Background: Children exposed to pesticides are susceptible for neurodevelopmental disruption. Data from developing countries are scarce. Aim: Assessing long-term and recent pesticide exposure in Nicaraguan children in relation to parental pesticide use and examining potential associated neurobehavioral effects. Methods: In the first study, pre- and post-spraying urinary residues of the chlorpyrifos metabolite TCPY and diazinon metabolite IMPY were measured among 7 subsistence farmers and 10 plantation workers, and in one child per worker. In the second study, for 110 children in an agricultural village and 22 in a non-agricultural village, aged 7-9, parental pesticide use was assessed by hours of spraying and kilograms of active ingredients during pre-and-postnatal time windows, as proxies for children’s long term pesticide exposures. Urinary TCPY, 3-PBA (pyrethroid metabolite), and 2,4-D were determined in 211 samples of 74 children of the agricultural village. IQ components and total IQ (WISC-IV) were evaluated in all agricultural village children. Behavior was evaluated with the Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale-Revised: Short. Multivariate linear regression models assessed associations between long-term and recent exposure to organophosphates and pyrethroids and cognitive and behavioral scales. Results: In study 1, post-spraying urinary levels of pesticide metabolites of subsistence farmers and their children were highly correlated (r=0.85), but not those of plantation workers and their children. In study 2, a wide range of exposures was reported by parents for all pesticides and time windows. The median urinary TCPY (3.7 μg/g creatinine), 3-PBA (2.8), and 2,4-D (0.9) were comparable to other studies for TCPY and 3-PBA but high for 2,4-D. Maximum levels were the highest reported for all compounds. Prenatal use of organophosphates affected working memory, and methamidophos also verbal comprehension and total IQ. Urinary TCPY was associated with poorer working memory. Organophosphate exposures were not associated with children’s behavior. Pyrethroid exposure during the first year of life associated with poorer perceptual reasoning and behavior, and urinary 3-PBA with a number of cognitive functions and ADHD in girls but not in boys. Conclusion: Nicaraguan children in poor agricultural areas are highly exposed to pesticides, which is influenced by parental pesticide use in subsistence farms. Organophosphate and pyrethroid exposures adversely affect their neurobehavioral development.

Any type of bullying can become a traumatic event for a child, leading to lasting negative effects. Specifically, victimization may lead to numerous behavioral problems and lowered self-esteem. Also, the quality of attachment may have a predictive relationship with the victimization and the negative outcomes it may cause. Other research implied that a similar relationship may be found between retrospective bullying and humanity-esteem. Despite the collective research done on these variables, no study, until now, has looked at retrospective bullying, humanity-esteem, attachment, behavior problems, and self-esteem all together. This study not only looked at the relationships among these variables but also the role that humanity-esteem and attachment served between victimization, later behavior problems, and later self-esteem. One hundred thirty-six participants completed five questionnaires assessing experiences of retrospective bullying, humanity-esteem, current attachment relationships, behavior problems, and self-esteem. The results of this study indicated that participants who reported having been bullied previously also endorsed internalizing and externalizing problems as well as low self-esteem. Further, humanity-esteem and attachment both served as significant predictors of victimized individuals' behavioral problems and self-esteem. Such findings suggested that a higher view of humanity and secure attachment may serve as a protective factor against the negative outcomes that may be related to having been bullied. The importance of studying the relationships among these variables is discussed further.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah Levine Coley / Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has demonstrated the high prevalence rates of such experiences, with about 60% of individuals in national U.S. samples reporting one or more types of ACEs as children (Chapman et al., 2013; Finkelhor et al., 2015). Further, research has established robust links between ACEs and a range of negative behavioral and health outcomes in adulthood (Felitti et al., 1998; Hughes et al., 2017; Kalmakis & Chandler, 2015; Wang et al., 2020; Wang & Maguire-Jack, 2018; Wolff et al., 2018). Less is known about when potential negative consequences of ACEs exposure emerge. The few studies that have examined the relationship between ACEs and early outcomes have employed inconsistent modeling strategies which has left the functional form of the relationship unclear, which could lead to either under-or over-estimating the risk associated with various levels of ACEs exposure (Crouch et al., 2019; Hughes et al., 2017; Lanier et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019). Further, these studies have not comprehensively examined the potential moderating role of socio-ecological factors like neighborhood context. Theoretical frameworks suggest neighborhood resources might buffer children from negative consequences associated with ACEs while exposure to neighborhood-level adversities might exacerbate negative consequences. In order to address these gaps, the currently study examined the functional form of the relationship between ACEs experienced in the first four years of life and kindergarten behavioral outcomes and tested the moderating role of neighborhood resources and neighborhood adversities in a large, nationally representative sample of young children drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B; N ≈ 10,700) linked with neighborhood administrative data. Using inverse probability weighting to strengthen internal validity, numerous modeling strategies supported a linear relationship between early childhood ACEs and kindergarten behavioral outcomes. Greater ACEs exposure was associated with significantly lower prosocial skills and significantly higher externalizing behavior problems, with small effect sizes of 0.075 to 0.143 standard deviation shifts in behaviors for each additional ACEs exposure. Interaction models found that ACEs were significantly associated with behavioral consequences regardless of neighborhood context. Overall, the robust modeling strategies employed provide the strongest evidence to date of the significant, linear relationship between ACEs and early behavioral consequences. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in academic achievement, behavioral health outcomes and attendance in poor, rural children receiving physical and mental health services regularly as opposed to those children not receiving the intervention. The intervention was a school-based health and mental health clinic located on the school’s campus. This study was analyzed by providing descriptive information for several variables including the number of suspensions per year, number of times corporal punishment was used as a means of correction, educational outcomes, total number of clinic visits per year, attendance percentages per year, and number of teacher and parent referrals to the school clinic. Data for this study were presented in multiple charts and graphs and schools are compared using descriptive information. The results suggested that as the number of clinic visits increased across the three year period, the numbers of, and rates of, corporal punishment in the clinic school decreased. In contrast, the available data suggested that across the first two years the numbers of, and rates of, corporal punishment increased in the control school. Further, in the majority of subject areas, the percentage of students’ proficiency levels in the clinic school increased across time and the percentages exceeded these in the control school. These findings were consistent with the hypotheses that there will be improvements in the behavioral outcomes associated with the presence of the clinic in the school. Unfortunately there were not enough data to conduct a test of statistical significance of the differences between schools for the third year.

A third of youth in the United States are currently classified as overweight, which is impacted by the low rates of youth that meet daily physical activity recommendations. Engaging in physical activity contributes to healthy body weight and physical fitness, both of which have positive health consequences. Participating in physical activity not only aids in positive health outcomes, but research indicates that it also has a positive relationship with and effect on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. The majority of researchers conducting meta-analyses examining the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes have excluded single-case design research from the data analyses. Excluding these types of designs from syntheses of the research may create an inaccurate account of the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. The current study addressed these issues by conducting a meta-analysis of single-case design studies over approximately the past 50 years to add to the current understanding of the effect of physical activity on youths’ cognitive, academic, and behavioral outcomes. Additionally, moderator analyses were conducted on numerous participant, intervention, and study characteristics that were deemed important, as indicated in the literature review. The effect size of physical activity on youths’ academic and behavioral outcomes was determined by utilizing hierarchical linear modeling of the included 81 time series from 15 single-case design studies. There were not enough data to calculate the effect size on youths’ cognitive outcomes. Significant effect sizes were found that indicate physical activity has an effect on increasing youths’ desirable behaviors (e.g.on task behavior and social skills) and decreasing youths’ undesirable behaviors (e.g. self stimulation, self-injurious behaviors, and off task behavior; ES = 1.83), as well as, increasing work completion, (ES = 2.01). No moderating effects were found other than the type of single case design moderated the effect on youths’ behavioral outcomes. The current study is important for decision makers in schools when deciding whether to increase or decrease particular students’ time spent in physical activity. Additionally, the results of the study are pertinent to other practitioners who work with youth, parents, and for youth themselves so that they can utilize physical activity interventions to help with appropriate behaviors and work completion.

Background: Social media changed the way of communication between brands and consumers and further enables people to become famous and create their own celebrity brand. Hence, celebrity brands are a new phenomenon, rarely studied by past research but becoming more important in the context of consumer-brand-relationships. Those relationships are similar to interpersonal ones, which are also highly affected by emotions. Negative emotions are perceived to have a higher impact on the relationship and are reflected in consumer behavior, for example, in avoiding the brand. Purpose: Besides the behavioral outcomes of negative emotions toward celebrity brands, the study strives to examine the reasons for negative emotions. Additionally, the purpose of the study is to investigate possible neutralization actions that celebrity brands can undertake to alleviate the negative emotions of consumers. Method: The study followed an exploratory research design. The qualitative data collection was done by conducting semi-structured interviews. Participants were selected based on the criterion of having negative emotions toward a celebrity brand and using social media. In total, 16 interviews were conducted. Conclusion: Negative emotions were either elicited by characteristics or behaviors of the celebrity. Whereas characteristics, e.g. attractiveness, are difficult to influence for celebrities, unfavorable behaviors, e.g. greed and violence, that trigger negative consumer emotions are preventable by the celebrities. The consumers start avoiding, unfollowing, and spreading negative word-of-mouth about the celebrity if they feel negatively toward the brand. To neutralize negative emotions, the celebrity brands are recommended to engage in building authenticity, trust, acceptance, attachment, and adding value to society. However, due to the consumers unfollowing the celebrity, the biggest challenge for celebrity brands is to address neutralization actions in a noticeable way for consumers.

The present thesis examined emotion regulation differences among victims and non victims of bullying and its role as a mediator in the link between victimization and internalizing or externalizing outcomes. Participants from Grades 6 to 8 (n = 240) completed measures that assessed level of victimization, emotions felt relative to emotions expressed during bullying situations, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Weak victim-related differences revealed that boy victims reported feeling more shame and expressing more fear than nonvictims, whereas girl victims reported expressing more shame and feeling and expressing more anger and sadness. A new measure of emotional regulation did not reveal any victim -related differences , nor was emotional regulation found to play a mediating role. Discussion focuses on how antecedent- and response-focused regulation can account for victim-related differences found, and how victims' emotional regulation difficulties may be more attributable to antecedent-focused regulation and poor evaluation of consequences of expressing certain emotions than emotional inhibition during a bullying interaction.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children and adolescents in the U.S. and disproportionately affects young children. The negative consequences of early childhood TBI include deficits in behavior and attention, cognitive abilities, and academic skills. Behavior problems in particular are one of the most common and persistent consequences following TBI in young children. Therefore, interventions are needed that target the adverse effects of TBI on behavior. The purpose of the current work was to examine the initial outcome, feasibility, acceptability, and satisfaction of a time-limited and intensive format of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for families with a child aged 2 to 5 years who had sustained a TBI and displayed clinically elevated externalizing behavior problems. The open trial included 10 families that completed a baseline assessment, received the intervention over 5 weeks, and completed post-intervention and 2-month follow-up assessments. Results indicated that children who completed the intervention showed significant improvements in both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up, with the exception of non-significant change in self-regulation at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up, and attention problems at 2-month follow-up. In addition, significant improvements were found on all cognitive measures examining working memory, receptive language, and executive functioning at post-intervention and 2-month follow-up. Similarly, caregivers who completed the intervention displayed significant improvements in their parenting skills during play with their child and reported significant reductions in overall caregiver stress and caregiver stress related to their child’s difficult behaviors. Despite limitations inherent in an open trial (e.g., small sample, lack of a control group, generalizability), the current study addressed a relatively unexplored research question and suggests that an intensive format of PCIT may be a promising approach for improving domains commonly affected by early childhood TBI (e.g., behavioral, cognitive, and family functioning) prior to the development of more severe and persistent problems.

The aim of this study was to better understand how the supportive role from coaches and engagement from parents is associated the behavioral and psychological outcomes for adolescents participating in organized sports. Behavioral adjustments were defined as youth delinquency and psychological outcomes as depressive symptoms and subjective well-being. The data used in this study were from the Youth and Sports (YeS) project, of which an analytical sample of N=421 7th graders participating in organized sports was selected. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis showed that 7.5% of parental engagement and coach support explained variance in adolescents’ subjective well-being and 3.4% explained depressive symptoms. The same pattern was not found in delinquent behavior, however, we did find an interaction effect, where coach support moderates the link between parents’ engagement and delinquency. Therefore, results suggest that adolescents participating in organized sports with engaged parents and support from their coach displayed better behavioral and psychological adjustments in adolescence. / Syftet med denna studie var att bättre förstå hur en stödjande roll från tränare och engagemang från föräldrar är associerade med beteendemässiga och psykologiska faktorer för ungdomar som deltar i organiserad idrott. Beteendemässig faktor definierades som ungdomsbrottslighet och psykologiska faktorer som depressiva symtom och subjektivt välbefinnande. Datan som användes i denna studie var från projektet Youth and Sports (YeS), av vilket ett analytiskt urval av N=421 i årskurs 7 som deltar i organiserad idrott valdes ut. Resultatet från en hierarkisk regressionsanalys visade att 7,5 % av föräldrarnas engagemang och stöd från coachen förklarade variationer i ungdomarnas subjektiva välbefinnande och 3,4 % förklarade depressiva symtom. Samma mönster hittades inte i brottsligt beteende, men vi hittade en interaktionseffekt, där stöd från coachen modererar kopplingen mellan föräldrars engagemang och brottslighet. Därför tyder resultaten på att ungdomar som deltar i organiserad idrott med engagerade föräldrar och stöd från sin tränare har den mest fördelaktiga effekten på beteendemässiga och psykologiska anpassningar i tonåren.

Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 40-45).