Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item The "Extra Layer of Things": Everyday Information Management Strategies and Unmet Needs of Moms with ADHD(2024) Walsh, Sheila Ann; St. Jean, Beth; Information Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Mothers with ADHD need to manage their symptoms while balancing parenting responsibilities. Although technology is recommended to people with ADHD, there is limited related research in human-computer interaction (HCI). To help fill this gap, the author interviewed five mothers diagnosed with ADHD. The mothers, whose voices are largely unheard in HCI research, vividly describe their challenges managing everyday information and their attempts to adapt existing systems. The study uncovers a previously unrecognized tendency among moms with ADHD to frequently switch, and sometimes abandon, tools and systems. The study contributes to HCI by linking each finding to a design consideration. The study builds upon previous findings that neurodivergent individuals benefit from externalizing thoughts, providing new insights into how and why this occurs. These findings lay the groundwork for further HCI research and human-centered design initiatives to help parents with ADHD, and their families, thrive.Item Impact of COVID-19 on Parent and Child Mental Health in India: A Mixed-methods Longitudinal Study(2023) Havewala, Mazneen Cyrus; Wang, Cixin; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The COVID-19 pandemic has affected individuals around the world. Parents of young children have experienced significant strain as they have attempted to balance their work obligations as well as take care of household duties and attend to the needs of their young children. Several studies have demonstrated the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 on parent and child mental health. However, the majority of studies are quantitative, cross-sectional in nature, and were conducted during the early phases of the pandemic. Moreover, there is limited work on the topic of parent and child mental health within the COVID-19 context among families in India. Thus, the current mixed-methods longitudinal study aimed to fill these gaps in the literature by attempting to examine the impact of COVID-19 on child mental health and parent mental health among families with young children in India. The study also aimed to understand the moderating effects of parenting behaviors with relation to child COVID-19-related stress and child mental health difficulties, and the moderating effects of social support with relation to parent COVID-19-related stress and parent mental health difficulties. One hundred and forty parents of children between the ages of 4 to 8 completed a survey between October 2020 and February 2021 (Time 1), of which 85 parents completed it between May 2021 and July 2021 (Time 2), and 70 completed it between July 2022 and October 2022 (Time 3). Qualitative in-depth individual interviews were conducted with a subset of the sample (n=20) between July 2022 and December 2022 to gain a better understanding of challenges experienced by parents and how the pandemic impacted them and their children in various ways over the course of the pandemic. The findings indicated that the stress caused by changes brought about by the pandemic was related to parent and child mental health in India. Parents in India experienced several challenges that impacted their mental health. Factors contributing to those challenges, and in turn, possibly their mental health are discussed. Parenting behaviors such as parental nurturance and restrictiveness were also related to child mental health and served as moderators of the relation between child COVID-19-related stress and child mental health difficulties; parental nurturance emerged as a protective factor while parental restrictiveness was a possible risk factor. Perceived social support was negatively linked with parent mental health difficulties, and it also served as a buffer in the relation of parent COVID-19-related stress and parent mental health difficulties at Time 1. Qualitative findings also indicated that support from spouse, other family members, friends and co-workers helped parents cope with the challenges associated with the pandemic. In sum, the findings of this study helped identify important risk and protective factors for parent and child mental health within the COVID-19 context in India. The findings have important clinical implications that inform future intervention efforts to support children and families during related stressful events.Item "It's Not Like I Can Just Pause Diabetes:" How People Living with Type 1 Diabetes Navigate Relationships, Reproduction, and Parenting(2023) Maietta, Justin T.; Doan, Long; Cohen, Philip N.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation draws on 26 qualitative in-depth interviews to explore how people who live with type 1 diabetes (T1D) navigate three important and intimate areas of life: dating and relationships, reproduction, and parenthood. Applying a sociological disability framework to this research, I explore how participants’ trajectories and outlooks, decisions, and feelings of agency and self-efficacy in these areas of life are influenced biographically, structurally, and culturally on account of living with T1D. Each of the three substantive chapters of this dissertation is an article that examines the relationship between living with T1D and either dating and romantic relationships, reproduction, or parenthood. First, I argue that dating and relationship norms and expectations can be rooted in ableist ideals that marginalize potential partners living with impairment or disability. I also demonstrate the importance of two kinds of support that dating partners offer to participants living with T1D: tangible support and incorporative support. Both kinds of support work against assumptions made about dating and relationships among people living with impairment or disability. I then examine facets of living with T1D occurring at multiple analytical layers (structural and cultural, interactional, self, and body) across the life course and how they influence whether people with T1D feel having children is something they want or need or is within their reach. This article enriches our understanding of disability by demonstrating that individuals with less noticeable or visible disability are subject to similar social imperatives of risk management and moral reproduction as those with more noticeable physical or sensory disabilities. Finally, I discuss how participants think about and practice balancing caring for their T1D and caring for their children, as well as how they reconceptualize “good parenting” within an intensive parenting culture that expects child-centered and self-sacrificing parenting. I also discuss how adults who grew up as children and adolescents with T1D reflect on how they have been and continue to be parented regarding their T1D, leading them to challenge norms of “expert-guided” parenting within an intensive parenting culture. This challenge is made through advocating for more agency, autonomy, and expertise grounded in embodied experience to be afforded to children and young adults with T1D in ways that supersede the expertise of doctors and researchers. Overall, this dissertation illustrates: (1) how experiences, interpretations, and representations of disability at multiple analytical levels have the power to remove some feelings of agency and self-efficacy from disabled people throughout the process of reproduction, in their dating lives and romantic relationships, and in their roles as parents; and (2) the ways that individuals with disability adapt to, challenge, and disrupt the norms, ideologies, and assumptions that marginalize them in these intimate areas of life.Item DIRECTIONAL RELATIONS OF CHILD ANXIETY AND PARENTING ACROSS EARLY INTERVENTIONS FOR INHIBITED YOUNG CHILDREN(2022) Novick, Danielle; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Given the robust evidence-base for the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs) in reducing youth anxiety disorders, researchers have moved beyond efficacy outcome analysis to better understand how such interventions operate (i.e., mediation). However, the majority of this research has examined mechanisms of change in CBTs targeting anxiety in school-age youth or adolescents, and applying such findings to younger children may be misguided. Grounded in developmental-transactional models, interventions for younger children with or at risk for anxiety tend to target key parenting and child factors implicated in the early emergence and maintenance of anxiety. Nevertheless, the directional and temporal relations among these child and parenting factors in the context of early interventions remain unknown. The current study thus builds on previous studies of CBT for older youth to elucidate mechanisms of change and treatment directionality within two early interventions for young children (N = 151) at risk for anxiety by virtue of behavioral inhibition: The multi-component Turtle Program and the parent-only Cool Little Kids program. Reciprocal relations between parent-reported child anxiety, observed parenting (negative control and positive affect), and parent-reported accommodation of child anxiety were examined across 4 timepoints (pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, and one-year follow-up). Study hypotheses were tested via 1) a traditional cross-lagged panel model (CLPM), 2) a latent curve model with structured residuals (LCM-SR), and 3) a latent change score model (LCS). Results were consistent with the child-to-parent influences found in previous research on CBT for older anxious youth. However, after extending the traditional CLPM to parse within- and between-person effects in the LCM-SR, these results only remained in Turtle. LCS analyses revealed bidirectional effects of changes in parent accommodation and changes in child anxiety during and after the intervention, but only in Turtle. Our findings coincide with developmental-transactional models suggesting that the development of child anxiety may be the result of child-to-parent influences rather than just the reverse, and highlight the importance of targeting parent and child factors simultaneously in early interventions for young inhibited children and their parents.Item PARENTAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, CHILD DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, AND PARENTING: RECIPROCAL RELATIONS FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD THROUGH ADOLESCENCE(2022) Chad-Friedman, Emma Leila; Dougherty, Lea R; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Theories on the interactional nature of families suggest that parents and children each impact one another’s moods and behaviors. However, little work has examined reciprocal relations among parental depression, parenting, and child depression across development. We conducted cross-lagged panel models to examine reciprocal relations between parental depression, negative parenting, and child depression from early childhood through adolescence in a community sample of 609 youth. At ages 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 years old, mothers and fathers completed self-report measures about their own depression and parenting. Child depression was assessed with a developmentally appropriate semi-structured clinical interview at all timepoints. Results demonstrated reciprocal, indirect pathways between maternal and child depression: maternal depression at age 3 led to child depression at age 15 and child depression at age 3 led to greater maternal depression at age 15 via a number of indirect pathways. Moreover, while child depression at age 3 led to greater maternal and paternal negative parenting from ages 3 to 15, this effect was not reciprocal. Pathways between paternal and child depression were not observed. Our findings highlight the importance of examining reciprocal pathways to identify mechanisms in the development of parent and youth depression across childhood.Item OUTCOMES OF YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID USA WITH PARENTS: EXAMINING BELIEFS, BEHAVIORS, AND KNOWLEDGE(2020) Marsico, Kristen Frese; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Youth typically do not seek mental health services for themselves, and instead rely on their parents to play a “gatekeeper role,” and identify the problem and seek appropriate services for the youth. Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) USA teaches adults to recognize signs of youth mental illness and intervene using a five-step action plan that focuses on assessing for risk, listening nonjudgmentally, and connecting youth to resources and mental health care. While studies have examined the effects of the program on various stakeholders in children’s lives, limited attention has been given to parent trainees. The present study examined the effects of YMHFA USA on parents’ mental health literacy; mental health first aid intentions, self-reported MHFA behaviors to help youth, and confidence in their helping skills; attitudes toward seeking professional help and intentions to do so; and stigma. Six trainings were provided at no cost to parents with at least one child under the age of 21, and 107 parents participated in the research by completing pre-, post-, and two month follow-up surveys (n = 64). Paired sample t-tests were conducted to examine change, and results indicated that following the training, parents reported statistically significant increases in all variables of interest with the exception of stigma, which decreased. Changes in MHL, attitudes, intentions toward help-seeking, and stigma were maintained at two month follow-up. Participants answered six open-ended questions and responses were thematically analyzed. Qualitative results indicate that parents signed up for YMHFA USA due to a desire for knowledge and skills, having multiple roles that necessitate interactions with youth, prior experience with mental illness, and the increasing prevalence of youth mental illness. Parents identified that the most beneficial aspects of the training were learning the ALGEE action plan, participating in roleplays and examples, gaining information about youth mental illness, having a positive/open training environment, and learning strategies for understanding and interacting with youth. Finally, improvements to YMHFA USA were suggested in regard to both the content and structure of the training. Implications for practice and research are discussed.Item THE INFLUENCE OF FATHERS’ AND MOTHERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING ON CHILDREN’S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: EXAMINING MEDIATING AND MODERATING PATHWAYS(2021) Hennigar, Avery; Cabrera, Natasha J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Young children’s social skills are rooted in children’s early relationships with their proximal caregivers, in particular the relationships with their mothers and fathers. One indicator of the parent-child relationship is the quality of their dyadic interactions. One factor that has been found to influence high quality parent-child interactions and children’s subsequent social competence is a parent’s psychological functioning Guided by the bioecological model, this study examined the longitudinal effects through which mothers’ and fathers psychological functioning (i.e., their depressive symptoms, role overload, and optimism) influenced their children’s social competence and problem behaviors through their dyadic synchrony during play in a sample of low-income families participating in a parenting intervention. It also tested the joint or combined effects of mothers’ and fathers’ psychological functioning on these pathways. The study is discussed with an eye towards future research, intervention, and policy efforts in including fathers as they remain an understudied and underutilized resource in promoting positive child development.Item Early Adolescent Romantic Experiences: Early Childhood Predictors and Concurrent Associations with Psychopathology(2019) Foster, Chelsey Barrios; Dougherty, Lea R; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research has demonstrated that early adolescent romantic relationships are prevalent, and initiation of romantic relationships at younger ages bears important implications for youths’ future development. Although earlier dating involvement may increase risk for negative outcomes, the majority of research on teen relationships focuses on older adolescents; a paucity of research explores the phenomenology of preteen romantic relationships. Further, a striking gap exists in the study of how early childhood factors may affect early adolescent romantic relationships. In order to address these gaps, the current study aimed to elucidate the phenomenology and concurrent psychosocial correlates of preteen (age 12) romantic relationships and to delineate early childhood variables that predict involvement in and quality of preteen romantic relationships. In a longitudinal sample of 440 youth, we examined concurrent associations between multiple dimensions of age 12 romantic relationships (dating experiences, risky dating, relationship discord, relationship closeness, sexual experience) and friendship competence, and age 12 psychopathology (anxiety, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], disruptive behavior disorder [DBD] symptoms) and psychosocial functioning. Given prior research indicating that pubertal status and child sex may also play a role in romantic relationship involvement, we examined these two variables as moderators in concurrent analyses. In addition, we examined how two salient dimensions of early childhood (temperament and parenting, assessed at age 3) predicted romantic relationship outcomes at age 12. Results indicated that more frequent romantic experiences at age 12 were associated with increased psychosocial distress and poorer functioning; however, youth with higher quality romantic relationships evidenced lower levels of psychiatric symptoms and better psychosocial functioning. In addition, the associations between early adolescent romantic relationships and adjustment were complex and were moderated by child sex and pubertal status. Further, dimensions of age 3 childhood temperament and parenting differentially predicted dimensions of early adolescent romantic relationships and friendship competence. Importantly, our findings contribute to a growing body of literature on preteen romantic relationships, and are among the first data to examine early childhood predictors of age 12 romantic relationship outcomes. These findings hold important clinical implications for future early adolescent prevention and intervention programs.Item Developmental pathways from maternal emotion dysregulation to parenting behaviors and adolescent emotion lability: interactive effects of youth ADHD symptoms and sex(2019) Oddo, Lauren Elizabeth; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A large literature base convincingly suggests that maternal and child characteristics interact to predict parenting practices and children’s emotional development. However, the independent and interactive effects of parent- and youth-level risk factors on emotion parenting behaviors and adolescent emotion lability over time is largely unknown. Using secondary data analyses of a longitudinal community sample of adolescents and their caregivers (N = 277), the current study examined the extent to which supportive vs. harsh parenting reactions to adolescents’ expressions of negative emotions underlie the longitudinal association between maternal emotion dysregulation and changes in adolescent emotion lability, and whether youth ADHD symptoms and sex impact these processes. Using structural equation modeling, results showed that mothers who reported being more emotionally dysregulated were more likely to endorse engaging in harsh parenting for boys with more ADHD symptoms, relative to mothers of adolescent girls or adolescents with fewer ADHD symptoms. Contrary to hypotheses, no other pathways were statistically significant. These results partially align with a transactional model of parenting wherein parent- and adolescent-level risk factors interact to confer risk for maladaptive parenting. Future work should further attempt to characterize the independent and interactive effects of maternal emotion dysregulation and youth ADHD symptoms on parenting and adolescent outcomes over time.Item Effects of early and concurrent parenting and child cortisol reactivity on hippocampal structure and functional connectivity during childhood: A prospective, longitudinal study(2017) Blankenship, Sarah Louise; Dougherty, Lea R; Riggins, Tracy; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Offspring of depressed mothers are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral disorders and social impairment. One proposed mechanism of risk transmission is through exposure to maladaptive parenting styles, as depressed mothers display higher levels of hostility and lower levels of support than non-depressed mothers. Rodent models indicate that the early parenting environment programs the endogenous stress response system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, through a cascade of epigenetic processes, ultimately elevating levels of glucocorticoid stress hormones (i.e., cortisol in humans). Elevated cortisol levels have been linked to both structural and functional changes in the hippocampus, a medial temporal lobe structure implicated in regulation of the HPA axis and the pathophysiology of depressive disorders. Despite elucidation of the pathways through which parenting influences neurobiological development in rodents, research examining these associations in humans is only emerging. The present study aimed to translate the rodent literature by examining the effects of early and concurrent parenting on hippocampal structure and functional connectivity during childhood, with a specific emphasis on exploring the mediating role of cortisol reactivity, in a longitudinal sample of offspring of depressed mothers and a community comparison group. At 3-6 and 5-10 years, observational measures of parenting and children’s salivary cortisol responses to a laboratory stressor were assessed. At 5-10 years, children completed structural and resting-state functional MRI scans. Findings revealed timing- and region-dependent associations. Early positive parenting predicted larger hippocampal head volumes whereas concurrent positive parenting predicted smaller body volumes. Early cortisol reactivity predicted larger body volumes whereas concurrent cortisol reactivity predicted smaller tail volumes. Concurrent parenting (positive and negative) predicted hippocampus subregion connectivity with regions of the cerebellum. Early cortisol reactivity predicted increased hippocampal connectivity with the cuneus and regions of the cingulate gyrus. There was a significant indirect effect of greater T1 Negative Parenting on smaller left hippocampal tail volume through increased concurrent cortisol reactivity. Significant interactions with maternal depression were also observed. This research provides a necessary translation of the rodent literature and elucidates possible timing-dependent neurobiological pathways through which early experience may confer increased risk for poor outcomes in human offspring.