Child Psychology Commons^™

A Longitudinal Study Of School Connectedness And Academic Outcomes Across Sixth Grade, Kate Niehaus, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Christopher R. Rakes

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current longitudinal study examines the extent to which school connectedness (i.e., students' perceptions of school support and the number of adults with whom they have a positive relationship) is associated with academic outcomes across sixth grade for students from high poverty neighborhoods. Data were collected from 330 sixth-grade students attending two middle schools in a large public school district. Specifically, students completed a survey to assess their perceived connection to the school environment, and academic information regarding students' grades, attendance, and discipline referrals was obtained from school records. Results fromlatent growth curve modeling showed that, on average, students' perceptions …

Changing Museum Visitors’ Conceptions Of Evolution, Amy N. Spiegel, E Margaret Evans, Brandy Frazier, Ashley Hazel, Medha Tare, Wendy Gram, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

We examined whether a single visit to an evolution exhibition contributed to conceptual change in adult (n030), youth, and child (n034) museum visitors’ reasoning about evolution. The exhibition included seven current research projects in evolutionary science, each focused on a different organism. To frame this study, we integrated a developmental model of visitors’ understanding of evolution, which incorporates visitors’ intuitive beliefs, with a model of free-choice learning that includes personal, sociocultural, and contextual variables. Using pre- and postmeasures, we assessed how visitors’ causal explanations about biological change, drawn from three reasoning patterns (evolutionary, intuitive, and creationist), were modified as a …

Getting Ready: Results Of A Randomized Trial Of A Relationship-Focused Intervention On The Parent– Infant Relationship In Rural Early Head Start, Lisa Knoche, Susan M. Sheridan, Brandy L. Clark, Carolyn P. Edwards, Christine A. Marvin, Keely D. Cline, Keely Cline, Kevin A. Kupzyk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a relational intervention (the Getting Ready intervention) on parenting behaviors supporting the parent–infant relationship for families enrolled in Early Head Start home-based programming. Two-hundred thirty-four parents and their children participated in the randomized study, with 42% of parents reporting education of less than a high-school diploma. Brief, semistructured parent–child interaction tasks were videotaped every 4 months over a16-month intervention period. Observational codes of parent–infant relationship behaviors included quality of three parental behaviors: warmth and sensitivity, support for learning, and encouragement of autonomy; two appropriateness indicators: support for learning and …

Reducing Overweight And Obesity Among Elementary Students In Wuhan, China, Ling Qian, Ian Newman, Duane F. Shell, Cheng Maojin Cheng

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Obesity and overweight among children in China is a growing concern. The curriculum and organization of Chinese schools focuses on academic achievement leaving little time for other programs. This pilot program illustrated that it is possible to involve schools and parents in a program to reduce obesity and overweight. Teachers, school staff, parents and elementary students were involved in an all-school educational initiative based on WHO’s Health Promoting School Model. The program was evaluated with a mixed modal ANOVA using a 3-level within subjects repeated factor (baseline, 1st follow-up, 2nd follow-up) and a 2-level between subjects factor (gender: boys and …

Self-Efficacy, Intrinsic Motivation, And Academic Outcomes Among Latino Middle School Students Participating In An After-School Program, Kate Niehaus, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Jill L. Adelson

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study examined how academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and participation in an after-school program contributed to the academic achievement of Latino middle school students over the course of one school year. Participants were 47 Latino students in sixth through eighth grades who attended two public middle schools in which an after-school program was held that was specifically for Latino students. Results from ordinary least squares regression revealed that intrinsic motivation was positively associated with students GPAs, self-efficacy was a positive predictor of students’ school attendance and standardized math achievement scores, and attendance at the after-school program also contributed positively …

Neonatal White Matter Abnormalities An Important Predictor Of Neurocognitive Outcome For Very Preterm Children, Lianne J. Woodward, Caron A. C. Clark, Samudragupta Bora, Terrie E. Inder

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Cerebral white matter abnormalities on term MRI are a strong predictor of motor disability in children born very preterm. However, their contribution to cognitive impairment is less certain. Objective: Examine relationships between the presence and severity of cerebral white matter abnormalities on neonatal MRI and a range of neurocognitive outcomes assessed at ages 4 and 6 years. Design/Methods: The study sample consisted of a regionally representative cohort of 104 very preterm (≤32 weeks gestation) infants born from 1998–2000 and a comparison group of 107 full-term infants. At term equivalent, all preterm infants underwent a structural MRI scan that was …

Book Review: The Morality Of Social Identity, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Morality tells us how to treat each other. Social identity connects us to each other. But all is not well. Social identity connects us to a group and thus to its members. Morality requires justice for everyone, regardless of group. Thus considerations of morality and social identity often pull in different directions (Appiah, 2005; Moshman, 2007; Sen, 2006).

Two excellent and complementary new books, Children and Social Exclusion and Narrative and the Politics of Identity, address the developmental roots and implications of these issues. The first reviews and integrates multiple programs of research on children’s developing judgments about dilemmas …

Examining The Effect Of Medical Risk, Parental Stress, And Self-Efficacy On Parent Behaviors And The Home Environment Of Premature Children, Kathryn Woods

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between medical risk and parenting stress and the extent to which parental self-efficacy moderates the relationship between medical risk, parenting stress, specific parenting behaviors (i.e., parental responsivity, acceptance of child, parental involvement) and the home environment (i.e., organization of environment, learning materials, variety in experience, and IT-HOME total score) of premature children. Participants included 72 parent-child dyads with premature children between the ages of 7 and 35 months corrected age. Measures included parent reports of medical risk, stress, self-efficacy, and the IT-HOME. Results show that medical risk was not significantly …

Factors Associated With Participation And Retention In A Group Treatment For Child Sexual Abuse, Mollie Dittmer, Grace Hubel, David J. Hansen

McNair Scholars Research Journal

The current study examines factors associated with participation and retention in a child sexual abuse (CSA) outpatient program. Participation and retention are vital if children are to receive the intended benefits of treatment designed to promote healthy coping following CSA. However, little is known about factors that impede or encourage families to consistently attend sessions. Several factors possibly related to child participation and retention were examined, including demographic variables such as income level and education, characteristics of the abuse, and parent and family pretreatment functioning. Participants in the sample included 175 children and adolescents and their non-offending primary caregivers seeking …

Cognitive-Behavioral Group Treatment For A Sexually Abused Child And A Nonoffending Caregiver: Case Study And Discussion, Grace S. Hubel, Rosalita C. Maldonado, Poonam Tavkar, David J. Hansen, Mary Fran Flood

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study presents the case of 11-year-old Amanda and her mother (Ms. Jones) who completed Project SAFE (Sexual Abuse Family Education), a manualized group treatment for sexually abused children and their nonoffending caregivers. Amanda experienced sexual abuse by her stepfather on multiple occasions over a 4-year period. Prior to treatment, Amanda reported symptoms of anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and fear related to victimization. Ms. Jones also reported clinically significant internalizing problems for Amanda. Ms. Jones presented with stress related to parenting as well as depression and anxiety. Both Amanda and Ms. Jones completed the entire 12-session protocol. Amanda and Ms. Jones’s …

A Kinder, Gentler Nativism?: Review Of Alison Gopnik, The Philosophical Baby, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Review of Alison Gopnik, The philosophical baby: What children's minds tell us about truth, love, and the meaning of life.

In its historic philosophical and psychological formulations, nativism highlighted innateness. Development was deemed nothingmore than a genetically driven process ofmaturation; learning, in turn, was nothing more than the filling in of superficial content. In this determinist view, neither development nor learning could be deemed active, creative, or constructive processes, and nothing genuinely new could result.

The nativists who have increasingly populated the literature of developmental psychology since the 1980s, however, are neonativists. Neonativists fully accept modern views of immature organisms …

Designing A School Garden Space That Emphasizes Children's Wants And Uses Permaculture Design Methods, Mikhaela Mullins

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at Saratoga Elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska to obtain data on what children desire in a garden space. To collect this data a school garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented. Students who participated in the after school garden club partook in the study by drawing their ideal garden. Elements that the subjects drew were identified and categorized into ‘highly desired’ and ‘somewhat desired’.

These elements were then incorporated into a proposed garden design plan for Saratoga. The proposal plan uses Permaculture design methods to emphasize sustainability.

A Qualitative Study On Online Social Networks And Language Mistakes, Buket Akkoyunlu, Meryem Yılmaz Soylu

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to put the suggestions of the students for the solutions towards caring Turkish by examining their projects carried out by Primary School 7th and 8th grade students in the online social networks (Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs) in order to detect the wrong use of Turkish. The case study among the qualitative research methods was used. In the study, 7th and 8th grade students examined how Turkish (language) is used in the correspondences in the online social networks (Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs), detected the mistakes and presented solution suggestions towards the correct use …

Evolution And Development Of Reasoning And Argumentation: Commentary On Mercier (2011), David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

For anyone who loves a strong major thesis—and I do—Mercier’s “Reasoning serves argumentation in children” [this issue] obliges right from the title. And for anyone who loves a carefully structured defense of a provocative perspective—and who does not?—Mercier’s article continues to fill the bill.

The “argumentative theory of reasoning” maintains that “reasoning is a fundamentally social ability” that “has evolved to serve argumentive ends: finding and evaluating arguments in a dialogic context.” There appear to be two distinguishable theses here: first, reasoning serves argumentive ends; second, reasoning has evolved. In their moderate versions, each thesis is true and useful; their …

Work And Mexican American Parent-Adolescent Relationships: The Mediating Role Of Parent Well-Being, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff

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

This study of Mexican American two-parent families (N = 246) examined the role of parents’ well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, role overload) as a potential mechanism through which parent occupational conditions (i.e., self-direction, hazardous conditions, physical activity, work pressure) are linked to parent-adolescent relationship qualities (i.e., warmth, conflict, disclosure). Depressive symptoms mediated the links between maternal and paternal work pressure and parentadolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure. For mothers, depressive symptoms also mediated the links between self-direction and mother-adolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure; for fathers, role overload mediated the links between work pressure and hazardous conditions with fatheradolescent warmth.

A Randomized Trial Examining The Effects Of Parent Engagement On Early Language And Literacy: The Getting Ready Intervention, Susan M. Sheridan, Lisa Knoche, Kevin A. Kupzyk, Carolyn P. Edwards, Christine A. Marvin

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Language and literacy skills established during early childhood are critical for later school success. Parental engagement with children has been linked to a number of adaptive characteristics in preschoolers including language and literacy development, and family-school collaboration is an important contributor to school readiness. This study reports the results of a randomized trial of a parent engagement intervention designed to facilitate school readiness among disadvantaged preschool children, with a particular focus on language and literacy development. Participants included 217 children, 211 parents, and 29 Head Start teachers in 21 schools. Statistically significant differences in favor of the treatment group were …

Adolescents Are Young Adults, Not Immature Brains, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

When G. Stanley Hall (1904) wrote the first book on adolescence at the turn of the 20th century, he was describing a new cultural phenomenon that had emerged in the United States and other industrializing societies during the late 19th century. There had always been children, whether or not we theorized about them, but there had not always been adolescents.

Of course, there have always been teenagers in the mathematical sense of persons who have reached the age of 13 years but not yet 20 years (and in the linguistic sense that these are the ‘‘teen’’ years in our counting …

Educators' Attitudes Toward Outdoor Classrooms And The Cognitive Benefits In Children, Carlie Speedlin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at a K-5 elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraksa. This school is Saratoga Elementary School and is a United States Title I Distinguished School1 under No Child Left Behind. It has a population of 266 students, with 47% being minority, 1% gifted, and 28% special education (LPS School Profile Brochure). 80% of the student population is eligible for free/reduced meals, implying that it’s a school with a lower socioeconomic status. At this school a garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented for this case study. The club had been running since …

Scaling Up: Professional Development To Serve Young Children In Chinese Welfare Institutions, Carolyn P. Edwards, Janice N. Cotton, Wen Zhao, Jerònia Muntaner-Gelabert

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

As senior program directors and field supervisors, we at Half the Sky Foundation asked ourselves, how can we empower children's welfare institution staff to provide nurture, enrichment, and education for all young children in state care? Creating an infrastructure for providing professional development was the first step. The HTS training infrastructure for early childhood includes international experts and a cadre of skilled Chinese teacher trainers, who together create a network of HTS teacher trainers (program directors and field supervisors for Infant Nurture and Little Sisters). In addition, Blue Sky model training centers-soon to number 31, one for each province of …

Conflict Resolution In Mexican-Origin Couples: Culture, Gender, And Marital Quality, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff, Shawna M. Thayer

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

This study examined associations between Mexican-origin spouses’ conflict resolution strategies (i.e., nonconfrontation, solution orientation, and control) and (a) gender-typed qualities and attitudes, (b) cultural orientations, and (c) marital quality in a sample of 227 couples. Results of multilevel modeling revealed that Mexican cultural orientations were positively associated with solution orientation, and Anglo cultural orientations were negatively associated with nonconfrontation. Expressive personal qualities were negatively associated with control, whereas instrumental qualities were positively related to control. Links between conflict resolution and marital quality revealed that control and nonconfrontation were associated with spouses’ ratings of marital negativity. In some cases, different patterns …

Psychological And Support Characteristics Of Parents Of Child Sexual Abuse Victims: Relationship With Child Functioning And Treatment, Poonam Tavkar

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Child sexual abuse continues to be a prevalent and complex problem in today’s society as it poses serious and pervasive mental health risks to child victims and their non-offending parents. The main objectives of this study were (a) to elucidate the psychological symptoms and support needs of parents of child sexual abuse victims as they present to group treatment, (b) to examine changes in psychological symptoms and support needs and their relationship with child functioning over the course of a parallel group treatment, and (c) to examine the impact of these factors on completion of group treatment. Participants included 104 …

Family Involvement For Children With Disruptive Behaviors: The Role Of Parenting Stress And Motivational Beliefs, Carrie A. Semke, S. Andrew Garbacz, Kyongboon Kwon, Susan M. Sheridan, Kathryn Woods

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

Children with disruptive behaviors are at risk for adverse outcomes. Family involvement is a significant predictor of positive child behavior outcomes; however, little research has investigated parent psychological variables that influence family involvement for children with disruptive behaviors. This study investigated the role of parental motivational beliefs (i.e., role construction and efficacy) as a potential mechanism by which parenting stress impacts family involvement for families of children with disruptive behaviors. Results indicated that parent role construction mediated the relation between parenting stress and all aspects of family involvement examined (i.e., home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home–school communication). Parent efficacy mediated …

Parenting Self-Efficacy And Parenting Practices Over Time In Mexican American Families, Larry E. Dumka, Nancy A. Gonzales, Lorey A. Wheeler, Roger E. Millsap

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

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study used a longitudinal cross-lagged panel design and a structural equation modeling approach to evaluate parenting self-efficacy's reciprocal and causal associations with parents' positive control practices over time to predict adolescents' conduct problems. Data were obtained from teachers, mothers, and adolescents in 189 Mexican American families living in the southwest U.S. After accounting for contemporaneous reciprocal relationships between parenting self-efficacy (PSE) and positive control, results indicated that parenting self-efficacy predicted future positive control practices rather than the reverse. PSE also showed direct effects on decreased adolescent conduct problems. PSE functioned in an antecedent causal …

A Conceptual Guide To Natural History Museum Visitors’ Understanding Of Evolution, E. Margaret Evans, Amy N. Spiegel, Wendy Gram, Brandy N. Frazier, Medha Tare, Sarah Thompson, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Museum visitors are an ideal population for assessing the persistence of the conceptual barriers that make it difficult to grasp Darwinian evolutionary theory. In comparison with other members of the public, they are more likely to be interested in natural history, have higher education levels, and be exposed to the relevant content. If museum visitors do not grasp evolutionary principles, it seems unlikely that other members of the general public would do so. In the current study, 32 systematically selected visitors to three Midwest museums of natural history provided detailed open-ended explanations of biological change in seven diverse organisms. They …

Grounded Theory As A “Family Of Methods”: A Genealogical Analysis To Guide Research, Wayne A. Babchuk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This inquiry traces the evolution of grounded theory from a nuclear to an extended family of methods and considers the implications that decision-making based on informed choices throughout all phases of the research process has for realizing the potential of grounded theory for advancing adult education theory and practice.

Book Review: Psychoanalyzing Prejudice, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The classic psychological work on prejudice is Gordon Allport’s 1954 The Nature of Prejudice. Half a century later, its definitive modern counterpart must surely be On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport (2005). Systematically reconsidering Allport’s work in light of subsequent research and theorizing, On the Nature of Prejudice provides, in one carefully edited volume, the most comprehensive statement on the psychology of prejudice currently available. The Future of Prejudice: Psychoanalysis and the Prevention of Prejudice, in contrast, is simply a collection of sixteen chapters that, although generally psychoanalytic in orientation, vary greatly in form, content, …

Multiple Determinants Of Sexualized Behavior In Middle Childhood: A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective, Natasha Elkovitch

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In order to adequately and appropriately intervene with children exhibiting problematic sexual behaviors, a comprehensive understanding of etiology is imperative. Although sexually abused children are observed engaging in more problematic sexual behaviors than their normative or psychiatric counterparts, it is clear that such behaviors may be the result of factors other than, or in addition to, sexual abuse. The goal of the present study was utilize a developmental psychopathology perspective in broadening our understanding of mechanisms associated with the development of problematic sexual behaviors in childhood. Participants for the study include 1, 149 children (51.8% female) drawn from the Longitudinal …

A Conceptual Guide To Museum Visitors’ Understanding Of Evolution, E. Margaret Evans, Amy Spiegel, Wendy Gram, Brandy N. Frazier, Sarah Cover, Medha Tare, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to profile natural history museum visitors’ reasoning about the evolution of seven organisms featured in Explore Evolution, an NSF funded exhibition. Seven current research studies on evolution were exhibited; each targeted different organisms: HIV, diatoms, ant/fungus, Hawaiian flies, Galapagos finches, humans/chimps, and fossilized whales. The exhibits illustrated a common set of evolutionary principles, variation, inheritance, selection, time, and adaptation, in diverse organisms.

Method: As part of the front-end evaluation, 32 museum visitors were interviewed and asked to explain evolutionary change in the seven organisms, though the term evolution was not mentioned. …

Taking Development Seriously: Critique Of The 2008 Jme Special Issue On Moral Functioning, John C. Gibbs, David Moshman, Marvin W. Berkowitz, Karen S. Basinger, Rebecca L. Grime

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This essay comments on articles that composed a Journal of Moral Education Special Issue (September, 2008, 37[3]). The issue was intended to honor the 50th anniversary of Lawrence Kohlberg’s doctoral dissertation and his subsequent impact on the field of moral development and education. The articles were characterized by the issue editor (Don Collins Reed) as providing a “look forward” from Kohlberg’s work toward a more comprehensive or integrated model of moral functioning. Prominent were culturally pluralist and biologically based themes, such as cultural learning; expert skill; culturally shaped and neurobiologically based predispositions or intuitions; and moral self-relevance or centrality. Inadequately …

The Influence Of The Family Context And Intervention Implementation Integrity On Child Behavior During Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, Michelle Swanger-Gagne

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the study was to determine the role of family context variables (i.e., parenting stress and positive parenting practices) as possible moderators and mediators of the relationship between conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) and change in child problem behavior in the home setting. Another aim of the study was to evaluate the mediator roles of two dimensions of intervention implementation integrity (i.e., adherence to interventions and full engagement in the plan implementation phase) on parenting stress and change in child problem behavior for families involved in CBC. Participants were 203 parents, 81 teachers (81 classrooms), and 203 children who …