Corporal punishment is a controversial form of discipline. To inform the debate on corporal punishment, one of the objectives of the current dissertation was to characterize parental use of this disciplinary strategy and to examine its long-term developmental outcomes. The dissertation drew on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to understand potential social change in corporal punishment and to characterize parents who continue to use this strategy. Over a 14-year period (1994-1995 to 2008-2009), results revealed a significant decrease in the use of corporal punishment and other negative strategies (e.g., psychological aggression), as well as a significant increase in the use of positive strategies (e.g., reward/praise and explain/teach). Nevertheless, approximately 25% of Canadian parents still use corporal punishment with children aged 2–11 years; therefore, it remains an issue that merits continued attention. While several socio-demographic factors significantly distinguished parents who use corporal punishment, other more dynamic variables may be important to consider, such as parental stress and their attitudes toward corporal punishment. For the outcomes associated with corporal punishment, NLSCY data revealed that experiences of corporal punishment at 2-3 years are associated with increased externalizing behaviours at 8-9 years. Results also indicated that, within a certain disciplinary context (more hostile and punitive parenting), early corporal punishment is associated with increased externalizing behaviours at 14-15 years, increased internalizing behaviours at 8-9 and 14-15 years, and reduced prosocial behaviours at 8-9 and 14-15 years. Overall, results confirmed that corporal punishment represents a small but non-trivial risk factor for child development. The second objective of the current dissertation was to address one of the central limitations of the existing literature on corporal punishment by clarifying what parents self-label as corporal punishment. Using a sample of 338 Canadian caregivers, the study assessed the relation between responses to a general question on corporal punishment and responses to questions on specific physical disciplinary strategies. Predictors (e.g., cultural norms, attitudes toward and childhood experiences of corporal punishment) of this relation were then investigated. Results suggested that questions such as the one used in the NLSCY may reflect parental use of milder forms of corporal punishment. Results also revealed that some caregivers remain undetected by general questions on corporal punishment. Factors such as attitudes toward corporal punishment can help identify those caregivers who use physically punitive strategies but who do not endorse corporal punishment. Results from the current dissertation offers support for the anti-corporal punishment perspective and calls for the de-legitimatization of this disciplinary strategy across society.

Thesis advisor: Jacqueline Lerner / Previous research has found higher levels of school engagement to be related to various positive outcomes such as higher academic achievement, higher levels of competence, lower depression, and better personal adjustment. Overall, there is strong evidence to suggest a broad positive association between school engagement and a variety of academic, social, and emotional outcomes. However, existing work has certain limitations and some important questions remain to be addressed. In an effort to address the limitations of previous research, this study aimed to establish the within and across time relationships between family and contextual variables and school engagement. The sample for this longitudinal study included 596 students who were part of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. These students were first surveyed in the fifth grade and completed subsequent questionnaires in the 6th and 7th grade (44% male; 56% female). In addition to the CES-D, several scales were constructed from the broad array of measures used in the 4-H study. The goals of this research were to identify the within and across time family and contextual predictors of school engagement, the predictors of the emotional and cognitive outcomes that result when adolescents are engaged in school, and to determine whether school engagement acts as a mediator between the variables of school climate, teacher support and parental involvement and the outcomes of grades, perceived academic competence, depression, educational aspirations, and educational expectations. The effects of gender, SES, and race were also examined. Statistical tools including regression analysis and tests of mediation were used. The findings indicated that the predictors of school engagement varied for 5th, 6th, and 7th graders in this sample. The changing predictors of school engagement and thus, the ways in which school engagement mediated the relationships between family and contextual variables and developmental outcomes demonstrated the fluidity of the adolescent and their changing needs and influences. These findings also illustrated the value of the longitudinal design of this study. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology.

In leadership development, an established literature and a fertile praxis fall short of clarifying how individuals may develop the many and varied capabilities that contribute to leadership processes. Literature promoting personal growth tends to reduce personal development to cognitive development or rely on broadly defined and under-evidenced notions. The adult development literature offers to this research a conceptualization of personal development as systemic qualitative change in individual sensemaking. As sensemaking develops, it progresses toward greater integration (of interdependent cognitive, emotive, purposive, and conative dimensions), sophistication, and self-determination. The research aimed to examine how changes in the sensemaking of individuals may result in developmental outcomes relevant for personal and leadership development. This inquiry moves from a perspective idealist ontology and a social constructivist epistemology, selects philosophical hermeneutics as a research paradigm, and embraces exploratory qualitative longitudinal research. Purposive sampling guided the selection of research context, a leadership program focused on personal growth. Transcripts from 32 semi-structured constructivist-phenomenological interviews, collected from nine participants across fourteen months, were analyzed through constructivist grounded theory. Development was assessed ipsatively according to a literature-based framework. Contributions, in terms of substantive theory, are not generalizable beyond research context and sample. This research advances the differentiation of developmental context, process and outcomes. Context is found to transcend holding environment—to be ideally conducive to a specific type of change in virtue of a distinctive emerging quality. While vector processes facilitate development, core processes (individual sensemaking) are development. In terms of outcomes, the research supports an association between personal development and development of leadership capabilities, but questions whether self-awareness or personality adjustments per se constitute authentic personal or leadership development. This research exposes a pattern of seeking affirmation, associated with disproportionate identity salience of external image, which is potentially capable of hindering personal development by triggering maladaptive rather than adaptive self-reflection.

In leadership development, an established literature and a fertile praxis fall short of clarifying how individuals may develop the many and varied capabilities that contribute to leadership processes. Literature promoting personal growth tends to reduce personal development to cognitive development or rely on broadly defined and under-evidenced notions. The adult development literature offers to this research a conceptualization of personal development as systemic qualitative change in individual sensemaking. As sensemaking develops, it progresses toward greater integration (of interdependent cognitive, emotive, purposive, and conative dimensions), sophistication, and self-determination. The research aimed to examine how changes in the sensemaking of individuals may result in developmental outcomes relevant for personal and leadership development. This inquiry moves from a perspective idealist ontology and a social constructivist epistemology, selects philosophical hermeneutics as a research paradigm, and embraces exploratory qualitative longitudinal research. Purposive sampling guided the selection of research context, a leadership program focused on personal growth. Transcripts from 32 semi-structured constructivist-phenomenological interviews, collected from nine participants across fourteen months, were analyzed through constructivist grounded theory. Development was assessed ipsatively according to a literature-based framework. Contributions, in terms of substantive theory, are not generalizable beyond research context and sample. This research advances the differentiation of developmental context, process and outcomes. Context is found to transcend holding environment—to be ideally conducive to a specific type of change in virtue of a distinctive emerging quality. While vector processes facilitate development, core processes (individual sensemaking) are development. In terms of outcomes, the research supports an association between personal development and development of leadership capabilities, but questions whether self-awareness or personality adjustments per se constitute authentic personal or leadership development. This research exposes a pattern of seeking affirmation, associated with disproportionate identity salience of external image, which is potentially capable of hindering personal development by triggering maladaptive rather than adaptive self-reflection.

Feeding problems in preterm neonates stem from complications of early delivery. Attainment of independent feeding is a prerequisite for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) discharges. Some quantitative studies of infant feeding involve excessive amounts of time for data processing. Multivariate spectral analysis was used to minimize time for investigation of variability in these rhythms. Auto and Cross-spectral parameters of the rhythms were correlated with Gestational Age (GA), Postmenstrual Age (PMA), Birthweight (BW), Days of Life (DOL), and Time Since First Nipple feeding (TSFN). Auto-spectral analysis showed 25.55% increase in Bandwidth of suck (bw-su) for a 2-week increase in GA (DOL fixed) and 8.99% increase in bw-su for a 10-day increase in DOL (GA fixed). Crossspectral analysis showed a decrease of 0.158Hz of Bandwidth of Suck-Swallow (bw-SS) for a 2-week increase in GA for GA later than 28 weeks. For GA earlier than 28 weeks, peak coherence decreased by 0.774 for a 2-week increase in GA (PMA fixed) and decreased by 0.126 for a 2-week increase in PMA (GA fixed). The method describes the progression of feeding rhythms through correlations with clinical indexes, thus providing clinicians with an understanding of the development of infant feeding and helps predict long-term developmental outcomes.

The present study focuses on how a father's supportive presence during interactions with his child influences his/her social outcomes in adolescence. Ethological theories of attachment provide a theoretical basis for the investigation of father-child interactions because they provide us with an explanation regarding how and why child-caregiver relationships function to influence a child's development and later social functioning. Structural equation modeling was used to construct a theoretical model by which fathering behaviors influence later psychosocial outcomes, particularly impulse control and risky behaviors during adolescence. For boys, supportive mothering behaviors had a greater influence on impulse control than supportive fathering behaviors. The opposite was true for girls. For girls, supportive fathering behaviors had a greater influence on impulse control than supportive mothering behaviors. Impulse control served a partial mediating effect between supportive parenting behaviors and risk-taking behaviors. For sons, supportive mothering behaviors had a significant positive impact on impulse control during adolescence. Conversely, for daughters, supportive fathering behaviors—but not supportive mothering behaviors—had a significant positive impact on impulse control during adolescence. In fact, supportive mothering behaviors had an insignificant effect on daughters' impulse control during adolescence,

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Introduction: A population especially overlooked in early childhood development research is the ‘missing-middle’, predominantly represented by middle-income, urban populations. Research typically focuses on populations that are either from lower- or upper socioeconomic classes. Insight into the risks, protective factors, and developmental outcomes of children from middle-income populations is needed to guide the implementation and customisation of early intervention policies and services. Aim: The study aimed to describe the developmental outcomes of young children aged six to 24 months from an urban, middle-income setting in South Africa using a descriptive correlational research design. Method: The Vineland-3 was used to describe the developmental outcomes of 55 children between six to 24 months, from an urban, middle-income setting in South Africa. The mHealth PEDS was used to identify caregivers’ concerns regarding their children’s development. Results: Caregivers’ concerns were positively associated (φ = 0.355; p = .024) with their children’s overall developmental outcomes, emphasising their valuable contribution in early identification of developmental delays. Fifteen percent (n = 8) of participants’ children presented with developmental delays, with low birth weight identified as a significant developmental risk (p = .011). Within this sample population, higher maternal education was identified as a significant protective factor (p = 0.16). Conclusion: Developmental delays, risks, strengths and protective factors exist within an urban, middle-income South African setting. Early childhood development can be promoted in all income settings by using baby wellness clinics as a point of access to identify children at risk for developmental delays through caregiver-led developmental screening. Prioritising early childhood development across different socioeconomic classes will help ensure that all children reach their full developmental potential. / Dissertation (MA (Speech-Language Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / National Research Foundation (NRF) / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / MA (Speech-Language Pathology) / Unrestricted

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The study focuses on challenges in the development of learner-centred and process-oriented teaching and learning in the learning areas, natural science (NS) and mathematics in South African schools. The aim of NS is to develop scientifically literate learners. The three Learning Outcomes (LOs) and the accompanying Assessment Standards (ASs) should enable learners to understand the science products or system of ideas such as underlying theories and principles. The LOs point out the learner’s abilities to use the sciences products or system of ideas. Educators encounter challenges in the application of the LOs and ASs in teaching and learning activities. Against this background, a mixed method study was conducted in selected schools in the Tshwane South District in Gauteng. Data were gathered by document analysis, focus groups and a questionnaire to gauge how the educators are applying the LOs and ASs. Findings indicated that lessons plans were inadequate and educators were not familiar with curriculum documents. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Sciences Education)