Matching Items (7)
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- All Subjects: Individual & Family Studies
- Creators: Eisenberg, Nancy
Description
Guided by Belsky's Determinants of Parenting Process Model, the goal of the present study was to examine how mothers' personality (i.e., Conscientiousness) and behaviors (i.e., sensitivity, structure, and negative control) relate to children's developmental outcomes, such as internalization (i.e., committed compliance and effortful control) and academic adaptation. A multi-method, longitudinal model included five waves of data to examine the processes of the relations among variables. Mothers' Conscientiousness was measured via self-reported data when children were 18 months of age (N = 256), mothers' parenting behaviors were measured through observational laboratory tasks when children were 30 months (N = 230), children's internalization was measured using mothers' and caregivers' reports as well as observational data at 42 months (N = 210), and children's school adaptation was measured when children were 72 and 84 months (Ns = 169 and 144) using mothers' and teachers' reports. Through a series of regression analyses, the results supported the mediated effect of effortful control in the relation between mothers' behaviors and children's school adaptation. As hypothesized, mothers' Conscientiousness marginally predicted children's internalization. Contrary to hypotheses, mothers' Conscientiousness was unrelated to parenting behaviors and children's academic adaptation. Mothers' sensitivity interacted with maternal structure to predict children's effortful control. Socioeconomic status and child sex interacted with mothers' behaviors in predicting the child's committed compliance. The discussion focuses on the unique role of parenting practices and personality on children's internalization and academic adaptation and on the existing literature. Implications of the study for clinicians and intervention researchers are offered.
ContributorsKopystynska, Olena (Author) / Spinrad, Tracy L. (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Valiente, Carlos (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Recent reports have indicated that there are both mental health and educational disparities between Latino youth and their European American counterparts. Specifically, Latin youth are at a heightened risk for negative mental health outcomes in comparison to their non-Latino youth (e.g., Eaton et al., 2008). Further, 16.7% of Latino adolescents dropped out of high school compared to 5.3% of European American youth over the past several decades (1960-2011; U.S. Department of Education, 2013). Mexican American (M.A. youth in particular, have the lowest educational attainment among all Latino ethnic groups in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). While these mental health and educational disparities have often been attributed to discrimination experiences that Latino youth encounter, there is also consistent empirical evidence linking discrimination with these maladjustment problems. These studies confirmed that discrimination directly related to depressive symptoms (e.g., Umana-Taylor et al., 2007), externalizing behaviors (Berkel et al., 2010), self-esteem (e.g., Zeiders et al., 2013), and academic outcomes (e.g., Umana-Taylor et al., 2012). Few studies to date have examined the underlying mechanisms (i.e., moderation and mediation) that help us to better understand resiliency paths for those Latino youth that display positive adjustment outcomes despite being faced with similar discrimination encounters that their maladjusted peers face. Therefore, the following two studies examined various mechanisms in which discrimination related to adjustment to better understand potential risk and resiliency processes in hopes of informing intervention research. Paper 1 explored cultural influences on the association between discrimination, active coping, and mental health outcomes in M.A. youth. Paper 2 examined how trajectories of discrimination across 5th, 7th, and 10th grades related to cultural values, externalizing behaviors, and academic outcomes in M.A. youth. Taken together, these studies provide a culturally informed overview of adjustment processes in M.A. adolescents who face discrimination in addition to identifying critical directions for future research in efforts to gaining a more contextualized and comprehensive understanding of the dynamic processes involved in discrimination and adjustment in M.A. youth.
ContributorsO'Donnell, Megan (Author) / Roosa, Mark W. (Thesis advisor) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Gonzales, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrera, Manuel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Daily life stressors and negative emotional experiences predict poor physical and psychological health. The stress response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a primary biological system through which stressful experiences impact health and well-being across development. Individuals differ in their capacity for self-regulation and utilize various coping strategies in response to stress. Everyday experiences and emotions are highly variable during adolescence, a time during which self-regulatory abilities may become particularly important for adapting to shifting social contexts. Many adolescents in the U.S. enter college after high school, a context characterized by new opportunities and challenges for self-regulation. Guided by biopsychosocial and daily process approaches, the current study explored everyday stress and negative affect (NA), cortisol reactivity, and self-regulation assessed at the momentary, daily, and trait level among a racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of first-year college students (N = 71; Mage = 18.85; 23% male; 52% non-Hispanic White) who completed a modified ecological momentary assessment. It was expected that within-person increases in momentary stress level or NA would be associated with cortisol reactivity assessed in college students' naturalistic settings. It was predicted that these within-person associations would differ based on engagement coping responses assessed via momentary diary reports, by the range of engagement coping responses assessed via diary reports at the end of the day, and by higher trait levels of self-regulation assessed via standard self-report questionnaire. Within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with momentary elevations in cortisol only during moments characterized by greater than usual engagement coping efforts (i.e., within-person
increases). At a different level of analysis, within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with increases in cortisol only for those with low trait levels of coping efficacy and engagement coping. On average, within-person increases in momentary NA were significantly associated with cortisol reactivity. Tests of moderation revealed this momentary association was only significant for those with low trait levels of support-seeking coping.
increases). At a different level of analysis, within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with increases in cortisol only for those with low trait levels of coping efficacy and engagement coping. On average, within-person increases in momentary NA were significantly associated with cortisol reactivity. Tests of moderation revealed this momentary association was only significant for those with low trait levels of support-seeking coping.
ContributorsSladek, Michael Ronald (Author) / Doane, Leah D (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study drew upon a bioecological framework to empirically investigate the relations between environmental chaos and preschoolers' language across time, including the potentially mediating roles of children's effortful control and parenting. Child sex also was examined as a moderator of these relations. For this study, the following data were collected at 30, 42, and 54 months of age. Household chaos and (at 30 months) socioeconomic status (SES) were reported by mothers. Children's effortful control (EC) was rated by mothers and nonparental caregivers, and was observed during a number of laboratory tasks. Maternal vocalizations were assessed during free play sessions with their children (at 30 and 42 months), and supportive and unsupportive parenting behaviors and affect were observed during free play and teaching tasks at each age. Mothers also reported on their own reactions to children's negative emotions. Finally, (at 54 months) children's expressive and receptive language was measured with a standard assessment. Structural equation modeling and path analyses indicated that SES at 30 months and greater levels of household chaos at 42 months predicted not only poorer language skills, but also deficits in children's EC and less supportive parenting in low-income mothers at 54 months, even when controlling for stability in these constructs. Children's effortful control at 42 months, but not parenting, positively predicted later language, suggesting that EC may play a mediating role in the relations between household chaos, as well as SES, and preschoolers' language abilities. Child sex did not moderate the pattern of relations. Post-hoc analyses also indicated that the negative relation between chaos and language was significant only for children who had low EC at 42 months. This study represents a much-needed addition to the currently limited longitudinal research examining environmental chaos and children's developmental outcomes. Importantly, findings from this study elucidate an important process underlying the links between chaos and children's language development, which can inform interventions and policies designed to support families and children living in chaotic home environments.
ContributorsGaertner, Bridget Maria (Author) / Spinrad, Tracy L. (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Hanish, Laura (Committee member) / Bradley, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
To explore subtypes of social withdrawal in different sociocultural contexts, concurrent social, school, and academic correlates of shyness and unsociability were examined in 93 urban (Mage = 14.05, SD = 0.86 years) and 136 rural (Mage = 14.39, SD = 0.69 years) seventh and eighth graders from Liaoning, China. Adolescents' shyness and unsociability were assessed with self-, peers’, and teachers’ reports. Peer-group relationships (acceptance, rejection, and exclusion) were obtained from peer nominations. Adolescents reported perceived friendship quality (positive friendship quality, conflict and betrayal) and school attitudes (school liking and avoidance). Teachers rated students' academic engagement and performance. Academic achievement (exam grades) also was obtained from school records.
According to factor and correlational analyses, shyness and unsociability emerged as distinct, but positively related, constructs, within each informant. Cross-informant agreements on shyness and unsociability were low to moderate, especially between teachers' and self- or peers' reports. Urban-rural differences were expected in the associations of shyness, but not of unsociability, with the correlates, but the hypotheses were not supported with multiple-group (urban vs. rural) path models. In the combined (urban and rural) sample, shyness was associated with negative peer relationships, low friendship quality, and negative school attitudes (for self- but not peer-reported shyness), but was unrelated to academic correlates. Self-reported unsociability related negatively to positive friendship quality and positively to academic achievement, but was unrelated to other adjustment correlates. Peer-reported unsociability, however, was associated with negative peer relationships, less positive friendship quality, low school liking, low academic performance, and low academic achievement.
The study was an initial step towards understanding subtypes of social withdrawal and adjustment correlates in various domains among Chinese adolescents living in different social contexts. The lack of urban-rural differences was not consistent with the contextual-development theory. Like their Western peers, shy Chinese adolescents were at risk for relational and school adjustment problems, but they did not have academic difficulties. Unsociable Chinese adolescents also tended to have poor adjustment at school, including relational problems with peers and friends, negative school attitudes, and academic difficulties, but only when they were perceived as unsociable by peers, rather than themselves.
According to factor and correlational analyses, shyness and unsociability emerged as distinct, but positively related, constructs, within each informant. Cross-informant agreements on shyness and unsociability were low to moderate, especially between teachers' and self- or peers' reports. Urban-rural differences were expected in the associations of shyness, but not of unsociability, with the correlates, but the hypotheses were not supported with multiple-group (urban vs. rural) path models. In the combined (urban and rural) sample, shyness was associated with negative peer relationships, low friendship quality, and negative school attitudes (for self- but not peer-reported shyness), but was unrelated to academic correlates. Self-reported unsociability related negatively to positive friendship quality and positively to academic achievement, but was unrelated to other adjustment correlates. Peer-reported unsociability, however, was associated with negative peer relationships, less positive friendship quality, low school liking, low academic performance, and low academic achievement.
The study was an initial step towards understanding subtypes of social withdrawal and adjustment correlates in various domains among Chinese adolescents living in different social contexts. The lack of urban-rural differences was not consistent with the contextual-development theory. Like their Western peers, shy Chinese adolescents were at risk for relational and school adjustment problems, but they did not have academic difficulties. Unsociable Chinese adolescents also tended to have poor adjustment at school, including relational problems with peers and friends, negative school attitudes, and academic difficulties, but only when they were perceived as unsociable by peers, rather than themselves.
ContributorsZhang, Linlin, Ph.D (Author) / Wilkens, Natalie D (Thesis advisor) / Ladd, Gary W (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
In this dissertation Mexican American (MA) youths environmental risk contexts, HPA axis functioning and mental health symptomatology were investigated in two separate studies. In the first study, environmental risk contexts were examined utilizing a person-centered approach and focusing on MA adolescents' family, peer, and cultural risk factors in fifth grade (N = 750). Environmental contexts were then linked to mental health symptomatology in seventh grade. Results revealed three distinct environmental contexts: Low risk, Moderate risk-language, and High risk-peer. Youth in the High-risk peer context reported the highest levels of symptomatology; greater major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety, conduct disorder (CD)/oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) symptoms than youth experiencing Low risk or Moderate risk-language context. Females, in particular, experiencing the High risk peer context appeared at greatest risk for MDD symptoms. Finally, adolescents in the Moderate risk-language context displayed similar levels of symptoms to the individuals in the Low risk context, with the exception of higher anxiety. This study suggested that MA youth live in unique environmental contexts and these contexts are differentially related to mental health symptomatology. In the second study, 98 MA youth participated in a three-day diurnal cortisol protocol in hopes of linking perceptions of discrimination and HPA diurnal cortisol rhythms. Results revealed that discrimination was related to greater overall cortisol output and marginally related to the cortisol awakening response and evening levels of cortisol. Results suggest that important physiological processes underlie the experiences of discrimination.
ContributorsZeiders, Katharine H (Author) / Roosa, Mark W. (Thesis advisor) / Doane, Leah D. (Committee member) / Dumka, Larry (Committee member) / Enders, Craig E. (Committee member) / Updegraff, Kimberly A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Within a positive youth development framework, Lerner and colleagues posited that youth and young adults are societal assets that support the pillars of democracy and incite community contribution through the development of individual character strengths. Strengths might include hope and civic attitudes, which researchers have linked to numerous positive outcomes; however, connections to civic behaviors are largely unknown. Developmentally, shifting identities, excitement about the future, and an introduction into formal citizenship within U.S. society characterize the emerging adulthood period. Emerging adulthood is also characterized by burgeoning relationships and service opportunities, particularly on college campuses. These factors make emerging adulthood a prime context in which to investigate the aims of the current study, which centered on investigation of the development of hope and civic attitudes, and how each contributed to civic engagement including interpersonal prosocial behavior, community volunteering, and political behaviors. Effortful control was hypothesized to play a role in relations as an intrapersonal factor that implicated relations between hope and civic attitudes and outcomes, and was therefore included as a moderator. Sample consisted of 217 emerging adults (~ 67% female, 58% White, 30% Pell-grant eligible, 19-20 years old) across three time points at a major university in the southwest U.S. from spring 2019 to spring 2020. Path models, structural equation models, and moderation analyses evidenced direct relations between hope and interpersonal prosocial behavior. Civic attitudes directly related to community volunteering and political engagement. Transactional relations between hope and civic engagement were not apparent. Similarly, moderation analyses showed no interactive effects between hope and civic attitudes and effortful control on study outcomes. Findings evidenced stability in hope and civic attitudes across early emerging adulthood and invited future work investigating the development of each in early adolescence and later emerging adulthood. Future interventions might prioritize the development of hope in efforts to increase interpersonal prosociality and civic attitudes to increase volunteering and political engagement among emerging adults, where civic engagement has been historically low. Overall, findings supported hope and civic attitudes as hallmarks of positive youth development with the potential to uniquely contribute to community enhancement in emerging adulthood.
ContributorsFraser, Ashley Michelle (Author) / Spinrad, Tracy L (Thesis advisor) / Bryce, Crystal I (Committee member) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Morris, Stacy L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021