Psychology Commons^™

Just Turn The Darn Thing Off: Understanding Cyberbullying., Elizabeth K. Englander, Amy M. Muldowney

MARC Publications

The central role that the Internet now plays in the life of children has transformed everything about bullying between youth in the First World. Three features characterize cyberbullying: it evolves rapidly, adults differ fundamentally from children in their use of the Internet, and children are comfortable with technology but ignorant about the psychological impact of their online behaviors and the dangers to which they expose themselves and their families. This presentation will review the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center’s innovative and aggressive approach to researching and addressing both bullying and cyberbullying.

Which Sexual Abuse Victims Receive A Forensic Medical Examination? : The Impact Of Children's Advocacy Centers, Wendy A. Walsh, Theodore P. Cross, Lisa M. Jones, Monique Simone, David Kolko

Sociology

Abstract

Objective

This study examines the impact of Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC) and other factors, such as the child's age, alleged penetration, and injury on the use of forensic medical examinations as part of the response to reported child sexual abuse.

Methods

This analysis is part of a quasi-experimental study, the Multi-Site Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Centers, which evaluated four CACs relative to within-state non-CAC comparison communities. Case abstractors collected data on forensic medical exams in 1,220 child sexual abuse cases through review of case records.

Results

Suspected sexual abuse victims at CACs were two times more likely to have …

Female Sexual-Offenders: Personality Pathology As A Mediator Of The Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Abuse History And Sexual Abuse Perpetration Against Others, Kelly Ann Christopher, Catherine J. Lutz-Zois, Amanda R. Reinhardt

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objective: The goal was to examine, in an all-female sample, possible mechanisms for the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse and the likelihood of perpetrating sexual abuse as an adult. It was hypothesized that Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorder tendencies would mediate the relationship between these two forms of abuse.

Method: One hundred forty two female participants (61 sex-offenders and 81 non-sex offenders) were recruited from a women’s prison in the Midwest. The participants completed measures that included a childhood history of sexual abuse, socially desirable responding, primary and secondary psychopathy, and Borderline Personality Disorder tendencies.

Results: Participants …

Non-Resident Father Involvement And Adolescent Well- Being: Father Effects Or Child Effects?, Daniel Hawkins, Paul R. Amato, Valarie King

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Is active fathering by nonresident fathers a cause or a consequence of adolescent well- being? Past studies of nonresident father involvement have assumed a father effects model in which active parenting by fathers improves adolescent adjustment. A child effects model, in which fathers respond to levels of well-being among their adolescent offspring by becoming more or less involved parents, could also account for the positive association between active fathering and adolescent adjustment. We utilize nationally representative data from the 1995 and 1996 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to estimate the cross-lagged associations between nonresident …

Recruitment And Retention Of Childhood Bereavement Center Facilitators, Katherine A. Guilfoyle

Senior Honors Projects

When I first visited FRIENDS Way (the only childhood bereavement center in Rhode Island) to fulfill a class requirement for Honors 119- Loss in the Lives of Children and Adolescents, I realized that I had come across an incredible group of individuals. The facilitators at the center were volunteers; people who gave their time and talent to help grieving children. Many of the children had lost a parent, sibling or grandparent and I thought about how important and special the work of the facilitators is. A number of questions ran through my mind: what makes people want to do this …

Rhode Island Family Court And The Best Interests Of Children, Alexandra Arnold

Senior Honors Projects

With the continuous rise of the divorce rate in America, there is also an increase in the number of children and adolescents who must suffer through the divorce along with their parents. For some, the divorce is a relief and can be a positive change in their lives. For others, it is difficult and devastating, filled with conflict and tension. Whatever the circumstances, there are permanent effects that children experience as a result of their parents’ divorce. These effects of divorce on children are becoming better known as generations of children grow up in a single parent home. The court …

Students Sharing Feelings Of Grief: An Elementary Curriculum On Loss, Kristen Gloumakoff

Senior Honors Projects

“It is only natural that we and our children find many things that are hard to talk about. But anything human is mentionable and anything mentionable is manageable.The mentioning can be difficult, and the managing too, but both can be done if we’re surrounded by love and trust.” ~Fred Rogers This quote could be talking about many different things that parents find difficult to talk to their children about, such as smoking, drinking, drugs, divorce, and sex. I was introduced to this quote as a one about parents talking to their children about death. Death is a part of life, …

The Theory Of Planned Behavior: Predicting Physical Activity In Mexican American Children, Jeffrey J. Martin, Kimberly L. Oliver, Nate Mccaughtry

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

Theoretically grounded research on the determinants of Mexican American children's physical activity and related psychosocial variables is scarce. Thus, the purpose of our investigation was to evaluate the ability of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict Mexican American children's self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Children (N = 475, ages 9–12) completed questionnaires assessing the TPB constructs and MVPA. Multiple regression analyses provided moderate support for the ability of the TPB variables to predict MVPA as we accounted for between 8–9% of the variance in MVPA. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control accounted for 45% of the …

Datos Normativos Del Cuestionario Sobre El Comportamiento De Niños Versión Para Padres (Cbcl) Y Versión Para Profesores (Trf) En Una Muestra De Niños Venezolanos [Normative Data Of The Child Behavior Checklist (Cbcl) And Teacher's Report Form In A Sample Of Venezuelan Children], Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Isabel Montiel-Barbero, Joaquín A. Peña

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The aim of the study was to obtain normative data for a representative sample of Venezuelan children for the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report Form. The sample was constituted by 1141 children, boys and girls aged 5 to 12 (Mean= 8.79; SD=1.85), 49% female and 51% male. Socioeconomic status was significant in a way that low SES parents scored their children as having more problems. Gender has an effect on the scores; males were perceived with more behavior problems than girls for both parents and teachers. Parents and teachers did not show agreement in the assessment of the …

Temperamental And Joint Attentional Predictors Of Language Development, Brenda J. Salley, Wallace E. Dixon Jr.

ETSU Faculty Works

Individual differences in child temperament have been associated with individual differences in language development. Similarly, relationships have been reported between early nonverbal social communication (joint attention) and both temperament and language. The present study examined whether individual differences in joint attention might mediate temperament-language relationships. Temperament, language, and joint attention were assessed in 51 21-month-olds. Results indicated an inverse relationship between aspects of temperamental difficulty, including low executive control and high negative affect, and language development. Temperamental aspects of negative affect were also inversely predictive of joint attention. However, the utility of a model in which joint attention mediates the …

The Effects Of Thematic Importance On Story Recall Among Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder And Comparison Children, Rebecca A. Flake, Elizabeth P. Lorch, Richard Milich

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examined the recall of televised stories for younger (4-6 years) and older (7-9 years) children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) under two different viewing conditions (toys present/toys absent). Each child watched two Rugrats television programs, once with toys present and once with toys absent. Immediately after viewing a program, the child completed a free recall of the observed story. Comparison children’s recall increased more than ADHD children’s as importance level increased, and comparison children recalled more information overall than children with ADHD. When toys were present, children with ADHD retold less coherent stories than comparison …

When Should You Hesitate To Mediate?, Elizabeth K. Englander

MARC Publications

No abstract provided.

Disclosure Of Maternal Hiv Status To Children: To Tell Or Not To Tell . . . That Is The Question, Tanya L. Tompkins

Faculty Publications

HIV-infected mothers face the challenging decision of whether to disclose their serostatus to their children. From the perspective of both mother and child, we explored the process of disclosure, providing descriptive information and examining the relationships among disclosure, demographic variables, and child adjustment. Participants were 23 mothers and one of their noninfected children (9 to 16 years of age). Sixty-one percent of mothers disclosed. Consistent with previous research, disclosure was not related to child functioning. However, children sworn to secrecy demonstrated lower social competence and more externalizing problems. Differential disclosure, which occurred in one-third of the families, was associated with …

A Behavior Analytic Look At Contemporary Issues In The Assessment Of Child Sexual Abuse, W. Joseph Wyatt

Psychology Faculty Research

The assessment of child sexual abuse has largely been ignored by behavior analysts, although behavior analytic theory and methodology, if applied, likely would advance the field. Three classic cases demonstrate historic errors that might have been avoided, had a behaviorally based approach been employed. Functional analytic interpretations are provided for phenomena that have been explored in a representative sample of studies that, though empirical, do not appear in the behavioral literature. Specific recommendations for practice, and a call for greater involvement of behavior analysis, are presented.

Dealing With Grief And Depression Issues In Schools, Nykole L. Conrad

Graduate Research Papers

Grief is an obstacle that every child and adolescent experiences at some point. Grief can cause or worsen depressive states. The number of children and adolescents that experience grief related depression has been rising at an alarming rate for the past few decades. Studies show that the frequency of grief and associated depression increases progressively from preschool years through adolescence. Approximately 5% of all adolescents are affected by depression. Grief is not the only cause of depression; however, grief related depression is an issue that warrants notice. It is important that school staff members are aware of the signs and …

Social And Behavioral Problems Of Children With Agenesis Of The Corpus Callosum, Denise Badaruddin, Glena Andrews, Sven Bolte, Kathryn Schilmoeller, Gary Schillmoeller, Lynn Paul, Warren Brown

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Archival data from a survey of parent observations was used to determine the prevalence of social and behavioral problems in children with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC). Parent observations were surveyed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for 61 children with ACC who were selected from the archive based on criteria of motor development suggesting a relatively high general level of functioning. Younger children with ACC (ages 2–5) were rated as primarily having problems with sleep. Older children with ACC (ages 6–11) manifested problems in attention, social function, thought, and somatic complaints. The older children with ACC were also …

Abuse And Dissociation Disorder, Myrtle Godfrey

Graduate Research Papers

Child sexual abuse is widely regarded as a cause of mental problems in adult life. The damage inflicted by child sexual abuse.has an affect on the child's capacity to develop trust, intimacy and sexuality. Sexually abused children not only encounter assaults on their developing sense of sexual identity, but a blow to their interpretation of the world as a safe environment, and their developing sense of others as trustworthy. In addition, childhood sexual abuse is correlated with higher levels of dissociation. (Fleming, J. & Mullen, P. E., 1998). Of the victims that were abused by someone with whom he or …

Paths To Quality: A Child Care Quality Rating System For Indiana. What Is It's Scientific Basis?, James Elicker

Center for Families Publications

Paths to QUALITY is Indiana’s new statewide child care quality rating system (QRS), first implemented in 2008. The main components of most state QRS programs are: 1) a set of quality standards that apply to home-based and center-based child care; 2) a process for objectively assessing child care quality and maintaining accountability; 3) a system of training and technical assistance to help child care providers improve quality; 4) incentives to encourage providers to reach higher levels of quality; and 5) public information to inform parents about what the QRS is and how to use it when they make child care …

"Feelin' Blue, Oh What To Do?": Coping With Negative Emotions, Jana L. Brinkman

Graduate Research Papers

Over the past five years I have had the opportunity to work with children and youth, ages birth to eighteen, in a variety of environments. The settings in which I have interacted with children include nonprofit agency environments, after school programs, church environments, parks and recreation programs, individual and small group counseling sessions, classroom guidance settings, and home environments. My own observations and experiences along with those of parents, school staff, university faculty, fellow undergraduate and graduate students, and co-workers have supported my conclusion that children from early childhood to high school youth struggle with knowing how to appropriately respond …

Book Review: Breaking Through To Teens, Lori L. Ellison

Counseling Faculty Research

Review of the book Breaking through to teens. (2005). Ron Taffel, New York: Guilford, 292 pp.

Breaking Through To Teens, Lori L. Ellison

Counseling Faculty Research

Review of the book Breaking through to teens: A new psychotherapy for the new adolescence, by Ron Taffel

Sandplay With Children In The School Setting, Sophie I. Banwarth

Graduate Research Papers

Sandplay therapy, developed by Margaret Lowenfeld, is a technique where children choose miniature objects to place in a sand tray to create a concrete representation of their internal struggles. The counselor's role is to create a safe and protected environment and does not impose personal suggestions or ideas. The counselor can choose to facilitate different types of sandplay with a child: directed, nondirected, static, moving, or interactive. Sandplay therapy offers techniques such as hide and seek, family sand trays, mazes, and self-figures. Sandplay therapy is effective with children in the school setting. Teachers report that students return to class more …

Book Review: A Half-Century Of Thinking About Prejudice, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Fifty years after Gordon Allport’s classic The Nature of Prejudice (1954), what do we know about the nature of prejudice? Quite a bit, actually, much of which Allport already knew, but some of which represents genuine progress in scientific understanding. That’s the message of On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport, in which forty-four authors, guided by three editors, successfully manage what Allport did alone a half-century ago: to present in one volume the state of the art in the psychological study of prejudice. The volume has been carefully conceived and structured to provide comprehensive and systematic …

Building Relationships To Support Self-Regulation, Sherice Hetrick-Ortman

Graduate Research Papers

Discouraged students come to school unable to learn. Emotional and social factors affect their intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness and place them at high risk for school failure. This paper discusses the application of strategies influenced by; sociomoral atmosphere, trust development, self regulation, emotional intelligence, attachment theory, and cultural awareness.

The research addresses the question: Will emotionally discouraged children be able to regulate their emotions through positive relationship building with the classroom teacher? The results contribute to our knowledge of how to support children's ability to regulate themselves in the absence of external devices.