Psychology Commons^™

The Friendship Group Motivational Systems: Naturally-Occurring Resources And Liabilities During The Transition To High School, Carrie Jeanne Furrer

Dissertations and Theses

Peer groups are a powerful part of young people's lives. As the first step in investigating the potential of peers as developmental resources or liabilities during the normatively stressful transition to high school, the purpose of this study was to identify and measure the features of peer relationships that shape healthy development, and the contextual conditions that promote them. The Friendship Group Motivational System (FGMS) is a new conceptualization that includes two individual level concepts (friendship group interactions and self-system processes), and an emergent motivational group-level concept (friendship group engagement and disaffection). Items were developed to measure the 13 constructs …

Negative Behavior Exhibited By Preschool Children In Same-Age Versus Mixed-Age Groups, Laura Janine Sheppard

Dissertations and Theses

Perhaps due to the increase in the workforce of mothers with young children, much attention has been directed in the past decade towards the subject of out-of-home child care.

In order to gain further understanding of the socialization of preschool children, an observational study was carried out which was designed to measure the amount of negative behavior expressed by children participating in mixed-age versus same-age preschool groups.