Matching Items (35)
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Description
Understanding sources of knowledge (e.g., seeing leads to knowing) is an important ability in young children’s theory of mind development. The research presented here measured if children were better at reporting their own versus another person’s knowledge states, which would indicate the presence of introspection. Children had to report when

Understanding sources of knowledge (e.g., seeing leads to knowing) is an important ability in young children’s theory of mind development. The research presented here measured if children were better at reporting their own versus another person’s knowledge states, which would indicate the presence of introspection. Children had to report when the person (self or other) had knowledge or ignorance after looking into one box and not looking into another box. In Study 1 (N = 66), 3- and 4-year-olds found the other-version of the task harder than the self-version whereas 5-year-olds performed near ceiling on both versions. This effect replicated in Study 2 (N = 43), which included familiarization trials to make sure children understood the question format. This finding is in support of the presence of introspection in preschool-aged children. In the same studies, children also showed evidence for theorizing about their own and others knowledge states in a guessing task (Study 1) and in true and false belief tasks (Study 2). These findings together indicate both introspection and theorizing are present during young children's theory of mind development.
ContributorsGonzales, Christopher (Author) / Fabricius, William (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Kobes, Bernard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
The current study delineated the developmental trajectories of early childhood externalizing and internalizing symptoms reported by mothers and fathers, and examined the role of the 18-month observed parenting quality × Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

(RSA) interaction in predicting these trajectories. Child sex was tested as a covariate and moderator. It was

The current study delineated the developmental trajectories of early childhood externalizing and internalizing symptoms reported by mothers and fathers, and examined the role of the 18-month observed parenting quality × Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia

(RSA) interaction in predicting these trajectories. Child sex was tested as a covariate and moderator. It was found that children's low baseline RSA or high RSA reactivity , in comparison to high baseline RSA or low RSA reactivity , was more reactive as a function

of early parenting quality when predicting the development of early childhood problem symptoms. Differential patterns of the interaction between parenting quality and RSA were detected for mothers' and fathers' reports. Mother-reported models showed a diathesis-stress pattern, whereas the father-reported model showed a vantage-sensitivity pattern, especially for internalizing symptoms. This may imply the potential benefit of fathers' active engagement in children's early development. In addition, the effect of the parenting quality × RSA interaction in predicting the mother-reported models was found

to be further moderated by child sex. Specifically, the parenting quality × baseline RSA interaction was significantly predictive of girls' 54-month internalizing, and the parenting quality × RSA reactivity interaction significantly predicted boys' internalizing slope. Girls with low baseline RSA or boys with high RSA reactivity were vulnerable to the less positive parenting, exhibiting high levels of 54-month internalizing symptoms or slow decline in internalizing over time, respectively. Future research directions were discussed in terms of integrating the measures of SNS and PNS in psychopathology study,

exploring the mechanisms underlying the sex difference in parenting quality × RSA interaction, and comparing the findings of children's typical and atypical development.
ContributorsLi, Yi (Author) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Thesis advisor) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Wilkens, Natalie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The constructs of compliance and temperament play an important role in children's school liking and engagement, and these constructs may differ between typically-developing children and children with autism because of the deficits associated with autism. The present study examined group differences among temperament, parent and child behaviors in a

The constructs of compliance and temperament play an important role in children's school liking and engagement, and these constructs may differ between typically-developing children and children with autism because of the deficits associated with autism. The present study examined group differences among temperament, parent and child behaviors in a compliance context, and school liking and how these processes related to each other. This was the first study to examine school liking in children with high functioning autism and to explore the associations among school liking, temperament, and compliance in this population. Participants included children with high functioning autism (n = 20) and typically-developing children (n = 20) matched on language and mental age, and their parents. Compliance to a parent was observed in a laboratory setting, and temperament and school liking data were collected using parent-report measures. The findings revealed that children with autism had significantly lower Effortful Control (EC) and school liking scores than typically-developing children. However, there were no group differences in compliance, and no significant relation was found between temperament and compliance. Additionally, school liking scores were related to compliance and EC. These findings are discussed with respect to implications for potential future research and use of interventions for children with high functioning autism.
ContributorsInglese, Crystal (Author) / Jahromi, Laudan B (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Sullivan, Amanda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Description
The main objective of this study was to use a genetically-informative design to examine the putative influences of maternal perceived prenatal stress, obstetrical complications, and gestational age on infant dysregulation, competence, and developmental maturity. Specifically, whether or not prenatal and obstetrical environmental conditions modified the heritability of infant outcomes was

The main objective of this study was to use a genetically-informative design to examine the putative influences of maternal perceived prenatal stress, obstetrical complications, and gestational age on infant dysregulation, competence, and developmental maturity. Specifically, whether or not prenatal and obstetrical environmental conditions modified the heritability of infant outcomes was examined. A total of 291 mothers were interviewed when their twin infants were 12 months of age. Pregnancy and twin birth medical records were obtained to code obstetrical data. Utilizing behavioral genetic models, results indicated maternal perceived prenatal stress moderated genetic and environmental influences on developmental maturity whereas obstetrical complications moderated shared environmental influences on infant competence and nonshared environmental influences on developmental maturity. Gestational age moderated the heritability and nonshared environment of infant dysregulation, shared and nonshared environmental influences on competence, and nonshared environmental influences on developmental maturity. Taken together, prenatal and obstetric conditions were important nonlinear influences on infant outcomes. An evolutionary perspective may provide a framework for these findings, such that the prenatal environment programs the fetus to be adaptive to current environmental contexts. Specifically, prenatal stress governs gene expression through epigenetic processes. Findings highlight the utility of a genetically informative design for elucidating the role of prenatal and obstetric conditions in the etiology of infant developmental outcomes.
ContributorsMcDonald, Kristy (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn S (Thesis advisor) / Fabricius, William (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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Description
The moderating effects of five characteristics of peers--their effortful control, anger, sadness, aggression, and positive peer behavior--were investigated in two separate series of analyses of preschooler's social behavior: (a) the relation between children's own effortful control and social behavior, and (b) the relation between children's shyness and reticent behavior. Latent

The moderating effects of five characteristics of peers--their effortful control, anger, sadness, aggression, and positive peer behavior--were investigated in two separate series of analyses of preschooler's social behavior: (a) the relation between children's own effortful control and social behavior, and (b) the relation between children's shyness and reticent behavior. Latent variable interactions were conducted in a structural equation framework. Peer context anger and effortful control, albeit with unexpected results, interacted with children's own characteristics to predict their behavior in both the EC and shy model series; these were the only significant interactions obtained for the EC model series. The relation between shyness and reticent behavior, however, showed the greatest impact of peer context and, conversely, the greatest susceptibility to environmental variations; significant interactions were obtained in all five models, despite the limited range of peer context sadness and aggression observed in this study.
ContributorsHuerta, Snježana (Author) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Pina, Armando (Committee member) / Geiser, Christian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
The purpose of this study was to examine whether dispositional sadness predicted children's prosocial behavior, and whether empathy-related responding (i.e., sympathy, personal distress) mediated this relation. It was hypothesized that children who were dispositionally sad, but well-regulated (i.e., moderate to high in effortful control), would experience sympathy versus personal distress,

The purpose of this study was to examine whether dispositional sadness predicted children's prosocial behavior, and whether empathy-related responding (i.e., sympathy, personal distress) mediated this relation. It was hypothesized that children who were dispositionally sad, but well-regulated (i.e., moderate to high in effortful control), would experience sympathy versus personal distress, and thus would engage in more prosocial behaviors than children who were not well-regulated. Constructs were measured across three time points, when children were 18-, 30-, and 42-months old. In addition, early effortful control (at 18 months) was investigated as a potential moderator of the relation between dispositional sadness and empathy-related responding. Separate path models were computed for sadness predicting prosocial behavior with (1) sympathy and (2) personal distress as the mediator. In path analysis, sadness was found to be a positive predictor of sympathy across time. There was not a significant mediated effect of sympathy on the relation between sadness and prosocial behavior (both reported and observed). In path models with personal distress, sadness was not a significant predictor of personal distress, and personal distress was not a significant predictor of prosocial behavior (therefore, mediation analyses were not pursued). The moderated effect of effortful control was significant for the relation between 18-month sadness and 30-month sympathy; contrary to expectation, sadness was a significant, positive predictor of sympathy only for children who had average and low levels of effortful control (children high in effortful control were high in sympathy regardless of level of sadness). There was no significant moderated effect of effortful control on the path from sadness to personal distress. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of sadness in empathy-related responding and prosocial behavior as well as the dual role of effortful control and sadness in predicting empathy-related responding.
ContributorsEdwards, Alison (Author) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Reiser, Mark R. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
The goal of this study is to contribute to the understanding of Mexican-American three- to five-year-old children’s effortful control (EC) and negative emotionality (NE) development by examining whether Mexican-American adolescent mothers’ parenting transacts with their three- to five-year-old children’s EC and NE and by exploring whether mothers’ familism acts as

The goal of this study is to contribute to the understanding of Mexican-American three- to five-year-old children’s effortful control (EC) and negative emotionality (NE) development by examining whether Mexican-American adolescent mothers’ parenting transacts with their three- to five-year-old children’s EC and NE and by exploring whether mothers’ familism acts as a protective factor. I hypothesized that mothers’ harshness and warmth would transact with EC and NE over time. I further hypothesized that mothers’ familism values would (a) positively predict mothers’ warmth and negatively predict mothers’ harshness, and (b) act as a buffer between low EC and high NE, and high harshness and low warmth. These hypotheses were tested within a sample of Mexican-American adolescent mother-child dyads (N = 204) and assessed longitudinally when children were 36, 48, and 60 months. Mothers were predominantly first generation (i.e., mothers’ parents were born in Mexico; 67%) and spoke English (65%). When children were 36 months, average family income (i.e., wages, public assistance, food stamps) was $24,715 (SD = $19,545) and mothers had started community college (13%) or completed high school/GED (30%), 11th grade (19%), 10th grade (8%), or less than 9th grade (14%). In this sample, transactions between harshness or warmth and EC or NE were not found, but a bidirectional association between NE and harshness was found. Familism marginally negatively predicted harshness, but not warmth. Familism moderated the relation between NE and harshness such that there was only a negative relation between NE and harshness when familism was high. However, familism did not moderate the relations between NE and warmth, or EC and harshness or warmth. The results of this study are discussed with respect to (a) current methodological limitations in the field, such as the need to test or develop parent-report measures of Mexican-American children’s temperament and value-driven socialization goals, (b) future avenues for research, such as person-centered studies of clusters of mothers’ values and how those relate to clusters of parenting behaviors, and (c) implications for interventions addressing parenting behavior of adolescent mothers.
ContributorsBerger, Rebecca H (Author) / Wilkens, Natalie (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Committee member) / Crnic, Keith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
A cornerstone of children’s socio-cognitive development is understanding that others can have knowledge, thoughts, and perceptions that differ from one’s own. Preschool-aged children often have difficulty with this kind of social understanding, i.e., they lack an explicit theory of mind. The goal of this dissertation was to examine the role

A cornerstone of children’s socio-cognitive development is understanding that others can have knowledge, thoughts, and perceptions that differ from one’s own. Preschool-aged children often have difficulty with this kind of social understanding, i.e., they lack an explicit theory of mind. The goal of this dissertation was to examine the role mental state language as a developmental mechanism of children’s early understanding of their own mental states (i.e., their introspective ability). Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) parents’ ability to recognize and appropriately label their children’s mental states and (2) children’s linguistic ability to distinguish between their mental states shapes the development of children’s introspective ability. An initial prediction of the first hypothesis is that parents should recognized differences in the development of children’s self- and other-understanding in order to better help their children’s introspective development. In support of this prediction, parents (N = 400, Mage = 58 months, Range = 28-93 months) reported that children’s understanding of their own knowledge was greater than children’s understanding of others’ knowledge. A prediction of the second hypothesis is that children’s linguistic ability to distinguish between and appropriately label their own mental states should determine their ability to make fined grained judgments of mental states like certainty. In support of this prediction, children’s (N = 197, Mage = 56 months, Range = 36-82 months) ability to distinguish between their own knowledge and ignorance states was associated children’s ability to engage in uncertainty monitoring. Together, these findings provide support for the association between children’s linguistic environment and ability and their introspective development.
ContributorsGonzales, Christopher Ryan (Author) / Fabricius, William V. (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Horne, Zachary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The ability to self-regulate is arguably the single most important skill a child develops early in life. Self-regulation skills are consistently linked to indices of health, success, and wellbeing. The predominating perspective in self-regulation developmental research has emphasized the role of the early caregiving environment, specifically maternal characteristics and behavior,

The ability to self-regulate is arguably the single most important skill a child develops early in life. Self-regulation skills are consistently linked to indices of health, success, and wellbeing. The predominating perspective in self-regulation developmental research has emphasized the role of the early caregiving environment, specifically maternal characteristics and behavior, in shaping infants’ emerging regulatory skills. Using two complementary studies, this dissertation draws from a longitudinal sample of 322 low-income, Mexican American mother-infant dyads to better understand mothers’ and infants’ unique roles in contributing to emerging infant regulatory processes. The first study explores the unique contributions of intrinsic (i.e., infant gaze) and extrinsic (i.e., maternal gaze) factors in understanding infant dysregulated emotion and behavior during mother-infant interactions. Using actor partner interdependent models (APIMs), the role of infant and maternal gaze in understanding infant dysregulation were examined longitudinally across three mother-infant interaction tasks (i.e., soothing, teaching, and peekaboo), as well as within task. The expected relations among gaze and dysregulation did not emerge in the longitudinal model; however, differential patterns of associations emerged by task. Findings are discussed within the intersection of risk, culture, and the dyadic interaction context.

The second study connects patterns of specific maternal behaviors (i.e., acknowledging, gaze, vocal appropriateness, appropriate range of affect, consistency of style, resourcefulness, and touch) associated with maternal sensitivity to infant cortisol reactivity and recovery. Latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed four distinct combinations of maternal sensitivity behaviors. One pattern emerged as a risk profile—differentiated by higher maternal stress—and was associated with significantly more infant cortisol recovery compared to other profiles. Both studies offer a more nuanced understanding of the respective roles of infant and maternal factors in the development of self-regulation. Further explication of developmental processes involved in early regulatory functioning has implications for advancing both scientific knowledge and improved targeting of prevention and early intervention efforts to promote optimal child outcomes, particularly in populations that at increased risk for developmental psychopathology.
Contributorsvan Huisstede, Lauren (Author) / Crnic, Keith A (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Bradley, Robert (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Researchers suggests that college students' involvement and use of resources on campus are important for success, in the form of satisfaction and GPA, in the first year. College officials invest substantial resources in activities to encourage freshmen students to become involved in campus activities and utilize resources that promote successful

Researchers suggests that college students' involvement and use of resources on campus are important for success, in the form of satisfaction and GPA, in the first year. College officials invest substantial resources in activities to encourage freshmen students to become involved in campus activities and utilize resources that promote successful outcomes, yet we do not know which activities best relate to success. Using a self-report survey, we sought to corroborate previous research that has shown that overall levels of involvement and use of resources relate to satisfaction/GPA. Furthermore, we disentangled which individual types of involvement and use of resources are most highly correlated with satisfaction and GPA. And finally, we identified the barriers and benefits to involvement and resource use, according to the students themselves. We found evidence that higher levels of involvement were related to satisfaction and attending faculty office hours appears to be particularly important, given a significant relation to both satisfaction and GPA. Implications for program promotion and resource allocation are discussed.
ContributorsPaley, Madeleine (Author) / Foster, Stacie (Thesis director) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12