Developmental Psychology Commons^™

The Effects Of Familial Relationships And Sibling Sex Composition On Behavioral Adjustment In Middle Childhood, Elyse I. Pierce

Departmental Honors Projects

Differences in familial relationship qualities have been linked to children's adjustment during middle childhood (Bank, Burraston, & Snyder, 2004). Children with familial relationships characterized by positivity typically have fewer behavior problems than children with more negative familial relationships. However, less is known about how the parent-child and sibling relationships influence children's adjustment concurrently. In the present study, parent-child and sibling interactions were rated on positivity and negativity. Parental ratings of children's adjustment and relationship qualities were also examined. The presence of negativity in the parent-child and sibling relationships predicted poorer adjustment. Sibling negativity predicted additional variance above and beyond parental …

Examining The Validity Of The Homework Performance Questionnaire: Multi-Informant Assessment In Elementary And Middle School, Thomas J. Power, Marley W. Watkins, Jennifer A. Mautone, Christy M. Walcott, Michael J. Coutts, Susan M. Sheridan

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

Methods for measuring homework performance have been limited primarily to parent reports of homework deficits. The Homework Performance Questionnaire (HPQ) was developed to assess the homework functioning of students in Grades 1 to 8 from the perspective of both teachers and parents. The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity of teacher and parent versions of this scale, and to evaluate gender and grade-level differences in factor scores. The HPQ was administered in 4 states from varying regions of the United States. The validation sample consisted of students (n=511) for whom both parent and teacher ratings were …

Adolescent Risk Behaviors: Examining Latent Classes And Latent Transition Statuses In A Longitudinal Bahamian Sample, Veronica Koci

Wayne State University Dissertations

Adolescence is a developmental period marked by much change across physical, cognitive, psychological, and social domains leading to greater vulnerability for poor decision making. As a result, adolescence is a period of increased risk taking behaviors. Prevention of risk behaviors would benefit from early intervention prior to the onset of these risk behaviors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to identify those youth who may be most at risk. Risk-taking adolescents may choose to engage in specific risk behaviors; as well, risk factors that influence risk taking may also differ as a function of the specific domains of risk behaviors. The present …

Parent Engagement During Home Visits In Early Head Start And Head Start: Useful Strategies For Practitioners, Lisa Knoche, Christine Marvin, Susan M. Sheridan

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

This study explores strategies used by early childhood professionals (ECPs) involved in a school readiness intervention to support parent engagement in young children’s learning. In this study, we used video recordings to understand the ECP-parent interactions during Early Head Start and Head Start home visits. We coded the videos for the number of parent engagement strategies that were used by ECPs as well as the quality of parent engagement during visits, including the amount of parent-child interaction that took place during the visits. Findings have implications for the implementation of the Head Start Parent, Family and Community Engagement (PFCE) Framework, …

Secure-Base Caregiving And Adult Attachment Development Within The Client-Psychotherapist Relationship, Dennis A. Weeks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent studies have shown significant improvements in the attachment security of adult therapy clients during therapy, supporting Bowlby's theory that such improvement can be influenced by secure-base caregiving provided by mentors such as therapists. However, because these studies did not measure the secure-base variable, its relationship to client attachment development remains unknown. The present study is the first to evaluate that relationship by measuring clients' pre and posttherapy attachment security using the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and therapists' secure-base caregiving using the Client Attachment to Therapist and Working Alliance Inventory, Short Form. Of 21 initially insecure client participants, 17 experienced high …

The Influence Of A Juvenile's Abuse History On Support For Sex Offender Registration, Cynthia J. Najdowski, M. C. Stevenson, J. M. Salerno, T. R. A. Wiley, B. L. Bottoms, K. M. Farnum

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …

The Influence Of Executive Functions And Emotion Regulation On Teacher-Rated Social Behaviors In Middle Childhood, Tennisha N. Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Early social interactions are important to developing and maintaining positive social relationships in childhood. It is well understood that the social development is dependent on a number of developmental changes in both cognition and emotion. While most research has focused on cognitive and emotional models of social behaviors separately, a consideration for research investigating social behaviors is to examine cognitive processing and emotional processing concurrently. The current work focuses on the relationship between the executive processes involved in cognition and emotion regulation, and the influence on adaptive (social skills) and maladaptive (aggressive behavior) social behaviors. Specifically, the reformulated social behavioral …

Developmental Level As A Predictor Of Counseling Skills, Margaret J. Jensen, Garett J. Mcauliffe, Renee Seay

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

What is the relationship between the developmental characteristics of counseling interns and their counseling skills? Thirty master’s-level counseling students in their fieldwork phase were rated by their supervisors on both a measure of developmental level and counseling skills. Results indicated that the construct of Self/Other Awareness was the strongest predictor of counseling skills level. Based on this finding, it can be concluded that counselor supervisees possessing this awareness appear better equipped to deal with the complex problem-solving and social interactions required for successfully counseling clients.

Participant Engagement In Home Visits: A Missing Piece In The Puzzle Of Evidence Based Programs And Implementation Science?, Mariel Sparr

Dissertations

Within the social services field, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners are paying increasing attention to the concept of `evidence based' home visiting program models. However, a singular focus on evidence based programs continues a tradition of limited and vague understandings of how programs are actually implemented.

The field of implementation science offers a framework for expanding this focus to more fully understand how home visiting programs are implemented. A key dimension of implementation is participant responsiveness. The field of home visiting lacks a coherent and standard conceptualization of participant responsiveness. As one might expect, it also lacks standard measurement of …

Academic Achievement Of Latino Emerging Adults: The Role Of Language Brokering, Executive Functions, And Language Proficiency, Valerie Christina Flores

Dissertations

A vast literature has examined bilinguals’ strengths in executive functions (EFs) without considering how language brokering, or translating frequently for family and friends, relates to such advantages in EFs. At the same time, Latinos students – many of whom are bilingual – are the largest minority group attending college today in the U.S., despite being less likely to receive a bachelor’s degree. The overarching goal of the present study was to explore whether language brokering practices among Latino emerging adults led to better cognitive skills and ultimately greater academic achievement in college. Data were collected from multiple cohorts of bilingual …

Specifying Links Between Executive Functioning And Theory Of Mind During Middle Childhood: Cognitive Flexibility Predicts Social Understanding, Allison M. Bock, Kristin C. Gallaway, Alycia M. Hund

Faculty Publications – Psychology

The purpose of this study was to specify the development of and links between executive functioning and theory of mind during middle childhood. One hundred four 7- to 12-year-old children completed a battery of age-appropriate tasks measuring working memory, inhibition, flexibility, theory of mind, and vocabulary. As expected, spatial working memory and flexibility increased significantly with age, especially after 7 years. Moreover, flexibility predicted social understanding over and above the effects of age, vocabulary, working memory, and inhibition. Together, these findings highlight improvements in and tight relations between complex aspects of executive functioning and theory of mind during middle childhood …

Motor-Skill Learning Is Dependent On Astrocytic Activity., Ragunathan Padmashri, Anand Suresh, Michael D. Boska, Anna Dunaevsky

Journal Articles: Munroe-Meyer Institute

Motor-skill learning induces changes in synaptic structure and function in the primary motor cortex through the involvement of a long-term potentiation- (LTP-) like mechanism. Although there is evidence that calcium-dependent release of gliotransmitters by astrocytes plays an important role in synaptic transmission and plasticity, the role of astrocytes in motor-skill learning is not known. To test the hypothesis that astrocytic activity is necessary for motor-skill learning, we perturbed astrocytic function using pharmacological and genetic approaches. We find that perturbation of astrocytes either by selectively attenuating IP3R2 mediated astrocyte Ca(2+) signaling or using an astrocyte specific metabolic inhibitor fluorocitrate (FC) results …

Equate: Observed-Score Linking And Equating In R, Anthony D. Albano

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Linking and equating are statistical procedures used to convert scores from one measurement scale to another. These procedures are most often used in testing programs that involve multiple test forms, where adjustments are made for form difficulty differences when creating a measurement scale that is common across forms. Linking and equating methods are traditionally distinguished by the type of scores they are applied to, whether observed scores or scores from an item response theory model. Methods are also distinguished by the study design under which measurements are taken. The R package equate (Albano, 2014) is free, open-source software for conducting …

Building An Adaptive Brain Across Development: Targets For Neurorehabilitation Must Begin In Infancy, Jamie O. Edgin, Caron A. C. Clark, Esha Massand, Annette Karmiloff-Smith

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Much progress has been made toward behavioral and pharmacological intervention in intellectual disability, which was once thought too difficult to treat. Down syndrome (DS) research has shown rapid advances, and clinical trials are currently underway, with more on the horizon. Here, we review the literature on the emergent profile of cognitive development in DS, emphasizing that treatment approaches must consider how some “end state” impairments, such as language deficits, may develop from early alterations in neural systems beginning in infancy. Specifically, we highlight evidence suggesting that there are pre- and early postnatal alterations in brain structure and function in DS, …

Neural Responses To Truth Telling And Risk Propensity Under Asymmetric Information, Hideo Suzuki, Masaya Misaki, Frank Krueger, Jerzy Bodurka

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Trust is multi-dimensional because it can be characterized by subjective trust, trust antecedent, and behavioral trust. Previous research has investigated functional brain responses to subjective trust (e.g., a judgment of trustworthiness) or behavioral trust (e.g., decisions to trust) in perfect information, where all relevant information is available to all participants. In contrast, we conducted a novel examination of the patterns of functional brain activity to a trust antecedent, specifically truth telling, in asymmetric information, where one individual has more information than others, with the effect of varying risk propensity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and recruited 13 adults, …

Mexican-American Adolescents’ Gender-Typed Characteristics: The Role Of Sibling And Friend Characteristics, Norma J. Perez-Brena, Lorey A. Wheeler, Kimberly A. Updegraff, David R. Shaefer

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

This study examined the role of sibling and friend characteristics in Mexican-American youth’s gender-typed characteristics (i.e., attitudes, interests, and leisure activities) in early versus middle adolescence using a sibling design. Mexican-American 7th graders (M = 12.51 years; SD = .58) and their older siblings (M = 15.48 years; SD = 1.57) from 246 families participated in home interviews and a series of seven nightly phone calls. Results revealed that younger/early adolescent siblings reported more traditional gender role attitudes than their older/middle adolescent siblings and older brothers were more traditional in their attitudes than older sisters. When comparing siblings’ …

Effectiveness Of Mary Ainsworth's Maternal Sensitivity Scale With Four-Week-Old Infants, Laurel Anne T. Yorgason

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The attachment relationship between a mother and her infant provides a foundation for future development (Bowlby, 1951; Sroufe, 2005). A high level of maternal sensitivity has been deemed one of the most important antecedents to a secure attachment (van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2004). Although Mary Ainsworth originally developed a measure of maternal sensitivity other researchers developed measures to determine a mother’s level of sensitivity (Mesman & Emmen, 2013). The Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) was developed to determine the classification of the attachment relationship (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1974). Currently these measures focus predominantly on dyads that include an infant at …

Contributors To Infant Sleep: Factors Influencing Sleep Consolidation In Five- To Seven-Month Olds, Amber Leigh Evenson

Dissertations

Sleep is a universal construct that receives much attention in media and science, at least partially due to its importance as an essential component in development, health, and wellbeing. While undeniably vital, infant sleep is often variable and relatedly perplexing to parents. Around five-to-seven months of age, infants enter a time of quantifiable developmental change, impacting relational, cognitive, motoric, communicative and sleep behaviors. Because adequate sleep is considered one of the most indispensable precursors for developmental gains, factors that impact the progression of sleep are of interest. The current study utilized Ecological Theory to examine what variables impact sleep consolidation, …

Secure Base Scriptedness, Psychological Health And Wellbeing In Urban Youth, Patricia Richardson

Wayne State University Theses

This study examined the empirical utility of the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), a novel indicator of adolescent secure base script knowledge, with socioeconomically disadvantaged, African-American youth. It was hypothesized that secure base knowledge would buffer the effect of trauma exposure on youth emotional and behavioral problems. The sample included 83 adolescent (ages 13-18) caregiver dyads that participated in a larger study examining adolescent health behaviors. Results revealed preliminary empirical support for the utility of the ASA with this sample, as evidenced by expected inverse correlations with another well-established measure of attachment. Results indicated that there was not sufficient evidence to …

Maternal Emotion Regulation And Expressivity As Predictors Of Positive Parenting In Low-Income Families, Laura Michelle Crespo

Wayne State University Theses

Positive parenting has been associated with various adaptive childhood outcomes involving healthy cognitive, social, and emotional development (Fuligni & Brooks-Gunn, 2013; Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Jump, & Christiansen, 2013). There is less research, however, on which factors contribute to the parents' use of positive parenting strategies. Some evidence suggests that factors such as the parents' emotional competencies, along with the child's temperament and the family environment, influence parenting behaviors (Belsky, 1984). This study explored predictors of positive parenting, including maternal emotion expressivity and emotion regulation, child temperament traits, maternal cognitive ability, maternal perception of social support, and single parenting. Participants were …