Recent research has demonstrated the importance of endophenotypes, intermediate constructs between genotype and phenotype which index the risk for developing a particular disorder, in better defining developmental pathways to ADHD. This study involved an investigation of two promising candidate ADHD endophenotypes, intrasubject variability in reaction time (ISV RT) and infrared measures of micromovements, examining the potential of these endophenotypes in differentiating between ADHD and typically developing (TD) populations. All participants completed a diagnostic and cognitive assessment followed by an experimental task, the McLean Motion and Attention Test System (MMAT), in which data related to ISV RT and micromovements was collected. Results indicated significant differentiation between ADHD and TD samples according to a number of measures of micromovements, with small to medium effect sizes (Eta squared=.039-.059) in a child/adolescent sample as well as generally large effect sizes (Eta squared=.203-.270) in an adult sample. Building on previous work with child/adolescent populations, this study represents the first attempt to extend research on micromovements to adult populations, providing support for the utility of this endophenotype across the lifespan. Results related to ISV RT were inconsistent, as measures contributing to significant differentiation between ADHD and TD populations differed between child/adolescent and adult samples. Finally, correlations between movement variables and age illustrate that while indicators of hyperactive/impulsive movements decrease over time in both ADHD and TD samples, significant differences between ADHD and TD populations appear to be maintained throughout the lifespan. Implications for further research aimed at better defining the psychobiology of ADHD are discussed, noting the importance of the micromovement endophenotype in contributing to a broader understanding of the complexity of ADHD.

Many urban minority youth are at high risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). While consistent condom use remains the most effective intervention for preventing transmission of HIV and other STDs between sexual partners, low levels of assertive communication between romantic partners has been associated with inconsistent condom use. Guided by Uncertainty Management Theory, the current study hypothesized that high-risk youth with high relational uncertainty would demonstrate low levels of assertiveness during a laboratory-based condom negotiation task with their current romantic partner. It was also hypothesized that assertiveness would be positively correlated with condom use. A video-recall paradigm was used to assess youths' subjective interpretations of their condom negotiation communication with their romantic, opposite sex partner. Dyadic multilevel models revealed that hypotheses were not completely supported. While depressed men with high relational uncertainty showed low assertiveness, depressed women showed high assertiveness. Post-hoc analyses revealed a curvilinear relationship between couples' assertiveness and condom use, with the highest levels of condom use being found among moderately assertive couples. Unexpectedly, adolescents rated themselves and their partners in almost exactly the same way. Results suggest that adolescents' condom negation is a dynamic process that is influenced by both partners' perceptions and behavior. Results are interpreted at the individual, social-developmental, and contextual levels. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.

The number of Latino children in the United States is steadily increasing. Many of these children are underperforming academically, with noticeable gaps in math and literacy between Latino and White children apparent by kindergarten. In coming years, researchers and policymakers will be confronted with the challenge of developing interventions, such as high quality child care, to better prepare Latino children for their entry into kindergarten. Findings from several studies already suggest that high quality center-based child care arrangements may have positive impacts on Latino children's academic outcomes. Such research is informative and has important policy implications; however, several gaps still remain in the literature. First, while center-based care appears to have larger effects on school readiness than parental care for Latino children, we know less about how different center-based arrangements compare to each other (e.g. Head Start vs. pre-kindergarten) or how different home-based arrangements compare to each other (e.g. parental vs. other home-based care). Second, most studies have estimated the effects of care arrangements for 3- and 4-year old children. We know relatively little about the effects of care arrangements for Latino children younger than that. Finally, many studies come from a single site or city, limiting the variability of data and generalizability of findings. This dissertation aims to address these gaps in the literature by drawing on a nationally representative sample of Latino American children from the birth cohort of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B). With these data, this dissertation first examines the association between care arrangements the year before kindergarten (YBK; Head Start, pre-kindergarten, other center, parental, home) and outcomes at kindergarten entry (math, literacy, and approaches to learning) for Latino American children. I then extended this inquiry to estimate impacts of care arrangements at 2 years (center, parental, home) and outcomes at kindergarten entry for Latino children. Finally, for Latino children from Spanish speaking homes, I examine whether the primary language of instruction (Spanish or English) is associated with outcomes at kindergarten entry. Results from Propensity Score Models (PSM) reveal few significant differences between care arrangements for Latino children. Among those significant differences that did emerge when care arrangement was measured the YBK, most were for English literacy outcomes. Latino children in center-based care arrangements (Head Start, pre-kindergarten, and other-center) scored significantly higher than those in home based care. Latino children in Head Start also scored higher than those in parental care. No significant differences emerged between the three center arrangements. Even fewer contrasts were significant when math was the outcome (center > home; Head Start > center), and no contrasts were significant when approaches to learning was the outcome. Follow-up analyses indicated that the findings were not very robust. Moreover, those significant differences that did emerge could be explained by differences in care arrangement quality. Second, results from PSM models at the 2-year wave did not reveal any significant contrasts for Latino children. Children scored similarly on math, literacy, and approaches to learning in kindergarten regardless of the care arrangement they attended at 2-years. Finally, results from PSM models showed that the language of instruction plays an important role in predicting kindergarten readiness outcomes. Latino children whose teachers spoke primarily Spanish scored significantly lower on math and literacy compared to those whose teachers spoke primarily English. These results were not explained by several characteristics of classroom quality (e.g. teacher qualifications, classroom size, time spent on reading and math activities).

In recent years, sexual harassment among adolescents has received significant national attention in the media and from behavioral science researchers. Initial research focused predominantly on describing the prevalence of peer sexual harassment (PSH) among adolescents and understanding the associated outcomes. More recently, researchers have begun to examine individual and contextual risk factors for victimization. Using the problem behavior hypothesis, opportunity theory and developmental theory, a theoretical framework to identify risk factors for PSH was developed, namely risky behaviors (i.e., self-reported delinquency, aggression and friend support for counter conventional behaviors) and sexual saliency variables (i.e., flirting, dating and opposite sex nominations). Moreover, this is the first study that has used classroom demographic factors (i.e., percent male and class size) to predict PSH. Thus, the current cross-sectional study adds to the literature by examining the associations of individual variables with PSH using multilevel modeling techniques, taking into account the nested design of students within classrooms, with theoretically based correlates (i.e., classroom variables, risky behaviors, sexual saliency factors) to examine vulnerability factors for PSH. A cohort of 8th grade students from an urban, culturally diverse and low-income school district was used. Self-report and peer-reported data were obtained from 744 students in the fall. Self-report measures include PSH (AAUW, 1993; 2001); self-reported delinquency (Elliot, Huizinga, and Ageton, 1995), a modified friends' support for counter conventional behaviors scale (Schierer and Botvin, 1998); and dating frequency. Peer ratings of aggressive behavior, flirtatious behavior, and opposite sex peer nominations came from the Revised Class Play (Matesen, Morrison, and Pellegrini, 1985). Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that PSH scores did not significantly differ between classrooms. As such, all variables were disaggregated to the individual level. Regression analyses found that classroom variables of class size and percent male were not related to the experience of PSH. Risky behaviors (i.e., self-reported delinquency, friend support for counter conventional behaviors, peer rated aggression) was a significant factor, with self reported delinquency being significant for girls and boys and peer rated aggression was a significant predictor for boys. Sexual salience variables (i.e., dating, flirtatiousness, opposite sex nominations) was also a significant factor, with flirtatiousness being a significant predictor for girls and boys and dating being significant uniquely for girls. Findings indicated that risky behaviors account for a greater variance in PSH victimization in boys, whereas sexual saliency account for a greater proportion of variance in girls. Findings also indicate that 6th grade pubertal status was predictive of 8th grade PSH. These results were discussed within the context of clinical implications for schools and future research directions.

Changing demands of the workplace require that schools teach students to think critically. The new Common Core State Standards stress that to prepare for college and careers, students must be capable of engaging in skilled evidence-based argumentation, which entails use of evidence to support one's own claims and to weaken arguments of the opposing position. In Study 1, middle-school students who had participated in a one or two-year curriculum designed to develop argumentation skills were recruited. Previous use of the curriculum had shown it effective in developing students' skills in supporting arguments with evidence. However, they displayed only limited use of evidence to address and weaken opponents' arguments, a finding replicated in the present study. A prompt was therefore instituted, explicitly instructing them to undertake this goal in a post-intervention essay assessment. This simple instruction enhanced middle school students' use of evidence-based arguments to weaken an opposing claim, indicating that the skill to do so was within their competence but they possibly were insufficiently aware of its relevance to use it without prompting. Study 2 was undertaken to determine whether a novice group of middle schoolers similarly needed only a prompt to display this skill critical to argumentive reasoning. They were provided with only minimal experience in discourse with peers on the same social issue used in Study 1 (whether cigarette sales should be banned), following which they were asked to write individual argumentive essays, first without any prompt and then with the prompt instructing them to attempt to weaken an opponent's position. In this group, essays following the prompt showed no greater use of arguments to weaken, compared to essays with no such instruction. Nor was there an effect of whether students' prior dialogs had been with agreeing or disagreeing peers. These results indicate that the weaknesses of Study 2 participants, in understanding the objectives of argumentation and in executing the strategies to achieve these objectives, were more fundamental and not ones remediable by a simple prompt. Overall, the results of both studies thus point to the need for extended engagement and guided practice in order for students to master the skills of argument.

Critical incidents of parent coping with their provocative children were observed over eight interviews with 27 at-risk parents whose demographic profiles typically matched that associated with the so-called "feminization of poverty". Following the Lazarus stress-appraisal-to-coping paradigm, relationships between child provocativeness and parent cognitive appraisal of the situation were analyzed, and the relationship of each of these respective social and psychological levels of stress to actual coping behavior studied. The role of anger--an emotion often associated with abuse--was also examined in relation to these stress and coping variables. And, finally, the temporal order of these components of the coping process was analyzed. Adaptiveness of parent cognition and coping behavior varied with the stressfulness of the situation when this was defined as child provocativeness. There were indications that the positive aspects of child provocativeness, parent cognition, and parent coping behavior went together, with child provocativeness being dependent on parent cognition and behavior rather than the other way around. Thus, it was concluded that abuse should be viewed as a transactional encounter which, while immediately triggered by provocative child behavior, is also dependent on preceding parent behavior, and parent cognitions. The implications were for prevention and intervention efforts which foster more adaptive levels of both cognition and behavior in parents. While all relationships were not statistically significant, support was found for the primacy of cognition in coping: the temporal order which Lazarus posits, i.e., that cognition precedes emotion which precedes actual coping behavior, was supported. It was recommended that findings be interpreted cautiously, with consideration of the small size and heavily minority makeup of the sample. It was also recommended that additional sources of stress in the parent-child relationship, and related parent cognitions and coping responses be identified in research. The PCE study design and instruments were seen as appropriate models for such expanded study. It was emphasized that in follow up studies involving similar minority samples, increased consideration be given to measurement and interpretation in light of cultural reality. The correspondence of cognitive perspectives with social work values, goals, and daily work at the interface of person and environment was noted, and recommendations were made for helping students and practitioners make the needed cognitive shift toward integrating such perspectives in practice.

<p> This study examined the differences in playfulness between girls and boys, ages 36 &ndash; 60 months, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and their neurotypical peers. Previous literature had noted differences in playfulness between children with ASD and neurotypical children, but none differentiated the playfulness between girls and boys with ASD or did not include girls with ASD in the study. Caregivers completed an online version of the Children&rsquo;s Playfulness scale. Data for 50 girls diagnosed with ASD, 45 neurotypical girls, 56 boys with ASD, and 49 neurotypical boys were analyzed using a 2 x 2 factorial ANOVA. Post hoc testing was done for differences for specific questions. The study revealed that significant differences exist between the playfulness of girls and boys with ASD, similar to the gender differences that exist between neurotypical children. Significant differences were noted in the areas of physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, cognitive spontaneity, and manifest of joy. These findings suggest that much of what is known about the play behaviors of children with ASD may not be reflective of girls with ASD. The play behaviors of children are used to help identify some of the criteria for determining the presence of ASD in children. If the play behaviors in girls differ from that of boys, girls with ASD may be misdiagnosed, diagnosed later, or not be diagnosed at all. As a result, they may not receive intervention or support that could be beneficial for optimal development. Further research is needed in this area to accurately identify and quantify the play behaviors of girls with ASD. This will enable researchers to develop a diagnostic measure for girls so that the possibility that they are misdiagnosed, diagnosed later, or not be diagnosed is minimized.</p><p>

No description available.

No description available.

This study was designed to examine the effect teaching five and one-half to six-year-old children analytical and conceptual thinking strategies would have on their subsequent performance on the Bender-Gestalt Test. The sample was composed of 34 kindergarten children in this age range from the Providence Elementary School. They were randomly divided into two groups of equal size; one group was then given three 10-minute training sessions over three days which were designed to teach them analytical and conceptual thinking strategies. The other group was also given three 10-minute sessions with the investigator; however, they were only involved in looking at and identifying pictures./p> The hypothesis that the group receiving this training would have lower error scores on the Bender-Gestalt Test was not substantiated by this research. One possible explanation for these results is that the training given was not extensive enough to effectively teach the use of these concepts as measured by their test performance.