Child Psychology Commons^™

Adverse And Positive Childhood Experiences Of Clinical Mental Health Counselors As Predictors Of Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, And Secondary Traumatic Stress, Eric M. Brown, Kristy L. Carlisle, Melanie Burgess, Jacob Clark, Ariel Hutcheon

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Despite an emphasis on self-care to avoid burnout and increase compassion satisfaction within the counseling profession, there is a dearth of research on the developmental experiences of counselors that may increase the likelihood of burnout. We examined the impact of mental health counselors’ (N = 140) experiences of adverse childhood experiences and positive childhood experiences on their present rates of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. We used a cross-sectional, non-experimental correlational design and reported descriptive statistics as well as results of multiple regression models. Results indicated significant relationships among counselors’ rates of adverse childhood experiences, positive childhood experiences, …

Types Of Social Media Use And Adolescent Mental Health, Ashley Bragg

Online Theses and Dissertations

Communication in today’s world is rapidly changing, some suggest for the better, while some suggest it is for the worse. Networking for the adolescent perspective has social media platforms at an all time high. The amount of face-to-face communication between adolescents has been replaced with outlets such as Instagram and Snapchat. Although this is another form of communication, it often faces challenges to whether this outlet is detrimental to the adolescent’s mental health or a positive chance for interacting with peers. Anxiety, depression and fear of missing out (FoMO) are three major mental health concerns that correlate with social media …

Predictors Of Future Gendered Play Practices, Caroline Guzi

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Gendered play is defined as the socialization of children to expectations of culturally determined gender roles via the mechanism of play. This study tested hypothesized links between undergraduate students’ childhood experiences and current beliefs to determine predictors of their future plans for gendered play as parents. Results indicated that men and women recall experiences of gendered play during their childhoods, consistent with past research. Most men and women did not plan to engage in gendered play with their own children in the future. Past play with toys stereotyped for girls was the strongest predictor of women’s plans for gendered play …

Informal And Formal Mentoring Of Sexual And Gender Minority Youth: A Systematic Review, Katie Edwards, Jillian R. Scheer, Victoria Mauer

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Research demonstrates that mentoring relationships can promote positive outcomes for youth across numerous domains, a topic of importance to school social workers. Whereas most mentoring research to date has been conducted with heterosexual cisgender youth, there is a growing body of literature that examines mentoring experiences among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). The purpose of this article is to conduct a systematic literature review of informal and formal mentoring experiences among SGMY. Results from twelve studies that met inclusion criteria suggested that (1) the majority of SGMY report having a mentor/role model; (2) demographics are generally unrelated to having …

Emotional Freedom Techniques (Tapping) To Improve Wellbeing And Reduce Anxiety In Primary School Classrooms, Margaret T. Lambert, Sue E. Smith, Simon Moss, Marilynne N. Kirshbaum

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) as a class exercise was investigated to ascertain its effectiveness for student wellbeing. Although EFT has been validated in clinical settings, studies have not yet established whether this approach could be applied in classrooms to curb anxiety and improve wellbeing. A pragmatic, mixed methods study was conducted with 138 students in northern Australian primary schools. Student anxiety dissipated over two stages of intervention. Aside from class tapping sessions, students sometimes tapped surreptitiously, and teachers applied tapping for themselves on occasions. Students generally preferred a quieter, individual approach during class tapping sessions. Broader themes …

Humanitarian Workers' Perspectives On Mental Health And Resilience Of Refugee Youth: Implications For School Psychology, Diana Maria Diaków

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Almost half of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide are youth under the age of 18, including refugees. Refugee youth face deliberate threats across all migration stages including violence, abuse, exploitation, poor living conditions, limited or no access to healthcare and education, interrupted family structure, and discrimination. Noteworthy, school psychologists who practice in host countries face new challenges as these diverse youth enroll in public schools. During the migration stage, humanitarian workers are a primary source of psychosocial and educational support for refugee youth and their families. Therefore, the aim of this research study was to inform school psychology …

Parent-Prompted Dysregulation: Do Parents Serve As Cues For Dysregulation In Some Children?, Daniel Lee

Pitzer Senior Theses

Children occasionally encounter dysregulation when interacting with their parents in relatively neutral or positive scenarios. Given that the cause of dysregulation is usually relational, meaning it is often cued by someone who is seen to have power or control over the person, children could be particularly susceptible to dysregulation in the presence of their parents. However, when examining the existing literature, there appeared to be a lack of research and knowledge concerning this topic, with much of the literature focusing on the effect of child stressors on parental dysregulation. As a result, the term parent-prompted dysregulation was developed to refer …

Preschoolers’ Electrodermal Activity And Story Comprehension During Print And Digital Shared Reading, Gabrielle Strouse, Steven R. Chesnut, Lisa Newland, Daniel Mourlam, Danielle Hertel, Brandon Nutting

School of Education Faculty Publications

Digital picture books are increasingly available for shared reading but reports on how children engage with them differ depending on the type of measurement used. The purpose of this study was to compare pre-readers’ engagement during print and digital shared reading and test whether engagement mediated the relation between children’s preference, familiarity with the stories, and media experience and their comprehension of the story. Using a within-subjects design with order and book title randomly assigned, we captured electrodermal activity from 83 children aged 3 to 5 years during shared print and digital reading with a researcher. We also asked children …

Prenatal Exposure To A Natural Disaster And Early Development Of Psychiatric Disorders During The Preschool Years: Stress In Pregnancy Study, Yoko Nomura, Jeffrey H. Newcorn, Christine Ginalis, Catherine Heitz, Jeenia Zaki, Farzana Khan, Mardia Nasrin, Kathryn Sie, Donato Deingeniis, Yasmin L. Hurd

Publications and Research

Background: Growing evidence shows an association between in utero exposure to natural disasters and child behavioral problems, but we still know little about the development of specific psychopathology in preschool-aged children. Methods: Preschool children (n = 163, mean age = 3.19, 85.5% racial and ethnic minorities) and their parents (n = 151) were evaluated annually at ages 2–5 to assess the emergence of psychopathology using the Preschool Age Psychopathological Assessment (PAPA), a parent-report structured diagnostic interview developed for preschool-age children. Sixty-six (40.5%) children were exposed to Sandy Storm (SS) in utero and 97 (59.5%) were not. Survival analysis evaluated patterns …

The Theory Of Mind Hypothesis Of Autism, Kendall Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Present theory of mind research suggests that autistic individuals demonstrate deficits in theory of mind capabilities. A literature review was conducted to investigate the claim made by the theory of mind hypothesis of autism that theory of mind deficits are responsible for the social deficits present in autistic individuals. It was concluded that this hypothesis was prematurely accepted as an explanatory model for autism when it is better described as a symptom of autism. Alternative explanations for autistic social deficits such as executive function deficits and the theory of weak central coherence were analyzed. Implications and suggestions for future research …

A Pathway For Inclusive Innovation In Pediatric Mental Health: Prevention And Intervention Using Technology, Kate Corinne Bennett

DSW Capstone Projects

It is no secret that access to quality healthcare is difficult for citizens to achieve in the United States. Racism, discrimination, and oppression further exist at the root of compounding social problems, including limits in minority access to mental health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health problems for young children, especially those who are already underserved and at risk. For these reasons, it is imperative that the social work profession emphasizes innovative approaches to equitable treatment access, including a focus on early intervention and the use of technology. Product one of this capstone engages a systematic review …

The Examination And Evaluation Of The Public Foster Care System's Attachment-Based Intervention And Trainings For Foster Parents In The West North Division Of The Midwestern States, Brooke T. Crowell

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The effectiveness of many foster parent training curricula in the United States foster care system is basically unknown (Adkins et al., 2018). Furthermore, there is little to no research that indicate when and how attachment-focused interventions and trainings are being implemented in the United States. Thus, the initial purpose of this study was to examine and evaluate interventions and trainings pertaining to attachment that exist throughout the United States public foster care system. As this study progressed however, the purpose shifted to answering this question: How is the Midwest foster care system training staff and foster parents on issues of …

Mental Health, Bullying, And Victimization Among Chinese Adolescents, Yang Wen, Xihe Zhu, Justin A. Haegele, Fangliang Yu

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine if adolescents who experience anxiety or depression have higher levels of reported bullying victimization or perpetration than those who do not. Based on the existing research, we hypothesized that those who experienced moderate or severe depression and anxiety would have higher rates of bullying victimization and perpetration when compared to those who experienced mild or no depression. This study used an observational design, and data were collected from a convenience sample of adolescents in a large regional high school in an Eastern province of China. The final sample included 1481 adolescents aged …

Equine-Assisted Therapy And Learning Interventions With Youth: A Meta-Analysis And Quasi-Experimental Study., Sarah Lovins

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Equine-assisted psychotherapy interventions have become increasingly used and tested as an alternative or complementary approach with youth. This project presents two studies. The first study consists of an overview of existing reviews and a meta-analysis of controlled and comparison studies on the effectiveness of equine interventions with youth. A comprehensive search and selection procedure produced 3,525 records, from which 56 quantitative studies were identified, and ultimately 16 controlled or comparison studies were selected for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Results showed a statistically significant, medium, and homogenous effect size for the overall effectiveness of equine interventions for youth psycho-social outcomes ( …

A Literature Resource For Those Supporting Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Cancer, Kaylee James

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts both social interaction and patterns of behavior. ASD is rooted in genetic, biological, and environmental causes. Cancer begins when cells grow out of control and there is also a genetic and biological cause of cancer. There is an overlap between the genetic and biological causes of ASD and cancer. As a result, evidence supports an increased risk of developing some types of cancer as well as protective factors for some times of cancer for individuals with ASD. Therefore, individuals with ASD may be at a heightened risk to develop cancer, …

Clinical Interventions For Developmental Trauma Disorder: How Evidence-Based Practice And Attachment Theory Can Inform Therapeutic Approach, Victoria Deveau

DSW Capstone Projects

Approximately two-thirds of U.S. children and adolescents report having experienced a traumatic event. A posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis requires that the youth has directly experienced a traumatic event, witnessed a traumatic event occur to others, or learned that a traumatic event has occurred to someone close. The clinician is in a diagnostic quandary, however, when the youth presents with the PTSD hallmarks of hyperarousal, avoidance, and emotional dysregulation, in absence of such life experiences. The answer to this quandary lies in an understanding of developmental trauma disorder (DTD). Clinical interventions for DTD are the focus of this capstone.

Product …

Transforming Hurt Boys Into Restored Men: The Lack Of Mental Health Treatment For Black Male Trauma Survivors, Shericka Danielle Smith

DSW Capstone Projects

Trauma affects individuals differently, but the prevalence of trauma and its impact on Black males is detrimental. Black males are at higher risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance abuse, and violent crimes when trauma is left untreated by a mental health professional. As the number of traumatic events experienced by Black males continues to rise, the number of these males who seek mental health treatment remains stagnant and painfully low. Many factors play into these behaviors, yet very little data exists on what is being done to change them.

Product one is a systematic literature review in which …

Parent Reports Of Executive Functions In Students With Learning Disability, Jane Roitsch, Annemarie L. Horn, Lisa Morin

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

This study examines the results of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2) (Gioia et al., 2015) reported by parents of children with Specific Learning Disability (LD) and/or other comorbid disabilities. LD is most notably associated with comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Alloway & Stein, 2014; Westby &Watson, 2004; Willcutt et al., 2013). A total of 43 parents completed the BRIEF-2 rating scale. Findings suggest children with LD and ADHD display greater challenges with inhibition, working memory, planning, along with greater challenges in organization and metacognition. Parents of children with LD reported their children have greater levels of …

The Relation Between Childhood Maltreatment And Marriage Quality In Adulthood, Melanie Wagner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Childhood maltreatment poses the potential for lasting effects on survivors as they enter adulthood. Research lacks investigations into these potential effects, such as the impact on interpersonal relations. This study investigates the correlation between different types of childhood maltreatment and overall quality of marriage, as well as aims to identify which type of childhood maltreatment may be the strongest relative predictor of marital quality. Analyses on a newlywed dataset from Lancaster County, NE yielded results of a strong negative association between measures of childhood maltreatment and marital quality through the application of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Quality of …

Caregivers’ Self-Compassion And Bereaved Children’S Adjustment: Testing Caregivers’ Mental Health And Parenting As Mediators, Na Zhang, Irwin Sandler, Jenn‑Yun Tein, Sharlene Wolchik, Erin Donohue

Psychology Faculty Publications

Objectives: Self-compassion, which involves mindfulness, self-kindness, and common humanity, has been found to be related to individuals’ mental health. Few studies have examined caregivers’ self-compassion in relation to parenting behaviors and child adjustment in addition to its relation to their own mental health. In the current study we examined caregivers’ self-compassion as a protective factor related to parentally bereaved children’s internalizing and externalizing problems and further tested whether these relations were mediated by caregivers’ mental health (complicated grief and psychological distress) and parenting.

Methods: The sample consisted of 74 caregivers (female = 78.4%) who participated in a larger study designed …