Psychology Commons^™

Parental Involvement In Youth Sports, Kristin Leigh Greene

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to understanding the motivating factors pertaining to the involvement of youth in sport and how parents can assist in providing their children optimal sport experiences. The paper will begin by providing a background of youth sport involvement, and include the benefits and drawbacks of youth sport participation. To ensure that young athletes are positively motivated toward sport participation, it is important to understand their reasons for participation, as well as how others, such as parents, impact their motivation toward sport. This paper will address a number of motivational theories. Deci and Ryan's cognitive evaluation …

Self-Mutilation In Adolescents: Recognizing A Silent Epidemic, Constance Glenn, Susan M. Denisco

Nursing Faculty Publications

This article describes the physical and emotional manifestations of self-mutilation behavior (SMB) in adolescents and provides information about diagnosis and treatment. The authors' own survey of school nurses' on-the-job experience with SMB is presented. Finally, the implications of the problem for nurse practitioners (NPs) who care for teens at risk for SMB are discussed.

Effects Of A Parenting Group On Family Relationships And Child Behavior Problems, Patricia E. Fernandez

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The current study is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the Parent Project, a structured parenting group used with the parents of adolescents, 12 to 15 years old, who have been identified as experiencing behavior problems. The Parent Project focuses on improving the parent child relationship and family environment. Participants included 12 caretakers who have completed the 10-week program. Intervention effects were evaluated at baseline and upon completion of the program. It was hypothesized that parents would report significantly greater improvements in the parent-child relationship, family environment, and child behavior problems at completion of the program. Statistical and clinical significant …

Evaluation Of Program Outcomes: Assessment In Children, Cheryl M. Romano

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In an age of increased concern for accountability and the review of services, administrators of health programs should be able to present their clinics effectiveness, and demonstrate their excellent service to the community, along with providing evidence for the continued need of such clinics. Outcome evaluation plays an integral part in providing this information, and is intended to provide information concerning the effectiveness of a particular program, thus allowing for modification, and even better outcomes.

This project addressed pre and post functioning in children referred for academic and/or behavioral difficulties, in a university of health sciences-based clinic. The aim was …

The Impact Of Reading Programs As A Map Project Strategy, Tena Jones

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 was enacted to protect the United States' most vulnerable students and was signed into law in January 2002 (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). For many years, black, Hispanic, special education, and limited English proficient students were not achieving at the same level as their white, middle-class counterparts because schools were not held accountable for their individual progress. The achievement gap is well documented in previous research at all levels of education. Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress  (NAEP) from 1996 to 2000, obtained from a national sample of 8th- …

Effects Of Anxiety Induction On Facial Recognition Skills Within A Sample Of Adult Victims Of Childhood Abuse, Kathryn M. Bell

Dissertations

Although it is well established that interpersonal victimization can lead to affect regulation problems, less is known about the extent to which childhood victimization impairs facial recognition skills. Most studies exploring this relationship have focused on emotion recognition (ER) in physically abused and neglected children. The degree to which these ER problems apply to sexual victimization and extend into adulthood is yet unknown. The current study examined the impact of physical and sexual childhood abuse on adult ER skills under a heightened arousal condition in 104 women with varying childhood victimization experiences. The relationship between childhood victimization and ER skills …

Audio Narration And Reading Ability In Programmed Instruction, Wendy Jaehnig

Dissertations

This study compared the effects of audio, textual, and audio-textual narration in a programmed instructional module on the performance of individuals with different reading abilities. One hundred eighty-four college students were randomly assigned to audio, textual, or audio-narration. Dependent variables were posttest score and instruction completion time. An ANCOVA was used to analyze the results, with ACT reading test scores as the covariate. No differences were found between the groups on posttest scores (p = .56) or completion time (p = .90), and there was no interaction between narration type and reading score for either dependent variable. Audio …

Temperament, Distraction, And Learning In Toddlerhood, Wallace E. Dixon Jr., Brenda J. Salley, Andrea D. Clements

ETSU Faculty Works

The word- and nonword-learning abilities of toddlers were tested under various conditions of environmental distraction, and evaluated with respect to children's temperamental attentional focus. Thirty-nine children and their mothers visited the lab at child age 21-months, where children were exposed to fast-mapping word-learning trials and nonlinguistic sequential learning trials. It was found that both word- and nonword-learning were adversely affected by the presentation of environmental distractions. But it was also found that the effect of the distractions sometimes depended on children's level of attentional focus. Specifically, children high in attentional focus were less affected by environmental distractions than children low …

Early Parenting And Children's Relational And Physical Aggression In The Preschool And Home Contexts, Juan F. Casas, Stephanie M. Weigel, Nikki R. Crick, Jamie M. Ostrov, Kathleen E. Woods, Elizabeth A. Jansen Yeh, Catherine A. Huddleston-Casas

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study investigated early parent- child relationships and how children's use of relational and physical aggression varies with aspects of those relationships during the preschool years. Specifically, parenting styles, parents' use of psychological control, and parents' report of their children's reunion behaviors were assessed. Analyses revealed significant associations between children's use of both relational and physical aggression and parents' reports of their own and their partner's parenting style, psychological control behaviors, and indicators of the attachment relationship. The results highlight the importance of investigating both mothers' and fathers' parenting and the sex of the child in studies of potential links …

An Examination Of The Similarities Between Same-Grade Friends And Different-Grade Friends, Brenna Kelley

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the similarity between same-grade and different-grade friendship pairs compared to randomly paired children in the same grade and in different grades. Previous research has focused primarily on examining same-grade children's friendships and has not examined friendships of children differing in grade. This study examined similarities between same- and different-grade friends on teacher-rated behaviors and peer relations variables. Children in 78 ungraded primary classrooms (N = 908) participated in a socio-metric interview and were rated by their teachers using the Teacher-Child Rating Scale (T-CRS, Hightower, 1986). Friendship pairs were composed of children who …

Effects Of Single Versus Multiple Verbal Operant Arrangements On The Acquisition Of Mands And Tacts In Preschool Children, Tina M. Sidener

Dissertations

Verbal Behavior programs for children diagnosed with autism typically teach novel language in the context of multiple verbal operant arrangements. Commonly called "mixed verbal behavior", this involves the interspersal of various exemplars across verbal operant categories. Despite the current recommended use of this teaching procedure, only 2 studies to date have empirically evaluated its effectiveness (i.e., Arntzen & Almas, 2001; Carroll & Hesse, 1987). In both of these studies, mixed mand-tact training resulted in faster mean acquisition of tacts than tact-only training. In Experiment 1 of the current investigation, a systematic replication of previous studies was conducted with 3 typically-developing …

Perceived Smoking Environment And Smoking Initiation Among Multi-Ethnic Urban Girls, Tracy R. Nichols, Amanda Birnbaum, Sara Birnel, Gilbert J. Botvin

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose

To examine associations between the perceived smoking environment and smoking initiation among urban multi-ethnic adolescent girls in New York City.

Methods

Self-report surveys completed in grades 7, 8, and 9 assessed girls’ (n = 858) smoking initiation, and perceived smoking environment (family smoking, friends’ smoking, smoking norms, and cigarette availability). Carbon monoxide breath samples were collected from girls using a variation of the bogus pipeline procedure.

Results

Differences were found in smoking prevalence with white girls reporting the highest prevalence of smoking at baseline and the greatest increase in smoking prevalence from seventh to eighth grade. Black girls reported …

A Resource Review: Reflect And Improve: A Tool Kit For Engagin Youth And Adults As Partners In Program Evaluation, Jane L. Powers

Journal of Youth Development

Highlights of a new evaluation resource “Reflect and Improve: A Tool Kit for Engaging Youth and Adults as Partners in Program Evaluation” are shared by the author. The Tool Kit is designed to help youth serving agencies strengthen program planning and evaluation through youth/adult partnerships.

Visual-Spatial & Visual-Motor Function In Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients, Stephanine Dianne Griffone

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Heart surgery is commonly used to repair congenital heart defects and to perform heart transplantation. The associated hypoxia before or during the surgery may cause damage in the parasaggital area of the cerebral cortex, with resulting difficulty during tasks requiring visual-spatial and visual-motor skills. This study compares the performance of children who received a heart transplant during infancy to that of nonclinical children with no medical complications on three visual-motor measures, three visual-spatial measures, and two computerized visual-spatial tasks - a Block Design Matching task and a Mental Rotation task. The children who received a heart transplant achieved significantly lower …

Implementing Bibliotherapy: Noah & Friends, Ryan Ealy

Graduate Research Papers

For this project, I have decided to write a series of short stories. It is titled Noah and Friends. These stories will teach students about diversity, peer pressure, and role models. Reading stories can be used as a great therapeutic tool as well a unique way to teach and a fun way for students to learn. Through reading stories students can learn about themselves through characters in books that are dealing with conflicts similar to what they are currently experiencing. This allows them to gain insight about their problems as well as learn different solutions they could try to solve …

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 …

A Solution-Focused Approach To School Counseling, Holly Dawn Honey

Graduate Research Papers

Solution-focused brief therapy has only recently been discovered as an effective counseling strategy in a school setting based on its time-limited, positive approach to work with students. Though this approach has not been researched in depth, there have been several studies documenting its effectiveness with school age children. This paper will provide an overall view of solution-focused brief therapy as well as some specific techniques for all levels of school counseling.

Children Of Alcoholics : A Struggle Through Childhood And Adulthood, Christina M. Mcgreevey

Graduate Research Papers

Children of alcoholics are those directly affected by familial alcoholism. Characteristics that are common in children of alcoholics in youth and in adulthood are isolation, approval seeking, fear of angry people, and addiction (Seixas & Youcha, 1985). Treatment for children of alcoholics is available through several forms of therapy including self-help groups and family therapy. The purpose of this paper is to address common characteristics of children of alcoholics, codependency, as well as treatment procedures for this population.

Play Therapy With Victims Of Child Abuse, Annie E. Jessen

Graduate Research Papers

Child abuse is a very serious issue around the world. An estimated 906,000 children were determined to be victims of child abuse or neglect in the United States in 2003. Child fatalities are the most tragic consequence of maltreatment. Play therapy provides children with the ideal environment where they feel safe and they may experience their feelings without restriction.

Oftentimes play allows children to distance themselves from experiences that are quite painful if expressed directly to a therapist. When assessing the needs of children, it is important for play therapists to assess the phenomenological impact of the abuse, the family's …

The High Cost Of Bullying, Ramona J. Schmidt

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this paper is to understand there are not simple solutions towards prevention of bullying. Anti-bullying programs are being implemented throughout the world, and their effectiveness will depend on the commitment of those involved. Bullying is about power; an imbalance of power. Bullying occurs when an individual intentionally inflicts pain on someone else through physical, verbal, or social aggression. Characteristics of the victim and the bully are reviewed along with consequences of each role. Interventions, such as Social Skills Training (SST) as well as empowerment strategies targeting the victims of bullying are useful. But the most effective method …

Insulating Effects Of Early Childhood Education, William Anthony Kull

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if formal early childhood education was related to the likelihood of later criminal activity. The secondary data analysis within this study did support inferences for four specific crime factors. This study found that preschool attendance lessened the incurrence of future criminal activity in crime categories of total numbers of damage offenses, total numbers of theft offenses, total numbers of damage alone offenses, and total numbers of injury and theft offenses.

Process Evaluation Of Treatment With Adolescents In Residential Treatment Foster Care, Courtney Anne Glazer, Adrianne Marie Vance

Theses Digitization Project

As the number of children in foster care without a familial placement continues to grow, the child welfare system is turning towards a new placement approach called Residential Treatment Foster Care. This study performed a process evaluation of 30 Residential Treatment Foster Care facilities in Los Angeles County that explored the four characteristics of case plan design, team decision-making, therapeutic intervention, staff training, and overall treatment effectiveness with regards to the number of Absences Without Leave (AWOL) and completion of treatment plan.

Social Cognition In Children From Rural Appalachia: Defining, Predicting And Discovering, Conrae J. Lucas-Adkins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study, as part of longitudial Rural Appalachian Infant Temperament Project, investigated social cognition in a group of 10 and 11 year old children. We looked at two aspects of social cognition 1) the extent to which children could generate two different explanations for the behavior of others (perspective-taking) and 2) children's interpretations of the reasons for the behaviors of others. We established a measure of social cognition, based on the earlier work of Dodge & Frame(1982), that asked children to explain the reasons for the behavior of others as presented in six hypothetical situations. Children were also asked to …

Working With Children Suffering From Abuse And Neglect, Shalon L. Frye

Graduate Research Papers

This paper examines the history of advocacy for the rights and safety of children suffering from abuse and neglect in the United States and more specifically in the state of Iowa. It looks at statistical data concerning the incidence of child abuse and its correlation to age and ability level. It addresses the developmental, psychological, emotional, and physical effects of child abuse. This paper also outlines the role of the school counselor in helping children who are victims of abuse and neglect, as well as gives interventions that may be used to assist this population.

Child Sexual Abuse, Anna Maria Opperman

Graduate Research Papers

Reports of child sexual abuse are increasing in the nation and the state of Iowa. Negative effects of child sexual abuse include low self-esteem, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, promiscuity, pregnancy, psychological disorders, eating disorders, and suicide. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2006), two out of every one thousand children in the country have experienced sexual abuse. The author will describe the types of sexual abuse, the abuse process, characteristics of offenders, and manifestations of child sexual abuse. Possible treatment for victims will also be addressed.

Attachment Disorders In Residential Treatment, John Church

Graduate Research Papers

Various aspects of developmental attachment are explored in this power point presentation. Attachment is defined and differentiated from bonding. The variations of attachment are described as they relate to the work of Mary Ainsworth (1978) and Katharine Leslie (2004). Trauma is also explored as one of the major contributors to attachment disorders. The trauma information is also linked with how the brain develops and ultimately is affected by trauma. Lastly, the symptoms of reactive attachment disorder are discussed and explored as they relate to other diagnoses such as depression and oppositional defiant disorder.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In Children And Adolescents, Mary R. Driscoll

Graduate Research Papers

Post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents has only been researched for the past fifteen to twenty years. Despite the estimates from state and local child protective services that approximately 896,000 children were victims of child abuse or neglect in 2002 (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2002), the vast majority of research and techniques used in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents has stemmed from research focused on adults. This report will provide a summary of current perspectives on the definition, assessment, and treatment of PTSD in adolescents.

Nebbe's Nature Nest : A Summary Of An Animal Assisted Therapy Camp, Trisha L. Ames

Graduate Research Papers

Two graduate students conducted a small animal assisted therapy camp. The main goal for this camp was to enhance and promote the campers' socialization skills and self-esteem through the use of animal assisted therapy. Two pre and post measurement scales were used to evaluate the children's loneliness and self-concept. The campers participated in a one-week camp lasting approximately three hours a day. To meet desired lesson goals, the campers engaged in direct animal contact and specific animal assisted activities. The following is a complete description and reaction to the animal assisted therapy camp led by Trisha (Hobbiebrunken) Ames, Nicole Whisler, …

Childhood Sexual Abuse Among University Students In Tanzania, Denis Mccrann, Kevin Lalor, Joviter K. Katabaro

Articles

Objectives: There are no prevalence data for childhood sexual abuse among Tanzanian university students. This investigation addressed this paucity. The nature of sexual abuse was also investigated. Method: Participants (N= 487) from a university in Tanzania completed a questionnaire which assessed abusive childhood sexual experiences, gathering information about age of victim, duration of abuse, perpetrators, amount of force or persuasion involved, and potential causes of child sexual abuse. A number of individuals were also interviewed about their experiences. Results: The overall prevalence rate for child sexual abuse was 27.7%, with rates being higher for females than for males. The average …

The Inaugural Issue Of The Journal Of Knowledge And Best Practices In Juvenile Justice And Psychology

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.