Developmental Psychology Commons^™

Juror Gender And Confession Evidence: An Exploratory Study Of Effects On Empathy And Trial Outcomes For Juvenile Defendants, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jennifer N. Weintraub

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: We explored how relations among juror gender, confession evidence, and empathy impacted verdicts for a juvenile defendant accused of a serious crime. Methods: Jury-eligible women and men (N = 128) participated in a mock trial involving a girl defendant who had either maintained her innocence, confessed voluntarily, or confessed under coercion. Participants reviewed case materials, received juror instructions, and reported their verdict and empathy for the girl defendant. A manipulation check ensured participants attended to details surrounding the confession and participants were grouped by whether they perceived the confession as voluntary or coerced. A logistic regression analysis examined main …

Moral Identity, Moral Disengagement, And Online Behaviour From Adolescence To Young Adulthood, Luc Saulnier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become the most popular medium for social communication amongst adolescents and young adults. However, there is growing concern surrounding heightened ICT use and the development and activation of influential social constructs such as moral identity and moral disengagement. The importance of moral ideals to oneself (i.e., moral identity) and the distancing of oneself from these moral ideals (i.e., moral disengagement) are often contextual and may differ in online domains when compared to traditional face-to-face interactions. Developing youth consistently report high moral identity adherence within family and friend contexts during moral development, yet these constructs …

Building Young People’S Capacity For Critical And Transcendent Engagement: Examining The Institution, The Community, And The Individual As Protagonists Of A School Setting, Livia Dittmer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a powerful socializing force in Western society, schools have significant influence on young people’s development into adulthood. As powerful agents of societal maintenance and change, adolescents have significant influence on communities and institutions such as schools. In this embedded case study, I use structuration theory, German Critical Psychology, and systems thinking to examine the dynamic relationship between institutional structures and student agency in a school setting. I specifically examine the influence of this relationship on young people’s capacity for critical and transcendent engagement, constructs described further in this work. In the setting of Nancy Campbell Academy (NCA), an international …

Psychosocial Development And Well-Being In Retirement: The Relationship Between Generativity, Ego Integrity, And Regret Among Canadian Retirees, Shauna Spirling

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Transitions such as retirement may facilitate change in social and psychological dynamics, perhaps encouraging what Butler (2002) refers to as a life review: an introspective process encouraging reflection on the life course, potentially eliciting regret(s). Older adults may especially be tasked with coming to terms with the life they have lived given time constraints and perceivably less opportunity to rectify paths not taken. Drawing upon Erikson’s (1950) stages of generativity and ego integrity, the purpose of the present study is to understand the role of psychosocial development in the presence or absence of regret as well as to further understand …

Connectedness To Nature And Pro-Environmental Behaviour From Early Adolescence To Adulthood: A Comparison Of Urban And Rural Canada, Daniel Anderson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous research has demonstrated that emotional connectedness to nature (ECN) is one of the strongest predictors of pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). This study investigated the influence of age, gender and living context on ECN and PEB in two Canadian samples.

Study participants completed an environmental survey, which assessed demographic data as well as their levels of ECN and PEB. Project I, which contained 1251 participants, investigated what group factors (age, urban vs. rural living context, male vs. female) contributed to ECN and PEB, as well as whether ECN mediated the relationship between age and PEB. Project II, which contained 84 adolescents, …

Learning, Attitudes And Perceptions: Evaluating Teachers Acquiring Competence With Online Literacy Programs For Children, Constanza Uribe-Banda

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Given the prevalence of computer software in educational settings, it is important to establish the efficacy of software for teachers in the classroom. One free software program, ABRACADABRA (ABRA), has been demonstrated to be effective in the development of literacy skills in young children (e.g. Wolgemuth, et al., 2014). The present study evaluated the impact of teachers’ literacy knowledge and comfort with technology with respect to professional development workshops providing training in the implementation of ABRA. Two cohorts of teachers were drawn from Canada and one from Kenya. A total of 64 female teachers (Mage= 38.26, SDage =11.22) completed two …

Exploring The Female Autism Phenotype: Personal Identity Formation And Well-Being In Autistic Females, Erinn Nell Barry

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A personal identity answers the questions: who am I and where do I fit in the world? While these are questions that all persons may encounter, I examine identity formation, as conceived by Marcia (1980), in a community sample of females diagnosed (or self-identified) as having an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), given that less is known regarding the identity process that autistic females undergo. More specifically, I examine the relationship between autism traits and the achieved and diffuse identity statuses. Research indicates the existence of a female autism phenotype (Lai et al., 2015), such that autistic females often present with …

Can They Do It? A Comparison Of Teacher Candidates’ Assumptions And Preschoolers’ Actual Skills With Digital Technology And Media, Daniel James Mourlam, Gabrielle Strouse, Lisa Newland

School of Education Faculty Publications

As digital technologies and media (DTM) are integrated into every facet of our lives, the knowledge and skills children bring to school is changing. It is unclear whether teacher candidates' beliefs about children's skills have kept pace with this change. To explore this issue, 43 children, ages 3–5, and 180 teacher candidates at a medium-sized Midwest research university were recruited. Teacher candidates' beliefs about preschoolers' DTM skills were compared with preschoolers' observed skills following an assessment protocol using an iPad. Findings indicated most preschoolers could complete 9 of the 12 iPad tasks without assistance, whereas teacher candidates frequently assumed that …

A Closer Look At Internet Addiction, Jakub Mikuška

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Based on a sample of 1,012 late adolescents and young adults (ages 18-26), the current three interrelated studies tested a series of specific questions and hypotheses focused on understanding Internet Addiction.

Study 1 sought to directly compare psychometric properties of four of the most widely used Internet addiction scales based on citation metrics (Internet Addiction Test, Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire, Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 and Chen Internet Addiction Scale), and to aggregate the best items across all scales into a new measure using bifactor IRT analyses. The resulting 10-item Aggregated Internet Addiction Scale (AIAS) consists of the best …

The Psychology Surrounding Legal Standards Of Competency And Representation For Children In U.S. Immigration Court, Natasha Reyes

CMC Senior Theses

In recent years, immigration detentions have spiked. Further, the Zero Tolerance Policy enacted by President Trump has separated thousands of children from their families. Because many children are without their parents, and immigration court is civil in nature, thousands of children are placed in deportation hearings without representation each year. Child psychological research is at odds with the current deportation practices as psychological research deems children unable to understand the complexities of the court system or the impacts of deportation proceedings. A minimum competency to stand trial must be enacted to protect young children’s due process rights, regardless of citizenship. …

Body Processing And Attentional Patterns In Infancy, Rachel Lynn Jubran

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Bodies provide important social information, and adults benefit from this information by recognizing and responding appropriately to bodies. Body recognition is enabled by the fact that human bodies are defined by parts, such as the limbs, torso, and head, arranged in a particular configuration. To understand the development of social cognition, it is important to analyze and document how infants come to recognize bodies. Infants are sensitive to distortions to the global configurations of bodies by 3.5 months of age, suggesting an early onset of body knowledge. It was unclear, however, whether such sensitivity indicates knowledge of the location of …

The Impact Of Four-Day School Weeks And Fifth-Day Programs On Delinquency And Problem Behaviors In Adolescents, Emily Collins

Scripps Senior Theses

In recent years, tightening budgets have forced school districts to find new ways to save money. One way that has become increasingly popular is to shorten the traditional five-day school week to only four-days a week. This change is budget friendly and may act through efficiency wage theory as a recruitment tool for better teachers. Despite the increasing prevalence of districts running on four-day weeks, many of the effects of the shorter week on students are still unclear. Utilizing district-level panel data from the Colorado Department of Education, Study One took a difference-in-differences approach to determine the effect of the …

Comparing Measures Of Physical Activity Intensity, Duration, And Frequency Using Receiver Operator Characteristic Curve Analyses, Abigail M. Nehrkorn-Bailey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends adults to engage in weekly moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity based on its association with various physical and psychological health benefits (HHS, 2008; Schoenborn, Adams, & Peregoy, 2013). These physical activity recommendations contain important information for three physical activity components: intensity, frequency, and duration. The current physical activity literature contains gaps, with a lack of specificity for which components are being studied. Although some of the literature does describe the physical activity components, there are many discrepancies in the level of agreement across subjective and objective measures, along with …

An Exploratory Study Of The Relationship Between Community Involvement And Lgb Identity, Jenna Collins

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Found families are common within the LGBT community, and many models of LGB identity development include contact with other same-sex attracted individuals, or involvement in the LGBT community as important to identity development. However there has been little research investigating the connection between community involvement and identity development or acceptance. This exploratory study will compare LGB identity, measured with the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Identity Survey, to respondents’ answers to open-ended questions about their LGB community involvement. Open-ended questions will be coded by the researcher using content analysis to find commonalities between responses. Comparisons will look for any relationships between stages …

Parents And Health Behavior Change: A Review Of The Role Of Parents’ Behavioral Intentions For Health Behavior Change In Their Children, Zoe Elizabeth Gipson-Kendrick

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: To examine the existing literature on the relation between contextual and health factors that influence parent intention for child health behavior change, focusing on the importance of a strong theoretical background and measures that match the proposed theory, and to determine the use of intention in the proposed sample of articles.

Method: A preliminary search was conducted, seeking out interventions and programs that target nutrition and/or physical activity in relation to childhood obesity prevention using PsycINFO and MedLine databases. This search totaled 29 studies to be included in the final review.

Results: Ten articles studied intention …

Urban Congolese Refugees’ Social Capital And Community Resilience During A Period Of Political Violence In Kenya: A Qualitative Study, Julie A. Tippens

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

Community resilience has been used as a conceptual framework to promote urban refugee protection, integration, and well-being. In the context of this focus on “refugee communities,” it is critical to gain a deeper understanding of the ways urban refugee “communities” function. This study explored urban Congolese refugees’ use of social capital to promote resilience during a period of political violence in Nairobi, Kenya. Findings illustrate how refugees used social capital across different contexts to access and distribute resilience-promoting resources. Women primarily relied on informal bonding forms of capital while men exhibited greater degrees of access to formal bridging and linking …

Youths’ Perspectives Of Experiential Learning Delivery: Findings From A Multistate 4-H Youth Program, Sarah Taylor, K. Anh Do, Shen Qin, Yan Xia, Maria Rosario De Guzman

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

Youths’ perspectives are often unexplored in youth program development and implementation. This article examined youths’ perspectives of a 4-H youth prevention program called “Health Rocks!” that is designed to promote healthful decision-making skills, stress coping, and socioemotional skills related to substance use. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Qualitative findings reveal that participants appreciated the fun and engaging curriculum, valued program staff who were interactive, and enjoyed the hands-on program activities. Participants also reported that the program positively impacted their knowledge and skills. Quantitative results show that participants who perceived the program as fun were significantly more likely …

Recognizing And Promoting Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Leadership, And Impact: Award For Interdisciplinary Excellence In Mathematics Education (Ieme Award), Yeping Li, W. James Lewis

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

The presentation of the Award for Excellence in Mathematics Education to Roger E. Howe in 2015 officially launched the award, with the goal of recognizing work of lasting significance and impact in advancing mathematics education as an interdisciplinary field, linking mathematics, educational studies, and practice. From the beginning, this unique award has emphasized interdisciplinarity in mathematics education, highlighting the importance of boundary-crossing collaborations among mathematicians, mathematics educators, scholars in other related fields, and practitioners of mathematics. To emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in mathematics education, starting in 2019, the name of the award is changed from “Excellence in Mathematics …

Determinants Of Physical Activity For Latino And White Middle School-Aged Children, Aileen Garcia, Shinya Takahashi, Mindy Anderson-Knott, Dipti Dev

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

Background: Physical activity (PA) has long been acknowledged to contribute health benefits among children. However, research has consistently shown that PA declines as children grow older. Thus, this study examined the factors which are associated to children’s PA in order to identify potential barriers to PA.

Methods: Using data from the KidQuest Program, we conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses on survey data collected from fifth to seventh grade students in a small Midwestern city.

Results: We found that food knowledge, eating breakfast, and talking with family about eating healthy foods, are positively related to PA. On the

other hand, screen …

An Innovative, Cross-Disciplinary Approach To Promoting Child Health: The Reggio Emilia Approach And The Ecological Approach To Family Style Dining Program, Dipti Dev, Anna Burton, Brent A. Mcbride, Carolyn Edwards, Aileen Garcia

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

The Reggio Emilia approach is an international example of high-quality early care and education programs and this article offers innovative, practical strategies in which Reggio Emilia-inspired educators can link this approach while implementing the research-based EAT Family Style Dining program to foster a positive mealtime environment and promote better health for children.

The EAT Family Style Dining program presents childcare providers with the knowledge and skills needed for promoting children’s development of healthy eating behaviors while engaging families and communities. Children and adults eat together during mealtime and children serve themselves and select their own portions. This practice is recommended …