Developmental Psychology Commons^™

Therapeutic Theatre With Adolescents At-Risk Of School Dropout, Dan Summer

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of therapeutic theatre, a method of drama therapy, on resilience among adolescents at risk of high school dropout. A mixed method approach was employed to qualitatively examine participant perspectives on resilience and quantitatively measure change in resilience. Participants engaged in weekly after-school drama therapy groups to collaborate on developing themes and a script for a performance to be witnessed by an audience of family and community members. Qualitative and quantitative findings were triangulated and embedded to examine relationships. The Behavioral Assessment System for Children Second Edition (BASC-2) and Resilience Scale …

Mind-Body Approach To Treating Developmental Trauma In Adolescents: A Group Therapy Manual For Residential Treatment Facilities, Kayla Prosser

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Among the most traumatized youth are those placed in residential treatment centers. This population reports exposure to abuse and neglect at an alarming rate in comparison with the general population. These youth are often described as irritable and angry and characterized by antisocial, delinquent and problematic behaviors. As such, they are assigned diagnostic labels based on checklists of surface level symptoms while trauma histories and chronic stress are ignored or minimized. As a result, treatment focuses on management of disruptive behaviors as opposed to addressing the root cause of the dysfunction, the trauma. Developmental trauma impacts an individual in a …

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

Event-Related Potential Studies Of Error Monitoring To Affective And Non-Affective Stimuli In Adolescents And Emerging Adults, Rebecca K. Reed

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It is hypothesized that prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) function may be still under development in adolescents. As the generator of the error-related negativity (ERN) and the N2, the ACC is expected to be sensitive to the degree of development with age. In adults, these top-down control areas ideally serve to direct attention to goal-relevant information, which can increase the likelihood of making a correct choice, even in fast-response laboratory based tasks. However, adolescents may show increased susceptibility in these top-down control areas when the stimulus is social and emotional. In the first study, event-related potentials were …

Context Counts: The Different Implications Of Weekday And Weekend Video Gaming For Academic Performance In Mathematics, Reading, And Science, Andree Hartanto, Wei Xing Toh, Hwajin Yang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Video gaming has been a source of serious concern for parents and educators, based on the belief that video games disrupt adolescents' academic activities. However, previous studies have been mixed regarding video games’ effects on academic outcomes. We revisited this issue by analyzing data on approximately 30,000 adolescents from three large-scale public datasets. We consistently found that the more adolescents played video games on weekdays, the poorer they performed on standardized assessments of mathematics, reading, and science. In contrast, weekend video gaming was positively associated with academic performance. Our findings suggest that weekday and weekend video gaming may be differentially …

The Role Of Multiple Dimensions Of Organized Activity Participation, Impulsivity, And Parental Monitoring On Externalizing Behavior Among Low-Income, Urban Adolescents., Amy Governale

Dissertations

Because the majority of teenage deaths are not due to illness, but instead attributed to risk behaviors, it is pertinent to determine under what circumstances adolescents are likely to injure themselves or others. One well-studied protective factor of adolescent externalizing behaviors is participation in organized activities. Unfortunately, the majority of research involving adolescents’ engagement in organized activities examines single dimensions of participation (intensity, duration, and breadth) at a time, within samples of middle-class, Caucasian youth. Few studies have examined how multiple dimensions of participation in organized activities, including how uninterrupted engagement in organized activities from school year to summer months, …

Health Beliefs As A Key Determinant Of Intent To Use Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids (Aas) Among High-School Football Players: Implications For Prevention, Amanda E. Halliburton, Matthew S. Fritz

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) is problematic for youth because of negative effects such as reduced fertility, increased aggression and exposure to toxic chemicals. An effective programme for addressing this problem is Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS). This secondary analysis expands prior research by identifying prominent mechanisms of change and highlighting key longitudinal processes that contributed to the success of ATLAS. The current sample consists of highschool football players (N = 1.068; M_age = 15.25) who began ATLAS in grades nine through eleven and participated in booster sessions for two years post-baseline. Knowledge of AAS …

Age Patterns In Risk Taking Across The World, Natasha Duell, Laurence Steinberg, Grace Icenogle, Jason Chein, Nandita Chaudhary, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Kostas A. Fanti, Jennifer E. Lansford, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbring, Sombat Tapanya, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Liane Peña Alampay, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Hanan M S Takash, Dario Bacchini, Lei Chang

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Epidemiological data indicate that risk behaviors are among the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consistent with this, laboratory-based studies of age differences in risk behavior allude to a peak in adolescence, suggesting that adolescents demonstrate a heightened propensity, or inherent inclination, to take risks. Unlike epidemiological reports, studies of risk taking propensity have been limited to Western samples, leaving questions about the extent to which heightened risk taking propensity is an inherent or culturally constructed aspect of adolescence. In the present study, age patterns in risk-taking propensity (using two laboratory tasks: the Stoplight and the BART) and …

Growing Up With Porn: The Developmental And Societal Impact Of Pornography On Children, Gail Dines

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Too Pretty For Homework: The Academic Correlates Of Sexualized Gender Stereotypes Among Adolescent Girls, Andrew A. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Girls grow up in a culture of ubiquitous female sexualization, and this culture propagates stereotypes that could interfere with their academic outcomes. The current study examined the academic correlates of these sexualized gender stereotypes (SGS) among early adolescent girls. Girls (N = 99) aged 11 to 14 (M_age = 12.4 years, SD = .57 years) completed a survey assessing their academic performance, attitudes, and beliefs. The survey also assessed the degree to which girls believed that boys and girls should act in accordance with these sexualized gender stereotypes. Results indicated that higher endorsement of sexualized gender stereotypes …

Hope, Aspirations, And Resilience In Children And Adolescents: A Review Of Research On Measurement And Related Antecedents, Hildie Leung, Florence K. Y. Wu, Daniel T. L. Shek

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Hope, aspirations, and resilience are important developmental assets for children and adolescents. Based on the existing Western and Chinese literature, this review aims to identify instruments used to assess hope, aspirations, resilience, and conceptually related constructs as well as antecedents of the constructs in adolescents. A systematic literature search in the major databases was conducted. A total of 223 articles, with 144 being retrieved from international databases and 79 from China’s database, met the criteria and were included in the present review. Findings revealed that the majority of the existing scales were developed predominantly in the West and there were …

Dreams, Aspirations And Related Behavior In Children And Adolescents: Impacts On Child Developmental Outcomes, Florence K. Y. Wu, Daniel T. L. Shek, Hildie Leung

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

“Dreams”, “aspirations” and related constructs are traditionally regarded as facilitators of adolescent educational attainment in the Chinese context. Besides, there is an emergent need to widen the understanding of such constructs and their impact on children and adolescent developmental outcomes. This paper discusses the developmental outcomes of dreams, aspiration and related concepts based on a thorough review of the literature. Besides outlining the impacts of aspirations, dreams and related constructs on children and adolescents, features of related intervention programs, including themes of the intervention programs, program participants, methods of implementation and evaluation in both Western and Chinese contexts are also …

Test Of An Adolescent Anxiety Sensitivity Amelioration Program (Aasap) For At-Risk Youth, Ashley Arehart Knapp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult research supports the effectiveness of targeting the malleable vulnerability factor of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in terms of preventing panic specifically and anxiety psychopathology generally. Risk factor research suggests AS modification among youth has implications for panic as well as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, very little work has evaluated the impact of AS reduction among youth, which is unfortunate given adolescence is a period of “core risk” in terms of anxiety disorder onset. Further, no work has considered the effect of such a program on GAD-relevant outcomes, nor has any work included family-level intervention factors, despite evidence suggesting parents …

No Sweat: African American Adolescent Girls’ Opinions Of Hairstyle Choices And Physical Activity, Susan J. Woolford, Carole Woolford-Hunt, Areej Sami, Natalie Blake, David R. Williams

Faculty Publications

Background

Obesity prevalence is higher among African American adolescent (AAA) girls than among non-black girls. Lower levels of physical activity (PA) likely contribute to this disparity; this may be impacted by hairstyle concerns.

Methods

In 2011, focus groups were conducted with AAA girls 14-17 years old (n = 36) in Michigan (n = 9), California (n = 11), and Georgia (n = 16). Groups addressed perceptions of hairstyles, exercise, and relationships between the two. Groups were recorded, transcripts reviewed, and themes identified. Adolescents completed a standardized ethnic identity (EI) measure and a survey addressing demographics and …

The Role Of Child Anxiety In Parent Sick Role Reinforcement, Sarah Ann Bilsky

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A large body of evidence suggests that parents can facilitate offspring anxiety in response to bodily arousal. These learning experiences are referred to as “sick role reinforcement,” and are particularly important during adolescence, given the profound bodily changes (e.g., puberty) that characterize this period. Sick role reinforcement is likely important in the context of panic disorder (PD). Panic theorists suggest that parents may enhance panic vulnerability by increasing the threat value of bodily sensations. Although a sizeable body of work has examined the role of parent behavior in these processes, few have examined offspring factors in this process. Additionally, little …

You Live, You Lose: Supporting Youths On Their Journeys In The Land Of The Loss, Gary W. Mauk, M. Bruce Garris

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

As youths journey through life, they experience various personally significant losses and associated grief that can negatively impact their physical/mental health, developmental trajectory, and academic success. Framed in a broad-based perspective of loss, this presentation will acquaint participants with various loss-related constructs and events, potential associated physical, intellectual, emotional, and social effects of loss experiences, and supportive interventions and resources.

The Enculturation Experience Of Three Chinese American Adolescents: A Multiple Case Study, Sherry C. Wang, Vicki Plano-Clark, Michael J. Scheel

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The authors designed a qualitative, multiple case study that employed the photovoice method to explore how enculturation is experienced by three Chinese adolescents living with their families in a nonethnically dense cultural community. A total of 18 one-on-one interviews were conducted with three youth and their parents. Photos were also used as elicitation tools to understand the meaning of enculturation for each individual. Case descriptions of each adolescent are presented, followed by five cross-case themes: (a) Self- Identifying as Chinese, (b) Parental Strictness, (c) Multiple Groups of Comparison, (d) (Not) Having a Chinese Community, and (e) Messages to Excel. The …

Identity Development, Social Support, And Motherhood, Dayanara Rosado

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Adolescent pregnancy creates challenges for this minority population in balancing their motherhood identity with continuing to develop their identity at the adolescent stage, which presents a social problem today. The intent of this thesis is to explore the relationship between identity, adjustment, and social support among college students who were adolescent mothers. The following surveys: Personal Network Matrix (PNM), The Identity Distress Scale (IDS), and The Dimension of Identity Development Scale (DIDS), were administered through the UCF SONA system. Participants were divided into three groups: mothers who had their first child as a teenager (teen mothers; n = 6), mothers …

Ethnic And Gender Differences In Strategies Used By Adolescents When Attempting To Quit Or Reduce Smoking, Ali M. Yurasek, Leslie A. Robinson, Gilbert R. Parra

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

Few adolescent smoking cessation programs have been able to match the success rate found in adult programs. The current study identified smoking cessation strategies used by adolescents and whether strategies differed as a function of ethnic, gender, or individual smoking-level. Participants were 136 high school students who made an attempt to quit or reduce their smoking. Logistic regressions revealed that individuals making an actual quit attempt and African American adolescents used cessation strategies presumed to be more effective. Adolescents are more likely to use informal cessation methods and may need to be provided with more information on effective quit strategies.

Estimate Of Adolescent Alcohol Use In China: A Meta-Analysis, Yonghua Feng, Ian Newman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: A profile of adolescent alcohol use for China that specified gender, school type and a consistent definition of alcohol use.

Method: A total of 1,646 papers were identified in the Chinese- and English-language literature published 2007–2015 that reported Chinese adolescent drinking rates. Selection criteria were established a priori. Thirty-two papers met all the selection criteria. Five papers were eliminated because they were found to be duplicate reports of the same data.

Result: The resulting sample included 26 papers—24 in Chinese and two in English, 20 describing middle school students, 12 describing high school students, and six describing vocational …

Establishing A Solid Foundation Through An Identity In Christ, Matthew S. Pedersen

Senior Honors Theses

An identity in Christ is the only solid foundation on which adolescents or adults can build their life. Identity is a major building block in a person’s life. Individuals with an unhealthy identity as a result of the culture will need to make many changes to this foundation in order to keep an accurate view of their lives. The definition of identity can show examples of negative consequences of an unhealthy identity. An identity based on the views of culture can show areas of weakness. Examining what the Bible says about man before and after a relationship with Christ will …

Intergroup Contact And Evaluations Of Interracial Exclusion In Offline And Online Settings Among Adolescents And Young Adults, Henry C. Park

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is considerable research with adult samples documenting the benefits of intergroup contact, such as improved intergroup attitudes and prejudice reduction. However, developmental psychologists have only recently begun to consider the relationship between intergroup contact and evaluations of interracial exclusion in minority and majority youth. There has also been extensive research studying the social effects of the internet and its ability to influence wide audiences, but little research on the impact of online interactions on intergroup relations. The present study addresses this limitation. Using social media and various online forums to recruit and survey participants about their views of interracial …

Parental Discussions About Sexual Risk With African American Sons: The Role Of Religiosity., Wadiya A. Udell, Geri R. Donenberg

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The current study investigated the relationship between parental religiosity (i.e., parent church attendance), and frequency of parent-youth communication about sexual risk (i.e., discussion about sex, and discussion about condom use) with African American boys. Participants were 65 parents of African American boys between the ages of 11 and 17 years. Results indicated no relationship between age and parent-son discussion about sexual risk. However, parental religiosity was negatively associated with frequency of communication with sons about sex and condom use. Parents who attended church more frequently reported fewer discussions about sex and condom use than parents who attended church less frequently. …

The Moderating Effect Of Resilience Factors On Bully Victimization And Subsequent Psychological Adjustment Problems Among Adolescent Girls, Alexandra Hayley Quinn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Bully victimization is linked to poor psychological adjustment, low self-esteem, and social withdrawal in children and teens. However, little research to date has examined the unique experiences of adolescent girls, the specific contributions of various subtypes of bullying, and the utilization of comprehensive instruments to examine the constructs of psychological adjustment and bully victimization. Further, researchers studying these issues have called for more studies to examine buffering factors that may protect teen girls from the psychological insults associated with peer victimization. This study advances research in the field by utilizing standardized self-report measures to examine the relationship between bully victimization …

Gender Differences In Pay Equity: An Examination Of The Working Adolescent, Melanie L. Saari

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study was conducted to determine whether adult gender-based wage inequities are mirrored in the adolescent population. A developmental perspective was taken while examining this topic, so as to pinpoint stages when divergences based on gender might occur. In order to ascertain this, 157 pre-and young adolescents ranging in age from 12-15 years old participated in our survey and a subset of this group (n=89) participated in the follow-up interview. Contained in both the survey and interview were questions pertaining to remuneration, employment, negotiation, gender stereotypes and attitudes about money. Results indicated that young females seem to receive a better …

The Basis Of Self And Other In Gender Constructed Identity, Julie L. Lemley

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This paper is an extension of previous research projects wherein I applied theories of identity and labeling (Garfinkle), power (French and Raven) and gender (Pearson, West and Turner) to adolescent girls’ identity construction. Using methods of textual criticism, I argued then that the advertising targeting adolescent girls at the crucial transitional period between child identity and adult identity was dominated by patriarchal imagery, the implications of which are sexual violence, low-self esteem and self-objectification by young women. This paper applies the same methodology but to identity formation of adolescent boys, arguing on the basis of Hegel’s master-slave dialectic that adolescent …

The Effects Of Divorce And Its Associated Stressors On Children And Adolescents, Aaron Brownlee

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Four factors were looked at to determine how children of divorce are affected by their parents divorce. The Family Environment Scale (FES) assessed family environment, Social Support Scale for children (SSSC) assessed social support, and the Life Events Checklist (LEC) assessed appraisal of the stressors shown to co-occur with divorce. The Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children, second edition (BASC-2; parent and self-reports) measured the criterion of this study, behavioral and emotional functioning. The sample consisted of 91 children and their parents from the Mankato area public schools. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated a main effect of the appraisal of co-occurring stressors …

Effects Of Parental Modeling On The Development Of Panic-Relevant Escape And Avoidance Among Adolescents: An Experimental Study Using A Biological Challenge Procedure, Liviu Bunaciu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Escape and avoidance behaviors play a prominent role in the maintenance of panic-spectrum difficulties and may also be implicated in the development of such problems. Although the current state of the literature regarding the etiology of these emotion-regulation strategies is relatively underdeveloped, it appears that learning experiences involving parental modeling of such behaviors may be instrumental in the development of panic-relevant escape and avoidance. Given that no tests of such a conceptualization exist at this time, the current study proposed an initial experimental examination of whether parental modeling of defensive reactivity during a well-established biological challenge could impact panic-relevant escape …

A Media Literacy Education Approach To Teaching Adolescents Comprehensive Sexual Health Education, Tracy Marie Scull, Christina V. Malik, Janis Beth Kupersmidt

Journal of Media Literacy Education

As states are moving toward comprehensive sexual health education, educators require engaging and effective curricula. This pre-post study (N=64) examined the feasibility of a comprehensive, media literacy education program for influencing adolescents’ sexual health and media literacy outcomes. After the program, participants were more likely to have the intention to use condoms during sex and talk to partners, parents, or medical professionals prior to sex. Media literacy outcomes included decreased perceived realism of and increased skepticism of media messages and improved media deconstruction skills. Overall, the results suggest that media literacy has the potential for positively influencing sexual health decisions.

Measure Of Maturity: The Montana Adolescent Maturity Assessment, Nathaan Demers

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The construct of maturity is often discussed in the realm of adolescent development; however, relatively little research has been devoted to developing a comprehensive, reliable, and valid measure with which to assess it. The purpose of this study was to investigate the concurrent validity of the Montana Adolescent Maturity Assessment-III (MAMA-III), a proxy measure completed by clinicians regarding an adolescent's functioning, with the immaturity scale (IMM) of the MMPI-A. To provide more specified results, a factor analysis of the IMM was undertaken. Results yielded a low but significant correlation between the MAMA-III and the IMM, as well as significant convergent …