Developmental Psychology Commons^™

How Christian College Student Leaders Discover Purpose, Emmanuel Ayiku

Masters Theses

Among college students, research has revealed that 76% of them reported that they search for meaning in life (Dunn & Hammer, 2015). Spirituality is one specific way in which students begin their search for meaning. A qualitative approach was used to examine the perspectives of how six Christian college student leaders from three different campus ministries found their purpose. By examining and understanding purpose from one subset of religious students who serve in a leadership position, we may gain insight into the interplay of meaning-making, purpose, and leadership. This study concluded that faith or spirituality played an important role in …

Becoming Gatekeepers: A Constructivist Model Of Gatekeeper Development In Counselor Education, Natasha Joy Salier Schnell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The need for diligent gatekeeping practices in counselor education is well documented in professional literature, ethical guidelines, and standards of practice; although much has been written about gatekeeping, an extensive examination of the literature did not reveal any studies on how and where counselor educators are learning to be gatekeepers. Therefore, this study sought to ascertain what counselor educators identify as meaningful learning experiences and critical incidents that facilitated their sense of efficacy and preparedness as gatekeepers and to examine how counselor educators acquire and develop the competence to become proficient gatekeepers in the counseling profession. Phenomenological interviewing and analysis …

Relationship Of Parent Academic Socialization To Academic Success Among First Generation College Students, Aubrey Pellicano

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Research shows that First Generation College Students (FGCS) have lower rates of college degree attainment than their continuing generation peers. Many of these students face challenges navigating social, academic, financial, and administrative domains when working toward a post-secondary degree. Academic self-efficacy (ASE) is an important predictor of academic success in college. Research suggests that parents can influence ASE through parent academic socialization (PAS), which includes academic expectations set by the parents (PAE), parent academic advice (PAA), and parental attitudes about education (PEA). The current study sought to examine the influence of PAS on ASE in FGCS and its subsequent effect …

Probate Attorneys’ Understanding Of The Inclusion Of The Lucid Interval In Testamentary Capacity Proceedings, Jeremy Cassius

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study focused on the experience of probate attorneys with the lucid interval in contested will cases. There is a gap in the research for understanding the lucid interval for people who live with dementia. Dementia can affect the testamentary capacity (TC) of a testator who is signing a will because the testator may not understand all the property that is in their possession. This causes difficulties and conflict for families when a loved one dies. It can also cause the testator to be susceptible to undue influence. The present study analyzed data from interviews with 6 probate attorneys about …

Parental Supervision And Monitoring And Deviant Adolescent Behavior, Mary Catherine Ross-Gray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deviant adolescent behavior is a social crisis in the United States, estimated at an annual cost of over $4 billion; yet there are gaps in the research on parental influences regarding this behavior. In this study, the principles of social learning theory were used to examine the relationships between parental supervision and deviant adolescent behavior as moderated by self-control and socioeconomic status. The population for this quantitative study consisted of 87 parent volunteers who completed surveys measuring parent supervision, child executive functioning, and delinquent behavior as well as demographic information such as socioeconomic status. Multiple Regression/Correlation was used to examine …

The Lived Experiences Of Caregivers Of Children With Reactive Attachment Disorder, Abby Baumgart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Parents of children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) encounter challenges in parenting and parent-child relationship development that are not typical to most parental situations. The purpose of the qualitative study was to explore the lived experiences of caregivers of children with RAD, to identify current met and unmet needs, to explore the experiences the caregivers of children with RAD have and the resources available to them. The study included a hermeneutic phenomenological foundation and incorporated the conceptual frameworks of family systems theory and attachment theory. A nonprobability, self-selection sampling strategy was utilized with recruitment through Facebook support groups. Methods included …

Generational Parenting Practices And The Influence Of Grandmothers Caring For Their Grandchildren, Mecca Major Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States there has been an increase of grandmothers caring for their grandchildren in the absence of their parents. Researchers have found that grandmothers are in a constant struggle with grandchildren exhibiting antisocial behavior. The gap in research does not address this issue. The present study explored the lived experiences of grandmothers in hopes of learning more about their past experiences, seeking to make a connection between generational parenting practices and poor coping skills. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis, 11 grandmothers participated who were the sole provider for their grandchildren exhibiting delinquent behavior. The results yielded varying themes …

The Role Of Attachment And Cognitive Pre-Sleep Arousal On Associations Between Sleep Concordance And Sleep Quality, Taylor L. Elsey

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The amount of time someone spends co-sleeping with their partner, known as sleep concordance, has implications for sleep quality in couples. Attachment security has emerged as an important moderator of the association between sleep concordance and subjective sleep quality (Elsey et al., 2019). The current study tested whether cognitive pre-sleep arousal explains this pattern of moderation. Prior research suggests that these associations between sleep concordance, attachment security, and subjective sleep quality may be stronger for women than men, therefore gender differences in associations were also examined. Participants were 204 (68% female) individuals in an exclusive relationship lasting at least 3 …

Examining The Impact Of Social Media Use On Body Dissatisfaction And Eating Disorder Symptomatology Among Adolescents, Ilyssa P. Salomon

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Media exposure is often cited as a causal factor in the development of body dissatisfaction, or negative thoughts and feelings toward the body (Grogan, 2017; Thompson, Heinberg, Atlabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). While eating disorders most commonly emerge during late adolescence (18-21 years), risk factors that predict the later onset of eating disorders emerge much earlier and escalate during adolescence (13-16 years; Hudson, Hiripi, Pope, & Kessler, 2007; Rhode, Stice, & Marti, 2016). Overall, links between exposure to traditional forms of mainstream media (e.g. television and magazines), body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology are well- established in the literature, with robust …

Elementary School Children’S Understanding Of Disproportionate Discipline, Sharla D. Biefeld

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

In the U.S. Black students, particularly Black boys, receive more out of school punishments, are punished more frequently, and are punished for more subjective behaviors than their White peers (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2002). This phenomenon is referred to as disproportionate discipline and is an early precursor to the disproportionate number of Black men and boys incarcerated in the U.S. Disproportionate discipline begins as early as preschool, and continues throughout elementary, middle, and high school (Gregory & Fergus, 2017). Perceptions of discrimination greatly impact children’s school involvement, school belonging, and educational outcomes (Brown, 2017, for review). However, little is …

Attentional Control In Infancy: The Role Of Sociodemographic Risk, Cortisol, And The Home Environment, Hannah B. White

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Infants’ ability to channel their cognitive resources by controlling their visual attention allows them to be active agents in their learning and development. Individual differences in attentional control have been linked to a wide variety of developmental outcomes including disparities between social classes in cognitive functioning. However, it is yet unknown when in development differences in attentional control related to sociodemographic factors emerge, or how factors of the home environment and the infant’s stress response relate to this effect. Accordingly, Experiment 1 examined whether certain sociodemographic factors, such as socioeconomic and minority status, predict 3.5-month-old infants’ (N = 102) …

Latino Parents' Acculturative Stress And Their Preschoolers' Prosocial Development: Testing The Mediating Role Of Parenting Style, Zahra Fatima Naqi

Master's Theses

Studies increasingly recognize the importance of cultural factors when studying the development of immigrant children from low-income backgrounds. There is reason to believe that parents' acculturative stress may be linked to children's prosocial development, via parenting. the present study included a sample of immigrant Latino parents of 3- to 5-year-old Head Start preschoolers (N = 28) to examine how parents' acculturative stress might be associated with children's prosocial behavior at home, as reported by parents, and at school, as reported by teachers. Furthermore, it studied whether this linkage is mediated by warm, supportive, and hostile parenting practices. Results indicated that …

Spaced Training In The 5csrtt Proves Beneficial In Early Levels, Rebecca Renee Warren

Senior Independent Study Theses

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattentiveness, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Due to these characterizations, children with ADHD typically exhibit lower academic performance which has been improved by spacing out academic training. Yet no study has performed spacing in an ADHD population. Spaced training involves studying over short periods for multiple days rather than multiple hours in one day, or massed training. Using a rat model of ADHD, known as the SHR strain, the present study assessed how spacing training from 90-trials a day to 45-trials a day in the 5CSRTT would improve performance abilities. Additionally, the impact of spaced …

Gender And Ethnicity: Are They Associated With Differential Outcomes Of A Biopsychosocial Social-Emotional Learning Program?, Ronnie I. Newman, Odikia Yim, David Shaenfield

Psychology Faculty Publications

Context: Social-emotional learning (SEL) program outcomes may be enhanced when programs take into account gender and ethnicity differences, yet few studies directly examine these variables. The limited literature further suggests improved outcomes accrue by integrating physiological techniques, such as yoga and meditation, directly into SEL curricula to reduce stress.

Aims: This study investigated the association between outcomes of a yogic breath-based biopsychosocial SEL intervention across gender and ethnicity.

Methods: Fifty-nine high school students were evaluated on 4 positive (self-esteem, identity formation, anger coping ability, planning, and concentration) and 3 negative SEL outcomes (impulsivity, distractibility, and endorsement of aggression). Using a …

Understanding The Contributions Of Discrepant Parent-Adolescent Views Of Parenting Practices And Peer Deviance To Adolescent Problem Behavior: A Cross-Lagged Polynomial Regression Approach, Mallory Stephenson

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used autoregressive cross-lagged models to examine the processes through which peer deviance and discrepant parent-adolescent views of monitoring-related communication, involvement, and positive parenting influence one another and contribute to physical and relational aggression, substance use, and delinquency. Participants included 535 adolescents (64% male) who were identified as prone to aggression and socially influential by their sixth-grade teachers during the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 school years; participants self-identified as African American (69%), Hispanic (14%), White (9%), Multiracial (5%), or another race (3%). Contrary to expectations, parent-adolescent reporting discrepancies were not related to peer deviance, physical aggression, substance use, and …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Caregiver Goals For Urban Children With And Without Asthma, Megan M. Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

Pediatric asthma is a major public health concern that disproportionately affects children of color and youth living in low-income, urban areas. The implications for public health, child health, and family functioning necessitates our understanding and addressing experiences by families who are facing barriers within their socio-demographic context in addition to the stressors associated with managing pediatric asthma. The current study applied qualitative methods to interviews with caregivers of children with and without asthma in an effort to more deeply connect with caregivers’ experiences and yield richer information about the intersection of identities as Black caregivers living in an urban setting …

The Role Of Receptive Reasoning In The Development Of Intellectual Humility, Cathryn Richmond

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual humility (IH) develops throughout childhood and adolescence and is critically important for effective learning, particularly with regard to science; however, the research examining the development of IH in children is quite limited. As such, this study utilized an exploratory, mixed methods, community-engaged research design with children ages three to 10 (n = 60; M_age = 5.98; 69.6% female) and their parents/guardians recruited from a public children’s museum.. As the construct of IH is intended to describe adult cognition, I operationalized the set of components that may lead to the development of IH in preschool children as Receptive …

A Longitudinal Test Of Mexican Teen Mothers’ Cultural Characteristics And Children’S Language Skills Via Mothers’ Language, Arlenis A. Santana

Theses and Dissertations

The current study includes 204 Mexican teen mothers and their children from a larger study who were interviewed when children were 3 years old (Wave 4; W4), 4 years old (W5), and 5 years old (W6). The current study is guided by the integrative model of developmental competencies (García Coll et al., 1996), which suggests that parents’ adaptive cultural characteristics and exchanges with their children inform children’s developmental competencies. Thus, the current study examined whether teen mothers’ adaptive cultural characteristics (i.e., familism values, language competency pressures, and involvement in Mexican culture and U.S. mainstream culture) at W4 informed mothers’ Spanish …

An Evaluation Of The Timeline As A Memory Retrieval Aid For Children’S Recall Of Specific Details From A Repeated Event, Huan Huan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Investigators and prosecutors are heavily dependent on children’s testimony in abuse cases where physical evidence is often lacking, making children the sole source of information. Decades of research have shown that young children are indeed capable of accurately recalling events from the past. Findings from research on interview techniques suggest that interview aids such as dolls and human diagrams are often not helpful and pose risks of eliciting inaccurate reports unless they are used cautiously and non-suggestively at the end of the interview.

The timeline, which is a visual depiction of time, is another type of interview aid that is …

Be Kind To Your Mind: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing The Benefits Of Mindfulness And Self-Compassion Vs. Social Skills Training Among Children And Adolescents, Lindsey Feltis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Childhood and adolescence can be difficult for young people as they navigate a variety of significant transitions. Thus, it is imperative that researchers focus on programs that support children and adolescents during this time. Mindfulness and self-compassion are two such programs that may promote positive youth development. Mindfulness and self-compassion have been explored in the adolescent context, and mindfulness has been explored with young children, however research on self-compassion for children is currently lacking. The present studies were designed to examine the feasibility, acceptability and potential benefits of a combined mindfulness + self-compassion program for children and adolescents in the …