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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

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
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Description
As screen time (ST) constitutes an integral part of the daily lives of young children today, parents, educators, and researchers have started to explore the associations of ST with children’s cognitive, behavioral, and social outcomes. The majority of existing studies have primarily focused on the duration of ST in relation

As screen time (ST) constitutes an integral part of the daily lives of young children today, parents, educators, and researchers have started to explore the associations of ST with children’s cognitive, behavioral, and social outcomes. The majority of existing studies have primarily focused on the duration of ST in relation to these outcomes despite the importance of other aspects such as content and type of device in the context of an evolving digital landscape marked by high mobility, ubiquity, and diversity. Addressing this gap, the current study aimed to explore the intricate relations between multiple aspects of ST (i.e., duration and content), executive function (EF) difficulties, and school adjustment in school-aged children, with a particular focus on the mediating role of EF difficulties linking the relations between ST and school adjustment. The current study employed data from the Panel Study on Korean Children, tracking 1,484 South Korean children from third to fourth grade. The duration of ST was measured by the average daily hours spent on smart devices and computers. Parent reports of the levels of engagement in recreational and educational ST and EF difficulties were assessed on Likert scales. School adjustment was reported on by teachers. The results from a half-longitudinal mediation model demonstrated that more frequent engagement in educational ST was related to fewer EF difficulties, which was in turn associated with better school adjustment. The current findings suggest that multiple approaches are needed to effectively guide children’s ST use in their everyday lives and interventions that target EF might be an effective way to promote children's behavioral and social adjustment in school settings.
ContributorsKim, Juyoung (Author) / Tsethlikai, Monica (Thesis advisor) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Eggum, Natalie (Committee member) / Valiente, Carlos (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
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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'

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.
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
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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

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
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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;

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
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Description
The present study tested 1) whether children’s bedtimes, wake times, and sleep

durations change as they transition into kindergarten (TtoK), 2) if changes to children’s

sleep schedules were contingent on their pre-kindergarten (T1) napping status and if T1

bedtimes were related to fall (T2) and spring (T3) bedtimes and durations, and 3) whether

T1

The present study tested 1) whether children’s bedtimes, wake times, and sleep

durations change as they transition into kindergarten (TtoK), 2) if changes to children’s

sleep schedules were contingent on their pre-kindergarten (T1) napping status and if T1

bedtimes were related to fall (T2) and spring (T3) bedtimes and durations, and 3) whether

T1 sleep, changes to sleep from T1 to T2, and concurrent sleep quality were related to

academic achievement and participation in 51 kindergarteners. It was hypothesized that

1) wake times would be earlier and sleep duration would be shorter during kindergarten

(T2 and T3) than at T1, 2) children who napped at T1 would go to bed later and have

shorter sleep duration than their non-napping peers and T1 bedtimes would be positively

associated with T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively associated with T2 and T3 durations,

and 3) more optimal sleep (e.g., consolidated, consistent, and high quality) would be

positively related to academic achievement and participation. Parents reported on

children’s bedtimes, wake times, and nap lengths during T1, T2, and T3. During T3

children wore actigraphs for five consecutive school nights and completed the Woodcock

Johnson tests of achievement (WJ-III). Teachers also reported on children’s participation

in the classroom during T3. Results demonstrated that bedtimes and wake times were

earlier at T2 and T3 than T1. Duration was shorter at T2 and T3 than T1. Additionally,

napping was unrelated to bedtimes and durations, but T1 bedtime was positively related

to T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively related to T2 and T3 durations. Finally, T1 nap

length, change in bedtimes, and Actigraphy duration were negatively related to

participation. Actigraphy onset variability was positively related to participation.
ContributorsBerger, Rebecca Hilary (Author) / Valiente, Carlos (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015