Developmental Psychology Commons^™

New Audiobook From Professor Ellen Furlong, Darnysha Mitchell

Interviews for WGLT

Illinois Wesleyan Psychology Professor Ellen Furlong has a new audiobook available on Amazon’s online audiobook platform Audible called, "Decoding Dogs: Inside the Canine Mind". In the book, Furlong walks the listener through the thoughts and behaviors of dogs based on her own research and findings on dog behavior over the last two decades. She spoke to WGLT's Darnysha Mitchell about her findings on dog evolution and behavior.

Maternal And Paternal Emotion Socialization: Relations To Expressive Flexibility In American And South Korean Children, Heimi Son

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the associations between parental emotion socialization and children’s expressive flexibility (EF) during middle childhood in a cross-cultural context. American (N = 69) and South Korean children (N = 77) participated with their fathers and mothers. Children’s EF ability was assessed using a quantitative lab-based observational measure. Fathers and mothers completed questionnaires ascertaining several emotion socialization factors, including beliefs about children’s emotions, emotion control values, and their own emotion regulation strategies. Results showed that the relation between parental socialization factors and children’s EF was moderated by culture. Parental beliefs about danger …

Self-Determination In Transportation: The Route To Social Inclusion For People With Disabilities, Jessica Murray

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

People with disabilities encounter many challenges with transportation but are not usually considered in research about travel behavior and well-being. Research on transportation challenges is often disability-specific even though different access needs can complement or conflict with each other. I argue that disability should be centered in the study of travel and well-being because it magnifies problems that may also frustrate people who do not currently consider themselves disabled. The goal of the dissertation was to identify how basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence apply to the context of transportation and identify ways to measure fulfillment and frustration …

Developmental Predictors Of Adolescent Mental Health Stigma And A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Of "Ending The Silence" In New York City, Joseph S. Deluca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explored predictors of mental health stigma among adolescents and the effectiveness of a school-based mental health stigma reduction and health promotion program, “Ending the Silence” (ETS), developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Youth mental health service use is impacted by many factors, but concern about stigma and low mental health knowledge have been consistently identified as leading barriers to help-seeking. Beyond education and contact program components, existing research on how to design a successful adolescent stigma reduction intervention has been inconclusive. A diverse sample of 206 high school students in New York City participated in the …

Accurately Diagnosing Autism Spectrum Disorder Among A Comorbid Population, Michelle Okolita

Dissertations

Two of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), are diagnosed in early childhood. The two disorders share similar impairments across domains, are highly comorbid, and have many overlapping symptoms. Studies have shown that among this comorbid population, children receive an ASD diagnosis a few years after their initial ADHD diagnosis, which leads to many negative consequences, including a delay in treatment. The focus in this study was on the early indicators of ASD that are present prior to the age of 3 years in order to educate others on these symptoms. In an …

Attachment, Exploration, And Internalized Homonegativity, Gregory J. Gagnon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Internalized homonegativity (IH; a.k.a. internalized homophobia), has been implicated in health disparities between lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons (LGBs) and their heterosexual peers. Yet, little available research has explored factors that may increase or decrease IH.

Objective: This dissertation investigates relations between child and adult attachment and IH. It further examines the mediating and moderating roles of exploration and mentalization, respectively, in the attachment–IH relation.

Method: One hundred fifty cisgender LGB adults participated in two waves of an online survey. The first assessed recalled child–maternal and child–paternal attachment and current attachment to the romantic partner. The second, conducted two …

Misuse Of Social Behavior In Down Syndrome: Caregiver Conducted Functional Analysis, Sally M. Izquierdo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Young children with Down syndrome often engage in charming non-contextual social behaviors. The developmental literature suggests that non-contextual social behaviors may function to escape from difficult activities to preferred social interactions. Caregivers may reinforce the behavior, perceiving it as evidence of the child’s social strength, when in fact, the pattern of behavior may also contribute to missed learning opportunities and a developmental gap between children with Down syndrome and their typically developing peers. We investigated the pattern by subjecting it for the first time to functional analyses. We identified non-contextual social behavior, confirmed function(s) of escape to attention, and compared …

Exploring The Relationship Between Children’S Vocabulary And Their Understanding Of Cardinality: A Methodological Approach, Justin Slifer, Emily Carrigan, Kristin Walker, Marie Coppola

Honors Scholar Theses

Is there a relationship between vocabulary and children’s understanding of cardinality? Does the way in which we classify cardinality data as tested by the Give-a-Number task affect finding such a relationship? This thesis explored these questions using a methodological approach, by testing the relationship between children’s receptive vocabulary scores and Give-a-Number scores classified in two different ways, the traditional knower-level assessment, as well as by calculating the proportion of trials answered correctly. A significant correlation was found between participants’ receptive vocabulary scores and Give-a-Number scores using both manners of classification, independent of the children’s ages. The results were compared with …

Measuring Well-Being Among School-Aged Children: Seeking A Developmentally Appropriate Qualitative Approach, Lauren Bellamy

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Subjective well-being as a new field of social science research is calling for unique and innovative metrics and research methods. Studying the well-being of children introduces additional hurdles for data collection and research. The current field-favorite survey, the Personal Wellbeing Index–School Children (PWI-SC), asks participants to rate their “happiness” on a rating scale for seven domains of well-being and overall satisfaction with life. Current literature in the field of developmental and family science informs on the cognitive capabilities of children throughout their development and suggests that children in middle childhood may lack the ability to express abstract ideas (happiness) in …

Young In University-Work Transition: The Views Of Undergraduates In Southern Italy, Cristiano Felaco Phd, Anna Parola

The Qualitative Report

In the last few years, economic and social changes have made the path from university to work long and twisted, in particular in Southern Italy, an area with the highest rate of unemployment. This contribution aims to exploring the experiences of university-work transition of undergraduates. Using an open-ended interview, the authors obtained narrative data from 150 undergraduates from Southern Italy. Textual Analysis and Text Network Analysis were carried out to identify the thematic clusters and obtain the network pattern of lemmas in order to understand process of meaning construction of students. The analysis shows four clusters: “Awareness of one’s own …

Adolescence & Emerging Adulthood, Lisa Babel

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Sexting Among Adolescents: Examining The Association Between Sexting And Self-Esteem, Hanaah Fannin

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

Purpose: This paper provides a systematic review of the published literature examining the association between sexting and self-esteem in adolescents. It further attempts to identify gaps in the current literature and provide recommendations for future research as well as patient care and education.

Methods: Electronic databases (CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Iceberg, and PsycINFO) were searched with publication dates between January 1, 2014 and September 30, 2019. The keywords used to conduct the search were: sexting, adolescents, self-esteem, youth, and teenagers. All records were screened to meet established criteria. The inclusion criteria included the following: a) articles written in the …

We All Feel Feelings, Ben Ohene

Theses and Dissertations

Consisting of three illustrated books, We All Feel Feelings is designed as a vehicle for the discussion of emotional and mental health with young boys. These books will help foster a mindset of openness and acceptance through different methods of displaying and understanding emotions.

Parent Emotion Coaching And Affect Recognition In Theory Of Mind In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Audrey L. O'Connor

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with deficits in social communication and social interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities. Theory of Mind (ToM) has been identified as a key factor in social development in both typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD. One proposed explanation for the deficits in social development characteristic in ASD is that deficits in ToM, particularly the ability to infer the mental states of self and others, results in impairments in social development. Researchers have found that affect recognition is a precursor in the development of ToM which occurs …

Preliminary Evidence Of The Role Of Medial Prefrontal Cortex In Self-Enhancement: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study, Birgitta Taylor-Lillquist, Vivek Kanpa, Maya Crawford, Mehdi El Filali, Julia Oakes, Alex Jonasz, Amanda Disney, Julian Keenan

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Humans employ a number of strategies to improve their position in their given social hierarchy. Overclaiming involves presenting oneself as having more knowledge than one actually possesses, and it is typically invoked to increase one’s social standing. If increased expectations to possess knowledge is a perceived social pressure, such expectations should increase bouts of overclaiming. As the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is sensitive to social pressure and disruption of the MPFC leads to decreases in overclaiming, we predicted that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the MPFC would reduce overclaiming and the effects would be enhanced in the presence of …

Families In Poverty: Additive And Qualitative Influence Of Risk On Parenting, Lauren Aaron

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Co-occurrence of risk for impoverished families is common, but less is known about how compounded risk influences parenting behavior. Mothers (n = 167) and their two-year-old children were visited at home and engaged in a game aimed to elicit everyday parenting behavior. Mothers endorsed experience of sociodemographic and psychosocial risks. Two unique cumulative risk indices were created from these variables. Regression analyses assessed the relation between the risk indices and positive and negative parenting behavior. Latent class analysis examines classes of risk experience on the same indicators. Results show psychosocial risk experience is associated with both parenting factors, while …

Size Vs. Number: Assigning Number Words To Discrete And Continuous Quantities, Emily Slusser, Patrick Cravalho

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Immigrants In Education, Kayla R. Guerrero

University Honors Theses

Being an essential part of American community, immigrants face several challenges as they adjust to life away from their home country. Many of those challenges begin when immigrant students start school in the United States education system. This exploratory research investigates the school experiences of immigrants and whether or not they were supported by their peers, teachers, parents, and community and how that influenced their development. Adult immigrants will reflect back on their education experience through interviews in order for the researcher to contribute a new foundation for immigrant student development research from the perspective of actual immigrants. This will …

Intergenerational Continuity Of Abuse: The Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Abuse History In Adolescent Mothers And Children’S Experiences Of Maltreatment, Karli Kolsut

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Introduction: Previous research has identified maternal history of child abuse as a predictor of their child’s experiences, otherwise known as an intergenerational continuity of abuse (ICA). Adolescent mothers have been identified as having a higher prevalence of childhood sexual, emotional, and physical abuse histories, placing their children at high risk. A prior study with the current sample found that 66% of adolescent mothers had been a victim of childhood sexual, physical, or emotional abuse and of these, 78.1% of their children reported having a history of abuse at age 18. Method: Utilizing data from the 18-year-long Notre Dame Adolescent Parenting …

Effects Of Prenatal Exposure To Phenobarbital On Verbal Abilities In School-Aged Children, Jocelyn M. Lutes

Graduate Masters Theses

Phenobarbital is one of the oldest medications used for the treatment of epilepsy. Although its use has declined in many developed nations, phenobarbital is still a first-line treatment in several developing countries across the globe. If possible, current American Academy of Neurology guidelines advise against the use of phenobarbital during pregnancy due to an increased risk for structural malformations. However, less is known about the risk that prenatal exposure to phenobarbital poses to the cognitive and behavioral development of the child. Adams et al (in progress) have shown that, in comparison to demographically matched controls, children prenatally exposed to phenobarbital …