Digital Commons Network^™

Predicting Conduct Problems In Youth: The Moderating Effects Of Hurricane Katrina, Julia F. Vigna

LSU Master's Theses

This study explored the moderating effects of disaster exposure on the relationships between youth conduct problems and a variety of risk and protective factors in a low-income population. Specifically, the study tests the moderating roles of hurricane-related life-threatening events and loss/disruption on the relations between conduct problems and violence exposure, social support, parenting behaviors, and family routines, respectively. This study draws data from an existing dataset, comprised of 281 displaced mother-child dyads from New Orleans and 98 non-displaced mother-child dyads from Baton Rouge, a city approximately 85 miles west of New Orleans. It was predicted that heightened conduct problems would …

Addressing The Needs Of Children Of Offenders:The 4-H Life Model, Lynna J. Lawson, Robert C. Wilkerson, Tammy Gillespie, Elizabeth G. Dunn

Journal of Youth Development

4-H LIFE represents a promising approach to addressing the needs of children of offenders and their caregivers. The 4-H Living Interactive Family Education (LIFE) Program was established in 1999 at the Potosi Correctional Center, a maximum security prison. 4-H LIFE is an enhanced or therapeutic visitation program with three key components: 1. parent engagement 2. parent education 3. 4-H activities for children of offenders, led by the incarcerated parents. Since inception, 141 youths between the ages of 5 and 18 have participated; 59 incarcerated fathers and 106 caregivers have also been engaged at PCC. Program evaluations suggest that parent-child outcomes …

Addressing The Needs Of Children Of Offenders:The 4-H Life Model, Lynna J. Lawson, Robert C. Wilkerson, Tammy Gillespie, Elizabeth G. Dunn

Journal of Youth Development

4-H LIFE represents a promising approach to addressing the needs of children of offenders and their caregivers. The 4-H Living Interactive Family Education (LIFE) Program was established in 1999 at the Potosi Correctional Center, a maximum security prison. 4-H LIFE is an enhanced or therapeutic visitation program with three key components: 1. parent engagement 2. parent education 3. 4-H activities for children of offenders, led by the incarcerated parents. Since inception, 141 youths between the ages of 5 and 18 have participated; 59 incarcerated fathers and 106 caregivers have also been engaged at PCC. Program evaluations suggest that parent-child outcomes …

Effectiveness Of A Treatment Approach For Comorbid Major Depressive Disorder And Borderline Personality Disorder: A Case Study, Jo Anne Esfahani

Theses and Dissertations

This case study evaluates the effectiveness of psychopharmacology and psychotherapy with a focus on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the treatment of an adult female diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Comorbid Borderline Personality Disorder in a community based mental health agency. The client's psychosocial assessment is presented and the empirical treatment literature related to the client's diagnosis is reviewed. A variety of outcome measures were used. Results indicated the treatment was effective: the client experienced significant reduction in the severity of her symptoms. However, further treatment is needed to improve parenting skills, maintain healthy interpersonal relationships and to reduce residual …

Father Involvement In Early Head Start Research Programs, H. H. Raikes, J. A. Summers, Lori A. Roggman

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

This study examined fathers' participation in Early Head Start programs using quantitative and qualitative data from 326 Early Head Start fathers when children were 36 months of age. About half (49%) of the fathers were involved in at least one program activity. A quarter (26%) of the fathers participated at a higher level, in two or more types of program activities. Fathers participated in parent education programs (17%), group socializations (15%), father-only activities (6%), policy councils and program committees (9%), home visits (32% ever, 17% monthly), and in dropping children off at the Early Head Start center (24% ever, …

Transportability Of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy : A Case Study With Adolescents In A Residential Treatment Setting, Susanna A. Carew

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Because of the increase in the numbers of adolescents presenting in residential care, the challenge and difficulty posed to therapists in treating this age-group, and the prevalence of chronic stress and complex trauma symptoms found in this population, the research conducted was a clinical case study investigating the transportability and effectiveness of using Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), a manualized treatment format, with adolescent clients in a residential treatment setting. A doctoral candidate was trained to engage each of three residential clients in 12 individual sessions of TF-CBT. The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), Jesness …

Promoting Resilience In Inner City Youth : Implications For Counselors, Anthony D. Lymus

Graduate Research Papers

The strain and difficulties that plague the inner city continue to mount. As a result, youth who grow up in this environment are exposed to violence, substance abuse, inadequate education, and poverty. Although some youth become a part of the cycle that produces these unfortunate events, some are able to make it out and become assets to society. This occurrence has been termed resilience. The study of resilience continues to grow as researchers attempt to provide information for school officials, communities, and mental health practitioners about how to promote resilience in inner city youth.

Family Environment As A Contributor To Locus Of Control In Children And Adolescents, Christopher Michael Delap

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between family environment and locus of control among children and adolescents. The data examined consisted of 52 participants who were from a larger study that was comprised of 265 participants in a school setting. The measures used for this study were the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (MMCPC). An independent groups t test was used to examine whether there were significant differences in scores on the relationship and growth domains on the FES between internal, external, or unknown locus of control …

Culturally Adapted Mental Health Interventions: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Derek Griner

Faculty Publications

There is a pressing need to enhance the availability and quality of mental health services provided to persons from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups. Many previous authors have advocated that traditional mental health treatments be modified to better match clients? cultural contexts. Numerous studies evaluating culturally adapted interventions have appeared, and the present study used meta-analytic methodology to summarize these data. Across 76 studies the resulting random effects weighted average effect size was d = .45, indicating a moderately strong benefit of culturally adapted interventions. Interventions targeted to a specific cultural group were four times more effective than interventions …

Field-Based Experience In Light Of Changing Demographics, Fred Jay Krieg, Joyce Meikamp, Stephen L. O’Keefe, Sandra S. Stroebel

School Psychology Faculty Research

Due to changing demographics of students admitted to the School Psychology Training Program at Marshall University Graduate College, it has become imperative to significantly expand field experiences beginning in the first semester to address the lack of educational background of most of the students entering the program. This organized sequence of field experiences continues throughout the program, parallel to classroom instruction, affording opportunities for students to put theory into practice and to interact with professionals in the field, while also allowing for exposure to the public school environment. The collaborative field experience sequence provides the students with early and continuous …

Behavior Problems In Children Of Battered Women, Stacey Monahan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to address this question: Is there a relationship between the trauma symptoms of mothers and the behavior problems of their children in the context of domestic violence? Mothers' trauma symptoms significantly correlated with their children's behavior problems in these children between the ages of 3 to 10 years. Pearson correlations revealed that the mothers' defensive avoidance scale scores significantly correlated with their children's anxious/depressed and internalizing scale scores, mothers' depression and impaired self-reference scale scores significantly correlated with their children's withdrawn and internalizing scale scores, and mothers' dysfunctional sexual behavior and tension reduction behavior …

The Effects Of Prolonged Job Insecurity On The Psychological Well-Being Of Workers, Cynthia Rocha, Jennifer Hause Crowell, Andrea K. Mccarter

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Job insecurity has been increasing since the 1980s. While researchers have found job insecurity to be negatively associated with multiple indicators of well-being for workers and their families in cross sectional studies, less is known about the long term effects of prolonged job insecurity. Specifically, there is a need to collect measures of both insecurity and its consequences at multiple time periods. The current study followed workers for 3 1/2 years to assess the effects of chronic job insecurity on psychological distress. Results indicate that while workers reported increased feelings of security over time, there were longer term negative effects …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Psychosocial Adjustment Of Khmer Refugees In Three Massachusetts Communities, Leakhena Nou

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

This paper uses a sociological stress process model to explore the Khmer adult refugees’ experience in Massachusetts. The analysis is based on the responses of three focus groups in the Khmer communities of Lowell, Lynn, and Revere, Massachusetts. The focus groups provided an in-depth understanding of sources of stress, stress mediators, and psychosocial adjustment/adaptational patterns for Khmer refugees who had experienced the Cambodian genocide. Symptoms and reactions associated with underlying causes of mental health problems had culturally specific relevance to physical illness and mental health.

Assessing The Parent Involvement Component Of A Head Start Program, Stephanie Wilkerson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Head Start, a federally funded preschool program that provides a diverse array of services to children ages three to five years, strongly emphasizes the importance of parent involvement in its program. The purpose of the present study was to examine Head Start parents' perceptions of the parent involvement component of a regional Head Start program. Specifically, this study assessed barriers to parent involvement with the program, parent participation and satisfaction with the program, and whether or not parents were aware of the various aspects of the Head Start parent involvement component. This study also compared satisfaction ratings of parents who …

Gender Differences In Emotion Regulation, Kristiane Madsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Emotion regulation is conceptualized as the ability to identify and respond appropriately to emotions. Previous research on gender and emotional expression suggests that female children are socially conditioned to be more expressive, and thus may be more able to regulate emotion with their mothers in relation to their male peers. Participants include 144 mother-child pairs at child age points 14, 24, and 36 months and at Pre-Kindergarten entry who participated in a local Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project. Data consist of videotaped interactions of mothers and infants engaged in a 10 minute free play activity with three bags …

Children Of Incarcerated Mothers, Kisha Smith

Graduate Research Papers

Since 1990, the female prison population has increased significantly. In the United States, there are 721,500 incarcerated individuals who are parents of minor children. Many of these parents are mothers who experienced drug use and came from single parent families living in poverty.

Since 60 percent of children are primarily cared for by their mother, maternal incarceration results in many children being removed from their homes, resulting in internal and external problems as well as academic concerns. In addition, this situation can lead to emotional issues, such as grief and loss, and problems related to social adjustment. Consequently, children of …

“You Can’T Hustle All Your Life”: An Exploratory Investigation Of The Exit Process Among Street-Level Prostituted Women, Rochelle L. Dalla

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Between 1998 and 1999, 43 street-level prostituted women were interviewed regarding their developmental experiences, including prostitution entry, maintenance, and exit attempts. Three years later, 18 of the original 43 participants were located and interviewed. This exploratory follow-up investigation focused on the women’s life experiences between the two points of contact, with emphasis on sex-industry exit attempts. Five women had maintained their exit efforts and had not returned to prostitution, nine had returned to both prostitution and drug use, and one had returned to prostitution only. Three additional women had violated parole and been reincarcerated. Themes evident among those who were …

How The Justice System Responds To Juvenile Victims: A Comprehensive Model., David Finkelhor, Theodore P. Cross, Elise N. Cantor

Crimes Against Children Research Center

The justice system handles thousands of cases involving juvenile victims each year. These victims are served by a complex set of agencies and institutions, including police, prosecutors, courts, and child protection agencies. Despite the many cases involving juvenile victims and the structure in place for responding to them, the juvenile victim justice system model presented in this Bulletin is a new concept. Although the juvenile victim justice system has a distinct structure and sequence, its operation is not very well understood. Unlike the more familiar juvenile offender justice system, the juvenile victim justice system has not been conceptualized as a …

An Examination Of The Five Factors Of Personality, Pubertal Onset And Alcohol Usage In Adolescent Males, Sarah Wickman

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Recent national surveys have demonstrated an increase in alcohol use among adolescents over the past five years (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 2003; Kann et al., 2000). It is important to understand factors that influence alcohol use in order to aid in the creation of preventative measures due to the many possible negative consequences associated with drinking alcohol (i.e., unwanted sexual activity, delinquency, abuse of other drugs, violence, car accidents, and poor academic performance) (Boyd, Howard, & Zucker, 1995). Two factors that have been studied as possible predictors of adult and adolescent alcohol use are personality and pubertal onset. Specifically, studies …

School Counselors' Concerns Regarding Effective Crisis Intervention For Students Of Diverse Backgrounds, Michelle Lynn Canada

Theses and Dissertations

Although school counselors routinely provide crisis intervention, minimal research has focused specifically on providing such services in a manner sensitive to multicultural and ethnically diverse students. Responses of a random national sample of school counselors (n = 276, 69% return rate) indicate that approximately half voice some sort of concern related to providing crisis intervention services to students from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of this study is to summarize school counselor's concerns, providing an initial understanding for this aspect of school-based crisis intervention. Additionally, school counselors' comments were further analyzed to examine possible relationships between the type of concern and …

Wonderwise 4-H: Following In The Footsteps Of Women Scientists, Amy N. Spiegel, S. Kay Rockwell, Deanna Acklie, Saundra Wever Frerichs, Kathleen French, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Wonderwise 4-H: Women in Science Learning Kits, recently included in the National 4-H Curriculum Collection and widely tested by 4-H leaders, have positively affected youths’ perspectives on science, scientists, and scientific work. Adult leaders who used the multimedia, inquiry-based Wonderwise 4-H kits completed a Web survey describing the impact of the kits on youth. It indicated that the kits increased youth’s interest and understanding of science, broadened their view of scientists, and opened their eyes to the possibility of science in their own futures. More information about Wonderwise 4-H and downloadable activities are available at wonderwise.unl.edu.

Handbook Of Field-Based Training Experiences In School Psychology, Nova Southeastern University

College of Psychological Services / College of Psychology Postgraduate Student and Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Relationships Among Performance On Simulated Tasks Of Decision-Making, Positive Outcome Expectancies For Mdma, And Age Of First Mdma Use, Scott Michael Patterson

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among 3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use patterns and beliefs, the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, and the Adult Self-Report (ASR). Sixty-eight college students completed measures of substance use, social desirability, the MDMA Beliefs Questionnaire (MDMA-BQ), the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, and the ASR. Contrary to predictions, participants who had used MDMA at least once did not vary from those who had never used MDMA on the Gambling Task, the delay discounting task, or the ASR. As predicted, MDMA users’ outcome expectancies for MDMA significantly differed from non-users. MDMA-BQ scales and …

Child Care For Working Poor Families: Child Development And Parent Employment Outcomes, James Elicker

Center for Families Publications

The results of the Community Child Care Research Project provide data describing the child care experiences of low income working families in 4 urban communities in Indiana. Because the study participants were volunteers rather than randomly selected, conclusions drawn from these findings necessarily have limitations. Despite these limitations, the research results do represent the experiences of more than 300 low income working families, their children, and their child care providers. The results suggest a number of key issues that need further investigation by policy makers and researchers. Many children in this sample scored lower than established norms in areas of …

Conduct, Learning, And Substance Use Disorders In An Adolescent Male: A Case Study, Dana F. Wales

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine best practice interventions for an individual diagnosed with Conduct, Learning, and Substance Use Disorders. Empirically supported research was evaluated and compared to normative practices of the agency where the client resided. The intervention process included a psychosocial assessment, Differential Diagnosis as well as multiple levels of intervention. Outcome measures were used to assess depression, anxiety, and coping skills. However, a lack of cooperation and follow through by the client and his family invalidated these measures. Clinical observations and staff reports indicated that the overall intervention had mixed results with this client. …

Psychotherapy Outcome Measures In A Client With A Childhood Disorder, Amy S. Lawrence

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this case study were to: (1) complete a thorough psychosocial assessment on a psychotherapy client, (2) to attribute the most accurate diagnosis, and (3) explain the most beneficial empirical treatment through research and review. The case study consisted of a single 17-year-old Hispanic male who resided in a group home. Data was obtained through individual therapy sessions and two self-report inventories. Findings indicated that client met criteria for Disruptive Behavioral Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (DBD, NOS). Treatment research was done on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) for two reasons: (1) due to insufficient studies on DBD, NOS, and …

Family Risk Factors Related To Adolescent Adjudication, Jennifer M. Del Russo

Theses and Dissertations

Family and social relationships have been identified as risk-factors for adolescent adjudication. Ninety-five participants between the ages of 13 and 19 were recruited from the Youth Empowerment System (YES) Shelter & Residential Treatment Facility, Camden Day & Residential Treatment Center, and Camden Catholic High School in Camden County, New Jersey. The participants were administered a survey designed by the experimenter and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Chi-square analyses showed significant relationships between adjudication and who the legal guardian was, marital status of their biological parents and legal guardian, their relationship with their legal guardian, biological parents' criminal record and drug/alcohol …

Evaluation Of A Multi-Modal Treatment Approach For Adjudicated Youth, Jennifer K. Swingle

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine the effectiveness of multi-modal treatment on an adolescent with comorbid mental disorders in residential treatment using a case study format. The subject of this study was a 16-year-old girl who suffers from Reactive Attachment Disorder, Conduct Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder as well as multiple traumatic incidents in her childhood. For the purpose of this study, she was seen over a nine-month period. Major emphasis was on reducing aggression and depression and on increasing client participation in treatment. Depression and maladjustment were pre-tested and post-tested using the Beck Depression Inventory II …

Risk Factors For Selected Health-Related Behaviors Among American Indian Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study, Amy Jo Williams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Suicide and accidents are the leading causes of death among American Indian (AI) adolescents. Engaging in health-compromising behaviors (HCB) is higher among AI youth than among multicultural, national samples of adolescents. These HCBs include: smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, and delinquency. Studies that identify legitimate predictors of these behaviors among AI adolescents are needed to guide research and interventions.

Primary socialization theory (PST) suggests that peer groups, family, and school are the only areas where adolescents are directly taught to accept or reject deviant or normative behavior. Gateway theory indicates that use of certain drugs by adolescents, such as cigarettes …

Predictors Of Graduation And Rearrest In A Contemporary Juvenile Drug Court Program, Anthony Phillip Tranchita

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research on the efficacy of drug courts for substance-abusing criminal adult offenders has generally found reduced recidivism rates, and both actual and potential cost savings to the public. However, outcome research on juvenile drug courts has been limited. Furthermore, little research has examined variables that may be predictive of outcome in this population. This study reports graduation and rearrest rates for a sample of juvenile drug court participants in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also, this research assessed whether demographics, prior arrest history, attendance at drug education classes, serving detention time, or a preprogram measure of degree of substance abuse (SAS …