http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/2141 2012-05-17T09:42:47Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10180 Parent- Infant Interactions in Low-Income Minority Families: Interplay of Parent Support and Cumulative Risk on Child Outcomes Zachary, Chloe The present study investigates the influence of multiple types of risk factors and the quality of parent-child interactions on early language outcomes in children from low-income, minority households. 68 infant-parent dyads were assessed at six and twelve months, using various measures of risk factors, quality of parent-child interactions, and early communicative development. Results suggest that both risk profile and parent support predict early language outcomes in low-income, minority children. Furthermore, high quality parent support may serve as a protective buffer against cumulative risk in early child language outcomes, and thus may be a valuable form of intervention. Finally, results suggest that more nuanced tasks such as caretaking or co-viewing media tasks may be less influenced by an observer effect and thus, stronger measures of caregiver sensitivity. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10179 Prior Family Involvement with the Legal System as a Predictor of Adolescent Attitudes about the Law Holt, Sheri Researchers have emphasized that the development of adolescent attitudes about the law and legal actors is influenced by numerous different sources. This study attempts to link an adolescent’s vicarious experience through a family member with prior involvement with the legal system to the adolescent’s attitudes about the law. Legal attitudes were measured by three indices of legal socialization: legitimacy, legal cynicism and obligation to obey the law. While the study could not statistically support the hypothesis that families, and parents in particular, play a significant role in the legal socialization process, the data revealed alternate conclusions. As supported by past literature, minority status predicted negative attitudes about the legitimacy of the law. Finally, regression results approached significance in the finding that younger adolescents (12-15 years-old) were less likely to display legal cynicism than older adolescents (16-18 years-old). These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for policy making and areas for further research. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10178 Behavioral and personality predictors of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and burnout among Georgetown EMS providers Tracy, Michaela Study describes emotion processing in EMS providers at Georgetown and predictors of burnout satisfaction and compassion. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10177 Interpersonal Motives and Cultural Values Behind Forgiveness: A Study in the Philippines and in the United States Santos, Henri Carlo Y. When faced with a conflict or transgression, an offended person may be motivated to connect and be in communion with the offender instead of wanting to dominate the interaction. These motives may predict whether or not the offended person chooses to forgive. Additionally, communal and agentic motives may reflect cultural contexts that foster embeddedness and harmony (e.g., Filipino) over those that do not (e.g., American). We compared Filipino (n = 184) and American (n = 132) responses to a hurtful transgression from someone they knew. High levels of communal motives and concern for another’s face, along with low levels of endorsement of hierarchy values and concern for one’s own face predicted forgiveness. Other cultural values and religiosity did not play a significant role. In addition, high levels of forgiveness led to increases in positive emotions, decreases in negative emotions, and improved relationship satisfaction. Avoidance also led to positive emotional outcomes but resulted in a less satisfactory relationship. This process generally operated in the same way across both cultural contexts, with the exception of the motive to seek vengeance. Although communal motives fostered forgiveness in both American and Filipino contexts, only Filipinos attended to their desire to be close to the offender when deciding whether or not to seek vengeance. This study has implications for interventions in the Philippines and other similar cultural contexts that value communion with others. In these cultural contexts, additional emphasis on communal motives and reconciliation may be key to preventing revenge motives. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10176 Testing Efficacy of Sensory Motor Enrichment in Ameliorating Symptoms of Rett Syndrome Megra, Mahi Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder that primarily affects girls (Hagberg, Aicardi, Dias, & Ramos, 1983). Between 6-18 months of age, individuals with RTT loss acquired cognitive, motor and social skills such as walking, speaking, and pointing (Naidu, 1997). A mutation of the Mecp2 gene has been implicated as a cause of RTT (Amir et al., 1999). Mecp2 gene malfunction leads to low BDNF protein level that is necessary to maintain synaptic connections (Kondo et al., 2008). Mouse models that have displayed RTT-like symptoms after the Mecp2 gene was knocked out have supported this hypothesis. Research of motor recovery hints that sensorimotor enrichment helps to improve the motor skills of Mecp2 null mice (Kondo et al., 2008). This study seeks to test the effectiveness of enrichment in the recovery of lost motor skills in the mouse model. However, instead of the standard rotarod testing protocol, we used alternate test batteries modified from research areas such as Parkinson’s model (Tillerson & Miller, 2003). Our findings show that sensorimotor enrichment ameliorates the motor deficiencies. In addition, the results suggest that discontinuing enrichment leads to deterioration of motor skills. These results imply that enrichment should be considered as a viable treatment protocol for girls with Rett syndrome. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10175 The Impacts of Father Absence and Neighborhood Reproductive Context on Adolescent Sexual Behavior Kennedy, Erin Using nationally representative data from Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, this study explores how reproductive context, defined as the census block proportion of single-mother households, may moderate the impact of father absence on risky sexual behavior. In logit regression models, we compare risk for initiating sex before 16, having unprotected first sex, and experiencing/contributing to a pregnancy before 19 across three father absent categories: present, early departure, and late departure; and three block-level proportions of single-mother households: low proportion, moderate proportion, or high proportion. Four interaction terms between father absence and reproductive context test for moderation. Father absence has a robust main effect on all three risky sexual behaviors, such that risky is higher in both father absence groups than in the father present group across models; however, living in a high proportion neighborhood only predicts higher risk for initiating sex before 16 and experiencing/contributing to a pregnancy before age 19. Most importantly, we found a significant interaction, in the negative direction, between late father absence and living in a high proportion neighborhood for initiating sex before 16 and experiencing a teen pregnancy. These results indicate that although teens are most likely to engage in risky sexual activity in a risky reproductive context, father absence only elevates that risk in a low risk environment. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10174 Joint Picture Book Reading in Monolingual and Bilingual Parent-Child Dyads: The Role of Parent-Child Interactional Quality Shuler, John The present study examined parent-infant didactic behaviors during a joint picture book reading task, comparing monolingual and bilingual 18- and 24-month-old infants and their parents under naturalistic conditions. The objective was to discern differences between monolingual and bilingual as well as 18- and 24-month-old dyads in measures of interactional behaviors and global PCI quality. There existed no significant differences between monolingual and bilingual dyads in either set of measures. However, at the 18-and 24-month stages as well as longitudinally, various behavioral and PCI measures correlated significantly with one another. As well, parents of 18-month-old infants fell under high- and low-quality scaffolding clusters, which in turn significantly predicted infant pointing and word frequencies. Longitudinal analyses indicated that PCI quality during joint book reading remains relatively stable over a six-month period of major language development. Implications for book reading and bilingual development are discussed. 2012-05-02T00:00:00Z http://aladinrc.wrlc.org:80/handle/1961/10173 The Effects of Bilingualism on Executive Functioning in Infants Frank, Hannah Children, young adults, and the elderly have demonstrated a “bilingual advantage” in cognitive flexibility (Adi-Japha, Berberich-Artzi, & Libnawi, 2011). Specific bilingual advantages have been found for all three components of executive functioning (EF) – inhibition, working memory (WM), and cognitive flexibility (Feng, Bialystok, & Diamond, 2009; Kovacs & Mehler, 2009). EF has not previously been investigated in toddlers due to a difficulty with finding age-appropriate tasks. However, WM tasks for 18- to 30-month-olds have recently been developed, allowing researches to investigate EF at an age previously not investigated (Hughes & Ensor, 2005; Bernier, Carlson & Whipple, 2010). In the present study, 18- and 24-month-old bilingual and monolingual infants were given age-appropriate EF tasks. Given previous research on bilingual cognitive advantages of bilingualism (Bialystok, Craik Green, & Gollan, 2009), we predicted that bilinguals would outperform monolinguals on both WM tasks. Our results did not show a bilingual advantage in WM at this age, suggesting a need for additional research on EF tasks for young infants, as well as additional longitudinal analysis of these tasks. 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z