Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

The study of preschool children's peer relations has primarily employed sociometric interviews and observations of children's social participation during free-play situations as methods of assessment. These assessments of peer relations have traditionally demonstrated lack of fit between attitude (as measured by sociometry) and behavior (observation of social participation). Often, sociometric peer preference and acceptance does not correspond to children's observation of social participation during freeplay. The present study was designed to improve this attitude-behavior fit by developing the Crystallized Sociometric Scales which employed post stratification of opinion responses. Subjects consisted of 65 preschool children between three- to five- years- of age, divided into two preschool groups of 45 and 20 subjects. Interviews on both the traditional sociometric scales and the crystallized sociometric (weighted with questions on peer exclusivity and friendship concept) were obtained. Observation of social participation used Parten's category of play with interval time sampling. Sociometric analyses of data provided a child by child picture of the social structure of the peer group. The discrepancy scores between social participation and the traditional and crystallized sociometric variables were compared using t-tests. Results indicated that peer exclusivity provided the best attitude-behavior fit and was significantly better than the traditional nomination score. The level of the friendship concept did not affect the social participation of children. Crystallized ratings were not significantly different from the traditional ratings. The stability of the Crystallized Sociometric Scales was moderate, although it was significantly better than the traditional sociometric scales. It was concluded that crystallized sociometric nominations provide a methodology to improve the attitude-behavior fit. Although correlated, sociometry and social participation measure different aspects of peer relations whose relationship can be influenced by measurement procedures. / Graduation date: 1992

The literature demonstrates that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience peer rejection as a result of their difficulties with interpersonal interactions. The manner in which children with ADHD process social information and the extent to which social difficulties may adversely impact these children has remained unclear. In the first part of the study, the perceptions of social support between boys (ages 7 to 11 years) with and without ADHD were compared. An analysis of variance procedure (ANOVA) was performed and children with ADHD were found to perceive significantly lower levels of social support from their classmates than normal peers at pretreatment. The groups did not differ significantly with regard to perceptions of parent, teacher, and close friend support. In the second part of the study, the role of ADHD parent training and its effectiveness in decreasing problem-behaviors, ameliorating social problems, and enhancing perceptions of social support was examined. Repeated measures MANOVAs revealed a significant rater (mother and teacher) by time (pretreatment and posttreatment) interaction effect for total behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, internalizing behavior problems, and social problems. On each scale, mothers reported more behavior problems than teachers at pretreatment, but fewer problems than teachers at posttreatment assessment. Main effects were not detected. ANOVAs performed on social support ratings by children with ADHD demonstrated a significant increase in their perceptions of parental support between pretreatment and posttreatment. Children's ratings of teacher, close friend, and classmate support did not differ significantly between pretreatment and posttreatment. The findings suggest that children with ADHD are socially perspicacious and sensitive to subtle changes within their social support systems. The parent training program appeared to help with the amelioration of problem behaviors in the home, but results did not indicate generalization of improvements to the classroom. Implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions were made for providing assistance to children with ADHD.

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Social support needs have neither been formally addressed nor assessed in prior research with parents of children of special needs. Typically, behavioral management skills, specific knowledge about the disorder/illness/handicap, parents' self-perception, and participants' evaluation of program effectiveness have been measured. Research information collected to date supports the exploration of social support as a treatment intervention. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine perceived social support for parents of children with ADHD who completed a parent training program. The program, entitled "ADHD Parent Training," included information about ADHD, behavior management strategies, child advocacy, and a social support component. Upon completing the ADHD Parent Training program, parents were expected to perceive a significantly greater amount of social support than they did prior to treatment. In addition, the relationship between change in perceived social support and the more traditionally assessed outcomes of parent training was examined (parent's satisfaction with treatment, parent's perception of child's progress, and teacher's perception of child's progress).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1990.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1990.

This thesis focuses on the dynamic interplay between race and social ties. Even though in sociological studies, race is usually treated as a cause of social segregation, we argue that this is a two-way process. Our approach distinguishes between racial self-identifications and racial perceptions. In the first part of the thesis, we focus on the joint effects of these aspects on the prevalence and emergence of social ties in secondary school communities. The second part investigates social effects on racial perceptions. For the analyses, we take a social networks approach, estimating exponential random graph and stochastic actor-oriented models. First, we take a look at the state of racial segregation in friendships and negative ties within communities, and we investigate the dynamic processes that have led to the described state. We also take endogenous network mechanisms into account. We provide evidence that given an initial state of segregation, reciprocity and clustering can maintain the relative infrequency of cross-race friendships in the group, even without (additional) same-race preference. Further, we find that negative ties describe interracial segregation better than friendships: majority students tend to dislike their minority peers, but no such tendencies were found for friendships. Second, we find that minority students tend to overperceive their friends' similarity to themselves in terms of race. Moreover, there is evidence for social influence: classmates tend to accept each other's, especially their friends', opinions about their peer's race. Altogether, both empirical parts of the thesis suggest a hierarchical relationship between the majority and the minority groups: besides majority students' tendency to exclude their minority peers, those who try befriending majorities - but get rejected by them - are more likely to be perceived as minorities. There are also indications of some minority students showing outgroup preference, while others seem to compete against the majority group. This can contribute to the observed emergence of enmity between minority students.

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, the roles and responsibilities of family members change to accommodate the demands of the illness. The current study aimed to explore the experiences of mothers of children with cancer, focusing on their constructed roles within the family context and their social support. A case study design within the qualitative research approach was employed, underpinned by social constructionism as a theoretical framework. Three mothers were selected, using a combination of purposive and snowball sample techniques. Rich descriptive data were collected from three mothers through semi-structured interviews and reflective essays, and analysed using thematic analysis techniques. Results showed that although mothers of children with cancer experience some common themes, there are contextual differences influencing how they construct their stories. The following main themes were identified in the comparative analysis: events leading to the diagnosis, emotions, life changes, the effect of the illness and coping. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

The quality of children's daily experiences in preschool classrooms is predictive of their school readiness and later achievement (Duncan et al., 2007; La Paro & Pianta, 2000). One particularly important aspect of these experiences is the quality of emotional support provided by teachers and peers in the classroom (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; Howes et al., 2008; Mashburn, 2008; National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning, 2012). Traditionally, emotional support quality has been calculated as the average of ratings taken across the school year and is meant to represent children's average daily experience, without regard to any variability which exists within the ratings over time. The bioecological model of development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; 2006) points out the necessity of considering in what ways learning experiences occur over time when drawing links between children's daily lives and later outcomes. In addition, attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973; Ainsworth, 1979) highlights the foundational nature of caregivers' consistency of emotional responses over time in helping young children develop skills and competencies. This study continues a line of research focused on investigating the stability of high-quality interactions as a possible mechanism through which children's optimal cognitive and social-emotional development occurs in preschool classrooms (Curby, Brock, & Hamre, 2013; Curby et al., 2011; Zinsser, Bailey, Curby, Denham, & Bassett, 2013). The current study examined the role of children's socioeconomic and behavioral risk factors, teachers' mean emotional support, and teachers' emotional support consistency in predicting children's cognitive and social-emotional development in preschool. Children's socioeconomic and behavioral risk factors (socioeconomic status, gender, age, race, ethnicity, English Language Learner status, and self-regulation) negatively predicted both baseline scores and development over the course of the year on the cognitive measures (early math and language and literacy). Low levels of teacher-rated student self-regulation at the beginning of the year significantly negatively predicted baseline scores and development on all academic and social-emotional measures. Contrary to most previous research, teachers' mean emotional support was not found to be a significant contributor to children's development when considered with child risk factors, except in the case of receptive vocabulary. The consistency of teachers' emotional support, however, was predictive of several measures of children's development of academic skills when controlling for child risk factors. A significant interaction between English Language Learner status and emotional support consistency was found in predicting development of expressive vocabulary skills. Multilevel models combining child characteristics, mean emotional support, and emotional support consistency suggest that child risk factors and emotional support consistency predict language and literacy development, above and beyond mean emotional support. Follow-up analyses also suggest that, under conditions of relatively high emotional support, consistency is especially important in predicting children's development of cognitive and social-emotional skills.