Developmental Psychology Commons^™

M-Chat Implementation Strategies To Improve Autism Screening Rates In Pediatric Clinics In Metro Detroit, Karamoja Monchamp

Medical Student Research Symposium

The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) is the most widely used autism screening tool. However, current practices for M-CHAT roll-outs and follow-ups are not wide-reaching, culturally sensitive, or consistent. This study aims to address the existing barriers to universal autism screenings and design a sustainable implementation strategy for a successful M-CHAT roll-out. We implemented strategies in five Henry Ford Health pediatric clinics, incorporating iPad-administered M-CHAT in waiting rooms, multilingual options, task shifting for referrals, forced choice mechanisms, and audit-and-feedback support. A Clinical Screening Dashboard tracked real-time M-CHAT data, including demographic information, collected from EPIC. Our goal is to …

The Days Take Care Of Themselves: Early Head Start Teacher Interactions With Children In Association With Factors Affecting Environmental Quality, Britta Karin Shine

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to propose a new framework for the assessment of environmental quality in infant-toddler classrooms in Early Head Start (EHS), in which sequential observational scores across the morning on the Quality of Caregiver-Child Interactions for Infants and Toddlers (Q-CCIIT; Atkins-Burnett et al., 2015) were re-framed as a micro-time-series. The purpose of these analyses was to assess within-person differences across a typical morning in EHS in teacher responsiveness and sensitivity to children’s social and emotional cues, their capacity for building relationships with children, and their support for children’s peer interaction and play. During hypothesis testing, interaction …

Proximity, Touching, And Testosterone: An Observational Study Of Mate Retention Tactics In Humans, Kraig Shattuck

Wayne State University Dissertations

Mate guarding behaviors are strongly selected for in species that suffer from infidelity and cuckoldry. Two forms of mate guarding behaviors that have been found in self-report studies on humans are proximity and touching. Proximity actively prevents infidelity though the physical act of being present. Touching indirectly prevents infidelity by signaling to any potential rivals that their partner is taken, as well as signaling to the partner that they are being watched. Testosterone is a hormone implicated in competition and aggression. When in the presence of a potential rival, testosterone levels tend to increase. This increase should be related to …

Characterizing The Development Of Episodic Memory And Assessing The Reliability Of Fmri Measures, Lingfei Tang

Wayne State University Dissertations

The ability to remember past events is critical for everyday life and showed robust improvement over development from childhood to adulthood. With advances in noninvasive neuroimaging methods such as functional MRI in recent years, research efforts have been focused on identifying neural correlates underpinning developmental gains in memory performance. In my dissertation work, using a widely-validated subsequent memory paradigm, I aim to characterize functional MRI correlates of memory development. Specifically, I focused my investigation on identifying age differences in the functional patterns of two brain regions critical for memory, the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus. Focusing on the prefrontal cortex …

The Protective Role Of Parenting Behaviors In The Development Of African American Adolescents, Kelsey Johanna Sala-Hamrick

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation aimed to understand how African American parents protect their teens from developing psychopathology in the face of extreme adversity. To do this, I examined three dimensions of parenting behavior, stress exposure, and behavior problems in order to understand the direct and moderating relations between parenting behaviors, cumulative stress and youth internalizing, externalizing, and total psychological problems. 150 African American primary caregivers reported on their adolescent children’s internalizing, externalizing and total behavior problems, exposure to stressful events, and their own parenting behavior. 150 inner-city African American adolescents reported on their exposure to traumatic stressors and a subsample of 43 …

Parental Mindfulness And Stress As An Influence On Clinically Referred Children’S Emotional Competence, Ahmad Baiyasi

Honors College Theses

Children acquire the skills of emotional competence in a variety of contexts, and demonstrate through their behavior the skills evident of emotional competence. Such skills include a sense of well-being, adaptive resilience in the face of stressful circumstances, and the ability to manage their own emotions (Saarni, 2000). Mindfulness, a relatively new construct in the study of human development, is nonjudgmentally paying attention to relevant aspects of our experiences, including our own emotions and thoughts (Ludwig & Kabat-Zinn, 2008). Stress is emotional or mental strain resulting from adverse or very demanding life circumstances, such as our living environment (Lunney, 2006). …

Mental Health Service Utilization Among At-Risk Urban Adolescents: The Relative Contributions Of Perceived Need, Attitude, And Spirituality/Religiosity, Yi Tak Tsang

Wayne State University Theses

Adolescence has been described as “a time of storm and stress” (Arnett, 1999; Hall, 1904). In fact, a national survey in the United States estimated that adolescents were twice as likely than adults to report at least one major depressive episode in the past 12 months (Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2016). In particular, adolescents who are poor, who belong to ethnic minority groups, and who live in urban neighborhoods are more vulnerable to mood and behavioral symptoms than their White/Caucasian counterparts who grow up in relatively affluent suburban and rural areas (Beyers, Bates, Pettit, & Dodge, 2003; …

Identifying Sex-Specific Cognitive And Diagnostic Profiles Of Children On The Autism Spectrum, Jessica Lee Irwin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Although there has been great interest in identifying sex differences in diseases or disorders that differentially affect males versus females, relatively less effort has been devoted to research on the differences between males and females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), despite the known male preponderance in ASD. The identification of separate male and female phenotypes within ASD would help parents, teachers, and clinicians better identify girls who may need ASD-related intervention services, inform the targets and goals of such interventions, and lead to the refinement of diagnostic criteria and instruments designed to diagnose ASD in children.

The current study sought …

Maternal Attachment Representations Of The Infant In The First Year Of Life: The Influence Of Prenatal Factors., Fatimah Hussain Alismail

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictability of prenatal factors, including maternal depression, reflective functioning, and romantic attachment style, on maternal mental representations at seven months postpartum. The participants were 74 mothers, a subsample of the Perinatal Imaging of Neural Connectivity study (PINC). Data from the current study were collected using semi-structured interviews, including the Pregnancy Interview-Revised (PI-R) (Slade, Grunebaum, Huganir, & Reeves, 1987) and the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI; Zeanah, Benoit, Barton, & Hirshberg, 1996); and self-report questionnaires, including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky, 1987) and the Experiences …

Parent-Child Interaction Style And Adjustment To Pediatric Cancer Treatment, Benjamin D. Goodlett

Wayne State University Dissertations

Substantial gains in the survival rate of children diagnosed with cancer have been achieved; however, a large body of evidence exists that children and their families are at increased psychosocial risk. Missing from our understanding is how real-time, moment-to-moment interactions build to long-term, developmental changes in child functioning. This project expands our understanding of the variation in child distress during procedures as well as long-term adjustment. Real-time coding and global ratings of parent and child behaviors were used to describe parent-child interactions in terms of dyadic flexibility and dyadic mutuality.

To carry out this project, a new system of collecting …

A Study Of Stability: Maternal Reflective Functioning From Pregnancy To Seven Months Postpartum, Kristyn Mei-Lee Wong

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study examined the stability of parental reflective functioning from the third trimester of pregnancy to seven months postpartum, as well as possible factors that impact stability. The current sample included a subsample of 47 mothers who participated in a larger study examining fetal brain connectivity and infant outcomes. Parental reflective functioning was assessed using the Pregnancy Interview-Revised (Slade, Grunebaum, Huganir, & Reeves, 1987; Slade, 2011) and the Parent Development Interview-Revised Short form (Slade et al., 2003). Additional measures assessed parity, adult romantic attachment, and demographic factors. Stability of reflective functioning was assessed in two ways, continuously and categorically. Findings …

A Developmental Contextualism Perspective On Young Children's Friendships: How Much Do Parental Characteristics, Parental Behaviors, Child Characteristics Matter?, Nicholas Ryan Bergeron

Wayne State University Dissertations

The present study investigated the relationships between parents' proximal factors: strategies used to manage and facilitate children's peer relationships, knowledge of children's playmates and close friends, and endorsement of these strategies; and parents' distal factors: parenting stress, social support network, and personality, and children's quality of peer relationships. It also investigated the relationships between child age, gender, child temperament, and children's peer relationships and children's prosocial behavior. Parents' strategies used and endorsement of those strategies were unrelated to children's peer problems and prosocial behavior, but their knowledge of children's peer relationships was negatively related to children's peer problems. Parenting stress …

Urban African American Youths' Academic Performance As Related To Fathers' Involvement During Development, Travis A. Goldwire

Wayne State University Dissertations

Father involvement in the context of urban African American youth was examined using a subsample (n = 556) of a large cohort of participants followed longitudinally through development. Data was collected at regular intervals (e.g., Age 7, 14, 19 and young adult). Young adults (n = 93) were surveyed for retrospective accounts of their fathers’ involvement in their lives before age 18. In the young adult data collection phase (the main subject of this project), most participants reported varying levels and frequency of involvement from their fathers while growing up, including helping at school, providing social support, and encouraging academic …

The Role Of Individual Character Strengths In Adolescent Academic Achievement And Risky School Behavior, Paul Deschamps

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adolescent achievement is a major developmental task in adolescence and reducing Risky School Behaviors is an important part of the process. Patterns of adolescent achievement and general development are the result of the cumulative process that includes a long history of experience and socialization in school, in the family, in the peer group, and in the community. This study is the first to expand understanding of these key interrelated but unique outcome variables of both Academic Achievement and risky School Behavior through examination of individual Character Strengths in the presence of other key intrapersonal and contextual variables from multiple systems …

Stress Exposure, Secure Base Scriptedness, Psychosocial Needs Satisfaction And Behavioral Problems Among At-Risk Urban Adolescents, Kelsey Sala-Hamrick

Wayne State University Theses

The adolescent period of development is associated with increases in internalizing, externalizing, and other problem behaviors which are thought to be exacerbated by cumulative risk factors associated with environmental disadvantage. Previous research has demonstrated the associations between both secure attachment and psychosocial needs satisfaction with decreases in behavior problems; however, few studies have examined the relative effects of environmental stress exposure, attachment security and psychosocial needs satisfaction on adolescent behavioral problems. Therefore, this study recruited 106 environmentally at-risk, socioeconomically disadvantaged sample of urban adolescents and their caregivers from Detroit, MI in order to: (1) describe the levels of environmental disadvantage …

Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Examining Latent Classes And Latent Transition Statuses In A Longitudinal Bahamian Sample, Veronica Koci

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by much change across physical, cognitive, psychological, and social domains leading to greater vulnerability for poor decision making. As a result, adolescence is a period of increased risk taking behaviors. Prevention of risk behaviors would benefit from early intervention prior to the onset of these risk behaviors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to identify those youth who may be most at risk. Risk-taking adolescents may choose to engage in specific risk behaviors; as well, risk factors that influence risk taking may also differ as a function of the specific domains of risk behaviors. The present …

Secure Base Scriptedness, Psychological Health And Wellbeing In Urban Youth, Patricia Richardson

Wayne State University Theses

This study examined the empirical utility of the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), a novel indicator of adolescent secure base script knowledge, with socioeconomically disadvantaged, African-American youth. It was hypothesized that secure base knowledge would buffer the effect of trauma exposure on youth emotional and behavioral problems. The sample included 83 adolescent (ages 13-18) caregiver dyads that participated in a larger study examining adolescent health behaviors. Results revealed preliminary empirical support for the utility of the ASA with this sample, as evidenced by expected inverse correlations with another well-established measure of attachment. Results indicated that there was not sufficient evidence to …

Maternal Emotion Regulation And Expressivity As Predictors Of Positive Parenting In Low-Income Families, Laura Michelle Crespo

Wayne State University Theses

Positive parenting has been associated with various adaptive childhood outcomes involving healthy cognitive, social, and emotional development (Fuligni & Brooks-Gunn, 2013; Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Jump, & Christiansen, 2013). There is less research, however, on which factors contribute to the parents' use of positive parenting strategies. Some evidence suggests that factors such as the parents' emotional competencies, along with the child's temperament and the family environment, influence parenting behaviors (Belsky, 1984). This study explored predictors of positive parenting, including maternal emotion expressivity and emotion regulation, child temperament traits, maternal cognitive ability, maternal perception of social support, and single parenting. Participants were …

Differential Parenting Practices Within Families: Associations With Siblings' Academic And Behavioral Outcomes, Ashley Ceresnie

Wayne State University Dissertations

The association between parenting behaviors and the outcomes of children has been widely studied, with results commonly linking parents' attitudes and behaviors with child outcomes. Few studies, however, have examined and analyzed the link between differential or inconsistent parenting within families and the academic and behavioral outcomes of siblings. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to explore the relations between differential parenting within families and the academic and general behavioral outcomes of pairs of siblings. Included in this study were variables that represent parenting factors (demandingness and responsiveness) and child outcomes (academic grades and behaviors). Unique to this …

Empathy As A Moderator Of Adolescent Bullying Behavior And Moral Disengagement After Controlling For Social Desirability, Amy Zelidman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating influence empathy has on the associations between adolescent bullying behavior and moral disengagement after controlling for social desirability (e.g., response bias). 676 students in 7th and 8th grade from a suburban middle school in Southeast Michigan participated in this study in the fall of 2012.

Results showed male respondents were more likely than female respondents to (a) report engaging in all forms of traditional bullying behavior overall, including physical, verbal, and social bullying and (b) report higher rates of physical victimization and moral disengagement. Female respondents were more likely to …

Understanding The Role Of Nutritional Stress In The Adult And Developing Zebra Finch, Jessica Bayley Thompson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Songbirds are particularly susceptible to stress during the sensitive period for song learning. Thus the developmental stress hypothesis (DSH) proposes that adult song reflects a male's early life environment during this period. Nutritional stress (NS) has been shown to cause deficits in song learning and adult song output that are salient to females. Female song birds consistently prefer control males over those raised under NS, yet the effects NS on females are still unclear. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) has been implicated in this process. However, evidence directly linking HPA functioning to the deficits due to NS have inconsistently shown elevations …

Inattention And Hyperactivity Among Preschool Age Children Born Prematurely, Andrew Heitzer

Wayne State University Theses

A large body of literature shows that compared to children born at term, preterm- children are at increased risk for difficulties with inattention and hyperactivity. Less consistency exists, however, in the limited body of research exploring the contribution of early biological risk to behavioral disinhibition within the population of children born prematurely. Therefore, our goal was to examine perinatal variables that may influence activity level and hyperactivity among preterm preschoolers. Ninety-eight preterm (23.4 - 33.9 weeks gestation) preschoolers (3-4 years) participated in the study. Direct measures of inattention and hyperactivity as well as parental ratings were used to evaluate behavior. …

Predictive Utility And Stability Of The Home Environment In An African American Sample From Diverse Socioeconomic Backgrounds, Mahya Rahimian Mashhadi

Wayne State University Theses

The quality of the home environment has a significant influence on various child outcomes. The current study investigated the predictive utility and stability of the home environment in a sample of 114 African American children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Analyses were conducted using archival data from the Early Development project, a study of the normative development of African American children. This project is consistent with a call by the Society for Research in Child Development (Cabrera, 2013) for research on the positive development of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of the present study was to compare …

Associations Between Maternal Maltreatment-Specific Shame, Maternal-Infant Interactions, And Infant Emotion Regulation, Rena A. Menke

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current study focuses on maltreatment-specific shame as a potential mechanism by which mothers' histories of childhood maltreatment might influence parenting and infant emotion regulation. Shame is a common reaction to childhood maltreatment, and the persistence of maltreatment-specific shame is associated with psychopathology and other psychosocial problems long after the abuse ends (Andrews, Brewin, Rose, & Kirk, 2000; Feiring, Taska, & Lewis, 2002a; Feiring & Taska, 2005). Despite being associated with psychopathology (e.g., depression, PTSD), shame is a conceptually distinct abuse-specific reaction that can interfere with self and interpersonal development (Feiring, Cleland & Simon, 2010; Feiring, Simon, Cleland, 2009; Feiring, …

Life Factors And Attendance Rates For Women Enrolled In A Parenting Program, Lilia Elizabeth Mucka

Wayne State University Theses

Parenting interventions consistently have been shown to improve positive parenting effectiveness, child adjustment, and family functioning (Gardner et al., 2010). However, attendance rates reported in the literature tend to be low and dropout rates tend to be high, which likely diminishes the positive impact of such programs (Dumas et al., 2007). Parenting group success begins with attendance, therefore, the study aimed to understand which life factors were associated with attendance. Specifically, the study both qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated parents' responses to a brief intervention using MI techniques by using a coding system developed by the author to understand maternal expectations …

Risk Taking Behaviors In Emerging Adults And Peer, Sibling & Parental Relationships, Malasri Rani Chaudhery-Malgeri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research shows emerging adults are more likely than younger and older cohorts to engage in such risky behaviors. However, research on the outcomes of emerging adults and their relations with peers, parents, and siblings is less conclusive. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between emerging adults' perceptions of peers', siblings', and parents' risk-taking behaviors, and risk behavior after controlling for participants' sensation seeking tendencies. This study explored the moderating role of emerging adults' relationships with peers, siblings, and parents in the relation between these models' risk taking behaviors and emerging adults' risk taking behaviors, The mediating …

Child And Family Predictors Of Bullying In Middle School Students, Rene Michele Nota

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the shared variables that contribute to direct and indirect aggression, specifically bullying and to explore the role of family context, and adolescent personality characteristics on predicting bullying behavior. The theoretical framework of this study was based on evidence that no specific element can describe why some individuals are at risk for behaving aggressively and other are more resilient. The study included 259 middle schools students in grades six through eight. The students were enrolled at a single middle school located in a suburban area. The largest group of students was African American, …

Dispositional Mediators Of Burnout Syndrome In A Sample Of Direct Care Staff Employed At Group Homes In A Midwestern State, Cristovao Bartolo Carreira

Wayne State University Dissertations

The current research examined the dispositional characteristics that mediated burnout syndrome in a sample of direct care workers who were employed in group homes for the mentally ill in a Midwestern state. Specifically, the indirect effects that the direct care staff's attachment systems and problem solving ability were examined as they applied to their potential burnout status. Attachment theory, a contemporary psychodynamic theory of personality, was used to provide a context for the study. The researcher studied the interactions between construct subcomponents to address a criticism in the literature stating that only total scores were used to study burnout and …

Cumulative Risk, The Home Environment, And Interactive Book Reading Between Mother And Child As Predictors Of School Readiness, Laura Mary Northerner

Wayne State University Theses

There is evidence in the literature that early school readiness predicts later school performance (Duncan et al., 2007; La Paro and Pianta, 2000). There is less research, however, on the impact of risk factors on a child's school readiness, and protective factors that may lessen the negative effects of various risk factors. This study explored predictors of school readiness, including cumulative socio-demographic risk, the home environment, and interactive book reading behaviors. Participants included 104 young mothers and their children. The mother and child dyads were assessed at three time points. Cumulative socio-demographic risk was measured in the lab when the …

The Effect Of Sensory Impairment On Cognitive Functioning And Functional Status In Octogenarians And Centenarians, Annalise Marie Rahman

Wayne State University Theses

Two theories predominate to explain the covariation of cognitive and sensory functions across the lifespan: The Common Cause hypothesis and the Sensory Deprivation hypothesis. It was hypothesized that the Common Cause hypothesis better accounted for the these relationships. This hypothesis was assessed by examining the associations between sensory functioning, cognitive functioning, functional status, and motor functioning in samples of octogenarians (n = 80) and centenarians (n = 244) drawn from the Georgia Centenarian Study, Phase 3, Project 3. Special attention was given to cross-sensory-modality associations. Hierarchical regressions were also utilized to determine whether inclusion of either measured or self-reported sensory …