Other Sociology Commons^™

Examining Identity Consolidation Processes Among Ethnic Minority Gay Men And Lesbians, Heather R. Kennedy, Rochelle L. Dalla

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

Past scholarship has demonstrated shortcomings in developmental theories for both sexual and ethnic identity. Furthermore, identity development may be especially challenging for members of multiple minority groups facing significant social stressors. The primary goal of this study was to explore identity consolidation processes among individuals with intersecting minority identities. Using in-depth, personal interviews and self-report measures, data were collected from 16 ethnic minority gay men and lesbians. Themes such as acceptance, invisibility, and fear confirm the influence of social context on identity integration. Findings revealed differing magnitudes of consolidation. Greater social support and educational endeavors were critical factors in distinguishing …

Intergenerational Transmission Of Emotion Dysregulation Through Parental Invalidation Of Emotions: Implications For Adolescent Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors, Kelly E. Buckholdt, Gilbert R. Parra, Lisa Jobe-Shields

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

We examined parent emotion dysregulation as part of a model of family emotion-related processes and adolescent psychopathology. Participants were 80 parent– adolescent dyads (mean age = 13.6; 79 % African-American and 17 % Caucasian) with diverse family composition and socioeconomic status. Parent and adolescent dyads self-reported on their emotion regulation difficulties and adolescents reported on their perceptions of parent invalidation (i.e., punishment and neglect) of emotions and their own internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results showed that parents who reported higher levels of emotion dysregulation tended to invalidate their adolescent’s emotional expressions more often, which in turn related to higher levels …

Body Esteem, Peer Difficulties, And Perceptions Of Physical Health In Overweight And Obese Urban Children Ages 5 To 7 Years, Natalie A. Williams, Jennifer Fournier, Mace Coday, Phyllis A. Richey, Frances A. Tylavsky, Marion E. Hare

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

Objective—To determine whether there is an association between body mass index (BMI) and body esteem in young overweight and obese urban children, and to test peer relationship difficulties and perceived physical health as mediators of this relationship.

Methods—Child self-reported body esteem, and parent-reported child peer relationship difficulties (being bullied by peers and peer rejection) and physical health perceptions were obtained from 218 overweight and obese children ages 5–7 years (81% racial/ethnic minority, M BMI = 25.3) and their primary caregivers.

Results—Higher BMI was associated with lower body esteem for both girls and boys. This relation was mediated …

Perceptions Of Parental Awareness Of Emotional Responses To Stressful Life Events, Lisa Jobe-Shields, Gilbert R. Parra, Kelly E. Buckholdt

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

There is a need to better understand family processes related to recovery from past stressful life events. The present study aimed to investigate links between perceptions of parental awareness regarding stressful life events, continued event-related rumination, and current symptoms of depression. Students at a diverse, urban university completed a life events checklist and a semistructured interview regarding family processing of stressful life events, as well as self-report measures of event-related rumination and depression. Results indicated that perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ awareness of sadness regarding stressful life events as well as mothers’ and fathers’ verbal event processing predicted symptoms of …

Risk Factors For Non-Initiation Of The Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Vaccine Among Adolescent Survivors Of Childhood Cancer, James L. Klosky, Kathryn M. Russell, Kristin E. Canavera, Heather L. Gammel, Jason R. Hodges, Rebecca H. Foster, Gilbert R. Parra, Jessica L. Simmons, Daniel M. Green, Melissa M. Hudson

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

Effective vaccination is now available to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection and cause of cervical cancer. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of HPV vaccination among childhood cancer survivors and identify factors associated with HPV vaccine initiation and completion. Mothers of daughters aged 9–17 years with/without a history of childhood cancer (n = 235, M_age= 13.2 years, SD= 2.69; n = 70, M_age= 13.3 years, SD=2.47, respectively) completed surveys querying HPV vaccination initiation and completion along with socio-demographic, medical, HPV knowledge and communication, and health belief factors, …

Risk Factors For Overweight/Obesity In Preschool Children: An Ecological Approach, Dipti A. Dev, Brent A. Mcbride, Barbnara H. Fiese, Blake Jones, Hyunkeun Cho, Strong Kids Research Team

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

Background—Identification of risk factors is critical to preventing the childhood obesity epidemic. Risk factors that contribute to obesity are multifactorial. However, limited research has focused on identifying obesity risk factors using an ecological approach.

Methods—Baseline self-report survey data from the STRONG Kids program were used. The sample consisted of 329 parent-child dyads recruited from childcare programs in east-central Illinois. Child height and weight were measured and converted to age- and sex-specific z-scores using standard growth charts. An ecological model provided the theoretical framework for the selection of 22 previously reported childhood obesity risk factors. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used …

Using The Scientific Method To Guide Learning: An Integrated Approach To Early Childhood Curriculum, Hope K. Gerde, Rachel E. Schachter, Barbara A. Wasik

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

Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how early childhood programs prepare young children for science. Due to a number of factors, including educators’ low self-efficacy for teaching science and lack of educational resources, many early childhood classrooms do not offer high-quality science experiences for young children. However, high-quality science education has the potential to lay an important foundation for children’s knowledge and interest in science as well as reinforcing and integrating critical language, literacy, and math readiness skills. This paper examines the current research on science in preschool classrooms and provides suggestions on how to teach science that …

“I’Ve Devoted My Entire Life To My Daughter—And She Knows It”: Exploration Of Identity Development Among Now-Adult Navajo Native American Adolescent Mothers, Rochelle L. Dalla, Kathryne Bailey, Ashley Cunningham, Nicolette Green, Jenna L. Vyhlidal

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

n 1992 (n = 21) and 1995 (n = 8), the principal investigator collected data from 29 reservation-residing Navajo Native American teenage mothers. A primary goal of the 1992 and 1995 investigations (Time 1) was to examine the identity status of the young women in relation to commitment to the maternal role using Marcia’s (1980) framework. Results revealed that an approximately equal number of participants could be classified as achieved, moratorium, foreclosed, and diffused (see Dalla, 2000). In 2007 (Time 2), the principal investigator returned to collect follow-up data at the Navajo Reservation, where she interviewed 21 (72%) of the …

Let’S Discuss: Teaching Students About Discussions, Eve Brank, Lindsey Wylie

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

Research consistently demonstrates the benefits of employing classroom discussions; however, there has been less attention given to teaching students about discussions. The current research compared 2 advanced social psychology courses: 1 without (control) and 1 with (experimental) a week devoted to learning about and discussing discussions. Several different indicators showed marked improvements for the experimental group as compared to the control group. The differences between the two classes were particularly noticeable at the beginning of the semester. Even though the control group was able to eventually obtain similar scores, the differences at the beginning of the semester suggest that students …

Spiritual Well-Being And Its Relationship To Resilience In Young People: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Lindsay Smith, Ruth Webber, Erica Defrain

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

Questions have arisen recently about the role of spiritual well-being in strengthening resilience of youth. To explore this association, this case study focused on the relationships and connectedness of young people who attend one religious organization as a means of enhancing their spiritual well-being. In line with the purposes of an instrumental case study, different sources of data (quantitative and qualitative) were collected on the phenomenon of interest—spiritual well-being. A theoretical purposive sample of 65 people participated in the study. A mixed methods research approach guided this case study, which incorporated both single- and multicase study techniques. Through an abductive …

Assessing Connections Between Young Children’S Affinity For Nature And Their Experiences In Natural Outdoor Settings In Preschools, Camilla S. Rice, Julia C. Torquati

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

The purposes of this research were to: develop a reliable measure of children’s affinity for nature or “biophilia”; determine whether young children’s biophilia was related to the “green-ness” of the outdoor play area of the preschool they attend; examine whether demographic variables are associated with children’s biophilia; and determine whether demographic variables predict children’s enrollment in nature-oriented programs. We recruited children from ten early childhood education programs—six that had outdoor play spaces with many natural elements and four that had few or none of these elements. One hundred fourteen preschool-aged children completed an 11-item measure of biophilia that included preferences …

Beyond The Walls: Conceptualizing Natural Environments As “Third Educators”, Julia C. Torquati, Julie A. Ernst

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

This research examined preservice early childhood educators’ perceptions of outdoor settings and their intentions to use outdoor settings in their teaching practice. Students enrolled in an early childhood education program (n = 110) at a university in the Great Lakes region completed surveys that assessed perceptions of natural settings, intentions to use natural settings in future teaching, knowledge of the benefits of nature for children, and personal nature relatedness. Participants reported relatively high intentions to use natural settings in future teaching, as well as knowledge of the benefits of nature for children, but moderate levels of personal nature relatedness. Participants …

Neural Responses To Infants Linked With Behavioral Interactions And Testosterone In Fathers, Patty X. Kuo, Joshua Carp, Kathleen C. Light, Karen M. Grewen

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

Few fMRI studies have investigated the brain-behavioral basis of parenting in human fathers. Ten fathers were videotaped and gave salivary testosterone samples while interacting with their 2–4 month old infants, and viewed video clips of their own infant and an unfamiliar age-, ethnicityand sex-matched other infant during an fMRI protocol. Infant stimuli activated a network of prefrontal and subcortical brain regions. Furthermore, a subset of these regions activated significantly more to own (OWN) than other (OTHER) infants. Finally, neural responses to OWN versus OTHER were linked with paternal sensitivity, paternal reciprocity, and testosterone. In sum, our results provide a novel …

Portuguese Translation And Validation Of The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Cody S. Hollist, Olga G. Falceto, Luciane M. Ferreira, Richard B. Miller, Paul R. Springer, Carmen L. C. Fernandes, Nalu A. Nunes

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

The absence of a translated and validated instrument for measuring marital satisfaction in Brazil, the largest country in South America and fifth most populous country in the world, is a significant barrier for research and mental health service delivery. The purpose of this study was to translate and validate a marital satisfaction scale into Portuguese that would have both empirical credibility and cultural relevance in Brazil. A six-step serial approach was used to simultaneously translate and culturally validate the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS). The translated instrument (RDAS-P) demonstrated good psychometric properties during field testing.

Methods And Baseline Characteristics Of A Randomized Trial Treating Early Childhood Obesity: The Positive Lifestyles For Active Youngsters (Team Play) Trial, Marion Hare, Mace Coday, Natalie A. Williams, Phyllis Richey, Frances Tylavsky, Andrew Bush

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

There are few effective obesity interventions directed towards younger children, particularly young minority children. This paper describes the design, intervention, recruitment methods, and baseline data of the ongoing Positive Lifestyles for Active Youngsters (Team PLAY) study. This randomized controlled trial is designed to test the efficacy of a 6-month, moderately intense, primary care feasible, family-based behavioral intervention, targeting both young children and their parent, in promoting healthy weight change.

Participants are 270 overweight and obese children (ages 4 to 7 years) and their parent, who were recruited from a primarily African American urban population. Parents and children were instructed in …

External Validity Reporting In Behavioral Treatment Of Childhood Obesity, Lisa M. Klesges, Natalie A. Williams, Kara S. Davis, Joanna Buscemi, Katherine M. Kitzmann

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

Context—To aid translation of childhood obesity research interventions evidence into practice, research studies must report results in a way that better supports pragmatic decision making. The current review evaluated the extent to which information on key external validity dimensions, participants, settings, interventions, outcomes, and maintenance of effects, was included in research studies on behavioral treatments for childhood obesity.

Evidence acquisition—Peer-reviewed studies of behavioral childhood obesity treatments published between 1980 and 2008 were identified from: (1) electronic searches of social science and medical databases, (2) research reviews of childhood obesity interventions, and (3) reference lists cited in these reviews. …

Therapy With Immigrant Muslim Couples: Applying Culturally Appropriate Interventions And Strategies, Douglas A. Abbott, Paul R. Springer, Cody S. Hollist

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

Despite the steady increase of Muslims in America, there is a scarcity of research for mental health professionals who wish to work with Muslim couples. The goal of this article is to provide mental health therapists the common features of Muslim marriages and how they are influenced by the religious and social context, with clinical implications for couples therapy interventions being discussed.

From The Editor, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill

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

Welcome to the 2^nd issue of volume 5 of Gifted Children, the electronic journal of the AERA Special Interest Group (SIG) for Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent. It is with great excitement that I announce several major changes to Gifted Children. The SIG leadership decided last year at the annual AERA meeting to change the journal to a peer-reviewed format, with SIG executive committee members serving as editorial board reviewers. In addition, Marcia Gentry worked with Purdue University Libraries to establish online manuscript submission and publication for the journal. As a result, all future issues of …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Graduate Teaching Assistants Teaching Self-Efficacy, Sue Ellen Dechenne, Larry G. Enochs, Mark Needham

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

The graduate experience is a critical time for development of academic faculty, but often there is little preparation for teaching during the graduate career. Teaching self-efficacy, an instructor’s belief in his or her ability to teach students in a specific context, can help to predict teaching behavior and student achievement, and can be used as a measure of graduate students’ development as instructors. An instrument measuring teaching self-efficacy of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) was developed from a general university faculty teaching instrument to the specific teaching context of STEM GTAs. Construct and face validity, …

Walking A High Beam: The Balance Between Employment Stability, Workplace Flexibility, And Nonresident Father Involvement, Jason T. Castillo, Greg W. Welch, Christian M. Sarver

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

Compared with resident fathers, nonresident fathers are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed and less likely, when they are employed, to have access to flexible work arrangements. Although lack of employment stability is associated with lower levels of father involvement, some research shows that increased stability at work without increased flexibility is negatively related to involvement. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 895), the authors examined the relationship between nonresident fathers’ employment stability, workplace flexibility, and father involvement. Results indicate that workplace flexibility, but not employment stability, is associated with higher levels of …

Examining Associations Between Classroom Environment And Processes And Early Mathematics Performance From Pre-Kindergarten To Kindergarten, Victoria J. Molfese, E. Todd Brown, Jill L. Adelson, Jennifer Beswick, Jill L. Jacobi-Vessels, Lana Thomas, Melissa Ferguson, Brittany Culver

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

One benefit of the No Child Left Behind legislation (2001) has been the increasing attention on the importance of the skills learned in the pre-kindergarten period for later academic achievement (Denton & West, 2002; National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008; Whitehurst, 2001). There is a growing awareness that mathematics skills in kindergarten and beyond are influenced by the formal and informal mathematics skills acquired in the pre-kindergarten classroom. Indeed, policy makers, researchers, and educators are now arguing that pre-kindergarten mathematics instruction must be recognized as a critical factor affecting young children’s mathematics learning at school age (Ginsburg, Lee & Boyd, 2008). …

The Steroid/Peptide Theory Of Social Bonds: Integrating Testosterone And Peptide Responses For Classifying Social Behavioral Contexts, Sari M. Van Anders, Katherine L. Goldey, Patty X. Kuo

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

Hormones, and hormone responses to social contexts, are the proximate mechanisms of evolutionary pathways to pair bonds and other social bonds. Testosterone (T) is implicated in trade-offs relevant to pair bonding, and oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) are positively tied to social bonding in a variety of species. Here, we present the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds (S/P Theory), which integrates T and peptides to provide a model, set of predictions, and classification system for social behavioral contexts related to social bonds. The S/P Theory also resolves several paradoxes apparent in the literature on social bonds and hormones: the …

Finding The Heart Of Medical Family Therapy: A Content Analysis Of Medical Family Therapy Casebook Articles, Richard Bischoff, Paul R. Springer, Daniel S. Felix, Cody S. Hollist

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

In an effort to identify the essential ingredients of medical family therapy, a content analysis of 15 peer-reviewed case studies in medical family therapy was conducted. The case studies were published from 1996 to 2007 in Families, Systems, & Health. Through a qualitative content analysis, three main themes emerged that describe the essence of the practice of medical family therapy: (1) The patient’s multisystemic experience of disease, (2) treatment is about caring, not just caregiving, and (3) elevating the patient as collaborator in the care team.

Preschoolers’ Social Behavior And Context Coding System, Soo-Young Hong

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

Coding Guidelines

1. Observe during free play, small groups, routines/transitions, and outdoor play on two different days per child. Do not observe during large group activity.

2. Observe the target child’s behavior for 20 seconds and code for 30 seconds.

3. Context: a.) Coded as mutually exclusive subcategories.

4. Nature of Activity: a.) Coded as mutually exclusive subcategories. b.) If ‘Daily routines/transitions’ was coded, the Type of Activity should be coded as one of the four types relevant to daily routines/transitions (i.e., Personal care, Meal and snack, Clean up, or Transition activity).

5. Type of Activity: a.) The types of …

From The Editor, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill

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

This is an exciting time for Gifted Children as we transition to an online, peer-reviewed format for the journal. This move will simultaneously improve our submission process and increase the visibility of research being conducted by members and colleagues of the Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent SIG. In addition, Gifted Children will continue to provide book reviews and tools for researchers, as well as practitioner pieces. This issue, the first issue of Volume 5, marks the beginning of this transition; it is the first issue to be initially published online using Digital Commons software. The second issue of Volume …

Optimism And Pessimism In Children With Cancer And Healthy Children: Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Youth Life Orientation Test And Relations With Health-Related Quality Of Life, Natalie A. Williams, Genevieve Davis, Miriam Hancock, Sean Phipps

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

Objective To test the measurement equivalence of the Youth Life Orientation Test (YLOT) in children with cancer (N = 199) and healthy controls (N = 108), and to examine optimism and pessimism as predictors of children's health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Methods Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the two factor structure of the YLOT and to test for metric invariance.

Results A two-factor structure for the YLOT was confirmed and found to be stable across our study groups. There were no differences in mean levels of optimism and pessimism between cancer patients and controls after controlling for …

Rural Community Longevity: Capitalizing On Diversity For Immigrant Residential Stability, Rochelle L. Dalla, Tammy R. Stuhmer, Jennifer G. Deleón, Maria Isabel León Carreño

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

The premise of this research is that rural immigrants comprise a significant source of untapped human and social capital necessary for community development. However, to capitalize on the growing ethnic diversity in rural America, immigrant newcomers must want to stay in their new rural communities. This investigation was designed to identify factors necessary to enhance rural Latino immigrants’ long-term residential stability. Thus, we sought to: (1) identify perceptions of rural residence, with particular attention to employment opportunities and challenges; (2) assess formal support availability and community issues of greatest concern to rural Latinas; and (3) identify strategies for creating bi-cultural …

Exiting Prostitution: An Integrated Model, Lynda M. Baker, Rochelle L. Dalla, Celia Williamson

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

Exiting street-level prostitution is a complex, convoluted process. Few studies have described this process within any formal conceptual framework. This article reviews two general models and two prostitution-specific models and their applicability to the exiting process. Barriers encountered as women attempt to leave the streets are identified. Based on the four models, the barriers, the prostitution literature, and the authors’ experience with prostituted women, a new integrated six-stage model that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women’s attempts to exit prostitution is offered as a foundation for continued research on the process of women leaving the streets.

Risk Factors For Poor Attendance In A Family-Based Pediatric Obesity Intervention Program For Young Children, Natalie A. Williams, Mace Coday, Grant Somes, Frances A. Tylavsky, Phyllis A. Richey, Marion E. Hare

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

Objective—This study examined the role of demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and family functioning on attendance in a randomized controlled trial of a family-based pediatric obesity program.

Method—Participants included 155 children between the ages of 4 and 7 years (M age = 5.77, 57.4% female, 73.6% African-American, M BMI = 25.5) and their primary caregivers who were randomized to the treatment group. Three groups of participants were created based on their patterns of attendance during the program: 1) noncompleters, 2) partial completers, and 3) completers.

Results—Results indicated no differences among the attendance groups in child gender, child BMI, …

“All The Men Here Have The Peter Pan Syndrome— They Don’T Want To Grow Up”: Navajo Adolescent Mothers’ Intimate Partner Relationships—A 15-Year Perspective, Rochelle L. Dalla, Alexandria M. Marchetti, Elizabeth (Beth) A. Sechrest, Jennifer L. White

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

In 1992 and 1995, data were collected from 29 Navajo Native American adolescent mothers. In 2007 and 2008, data were collected from 21 of the original 29 (72%). Guided by feminist family theory, this investigation sought to (a) examine Navajo adolescent mothers’ intimate partner relationships during the transition to parenthood, (b) identify themes in the young mothers’ intimate partnerships across time, and (c) assess participants’ psychosocial well-being in adulthood. Four themes emerged in the women’s long-term intimate relationships: limited support, substance abuse, infidelity, and intimate partner violence. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.