This thesis explores the acquisition of dependent tenses. More specifically, it focuses on Sequence of Tense. This refers to the ability in some languages to report on an utterance with a direct speech in which a present tense is used (“I am happy”) with an indirect speech report in which a past tense is used (“John said he was happy”). Complementation plays crucial role in making the embedded tense depended on the matrix one. Therefore, the child first has to acquire complementation, i.e., the link between a main clause and a complement. If the child hasn't acquired complementation yet, he or she will not have independent tenses in this case. This thesis shows this hypothesis experimentally for three languages: English, Dutch and Japanese. The findings are that there is a stage, up to 4 years in which the child allows more readings, than adults. He or she can have “future” oriented readings, such as forward shifted readings as long as they occur before the utterance time of the sentence. They are explained by the child's lack of knowledge of complementation. Moreover, the linguistic phenomenon of Sequence of Tense is compared with a cognitive phenomenon, the development of a Theory of Mind. This phenomenon refers to the ability of expressing someone else's beliefs or thoughts without committing oneself to that belief or thought. A form of complementation is crucial in both phenomena. This thesis argues that complementation is acquired through the understanding of the difference in point of view between direct and indirect speech is what the child has to acquire. For instance, first person pronouns refer to the speaker of a sentence in indirect speech, but to the main clause subject in direct speech. Finally, this thesis extends the idea of the importance of point of view differences to the domain of wh-extraction in direct speech.

One of the most commonly reported findings in the epidemiology of psychological disorders is the 2:1 ratio of women to men who suffer from depression, a difference in prevalence rates that first emerges during the adolescent years. Although aspects of the feminine gender role have been identified as risk factors for depressive symptoms, the analysis of interpersonal interaction is rarely used to assess how these constructs may be behaviorally enacted. In this dissertation, interactions between mothers and adolescents were analyzed to identify specific sequences of behavior associated with adolescents' depressive symptoms, with the aim of clarifying reasons for the dramatic increase in depression among adolescent girls. A community sample of 79 adolescents & their families participated over a 3-year period. Thirty-two consecutive segments of a videotaped problem-solving interaction task were viewed by participants and coded on the dimensions of support, conflict, giving-in, humor, misunderstanding , and sarcasm. Using sequential analyses and multiple linear regression, I assessed the extent to which sequences consistent with the feminine gender role (conflict paired with giving-in ) predicted concurrent and future depressive symptoms. Additional exploratory analyses examined maternal reactions to adolescent conflict. Results indicate that the pairing of conflict with giving-in during problem-solving interactions is predictive of future depressive symptoms, and that adolescent sex and history of depressive symptoms moderate this relation. As expected, the behavioral combination of conflict with giving-in was a riskier one for girls and for adolescents with a history of depressive symptoms. Maternal responses to adolescent conflict did not differ when mother-son dyads were compared to mother-daughter dyads.

In a sample of non-patient late adolescent women (N=110), this study investigated associations between pubertal timing, interpersonal conflict, and HPA-Axis dysregulation. Primary focus was on the interactional nature of pubertal timing as a risk factor, and the potential mediating role of specific coping behaviors. At high levels of perceived conflict, earlier pubertal timing was associated with both high stress in anticipation of interpersonal negotiation and low physiological recovery following the interaction. At low levels of perceived conflict, later pubertal timing was associated with both high stress in anticipation of interpersonal interaction and low physiological recovery following the interaction. Results suggest further investigation of behaviors which mediate between pubertal timing and girls' physiological response to stress.

This short-term longitudinal study investigated changes in newborn infant behavior over the first month of life and changes in mothers' mental representations of their infants and of themselves as parents, during the first month postpartum. There is evidence to suggest that maternal representations and newborn infants' behavior play an important role in the evolving infant-mother relationship, and that a newborn infants' developmental progress is dependent upon the quality of that relationship. While there is some research on neonatal behavioral development in Puerto Rican infants, there are no data on the development of maternal representations in Puerto Rican mothers. The study's sample consisted of 20 newborn infants and their mothers. Infants were examined on the Clinical Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (CLNBAS)(Nugent, 2001), during the first 48 hours of life and at one month postpartum. Mothers' representations were examined using the Maternal Representation Questionnaire (MRQ)(Stern & Stern-Brushwieler, 1999). This is the first study to use the CLNBAS and the MRQ for data collection during the first month. Results showed that newborn infant behavioral patterns of Puerto Rican infants changed in a positive direction during the first month postpartum. More specifically, significant positive developmental changes in the areas of autonomic, motor, and social interactions were found, while there were no changes in state organization, as measured by the CLNBAS. Results also revealed that mental representations of Puerto Rican mothers were positive and stable during the first month postpartum. Puerto Rican mothers' mental representations during the first month barely changed, were very positive, and also consistent with the positive newborn developmental changes as assessed by the CLNBAS during the first month of their infant's life. Mothers' knowledge of their infants' capacities increased over the course of the first month and they felt they became more effective and comfortable in their role as new mothers. Mothers also reported feeling well supported by family and friends during their transition to motherhood. In summary, this study contributes to the understanding of newborn behavioral changes and maternal representations early in the development of the mother-infant relationship in the context of Puerto Rican families.

Inference is a process by which appropriate belief states get connected. Belief states are biological states in the sense that they are reentrant loops (or loops which connect different stimulus); their intrinsic feature is recognition. In inference or reasoning the transition process between belief states is regulated by the rule of concept usage, involved in the belief state, in natural language. Like belief states experiential states are also biological states whose extrinsic feature is recognition, such that, one can have an, say, X-type experience without recognizing it as an experience of X. One can, however, also have an experience of an X; in the latter case, one not only has an X-type experience but also recognizes an X as an X. In some cases the transition from X-type experience to believing an X to be there instantiates a quasi-inferential pattern. In all such cases the transition process is regulated by the rule of X usage. In such quasi-inferential transition additional belief states are involved. Such states assert that there are no countervailing factors and there are additional factors conducive to the conclusion. Such belief states are expressed non-propositionally in the language of thought. Propositions are a necessary part of such quasi-inference for they give content to thoughts to which one can assign 'falsity' and defeasible reasoning requires us to assign 'falsity' to our thoughts. Propositions implicated in the quasi-inferences from experience types to belief states are the evidential reasons for the conclusion and they can only be accepted as provisionally true and have to be revised in the light of further information.

Building upon previous emergent literacy research, this descriptive and correlational longitudinal study investigated the relationship between parent-child storybook reading and children's early literacy skill development. A new, reliable videotaping system was used as was a measurement tool sensitive to the growth of children's early literacy skills, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Twenty-five parent-child dyads volunteered for phase one; all children were 3 to 5 years old. Eighteen of the original 25 children participated in a follow-up study a year later. Most families were Caucasian, English-speaking, and interested in literacy activities. Dyads were videotaped reading storybooks and their interactions were coded. Six video categories became predictor variables: Parent Q, A, D, L (Parent questions, answers, discusses content of book, or discusses book as it relates to life of parent or child); Child Q, A, D, L; Child reads or is prompted to read, Off-task events, Total events; and Words read per minute. Other predictor variables included Minutes per week of Parent and Parent-child reading (derived from a parent interview) and children's scores from the Early Screening Profiles (ESP) Cognitive/Language Profile subtest of the American Guidance Service (AGS). These variables were correlated with dependent variables obtained by administering three DIBELS tests to the children: Onset Recognition Fluency (ORF) and Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), used in both phases, and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), used only in follow-up. Only children 5 and older were administered the age-sensitive PSF probes. From follow-up scores, slope data were generated measuring progress in the three skill areas. A number of the video predictor variables correlated at .32 (a small effect size) or above with the children's concurrent LNF scores. The children's ESP cognitive and language scores also correlated at .32 or above with several of the children's concurrent or subsequent DIBELS scores. Description and discussion of the direct observation system and parent interview are included, with suggestions for refinements. The ESP and DIBELS are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research.

The objective of this study was to respond to two primary questions: (1) What is the process of self transformation for the recovering alcoholic? and (2) What is surrender and what role does it play in that process of transformation? Eight subjects were interviewed who have maintained abstinence from alcohol for over ten years and who are active members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Subjects were chosen though two key informants who participated in a pilot study. Key informants were long-term recovering alcoholics and referred the researcher to individuals who could provide in-depth and process-oriented reflections about their experiences. Subjects were asked to tell their story of addiction and recovery in their own terms. An interview guide with focal and follow-up questions insured that each subject gave his/her own authentic and full account of the process of self transformation and experiences of surrender. Grounded Theory guided the collection and analysis of the data generated in the interviews. Analysis of data revealed common themes and patterns in regard to the recovery process and the experiences of surrender. A common pattern of recovery, illustrated as a gestalt process model, involved four components: action, awareness, connectedness, and choice. These components were found to be highly interactive, each contributing to or augmenting the other three. No common sequence was found; instead, any one of the components could serve as an entry into a cyclical, multileveled system of interaction of all four components, in ways that led to crucial experiences of surrender. Although surrender was found to be the necessary and critical core experience in all the sustained recoveries, differing forms of surrender were described, and various names for the experience were identified. All subjects described the process of recovery and the experiences of surrender as what led them to new "ways of being", forms of "knowing", and different modes of consciousness.

Moffitt's (1993) taxonomy of adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders suggests, among other things, that an early onset of antisocial behavior a) increases the likelihood of a life-course persistent offending trajectory and b) is the product of neuropsychological deficits and familial risk factors working in concert. Over two decades of research has yielded a substantial amount of support for Moffitt's claims. Nevertheless, research has yet to significantly expand the repertoire of biosocial processes that might influence the onset of antisocial behavior during childhood. For instance, only a handful of criminologists have considered the role that infant and early childhood nutrition might play in the development of antisocial behavior. Moreover, studies employing genetically sensitive methods to examine the link between nutrition and child antisocial behavior are virtually nonexistent. Scholars have also neglected to consider the socioemotional mediators of the nutrition-externalizing relationship, as well as whether infants and children are differentially sensitive to nutritional intake depending on their level of genetic risk, perinatal risk, and security of attachment. Finally, researchers have yet to explore the ways in which nutritional factors across infancy and early childhood work together to influence externalizing behavior. This dissertation seeks to address these gaps in the literature by employing a large, nationally representative sample of twin pairs. The findings suggest that, even after accounting for the influence of genes and the shared environment, nutritional factors during infancy and early childhood have both direct and indirect effects on externalizing behavior during kindergarten. Furthermore, some significant interactions between genetic and nutritional factors, as well as nutritional factors across life stages, were detected. The limitations of the study are noted and recommendations for policy, theory, and future research are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2015. / May 22, 2015. / Antisocial, Attachment, Breastfeeding, Diet, Genetics / Includes bibliographical references. / Kevin M. Beaver, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amy M. Burdette, University Representative; William D. Bales, Committee Member; Brian J. Stults, Committee Member.

This study explored the relationships among separation-individuation, bulimia, social characteristics, and perceived parenting style in a sample of 192 non-bulimic and 39 bulimic college females. There was support for the hypothesis that bulimics are underseparated from their parents when compared to non-bulimic subjects. The bulimic women exhibited a distinctly different pattern of social qualities characterized by higher levels of depression, lower self-esteem, higher private and public self-consciousness, and higher social anxiety than the non-bulimic subjects. It was not possible to discriminate between bulimic and non-bulimic subjects based on the parental rearing styles they experienced. However, there were strong relationships between type of parenting style received and level of independence; the warm and flexible authoritative parenting style was most closely linked to a supportive relationship between parent and child that is free from undercurrents of anger and resentment. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Success is often defined by the quality and effectiveness of an organization’s employees, and workplace design can be a primary driver in employee recruitment, satisfaction, and retention (Gensler, 2013). Since understanding employees is requisite in providing for employees’ needs and desires in the physical work environment, this study seeks to build upon the generational research by taking a more in depth look at employees through the lens of adulthood stage of life. The stages of life in adulthood are broadly defined as early middle and late adulthood (Levinson, 1978). With the demographics of the workforce shifting, this study focuses on employees in early adulthood as they make up the largest portion of the workforce population and have the most working years left (Fry, 2015). At a time with increasing pressures on the business bottom-line and a heightened awareness for employee well-being, many employers are turning to amenities to combat the digitalization of work, aid in attraction and retention, and improve employee satisfaction, health, and well-being (Smart Growth America, 2015). With a growing emphasis on workplace amenities and their role in supporting employee attraction and retention, this study explored the workplace amenity preferences of employees in early adulthood and how valued amenities can be provided in or near an existing high-rise office building. To identify the amenity preferences of early adult employees, this study’s methodology surveyed early adult employees currently working at a technology company located in metropolitan Washington, D.C. The survey addressed participants’ stage of life characteristics and their workplace amenity preferences. From this survey the researcher was able to identify the workplace amenities the sample population valued most. These findings informed programming and site location decisions to develop a design solution that illustrates how the most valued amenities can be provided to employees. With a shift towards a walkable, urban future and many companies relocating or opening new offices in urban locations, the design solution explored how the discovered amenity desires could be provided in an existing high-rise structure. With a better understanding of employees and their amenity desires, employers can make more informed decisions about office locations and amenity selections that support employees daily lifestyles and provide choice while also improving the fabric of our growing urban communities. To identify the amenity preferences of early adult employees, this study’s methodology employed a survey to employees currently working for a technology company in metropolitan Washington, D.C. The survey addressed participants’ stage of life characteristics and their workplace amenity preferences. From this survey the researcher was able to identify the workplace amenities the sample population valued most. These findings informed programming and site location decisions to form a design solution that illustrates how the most valued amenities can be provided to employees. With a shift towards a walkable, urban future and many companies relocating or opening new offices in urban location, the design solution explores how the discovered amenity desires can be provided in a existing high-rise structure. With a better understanding of employees and their amenity desires, employers can make more informed decisions about office locations and amenity selections that support employees daily lifestyles and provide choice while also improving the fabric of our growing urban communities. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Interior Architecture and Design in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 28, 2016. / Early Adulthood, Generations, physical work environment, Retention, Stage of Life, Workplace Amenities / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven Webber, Professor Directing Thesis; Marlo Ransdell, Committee Member; Amy Huber, Committee Member.