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Anxiety And Depression's Incremental Effect On Executive Functioning Deficits In Children And Adolescents, Paige Picou

LSU Master's Theses

Children and adolescents experiencing anxiety and/or depression experience impairment in a myriad of domains and often engage in maladaptive strategies that then exacerbate or prolong their current symptomology. However, there is still a paucity of research examining anxiety and depression’s impact on executive functioning in children and adolescents, and existing research is muddled with problems in how researchers both define and choose to measure executive functioning. This study aims to clarify some of the conflicting research on anxiety and depression’s impact on executive functioning by using Barkley’s hybrid theory of executive functioning to determine whether anxiety and depressive symptomology add …

Couples' Relationship Qualities And Child Behavior Problems, Erin Wallace Lovett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines couples’ relationship quality on child externalizing behavior problems. Family systems theory and Belsky’s determinants of parenting model posit that child behavior problems stem from problematic familial relationships and lack of support within the couple’s relationship. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the National Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The independent variables represent couples’ relationship quality and are affection/support, relationship instability, and coercion. Dependent variables represent child behavior problems and are aggression measured when children are age five and age nine, and rule-breaking behavior when the child is age nine. To examine what …

Mini-Actors, Mega-Stages: Examining The Use Of Theatre Among Children And Youth In U.S. Evangelical Megachurches, Carla Elisha Lahey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

How do children and youth first encounter the performing arts? While schools may stand out as an obvious answer, a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education shows that the percentage of public schools offering theatre classes dropped at both the primary and secondary level from 2000-2010 (Brenchley). Yet, even as arts offerings experience a decline in some public schools, many students are being introduced to performance through another venue – the evangelical megachurch.

Since the birth of the church growth movement in the 1970s, megachurches (defined as Protestant congregations that average at least 2,000 weekly attendees) have …

Acoustic Characteristics Of Vowels Produced By Young Children From The New Orleans Area, Rebecca E. Dorsa

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding dialects and their effects on speech and language is integral to the field of speech-language pathology, as dialectal differences could potentially be misdiagnosed as speech or language disorders if these factors are not well-considered. The number and organization of the vowel system of one regional dialect of American English differs from those of another regional dialects. Therefore, understanding the effect of dialect on vowel productions in children can aid in the accurate evaluation of children from various dialectal backgrounds. The aims of the proposed study were to 1) determine the age at which young children develop acoustic markers of …

The Use Of Systematic Distractions To Increase Sustained Attention In School-Aged Children With Attention Problems, Emma Larson

LSU Master's Theses

With the growing prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children (DSM-5, 2013), it has been established that the ability of these children to sustain attention is marked with difficulty (Barkley, 2006). Prior research has addressed the need to increase sustained attention in children with ADHD, however, not all of the promising methods take into consideration that children with ADHD have difficulty ignoring distractions (Rapport et al., 2009). This is problematic because the typical classroom environment is filled with distractions. The current study attempted to fill this research gap by training participants to sustain attention while systematically introducing distractions …

Predictors Of Positive Adjustment In A Sample Of Children Impacted By Hurricane Katrina, Jennifer C. Piscitello

LSU Master's Theses

Natural disasters have a profound psychological impact on children and youth (Kelley et al., 2010; Lai et al., 2015; La Greca, et al., 1996; Vernberg et al., 1996). Much of the literature assessing risk and protective factors related to children’s post-disaster recovery has primarily focused on the development of significant clinical symptoms, largely ignoring factors associated with positive adjustment and resilience. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine parenting behaviors and family organization (i.e., child routines) as they relate to children’s self-esteem and self-reliance in a sample of 371 parent-child dyads impacted by Hurricane Katrina. A series of …

Effects Of Premature Birth And/Or Low Birthweight On Developmental Outcomes, Rachel L. Goldin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Advances in neonatal technology have improved survival rates of children born at lower and lower birthweight and after fewer and fewer weeks of gestation. However, these children are at increased risk of experiencing developmental delays. As weeks of gestation and birthweight decrease, the risk of developmental impairment and severity increases. Yet to be determined is whether premature birth and low birthweight (LBW) effect development differentially, and if the combined, have an additive effect on developmental outcomes. The first part of this study aimed to examine the independent effects of preterm birth and LBW in children at risk for developmental delays. …

A Comparative Case Study: An Examination Of How Literature Assists Children Experiencing A Trauma, Michelle Clare Benoit

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This case study, with four elementary school students as participants, examined the use of books and bibliotherapy when experiencing a traumatic incident. Utilizing fiction books, I explored how literature could be a powerful tool for overcoming life-altering events and circumstances, such as losing a pet, going through a divorce, or dealing with a grandparent who is suffering from Alzheimer's, with a bully in school, or the death of a loved one. Bibliotherapy could also be effective when used with individuals that stutter, children with dyslexia, and children coping with death or a parental mental illness. For this study, the data …

"Mais, You Talk Like Me? /Ju Ra:/": Kindergarteners' Use Of Five Cajun English Phonological Features, Hannah Joy Smitherman

LSU Master's Theses

Cajun English (CE) is an understudied dialect that is spoken in and around the Acadian triangle of Louisiana. Of the studies that exist, almost all have been completed with adults. The purpose of the current study was to determine if children whose parents have identified their family as Cajun use five phonological features of CE (/t, d/ for /θ, ð/, nonaspirated /p, t, k/, heavy vowel nasalization, monophthongization, and glide weakening on vowels) more frequently than those identified as non-Cajun. The participants were 11 kindergarteners who were identified as Cajun or non-Cajun and who resided in Assumption Parish in rural …

Autism Severity And Comorbid Symptoms In Children With Asd, Jina Jang

LSU Master's Theses

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reported to evince high rates of comorbid symptoms. Co-occurring disorders among individuals with ASD are often difficult to assess and diagnose accurately. Also, comorbid conditions frequently exacerbate symptoms of ASD. Different treatment regimens may be effective for comorbid symptoms in ASD; however, research looking at comorbid symptoms and ASD is limited. The current study aimed to extend the literature in this area by examining the relationship between ASD and comorbid symptoms. First, the current study assessed how often and how severely comorbid symptoms were endorsed. Further, autism severity was used to predict comorbid …

Social Support As A Protective Factor For Bullied Children And Adolescents, Seandra Jean Cosgrove

LSU Master's Theses

The impact of bullying on children’s self-esteem, confidence, and social acceptance has become increasingly recognized. Considerable research has evaluated the deleterious effects of bullying and protective and risk factors as a result of victimization. Past research has shown social support to be a protective factor for children and adolescents who have been subjected to negative experiences, such as experiencing traumatic events (Vigna, Hernandez, Paasch, Gordon, & Kelley, 2009). However, research has not evaluated whether social support buffers the impact of bullying on children and adolescents. The current study investigated perceived social support and its role as a protective factor against …

Teachers' Perspectives On The Need And Acceptability Of School-Based Identification And Treatment For Children Exposed To Violence: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Rachel Marie Olinger

LSU Master's Theses

Increasing research has emerged in the last decade focusing on interventions for youth experiencing difficulties due to traumatic experiences in their lives. In addition, recent literature has proposed that schools may in fact be an effective location for the delivery of mental health services to these children and, that teachers and school staff may be effective at implementing the proposed interventions. However, trauma is a broad term often used to describe a wide range of stressful situations for students, each of which has varying degrees of influence. With the increase of violence exposure for youth in their homes, schools, and …

Predictors Of Practice Approaches And Activitives Of Louisiana School Social Workers : Toward A Model Of Practice, Laura Richard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT The purpose of the current exploratory-descriptive study was to examine the role of school social workers in Louisiana (N = 378) and the relationship of roles in different school settings and with different caseload sizes. The information gained was used to develop a conceptual model of practice and a job description for Louisiana school social workers. In addition, predictors of the types of practice approaches and practice activities used in the different school employment settings and with different caseload sizes were also included. The school social workers were employed in school districts in Louisiana and completed an online or …

Family-Related Risk Factors And Their Associations With Behavior Problems Of Children In Foster Care, Jena Leigh Ourso

LSU Master's Theses

Children in foster care are at risk for problems associated with breakdowns in their ecological system. Possible explanations for this may be that children’s daily interactions in early childhood are primarily with their parents. The relationship between child and parent (the dyad) is a crucial part of the way children grow and develop. Past research focuses on the child’s behavior problems as separate and isolated instead of focusing on the behavior problems as a symptom of the dysfunction in the dyad. This study explored the role of two specific risk factors for children in foster care and how these may …

The Effects Of Morphophonic Faces As A Method For Teaching Sight Words, Ashley Jean Williams

LSU Master's Theses

Previous studies exploring the use of superimposed pictures for sight word learning provide mixed results, with inconclusive benefits. One criticism is that even when sight word learning is enhanced, it does not improve the learner’s use of the alphabetic principle. A second criticism is that it is only feasible for easily depicted words. This study addressed these criticisms by using pictured sight words representing a hybrid between alphabet and sight word learning, MorphoPhonic Faces (MPF). MPF have the first letter drawn in the mouth of a face suggesting speech production cues. Thus, participants were provided alphabet cues first and then …

Development And Validation Of The Adolescent Thought Control Questionnaire (Tcq-A), Reanna (Sara) Elise Whiting

LSU Master's Theses

Despite receiving widespread attention in the adult literature, virtually no information about the effects of thought suppression currently exists using a developmental psychopathology perspective in adolescents. The current study describes the development and preliminary validation of The Adolescent Thought Control Questionnaire, a self-report measure of thought suppression strategy use among adolescents. A principal factor analysis revealed an identical factor structure to the adult Thought Control Questionnaire (Wells & Davies, 1994) and included subscales measuring Distraction, Reappraisal, Social, Worry, and Punishment strategies. Adequate evidence of internal and test-retest reliability was obtained. The TCQ-A evidenced strong validity when tested for relations to …

Investigating Children's Social Support Systems: Comparison Of Interviews And Interviews With Pictures, Leah Kathrine Hebert

LSU Master's Theses

The present research study seeks to improve upon prior research on child social supports by using an already existing eco-map protocol to inform two interviews on child social supports. This study will help further develop an assessment for understanding child social supports and social networks. This project examines the similarities and differences between child reports of social support using: a) child interview-only protocol and b) interview-with-pictures protocol. The two main research questions include: 1) Do children report the same number of social supports using the child interview-only protocol as the interview-with-pictures protocol? and 2) Do children report the same kind …

Fostering Compliance In Preschool-Aged Children Using Least-To-Most Assistive Prompt Hierarchy, Courtney Powers

LSU Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that prompting can increase child compliance to adult directives (Tarbox, Wallace, Penrod, & Tarbox, 2007; Wilder & Atwell, 2006; Wilder, Atwell, & Wine, 2006). The purpose of this study was to train teachers to use prompting to increase child compliance to teacher directives. This study builds on the current literature by using least-to-most prompting (Horner & Keilitz, 1975) within the naturally occurring context of the preschool classroom. The participants consisted of 3 preschool teachers who interacted with a target child in an early childhood classroom. Child compliance was measured during free choice center time. Results were …

Assessing Social Support In Children: Development And Initial Validation Of The Social Support Questionnaire For Children, Arlene Tayag Gordon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research examining risk and protective factors associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children has established social support as one of the strongest predictors of psychological health and overall adjustment post-traumatic event (Vigil & Geary, 2008). Greater perceived social support, generally, has been related to more positive outcomes in children (Borja & Callahan, 2008; Cryder, Kilmer, Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2006; Pina, Villalta, Ortiz, Gottschall, Costa, & Weems, 2008). Understanding the impact of social support on coping with traumatic events such as natural disasters or exposure to community violence is limited by the lack of psychometrically sound measures. The current study …

Sensory Discrimination Testing With Children, Karen Melissa Garcia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Literature concerning children’s performance in sensory discrimination methods is not as extensively published as performance with adults. Therefore, in this dissertation children’s performance in discrimination methods was investigated. First, performance in the triangle and 3-AFC methods was explored with children 6 to 12 years old. The paradox of discriminatory non-discriminators states that the proportion of correct responses in the 3-AFC method will be higher than that of the triangle. However, Thurstonian theory predicts that despite the difference in proportions of correct responses the degree of difference between the stimuli will be similar. The paradox and the Thurstonian predictions were challenged …

Development Of Attitudes Of Children Toward Coastal Environment Themes Survey: Exploring Attitudes Of Louisiana Middle School Students, Rebecca Mary Jones

LSU Master's Theses

Louisiana’s coast is losing land due to erosion at the startling rate of approximately 24 square miles per year (Lockwood & Gray, 2005). Coastal erosion has serious implications for human safety and Louisiana’s economy. There are many environmental education programs throughout coastal regions of the United States that educate school children about coastal issues. LSU Coastal Roots (CR) is one such program. Students at approximately 40 participating schools raise native plants in nurseries at their school and then travel to a restoration site to transplant their plants. The goal CR is to build an attitude of stewardship and awareness toward …

Predicting Posttraumatic Growth: Coping, Social Support, And Posttraumatic Stress In Children And Adolescents After Hurricane Katrina, Mark Allen Schexnaildre

LSU Master's Theses

There is a growing area of research that explores the possibility that negative life events could ultimately result in positive outcomes. However, there exists some debate on whether or not children are capable of experiencing such outcomes. The proposed study examined posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive psychological change in the wake of a traumatic event, in a sample of child and adolescent victims of Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, the roles of coping and social support were studied as predictors of PTG. Additionally, the relationship between PTG and posttraumatic stress disorder, which has been shown to be a complex one, was explored. This …

Building Children's Liking And Preferences For Fruits And Vegetables Through School-Based Interventions, Anantha Padmaja Lakkakula

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Children’s food preferences play a major role in their food choices and consumption. The objectives of these studies were to examine the relationship between children’s preferences for fruits and vegetables (FV) and their weight status and to increase children’s liking of FV by offering repeated opportunities to taste less liked items. A representative sample of elementary school children (1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) were recruited in the three interventions. In the first study, 341 fourth- and fifth-grade children (43% boys; 68% 4th graders) were measured for height and weight and completed a survey which sought their preferences for 38 …

The Relationship Among Self-Efficacy, Negative Self-Statements, And Social Anxiety In Children: A Mediation, Brittany Nicole Moree

LSU Master's Theses

Evidence suggests that general self-efficacy, one’s beliefs about his or her global abilities, and social self-efficacy, one’s beliefs in his or her ability to navigate social situations, are strongly connected to levels of social anxiety. Negative self-statements, also known as negative self-referent cognitions, have also been linked with levels of social anxiety. Although self-efficacy and negative self-statements have been shown to be important variables in the phenomenology and maintenance of social anxiety in children, they have yet to be examined in conjunction with one another. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between negative self-statements and selfefficacy …

The Development Of Primary And Secondary Memory And Their Relationship To Fluid Intelligence, Sharon Diane Eaves

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have been able to link working memory to many important cognitive abilities throughout the life span. Two of the unanswered questions about working memory are what cognitive processes function during working memory task performance and how do these processes directly relate to intelligence? A recent model (Unsworth & Engle, 2006) suggested that performance on working memory tasks was determined by two abilities: the capacity of primary memory and the ability to efficiently retrieve information from secondary memory. In the current study, we extended Unsworth and Engle’s (2006) methodology to include two groups of children (ages 8-9 and 10-11). Our …

Effects Of Delays To Response Blocking When Used As Treatment For Problem Behavior Maintained By Automatic Reinforcement, Megan Leigh Kliebert

LSU Master's Theses

Response blocking and response interruption are common interventions for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement in the treatment literature, but these interventions may be extremely challenging for caregivers to implement with fidelity (i.e., immediately blocking each instance). We evaluated the effects of challenges to the procedural integrity of response blocking and interruption procedures upon the maintenance of treatment effects for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement for two young men by measuring aberrant behavior under several conditions including a baseline condition, an immediate response blocking or interruption condition, and delayed response blocking or interruption conditions (e.g., 3-s, 15-s, and 30-s …

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Validation Of The Autism Spectrum Disorders - Problem Behavior For Children (Asd-Pbc), Relationship Between Age And Challenging Behaviors, Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders Compared To Typically Developing Controls On The Behavioral Assessment For Children, Second Edition (Basc-2), Sara Rebecca Mahan

LSU Master's Theses

Researchers found that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a predictor for challenging behaviors. Since challenging behaviors are obstacles for social development and learning, it is important to determine if and what challenging behaviors are exhibited and how to best treat them. The Autism Spectrum Disorder – Problem Behavior for Children (ASD-PBC) is an 18 item informant based questionnaire specifically designed to measure challenging behaviors in children with ASD. Convergent and discriminant validity against the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), demonstrated the preliminary validity for the ASD-PBC for use among children and adolescents with ASD. Study 2 examined …

The Role Of Hurricane Exposure And Life Disruption As Predictors Of Child Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomatology Following Hurricane Katrina, Angie Lynn Pellegrin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While many children emotionally recover following a disaster (Salzer & Bickman, 1999), possibly one-third of children will experience significant psychological distress or post-traumatic stress symptoms which cause interference with their daily school and home functioning (Vernberg, La Greca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996). Research supports the role that exposure, loss, and disruption play in increasing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) severity in children following disasters (La Greca, Silverman, Vernberg, Prinstein, 1996; Verberg et al., 1996). However, there are no assessments or questionnaires that have investigated what type of events during and following a hurricane are most predictive of post-traumatic stress reactions. Using …

Gender Differences In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders And Comorbid Psychopathology, Julie Hess

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract Children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) frequently exhibit symptoms that are not associated with the core features of ASD. These symptoms may meet criteria for an additional diagnosis; however, accurate assessment of comorbid psychiatric conditions in ASD has been hindered by a lack of measures designed for this specific purpose. The newly constructed assessment measure, Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbid for Children (ASD-CC) has been developed specifically for examining comorbid psychiatric disorders in ASD. Therefore, this study set out to assess differences in the endorsement rates of psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD compared to …

Association Of Breakfast Consumption Patterns With Weight Status, Nutrient Intake, And Dietary Adequacy In African American Children 1-12 Years Of Age And Adolescents 13-18 Years Of Age, Brandy Michele Williams

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of these studies was to determine whether weight status, nutrient intake, and dietary adequacy were associated with breakfast consumption patterns. A representative sample of African American (AA) children and adolescents who participated in 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was used in a secondary data analysis. Participants were first grouped by age: 1-12 years of age (y) (n=1,389), 13-18 y (n = 988) and then by breakfast consumption category: breakfast skippers, ready-to-eat cereal (RTEC) consumers, and other breakfast consumers. A single multiple-pass 24-hour dietary recall was conducted using computer-assisted software to record dietary intake. To estimate …