Developmental Psychology Commons^™

De-Mystifying The Magic: Meaningful Moments In Music Therapy When Working With Children That Have Severe Special Needs, Kayla C. Daly

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The purpose of my study is to explore the “magic” that occurs in these music therapy sessions, and to discover what this word means for those who use it. For the purpose of this study we will define “magic” as having the occurrence of meaningful outcomes or moments in music therapy sessions. This study will attempt to reveal methods and techniques that are being used by music therapists to further facilitate the therapeutic process for children with severe special needs in their lives and everyday experiences. This study included naturalistic inquiry and phenomenological inquiry.

If These Men Could Still Talk, Rebecca Damphousse

Academic Symposium of Undergraduate Scholarship

For this assignment, two theorists in psychology were selected to engage in conversation. Erik Erikson and Jean Piaget were chosen and their theories of human development were researched. Erikson was asked how his experiences as a child impacted the formation of his theories. The question for Piaget was directed at the permanence, relevancy and universality of his theory into the 21st century. While a large amount of research was conducted, the questions and answers were pure conjecture.

Understanding The Relationship Between Peer Mentoring And Undergraduate Capitalization, Jonathan M. Holland

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Research has demonstrated the importance of various forms of mentoring across multiple contexts. However, the topic of informal peer mentors has not been sufficiently explored. This study investigated the role of peer mentors in encouraging participation in voluntary development activities (i.e., capitalization). An online survey was completed by 288 undergraduate students. As hypothesized, mentoring was positively related to high levels of participation in capitalization activities and intentions to mentor in the future, and capitalization participation was positively related to higher levels of student satisfaction, continuance commitment, and career involvement. Contrary to expectations, capitalization participation was not significantly related to affective …

The Instructional And Emotional Quality Of Parent–Child Book Reading And Early Head Start Children’S Learning Outcomes, Keely D. Cline

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary objective of this study was to understand how two dimensions of parent-child book-reading quality – instructional and emotional –interact and relate to learning in a sample of linguistically and culturally diverse, low-income children. Participants included 81 parents and their children who took part in home-based Early Head Start programs in rural counties in the Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test two hypotheses: (1) the instructional and emotional qualities of parent behavior during shared book reading interact and relate to infants’ and toddlers’ cognitive scores (as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development Second …

Locus Of Control And The Age Difference In Free Recall From Episodic Memory, Paul Amrhein, Judith K. Bond, Derek Hamilton

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors investigated the relation of locus of control (LOC) to age differences in free-recall memory performance. Older and younger participants completed P. C. Duttweiler's (1984) Internal Control Index (ICI) and subsequently performed free-recall memory tasks. Compared with the younger participants, the older participants exhibited poorer recall with more intrusions and uncorrected repetition errors as well as reduced categorical clustering. For the older participants with less internal LOC, recall proportion and item-pair associative recall clustering were lower than for the older participants with more internal LOC. By contrast, the younger participants did not exhibit any LOC effects in their recall …

Training Students To Do In-Home Behavioral Therapy With Toddlers From Low-Income Families, Ryan Mattek

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

The purpose of this project was to develop an internship training program that offered in-home therapy for young children with significant emotional and behavior problems. The children lived in single-parent, low-income homes in unsafe neighborhoods of a large, urban area. A year-long, training and supervision program was implemented with ten second-year, graduate students enrolled in five different university programs that prepared mental health professionals. Students received specialized instruction in working with diverse families living in poverty and in an evidence-based treatment program. They initially observed veteran counselors implementing the treatment program in homes and gradually assumed responsibility for conducting sessions …

Emerging Adults Perceptions Of Their Education And Life Experience, Alison M. Lafollette, Amber Ottaway, Noor Rosli, Christine Schulz, Linn Visscher, Rebecca Bardwell

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

What is meant by a successful education or a well performing school? Most studies assessing the effectiveness of k-12 education look at variables such as graduation rates, standardized test scores and college matriculation. Few studies could be found that looked at post education life outcomes. Yet it is often stated that a public education system is to provide for a well informed electorate or an effective work force. We know that a strong academic foundation leads to better life outcomes, but precisely what is it in that education that contributes to a successful life? Emerging adults between the ages of …

Speech And Gesture In Language Acquisition Studies, Gale Stam

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Infant Attachment Security To Mother-Child Emotion Dialogues: Understanding Emotion Communication In The Early Years, Celia Hsiao, Greg Moran, Nina Koren-Karie

Psychology Presentations

Researchers have become increasingly interested in understanding the developmental trajectory of attachment security from the preverbal infancy period to later verbal stages. One approach that has received much theoretical and empirical support is to examine the capacity of children and their mothers to work together in co-constructing narratives around personal and emotional events(Bretherton, 1990; Oppenheim, Koren-Karie & Sagi-Schwartz, 2007). It has been suggested (Oppenheim & Koren-Karie, 2009) that open communication between a secure dyad during infancy, involving primarily non-verbal signals, provides the basis for an open and fluid communication style in the preschool years. The secure child feels confident in …

Maternal State Of Mind: How Does It Impact The Ability To Flexibly Adjust To Siblings' Needs?, Kathleen Anne O'Connor, Greg Moran, David R. Pederson, Sandi Bento

Psychology Presentations

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of maternal state of mind on the ability to adapt interactive behavior and perceptions of attachment behaviour across siblings.

RESULTS: Maternal sensitivity and perceptions of siblings’ attachment behavior were highly correlated across children of non-Autonomous mothers, but not Autonomous mothers. Non- Autonomous mothers behaved similarly on eight domains of interactive behaviour, while Autonomous mothers behaved similarly on only two.

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that maternal state of mind is implicated in the ability to flexibly adapt interactive style and relationship-specific attachment perceptions across siblings.

The Continuity Of Attachment Development From Infancy To Toddlerhood: The Role Of Maternal Sensitivity, Ya F. Xue, Greg Moran, David R. Pederson, Sandi Bento

Psychology Presentations

The patterns of attachment between infants and mothers have far-reaching consequences for infants’ development; infants with secure attachments fare better socially and emotionally than those with non-secure attachments (Deklyen & Greenberg,2008).

Theory suggests that differences in attachment quality result from differences in mother-child interactions: secure attachment results from a history of sensitive interactions and non-secure attachment from insensitive interaction.

Since the attachment security is held to be a product of the quality of interactions; a change in the quality of interactions should theoretically lead to a change in attachment quality. Thus, a child in a secure relationship later encountering insensitive …

The Development Of Disorganized Attachment In Infants Of Adult And Adolescent Mothers, Tara Morley, Greg Moran, David Pederson, Sandi Bento, Heidi Bailey

Psychology Presentations

Attachment theory proposes that maternal sensitivity is the main developmental determinant of Organized attachment relationships (Ainsworth Blehar, Waters & Wall, 1978; DeWolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997); In contrast, Disorganized attachment relationships are held to be the product of frightened, frightening or atypical maternal behaviour (Lyons-Ruth, Bronfman, & Parson, 1999; Main & Hesse, 1990).

However, recent research has identified associations between low levels of maternal sensitivity and Disorganized attachment in high-risk populations (Bernier & Meins, 2008; Moran, Forbes, Evans, Tarabulsy, & Madigan, 2008; van IJzendoorn, Scheungel & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 1999); This raises the possibility that maternal sensitivity may contribute to the development …

Beyond Sensitivity: Patterns Of Maternal Interaction In Secure Vs. Non-Secure Attachment Relationships, Tara Morley, Ya Xue, Kathleen O'Connor, Greg Moran, David Pederson, Sandi Bento

Psychology Presentations

Attachment theory proposes that the sensitivity of a mother’s interactions with her child is the main developmental determinant of the quality of their attachment relationship (Ainsworth et al., 1978; De Wolff & van Ijzendoorn, 1997).

Empirical findings have generally supported this assertion; however, the strength of this association remains a matter of debate as the results of empirical findings have been highly variable (Atkinson et al., 2000; DeWolff & van IJzendoorn, 1997).

Several researchers have suggested that assessing maternal behaviour as a single global dimension may fail to capture important variation in the quality of interactions that influence the developing …

Exploring The Development Of Attachment In Infants Of Adult And Adolescent Mothers, Tara Morley, Greg Moran, David Pederson, Heidi Bailey

Psychology Presentations

While many studies have looked at the development of attachment relationships for adult and adolescent mothers separately, few studies have directly compared these two groups in a single study

The current study further explored the origins of attachment relationships for adolescent mothers and their infants by directly comparing the development of these processes with adult mothers and their infants

The hypothesis that differences in the distributions of attachment classifications among these two populations is a result of low levels of sensitivity has yet to be tested in a mediational analysis

The current study will test a model whereby differences in …

Child Development And Childcare In Japan, Tokie Anme, Uma Segal

Social Work Faculty Works

With increasing numbers of women joining the workforce, there is a need for quality childcare. This project, conducted in Japan and using a large number of participants, sought to standardize an evaluation scale to measure the development of children. The development of children under six years of age (N = 22,819) who are enrolled in childcare programs was evaluated by childcare professionals. Percentiles were calculated (10th, 50th, and 90th percentile points) for each item (total 192) of six developmental subscales (gross motor, fine motor, social competence, communication, vocabulary, and intelligence development). The results supported the validity of this scale in …

Emotion Knowledge And Language Skills: Contributions To Social, Behavioral And Academic Outcomes In Kindergarteners, Sarah Hornback

Psychology Honors Papers

This study examined emotion knowledge and language skills in kindergarteners, and how these skills jointly affect children’s overall social, behavioral and academic functioning. Participants included 60 kindergarteners from a language and literacy-enhanced early childhood school, who were individually interviewed using the Kusche Affective Interview-Revised. Additionally, all participants’ expressive and receptive language skills were tested using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Expressive One-Word Vocabulary Test (EVT). Participants’ language and emotion knowledge scores were then compared to social, behavioral and academic performance as noted in the school’s teacher-rated report card. Preliminary analyses indicated positive correlations between language skills and …

Cross-Informant Agreement Among Parents And Children, Staci S. Mullins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Rating scales are often used by school psychologists to assess for emotional and behavioral disorders in students. While one advantage of rating scales is that data can be collected and assessed from multiple informants, research has shown that agreement between multiple informants is usually low to moderate, with the lowest being between parents and youth. The Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS) is a new multi- dimensional rating scale claiming to have moderate parent/youth agreement. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cross-informant agreement between youth and parents using the Conners CBRS and then compare the correlations from …

Rural Community Longevity: Capitalizing On Diversity For Immigrant Residential Stability, Rochelle L. Dalla, Tammy R. Stuhmer, Jennifer G. Deleón, Maria Isabel León Carreño

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

The premise of this research is that rural immigrants comprise a significant source of untapped human and social capital necessary for community development. However, to capitalize on the growing ethnic diversity in rural America, immigrant newcomers must want to stay in their new rural communities. This investigation was designed to identify factors necessary to enhance rural Latino immigrants’ long-term residential stability. Thus, we sought to: (1) identify perceptions of rural residence, with particular attention to employment opportunities and challenges; (2) assess formal support availability and community issues of greatest concern to rural Latinas; and (3) identify strategies for creating bi-cultural …

Exiting Prostitution: An Integrated Model, Lynda M. Baker, Rochelle L. Dalla, Celia Williamson

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

Exiting street-level prostitution is a complex, convoluted process. Few studies have described this process within any formal conceptual framework. This article reviews two general models and two prostitution-specific models and their applicability to the exiting process. Barriers encountered as women attempt to leave the streets are identified. Based on the four models, the barriers, the prostitution literature, and the authors’ experience with prostituted women, a new integrated six-stage model that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women’s attempts to exit prostitution is offered as a foundation for continued research on the process of women leaving the streets.

Phonological Memory And Broader Language Development: Longitudinal And Etiologic Relations, Robin Leonhardt Peterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current research investigated the relationship of phonological memory (PM) to vocabulary and syntax learning in school-age children with and without language disorders. Previous research has established that PM and broad oral language skills covary, but disagreement remains about the reason for this association. Opposing theoretical viewpoints emphasize the importance of either bottom-up (PM influences vocabulary and syntax acquisition) or top-down (vocabulary growth influences PM skill) factors. In three longitudinal studies, we tested competing bottom-up and top-down explanations of the PM-broad language link. Study 1 utilized a structural equation modeling approach to understand PM and broad language relations from age …