Factors Influencing Continuity Of Attachment Quality In Early Childhood, Ya F. Xue

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Although the study of attachment continuity has flourished over the last several decades, gaps remain in the literature. These include a dearth of studies that have examined: 1) how children differ in their patterns of continuity in attachment quality; 2) factors that underlie these patterns; and 3) the roles that infant characteristics, such as children’s levels of susceptibility to parenting influences, have in shaping attachment stability. Correspondingly, this dissertation aimed to identify children’s patterns of continuity in attachment quality across early childhood, and to elucidate the processes that influence the development of these different patterns. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), …

Neural And Behavioural Responses To Rewards And Losses In Early Development: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Niki Hosseini-Kamkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the neural and behavioural correlates of learning from rewards and losses in children. Greater blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) responses in the ventral striatum (VS) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) were found when participants received rewards compared to when they missed out on an opportunity to receive rewards. In contrast, greater BOLD responses in the anterior insula (AI) and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were found when participants received losses compared to when they avoided losing. The BOLD response to rewards in the VS and VMPFC correlated positively with the tendency to …

Prosody: An Important Cue To Word Learning, Monica Dasilva

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Infants rely on cues from their environment during language acquisition. Prosodic features of words are one such cue and involve changes in stress and rhythmic patterns within speech. Studies have examined prosody’s influence on word segmentation and have found it to be a useful cue for detecting word boundaries (Johnson & Seidl, 2009). What is less understood is how prosody helps infants form associations between novel labels and their referents during word learning. The present thesis investigated the influence of prosodic cues on word learning. The looking times were recorded of 13 infants (19-25 months) exposed to object-label pairings that …

Interactions Between The Basolateral Amygdala And Ventral Striatum During Probabilistic Learning In Children And Associations With Individual Differences In Free Cortisol, Haley J. Fallowfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Stress can drastically alter the behavioural and functional correlates of feedback learning; however, the functional correlates of these effects are poorly understood, particularly in children. In the present study, typically developing children between the ages of 9- and 11-years-old completed a probabilistic learning task with both appetitive and aversive outcomes in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Anticipatory stress to the experimental environment was measured via salivary cortisol at baseline and prior to completion of the task. Although baseline and pre-MRI cortisol values were not reliably different at the group level, subsequent analyses revealed that the basolateral amygdala was less responsive …

Adolescent Bystander Perceptions Of Sexual Violence Scenarios, Gloria Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sexual violence is an ongoing problem in Canada that affects youth, and has become complicated due to the increased use of social media and the Internet. As a result, new violence prevention programs focus on bystanders’ potential to intervene and has been shown to promote prosocial attitudes toward sexual violence (e.g. Banyard, Moynihan, and Plante, 2007; Katz, Heisterkamp, & Fleming, 2011). The present study examine current attitudes of adolescents in wrongfulness and willingness to intervene in scenarios of sexual violence that occur in either online or offline contexts. The study replicated and modified an existing evidence-supported American questionnaire that uses …

Empirical Validation Of An Executive Function Battery For Use In Childhood And Adolescence, Emma K. Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research explores the reliability and efficacy of a child and adolescent adaptation of an adult battery of executive functioning, measuring the constructs of reasoning, short-term memory and verbal processing. The intent of the research is twofold as it intends to support an age appropriate adjustment of a battery of tasks presented by Hampshire, Highfield, Parkin and Owen (2012), and secondly to display the necessity of looking at executive functions as multifaceted and therefore requiring multiple tasks to encompass their complexities. The adjusted battery in analysis is composed of nine tasks that have been amended to be age appropriate for …

Suicidal And Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Examining The Potential Impact Of Direct And Indirect Forms Of Childhood Maltreatment, Jenna S. Armiento

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite extensive research suggesting childhood maltreatment is related to nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), little research has examined the extent to which the differential effects of direct maltreatment (i.e., sexual and physical abuse) and indirect maltreatment (i.e., witnessing domestic violence) has on NSSI in relation to suicidal self injury (SSI). Moreover, more research is needed to understand the differences between NSSI and SSI. Participants consisted of 519 children/youth from a provincial tertiary care facility specializing in treating children with severe mental health challenges and nine community mental health facilities across Ontario, Canada. Logistic regression analyses revealed that children/youth that experienced indirect maltreatment …

Caregivers' Experiences Raising A Child With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Aamena Kapasi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to identify challenges and strengths of caregivers to a child with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Thirty-two caregivers raising a child with FASD participated in phone interviews that included the questions: "What challenges do you face in making your household function well?" and "What strengths do you have to make your household function well?" Responses to the questions were sorted by participants and the data was analyzed using multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis. In response to the question about challenges, seven concepts emerged: 1) Extra Responsibility on Caregivers, 2) Difficulty Keeping Daily Routine, 3) …

The Emotional Experience And Expression Of Anger: A Child's Perspective, Craig A. Oolup

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify key themes related to a child’s experience of anger. The existing literature on children’s emotional experiences stems from adult perceptions and interpretations; this study was envisioned to investigate the experience of anger among children using their own words. Participants were male and female students, aged 8-9 and in a general grade three classroom within a community school. Through the use of semi-structured interview focus groups conducted over a span of 10 weeks, participants were invited to disclose their understandings of anger and how they experienced it. Results were analyzed via …