Youth with AS/HFA who obtain sufficient social skills often report greater levels of quality of life and lower levels of anxiety and depression. Their parents also report less parental stress. Although a growing number of evidence-based social skill interventions exist, few use an experimental design and incorporate special interest areas (i.e., the pervasive interests of children with AS), generalization techniques (e.g., different settings, parent inclusion) or computer mediation, which research suggests is needed. Using an experimental design, this study investigated the incremental benefits of parent-guided social skills software (i.e., Social Express) in improving social, emotional and behavioral functioning in the child, as well as reduce parental-stress in the parent. Thirty youths with AS/HFA enrolled in a 9-week social skills group at a clinic participated in this study, as well as their parents. Half were randomly assigned to receive Social Express. Results indicated that the treatment group showed significant improvements in social motivation compared to the control group. No significant main effects were found in regards to other social skills, internalizing problems, adaptive skills, parental stress, or life satisfaction; however, it should be noted that this study is limited by a small sample size. Other significant effects may exist, and should be investigated in the future with a larger sample size.


“Where Did I Learn That?” Exploring The Similarity Effect And Children’S Use Of Memory Cues For Source Monitoring, Leanne E. Bird Jan 2015

“Where Did I Learn That?” Exploring The Similarity Effect And Children’S Use Of Memory Cues For Source Monitoring, Leanne E. Bird

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An individual’s ability to accurately monitor source (attribute known or remembered information to its particular source or origin) develops gradually throughout childhood. Along with task difficulty (i.e., delay between encoding and retrieval), source similarity is among the utmost hindrance to individuals’ ability to accurately monitor source; specifically, the greater the similarity between sources the more difficult source monitoring judgments have been found to be, and the smaller similarity between sources (i.e., the greater number of differences between sources) the more accurate source monitoring judgments have been found to be. The similarity effect has been said to apply to all age …