Child Psychology Commons^™

Culture Ontogeny: Lifespan Development Of Religion And The Ethics Of Spiritual Counselling, Glen Milstein, Amy Manierre

Publications and Research

The counsellor has an ethical obligation to treat the whole person. Humans are cultural beings and the foundation of most cultures is religion. Religion and culture are received from our early relation~ ships and modified through later relationships across the lifespan. The paper introduces the term "culture ontogeny" to emphasize that this is a biological process wherein abstract ideas of culture and religion become material in the developing neurophysiology of each brain. A framework and methods are offered to examine the changing roles of religion in clients' emotional self~ structure, inclusive of those who describe themselves as spiritual, not religious. …

Students' Perception Of Application Of Confidentiality In Counselling Practices In Selected Secondary Schools In Rivers State, Nigeria, W.J. Ubulom, E.W. Ubulom, M.D. Eremie

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

Relationally Aggressive Media Exposure And Children’S Normative Beliefs: Does Parental Mediation Matter?, Jennifer Ruh Linder, Nicole E. Werner

Faculty Publications

Research indicates that relationally aggressive media exposure is positively associated with relational aggression in children. Theories of media effects suggest that these associations may be mediated by aggressive cognitions. Although parental mediation can attenuate the effects of violent media, it is unknown whether there are similar benefits of parental mediation of relationally aggressive media. The current study examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between relationally aggressive television and movie exposure and normative beliefs about relational aggression, and whether parental mediation moderates these associations. Participants were 103 children (50% female) in grades 3-6 and their parents. The following year, 48 children (52% …

Investigating Young Children's Music-Making Behavior: A Developmental Theory, Paul G. Morehouse

CGU Theses & Dissertations

We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making?

Music is understood …

The Phenomenology Of The Non-Sharing Environment Within The Law Enforcement Community After 9/11: An Empirical Investigation, Frank T. Whitehurst

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

The Border Of Juveniles And Criminal Justice, Vicki Ann Mellenberger

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Code Of The Street In The Most Popular Rap Lyrics 2001-2009, Julian Scott, Camille Gibson

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

Understanding Jurors’ Judgments In Cases Involving Juvenile Defendants: Effects Of Confession Evidence And Intellectual Disability, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Juveniles are at heightened risk for falsely confessing to crimes, particularly if they are intellectually disabled. We conducted a mock trial experiment to investigate the effects of a juvenile defendant’s confession and status as intellectually disabled on jurors’ decision making. As expected, jurors discounted a juvenile’s coerced confession: Jurors’ judgments were similar for a juvenile who was perceived to have confessed under coercion and a juvenile who did not confess. In general, these effects were explained by the fact that, compared to a juvenile who was perceived as having confessed voluntarily, a juvenile who was perceived as having confessed under …

Descriptions Of Childhood Trauma, Effects Of The Trauma, And How Adults Moved Through The Trauma To Normalized Behavior, Alice Katherine Schaaf

Dissertations

Problem. People who are not able to overcome the effects of childhood trauma often waste their human potential on substance abuse and illegal and illicit lifestyles; they end up in prison, uneducated, or develop self-destructive behavior. They often struggle with poor learning and social skills and are not able to be successful in life. However, some individuals do succeed. This study interviewed eight individuals who suffered childhood trauma and developed ways of overcoming that trauma to live prosperous, productive, and, in many regards, full lives.

Method. This qualitative study used interviews to explore how adults traumatized as children described childhood …

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

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

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

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

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

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

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

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

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

Attitudes Toward Suicide In Peers Affected By A Point Cluster Of Suicides As Adolescents, Caroline Abbott

Psychology Honors Papers

This thesis aimed to study how exposure to peer suicide may relate to current adjustment and attitudes towards suicide. Eight-five young adult graduates of the same public high school in the northeast who were exposed to multiple peer suicides as adolescents filled out an Attitudes Towards Suicide Scale, Scale of Perceived Social Support, reported their level of agreement with Thomas Joiner’s suicide myths, and completed the Texas Revised Inventories of Grief for each peer lost to suicide. Grief was relatively low in this sample, but related to number of peers lost to suicide and closeness to those peers. Exposure to …

Predictors Of Bullying In An Adolescent School Sample, Schell Hufstetler

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Author's abstract: Bullying is a pervasive problem in our society. Contributing to this problem is the fact that bullying is not well understood. This makes it difficult to design successful interventions. The current study aims to create a complete picture of bullying in order to increase understanding of this behavior. For this study, 59 adolescents completed a survey packet including measures of bullying behaviors and other variables expected to relate to bullying. The results revealed that bullying is a problem for both genders. Multivariate analyses revealed males to be more directly and indirectly aggressive, but there were no significant gender …

Trauma Severity And Defensive Emotion-Regulation Reactions As Predictors Of Forgetting Childhood Trauma, Bette L. Bottoms, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Michelle A. Epstein, Matthew J. Badanek

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Using a retrospective survey, we studied a sample of 1679 college women to determine whether reports of prior forgetting of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and other traumas could be explained by trauma severity and individual differences in the use of defensive emotion-regulation reactions (i.e., repressive coping, dissociation, and fantasy proneness). Among victims of physical abuse (but not sexual abuse or other types of trauma), those who experienced severe abuse and used defensive reactions were sometimes more likely to report temporary forgetting of abuse, but other times less likely to report forgetting. We also found unanticipated main effects of trauma severity …

Understanding The Thoughts And Attitudes Related To Participation In Youth Sports, Jeanine A. Johnson

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The present study was designed to examine the thinking and attitudes that may be associated with elementary and middle school students participating in youth sports. Girls benefit physically, socially, and educationally from ongoing participation in sports. However, compared to boys, girls tend to start later, quit sooner, and participate less often in sports, despite the numerous advantages that athletics provides. The external barriers that contribute to girls’ decreased involvement in sports as they increase in age and grade are well researched. However, there is a lack of information about the possible cognitive variables related to a girls’ decision to play …

Delinquents After Exile: A Review Of Aftercare Programs, Jeremy Olson, Daniel R. Lee

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

A Punishment-Free, Toilet-Training Protocol For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Chelsea Lynn Pearsall

All Master's Theses

The present investigation adapted a behaviorally-based toilet-training protocol for use with two male children with developmental disabilities. Positive practice and verbal reprimands were eliminated, and reinforcement, scheduled sits, and a urine alarm were utilized. Data were collected on the number of intoilet urinations, urinary accidents, and self-initiations. Results show that both participants exhibited significant improvement in their toileting skills and met the final success criteria rapidly. These results were maintained through follow-up. Implications for the elimination of punishment procedures in future toilet training protocols are discussed.

The Relationship Between Parental Stress, Cognitive Distortions, And Child Psychopathology, Daniel Kennedy

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

While there are a number of factors that may contribute to maladaptive parenting behaviors, parental stress has consistently been related to the increased risk of child maltreatment and, ultimately, the development of childhood. The question then is what drives parental stress and what are those key factors? Based on previous research, there are multiple parental, child, and environmental factors that lead to parental stress, but there is not a clear understanding of what initially drives parental stress. Based on cognitive behavioral models of stress and Abidin’s theory of parental stress, it is theorized that parental cognitions play an important role …

40 Developmental Assets: A Research Analysis: Healthy Youth Committee & Fairmont's Youth Surveys, Tiffany Gullord

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This writer teamed together with the Healthy Youth Committee of Fairmont, Minnesota. The Healthy Youth Committee is a committee comprised of about 15 various community professionals who want to make a positive change for the youth of Fairmont. The committee includes court administrations staff, police chief, probation officers, teachers, non-profit employees, and social worker. The Healthy Youth Committee requested the Search Institute to complete the 40 Developmental Assets survey Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors with the youth in Fairmont, in 1997, 2002, and 2011. 40 Developmental Assets is a research-based framework that identifies basic building blocks of human …