Psychology Commons^™

Sex Differences In The Language Development Rates Of Two-Year Olds, Laurel A. Hickman

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the language development rate of male and female children, 24 to 30 months of age, during a three month time period.

Exploring Adaptive Behavior In Preschool Children, Elaine Michewicz

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Thr. purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate factors related to adaptive behavior or nonacademic behavior and the ability to function in everyday life situations. Preschool children and their mothers served as subjects for the investigation. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (Wechsler, 1967), the Nowicki Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control Scale for Children (Nowicki and Strickland, 1973), and the Circles and Unusual Uses Tests (Torrance, 1966a) were administered to twenty-five kindergarten children. In conjunction, the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children from The System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment by Mercer and Lewis (1977), which is a structured …

Children's Representation Of Spatial Information, Rebecca L. Beard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study utilized a multi-dimensional approach to examine children's communication of spatial information. Sixty male and female elementary school children, ages 6-7, 9-10, and 11-12, learned a route through a pedestrian maze with four color-coded inter sections and animal photographs to serve as landmarks. After learning the route to a specified criterion level, the children were required to complete three remaining tasks: a verbal recall task, a nonverbal reconstruction task, and a route reversal task. For each task the children were asked to provide a reason for their directional choice at each intersection. Analyses indicated developmental differences in performance …

The Development Of An Expressive Language Scoring System, Pamela Tamme

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was designed to develop an expressive language scoring system so that the creative quality of a person's written language could be quantified and measured. Sixty fifth -grade students, 31 males and 29 females, were given the opening line, i.e., story-starter, to a story and were asked to finish the stories. Each student received two story-starters concerning the same object ("content")-- either box, string or money--but were different in "context" (usual or unusual setting). Thus, a total of 120 stories were written, with 40 stories being from each content group. These stories were then rated according to their level …

The Effects Of Extraversion On Performance On The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children-Revised, Charles V. Kerekes

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A sample population of 139 fifth grade students, ranging in age from nine years to twelve years eleven months, was drawn from a data pool created from test results collected from four elementary schools in a south central Kentucky municipality. Tests used in the study were the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Revised (WISC-R) and Cattell’s Children’s Personality Questionnaire (CPQ).

These data were examined to determine the relationship of extraversion to performance on a standardized intelligence test.

Correlations for the experimental variables and extraversion ranged from .12 to .51.

The results indicated that extraverts had higher Performance, Verbal and …

The Brigance K&1 Screen And Corresponding Teacher Ratings Of Students, Shanna Waddington

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The relationship between teacher ratings of kindergarten students and scores on the Brigance K&1 Screen was examined in order to obtain a measure of construct validity for the Brigance. A Kentucky sample and California sample were included in the study. Data was analyzed separately for each sample for purposes of regional comparison. Teacher’s ratings of students’ overall ability and ability across five skill dimensions (expressive language, receptive language, personal information, fine motor skills, and gross motor skills) were compared via a linear regression analysis. The results indicated that overall ratings of students by teachers are significant and reliable combinations of …

Construct Validity Of The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Brian W. Johnson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to add supportive evidence to the construct validity of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI). The study was conducted using the Sabers-Whitney (1976) model which investigated (a) convergent validity, (b) discriminant validity, (c) sensitivity to change, (b) internal consistency, and (e) any other factors which may contribute evidence to be a measure’s construct validity.

The SEI Children’s Self Concept Scale (CSCS), and Children’s Social Desirability Scale (CSDS) were administered to all fifth grade students enrolled in an elementary school within a public school district in the northeastern United States. The self-concept assessments were conducted within …

Children Facing Death: Awareness, Development And Terminal Illness, Deborah Greenham, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper examines a number of recent research studies on the dying child with particular attention to the relationship between growth and development and the child’s awareness of his/her dying condition.

Teaching Friendship Making Skills To Emotionally Disturbed Children, Alison Stewart Agras

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies have demonstrated the efficacy of teaching children appropriate social skill behavior. The present study investigated a coaching procedure to teach emotionally disturbed children appropriate social skills within the context: of fourteen arts and crafts sessions. Using a multiple baseline across groups design, two groups of four children received training. As a result of training, cooperation behavior showed a moderate change, while eye contact increased substantially for both groups. The behaviors of on task and communication changed only slightly. In addition, these changes generalized to different settings and were· maintained over time. However, praising, receiving praise, as well as …

Role-Taking And Behavior, Jane Wynne Uphoff

Dissertations and Theses

The present study examined the relationship between the cognitive skill of role-or perspective-taking and naturally occurring behavior of behaviorally disordered children. Twenty-six boys, aged five years, nine months to twelve years, two months were tested and observed at their treatment facility. It was predicted that children who could take the perspective of others would prefer peer to adult interaction, would more likely give positive attention to their peers and would be more likely to use effective language than their non perspective-taking peers. These and related hypotheses were examined by observing each participant's interactive behavior for 36 minutes distributed over three …

The Effects Of Peer-Tutoring In Social Skills Development Groups For Antisocial Children, Connie S. Van Andel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Sixteen children in grades 1–6, displaying antisocial behavior, as judged by teachers, guidance counsellors, principals and parents, participated in an 18 week social skills training program. The effectiveness of the program was assessed using a pre-test, post-test non-equivalent comparison group design and a multiple baseline analysis of individual children’s daily positive and negative behavior as rated by teachers. The comparison group consisted of 16 social skilled children, as judged by teachers, guidance counsellors and principals. Results indicated that the antisocial children had as much knowledge of social skills as socially skilled children before the intervention program began and they gained …

Affective Perspective-Taking And Sympathy In Young Children, Mary Driver Leinbach

Dissertations and Theses

The present study focused upon both behavioral and cognitive aspects of sympathetic responses in preschool children. Subjects, 36 boys and girls aged 33-75 months, were seen at their regular day care center. An attempt was made to promote comforting behavior through the use of a peer model both alone and accompanied by an adult's inductive statement regarding the consequences of a sympathetic response; a six year-old girl served as the sympathetic model and as an apparently injured victim in need of comforting. In addition, age- and sex-related relationships for the measures of social cognition, affective perspective-taking and knowledge of strategies …

Children's Anxiety Management Program: Its Effects On School Anxiety, Defensiveness & Self-Disparagement, Wayne Herner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Anxiety and stress are factors which affect children's day to day functioning. It affects their psychological, physiological, and social functioning. This in turn causes children to do poorly in academics, have poor interpersonal relationships, acquire many fears and phobias, and develop many somatic complaints (e.g., muscle tension, speech disturbances, hypertension, etc.). Children who experience stress and who do not learn to cope with it effectively are likely to have problems as adults. Therefore, the Children's Anxiety Management Program (C.A.M.P.) was initiated to a group of 5th and 6th grade school children in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The purpose of the program …

Environmental And Psychological Factors Surrounding Children Of Cancer Patients: An Exploratory Study, Joan Strong Buell

Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study examines five families in which one parent was ill with cancer and in which there was a 5-to 8-year-old child. To understand the adaptation to the illness (and, in the case of three families, to the death of the ill parent) of the focus child was the principal aim of the study. The circumstances existing around the time of the illness and death of the parent were seen as particularly important in determining how the child viewed these events. Areas such as substitute caregivers, family routines, information given to the child, and the child's participation in, apparent …

Developmental Sentence Scoring Sample Size Comparison, Marilyn May Valenciano

Dissertations and Theses

Assessment of language abilities is an integral part of accruing information on the development of concept formation and the learning of grammatical rules. The maturity and complexity of a child's language can be assessed through the use of a language sample. The sample consists of a specified number of utterances which are emitted spontaneously and then analyzed according to a given procedure.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a significant difference among the scores obtained from language samples of 25, 50, and 75 utterances when using the DSS procedure for ages 4.0 through 4.6 years. …

Talking To Children About Death, Rita Cohn

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Community-Based Programming For Emotional Disturbance In Children, Anna Borders

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Based upon local needs assessment data, review of the literature, and a survey of professionals in the field of children's services, a design for the development of a community- based diagnostic and treatment network for services to emotionally disturbed children was formulated. Addressing the needs of a seven-county area in Southern Kentucky, the program plan defines the processes and procedures for the implementation of regional diagnostic, educational support, and technical assistance services as the initial step toward the establishment of a regional day treatment and residential center providing the full spectrum of special services to the emotionally disturbed youth of …

Empathy, Communication Skills, And Group Cohesiveness: A Systematic Approach, Michael Hass

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"This article presents an approach to the teaching of interpersonal communication skills to children from 7-11 years of age, and should be of great interest to professionals in the fields of psychology, social work, education and people involved in training such persons."

Cognitive Impulsivity Of Children : Its Handicap And Treatment, Godwin Koon Tat Lau

Honors Theses

A number of studies have found the relationship between cognitive impulsivity and impulsive behavior among children. There also exists a fair amount of evidence to indicate that an impulsive cognitive style exerts a handicapping influence in the educational process.

Reliability And Validity Of A Scale To Measure Prosocial Behavior In Young Children, Susan Davis

Dissertations and Theses

The present study was designed to determine the reliability and validity of an observation code and rating scale developed by Smith (unpublished research) to measure prosocial behavior in young children.

Comparison Of Scores Obtained On The Ppvt And The Ppvt-R, Jennie L.M. Choong

Dissertations and Theses

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) is a widely used receptive vocabulary screening tool, but it is not without its limitations, such as inadvisable I.Q. usage and a standardization procedure that lacks scope. A revision of the PPVT, known as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) was published in 1981, and contains a more complete standardization procedure as well as some structural changes of the test itself (Dunn, 1981). Speech/language pathology, whose diagnosticians most commonly use the age equivalent value, is a profession that would gain from information which deals with the equivalency of the PPVT-R to the original PPVT. …

Relationships Among Intelligence, Piagetian Developmental, & Achievement Assessments In A Sample Of Disadvantaged Preschool Children, Mary Hill

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Much research has been conducted on the relationships among psychometric intelligence as measured by standard IQ tests, level of cognitive maturity as defined by Piaget, and school achievement. These types of assessment have been described as measuring separate but highly correlated aspects of cognitive functioning. Little research, however, has been reported concerning the interrelationships of these three types of measures for disadvantaged children, The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI), a Piagetian Battery (PB), and three subtests of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) were administered to 20 four year old children enrolled at a Parent-Child Center in …

The Ability Of Young Children To Recognize Facial Photographs Of Young Children, Young Adults, And Senior Citizens, Barbara Bell Bruff

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

A review of the literature on facial recognition including a description of its development from birth to old age, hypothesized reasons for its unique development, and factors which affect it, reveals the need for facial recognition studies involving the young child. Twenty children (10 males, 10 females) at each of three ages (3, 5, and 7 years) were presented with 30 pictures of persons of both sexes from three age groups (3-7, 18-25, and 50 years and above). A testing procedure followed in which each child was asked to pick out the test picture from a photo album page with …

The Investigation Of An Imagery Technique As A Screening Device For Reading Difficulties, Joseph Saxe

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A form for assessing imagery ability based on behavioral criteria in response to an imaginary ball toss was developed and its utility as a screening device for reading difficulties was evaluated. The Imagery Assessment Form was administered to 167 kindergarten, second, fourth and sixth grade children. Grade and sex differences were compared and the imagery scores were correlated with standardized reading achievement scores. Significant mean score differences were found between kindergarteners and second graders only. Significant sex differences in imagery were observed across all grade groups. There was no sex by grade interaction. Positive significant correlations between imagery and reading …

#48 - Being An Effective Parent, Department Of Health Education

Keys to Total Health

- Your Attitude

- Your Knowledge

- Your Skills

- Quiz

Behavioral Correlates Of Parental Attitudes Expressed By Child Care Staff In A Residential Treatment Program For Emotionally Disturbed Children, Sheryl Schechinger

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Interrelationship Between Visual And Auditory Attention And Children's Comprehension Of Television, Eileen F. Hartman

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Development And Validation Of A Sentence-Completion Method: A Semi-Structured Projective Technique Designed For Personality Study, Esdon N. Bacchus

Dissertations

Problem. There are very few objective instruments available for use in the psychological diagnosis of emotional impairment at the elementary-school level. The determination of emotional impairment has often been based on clinical judgment and subjectivity. In addition, psychological instruments have been attacked from the standpoint of reliability and validity. Major concerns relate to the seriousness of misclassification and the limited success-rate of rehabilitation efforts. The sentence-completion method is popularly used by clinicians. However, the available incomplete-sentence blanks used at the elementary-school level rely almost entirely on face validity. Public Legislation 94-142 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 specifically require that …

The Validity Of The Leiter International Performance Scale In Measuring The Intelligence Of Intellectually Superior Children, Susan Braxton Paltrow

Dissertations and Theses

The thrust of this project was to compare the obtained IQ scores between the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Revised Full Scale score at 120 and above of public school students who were in classes for "gifted and talented" with the scores obtained when the Leiter International Performance Scale was administered.

Children's Responses To Medically Induced Discrete, Acute Pain, Brenda D. Ballard

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Three experiments were carried out with children in a private office on the measurement of distress caused by allergy treatment injections and on a behavioral technique to alleviate this treatment-induced distress. In Experiment 1 a rating scale to measure observable indices of distress with children receiving injections was developed and its construct validity and reliability determined. In Experiment 2, norms were derived for the sample of children studied and the nature of the expression of distress according to age and sex was examined. In Experiment 3 two treatments for alleviating the treatment-induced distress, (a) sensory information, and (b) systematic reinforcement …