College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
Browse
8 results
Search Results
Item ISOLATING EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT ON CHILDREN’S COMPREHENSION OF TWO DIALECTS OF ENGLISH, AFRICAN AMERICAN ENGLISH AND GENERAL AMERICAN ENGLISH(2023) Erskine, Michelle E; Edwards, Jan; Huang, Yi Ting; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is a long-standing gap in literacy achievement between African American and European American students (e.g., NAEP, 2019, 2022). A large body of research has examined different factors that continue to reinforce performance differences across students. One variable that has been a long-term interest to sociolinguists and applied scientists is children’s use of different dialects in the classroom. Many African American students speak African American English (AAE), a rule-governed, but socially stigmatized, dialect of English that differs in phonology, morphosyntax, and pragmatics from General American English (GAE), the dialect of classroom instruction. Empirical research on dialect variation and literacy achievement has demonstrated that linguistic differences between dialects make it more difficult to learn to read (Buhler et al., 2018; Charity et al., 2004; Gatlin & Wanzek, 2015; Washington et al., 2018, inter alia) and recently, more difficult to comprehend spoken language (Byrd et al., 2022, Edwards et al., 2014; Erskine, 2022a; Johnson, 2005; de Villiers & Johnson, 2007; JM Terry, Hendrick, Evangelou, et al., 2010; JM Terry, Thomas, Jackson, et al., 2022). The prevailing explanation for these results has been the perceptual analysis hypothesis, a framework that asserts that linguistic differences across dialects creates challenges in mapping variable speech signals to listeners’ stored mental representations (Adank et al., 2009; Clopper, 2012; Clopper & Bradlow, 2008; Cristia et al., 2012). However, spoken language comprehension is more than perceptual analysis, requiring the integration of perceptual information with communicative intent and sociocultural information (speaker identity). To this end, it is proposed that the perceptual analysis hypothesis views dialect variation as another form of signal degradation. Simplifying dialect variation to a signal-mapping problem potentially limits our understanding of the contribution of dialect variation to spoken language comprehension. This dissertation proposes that research on spoken language comprehension should integrate frameworks that are more sensitive to the contributions of the sociocultural aspects of dialect variation, such as the role of linguistic and nonlinguistic cues that are associated with speakers of different dialects. This dissertation includes four experiments that use the visual world paradigm to explore the effects of dialect variation on spoken language comprehension among children between the ages of 3;0 to 11;11 years old (years;months) from two linguistic communities, European American speakers of GAE and African American speakers with varying degrees of exposure to AAE and GAE. Chapter 2 (Erskine [2022a]) investigates the effects of dialect variation in auditory-only contexts in two spoken word recognition tasks that vary in linguistic complexity: a) word recognition in simple phrases and b) word recognition in sentences that vary in semantic predictability. Chapter 3 [Erskine (2022b)] examine the effects of visual and auditory speaker identity cues on dialect variation on literal semantic comprehension (i.e., word recognition in semantically facilitating sentences). Lastly, Chapter 4 [Erskine (2022c)] examines the effects of visual and auditory speaker identity cues on children’s comprehension of different dialects in a task that evaluates pragmatic inferencing (i.e., scalar implicature). Each of the studies investigate the validity of the perceptual analysis against sociolinguistcally informed hypotheses that account for the integration of linguistic and nonlinguistic speaker identity cues as adequate explanations for relationships that are observed between dialect variation and spoken language comprehension. Collectively, these studies address the question of how dialect variation impacts spoken language comprehension. This dissertation provides evidence that traditional explanations that focus on perceptual costs are limited in their ability to account for correlations typically reported between spoken language comprehension and dialect use. Additionally, it shows that school-age children rapidly integrate linguistic and nonlinguistic socioindexical cues in ways that meaningfully guide their comprehension of different speakers. The implication of these findings and future research directions are also addressed within.Item Feasibility study of a family- and school-based intervention for child behavior problems in Nepal(Springer Nature, 2018-03-23) Adhikari, Ramesh P.; Upadhaya, Nawaraj; Satinsky, Emily N.; Burkey, Matthew D.; Kohrt, Brandon A.; Jordans, Mark J. D.This study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and outcomes of a combined school- and family-based intervention, delivered by psychosocial counselors, for children with behavior problems in rural Nepal. Forty-one children participated at baseline. Two students moved to another district, meaning 39 children, ages 6–15, participated at both baseline and follow-up. Pre-post evaluation was used to assess behavioral changes over a 4-month follow-up period (n = 39). The primary outcome measure was the Disruptive Behavior International Scale—Nepal version (DBIS-N). The secondary outcome scales included the Child Functional Impairment Scale and the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI). Twelve key informant interviews were conducted with community stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and community members, to assess stakeholders’ perceptions of the intervention. The study found that children’s behavior problems as assessed on the DBIS-N were significantly lower at follow-up (M = 13.0, SD = 6.4) than at baseline (M = 20.5, SD = 3.8), p < 0.001, CI [5.57, 9.35]. Similarly, children’s ECBI Intensity scores were significantly lower at follow-up (M = 9.9, SD = 8.5) than at baseline (M = 14.8, SD = 7.7), p < 0.005, 95% CI [1.76, 8.14]. The intervention also significantly improved children’s daily functioning. Parents and teachers involved in the intervention found it acceptable and feasible for delivery to their children and students. Parents and teachers reported improved behaviors among children and the implementation of new behavior management techniques both at home and in the classroom. Significant change in child outcome measures in this uncontrolled evaluation, alongside qualitative findings suggesting feasibility and acceptability, support moving toward a controlled trial to determine effectiveness.Item USE OF MULTIMODAL COMMUNICATION IN PLAY INTERACTIONS WITH CHILDREN WITH AUTISM(2020) Rain, Avery; Bernstein Ratner, Nan; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In typical adult-child interaction, adults tend to coordinate gesture and other nonverbal modes of communication with their verbalizations (multimodal communication). This study explored the effectiveness of multimodal communication with young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to encourage child responses. The maternal use of verbal, nonverbal, and multimodal initiations and the subsequent response or lack of response of their child was examined in fifty mother/child video-recorded play interactions. Results indicated that mothers initiated multimodally at similar rates with children with lower and higher expressive language levels. Child response rates to multimodal communication initiations were higher than response rates to verbal-only or nonverbal-only initiations; this finding was consistent across low and high expressive language groups. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between maternal wait time after initiation and overall child response rate. These findings have important ramifications for clinical practice and parent training.Item Linguistic Influences on Disfluencies in Typically-Developing French-English Bilingual Children(2018) Azem, Andrea Sabrije; Ratner, Nan; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The connections among language proficiency, language complexity, and fluency have been well-researched in both typical and atypical monolingual populations. Though previous work indicates that bilingual individuals often demonstrate different patterns of disfluency in each of their languages, how or why this happens is largely unknown. Relationships among fluency, language proficiency, and language complexity were examined using the narrative and conversational speech samples of 9 French-English bilingual children. Mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and percent grammatical utterances (PGU) were shown to strongly relate to rates of total disfluency. The proportion of disfluent function words across samples differed significantly from the proportion of disfluent content words, although rates of disfluency on individual parts of speech did not differ significantly between French and English. Further work is necessary in order to better understand the extent to which language proficiency and linguistic complexity interact and affect disfluency across bilingual populations.Item BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN IN L.A: EXTENDED FAMILY, NEIGHBORHOOD, AND NATIVITY(2017) Kang, Jeehye; Cohen, Philip N.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation consists of three papers that examine the association between family living arrangements and internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in children. With increasing immigration and growing heterogeneity in family forms, extended family members are of increasing importance in children’s lives. However, knowledge about extended family living arrangements is lacking. The first paper examines the association between the presence of co-resident extended kin and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Children in the sample were found to be disadvantaged in extended households, especially with regard to internalizing behaviors. This association was found mostly among married-parent extended households. Further, this pattern emerged more clearly among children of documented immigrants, compared to those with native-born parents and those whose parents were undocumented immigrants. These findings suggest a need to revisit previous theories on extended family living arrangements. The second paper examines what kinds of household extension are associated with child behavioral problems. I specify the types of household extension by their relation to the householder—vertical, horizontal, and non-kin. Results from the cross-sectional sample indicate that horizontal extension is associated with higher internalizing behavior problems in children. However, the results from fixed effects models suggest that this pattern may be due to selection effects. Fixed effects estimations show that children moving into vertically extended household increase externalizing behaviors or that children moving out of a vertically extended household decrease externalizing behaviors. I discuss what implications this type of transition represents. The third paper examines the interaction between extended family household structure and neighborhood characteristics on children’s behavioral functioning. Findings suggest that the co-residence with extended kin is associated with both higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors for children. Although the health disadvantage of living with extended kin seems to be independent of the neighborhood income and racial minority concentration levels, extended kin moderate the associations with neighborhood structure. The advantage of living in higher-income neighborhood strengthens for extended families, reducing internalizing behavioral problems in children. Minority concentrated neighborhood functions as an advantage for extended families, decreasing externalizing behavioral problems. I conclude with discussion of future research and policy implications.Item THE EFFECTS OF VALENCE AND AROUSAL ON ITEM AND SOURCE MEMORY IN CHILDHOOD(2011) Graham, Meghan; Riggins, Tracy L.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Emotion can be characterized in terms of valence and arousal. Both of these dimensions enhance memory in adults by specifically enhancing a form of memory called recollection. Recollection is required for memory of source or encoding context, and shows prolonged development throughout childhood. The specific effects of valence and arousal on memory, and specifically on recollection, have thus far not been studied developmentally. The current study examined how valence and arousal affect memory in 8-year-olds, using a source memory paradigm that allowed for the examination of emotion effects on recollection. Results showed that, after statistically controlling for effects of age, valence enhanced memory for items, but not source, and that there were gender differences in the effects of arousal on source memory, with girls showing better performance in the high-arousal condition and boys showing better performance in the low-arousal condition.Item Associations Between Paternal Psychopathology and Conduct Problems in Children with ADHD(2009) Mintz, Abigail D.; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Parental psychopathology has consistently emerged as an important risk factor for negative developmental outcomes in children with ADHD; yet, this literature has focused almost exclusively on mothers. The few studies that do focus on fathers have identified significant associations between paternal psychopathology and child conduct problems (CP). This study sought to replicate these findings among families of children with ADHD and to extend prior research by considering paternal involvement as a potential moderator. Direct relationships between paternal psychopathology and child CP were not found. However, paternal involvement moderated the relationship between paternal ADHD and child CP. For involved fathers, these two variables were positively correlated, which suggests that children whose fathers are both involved and display psychopathology may be at higher risk for concurrent CP.Item Associations Between Parenting and Child Behavior Problems Among Latino Mothers and Children(2005-12-13) Diaz, Yamalis; Chronis, Andrea M.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study examines the ability of global parenting styles and specific parenting practices to predict attention and behavior problems in Latino children. Sociodemographic variables and acculturation were considered in all analyses to examine, and account for, their influences. 107 Latino mothers with a child between 6 and 12 years old completed demographic, parenting, and child behavior measures. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted in order to predict child behavior from sociodemographic variables, acculturation, and parenting. All three parenting styles, and most practices, predicted reported behavior problems. Level of acculturation also consistently predicted child behavior problems. The present study adds to the growing body of literature demonstrating some differences in the associations between these styles and child behavior problems compared to what has been found in the general literature. In addition, it highlights the importance of considering level of acculturation when examining these associations within this population.