Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Attachment And Cognitive Pre-Sleep Arousal On Associations Between Sleep Concordance And Sleep Quality, Taylor L. Elsey

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The amount of time someone spends co-sleeping with their partner, known as sleep concordance, has implications for sleep quality in couples. Attachment security has emerged as an important moderator of the association between sleep concordance and subjective sleep quality (Elsey et al., 2019). The current study tested whether cognitive pre-sleep arousal explains this pattern of moderation. Prior research suggests that these associations between sleep concordance, attachment security, and subjective sleep quality may be stronger for women than men, therefore gender differences in associations were also examined. Participants were 204 (68% female) individuals in an exclusive relationship lasting at least 3 …

Examining The Impact Of Social Media Use On Body Dissatisfaction And Eating Disorder Symptomatology Among Adolescents, Ilyssa P. Salomon

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Media exposure is often cited as a causal factor in the development of body dissatisfaction, or negative thoughts and feelings toward the body (Grogan, 2017; Thompson, Heinberg, Atlabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). While eating disorders most commonly emerge during late adolescence (18-21 years), risk factors that predict the later onset of eating disorders emerge much earlier and escalate during adolescence (13-16 years; Hudson, Hiripi, Pope, & Kessler, 2007; Rhode, Stice, & Marti, 2016). Overall, links between exposure to traditional forms of mainstream media (e.g. television and magazines), body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology are well- established in the literature, with robust …

Elementary School Children’S Understanding Of Disproportionate Discipline, Sharla D. Biefeld

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In the U.S. Black students, particularly Black boys, receive more out of school punishments, are punished more frequently, and are punished for more subjective behaviors than their White peers (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2002). This phenomenon is referred to as disproportionate discipline and is an early precursor to the disproportionate number of Black men and boys incarcerated in the U.S. Disproportionate discipline begins as early as preschool, and continues throughout elementary, middle, and high school (Gregory & Fergus, 2017). Perceptions of discrimination greatly impact children’s school involvement, school belonging, and educational outcomes (Brown, 2017, for review). However, little is …

Attentional Control In Infancy: The Role Of Sociodemographic Risk, Cortisol, And The Home Environment, Hannah B. White

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Infants’ ability to channel their cognitive resources by controlling their visual attention allows them to be active agents in their learning and development. Individual differences in attentional control have been linked to a wide variety of developmental outcomes including disparities between social classes in cognitive functioning. However, it is yet unknown when in development differences in attentional control related to sociodemographic factors emerge, or how factors of the home environment and the infant’s stress response relate to this effect. Accordingly, Experiment 1 examined whether certain sociodemographic factors, such as socioeconomic and minority status, predict 3.5-month-old infants’ (N = 102) …

Latino Parents' Acculturative Stress And Their Preschoolers' Prosocial Development: Testing The Mediating Role Of Parenting Style, Zahra Fatima Naqi

Master's Theses

Studies increasingly recognize the importance of cultural factors when studying the development of immigrant children from low-income backgrounds. There is reason to believe that parents' acculturative stress may be linked to children's prosocial development, via parenting. the present study included a sample of immigrant Latino parents of 3- to 5-year-old Head Start preschoolers (N = 28) to examine how parents' acculturative stress might be associated with children's prosocial behavior at home, as reported by parents, and at school, as reported by teachers. Furthermore, it studied whether this linkage is mediated by warm, supportive, and hostile parenting practices. Results indicated that …

Spaced Training In The 5csrtt Proves Beneficial In Early Levels, Rebecca Renee Warren

Senior Independent Study Theses

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Due to these characterizations, children with ADHD typically exhibit lower academic performance which has been improved by spacing out academic training. Yet no study has performed spacing in an ADHD population. Spaced training involves studying over short periods for multiple days rather than multiple hours in one day, or massed training. Using a rat model of ADHD, known as the SHR strain, the present study assessed how spacing training from 90-trials a day to 45-trials a day in the 5CSRTT would improve performance abilities. Additionally, the impact of spaced …

Gender And Ethnicity: Are They Associated With Differential Outcomes Of A Biopsychosocial Social-Emotional Learning Program?, Ronnie I. Newman, Odikia Yim, David Shaenfield

Psychology Faculty Publications

Context: Social-emotional learning (SEL) program outcomes may be enhanced when programs take into account gender and ethnicity differences, yet few studies directly examine these variables. The limited literature further suggests improved outcomes accrue by integrating physiological techniques, such as yoga and meditation, directly into SEL curricula to reduce stress.

Aims: This study investigated the association between outcomes of a yogic breath-based biopsychosocial SEL intervention across gender and ethnicity.

Methods: Fifty-nine high school students were evaluated on 4 positive (self-esteem, identity formation, anger coping ability, planning, and concentration) and 3 negative SEL outcomes (impulsivity, distractibility, and endorsement of aggression). Using a …

Understanding The Contributions Of Discrepant Parent-Adolescent Views Of Parenting Practices And Peer Deviance To Adolescent Problem Behavior: A Cross-Lagged Polynomial Regression Approach, Mallory Stephenson

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used autoregressive cross-lagged models to examine the processes through which peer deviance and discrepant parent-adolescent views of monitoring-related communication, involvement, and positive parenting influence one another and contribute to physical and relational aggression, substance use, and delinquency. Participants included 535 adolescents (64% male) who were identified as prone to aggression and socially influential by their sixth-grade teachers during the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 school years; participants self-identified as African American (69%), Hispanic (14%), White (9%), Multiracial (5%), or another race (3%). Contrary to expectations, parent-adolescent reporting discrepancies were not related to peer deviance, physical aggression, substance use, and …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Caregiver Goals For Urban Children With And Without Asthma, Megan M. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Pediatric asthma is a major public health concern that disproportionately affects children of color and youth living in low-income, urban areas. The implications for public health, child health, and family functioning necessitates our understanding and addressing experiences by families who are facing barriers within their socio-demographic context in addition to the stressors associated with managing pediatric asthma. The current study applied qualitative methods to interviews with caregivers of children with and without asthma in an effort to more deeply connect with caregivers’ experiences and yield richer information about the intersection of identities as Black caregivers living in an urban setting …

The Role Of Receptive Reasoning In The Development Of Intellectual Humility, Cathryn Richmond

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual humility (IH) develops throughout childhood and adolescence and is critically important for effective learning, particularly with regard to science; however, the research examining the development of IH in children is quite limited. As such, this study utilized an exploratory, mixed methods, community-engaged research design with children ages three to 10 (n = 60; M_age = 5.98; 69.6% female) and their parents/guardians recruited from a public children’s museum.. As the construct of IH is intended to describe adult cognition, I operationalized the set of components that may lead to the development of IH in preschool children as Receptive …

A Longitudinal Test Of Mexican Teen Mothers’ Cultural Characteristics And Children’S Language Skills Via Mothers’ Language, Arlenis A. Santana

Theses and Dissertations

The current study includes 204 Mexican teen mothers and their children from a larger study who were interviewed when children were 3 years old (Wave 4; W4), 4 years old (W5), and 5 years old (W6). The current study is guided by the integrative model of developmental competencies (García Coll et al., 1996), which suggests that parents’ adaptive cultural characteristics and exchanges with their children inform children’s developmental competencies. Thus, the current study examined whether teen mothers’ adaptive cultural characteristics (i.e., familism values, language competency pressures, and involvement in Mexican culture and U.S. mainstream culture) at W4 informed mothers’ Spanish …

The Role Of Life Events In Older Women's Psychosocial Development And Well-Being, Taylor Hill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research on well-being and aging has suggested the trajectory of well-being through adulthood is U-shaped, with the lowest point typically occurring in midlife (Stone, Schwartz, Broderick, & Deaton, 2010). Toward the end of life, well-being (and in particular, life satisfaction) may surpass earlier levels and individuals tend to engage in a life review process wherein they evaluate how their life has turned out. Those who are satisfied with how their life events fit together to form their life story have been shown to have achieved ego integrity (i.e., accepting of their life to date and the limited time they have …

Adolescents’ Interpretations Of Parental Psychological Control: The Role Of Beliefs And Disapproval On Problematic Outcomes, Katelyn F. Romm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Parental psychological control has consistently been found to be associated with problematic outcomes among adolescents, including substance use (Galambos, Barker, & Almeida, 2003), risky cyber behaviors (Li, Li, & Newman, 2013), problematic eating behaviors (Soenens et al., 2008), and depressive symptoms (Romm & Metzger, 2018). However, few studies have examined how adolescents reason about and react to psychological control. Recent research has suggested that adolescents vary in their beliefs about parental motivations for using psychological control, as well as their level of disapproval of psychological control (Camras et al., 2012; Kakihara & Tilton-Weaver, 2009). These cognitive factors (i.e., beliefs about …

Provider Reported Implementation Of Nutrition-Related Practices In Childcare Centers And Family Childcare Homes In Rural And Urban Nebraska, Dipti Dev, Aileen Garcia, David A. Dzewaltowski, Susan B. Sisson, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Zainab Rida, Natalie A. Williams, Carly Hillburn, Danae Dinkel, Deepa Srivastava, Christina Burger, Emily Hulse, Donnia Behrends, Natasha Frost

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Approximately 15 million children under age 6 are in childcare settings, offering childcare providers an opportunity to influence children’s dietary intake. Childcare settings vary in organizational structure – childcare centers (CCCs) vs. family childcare homes (FCCHs) – and in geographical location – urban vs. rural. Research on the nutrition-related best practices across these childcare settings is scarce. The objective of this study is to compare nutrition-related best practices of CCCs and FCCHs that participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in rural and urban Nebraska. Nebraska providers (urban n = 591; rural n = 579) reported implementation …

The Impact Of Responsive Feeding Practice Training On Teacher Feeding Behaviors In Tribal Early Care And Education: The Food Resource Equity And Sustainability For Health (Fresh) Study, Kaysha Sleet, Susan B. Sisson, Dipti A. Dev, Charlotte Love, Mary B. Williams, Leah A. Hoffman, Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Establishing healthy eating habits early affects lifelong dietary intake, which has implications for many health outcomes. With children spending time in early care and education (ECE) programs, teachers establish the daytime meal environment through their feeding practices.

Objective: We aimed to determine the effect of a teacher-focused intervention to increase responsive feeding practices in 2 interventions, 1 focused exclusively on the teacher’s feeding practices and the other focused on both the teacher’s feeding practices and a nutrition classroom curriculum, in ECE teachers in a Native American (NA) community in Oklahoma.

Methods: Nine tribally affiliated ECE programs were …

Does Context Matter? A Multilevel Analysis Of Neighborhood Disadvantage And Children's Sleep Health, Carlyn Graham, Eric N. Reither, Gabriele Ciciurkaite, Dipti Dev, Jamison Fargo

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objectives: To determine how demographic, socioeconomic, and neighborhood characteristics are associated with bedtimes among US kindergarteners.

Design: Parents reported bedtimes of their children as well as personal, household, and residential characteristics via interviews in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) Class of 1998-1999. The ECLS-K links individual households to US Census tracts.

Setting: A random selection of 1,280 schools and surrounding communities in the US.

Participants: A random selection of 16,936 kindergarteners and their parents.

Measurements: The 2 outcomes were regular and latest weekday bedtimes of kindergarteners. Through a series of nested multilevel regression models, these outcomes were regressed on …

The Meanings And Ways Of Parental Involvement Among Low-Income Filipinos, Aileen Garcia, Maria Rosario De Guzman

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Parental involvement in children’s education is an integral component of young children’s academic achievement. Although there is clear evidence regarding the benefits of parental involvement, little is known regarding its impacts, manifestations, and conceptualizations in non-Western societies. Given that parenting and child rearing are imbued with cultural meaning in many profound ways (Super & Harkness,1986), this study employed a phenomenological approach and used pakikipagkwentuhan, a data collection procedure drawn from indigenous Filipino Psychology to closely examine how low-income Filipino parents conceptualize parental involvement and its role in their children’s education. Thirty-one parents/caregivers were engaged in conversation and qualitative data …

Emotional Support And Mental Health Among Somali Men In A Rural Midwestern Town, Julie A. Tippens, Gilbert R. Parra, Patrick Habecker, Kimberly Gocchi Carrasco, Arthur R. Andrews Iii, Angela L. Palmer-Wackerly, Virginia Chaidez, Jordan Soliz, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Kirk Dombrowski

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Perceived social support has been correlated with refugees’ positive mental health outcomes; yet, little is known about the perceived sources of support after secondary migration to new-destination rural towns. Somali refugee men (n _ 49) residing in a rural Midwest United States community were recruited using respondent-driven sampling to complete a self-administered structured survey in English or Somali using audio computer-assisted self-interview software. Questions assessed perceived sources of support, psychological distress, and happiness. Somali participants reported low utilization of both informal (30.4%) and formal (24.4%) supports when sad, stressed, or worried. Two thirds of participants reported low levels of …

Collaborative Care At A Distance: Student Therapists’ Experiences Of Learning And Delivering Relationally Focused Telemental Health, Paul Springer, Richard Bischoff, Kara Kohel, Nathan C. Taylor, Adam Farero

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

There is mounting evidence that telemental health is an effective delivery method for treating a variety of mental, emotional, behavioral, and relational health problems. While many of the therapeutic skills leading to the effectiveness of face-to-face treatments are transferable, the effectiveness of telemental health requires unique skills. The purpose of this phenomeno- logical study was to determine the experience of learning how to use videoconferencing to deliver relationally focused mental health care. Participants included 10 graduates of a COAMFTE-accredited master’s degree program emphasizing training in telemental health. Each student had practicum placements that required videoconferencing to deliver relation- ally based …

Ethics Based Training For Clinicians: Moving Beyond Ethical Decision Making Models, Bobbi J. Miller, Paul R. Springer

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Clinical training in ethical decision making processes has relied heavily on teaching students to apply ethical codes and legal statutes to written scenarios using ethical decision making models. While an excellent academic exercise, this approach tends to remain abstract and does not prepare students for the complexities of making decisions during the process of therapy. Recently, experts in the field have called for reforms in ethical training, believing current models must move beyond cognitive exercises that detach students from the humanity of their clients and themselves. The described pedagogical approach bridges the gap by using a modified Objective Structured Clinical …

Promoting Higher Quality Teacher–Child Relationships: The Insights Intervention In Rural Schools, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Ray Reichenberg, Jungwon Eum, Jentry Stoneman Barrett, Yuenjung Joo, Emily Wilson, Martinique Sealy

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Children’s relationships with teachers in kindergarten are crucial for academic and social success. Research shows that teacher–child relationships are predicated, in part, on children’s temperament. The “INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament” intervention was intended to improve children’s and teachers’ understanding of their and others’ temperament, and has been shown to improve children’s social skills and self-regulation in urban, under-resourced schools. The current study is part of a replication of the effects of INSIGHTS with a sample in rural schools. The purpose was to test the effectiveness of INSIGHTS for promoting positive relationships between teachers and children in kindergarten. Two cohorts of …

Child Sleep And Socioeconomic Context In The Development Of Cognitive Abilities In Early Childhood, Caroline P. Hoyniak, John E. Bates, Angela D. Staples, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Dennis Molfese, Victoria J. Molfese

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Despite a robust literature examining the association between sleep problems and cognitive abilities in childhood, little is known about this association in toddlerhood, a period of rapid cognitive development. The present study examined the association between various sleep problems, using actigraphy, and performance on a standardized test of cognitive abilities, longitudinally across three ages (30, 36, and 42 months) in a large sample of toddlers (N = 493). Results revealed a between-subject effect in which the children who had more delayed sleep schedules on average also showed poorer cognitive abilities on average but did not support a within-subjects effect. Results …

Parent Involvement And Its Influence On Children’S Stem Learning: A Review Of The Research, Julie Thomas, Juliana Utley, Soo-Young Hong, Hunkar Korkmaz, Gwen Nugent

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

A growing understanding that parents and teachers can effectively collaborate to help children succeed in school has led worldwide policymakers and school leaders to begin deliberate actions to increase parents’ participation in school life. For example, the Chilean Education Minister recently encouraged contracts between parents, schools, and the state to increase parental involvement. The Australian government has formed a Research Alliance for Children and Youth to develop and promote understanding of parent involvement (i.e., what it is, why it matters, how it influences learning) and to build evidence about what works. From a sociological perspective, a school’s organizational boundaries are …

Choosing Quality Early Childhood Curricula, Rachel E. Schachter, Shayne B. Piasta, Laura M. Justice

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This article summarizes a study investigating the curricula and features of those curricula used by 497 early childhood educators across one Midwestern state. Curricula were identified and coded for quality features derived from the research, theory, and policy literatures. Results indicated that most educators utilized Creative Curriculum or High Scope (over 60%); however, these and many other curricula did not include all the key quality features. Importantly, most educators were utilizing curricula with no evidence of effectiveness for supporting children’s outcomes. Furthermore, limitations in the presence of key curricula features may indicate that curricula generally are not adequately supporting early …

An Investigation Into The Curricula (Type And Quality) Used By Early Childhood Educators, Rachel E. Schachter, Shayne B. Piasta, Laura M. Justice

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Most preschool-aged children spend time in Head Start and other center-based care. Thus, early educators’ use of a quality curriculum is essential to maximizing children’s learning. We examined the curricula utilized by educators working in diverse settings with children ages 3 to 5, focusing on key features of quality curriculum identified from the literature. Most educators (75%) reported using formal curricula. Creative Curriculum and HighScope were the most common; 6% of educators reported no curriculum use. There was a lack of consensus regarding what constitutes curriculum with 16% of participants reporting the use of materials generally not considered curriculum (e.g., …

Comparison Of Urban And Rural Physical Activity And Outdoor Play Environments Of Childcare Centers And Family Childcare Homes, Danae Dinkel, Dipti Dev, Yage Guo, Ami Sedani, Emily Hulse, Zainab Rida, Kayla Abel

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity environment in childcare programs across type (childcare centers [CCCs] and family childcare homes [FCCHs]) and geographic location (urban and rural) as assessed by physical activity best practices according to the Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-assessment in Child Care. Results showed CCCs compared with FCCHs reported higher achievement of best practices. Further, urban childcare programs (CCCs and FCCHs) reported higher achievement of best practices in comparison to rural childcare programs. There is a need to deliver targeted interventions that promote children’s physical activity in FCCHs and CCCs in rural …

Eastern North Carolina Head Start Teachers’ Personal And Professional Experiences With Healthy Eating And Physical Activity: A Qualitative Exploration, Virginia C. Stage, Lorelei Jones, Jocelyn Bayles, Archana V. Hegde, Dipti Dev, L. Suzanne Goodell

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: Explore the interrelationship between teachers’ personal and professional socio-ecological structures while examining Head Start (HS) teachers’ experiences with (1) trying to eat healthy and engage in physical activity (PA) and (2) promote healthy eating and PA in their classrooms.

Design: In-depth semi-structured interviews were collected from March through June 2017. Researchers designed the data collection and analysis methods using a phenomenological approach. All interviews were recorded using digital audio and transcribed verbatim.

Setting: Seven HS centers in two rural eastern North Carolina counties.

Participants: Teachers (n 15) who had recently participated in a healthy eating and physical activity …

Does Context Matter? A Multilevel Analysis Of Neighborhood Disadvantage And Children's Sleep Health, Carlyn Graham, Eric Reither, Gabriele Ciciurkaite, Dipti Dev, Jamison Fargo

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objectives: To determine how demographic, socioeconomic, and neighborhood characteristics are associated with bedtimes among US kindergarteners.

Design: Parents reported bedtimes of their children as well as personal, household, and residential characteristics via interviews in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten (ECLS-K) Class of 1998–1999. The ECLS-K links individual households to US Census tracts.

Setting: A random selection of 1,280 schools and surrounding communities in the US.

Participants: A random selection of 16,936 kindergarteners and their parents.

Measurements: The 2 outcomes were regular and latest weekday bedtimes of kindergarteners. Through a series of nested multilevel regression models, these outcomes were regressed on …

Putting Adversity In Perspective: Purpose In Life Moderates The Link Between Childhood Emotional Abuse And Neglect And Adulthood Depressive Symptoms, Andree Hartanto, Jose C. Yong, Sean T. H. Lee, Wee Qin Ng, Eddie M. W. Tong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Background: Childhood emotional abuse and neglect is linked with a host of adverse outcomes later in life, including depression. However, potential psychological resources that may mitigate the adverse outcomes of childhood emotional abuse and neglect are not well-understood. Aims: Drawing from the insight that having a sense of purpose can help individuals deal with setbacks and difficulties better, we propose that purpose in life can also help sufferers of childhood maltreatment cope more effectively and reduce the onset of depressive symptoms. Methods: Participants were drawn from two large, nationally representative studies comprising a total of 3664 respondents. Purpose in life, …

Ethnic Identity And Stress Appraisal As Acculturative Stress Processes Among Armenian Americans, Tsolak Michael Kirakosyan

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The current study examined the role of ethnic identity and stress appraisal as buffers of the relationship between acculturative stress and wellbeing in a national sample of Armenian American adults between eighteen and thirty-nine years old (N = 159; 62.89% women, 32.08% men; mean age = 25.59, SD = 5.30). Acculturative stress positively correlated with depressive symptoms, and negatively with self-esteem and positive stress appraisal. Stronger ethnic identity affirmation and belonging was related to less depressive symptoms, more positive stress appraisal, and greater self-esteem and life satisfaction. In hierarchical linear regression analyses, acculturative stress significantly predicted more depressive symptoms, …