Developmental Psychology Commons^™

Temperament And Personality Traits As Predictors Of Preschool Odd Symptoms, Longitudinal Course, And Impairment, Brittany L. Zastrow

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is commonly conceptualized as a disorder of negative affect and low effortful control. Currently, it is unclear whether temperament and personality traits associated with negative affect and effortful control can be useful assessment tools for identifying ODD early during development. This study examined the relationship between temperament and personality traits and ODD in a clinical sample of preschoolers. Results suggest that, at this age, temperament and personality traits of negative affect and neuroticism and effortful control and conscientiousness/agreeableness are not associated with one another. High negative affect, low conscientiousness, and low agreeableness were all specifically …

Supporting Toddlers’ Transfer Of Word Learning From Video, Gabrielle Strouse, Georgene Troseth

School of Education Faculty Publications

Young children frequently do not transfer information from video to real-world situations. We provided perceptual and conceptual supports to help children transfer a new word from video to physical objects and photos. An on-screen actress labeled one of two novel objects; then 24-month-olds were asked to identify the ‘modi.’ Children failed to demonstrate word learning after holding the objects while viewing (comparison condition). In a two-step transfer condition, children correctly identified the modi on a test video image but did not identify the real matching object. However, when parents pointed out that the real objects were “the …

Mother's Experience Of Social Media: Its Impact On Children And The Home, Abe Van Hatch

Theses : Honours

With the prevalence and accessibility of social media within the last 15 years it has become possible for children to have constant access to their friends and social networks. It is relatively unknown what impact adopting social media has on children and how mothers interpret this. There are gaps in the literature investigating the pervasive effects of modern technology and what meaning mothers ascribe to their children using social media as a method of connecting with the world. The present research aims to explore this phenomenon by investigating the experiences of mothers who have children that have recently adopted social …

Relationships Between Breastfeeding, Maternal Cigarette Smoking During Pregnancy, And The Cognitive Functioning Of Akwesasne Mohawk Adolescents Exposed To Environmental Pollution, Georgia Brooke

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Previous research has suggested that breastfeeding is beneficial for children's health and that maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy is harmful for children's health. However, there is not a consensus in the existing literature about whether or not these two maternal behaviors impact the cognitive development of children. Furthermore, understanding the role of breastfeeding in children's development is complicated by the fact that breastfeeding transmits toxicants that are stored in the mother's body, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), to the infant. Existing research suggests that PCBs negatively impact children's cognitive functioning. The current study examined relationships between breastfeeding, maternal cigarette smoking during …

Inattention And Hyperactivity Among Preschool Age Children Born Prematurely, Andrew Heitzer

Wayne State University Theses

A large body of literature shows that compared to children born at term, preterm- children are at increased risk for difficulties with inattention and hyperactivity. Less consistency exists, however, in the limited body of research exploring the contribution of early biological risk to behavioral disinhibition within the population of children born prematurely. Therefore, our goal was to examine perinatal variables that may influence activity level and hyperactivity among preterm preschoolers. Ninety-eight preterm (23.4 - 33.9 weeks gestation) preschoolers (3-4 years) participated in the study. Direct measures of inattention and hyperactivity as well as parental ratings were used to evaluate behavior. …

Predictive Utility And Stability Of The Home Environment In An African American Sample From Diverse Socioeconomic Backgrounds, Mahya Rahimian Mashhadi

Wayne State University Theses

The quality of the home environment has a significant influence on various child outcomes. The current study investigated the predictive utility and stability of the home environment in a sample of 114 African American children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Analyses were conducted using archival data from the Early Development project, a study of the normative development of African American children. This project is consistent with a call by the Society for Research in Child Development (Cabrera, 2013) for research on the positive development of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of the present study was to compare …

A Case Study Of Attachment And Resilience Variance In A Midwestern Family, Kelly Inda

Undergraduate Honors Theses

It is no secret to social scientists; humans are relational and forming attachments is critical as humans mature and develop. Attachments are usually formed in the first seven months and are only formed to a few persons. Attachment is defined as the trust formed with another person and can provide a secure base with that other person. A secure base is defined as an attachment figure from where one can safely explore and return to for comfort and connection. This idea is central and critical to attachment theory. Through healthy attachments, healthy and sustainable families build better bonds that are …

The Emergence Of Leadership In Children: The Role Of Play, Athletics, And School, Shelby K. Barthold

CMC Senior Theses

Leadership studies and leadership development have become increasingly popular in recent years. However, much of this popularity has been focused on leadership in adults. This thesis explores the emergence and development of leadership skills in children as they gain experience from play, athletics, and school. The definition of leadership is examined as well as the skills needed for proficient leadership. The skills are structured around the Big Five personality factors. Each of the areas discussed – play, athletics, and school – gives children many opportunities to interact with their peers allowing for valuable development. Overall, this thesis asserts that leadership …

Child Maltreatment And Adult Criminal Behavior: Does Criminal Thinking Explain The Association?, Lorraine E. Cuadra, Anna E. Jaffe, Renu Thomas, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Criminal thinking styles were examined as mediational links between different forms of child maltreatment (i.e., sexual abuse, physical abuse, and physical neglect) and adult criminal behaviors in 338 recently adjudicated men. Analyses revealed positive associations between child sexual abuse and sexual offenses as an adult, and between child physical abuse/neglect and endorsing proactive and reactive criminal thinking styles. Mediation analyses showed that associations between overall maltreatment history and adult criminal behaviors were accounted for by general criminal thinking styles and both proactive and reactive criminal thinking. These findings suggest a potential psychological pathway to criminal behavior associated with child maltreatment. …

Positive Moral Emotions And Moral Identity Development: The Difference Between Authentic And Hubristic Pride, Victoria Casey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The goal of this study was to begin to fill a gap in the research on moral identity development in adolescence by investigating positive moral emotions (i.e., pride) for motivation in moral action in relation to moral identity development. Specifically, two forms of pride were analyzed: authentic pride, which is focussed on an action and its positive outcomes, and hubristic pride, which is focussed on an individual’s performance that reflects their greater capability in comparison to others. A new pride measure was developed for use in this study. Ten scenarios depicting moral behaviour were used, with eleven statements …

Parent-Child Interaction In Shared-Computer Activities: An Exploratory Study Examining Parent-Child Interaction With A Mobile Device, Marjan Petkovski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present exploratory study examined the shared-computer behaviours of parent-child dyads in order to examine how (and if) parents interact with their children when using mobile digital devices and parents’ perceptions of their child’s technology use. Little is known about how technologies are used with young children and how to maximize and support young children’s learning when they are introduced to these technologies. In total, ­­104 parents (­­n = 72 mothers and n = 32 fathers; one parent per child) participated in an observation session where parent-child interactions using a mobile device (Apple iPad™) were recorded in order to observe …

A Microgenetic Approach To Examining Set For Variability: An Exploration Of Early Reading Development, Phil R. Cave M.A.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Learning sight words is a process that involves forming connections between letters and their sounds in order to connect spellings of words with their pronunciations as well as their meanings. During the development of sight word reading, children will sound out (phonologically recode) words that they do not yet know by sight (Share, 1995). Because English lacks transparency, sounding out according to grapheme-phoneme correspondences often only results in an approximation to the target word. The process by which a child must match a word they have recoded phonologically with a word that exists in their vocabulary has been referred to …

The Complexity Of Quest In Emerging Adults’ Religiosity, Well-Being, And Identity., Kaye V. Cook, Cynthia N. Kimball, Kathleen C. Leonard, Chris Boyatzis

Faculty Journal Articles

The construct of quest as measured by the Quest Scale raises complexities that this study addressed with online surveys measuring religiosity, ego identity, and well-being of graduates from two Christian colleges. Intrinsic questers (those above the scale midpoint in intrinsic and quest scores but below the extrinsic midpoint) made up over half of those high in intrinsic religiosity and did not differ in Christian orthodoxy, religious identity, religious coping, or well-being from the pure intrinsics (those high in intrinsic religiosity). Indiscriminately pro-religious questing individuals (those high in intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and quest) were less religious and showed poorer coping …

An Anti-Bullying Intervention For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Catherine Rex

CMC Senior Theses

The effects of a video modeling intervention, given to six children with ASD, were evaluated through a multiple-baseline and multiple-probe design across children. The research targeted teaching children with ASD to assertively respond to physical bullying, verbal bullying, and social exclusion, as well as telling one’s mother. In baseline, the participants demonstrated inconsistent to no skills for responding to the bullying in the vignette movies (SAAS) and the generalization probe skits. During intervention the participants watched a video of a person assertively responding to bullying, and were assessed through VM questions and SAAS. Post-intervention the children participated in generalization probe …

Theory Of Mind And Moral Theme Comprehension In Preschool Children Ages 3-4, Cara A. Shpizner

Scripps Senior Theses

Research suggests that there is a relationship between theory of mind and moral development in young children. However, the nature of this relationship is still unclear, specifically in regards to the relationship between theory of mind and moral theme comprehension, which has yet to be studied. The current study attempted to begin to fill this gap in the research by examining the relationship between 8 preschool children’s false belief understanding, as determined by the Sally-Anne task, and moral theme comprehension. Results were not significant, but suggest a trend that children who pass the false belief task may be more able …

Korean American Adolescents And Their Mothers: Intergenerational Differences And Their Consequences, Hui Chu

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The current study examined the links and mechanisms associated with intergenerational cultural conflict, psychological distress, and the intergenerational differences in acculturation and model minority stereotype (MMS) endorsement for South Korean immigrants. Specifically, Korean American adolescents’ (ages 12-19, M = 15.3, SD = 1.71) and their mothers’ (N = 209 dyads) acculturation difference and MMS endorsement difference were measured and analyzed as predictors of intergenerational cultural conflict and psychological distress for adolescents. Furthermore, the study analyzed intergenerational cultural conflict as a mediator in the acculturation gap-distress and the MMS endorsement-distress paths. Results indicated that when mothers and their adolescents differed …

Peer Victimization And Child Physical Health: The Moderating Role Of Pessimism, Tori R. Van Dyk, Timothy D. Nelson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective—Involvement in peer victimization has been associated with numerous negative consequences, including poor physical health. The purpose of this study is to improve on previous research evaluating the victimization– health relationship by examining the health (i.e., health-related quality of life [HRQoL], medical service utilization) of both victims and aggressors and examining individual variation in this relationship through the moderating effect of pessimism.

Method—Sample included 125 ethnically diverse youth aged 8–11 years recruited from a low-income medical practice. Child-report of involvement in peer victimization and pessimism was assessed along with parent-report of HRQoL. 2-year medical service utilization was extracted from medical …

Exploring Developmental Assets And Strengths In Mississippi Youth, Umieca Nicolle Hankton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Predictors Of Head Start And Child-Care Providers’ Healthful And Controlling Feeding Practices With Children Aged 2 To 5 Years, Dipti A. Dev, Brent A. Mcbride, Katherine E. Speirs, Sharon M. Donovan, Hyun Keun Cho

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

Few child-care providers meet the national recommendations for healthful feeding practices. Effective strategies are needed to address this disparity, but research examining influences on child-care providers’ feeding practices is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify determinants of child-care providers’ healthful and controlling feeding practices for children aged 2 to 5 years. In this cross-sectional study, child-care providers (n = 118) from 24 center-based programs (six Head Start [HS], 11 Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] funded, and seven non-CACFP) completed selfadministered surveys during 2011-2012. Multilevel multivariate linear regression models were used to predict seven feeding practices.Working …

Examining Identity Consolidation Processes Among Ethnic Minority Gay Men And Lesbians, Heather R. Kennedy, Rochelle L. Dalla

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

Past scholarship has demonstrated shortcomings in developmental theories for both sexual and ethnic identity. Furthermore, identity development may be especially challenging for members of multiple minority groups facing significant social stressors. The primary goal of this study was to explore identity consolidation processes among individuals with intersecting minority identities. Using in-depth, personal interviews and self-report measures, data were collected from 16 ethnic minority gay men and lesbians. Themes such as acceptance, invisibility, and fear confirm the influence of social context on identity integration. Findings revealed differing magnitudes of consolidation. Greater social support and educational endeavors were critical factors in distinguishing …