Child Psychology Commons^™

The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Birth Order In College Students' Academic Success, Shannara Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between locus of control and birth order. Does your birth position predict your locus of control? Also, does birth order have an effect on the academic achievement of college students (n=54)? A few subjects were disqualified from the study based on the fact that they were the only child. A demographics survey was designed to determine the academic success based on grade point average. The Rotter's Locus of Control survey was used to determine the locus of control of the college students. Neither hypothesis investigated yielded the predicted results. This …

Interactive Software And Its Effects On Hostility, Warren Shya

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher will be exploring the relationship between violence in video games and the emotional responses to them. The goal of the study is to confirm the previous body of research that a short term increase in aggression and hostility exists after a violent video game is played. The study will also expand on the current existing body of data by examining other variables such as gender, age, typical time spent in a week playing videogames, overall familiarity with video games, the game genre that is normally played, and what consoles and systems are typically used to be played on. …

Individual Case Study: Verbalizing Emotions To Reduce Aggressive Outbursts In An Autistic Adult, Samantha Levine

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this individual case study were to (a) to decrease the maladaptive behaviors displayed by the participant and (b) have the participant verbalize his feelings before they build up to cause the maladaptive behavior. The study used positive reinforcement and rewards to reinforce the positive behaviors displayed by the participant as well as to deter negative behaviors. The participant made vast improvements in expressing his emotions and also showed great improvement in controlling his maladaptive behaviors. Implications of a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder are discussed as well as an explanation of other studies performed for individuals with …

Rate Changes In Risky Behavior & The Role Of Sibling Influence, Julian Bajczyk

Theses and Dissertations

This study is based on research performed in 2006 by Laura Argys, Daniel Rees, Susan Averett, and Benjama Witoonchart. The 2006 study investigated relationship between the birth order and an adolescent's likelihood of engaging in certain risky behaviors. For the purpose of this study these behaviors include things like drug use, sexual activity and violent or antisocial offenses. The initial study found a trend implicating that adolescents with older siblings more likely to engage in certain risky behaviors than adolescents who did not have older siblings (eldest and only children). The Argys, et al. study used data collected from the …

Speak Up! Promoting Interactions During Shared Reading Activities, Jennifer Singleton

Psychology and Child Development

Interactions during shared reading activities between parent and child have been shown to benefit a child’s expressive vocabulary, receptive vocabulary, and literacy development. Research has identified a number of variables that influence the quality, frequency, and type of interactions that occur during shared reading. Using this research, I have written and illustrated a children’s book that accounts for these variables. The result is a 56 page, hard-covered book that reads from both directions. One direction prompts children to provide their own answer to why animals are the way they are, while the other direction offers the leading theories from scientists …

Teaching Children About Multiculturalism, Nicole Zuniga

Psychology and Child Development

Literature review on teaching children about multiculturalism connected to the entertainment coordinator position of the organizer group for Children's Day in the Plaza 2011.

Language-Specific Tuning Of Audiovisual Integration In Early Development, Juliana Flynn

Honors Scholar Theses

According to the perceptual narrowing hypothesis, older infants look longer towards speech in a native language than towards a non-native language. We presented speech in English, Spanish, and mis-matched English and Spanish speech, and recorded looking-time towards the speech. Results suggest that the synchrony of speech plays a strong role in infants' attention to speech, whereas nativeness of language does not.

Temperament-Language Relationships During The First Formal Year Of School., Natasha Benfield Gouge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to investigate temperament-language relationships among school-age children and across a wider variety of SES. Head Start, Pre-K, and Kindergarten classes of 10 elementary schools located in rural Appalachia were sent information about the study and 35 children were consented to participate. Parents completed a short demographic survey and the Child Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form (CBQ-VSF). Children were administered the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4). Participants were split into low and high SES groups so associations between the CBQ and PLS-4 scores could be compared at each SES strata. Both reactivity and self-regulation were …

The Dilemma Of Minors’ Access To Adult Content On The Internet: A Proposed Warnings Solution, Helen Zaikina-Montgomery

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Internet can be a dangerous place for children. Because minors have unrestricted access to adult content, a system of warnings targeting minors on the Internet should be developed. The present studies tested icons for such a system and subsequently to examined selected icons in combination with signal words, color, and warning messages. One hundred and ninety three adults and eleven children participated in the first study. Participants rated thirty eight icons created by the researcher for their understandability, carefulness, attention-getting, likelihood of encountering and severity of danger, likelihood of avoidance and familiarity. Familiar icons were found to be rated …

Playing With Fire Or Arson? Identifying Predictors Of Juvenile Firesetting Behavior, Mary Ellen Britt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Firesetting is a complex behavior that spans a wide range of developmental stages in childhood and adolescence and involves varying motivations and intents. A better understanding of this destructive behavior is critical to developing strategies to control its devastating effects. The purpose of this research project was to identify potential predictors of juvenile firesetting behavior by studying youth who were enrolled in a regional firesetting intervention program. Data collected from firesetting assessment instruments completed by parents or guardians of program participants were examined. In the analyses, special emphasis was placed on evaluating associations between juvenile firesetting behavior and the socioeconomic …

School Refusal Behavior: The Relationship Between Functions And Symptom Sets, Marisa Charlene Hendron

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examined the relationship between functions of school refusal behavior and internalizing and externalizing symptom sets in a community sample of 200 youth and parents recruited from two truancy settings. The first hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily to avoid stimuli that provoke negative affectivity (function 1) would report more symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression. The second hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily to escape from aversive social or evaluative situations (function 2) would report more symptoms of social anxiety. The third hypothesis was that youth who endorsed refusing school primarily …

Executive Function Profiles In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Erik Nelson Ringdahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Traumatic brain injury is a common cause of disability and death among children in the United States. Insult to the frontal and temporal lobes are frequent in closed head brain injury. Cognitive deficits in a variety of domains are common sequelae of brain trauma. In many cases, trauma to the frontal and temporal lobe regions engender prominent deficits in higher-order cognitive processing, memory, and attention.

Higher-order cognitive processing, or Executive Functions are the grouping of cognitive processes necessary for organization of thoughts and activities, attending to the activities, prioritizing tasks, managing time efficiently, and making decisions (Alvarez & Emory, 2006; …

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes: Vocal Production In Infant Siblings Of Children With Asd, Rhea Paul, Yael Fuerst, Gordon Ramsay, Kasia Chawarska, Ami Klin

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Background: Younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are at higher risk for acquiring these disorders than the general population. Language development is usually delayed in children with ASD. The present study examines the development of pre-speech vocal behavior in infants at risk for ASD due to the presence of an older sibling with the disorder. Methods: Infants at high risk (HR) for ASD and those at low risk, without a diagnosed sibling (LR), were seen at 6, 9, and 12 months as part of a larger prospective study of risk for ASD in infant siblings. Standard clinical …

Designing A School Garden Space That Emphasizes Children's Wants And Uses Permaculture Design Methods, Mikhaela Mullins

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at Saratoga Elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska to obtain data on what children desire in a garden space. To collect this data a school garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented. Students who participated in the after school garden club partook in the study by drawing their ideal garden. Elements that the subjects drew were identified and categorized into ‘highly desired’ and ‘somewhat desired’.

These elements were then incorporated into a proposed garden design plan for Saratoga. The proposal plan uses Permaculture design methods to emphasize sustainability.

How Experience Influences Infants’ Recognition Of Male And Female Faces, Jennifer L. Rennels, Veronica A. Glover, Andrew J. Cummings, Andrea J. Kayl, Mateusz Orlewicz, Roanne J. Tiongson, Brooke Ditzler

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Young infants with female primary caregivers are able to differentiate familiar female faces from novel female faces but not male faces. Experience processing faces may be important for being able to discriminate among similar-looking faces. Subsequently, increasing infants’ experience with less familiar faces should improve their ability to differentiate those types of faces. This study examined if infants’ experience with faces affected their recognition of new faces. Prior to testing, 2-3 month old infants were assigned to one of three conditions: a male video, a female video, and no video condition. Infants were familiarized to both male and female faces …

Co-Parenting: Your Marriage May Be Over, But Your Family Is Not, Sarah Guyer

Undergraduate Research Conference

Life after divorce is hard, especially when there are children in the mix. The following are tips and impacts of Co-parenting.

Development Of Bicultural Competence, Jessica L. Scheunemann

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

This inquiry looks at factors facilitating the development of bicultural competnece in internationally-adopted youth in America. Bicultural competence is the extnesion of ethnic identity defined as having knowledge of language, lifestyle characteristics, and patterns if interpersonal behavior of two cultural groups. Being competent in two cultures is an extremely difficult task for youth, largely impacted by socialization and parent mediation. Major factors discussed include: parent characteristics/styles/access to resources, youth/parental exploration of ethnicity, bicultural stress, and youth perceptions. Bicultural competnece leads to many benefits and is an important topic for counselors to understand and continually educate themselves on!

Child Behavior Resulting From Single Mother's Usage Of Social Technology, Jessica L. Scheunemann, Alicia Bunnell

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

We will present what we have found in a literature review of related topics and our research design for this study. It is hoped we can get feedback to further our research ideas in this area and for us to compile a final paper to be submitted at the end of the semester.

We will then discuss practicalities of our design thus far and implications for practicing counselors.

Gender Differences And Similarities In Adolescents' Ways Of Coping, Bettina Piko

The Psychological Record

Various factors have an influence on which coping strategies
are mobilized under specific circumstances, among others, age
and gender. The present paper focuses on the interrelationships
between the ways of coping and some health-related variables in
adolescence. Data were collected among secondary school
students (n = 1039) in Szeged, Hungary: Factor analysis of the
shortened and adapted version of the Ways of Coping
Questionnaire gave a four-factor solution: passive coping,
problem-analyzing coping, risky coping, and support-seeking
coping. Passive and support-seeking ways of coping were more
common among girls, however, this latter way of coping proved to
be a more significant …

Loving The World And Our Children Enough--Nurturing Decidedly Different Scientifc Minds, By Design, Stephanie Pace Marshall

Publications & Research

Wise world-shaping and problem-solving requires that we and our children think in decidedly different, integral and wise ways. This transformation requires a fundamental shift in consciousness and the emergence of global minds that can creatively live into a new worldview of an interconnected planet and a sustainable and interdependent human family. "The fullness of our humanity and the sustainability of our planet rest with the nurturing of decidedly different minds."