Research shows that social skills are a critical component of children’s development and related to children’s academic success. Conversely, problem behaviors are correlated to negative outcomes later in life for children such as lower academic achievement and juvenile and adult criminality. Certain parenting beliefs and behaviors have been found to relate to fewer problem behaviors in children, and an increase in social skills. However, existing research has focused mostly on the parenting behaviors and social outcomes in children using Anglo-American samples. Little is known about the relation of parenting behaviors and beliefs to the development of social skills in Hispanic families. Using the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment), the Parental Modernity Scale, and the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS), measures of the relation and predictive ability of parenting behaviors, beliefs and acculturation to social skills in children as measured by the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) are calculated. Findings suggest that the progressive subscale scores from the parental modernity scale and the family companionship subscale from the HOME are predictive of higher scores on the SSRS socials skills scale in prekindergarten Hispanic children. Acculturation was not related to higher social skills scores or fewer problem behaviors in children. The results are discussed in light of previous research and existing knowledge on what the results mean for the parenting behaviors and beliefs of Hispanics. (75 pages)

Environmental factors such as stress and hormones acting during embryogenesis, as well as early life experiences such as parental care have been clearly demonstrated in animal models to shape the individual's phenotypic gene expression, brain development, and behavioural repertoires ( Meaney, 2005 ). However, human studies have not assessed both prenatal mental health and the quality of postnatal parental care with the same sample of mothers. The current study sought to fill this gap by investigating the impact of women's experiences of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) before pregnancy on the mother's ante - and postnatal mental health problems, parenting, and children developmental outcomes. The study reported here is the second phase of a longitudinal study that commenced in 2002. In phase one community based middle class women in their third trimester of pregnancy were recruited and followed during the early postnatal period ( Linke, 2002 ; Lowe 2003 ). The current study assessed forty four mother - infant dyads at three time points during the second postnatal year. The dyads were divided into one of three groups ( control, trauma control and PTSD ) depending on the mother's trauma experience and whether she met the lifetime diagnosis for PTSD. The assessments included the measure of the mother and infant's basal cortisol, the mother's lifetime and ongoing mental health problems, the quality of the mother - infant relationship, and the development of the infant's general cognitive abilities, emerging language skills and emotional and behavioural self regulation. The current study found infant morning cortisol levels measured at 13 months of age were significantly predicted by maternal trauma experience and the subsequent PTSD symptoms of hyperarousal supporting the research of Yehuda and colleagues ( 2005 ) and implicating an epigenetic transmission of environmental experience from the mother to her offspring possibly via in utero programming of the HPA axis. Overall, maternal trauma was found to impact on both child language and self regulation development. Unexpectedly, the trauma control or resilient mothers were found to be least engaged with their infants, and their infants had the lowest language development. However, poorer language development was not mediated through dyadic emotional availability or maternal sensitivity. Maternal PTSD was found to be related to poorer child emotional and behavioural outcomes which were mediated through maternal mental health problems. Overall, the findings of the current study suggest that maternal trauma experience is associated with a biologically based mechanism occurring in both the mother and the infant which is protective for both the mother and the child's emotional health, but comes at a cost of slower infant language development. Furthermore, this mechanism appears to have broken down in the presence of maternal PTSD for both the mother and the infant with subsequent associations with greater maternal mental health problems, more problematic infant emotional and behavioural problems, and disorganised attachment. These findings have clinical implications, particularly for early intervention programs. The results need to be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. However, the findings have broad implications in relation to resilience to trauma and the development of psychopathology and warrant repetition. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Medicine, 2007.

This exploratory study examined whether temperament, home environment, and family stress impact the amount of prosocial behavior displayed by pre-school age low-income children and examined how much of an impact each factor has. Each factor was explored in depth along sub-scale dimensions including, (1) self-regulatory temperament, negative reactive temperament, and positive reactive temperament, (2) physical environment, emotional environment, and learning environment, and (3) family stress due to financial difficulties, interpersonal tension, and child problems. This study applied a combination microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem person-process-context model to explore the role these factors played. Subjects were 35 low-income pre-school age children who were enrolled in the Oregon Head Start Pre-kindergarten Program at Oregon State University. The Children's Behavior Questionnaire: Short Form, the Early Childhood Home Inventory, the Family Events Checklist, and the Modified Prosocial Behavior Questionnaire were used to obtain information about the relationship between the factors and prosocial behavior. Results indicated that the physical aspects of the home environment tended to positively contribute to the production of prosocial behavior and that family stress due to financial difficulties tended to negatively contribute to the production of prosocial behavior by low-income pre-school age children. This study did not establish that temperament was significantly related to prosocial behavior. These results have implications for those who are responsible for shaping children's behavior, such as teachers, parents, and home visitors by providing specific areas of focus for impacting behavior. These findings also support programs such as the Oregon Head Start Pre-kindergarten Program because it provides a venue through which impacts can be made. / Graduation date: 2000

Physical activity and healthy eating are key components of healthy living, and they reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Current research indicates that Canadian early years children are not active enough for healthy growth and development. Additionally their diets are high in processed foods and lack fresh and locally grown foods. Parents play a key role in establishing healthy behaviours; however caregivers also have a strong influence, as many early years children spend a large portion on their day in care centres. To date, very little is known about the factors influencing rural caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities for early years children in their care. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use an ecological framework to identify facilitators and barriers that rural caregivers face when providing physical activity and healthy eating opportunities in care centres. Methods: Caregivers (N = 8) in rural settings participated in one on one semi-structured interviews. Perceived facilitators and barriers reported by caregivers were categorized using the ecological model as (intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy). Results: Caregivers identified facilitators and barriers. (i.e., personal health and wellness, caregiver perceptions of lack of parental knowledge, parental support and access to facilities and local foods in the community), that influenced their ability to provide physical activity and healthy eating opportunities for children in their care. Similar barriers and facilitators were clustered together to create themes within each ecological category. A total of 12 key themes emerged from the data. Conclusion: Rural caregivers identified a number of factors that facilitated and inhibited their ability to provide opportunities for engaging in health promoting behaviours. Interestingly caregivers did not identify any intrapersonal barriers. Factors in the interpersonal category were the most commonly reported. Thus behaviours of others were the often indicated as a key factor influencing caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities. In the institutional and community categories caregivers identified a number of facilitators that supported them in the provision of healthy opportunities. Additionally, some caregivers discussed practices they used to overcome barriers and this in turn, facilitated the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating within the care centres. Research in rural areas is limited and the majority of studies focus the barriers to living in rural areas. This study contributes to the literature because it identified, not only challenges, but also benefits to living in rural areas. Furthermore, the use of an ecological framework allowed barriers and facilitators to be classified into distinct categories. This is important, as classification of specific factors can aid in designing initiatives that target facilitators and alleviate barriers. Such initiatives can then support early years caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities for children. In turn, this will aid Canadian early years children in establishing lifelong physical activity eating and healthy eating patterns.

Physical activity and healthy eating are key components of healthy living, and they reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Current research indicates that Canadian early years children are not active enough for healthy growth and development. Additionally their diets are high in processed foods and lack fresh and locally grown foods. Parents play a key role in establishing healthy behaviours; however caregivers also have a strong influence, as many early years children spend a large portion on their day in care centres. To date, very little is known about the factors influencing rural caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities for early years children in their care. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use an ecological framework to identify facilitators and barriers that rural caregivers face when providing physical activity and healthy eating opportunities in care centres. Methods: Caregivers (N = 8) in rural settings participated in one on one semi-structured interviews. Perceived facilitators and barriers reported by caregivers were categorized using the ecological model as (intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy). Results: Caregivers identified facilitators and barriers. (i.e., personal health and wellness, caregiver perceptions of lack of parental knowledge, parental support and access to facilities and local foods in the community), that influenced their ability to provide physical activity and healthy eating opportunities for children in their care. Similar barriers and facilitators were clustered together to create themes within each ecological category. A total of 12 key themes emerged from the data. Conclusion: Rural caregivers identified a number of factors that facilitated and inhibited their ability to provide opportunities for engaging in health promoting behaviours. Interestingly caregivers did not identify any intrapersonal barriers. Factors in the interpersonal category were the most commonly reported. Thus behaviours of others were the often indicated as a key factor influencing caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities. In the institutional and community categories caregivers identified a number of facilitators that supported them in the provision of healthy opportunities. Additionally, some caregivers discussed practices they used to overcome barriers and this in turn, facilitated the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating within the care centres. Research in rural areas is limited and the majority of studies focus the barriers to living in rural areas. This study contributes to the literature because it identified, not only challenges, but also benefits to living in rural areas. Furthermore, the use of an ecological framework allowed barriers and facilitators to be classified into distinct categories. This is important, as classification of specific factors can aid in designing initiatives that target facilitators and alleviate barriers. Such initiatives can then support early years caregivers in the provision of healthy opportunities for children. In turn, this will aid Canadian early years children in establishing lifelong physical activity eating and healthy eating patterns.

Many psychologists have studied the effects of sports on children because it is an issue that is important for children and parents alike. Athletic participation is a popular activity in the United States for children and many begin sports at young ages. Theokas (2009) claimed that the importance of athletics is that sports are more than physical activity—sports have an influence in many other areas of a child’s life. The goal of the current review was to examine how sports affect children in domains such as: friendships, self-esteem, family, and academics. Athletic involvement helps a child in more ways that physical development and it is essential to understand the opportunity for life-long lessons athletics provides. The studies under review generally support child involvement in athletics for multiple reasons and implication of this review is that parents and school administrators should encourage sports in young children.

Thesis (EdD)--Open University. BLDSC no. DXN081883.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-70). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-70). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-160). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.