Psychology Commons^™

The Experience Of Childhood Maltreatment And Its Impact On Parenting In A High-Risk Sample, Alex C. Clement

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Examining The Relationship Between Parenting Problems And Intimacy, Alexandra R. Buccelli, Patricia N.E. Roberson, Kristina C. Gordon

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Parents’ Perceptions And Responses To Infant Emotions, Lauren Renee Bader

Doctoral Dissertations

Parents respond to their infants’ emotions in ways they believe are most appropriate. These reciprocal interactions make up the infants’ social-emotional environment and appear to guide future development and relationship formation; this trajectory is supported mostly from research in Western industrialized contexts. This dissertation consists of three studies and addresses the following over-arching research questions: How have parents’ perceptions of infant emotions been studied? How do Gamo mothers in rural Southern Ethiopia perceive their infants’ emotions and what do they believe are appropriate responses to emotions? Do Gamo mothers vary in their feelings about their infants’ negative emotions and is …

Observing Parenting In The Context Of Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder And Adolescent Symptomatology, Rebecca Meredith Mahan

Masters Theses

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe and chronic disorder characterized by a distorted sense of self, fear of abandonment, and difficulties forming and maintaining relationships. Two empirically supported developmental antecedents of offspring borderline features include invalidating parenting practices and maternal BPD. Recent research found that parental psychological control is one type of invalidating parenting behavior that is related to maternal borderline symptoms. The current study observed maternal psychologically controlling behaviors among a sample of 56 adolescents ages 14-18 and their mothers, who were divided into groups of those diagnosed with BPD (n = 28) and those who did …

Bidirectional Associations Between Parenting Behavior And Child Callous-Unemotional Traits: Do Delinquent Peer Affiliations And/Or Parental Psychopathology Moderate These Links?, Amber Rochelle Wimsatt

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study examined bidirectional associations between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and parenting dimensions and evaluated whether these associations changed as children aged. Furthermore, this study extended the literature by examining whether these relations were moderated by delinquent peer affiliation and/or parental depression. Proposed relations were examined using a longitudinal sample of 120 aggressive boys (59.6%) and girls (40.4%) who were in the 4^th grade (M = 10.56 years, SD = .56) at baseline and were followed over four years. A series of generalized estimating equation [GEE] models revealed reciprocal relations between CU traits and corporal punishment. Consistent with …

The Effect Of Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder And Social Support On Patterns Of Emotional Availability In Mother-Child Interactions, Rebecca Devan Trupe

Doctoral Dissertations

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience severe and pervasive disturbances in the development of attachment relationships, identity, and emotion regulation. Given these deficits, there is an important need to understand the unique challenges mothers diagnosed with BPD are likely to face in parenting their children, as well as identify contextual variables that might be associated with maternal functioning and parenting outcomes. The current study used a low socioeconomic sample of children aged 4-7 of mothers with BPD, and a comparison group of children of mothers without BPD, to examine associations between maternal BPD, maternal borderline features, social support, and …

Associations Between The Subtypes Of Aggression, Parenting Styles And Psychiatric Symptomatology In Children On A Psychiatric Inpatient Unit, Jamie Lee Rathert

Doctoral Dissertations

Childhood aggression often precedes more costly problem behavior that may result in psychiatric hospitalization. However, aggression is not a unidimensional construct, as there are subdimensions of aggression. A common way that aggression is divided is by the motivation behind the behavior, namely proactive and reactive aggression. Proactive aggression is calculated in nature, whereas reactive aggression occurs in response to a perceived threat. Some evidence suggests differential outcomes for these aggression subtypes; thus, further understanding of the link between the subtypes of aggression and psychiatric problems may help to refine current prevention efforts and reduce the number of hospitalizations.

Consistent with …

The Impact Of Relational Aggression And Friendship Quality On The Pathway From Parental Psychological Control To Child Internalizing Symptomology, Alden Elizabeth Gaertner

Doctoral Dissertations

The current project examined two competing models investigating the role of child relational aggression and friendship quality in the association between parental psychological control and child internalizing symptomology. An at-risk sample of predominantly minority children (n = 132, 55% male, 86% minority) ranging from 5 to 14 years of age (M = 8.83, SD = 2.43), recruited from a Knoxville, Tennessee area Boys and Girls Club was used to examine the proposed construct relations. Interaction terms between study variables and gender and age were also examined. All structural equation models yielded a poor fit to the data. Multiple regression …

Positive Functioning Among Chinese Adolescents: Conceptualizing A Framework And Testing Effects Of Parenting, Mingzhu Xia

Doctoral Dissertations

Chinese adolescents’ development has received increasing attention over recent decades. However, following a traditional deficit model, most of the attention has been on problematic functioning of adolescents (e.g. depression). This emphasis is not consistent with evidence that the large majority of Chinese adolescents do not manifest such problem behaviors. Little is known about positive functioning among Chinese adolescents and how it is related to key socialization practices such as parenting. The purpose of the present study was to begin to fill these gaps.

Using theory, past empirical practice, and characteristics of Chinese culture, the study posited a second-order structure for …