Child Psychology Commons^™

The Influence Of Religion On The Criminal Behavior Of Emerging Adults, Christopher Salvatore, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Recent generations of young adults are experiencing a new life course stage: emerging adulthood. During this ‘new’ stage of the life course, traditional social bonds and turning points may not be present, may be delayed, or may not operate in the same manner as they have for prior generations. One such bond, religion, is examined here. Focusing on the United States, emerging adulthood is investigated as a distinct stage of the life course. The criminality of emerging adults is presented, a theoretical examination of the relationship between religion and crime is provided, the role of religion in emerging adults’ lives …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

It's Just A Toy, Lauren Strauss

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies (2015-2021)

Each and every one of us experiences gender stereotyping, whether we realize it or not. It is such a simple concept and something people don't tend to think about. Although, from a young age, we are exposed to our parents' and societies' views on gender and the toys we should play with, which then stick around for generations. The color pink and dolls are for girls and trucks and the color blue are for boys, right? Well, not necessarily. Toys are also expressed through the idea that women have to be the stay at home mom and take care of …

Informally Shaping A Child's Mind Around Genocide Within Rwandan Families, Cameron Voss

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While policy and education are subject to change from research oriented projects, my research rather drives to understand and record how caregivers portrayed their own, others, and their country’s past to the next generation. The informal aspects of family structures, while highly influential, are difficult to navigate and track, and this research endeavors to unveil some of the hidden trends that are throughout Rwandan families with children born after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The generation that has matured in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda have faced many challenges that few outside of …

The Aftermath Of War: Improving Psychosocial Measures To Address Trauma In Child Refugees In The Schengen Zone, Nivedha Meyyappan

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

With the large number of refugee children currently displaced due to war and conflict, there is a necessity to look into alleviating any resulting trauma so that these children don’t face further social or health effects later in life. The study focuses on how to improve psychosocial care for child refugees in the Schengen zone suffering from war trauma. Through a combination of research done using existing literature and interviews with experts, there were three main findings on improving psychosocial support for this population. These include improving consolidation of psychosocial programs and focusing on education, having greater cultural awareness when …

Empathy Institutionalized: Sociocultural Dialogue As A Strategic Peacebuilding Initiative, Emily Owens

Bridge/Work

A common adage used in psychological exploration tells us that “If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.” While typically employed to emphasize the importance of upbringing and environment on personal outcomes, this phrase can be equally applicable in examining the ways in which society has developed over time to produce our polarized sociopolitical culture of today. This work explores from an integrative psychosocial perspective the potential that exists in working to define a new “end” by shaping a new “beginning,” through going directly to the institutions that comprise our own beginnings— schools. Through a combined research …

Mexican-Origin Parents’ Stress And Satisfaction: The Role Of Emotional Support, Tierney K. Popp, Melissa Y. Delgado, Lorey Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Guided by a process model of parenting and the integrative model, this study examined sources of emotional support (i.e., partner, maternal, paternal) as related to stress and satisfaction resulting from the parenting role in a sample of Mexican-origin young adult parents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) during Wave IV. Participants were male and female parents (26–35 years of age; 59% female; N = 737) who had children and a partner. Results from structural equation modeling revealed support from mothers as salient; high levels of maternal support were associated with high levels …

Examining The Roles Of Child Temperament And Teacher-Child Relationships As Predictors Of Turkish Children’S Social Competence And Antisocial Behavior, Ibrahim H. Acar, Traci Kutaka, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Julia C. Torquati, Robert J. Coplan, Süleyman Yıldız

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

The present study examined the concurrent contribution of Turkish children’s temperament and teacher-child relationship quality to their social competence and antisocial behavior, with a specific focus on the moderating role of teacher-child relationships (closeness and conflict) on children’s temperament (inhibitory control and shyness) when predicting social competence and antisocial behavior. Participants were 94 children (56 boys) with mean age of 7.05 years (SD = .88) enrolled in 24 classrooms from five elementary schools in a suburban school district in Turkey. Mothers reported on children’s temperament and teachers reported on their relationships with children as well as children’s social competence …

Early Contributions To Infants’ Mental Rotation Abilities, Mihaela Constantinescu, David S. Moore, Scott P. Johnson, Melissa Hines

Pitzer Faculty Publications and Research

Some cognitive abilities exhibit reliable gender differences, with females outperforming males in specific aspects of verbal ability, and males showing an advantage on certain spatial tasks. Among these cognitive gender differences, differences in mental rotation are the most robust, and appear to be present even in infants. A large body of animal research suggests that gonadal hormones, particularly testosterone, during early development could contribute to this gender difference in mental rotation. Also, substantial evidence supports an influence of socialization on mental rotation performance. The present study investigated the relationship of two types of factors, early postnatal testosterone exposure and parental …

Implications Of Parents’ Work Travel On Youth Adjustment, Lorey Wheeler, Anisa M. Zvonkovic, Andrea R. Swenson, Caitlin Faas, Shelby Borowski, Ruth Nutting

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Guided by ecological, work–family spillover and crossover frameworks, this study examined mechanisms linking parental work travel (i.e. nights per year) to youth adjustment (i.e. externalizing and internalizing behaviors) through youth’s perceptions of parenting (i.e. knowledge, solicitation) with traveler and youth gender as moderators in a sample of 78 children in 44 two-parent families residing in the United States. The findings from multilevel analyses suggested that mothers’ travel nights predicted lower levels of maternal knowledge, with variation by traveler and youth gender. Mothers’ and fathers’ work travel and perceived parenting were predictors of youth’s externalizing behaviors, whereas only fathers’ work travel …

Shift Work, Father Engagement, And The Cognitive Development Of Young Children, Matthew Weinshenker

Sociology Faculty Publications

The present study investigates whether the effect of fathers’ positive engagement on young children’s cognitive development is accentuated when one or both dual-earner parents is employed during non-standard hours. Longitudinal regression models are fitted to three waves of nationally-representative data from the Early Child Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Father engagement when children are nine months old has an especially positive effect on children’s cognitive ability at age two when the father works during the day and the mother has a fixed evening or night shift. There are no interactions between shift work and engagement at age two in the whole sample, …

Assessing The Relationship Between Parenting Styles And Dietary Behaviors Among Young Adults, Breanna Tofteland

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Food continues to be the focus of lifelong dietary and social habits. Past studies have shown the importance of creating healthy habits in childhood to increase the probability of healthy dietary behaviors as adults. A concern nationwide is that unhealthy dietary habits formed as a child translates to habits practiced as an adult, resulting in obesity (CDC, 2016). Past studies have shown that parenting styles are one of the contributing factors that influence how young adults view and interact with food. Branen & Fletcher's study concluded that there are significant correlations between habits formed in childhood that are still happening …

Video-Based Approach To Engaging Parents Into A Preventive Parenting Intervention For Divorcing Families: Results Of A Randomized Controlled Trial, Emily B. Winslow, Sanford Braver, Robert Cialdini, Irwin Sandler, Jennifer Betkowski, Jenn-Yun Tein, Lisa Hita, Mona Bapat, Lorey Wheeler, Monique Lopez

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

The public health impact of evidence-based, preventive parenting interventions has been severely constrained by low rates of participation when interventions are delivered under natural conditions. It is critical that prevention scientists develop effective and feasible parent engagement methods. This study tested video-based methods for engaging parents into an evidence-based program for divorcing parents. Three alternative versions of a video were created to test the incremental effectiveness of different theory-based engagement strategies based on social influence and health behavior models. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare the three experimental videos versus two control conditions, an information-only brochure and an …

“Dad, Do You Want To Play With Me?” The Impact Of Fathers Who Make Time For Play, Michael S. Sitton

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

With an increase in the pace of life in the United States, there comes a recognition of the importance of prioritizing time, especially for fathers. Of the two-thirds of children who live with their father, only a percentage of them have fathers who report regular play time with their children. However, literature in the field does not explain specifically whether or not this play between father and child influences the child’s later risk taking behaviors in high school. Using data from the 2003 Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), waves 3, 4, and 6, this quantitative study sought to …

The Imprint Of Childhood Abuse On Trauma-Related Shame In Adulthood, Joan A. Reid

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Research has consistently linked residual trauma-related shame among child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors to sexual revictimization, health risk behaviors, and poorer response to mental health treatment. However, questions remain regarding the imprint of childhood maltreatment on trauma-related shame including which CSA characteristics or types of childhood maltreatment contribute to residual shame in adulthood. Using data drawn from a prospective study of 174 primarily African American women with histories of CSA and a matched comparison group, this study explores whether specific characteristics of CSA (familial CSA, CSA with penetration, force used by CSA perpetrator), repeat sexual victimization in adolescence, childhood physical …

Preschoolers And Pandas Making Friends: A Journey About Healing From Brain Injury, Barbara Anne Doucette

Museum Studies Projects

Preschoolers that have obtained Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) from familial child abuse are in need of having a unique place for neurorehabilitation in correlation with traditional therapies. My thesis project suggests adding an exhibit annex to an existing giant panda exhibit that will give preschoolers an opportunity to help develop new neuropathways when exposed to mediation and creative activities. Meditation and creative activities are being examined by neuroscientists as an aid in neuroplasticity after brain injury. This thesis reviews the neurotypical preschooler’s milestones and the playful means by which they are achieved. Conjoining the contemporary museums’ and zoological gardens’ outreach to …

The Need To Be Apart In An Inclusive Educational Setting, Zenaida Muslin

Occasional Paper Series

This paper illustrates the need for direct acknowledgement and support of children and faculty of color in inclusive educational settings. Muslin recounts her experiences at many different schools and how each offered a new perspective on diversity. The most profound impacts she has made in her community stem from her work at Bank Street School for Children, where she and her fellow faculty recognized the importance of having separate meetings and focus groups devoted to the concerns of people of color within the institution.

Wouldn't It Be Cool If Everyone Turned Out To Be Blue? Building A Curriculum About Sexual Orientation For Nine- And Ten-Year-Olds, Stephanie Nelson

Occasional Paper Series

Nelson draws upon her experiences as an elementary school teacher to discuss ways in which sexual orientation can be addressed through curriculum. Aspects of the curriculum implemented in the Bank Street School for Children included "Gay Talks", read alouds, debates, and discussions about civil rights and how they relate to the LGBTQ community.

Performing Gender In The Elementary Classroom, Gail Masuchika Boldt

Occasional Paper Series

This paper raises questions about teachers’ interventions into children’s exchanges around gender in elementary classrooms. Masuchika Boldt argues that gender is ever-present in the classroom and children are constantly making assertions about the meaning of gender and the authenticity of their own and others’ gender performances. She speaks to the question, “If a teacher does interpret this exchange as being at least in part about gender, what, if any, response is called for?”

Workforce Well-Being: Personal And Workplace Contributions To Early Educators' Depression Across Settings, Amy M. Roberts, Kathleen C. Gallagher, Alexandra Daro, Iheoma Iruka, Susan Sarver

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

Building on research demonstrating the importance of teachers' well-being, this study examined personal and contextual factors related to early childhood educators' (n =1640) depressive symptoms across licensed child care homes, centers, and schools. Aspects of teachers' beliefs, economic status, and work-related stress were explored, and components of each emerged as significant in an OLS regression. After controlling for demographics and setting, teachers with more adult-centered beliefs, lower wages, multiple jobs, no health insurance, more workplace demands, and fewer work-related resources, had more depressive symptoms. Adult-centered beliefs were more closely associated with depression for teachers working in home-based settings compared …

Flint’S Children: Narratives On Hope, Christin L. Carotta, Amy E. Bonomi, Karleigh Knox, Morgan C. Blain, Brianna F. Dines, Jaquan Cotton

The Qualitative Report

Hope plays an important role in resiliency, well-being, and buffering against adversity. To explore children’s experiences with hope while developing in low-income communities, we conducted interviews with twenty-one children residing in Flint, Michigan, ages 9-12 years. Research questions focused on the specific hopes children have, the importance they ascribe to different hopes, and their experiences of feeling hopeful or less hopeful about desired outcomes. Children expressed interrelated hopes across multiple social-ecological domains, including hopes for themselves, hopes for their interpersonal relationships, and hopes for the community. Children placed particular importance on their hopes of helping others, which included providing for …

The Behavioral Effects Divorce Can Have On Children, Wanda M. Williams-Owens

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

According to a statistical study (Cherlin et al. 1991) 40% of children who live in the United States will experience parental divorce before they reach the age of 18. Consequently, many children are affected by the process of divorce and its finalization. When my daughter was just nine years old, she asked incredulously why my husband and I were the only married couple in our neighborhood? After twenty-two years of marriage, I realized long-term marriages in my community are not conventional. When parents’ divorce, children often face the loss of one parent's constant presence and economic stability; as a result, …

Depressive Symptoms In Mexican-Origin Adolescents: Interrelations Between School And Family Contexts, Prerna G. Arora, Lorey Wheeler

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study, as guided by cultural-ecological frameworks, examined multiple contextual stressors, including subjective economic hardship, acculturation, discrimination, and negative perceptions of school safety, as simultaneously linked to adolescents’ depressive symptoms, as well as the role of gender, familism values, family cohesion, and school connectedness on these associations. Data come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (Portes and Rumbaut 2012) that included second-generation 8th- and 9th-grade children of foreign-born parents from the Mexican-origin subsample (n = 755; 52% male; time 1 M age = 14.20 years). Adolescents were either born in (60%) or immigrated prior to age 5 to …

Exploring The Caregiver-Child Relationship In Institutional Care Facilities In South Sudan, Jennifer Joy Telfer

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Institutional care for children separated from parents is expanding in Africa, but little research exists on caregiving at these institutions. This study explores the caregiver-child relationship in two residential institutions in South Sudan by investigating how caregivers experience their role and how children experience their lives in the institution. Semi- structured interviews assessed 14 caregivers’ backgrounds, parenting experience, attitudes, education, and motivations. The Orphans and Vulnerable Children Wellbeing Tool (OWT) assessed 98 adolescent residents, who also gave feedback about their answers. Caregivers employ parenting styles used by their parents and report treating non-relative children the same as biological children. Children …

Embodying Rhythm Nation: Multimodal Hip Hop Dance As A Site For Adolescent Social-Emotional And Political Development, Lauren M. Roygardner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This exploratory study employed qualitative methodology, specifically values analysis, to learn more about how being involved within Hip hop dance communities positively relates to adolescent development. Adolescence was defined herein as ages 13-23. The study investigated Hip hop dance communities in terms of cultural expertise (i.e. novice, intermediate and advanced/expert) to look specifically at dance narratives (i.e. peak experience narratives and “I dance because” essays) and hip hop dance performances. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to (1) explore how adolescents use multimodal Hip hop dance discourse for social-emotional development and critical consciousness, and to (2) understand how values …

Reconstruction Of The Destroyed Sinjali Secondary School, Isabella Kaganowski

Sustainability and Social Justice

This practitioner paper chronicles my involvement of the grant writing proposal that was designed on behalf of a non-for-profit organization, the Association of Dalit Women’s Advancement of Nepal (ADWAN), in order to secure funding and donations for the reconstruction of the destroyed Sinjali Secondary School in Gorkha district, Taklung village, after a 2015 earthquake struck Nepal. The proposal was guided by and collaborated with Professor Jude Fernando of Clark University, as Professor Fernando was able to visit Taklung village and gather information about the needs in the educational sector damaged by the earthquake. Literature review and research was gathered to …

(Re)Painting Self: Art Therapy And Ontological Security In Refugee Children, Domonique Jimerson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

To be a refugee is to know loss intimately. The refugee experience can be characterized by the multidimensional loss the loss of loved ones, support networks, economic security, culture, safety, and home.^{1 2} The compounding of traumatic experience can have a profound effect on belief systems and identity. This paper will explore the relationship between trauma and ontological state in resettled refugee children. The philosophical concept of ontological security considers the ability create consistent expectations about the way the world operates to a stable mental state.³ The three states of ontology security and shock will be useful in …

A Retro Development In Education: Evaluating The Feasibility Of Integrating Place-Based Education Into Mississippi Curriculum Standards, Colby K. Mcclain

Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates the feasibility of integrating place-based environmental education activities from Think Green, Take Action: Books and Activities for Kids into the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE) Frameworks for Science and Social Studies for K-5. As children develop and experience the world, their ability to understand and interpret the surrounding environments expand; however, Mississippi schools are not focused on experiential environmental education, even though experiencing and understanding the surrounding environment is vital in fostering eagerness to learn. Due to a growing disconnect between humans and the natural world, this thesis examined 37 place- and environment-based activities for children, sixteen …

Poster Session, Jenny Warren

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Posters presented:

• Kathleen Sanchez “Design and Function of MRI Scanners”
• Ahn T. Vo “Do We Need Another Cosmetic Product?”
• April R. Boyd “Students at Work”
• Zaynab Adeola Omisade, University of Texas, Arlington "Screening of Iotrochota Birutulata extracts with chloroform and Methanol/toluene (3:1) for anti-bacteria activity"
• Sarah Minich, Collin College “Does Flexibility in a Prosthetic Ankle-Foot System Improve an Amputee’s Everyday Life?”
• Shannon McCraw, Ph.D. & Madison Poteet, Southeastern Oklahoma State University "Exploring Individual Communication Traits: Assessing The Relationship Between Willingness To Communicate, Self-Esteem, And Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation"
• Shelby Garza, Texas State University "Examining Differences in the Rate of Decomposition between …

The Efficacy Of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation In The Home Setting: Outcomes And Mechanisms In Rural Communities, Susan M. Sheridan, Amanda Witte, Shannon R. Holmes, Chaorong Wu

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

This study reports the results of a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC), a family-school partnership intervention, on children’s behaviors, parents’ skills, and parent-teacher relationships in rural community and town settings. Participants were 267 children, 267 parents, and 152 teachers in 45 Midwestern schools. Using an Intent to Treat approach and data analyzed within a multilevel modeling framework, CBC yielded promising results for some but not all outcomes. Specifically, children participating in CBC experienced decreases in daily reports of aggressiveness, noncompliance, and temper tantrums; and increases in parent-reported adaptive skills and social skills at a …