Developmental Psychology Commons^™

Youths’ Perspectives Of Experiential Learning Delivery: Findings From A Multistate 4-H Youth Program, Sarah Taylor, K. Anh Do, Shen Qin, Yan Xia, Maria Rosario De Guzman

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

Youths’ perspectives are often unexplored in youth program development and implementation. This article examined youths’ perspectives of a 4-H youth prevention program called “Health Rocks!” that is designed to promote healthful decision-making skills, stress coping, and socioemotional skills related to substance use. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Qualitative findings reveal that participants appreciated the fun and engaging curriculum, valued program staff who were interactive, and enjoyed the hands-on program activities. Participants also reported that the program positively impacted their knowledge and skills. Quantitative results show that participants who perceived the program as fun were significantly more likely …

Recognizing And Promoting Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Leadership, And Impact: Award For Interdisciplinary Excellence In Mathematics Education (Ieme Award), Yeping Li, W. James Lewis

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

The presentation of the Award for Excellence in Mathematics Education to Roger E. Howe in 2015 officially launched the award, with the goal of recognizing work of lasting significance and impact in advancing mathematics education as an interdisciplinary field, linking mathematics, educational studies, and practice. From the beginning, this unique award has emphasized interdisciplinarity in mathematics education, highlighting the importance of boundary-crossing collaborations among mathematicians, mathematics educators, scholars in other related fields, and practitioners of mathematics. To emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in mathematics education, starting in 2019, the name of the award is changed from “Excellence in Mathematics …

Determinants Of Physical Activity For Latino And White Middle School-Aged Children, Aileen Garcia, Shinya Takahashi, Mindy Anderson-Knott, Dipti Dev

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

Background: Physical activity (PA) has long been acknowledged to contribute health benefits among children. However, research has consistently shown that PA declines as children grow older. Thus, this study examined the factors which are associated to children’s PA in order to identify potential barriers to PA.

Methods: Using data from the KidQuest Program, we conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses on survey data collected from fifth to seventh grade students in a small Midwestern city.

Results: We found that food knowledge, eating breakfast, and talking with family about eating healthy foods, are positively related to PA. On the

other hand, screen …

An Innovative, Cross-Disciplinary Approach To Promoting Child Health: The Reggio Emilia Approach And The Ecological Approach To Family Style Dining Program, Dipti Dev, Anna Burton, Brent A. Mcbride, Carolyn Edwards, Aileen Garcia

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

The Reggio Emilia approach is an international example of high-quality early care and education programs and this article offers innovative, practical strategies in which Reggio Emilia-inspired educators can link this approach while implementing the research-based EAT Family Style Dining program to foster a positive mealtime environment and promote better health for children.

The EAT Family Style Dining program presents childcare providers with the knowledge and skills needed for promoting children’s development of healthy eating behaviors while engaging families and communities. Children and adults eat together during mealtime and children serve themselves and select their own portions. This practice is recommended …

Do Not Forget Families And Households When Addressing Urban Refugee Education, Sarah C. Erwin, Jennifer Sewall, Julie A. Tippens, Dulo Nyaoro, Helen M. Miamidian

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

There are currently more than 25.4 million refugees globally, representing the largest number of refugees in recorded history (UNHCR 2018). More than one in three refugees who fall under the auspices of United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) protection are of school age (UNHCR 2019a). Dryden-Peterson (2015, 2016) points out that much of what is known about refugee education stems from research conducted in high-income countries of resettlement, ignoring the reality that the majority of refugees live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) neighboring their countries of origin. Additionally, 60% of refugees globally reside in cities (UNHCR 2019c), where UNHCR coordinates …

Generational Perceptions Of Support Among Congolese Refugees In Urban Tanzania, Julie A. Tippens

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

Urban refugees frequently fall outside of the scope of humanitarian assistance programs. Despite a growing body of research describing the experiences of urban refugees in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) of first asylum, little is known about generational differences in perceived support in these contexts. This phenomenological study used in-depth, semi-structured interviews and small group discussions to identify sources and meanings of support among older adult (50+; n= 23) and younger adult (18–30; n= 11) Congolese refugees in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Family and fictive kin emerged as central sources of support across age groups. However, instrumental support was sought …

Comparison Of Parent And Child Ratings Of Fruit And Vegetable Liking To Assess Parent Accuracy As Proxy Reporters, Virginia C. Stage, Carrie Downing, Archana V. Hegde, Dipti Dev, Amanda D. Peterson, L. Suzanne Goodell

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

This study examined the accuracy of parent-report child fruit/ vegetable (FV) liking. Child/parent dyads (n = 24) were recruited from six Head Start preschools in North Carolina. Liking for 10 FVs was assessed using a validated pictorial tool for children; a similar scale was used for parents. Negative relationships were observed between parent/child for one fruit (grapes) and one vegetable (broccoli). Positive relationships were observed among oranges, grapes, and overall fruit rankings. Parents tended to rank children’s liking of fruits higher than their children, while children ranked liking vegetables higher. Findings suggest parents may not be accurate respondents for …

Supporting Strong Families And Capable Communities Through Cross-National Research, Nathan C. Taylor, Deborah K. Hartman, Richard Bischoff, Alan Hayes, Paul R. Springer, David Perkins

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

Background Mental and behavioral ill-health are growing global problems and while there are promising evidence-based approaches aimed at reducing their impact, availability of services varies greatly, not only across nations, but also between urban, regional, and remote locations. Rural areas face accessibility and acceptability challenges related to mental health services that are similar to barriers experienced in developing countries. Initiatives to address mental health challenges in under-served rural areas can inform global mental health strategies.

Methods Using a public health approach, we illustrate how innovations in rural communities build community capacity and capability in areas that are currently, and are …

Contextual Factors Influence Professional Development Attendance Among Child Care Providers In Nebraska, Dipti Dev, Aileen S. Garcia, Alison Tovar, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Zainab Rida, Linda Reddish, Jasmin Smith, Christy Burger, Danae Dinkel, Donnia Behrends, Emily Hulse, Susan M. Sheridan

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

Objective: To examine contextual factors that may influence child care providers’ motivators for attending nutrition-related training and their preferences and barriers to attending professional development training.

Design: Cross-sectional survey completed between January and April 2017.

Setting: Licensed child care programs (n = 1,490) across urban and rural Nebraska.

Participants: Child care center directors (n = 336) and family child care home providers (n = 1,154).

Main Outcome Measures: Motivators, preferences, and barriers of child care providers for attending professional development.

Analysis: Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results: Top motivators for attending nutrition-related training included meeting licensure …

Building Young People’S Capacity For Critical And Transcendent Engagement: Examining The Institution, The Community, And The Individual As Protagonists Of A School Setting, Livia Dittmer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a powerful socializing force in Western society, schools have significant influence on young people’s development into adulthood. As powerful agents of societal maintenance and change, adolescents have significant influence on communities and institutions such as schools. In this embedded case study, I use structuration theory, German Critical Psychology, and systems thinking to examine the dynamic relationship between institutional structures and student agency in a school setting. I specifically examine the influence of this relationship on young people’s capacity for critical and transcendent engagement, constructs described further in this work. In the setting of Nancy Campbell Academy (NCA), an international …

Bully-Victimization, Depression, And School Connectedness In Early Adolescent Students, Irene Gonzalez-Herrer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

During early adolescence, schools play a significant role in the development of students. An issue that continues to be a serious concern for students, parents, teachers, and school officials in the U.S. and around the world is bullying. The primary purpose of this study was to examine school connectedness as a mediator between bully-victimization and depressive symptomatology in early adolescence. The secondary purpose of the study was to explore how gender and bullying classification groups (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim, and non-involved) may relate to levels of reported school connectedness. The current study found low school connectedness partially mediated the relationship …

Speaking From Places: A Phenomenological Deconstructive Study Of Children’S Places, Child-Centric Methods, And Politics., Sugandh Dixit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation adopts an innovative phenomenological and deconstructive methodology to create a child-centric research process sensitive to facilitating, integrating, and representing children’s voices in designing their school playground. The study developed and employed two novel child-centric methods, an Embedded Walk and a Communal Child-Map Project in order to integrate parents’ and children’s experiences of the school spaces the authorities planned to renovate. Both methods reveal and complicate the socio-political dynamics that structure children’s, parents’, and researchers’ stances towards children’s places and worlds. During the Embedded Walk, children led their parents through their play spaces and they collaboratively documented the childrens’ …

Wellness And Prevention Program Sustainability Design For Clark University Athletics Department, Emily Corbett

Sustainability and Social Justice

The purpose of this work is to design a wellness based prevention program that is tailored to fit the campus community within Clark University, Worcester, MA, called the Peer Athletes Advocating for Wellness (PAAW) initiative. This paper first presents the current research on wellness related issues within a college campus, specifically surrounding sexual violence. It then outlines the current sexual violence prevention programming that takes place yearly for incoming first year students at Clark University, as well as a one-time initiative during which student athletes participated in the sexual violence prevention programming. There is a review of the current most …

Early Childhood Teacher Turnover In Nebraska, Amy M. Roberts, Kathleen C. Gallagher, Susan Sarver, Alexandra Daro

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

Teacher turnover is a serious challenge across early childhood settings. Turnover can be expensive for early childhood programs, burdensome to staff, and harmful to children throughout the nation. Nebraska is no exception. This research brief describes teacher turnover in the state’s early care and education settings, including licensed child care, state-funded PreK, and Kindergarten through Grade 3.

Research Questions The following research questions were asked across early childhood programs (licensed child care, state-funded PreK, and K-3): 1. What was the average rate of annual teacher turnover? 2. According to administrators, what was the most common reason teachers left their employment? …

Maternal Immune Activation (Mia) In Mice: A Study To Phenotype Asd-Related Communication Behaviors And Analyze Maternal Health Outcomes In The Us, Komalpreet Gulati

Honors Scholar Theses

Core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include deficits in social/communicative behaviors, and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors. Mouse models are a highly established paradigm used to study the phenotypic deficits that result from various inducible genotypic or environmental risk factors for ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like behaviors in mouse models. In this model, the maternal immune system is activated during pregnancy by injecting the viral mimic poly(I:C). The resulting offspring are phenotyped and analyzed with regards to their communicative behaviors.

Previous studies have demonstrated that male pups born to dams with immune activation …

The Role Of Dialect Words In Children’S Social Decisions, Madison Rose Myers-Burg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent research suggests that young children are capable of distinguishing between phonetically dissimilar spoken accents, yet have difficulty distinguishing between phonetically similar accents (Wagner, Clopper, & Pate, 2013). The present study aimed to determine whether the presence of dialect-specific vocabulary enhances young children’s ability to categorize speakers. Participants completed four training trials in which they were familiarized with photos of two children: one of whom used American English labels for test objects and one of whom used British English labels. After training trials, participants completed eight test trials in which they were asked to infer which target child would use …

Fathers’ Cortisol And Testosterone In The Days Around Infants’ Births Predict Later Paternal Involvement, Patty X. Kuo, Julia M. Braungart-Rieker, Jennifer E. Burke Lefever, Mallika S. Sarma, Molly O'Neill, Lee T. Gettler

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

Human paternal behavior is multidimensional, and extant research has yet to delineate how hormone patterns may be related to different dimensions of fathering. Further, although studies vary in their measurement of hormones (i.e., basal or reactivity), it remains unclear whether basal and/or reactivity measures are predictive of different aspects of men’s parenting. We examined whether men’s testosterone and cortisol predicted fathers’ involvement in childcare and play with infants and whether fathers’ testosterone and cortisol changed during fathers’ first interaction with their newborn. Participants were 298 fathers whose partners gave birth in a UNICEF-designated “baby-friendly” hospital, which encourages fathers to hold …

Fatherhood And Psychobiology In The Philippines: Perspectives On Joint Profiles And Longitudinal Changes Of Fathers’ Estradiol And Testosterone, Lee T. Gettler, Patty X. Kuo, Sonny Agustin Bechayda

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

Objectives: Research on the psychobiology of partnering and fathering has focused on testosterone (T), oxytocin, and prolactin (PRL) as mechanisms that potentially mediate life history trade-offs related to those roles. Less is known about other hormones that might be responsive to life history transitions and implicated in fathering, such as estradiol (E2). We examined how E2 changed during the transition to marriage and fatherhood, its correlation with fathers’ caregiving, and its joint within-individual production with other hormones (T, PRL). Methods: Data were collected from a total of 913 Filipino men (aged 25.9 years ± 0.3 SD at follow-up) enrolled in …

P-06 Faith, Hope And Love: An Integrated Conceptual Framework For Examining Religious Outcomes In A Global Church, Karl G. D. Bailey, Duane C. Mcbride, Shannon M. Trecartin

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

The 2017-18 Global Church Member Survey conducted by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is designed to assess the quinquennial Church Strategic Plan (2015-2020). In designing this survey, we considered a variety of theoretical frameworks that could explain relationships between the target outcomes in the Strategic Plan. The resulting novel theoretical framework is based on Biblical principles and an integration of a number of frameworks in the social sciences: motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Greenberg, Solomon, & Arndt, 2008; Koole, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2006; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Goldenberg, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and hope (Bernardo, 2010; Snyder, …

Grup Ortamlarindaki̇ Oyunun Değerlendi̇ri̇lmesi̇ (Good) Gözlem Formunun Geçerli̇k Ve Güveni̇rli̇k Çalişmasi / Validity And Reliability Study Of The Play Assessment For Group Settings (Pags), Emine Ahmetoğlu, Manolya Aşik Öztürk, İbrahim Hakkı Acar

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

Amaç: Bu araştırmanın amacı Lautamo (2012) tarafından geliştirilen "PAGS; Play Assessment for Group Settings (GOOD-Grup Ortamlarındaki Oyunun Değerlendirilmesi)" Gözlem Formunun Türkçeye uyarlanması, geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizlerinin yapılmasıdır. Gereç-Yöntem: İki-sekiz yaş arasındaki çocukların doğal grup ortamlarındaki oyun performanslarını ölçmek amacı ile tasarlanan GOOD Gözlem Formu dörtlü Likert tipinde puanlanan 38 maddeden oluşmaktadır. Araştırma verileri Edirne İl Merkezinde bulunan 13 okul öncesi kurumda görev yapan 46 öğretmen ve yaşları 36 ile 73 ay arasında değişen (M=54,6 ay, SS=0.99) toplam 149 çocuktan toplanmıştır. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak araştırmacılar tarafından geliştirilen Genel Bilgi Formu, GOOD Gözlem Formu ve öğretmenlerin sınıflarındaki çocukların duygusal durumu …

"Born Out Of Fear": A Grounded Theory Study Of The Stigma Of Bipolar Disorder For New Mothers, Walker Ladd Ph.D.

The Qualitative Report

Childbirth is an established trigger for the onset of bipolar disorders (BD) in the postpartum period, causing significant pathology and disability. Research has shown that the stigma of mental illness for new mothers is a powerful obstacle to care, preventing women from accessing critical treatment and social support. However, the majority of research has examined the relationship between the stigma and postpartum depression, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding stigma and postpartum bipolar disorder. The problem addressed in this grounded theory study was the lack of knowledge regarding the stigma of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) in the first …

Exploring The Links Between Early Life And Young Adulthood Social Experiences And Men’S Later Life Psychobiology As Fathers, Mallika S. Sarma, Patty X. Kuo, Sonny Agustin Bechayda, Christopher W. Kuzawa, Lee T. Gettler

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

Early life cues of environmental harshness and unpredictability have been hypothesized to influence within-species variation in the timing of life history transitions and the dynamics of reproductive strategies, such as investments in mating and parenting. It is also believed that adolescence is an influential developmental period for male reproductive strategies, with those who achieve greater social and sexual success during that period maintaining faster life history strategies into adulthood. If correct, such early life and post-pubertal experiences could also help shape the psychobiological pathways that mediate reproductive strategies, including the well-documented physiological shifts that occur when some men become parents. …

Building Strong Family–School Partnerships: Transitioning From Basic Findings To Possible Practices, Susan M. Sheridan, Lorey Wheeler

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

In the present article, we describe the translational process undergirding a particular aspect of family science: families working in partnership with schools to achieve mutual goals for children’s optimal functioning. In doing so, we illustrate a translational cycle that began with identifying problems of practice and led to the development of a family–school intervention (i.e., conjoint behavioral consultation) in a way that embraced families as partners in goal-setting and problem-solving. We discuss the evolution of the intervention from development to efficacy trials and practice guidelines. Key decision points borne out of practical relevance, empirical investigations, tests of mechanisms and conditions, …

Using Multiple Methods To More Fully Understand Causal Relations: Positive Affect Enhances Social Relationships, Shannon Moore, Ed Diener, Kenneth Tan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We review research indicating that higher levels of positive affect help produce better social relationships for that person and those around him or her. By better relationships we mean those that are experienced as more pleasant and less aversive, are closer and more supportive, and are long-lasting. We review longitudinal, experimental, experience-sampling, cross-cultural, and other types of evidence that suggest that not only do good relationships produce positive affect, but that positive affect can lead to them as well. We also focus on the mediators that create the association going from positive affect to sociability and high-quality relationships. Finally, we …

What Happens During Language And Literacy Coaching? Coaches’ Reports Of Their Interactions With Educators, Rachel E. Schachter, Melissa M. Weber-Mayrer, Shayne B. Piasta, Ann A. O’Connell

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

Research Findings: This study investigated coaches’ interactions with educators in the context of a large-scale, state-implemented literacy professional development (PD). We examined log data and open-comment reports to understand what coaches found salient about their interactions with educators as well as how those reports aligned with the initial design of the PD. Coaches reported spending a large proportion of their interactions with educators completing administrative tasks. Our findings also indicate that coaches disproportionally targeted instructional content from the PD while also adding unrelated instructional content to their coaching. Although coaches reported focusing on relationship building, they reported using less efficacious …

Gray Space And Green Space Proximity Associated With Higher Anxiety In Youth With Autism, Lincoln R. Lawson, Brian Barger, Scott Ogletree, Julia C. Torquati, Steven Rosenberg, Cassandra Johnson Gaither, Jodie Marie Bartz, Andrew Gardner, Eric Moody, Anne R. Schutte

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

This study used ZIP code level data on children's health (National Survey of Children's Health, 2012) and land cover (National Land Cover Database, 2011) from across the United States to investigate connections between proximity to green space (tree canopy), gray space (impervious surfaces), and expression of a critical co-morbid condition, anxiety, in three groups of youth: children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n=1501), non-ASD children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN, n=15,776), and typically developing children (n=53,650). Both impervious surface coverage and tree canopy coverage increased the risk of severe anxiety in youth with autism, but not CSHCN or typical …

Needs Assessment For Informing Extension Professional Development Trainings On Teaching Adult Learners, Nathan W. Conner, Dipti Dev, Katherine Krause

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

As society becomes more information saturated, Extension must evaluate its educational programming and delivery methods used to facilitate adult learning. Extension professionals must have a comprehensive understanding of how adults learn. Accordingly, we conducted a needs assessment as a basis for providing professional development trainings focused on teaching adults. Our objective was to identify Extension professionals' professional development needs related to designing and facilitating programming based on andragogy. We developed a survey instrument that addressed andragogy-related topics and administered it to Extension professionals. The results indicated that professional development centered on andragogy was needed by and relevant to the study …

Bait Questions As Source Of Misinformation In Police Interviews: Does Race Or Age Of The Suspect Increase Jurors' Memory Errors?, Matilde Ascheri

Student Theses

Bait questions—hypothetical questions about evidence, often used by detectives during interrogations—can activate the misinformation effect and alter jurors’ perceptions of the evidence of a case. Here, we were interested in investigating whether mock jurors’ implicit biases could amplify the magnitude of the misinformation effect. We accomplished this by manipulating the age and race of the suspect being interrogated. As an extension of Luke et al. (2017), we had participants read a police report describing evidence found at a crime scene, then read a transcript of a police interrogation where the detective used bait questions to introduce new evidence not presented …

Surprisingly Open Or Openly Surprised? That Is The Question; Using Surprise Experiences To Increase Openness To Experience And Tolerance Of Ambiguity, Anneke Veenendaal-De Kort

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Using Surprise Experiences to Increase Openness to Experience and Tolerance of Ambiguity

In the fast-changing world in which we are currently living, we constantly come across situations and problems that we have not encountered before. An open mind and the ability to tolerate ambiguity are important skills in uncertain times. People who embrace the unpredictable can develop their resilience and flexibility. Surprisologists Luna and Renninger (2015) have discovered that a great way of dipping into unpredictability is through surprise. For my Master’s Project, I designed experiences that transform people’s openness and tolerance for ambiguity through surprise. This paper begins with …

When “Right Makes Might”: Moral Superiority And Its Effects On Decision-Making For Others, Emily Shakal

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Within the psychological literature of morality, little research has been done on the concept of moral superiority. The aim of this study was to determine whether a self-perception of moral superiority led to increased severity of judgment toward social issues and harsher moral action against perpetrators. Participants in the experimental condition were given a moral identity prime prior to all tasks. The results showed that the moral prime was not effective in increasing a sense of moral superiority in comparison to the control condition. Severity of judgment also did not differ between groups. There was no difference between groups on …