Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

The Power Of Asking: A Feasibility Assessment Of Incentive Social Worker-Led Screening For Sexual Violence Against Children In Humanitarian Settings In Ethiopia, Yadeta Dessie, Abir Nur, Dagim Habteyesus, Bonnie Wandera, Gloria Seruwagi, George Odwe, Peter Kisaakye, Francis Obare, Et Al.

Humanitarian Task Force

Sexual violence against children (SVAC) is an acknowledged concern in humanitarian contexts. In response to recent findings on the prevalence of SVAC in refugee camps in Ethiopia, coupled with low levels of disclosure and service-seeking by child/adolescent survivors, the Baobab Research Programme Consortium collaborated with humanitarian stakeholders in Ethiopia to establish mechanisms for promoting sexual violence disclosure and service uptake among young survivors in refugee settings.

This study employed a mixed-methods concurrent triangulation study design (involving a combination of service statistics, group interviews, and fieldnotes) for evaluating the feasibility of the aforementioned intervention, which specifically entailed sexual violence screening (of …

Advancing Children's Mental Health In Nevada, Kelliann Beavers, Christopher Kearney

Lincy Institute Events

Nevada ranks 51st nationally in youth mental health access and services, underscoring persistent shortages and disparities across the state. Nearly one in four youths aged 12–17 (23.5%) experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, and 73% did not receive treatment. Approximately 34,000 Nevada youths have reported suicidal thoughts—an urgent call for prevention and coordinated support.

During the 2024–2025 school year, 31.3% of Clark County School District students were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school days), a challenge closely linked to mental health struggles and socioeconomic barriers.

This community forum provided an opportunity to generate dialogue and …

Life Course And Cohort Patterns In Screen Time Among School-Aged Children In The United States, Ashley W. Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

Study design

Results

From Story Time To Small Talk: Do Parents Use Descriptive Language Based On Gender?, Alyssa C. Connelly

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This study examines whether parents use descriptive language differently based on gender using a wordless story book between the parent and child. Findings indicate that parents use more emotion-based language when describing female picture gender and more verb-based language for boy children. These results show ways in which gendered language may shape early self-perception and interests.

A Review Of The Ripple Effect Of Parental Incarceration: Suggestions For System Improvement From Neonatal Development Through Adolescence, Karen Thew, April Terry

International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities

Parental incarceration has the potential to drastically affect the social, behavioral, and physical lives of children. Such negative impacts include prenatal and chronic health conditions, behavioral and mental health issues, developmental delays, juvenile and criminal legal system involvement, and overall declines in well-being. These damaging outcomes occur for babies delivered during their mothers’ incarceration with negative lingering effects seen throughout the lifespan. Due to the stigmatization of incarceration, these children may experience bullying, engage in isolating behaviors, and struggle within the school, which may lead to the school-to-prison pipeline. While prevention and intervention services directed at these youth could not …

Making Room, Rachel Strompf

Masters Theses

Massachusetts is the only state in the United States with a right-to-shelter law which guarantees shelter for families with children and pregnant women.¹ As of February 2024, 3,500 homeless families with children are being sheltered in a motel or hotel with an average length of stay of 14 months, because traditional family shelters have reached capacity.^2,3 While these families are provided temporary shelter, these shelters do not allow for the development of a true sense of “home.” While a motel meets the needs of rudimentary shelter, motels were never designed as long-term accommodations and certainly not with a …

Juvenile Delinquency As A Contemporary Issue In Nigeria: Understanding The Impacts Of Parenting Styles, Single Parenting, And Marital Discord, Sunkanmi Folorunsho, Oluwakemi Abdulrazaq, Victor Ajayi

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When addressing juvenile delinquencies in Nigeria, it is important to consider the roles and effects of parenting styles and family structures. Although, there are no universally accepted parenting styles, evidence and studies have pointed to some parenting styles that expose children to delinquent behaviors. We examined different parenting styles comprehensively in this article and how these styles can influence juvenile delinquencies. We also discussed the association between single-parenting and behavioral outcomes; accounting how single-parenting may increase risks of delinquencies. Furthermore, marital discord was discussed and social learning theory by Albert Bandura was adopted to buttress our positions. We concluded that …

Latent Profiles Of Child Coping And Perception Of Experience Processes To Predict Long-Term Symptoms Of Depression, Intrusive Grief, And Suicidality Outcomes In Parentally Bereaved Children, Rebecca Hoppe

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood bereavement is a significant public health issue and the most distressing form of childhood trauma. The death of a parent can disrupt the course of a children's development and potentially predispose them to enduring adverse mental health outcomes, such as depression, intrusive grief, and suicidality. Recognizing grief as a dynamic process, theories have suggested that children’s unique coping and perceptions of experience can contribute to variations in individual adaptations to the death and the onset of mental health problems. The goals of this study were to (a) use latent profile analysis to empirically group recently bereaved children into distinct …

Family Structure, Family Transitions, And Child Overweight And Obesity: Comparing Australia, The United Kingdom, And The United States, Sadie A. Slighting, Kirsten Rasmussen, Mikaela J. Dufur, Jonathan A. Jarvis, Shana Pribesh, Alyssa J. Alexander, Carolina Otero

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Growing rates of childhood obesity globally create concern for individuals' health outcomes and demands on health systems. While many policy approaches focus on macro-level interventions, we examine how the type of stability of a family structure might provide opportunities for policy interventions at the micro level. We examine the association between family structure trajectories and childhood overweight and obesity across three Anglophone countries using an expanded set of eight family structure categories that capture biological relationships and instability, along with potential explanatory variables that might vary across family trajectories and provide opportunities for intervention, including access to resources, family stressors, …

Childlessness And Sibling Positioning In Upward Intergenerational Support: Insights From Singapore, Dahye Kim, Christine Ho, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School Of Economics

Objective: This brief report aims to explore the role of child-lessness and its interaction with sibling positioning (i.e., birth order and gender) in upward intergenerational support within the context of Asian familial and patrilineal values. Background: Despite the increasing rates of childlessness in Asia, little is known about how childless individuals deviate from or adhere to the patrilineal gendered practices of supporting their older parents. Singapore, a rapidly aging nation that emphasises Confucian familism values and patrilineal practices in guiding its welfare policies, provides an ideal setting for this research investigation. Method: We analysed a sample of 475 Singaporeans aged …

Environmental Conditions And The Fertility Intentions Of Utahns, Mufti Nadimul Quamar Ahmed, Jennifer E. Givens

Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP)

One of the most important decisions a person may make in their lifetime is whether to have children. Many factors shape fertility intentions and outcomes. A better understanding of individual reproductive intentions can shed light on current fertility patterns, enable more accurate population projections^1-2 and planning efforts, and improve our ability to address environmental drivers and implications.

Protections And Liabilities: Parental Attributes Of Lynch Victims, Peter Shumway Polhill

Theses and Dissertations

Minimal research has focused on how lynching was not purely an individual-level event but, at times, was a family-level process. Prior research has focused on the economic forces, social factors, and individual level attributes that changed the probability of being lynched. Research studying these topics has identified that marginalization, status, distinctiveness, and the racial threat hypothesis contribute to lynching. However, this research has not studied child victims and how parental level attributes may intersect differently with these theoretical perspectives. Using machine-learning tools, I created census linked data which identifies the families of child lynch victims and other non-victim families in …

A Plague On Both Our Houses, Matthew Carley

The Diana McDonald Writer's Challenge

Matthew Carley describes similarities between the traumas often experienced by children who grow up in poverty and the traumas that we hear about with regard to war veterans. Using his own experiences growing up as an example, Carley describes the substance abuse, physical abuse, anger, and neglect that too often are experienced by children in impoverished households. In this essay, he argues for employing on behalf of poor, traumatized children the kinds of programs and interventions that we know to be effective for veterans with PTSD.

Systematic Review Of Reflection Spectroscopy-Based Skin Carotenoid Assessment In Children, Saima Hasnin, Dipti Dev, Taren Swindle, Susan B. Sisson, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Tirna Purkait, Shari C. Clifton, Jocelyn Dixon, Virginia C. Stage

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

Assessing children’s skin carotenoid score (SCS) using reflection spectroscopy (RS) is a non-invasive, widely used method to approximate fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC). The aims for the current review were to (1) identify distributions of SCS across demographic groups, (2) identify potential non-dietary correlates for RS-based SCS, (3) summarize the validity and reliability of RSbased SCS assessment, and (4) conduct meta-analyses of studies examining the correlation between RS-based SCS with FVC. A literature search in eight databases in June 2021 resulted in 4880 citations and peer-reviewed publications written in English that investigated children’s (2–10 years old) SCS using RS. We …

How Class Matters: Examining Working-Class Children’S Home Technology Environments From A Developmental Perspective, Vikki Katz, Brianna Hightower

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Social class is seldom engaged by scholars as a lens for investigating variations in children’s digital technology engagement. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 33 working-class children in a postindustrial community, we examine how social class shapes these children’s digital technology experiences. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of child development guides our examination of children’s views on digital technology integration into their interactions with proximal influences (i.e., parents, siblings, and friends) and distal influences that indirectly shape their technology environments by affecting their parents’ circumstances. We find that working-class children’s experiences share key commonalities with both their lower- and higher-income peers, consistent with …

The Prevalence Of Domestic Servitude Among Child Domestic Workers In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Research Findings, Annabel Erulkar, Lemi Negeri, Eyasu Hailu

Adolescents and Young People

It is estimated that there are 17.2 million child domestic workers globally, most of whom are girls. Research related to this marginalized group is limited, with most at a small scale or subsumed in other topics, such as domestic workers generally. The dearth of evidence limits awareness about girls in such circumstances and inhibits the design and implementation of context-appropriate policy and program responses. This mixed-method study is one of the few large-scale studies to examine child domestic work, including its prevalence, the entry and experience of girls in this work, and levels of human trafficking, hazardous work, and illegal …

Effectiveness Of Group Interventions For Weight Loss For Youth: A Meta-Analytic Review, Monica Carolina Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Nearly 19.3% of children in the United States have obesity. There are several behavioral weight loss (BWL) programs available for children and adolescents that have proven effective in managing weight. Many of these treatments are delivered to groups of children rather than to individual youth. However, previous reviews of the literature have not explored the unique effects of group treatment modalities. Research has shown that social ties, particularly with peers, have an impact on adolescents' physical activity engagement and dietary habits. Therefore, it is important to explore how the interaction component of group delivered BWL treatments contributes to their …

What Are The Economic Barriers For A More Efficient Adoption Equilibrium? Analyzing The Perceived Challenges Lgbtq+ Persons Face In The Adoption Process, Andrew Schoonover

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

From understanding why adoption matters to drilling down why same sex male couples are not adopting at high rates, more questions are raised than answers found. But all of the complexities and intricacies boil down to one umbrella question: How can the economy shift the equilibrium (i.e., current state of adoption in America) to be more equitable, empowering, and efficient for everyone? Specifically, how can policy choices help increase the demand of gay couples to adopt -- helping to close the gap between gay and lesbian adoption rates? The “lowest hanging fruit” policy remedy for this problem is to alleviate …

A Bible Study Series: The Family-Centered, Church-Supported Paradigm Shift For Raising Children In The Faith At Salem Lutheran Church, Michael J. Nielsen

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Nielsen, Michael J. “A Bible Study Series: The Family-Centered, Church-Supported Paradigm Shift for Raising Children in The Faith at Salem Lutheran Church.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 160 pp.

In many Christian churches there is the question: “How do we keep our children after confirmation?” The answer is a simple one: Parents. This MAP examines the relationship of the family and the church when it comes to raising children in the faith. Biblically parents are called to be the primary faith formers in the lives of their children. A multi-part Bible study was created to teach …

Getting It Right! Improving Kenya’S Human Capital By Reducing Stunting—A Household Account, Timothy Abuya, Wangari Ng'ang'a

Reproductive Health

In the last two decades, Kenya has attained middle-income status and established a diverse and private-sector-driven economy. On several socio-economic indicators, such as education, gender equality, and democracy, Kenya scores much higher than its peers. More than two-thirds of Kenyans are under 35 years of age, thus the country’s development hinges on the quality of its youth—their levels of education and skills, their values and attitudes, and the quality of their health and productivity. While Kenya’s investments in the development of its human capital positions the country well to sustain accelerated growth, the trajectory is threatened by high rates of …

Providing Childcare, Christine Ho, Sunha Myong

Research Collection School Of Economics

Women’s economic empowerment has been hailed as one of the most remarkable revolutions in the past 50 years. Yet, women still face the lion’s share of the burden of childcare despite major progress in their education and earnings capacity. This is particularly salient in many Asian countries. This chapter proposes a synthesis of the state of knowledge on childcare and discusses policy-relevant issues applicable to the Singapore context. Selected policies are documented and lessons from the international landscape are discussed. Raising children incurs both direct costs in the form of childcare and opportunity costs in the form of career costs. …

Welcome To The New Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

School Recess And Changes To Children's Play Opportunities In New York City, Keyonna Hayes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The policy, No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 in US public schools was designed to improve how children learn and test in schools, but it has resulted in the decline or removal of recess from most schools. This thesis examines two important issues. The first issue is to assess the play opportunities that public elementary schools offer to children, in terms of both the time available for recess and the quality of the spaces and resources for play during recess. The second issue is to learn, alongside the question of the quality of school recess, how parents’ work …

Experiences And Challenges In Single Fatherhood: A Literature Review On Single, Custodial Fathers, Emily N. Janikowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Households led by single, custodial fathers (SCFs) are increasing in the United States, so the need for further research into this population is critical. To best serve this population, it is important for social work professionals to understand the challenges facing these families, their unique experiences, and the best practices. For this purpose, 33 academic journal articles about SCFs were reviewed and the following seven areas were discussed: (1) fatherhood experiences, (2) overall challenges for SCFs, (3) overall perception of SCFs, (4) economic impact, (5) deviance of youth, (6) academic achievement of the children of SCFs, and (7) applicable interventions. …

Child Development During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Desirae Thosath

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper examines child care programs and research in the midst of the pandemic to best facilitate healthy child development and mitigate long-term effects both during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Physical Health Impacts Of Grandparenting Children With Disabilities, Ynesse Abdul-Malak, Madonna Harrington Meyer

Population Health Research Brief Series

Although caring for grandchildren with disabilities often brings substantial joy to grandparents, it can adversely impact grandparents' physical health. For many grandparents, caring for their grandchildren makes them feel younger, mostly because they are more physically active and maintain healthier diets.

Penerapan Sistem Attachment Pada Anak Melalui Gawai, Dwi Amalia Chandra Sekar, Aqilatul Layyinah

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

Attachment between mother and child is an affective bond that is important to maintain in a family. For working mothers, the device is one solution to maintain attachment to their children. This research aims to describe the attachment system in children aged 2-3 years through the device and the application of the attachment system to fulfill the developmental tasks of the child. The articles are arranged based on qualitative research with descriptive methods. Although the attachment system that was built was adapted to the use of the device, but working mothers always maintain the quality of their relationship by interacting …

Gender And Parliamentary Representation In India: The Case Of Violence Against Women And Children, Sadhvi Kalra, Devin K. Joshi

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

To better understand how gender impacts parliamentary representation, we analysed representative claims made by parliamentarians in India, the world's largest democracy. Applying critical frame analysis to plenary debates in the Indian Rajya Sabha, we examined four parliamentary bills addressing violence against women and children under four successive governments between 1999 and 2019. Testing six hypotheses concerning who represents and how, our study found women legislators more active in speaking on behalf of women and children than male legislators. Women parliamentarians focused more on rehabilitating victims and expanding the scope of rights and rights-holders. Women were also more vocal in contesting …

Screen Media Use Is Higher Among Preschool Children From More Chaotic Homes, Jennifer A. Emon, Sara E. Benjamin-Neelon

Population Health Research Brief Series

Early childhood is a critical time for children’s growth and development. One factor that may impair healthy development during the preschool years is excessive screen media use. U.S children under the age of 5 average twice the amount of recommended screen time. This research brief shows that screen media use is higher among children from households with more chaos.

Work–Family Conflict In Low-Income Households, Maritza G. Hiciano Ramos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United States is the only country not offering paid parental leave. Paid leave is left at the discretion of employers and only a few states offer Paid Family Leave benefits. The FMLA was established to protect workers from losing their jobs in case they needed to care for an elderly person or for their children. However, since value is not placed in family structures there has not been much development in that area. The FMLA fails to account for the grand majority of people in the U.S., especially those of lower socioeconomic status. Moreover, the vast inequalities that exists …