Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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Item Latino fathers' motivations, parental play, parent and friend relationship support, and children's socioemotional development from early childhood to adolescence in racially-ethnically diverse families(2024) Ghosh, Rachel Alina; Cabrera, Natasha; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Parenting practices and parent-child relationship quality, shaped in part by parenting cognitions and beliefs, have a strong proximal contribution to the course and outcome of children’s development from early in the lifespan. However, much existent empirical knowledge about parenting comes from studies of White middle-class mothers and children, and there is far less evidence from racially, ethnically, and economically diverse families – especially from fathers. Through a collection of three interrelated studies, the present dissertation contributes to this literature with an examination of fathers’ parenting motivations, and mothers’ and fathers’ independent and interactive influences on child and adolescent socioemotional outcomes among diverse families. Empirical Paper 1 qualitatively explored what motivated first-time Latino fathers in the U.S. to be good parents for their infants, and examined differences in their motivations by nativity status. Fathers described five primary themes, with variation by nativity,in their parenting motivations: 1) personal rearing history, 2) desire to rear a well-adjusted child, 3) relationship with their child, 4) intrinsic motivations, and 5) sense of duty and responsibility. Empirical Paper 2 examined associations between mothers’ and fathers’ quality of play (i.e., challenging parenting behaviors, playfulness) at 18 months and toddlers’ social competence at 24 months, and tested whether child negative emotional temperament moderated these associations. Contrary to hypotheses, there were no significant associations between mothers’ or fathers’ two types of play and children’s social competence, and no significant moderation effects by negative emotionality. Empirical Paper 3 examined the interactive effects of adolescents’ level of support in their relationships with mothers, fathers, and best friends in the 8th grade and associations with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and externalizing problems in the 9th grade, as well as differences by adolescent sex. There were several interactive effects of the relationships on later depressive symptoms, though not on anxiety symptoms or externalizing problems, and few differences by adolescent sex. More support from one parent was related to fewer depressive symptoms when youth experienced an unsupportive relationship with the other parent or with a best friend. Taken together, the findings of these studies advance developmental theory and provide nuance to our understanding of mothering, fathering, and children’s and adolescents’ socioemotional developmental processes. These studies have implications for research and programs aimed at promoting the normative, healthy development of diverse youth through recognizing and capitalizing on the contributions of different members within the family system.Item The Roles of Anger and Self-Regulation on School Readiness in Kindergarten(2020) Callan, Sabrina; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Young children who are anger-prone or have poor self-regulation skills tend to have difficulties in school (Diaz et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018; Valiente et al., 2012). However, few studies have explored how anger may work together with different self-regulatory tendencies to predict children’s school readiness. This study examined the relations of anger, effortful control, executive functioning, and school readiness among kindergarteners (n = 72). Executive functioning skills were found to be particularly important for academic readiness, whereas anger and effortful control were found to be particularly important and to work together to predict social-emotional readiness. These findings provide evidence for the conceptual distinctions between executive functioning and effortful control as two distinct types of self-regulation, and demonstrate the need for tailored approaches to social-emotional learning (SEL). Future SEL programs would benefit from approaches that take children’s pre-existing tendencies for anger and self-regulation into account in anger management training.Item Examining the co-development of episodic memory and hippocampal subfields – A longitudinal study(2020) Canada, Kelsey Leigh; Riggins, Tracy; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Episodic memory is a cornerstone ability that allows one to recall past events and the context in which they occur. Many different tasks have been used to assess the development of episodic memory during early childhood. Previous longitudinal work on individual tasks has noted accelerated changes from approximately 5 to 7 years, suggesting non-linear changes in memory ability during early childhood. However, the extent to which tasks relate to one another and are indicative of the latent construct of episodic memory is not known. Further, improvements in memory are thought to relate to underlying changes occurring in the functionally distinct subfields of the hippocampus (i.e., CA2-4/dentate gyrus (DG), CA1, and Subiculum) during this developmental period. This study examined changes in episodic memory ability, hippocampal subfield volume, and the relation between changes in episodic memory and volume of hippocampal subfields during early childhood (4 to 8 years) using longitudinal data and a structural equation modeling framework. Results suggest that episodic memory ability improves substantially during this period, with consistent improvements between 4 to 8 years. Further, there are robust increases in subiculum, CA1, and CA2-4/DG volume between 5 to 6 years of age. Finally, within this sample, there were relations between the development of hippocampal subfields and improvements on a single source memory task commonly used to assess episodic memory. Interestingly, this relation was most robust between subiculum and source memory. Overall, these results highlight the ability to use laboratory tasks to characterize developmental changes in episodic memory, highlight 5- to 6-years as a period of developmental change in hippocampal subfields, and further support a role of the hippocampus in supporting episodic memory.Item THE INFLUENCE OF STRESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT ON PARENTING BEHAVIORS AMONG LOW-INCOME FAMILIES: MEDIATIONAL PATHWAYS TO CHILDREN’S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT(2019) Kuhns, Catherine Emily; Cabrera, Natasha; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Economic stress been shown to compromise children’s social development and undermine parenting behaviors in mothers of young children. A separate literature suggests that social support may attenuate the negative effects of maternal stress on parenting behaviors. Guided by the Family Stress Model and the Stress Buffering Model, this study examined the indirect pathways from maternal experiences of stress (economic and parenting) to children’s social competencies and behavior problems longitudinally in a sample of children from the Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES). It also tested the moderating effects of two types of social support (instrumental and emotional) on the negative association between stressors (economic and parenting) and children’s social skills. Using structural equation modeling (SEM) results demonstrated support for the Family Stress Model, such that economic stress (at age 1) was longitudinally and indirectly related to children’s social competencies and problem behaviors (at age 3) via observed maternal sensitivity (at age 2). That is, higher levels of economic stress were related to elevated levels of behavior problems and lower levels of social competencies because it increased parenting stress and decreased maternal sensitivity. However, there was no evidence that social support moderated the association between either type of stress and parenting. Findings are discussed in light of policy and programmatic efforts to broaden support of families and children by incorporating services that promote sensitive parent-child interactions and reduce maternal parenting stress.Item Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Early Childhood and Their Associations with Middle Childhood Behavior Problems(2017) Schroeder, Allison; Mittal, Mona; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Experiences in early childhood lay the foundation for physical and psychological health and wellbeing throughout the life course. A large body of literature demonstrates a graded relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health and social outcomes. Children living in poverty are disproportionately likely to experience multiple adversities, placing them at risk for negative health and developmental outcomes and contributing to widening health disparities. Among the outcomes associated with ACEs are internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, which increase children’s risk of later depression and anxiety, substance use, criminality, low socioeconomic status, and chronic physical health problems. In spite of the substantial knowledge base that has developed around childhood adversity and its association with behavior problems, there are gaps in the literature that warrant further research. Firstly, few studies utilizing prospective longitudinal data have examined the role of timing and duration of exposure to adversities in early childhood, and their relationship with later behaviors. Secondly, researchers have only just begun exploring whether certain patterns or constellations of risk factors are common among different groups of children, and whether these patterns place certain groups at greater risk for behavior problems. A third gap relates to the role of father involvement by unmarried fathers and the potential for these fathers to promote more positive outcomes among children exposed to various levels of early adversity. The three studies in this dissertation analyze data from four waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to document associations between ACEs experienced at ages 1, 3, and 5, and behavior problems at age 9. Life course theory provides an overarching framework for the dissertation. The first study examines the associations between the accumulation, timing, and duration of ACEs in the first five years of life and odds of behavior problems at age 9. The second study employs latent class analysis to identify patterns of risk exposure and their potential association with age 9 behaviors. The third study investigates whether early father involvement by fathers who were unmarried at the child’s birth moderates the association between early childhood adversity and age 9 behavior problems.Item Relationships between Temperament, Emotion Understanding, and Social Competence in Early Childhood(2017) Verron, Heather; Teglasi, Hedwig; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Young children’s social competence is regarded as one of the strongest indicators of positive adjustment throughout the lifespan. As part of an effort to unpack its development, a large body of existing research has established relationships between temperamental factors and social competence, as well as between emotion understanding and social competence. However, studies that have examined these constructs have been laden with definitional disagreements and methodological issues, leaving the true magnitude and scope of the relationships difficult to discern. In addition, there has been very little research that has examined relationships between temperament and emotion understanding, although theory and research with clinical samples suggests there are likely links between the two. The current study thus aimed to add to the existing literature by examining temperamental factors, emotion understanding abilities, and social competence in concert. It was hypothesized that emotion understanding would mediate relationships between temperament and social competence. As expected, certain aspects of temperamental reactivity and self-regulation, as rated by both parents and teachers, correlated with preschoolers’ and kindergarteners’ performance on emotion understanding tasks, which required them to identify emotions likely to be elicited by common social situations (emotion situation knowledge) and to offer explanations for why certain situations may be elicited by those social situations (emotion situation reasoning). Interestingly, performance on emotion situation reasoning tasks, but not emotion situation knowledge tasks, emerged as a significant mediator between temperament and social competence, regardless of temperament informant. Although further research is needed in this area, emerging patterns suggest a need to distinguish between children’s possession of rote knowledge of emotions and abilities to reason about them. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are also discussed.Item CHILDREN’S UNDERSTANDING OF MERIT IN FAIR RESOURCE ALLOCATION(2017) Noh, Jee Young; Killen, Melanie; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While previous studies have documented children’s consideration of merit in fairness decisions, less is known about specifically how merit has been conceptualized by children, as effort and outcome were confounded in merit (Baumard et al., 2012; Kienbaum & Wilkening, 2009). Thus, the current study aimed to disentangle these two components of merit in understanding children’s conceptions of fairness. One hundred children (3 to 6 year-olds and 7 to 10 year-olds) participated in this study. Children’s understanding of merit was documented in four contexts: a) when effort and outcome were confounded (baseline), b) when outcome was controlled (i.e., when the level of effort was varied), c) when effort was controlled (i.e., when the level of outcome was varied), and d) when given the opportunity to prioritize either effort or outcome. Novel findings were that with increasing age, children prioritized effort over outcome and thus found it to be fair when more resources were allocated to the hardworking peer than to the productive peer. That is, older children were more likely to focus on the positive intentions of an act rather than positive consequences compared to younger children. In addition, when merit was examined when effort and outcome was controlled, children were still able to take into consideration for merit, thereby allocating more resources to a peer who was hardworking over a peer who was lazy (when outcome was the same) and to a peer who was productive over a peer who was unproductive (when effort was the same). Interesting findings were revealed when authority figures’ messages were present: all-aged children rejected a teacher’s allocation decision that was against merit; however, older children rejected a teacher’s equal allocation decision while younger children found a teacher’s equal allocation to be okay. The current study made a significant contribution to the current literature by examining the process in which children integrate two different aspects of merit in their fairness decisions.Item State Efforts to Collect Child Outcomes Data for the Part B-619 and Part C Programs Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act(2010) Gupta, Sarika Sarpatwari; Lieber, Joan; McLaughlin, Margaret; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Part B-619 and Part C Programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provide preschool special education and early intervention services, respectively, to children with disabilities birth through age 5. Recent requirements in IDEA require states to monitor the implementation of these programs through a series of indicators, one of which focuses on the outcomes that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers make as a result of program participation. Known commonly as child outcomes, these data will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Part B-619 and Part C programs. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how Part B-619 and Part C programs are collecting high-quality child outcomes data, what barriers these programs are facing in this collection, and how programs are addressing these barriers. Telephone interviews were used to gather descriptive information from a national sample of Part B-619 and Part C coordinators. The clarity and scope of the interview was improved through Dillman's (2000) pretest procedures. The final interview consisted of open-ended questions and was standardized to elicit consistent information from each respondent (Patton, 1990). The results of the study showed that state Part B-619 and Part C programs used similar methods to support the accurate and reliable collection of child outcomes data. Most frequently noted methods included training, a statewide measurement approach, and data review. Despite these methods, 18 types of barriers emerged from collection efforts. Barriers primarily pertained to data quality and the transmission of child outcomes data from local programs to the state. States chose to address barriers through the methods used to support high-quality collection efforts, most notably training and the use of communication and collaboration. Findings suggest that states have established a structure to coordinate the collection of child outcomes data statewide. These efforts focused primarily on improving the quality of these data. Barriers related to the quality of the data emerged despite these efforts, which further indicate the need for ongoing support to sustain high-quality collection efforts. These findings emphasize the importance of training and continuous monitoring to ensure the quality of child outcomes data in statewide collection efforts.Item Beyond Storytime: Whole Class Interactive Reading Aloud in Kindergarten(2009) Christenson, Lea Ann; Chambliss, Marilyn J; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Existing research has established the value of reading aloud to young children and suggested a lens with three elements to describe when a teacher reads aloud to an entire kindergarten class during a planned period of instruction (CIRA): teacher practice, student activity, and text. Over four months, I observed and interviewed four experienced kindergarten teachers in the naturalistic setting of their public school classrooms. To analyze the data, I created bounded collective and individual case studies that answer my central questions: What patterns characterize teacher practice, student activity, and text during kindergarten CIRA sessions taught by experienced kindergarten teachers? How do these patterns relate to one another within or across teachers? Across the four classrooms, teachers read with inflection; employed a transparent proactive style of classroom management; purposefully selected texts to read; embedded instruction of concepts of print, vocabulary, and comprehension while they read; and differentiated for their students, especially English Language Learners (ELL). Students demonstrated nearly exclusive on task behavior including spontaneous responses. Texts were primarily narrative, chosen to support the literacy skills or content to be taught, but often did not reflect the cultural or linguistic backgrounds of the students. CIRA also differed within the four classrooms. At one end of a continuum, CIRA sessions were characterized by little apparent planning on the part of the teacher (similar to the features of parent/child read aloud sessions), impulsive student responses, and complex texts. At the other end of the continuum, the teacher planned highly controlled CIRA sessions (with many of the characteristics of a scripted lesson), students' answers were constrained by the teacher's questions, and the texts were simplistic. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2002) appeared to directly influence state and local policy that impacted the practice of all four teachers. Differences within classrooms paralleled the continuum: the teacher with the less structured sessions had the highest SES students and was least impacted by NCLB, and the teacher with the most highly-controlled sessions had the lowest SES students and was most impacted by NCLB. Results from the study inform both future research and teacher education.Item A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences and Perspectives of Family Child Care Providers Who Care for Young Children with Disabilities(2006-08-10) Wayne, Tracey Simone; Beckman, Paula J.; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Increases in the number of parents in the paid labor force and welfare reform have resulted in more families requiring non-parental child care. Most often this care is provided in environments outside of the child's own home. There is also a trend to promote the inclusion of young children with disabilities in community-based settings. Families of children with disabilities often prefer family child care programs. However, limited research has been conducted on family child care providers who include children with disabilities in their programs. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perspectives of family child care providers who care for young children with disabilities, using the following research questions: (a) What factors encourage family child care providers to accept young children with disabilities? (b) What strategies do family child care providers use to include young children with disabilities? (c) What supports do family child care providers receive while caring for young children with disabilities? (d) What barriers are reported by family child care providers who care for young children with disabilities? A multiple case study design was used. Data collection involved: (a) interviews with licensed family child care providers, parents of children with disabilities and administrators involved in training and licensure; (b) observations of family child care providers; and (c) a review of documents. Case summaries were written for each provider. Then a cross-provider analysis was conducted. All of the providers had some experience or exposure to children with disabilities in the past. They believed that all children were unique and special and demonstrated a positive attitude toward inclusion. Providers engaged in pre-service and in-service disability-related training. Providers and the parents established strong collaborative relationships. Strategies to include the children with disabilities ranged from using specialized equipment to simple modifications. Early childhood special education staff supported the providers in including the children. Other sources of support included membership in associations, as well as smaller informal networks. Barriers reported were related to lack of training opportunities and funding for specialized equipment, the needs of the child with a disability, and factors associated with the business.