Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Couples' Relationship Qualities And Child Behavior Problems, Erin Wallace Lovett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines couples’ relationship quality on child externalizing behavior problems. Family systems theory and Belsky’s determinants of parenting model posit that child behavior problems stem from problematic familial relationships and lack of support within the couple’s relationship. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the National Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The independent variables represent couples’ relationship quality and are affection/support, relationship instability, and coercion. Dependent variables represent child behavior problems and are aggression measured when children are age five and age nine, and rule-breaking behavior when the child is age nine. To examine what …

Effects Of Premature Birth And/Or Low Birthweight On Developmental Outcomes, Rachel L. Goldin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Advances in neonatal technology have improved survival rates of children born at lower and lower birthweight and after fewer and fewer weeks of gestation. However, these children are at increased risk of experiencing developmental delays. As weeks of gestation and birthweight decrease, the risk of developmental impairment and severity increases. Yet to be determined is whether premature birth and low birthweight (LBW) effect development differentially, and if the combined, have an additive effect on developmental outcomes. The first part of this study aimed to examine the independent effects of preterm birth and LBW in children at risk for developmental delays. …

Predictors Of Practice Approaches And Activitives Of Louisiana School Social Workers : Toward A Model Of Practice, Laura Richard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT The purpose of the current exploratory-descriptive study was to examine the role of school social workers in Louisiana (N = 378) and the relationship of roles in different school settings and with different caseload sizes. The information gained was used to develop a conceptual model of practice and a job description for Louisiana school social workers. In addition, predictors of the types of practice approaches and practice activities used in the different school employment settings and with different caseload sizes were also included. The school social workers were employed in school districts in Louisiana and completed an online or …

Assessing Social Support In Children: Development And Initial Validation Of The Social Support Questionnaire For Children, Arlene Tayag Gordon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research examining risk and protective factors associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children has established social support as one of the strongest predictors of psychological health and overall adjustment post-traumatic event (Vigil & Geary, 2008). Greater perceived social support, generally, has been related to more positive outcomes in children (Borja & Callahan, 2008; Cryder, Kilmer, Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2006; Pina, Villalta, Ortiz, Gottschall, Costa, & Weems, 2008). Understanding the impact of social support on coping with traumatic events such as natural disasters or exposure to community violence is limited by the lack of psychometrically sound measures. The current study …

Building Children's Liking And Preferences For Fruits And Vegetables Through School-Based Interventions, Anantha Padmaja Lakkakula

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Children’s food preferences play a major role in their food choices and consumption. The objectives of these studies were to examine the relationship between children’s preferences for fruits and vegetables (FV) and their weight status and to increase children’s liking of FV by offering repeated opportunities to taste less liked items. A representative sample of elementary school children (1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades) were recruited in the three interventions. In the first study, 341 fourth- and fifth-grade children (43% boys; 68% 4th graders) were measured for height and weight and completed a survey which sought their preferences for 38 …

The Development Of Primary And Secondary Memory And Their Relationship To Fluid Intelligence, Sharon Diane Eaves

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have been able to link working memory to many important cognitive abilities throughout the life span. Two of the unanswered questions about working memory are what cognitive processes function during working memory task performance and how do these processes directly relate to intelligence? A recent model (Unsworth & Engle, 2006) suggested that performance on working memory tasks was determined by two abilities: the capacity of primary memory and the ability to efficiently retrieve information from secondary memory. In the current study, we extended Unsworth and Engle’s (2006) methodology to include two groups of children (ages 8-9 and 10-11). Our …

The Role Of Hurricane Exposure And Life Disruption As Predictors Of Child Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomatology Following Hurricane Katrina, Angie Lynn Pellegrin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While many children emotionally recover following a disaster (Salzer & Bickman, 1999), possibly one-third of children will experience significant psychological distress or post-traumatic stress symptoms which cause interference with their daily school and home functioning (Vernberg, La Greca, Silverman, & Prinstein, 1996). Research supports the role that exposure, loss, and disruption play in increasing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) severity in children following disasters (La Greca, Silverman, Vernberg, Prinstein, 1996; Verberg et al., 1996). However, there are no assessments or questionnaires that have investigated what type of events during and following a hurricane are most predictive of post-traumatic stress reactions. Using …

Constructing A Math Applications, Curriculum-Based Assessment: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Apllications [Sic] Problems, Computation Problems And Criterion-Referenced Assessments, James E. Connell, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a well established tool for formative assessment. CBM has also been used for prediction of state test scores. However, validity coefficients between math-CBM and state tests have been moderate at best (Skiba, Magnusson, Martson, and Erickson, 1986; Martson, 1989; Putnam, 1989). The purpose of the present investigation was to develop and evaluate a set of math assessments designed to measure the type of application and problem-solving objectives required on state tests. The "application" type assessments constructed for this study combined characteristics of CBM, accuracy-based curriculum-based assessment (CBA) and criterion-referenced assessment (CRA). Theses assessments were derived from …

The Development And Validation Of The Parent Instruction-Giving Game With Youngsters (Piggy) In A Head Start Population, Stephen Danial Anthony Hupp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Head Start families demonstrate many of the risk factors that relate to the development of noncompliance and other behavior problems in young children, such as low income, limited education, teenage pregnancy, isolation, family stress, single parenthood, and parental psychopathology. Noncompliant preschool-aged children often continue to display difficulties through adolescence. Parent Management Training programs have been developed which can improve child compliance. However, many of the same risk factors that lead to child noncompliance also reduce the effectiveness of parenting interventions. Thus, more efficient assessment and intervention strategies need to be developed to facilitate the treatment of child behavior problems in …

Somatic Complaints And Health Care Utilization In Children Exposed To Violence, Kellie Ann Hilker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States, violence has been referred to as a public health epidemic and violence exposure of our youth is a particularly serious national concern. Numerous negative outcomes are associated with both child victimization and violence exposure including externalizing problems, internalizing symptoms, and poor academic performance. Somatic complaints, which have been associated with internalizing symptoms, have been found as well; however, physical complaints have not been studied in depth. Additionally, health care utilization is an area that is not widely studied in pediatric psychology, but positive associations between posttraumatic stress disorder and increased health care utilization has been found …

Television And Video Game Violence: Age Differences And The Combined Effects Of Passive And Interactive Violent Media, Kelly Stephen Meyers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The present research examined the combined effects of violent video games and violent TV programs on third and sixth-grade boys’ thoughts and behavior. In individual sessions, demographic information about the children’s television viewing and video game playing habits was collected. Participants were exposed to one of six following media conditions for 15 minutes; a) watch a violent (wrestling) or a non-violent video segment (basketball), b) play a violent or a non-violent game, or c) watch a violent or non-violent video segment and then play a video game containing the same characters and content. The potential for violent media to prime …