College of Education
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Item The Role of Temperament and Emotion Understanding in the Development of Child Internalizing Disorders(2014) Gifford, Kathleen Marie; Teglasi, Hedy; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Internalizing disorders are among the most frequently diagnosed psychological problems in childhood (Crawford, Schrock, & Woodruff-Borden, 2011). Evidence suggests that children who have the tendency to avoid, and less developed effortful control, are more likely to develop symptoms of internalizing (White, McDermott, Degnan, Henderson, & Fox, 2011). Similarly, preschoolers who are rated as being more withdrawn during social interactions often display more social anxiety than less avoidant peers (Ale, Chorney, Brice, & Morris, 2010). Furthermore, more difficulty with emotion understanding, and social avoidance, has been shown to directly relate to internalizing problems such as depression, fear/anxiety, somatic complaints, worry and rumination (Rieffe & De Rooij, 2012). Although researchers have identified some early vulnerability factors that lead to the development of internalizing problems, research on anxiety/internalizing in the preschool age population is scarce (Wichstrom, Belsky, & Berg-Nielsen, 2013). The current study sought to fill this gap in the existing literature. The study sample consisted of 139 parent, teacher, and preschooler participants from a university setting (38 to 82 months old; with a mean age of 57 months). Temperament was examined through parent ratings on the Structured Temperament Interview (STI) (Teglasi, 2009) and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), Short Form (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Emotion understanding was examined by preschoolers' performance on the Emotion Comprehension Test (ECT) (unpublished). Internalizing behaviors were measured through teacher ratings on the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE) (LaFreniere & Dumas, 1996). Correlations between the STI factors and CBQ scales illustrated underlying aspects of emotionality and reactivity that influence children's approach/avoidance tendencies, and the link between temperament and overall adjustment. Children who were rated high on preferring familiar/routine activities were also rated as having more internalizing problems, and worse performance on a measure of emotion understanding; whereas, children who were rated high on sociability were rated as having fewer internalizing problems. Regression analyses demonstrated that effortful control moderated the relationship between sociability and internalizing behaviors such that children with high sociability and high effortful control displayed the best behavioral adjustment; and children with low sociability and high effortful control displayed the most internalizing behaviors.Item Pathways between exposure to violence, maternal depression, family structury [i.e. structure] and child outcomes through parenting: A multi-group analysis(2007-07-27) Westbrook, T'Pring R.; Jones-Harden, Brenda`; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Arguably one of the greatest influences on a child's development is the parenting he or she experiences. With that perspective, family stress theory posits that children in low-income families are affected by poverty-related stressors through their effect on their parents. The present study used family stress theory as a framework to study the impact of proximal (i.e., family structure, maternal depression) and distal (i.e., community violence) risk factors, or stressors, on parenting characteristics which were in turn hypothesized to impact child social-emotional functioning. Data from the FACES 2000 study of children enrolled in Head Start and their families were used to conduct the analyses. The sample consisted of 1417 African American, Latino, and White mothers of preschool children. The present study hypothesized that exposure to violence, family structure, maternal depression, and parenting styles measured at time 1 would affect child social-emotional functioning at time 2. Moreover, it was hypothesized that a SEM model wherein violence exposure, family structure, and maternal depression's influenced parenting characteristics, which then impacted the child outcome, would fit the data. Finally, it was hypothesized that these findings would be consistent across African American, Latino, and White subgroups. The data revealed that the study variables were significant predictors of the child outcome. Although few of the key variables significantly contributed to the regression models or had significant pathways in the SEM models, the cumulative effect of the variables resulted in significant models that accounted for 21-37% of the outcome. The multi-group analysis revealed that despite differences in the amount of variance explained, the causal pathways were consistent for the groups analyzed. Findings support theories such as the family stress model that suggest that poverty related stressors negatively impact children's development by first negatively impacting parenting behaviors. This pattern of influence was consistent across race/ethnicities. It may not be practical to expect practitioners to address the myriad of potential risks factors encountered by low-income families, but parents can be equipped with mental health services, parent education, and other such assistance to help them maintain positive parenting practices in the face of life's challenges.Item Internalizing, and Externalizing Behaviors in Preschoolers: Physiological Mechanisms, Parental Ratings, and Lunchtime Observations(2005-05-03) koledin, myriah; Fox, Nathan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Physiological reactivity and regulation, via measures of vagal tone (a physiological measure), and heart period (HP), and their relation to social behavior as witnessed during lunchtime were examined in preschoolers. Participants included 100 children, 3-6 years of age from a day care center. Vagal tone and heart period were collected during a 25-minute protocol including four conditions. Parent ratings of their child's behavior were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicated that for a group of withdrawn children (classified from lunchtime observations), significant correlations were found for HP recovery from a challenge task with total problems, and stability of HP was correlated with internalizing, externalizing and total problems. The stability measure for vagal tone in the HWD group was significantly correlated with externalizing and total problems. It is concluded that children high in withdrawn behavior exhibit a different physiology than those exhibiting low withdrawn behaviors as witnessed during lunchtime observations.