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Satisfaction With Caseworker Services And Child Outcomes For Youth In The Foster Care System, Taira Masuda

Master's Theses

Currently, there are approximately 400,000 children involved in the U.S. foster care system (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023). Youth involved in foster care experience challenges such as trauma, disruptions to their support system, academic disruptions, and additional public system involvement (Emerson & Lovitt, 2003; Fawley-King et al., 2017; Masuda & Helm, 2024; Modrowski et al., 2023). Considering this context, it is essential to increase efforts to reduce added distress and bolster supportive contexts for youth. Caseworkers are essential service providers for youth in foster care. Caseworkers provide support to youth and families through assessing needs, connecting families …

Growing Through Systemic Adversity: Evaluation Of Developmental Trauma Assessment Among Black And/Or Latiné Adolescents With Adhd, Victoria Grant O'Daniel

Master's Theses

Black and Latiné youth are disproportionately impacted by targeted harm and trauma exposure, which is further exacerbated by stigma, biases, and punitive actions towards youth with attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD). This presents an urgent public health concern, as frequent exposure to trauma across development can lead to difficulties with behavior regulation, interpersonal relationships, impulse control, emotion regulation, and attention and cognition. Developmental trauma disorder (DTD) was proposed to capture the adverse developmental outcomes experienced by youth exposed to chronic trauma; however, there is a dearth of research on how to assess DTD. Thus, the current study aimed to establish support …

Pubertal Timing, Physical Activity, And Internalizing Symptoms In Adolescent Girls, Kirby Knapp

Master's Theses

Puberty brings marked changes in physical appearance, biological functioning, psychological well-being, and behavior, making it one of the most pivotal transitions in adolescence. Those who experience puberty earlier than their same-aged peers are at an elevated risk of psychological disorders and physical inactivity. Research shows that there are links between physical activity and psychological disorders, yet few have examined the directional relations between physical activity and internalizing symptoms or whether a certain amount of physical activity is necessary to prevent internalizing symptoms. Therefore, the current study examined (1) the directional relations between internalizing symptoms and physical activity, (2) the degree …

Suicide Among Youth And Young Adults In Canada: Bereaved Parents’ Perspectives On The Systems Of Care, Toula Kourgiantakis, Deborah Cooper, David Cooper, Shelley Craig, Eunjung Lee, Jori Jones, Carrie K.Y. Lau, Romy Naïma Tousignant, Jonathan B. Singer, Marjorie Johnstone, Juveria Zaheer

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 15–24 in Canada. Emergency departments often serve as the first point of contact for identifying suicide risk, particularly for youth and young adults, partly due to the inaccessibility and unavailability of community mental health services. Almost half of the youth who die by suicide visit an emergency department in the year preceding their death, and up to 90% have untreated mental health and substance use concerns. Studies have found that parents describe youth mental health services as harmful, fragmented, inaccessible, and inadequate in meeting their …

Drawing The Curtain: A Grounded Theory Analysis Of The Conceptualizations Of Culture, Ethnicity And Race In Professional Training Materials For Child Life Certification, Kia Lee Ferrer

Dissertations

Objectives: Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) are pediatric healthcare professionals primarily working in hospital settings to support children and families in navigating the developmental challenges of hospitalization, illness, and enduring medical treatment. Recognizing the presence of racial and ethnic health disparities, coupled with the field’s notable lack of diversity (98% White female), the child life workforce is increasingly acknowledging the undeniable evidence that discriminatory behaviors adversely affect a child’s life and well-being. As advances in the social sciences increasingly reveal that discrimination functions as a "socially transmitted disease" in a child's life, I predict that the failure of child life …

Youth And Parent Knowledge And Perceptions Of Spina Bifida: Associations With Neurocognitive Factors, Self-Management, And Quality Of Life, Olivia Emery Clark

Dissertations

Spina bifida (SB) is a common congenital birth defect with multiple and varied medical, physical, and psychological impacts. The objective of these studies is to examine youth and parent condition-related knowledge in the context of SB and associations with executive function, quality of life, and medical self-management. Collectively, these studies examine both qualitative and quantitative multi-informant data from youth with SB, their parents, and their teachers. The first study used growth analyses to examine changes in condition-related knowledge over time, predicted by executive dysfunction and inattention, and predictive of medical self-management skills. The second study used qualitative coding methods to …

Building An Equitable Food System: Lessons From Community-Driven Initiatives In The Chicago Region, Abigail Stetter

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This research explores how community assets can be mobilized to build a resilient, equitable food system by evaluating key learnings from the Chicago Region Food System Fund’s (CRFSF) March 2022 Community Assets funding round. The CRFSF provided grants to 48 non-profit organizations leveraging community strengths to transform how food is produced, processed, distributed, and consumed through approaches centered on economic and racial equity. The evaluation employs thematic content analysis of qualitative data from grantee applications and reports. The results will increase understanding of how community-driven initiatives enhance food system resilience, challenges encountered, and actionable recommendations to further strengthen local food …

Understanding Stress, Strengths, And Strategies To Support Immigrant Youth: A Bundled Dissertation, Sarah Jolie

Dissertations

In the study of child development and mental health of Latine and immigrant and refugee youth, it is necessary to understand their cultural experiences and stress experiences in the U.S. The present project aims to address culture, stress, and the development of internalizing outcomes among Latine, immigrant, and refugee youth across two important stages of development: middle childhood and adolescence. The first study provides a comprehensive review of Latine children’s immigration experiences, the effects of exposure to multiple stressors, cultural factors, and intervention implications. The second study provides a focused examination of the impact of two culturally relevant stressors among …

Associations Between Neighborhood Factors And Adherence In Youth With Spina Bifida: The Mediating Role Of Parental Stress And Youth Internalizing Symptoms, Breana Lyn Bryant

Master's Theses

Spina bifida (SB) is a birth defect that impacts physical, medical, and neuropsychological functioning. Physical complications like hydrocephalus and bladder dysfunction require daily adherence to complex medical regimens. Additionally, youth with SB are more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression which can impact their ability to master their regimens. Evidence in other pediatric populations have examined the impact of family factors, like parental stress, and individual-level predictors of self-management outcomes, yet few have examined how the broader context, like neighborhoods, impact outcomes. Therefore, the current study examined (1) the level of the neighborhood vulnerability and acute healthcare services …

Statement On The Effects Of Law Enforcement In School Settings, Charles Tocci, Sara T. Stacy, Rachel Siegal, Jennifer Renick, Child Health And Development Institute Of Connecticut, Inc., Davielle Lakind, Jennifer Gruber, Benjamin W. Fisher

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

School-based law enforcement (SBLE) have become increasingly common in U.S. schools over recent decades despite the controversy surrounding their presence and lack of consensus around their associated benefits and harms. Drawing on the history and evidence base regarding SBLE, we advocate for an end to SBLE programs. Grounding our argument in principles of Community Psychology and positive youth development, we outline how the presence and actions of SBLE negatively affect individual students as well as school systems, with particularly harmful outcomes for students with minoritized and marginalized identities. Research on SBLE and school crime does not provide consistent evidence of …

The Way To Well-Being Through Safety, Trust And Freedom: A Youth-Driven Framework For Older Youth In Child Welfare, Bridget Marie Colacchio

Dissertations

The current study looks at the experience of well-being among young people who experienced foster care in the United States. The objective of the project was to seek a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of well-being from the perspective of those with most direct knowledge of it: youth in care themselves. Chapter 1 includes an overview of the social, historical, policy, and clinical landscape underpinning the study, starting with a summary of the current state of the child welfare system in the United States. This includes a look at two key contextual factors – structural racism and neoliberalism – that …

Consistency Of Sleep Across Development And Relations To Executive Functions; Applications To Emerging Adults Transitioning To College And Adolescents With Spina Bifida, Laura Nicholson

Dissertations

College Students, Development, Executive Functioning, Inhibition, Sleep consistency, Spina Bifida

A Longitudinal Study Of Pain In Youth And Young Adults With Spina Bifida: Three Studies Based On The Bio-Neuropsychosocial Model, Diana Margaret Ohanian

Dissertations

Family Functioning, Neuropsychology, Pain, Pain Coping, Psychological Adjustment, Spina Bifida

The Impact Of Mobile Technology-Delivered Interventions On Youth Well-Being: Systematic Review And 3-Level Meta-Analysis, Colleen Conley, Elizabeth B. Raposa, Kate Bartolotta, Sarah E. Broner, Maya Hareli, Nicola Forbes, Kirsten M. Christensen, Mark Assink

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Background: Rates of mental health problems among youth are high and rising, whereas treatment seeking in this population remains low. Technology-delivered interventions (TDIs) appear to be promising avenues for broadening the reach of evidence-based interventions for youth well-being. However, to date, meta-analytic reviews on youth samples have primarily been limited to computer and internet interventions, whereas meta-analytic evidence on mobile TDIs (mTDIs), largely comprising mobile apps for smartphones and tablets, have primarily focused on adult samples.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mTDIs for a broad range of well-being outcomes in unselected, at-risk, and clinical samples of …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Ethnic/Racial Congruence In Schools And The Challenges And Supports Newcomer Families Experienced During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Paloma Unda Charvel, Susana S. Sosa, Catherine Decarlo Santiago

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This qualitative study aims to understand the different challenges and supports newcomer families experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also seeks to understand the association between support received and ethnic representation in schools. Participants for this study were parents from the pilot evaluation of a school-based intervention for newcomer youth. Interviews and school demographics were analyzed to identify challenges, supports, and ethnic/racial congruence.Newcomer parents experienced challenges with meeting human needs, such as financial, health, and academic challenges. The study also concludes that schools should work towards better demographic collection that represents all students and their multiple identities.

Schooled To The Streets? Exploring The Relationship Between K-12 Educational Experiences And Early Careers In Activism, David Abraham Castro

Dissertations

Since the late eighteenth century, organizing and activism have been part of the urban landscape, from the labor organizing of Eugene Debs in the early twentieth century to the community organizing work of Saul Alinsky during the 1950s and 1960s. The development of community organizers is strongly tied to local institutions such as factories, houses of worship, and schools. For many youths in Chicago, schools often become the sites of political and social awakening and lead to activism beyond the schoolhouse. Within the current context of urban education scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and community organizers alike agree that the perspectives of …

School Leaders’ Assessment Of Teachers’ Preparedness For Culturally Responsive Teaching, Victoria Maria Siliunas

Dissertations

Societal and school inequities continue to be highlighted via widening achievement gaps that adversely impact historically marginalized groups of students and their communities. An acknowledgement of the importance of developing teachers who are prepared to work with students of culturally differing identities from their own in the day-to-day work of teaching has inspired a shift in language and practice from a more general multicultural approach to a culturally responsive teaching methodology in which a purposeful inclusion of the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of students is prioritized. Addressing challenges schools face related to cultural difference between teachers and the students they …

Acculturative Stress Trajectories And Mental Health Among Mexican Immigrant Families, Susana Sarai Sosa

Master's Theses

The United States is one of the leading countries with high immigration rates, with Mexican immigrants making up about 25% of all immigrants living in the United States (Budiman et al., 2020). The current study examined the divergent trajectories of acculturative stress, years in the U.S., and parent internalizing symptoms among Mexican-origin immigrant parents. Participants in this study are from a larger study on family coping among Mexican-origin immigrant families. A total of 104 families participated at T1, 99 at T2 (6 months after T1), and 97 at T3 (12 months after T1). Finally, in 2017, a reduced sample of …

Systems Of Oppression: The Impact Of Discrimination On Latinx Immigrant Adolescents’ Well-Being And Development, Stephanie A. Torres, Susana Sosa Phd, Roxanna Flores Tousaint Phd, Sarah Alicia Jolie Phd, Yvita Bustos Phd

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

With over 400 harmful immigration policy changes in the past 4 years, Latinx adolescents and families nationwide are developing within a context of extreme anti-immigrant sentiment (Dismantling and reconstructing the U.S. immigration system: A catalog of changes under the Trump presidency, Migration Policy Institute, 2020). This paper introduces the Multitiered Model of Oppression and Discrimination (MMOD), a conceptual model for understanding the impacts of multiple levels of discrimination on the well-being and development of Latinx immigrant adolescents. Interpersonal discrimination (Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2010, 32, 259), community-held stereotypes (Social Psychology of Education, 2001, 5, 201), institutional policies (Children and …

Growth Of Condition-Related Knowledge Among Youth With Spina Bifida: Associations With Neurocognitive Functioning And Self-Management Skills, Olivia Emery Clark

Master's Theses

Spina bifida (SB) is a congenital birth defect that may involve physical, medical, and neuropsychological complications due to central nervous system malformation (Copp et al., 2015). Ambulation problems, bladder and bowel dysfunction, and hydrocephalus require daily medical management tasks, including catheterization, bowel program management, and skin checks to avoid secondary complications. While self-management skills are typically gained during adolescence, executive dysfunction in SB may complicate gains (Dennis et al., 2006; Greenley, 2010). Indeed, evidence in other chronic conditions suggests that adolescent executive dysfunction is linked to poorer medical self-management. Condition-related knowledge has been identified as an important basis of medical …

Influences Of Latino Caregivers’ Input And Acculturation On Children’S Bilingual Development: A Speech Sample Analysis, Jordan Sierra Perry

Master's Theses

Interactions with caregivers are important for children’s development. In particular, the language input that young dual language learners (DLLs) receive from their primary caregivers affects their cultural knowledge and their bilingual language outcomes. However, relatively little research has been conducted to investigate the cultural contexts that influence Latino caregivers’ bilingual language use at home, including their acculturation level. Thus, the present study examined the relation between caregivers’ acculturation and their children’s bilingual (Spanish and English) language use, and whether this relation varied as a function of caregivers’ bilingual language use. Parent-report measures of bilingual language use, in addition to video …

Multi-Tiered Systems Of Supports: A Framework For Improving Schools, Hank Bohanon

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Longitudinal Associations Among Individual Factors, Parenting Behaviors, And Medical Responsibility In Youth With Spina Bifida: Mediation, Moderation, And Growth Analyses, Alexa R. Stern

Dissertations

The objective of this research was to examine how youth individual factors (neuropsychological functioning and depressive symptoms) and maternal and paternal acceptance, behavioral control, and psychological control were associated with child medical responsibility among youth with spina bifida (SB). These longitudinal studies examined multimethod, multi-informant data from families of youth with SB, their parents, and teachers. The first study used bootstrapping methods to examine two competing, mediational pathways through which depressive symptoms, executive functioning, and attention were associated with medical responsibility over time. The second study used moderation analyses to examine how parenting behaviors moderated the relationship between these cognitive …

Disrupting The School-To-Prison Pipeline: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review Of Alternative Discipline Practices To Reduce Exclusion And Promote Equity, Cara Diclemente

Dissertations

Zero tolerance policies were designed to create safety by implementing automatic exclusion (e.g., suspensions, expulsions) for misbehavior in response to rising school violence in the United States. However, evidence over the past four decades shows that these policies fail to increase objective and subjective safety, and instead foster poor school climate and disproportionate rates of minority groups in the school-to-prison pipeline. Previous research and literature reviews suggest there are a host of developing Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) practices that have promising potential to reduce exclusionary outcomes and foster equitable treatment of vulnerable student populations, such as Positive Behavioral Intervention …

Equity In Secondary Schools: Building A Strong Sense Of Belonging For Students Of Color As A Foundation For Academic Success, Joaquin Stephenson

Dissertations

The problem of practice I am investigating are students who identify as Black and Latinx who are experiencing a statistically significant low sense of belonging at Riverview High School in comparison to their White and Asian counterparts, based on survey data for the past two years. Research has shown that students’ sense of belonging stem from four major factors (1) friendship nominations, (2) time on extracurricular activities, (3) bonding with teacher, and (4) perceived discrimination. By focusing on targeted programming, this study aims to determine the two solutions that can target low sense of belonging for Black and Latinx students. …

Kinship Involvement And Strength Development In The Child Welfare System, Nicole Amper Hodgkinson

Master's Theses

For youth involved in the Child Welfare System (CWS), maltreatment and ecological losses pose enormous challenges to healthy development. Kin and fictive kin involvement, a current CWS priority, may have the potential to aid in strength development; however, little is known about its role in this process. The current study explored the following aims: (1) identify the role of kin and fictive kin in strength development (2) investigate the impact of maltreatment on initial strength levels and their development over time and (3) examine the extent to which kinship involvement interacts with prior maltreatment to buffer the impact of maltreatment …

Self-Management In Youth With Spina Bifida: Associations With Parent Factors In The Context Of A Summer Camp Intervention, Colleen F. Bechtel Driscoll

Dissertations

Achieving condition-related independence is an important developmental milestone for youth with spina bifida (SB) that can be impacted by a variety of parent factors. This study aimed to investigate (1) the cross-sectional associations between parent factors (adjustment, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors) and youth self-management (e.g., youth's condition-related responsibility and mastery), (2) relations between these same parent factors and changes in youth self-management following participation in a summer camp intervention for one summer, and (3) associations between parent factors and growth in self-management variables over two summers. Participants were 89 camper-parent dyads recruited at a summer camp for youth with SB (Myouth …

An Ecological Model Of Transmission Of Depression: Risk And Protective Factors For Mexican Immigrant Mothers And Children Living In Poverty, Anna Maria Ros

Dissertations

Family poverty has been found to predict a number of negative outcomes across a multitude of domains of child development, including health, education, language and cognitive development (Reiss, 2013; Yoshikawa, Aber & Beardslee, 2012). Furthermore, studies examining differing prevalence rates of mental illness depending on socioeconomic status have found that children liv-ing in poverty in the United States are between two and three times as likely to meet criteria for a psychiatric disorder when compared to their higher SES counterparts (McLaughlin et al, 2011; Reiss, 2013). Family poverty has been found to predict internalizing psychopathology risk across childhood and adolescence, …

Mentoring For American Indian/Alaska Native Youth Population, Julia Pryce, Crystal Aschenbrener

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

This review examines research on mentoring American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) youth. The review is organized around four questions: 1. What is the effectiveness of mentoring for American Indian and Alaska Native youth? 2. What factors influence the effectiveness of mentoring for American Indian and Alaska Native youth? 3. What pathways are most important in linking mentoring to outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native youth? 4. To what extent have mentoring initiatives for American Indian and Alaska Native youth reached and engaged the youth, been implemented with high quality, and been adopted and sustained?

Going It Alone: Political Ethics And The Rights Of Unaccompanied Migrant Children, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.