A relationship was predicted between identity and depth of involvement in sexual activity. According a theory of identity development, people with weak identities should feel threatened by the empathy and suspension of identity characteristic of deep sexual involvement. In contrast, people with strong identities should feel free to be more deeply involved in sexual activity. Marcia's ego-identity statuses were used as predictors of frequency of nonnormative sexual activities, the reasons for engaging in sexual activities, sexual conflict, and the affective quality of sexual encounters. The Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status was used to assess the identity statuses of 25 female and 19 male sexually active college students. These students then documented their interpersonal sexual behavior over four weeks with forced-choice diary entry forms. Largely consistent with the hypotheses, subjects in the moratorium identity status, when compared to nonmoratorium subjects, showed greater tendencies to avoid deep involvement in sex or with their partner, but also had greater tendencies to express themselves sexually. The exact relations between identity and sexual practices depended on domain of identity crisis. An interview of the subjects designed to assess the subjects' identity statuses in the sexual domain categorized almost all subjects as foreclosed, although most subjects reported changes in their sexual preferences, standards, and behaviors over the past few years. Apparently, sexual identity development does not involve conscious and rational evaluation of alternatives, as is the case for vocational or ideological identity development, nor does sexual identity evolve from declarations of norms by authority figures or peers. The standards of students are based on their emotional reaction to past experience. These emotions draw from the students' beliefs that sexual activity symbolizes either mutual love or mutual debasement. By their actions towards each other, particularly after an episode of sex, the partners approach a consensus on which of these meanings the sexual activity symbolizes. Through this process, students unwittingly socialize each other toward a common sexual standard.

Pregnancies in teens ages 15 and younger are increasing, despite a variety of prevention efforts. Children's Defense Fund stated that qualitative research is needed to gather information from the teens' perspectives to fill gaps in the literature and increase understanding of the phenomenon. This research addressed the following questions: (1) What are the perceptions of young pregnant teens about themselves and their relationships with their families and male partners? (2) What commonalities and differences exist among young pregnant teens' descriptions of themselves and their relationships with their families and male partners? (3) Which of the perceptions of young pregnant teens correspond to, and which differ from findings in selected literature about teen pregnancy? Jessor's Problem Behavior Theory was used as a framework. This theory indicated many variables which may result in proneness to engaging in problem behavior, including teen pregnancy. From among variables designated by Jessor's framework, those of self, family, and male partner emerged as probably relevant to teen pregnancy and as foci for data collection. Fourteen questions were delineated and used as a guide to data collection. A convenience sample of ten pregnant teens ages 14 and 15 was recruited from urban and rural schools and clinics. One interview was conducted with each subject. Data were analyzed with the assistance of an interdisciplinary team of reviewers, and responses to the interview questions were determined. Findings included the facts that many in the sample were good students who valued education, were involved in athletics, and had educational plans which included high school and college. They had a strong preference for the alternative school setting. The maternal grandmother apparently played a key role in the family; many of the teens' relationships with their male partners were tense before the pregnancies occurred; several of the male partners had problems with alcohol, violence, and the law; and there was a variety of family support available for the teens. All of the subjects had information about sex and birth control. The prevalence of the dysfunctional family typified in the literature was also a theme for this sample.

Using the qualitative methodology of grounded research, this study sought to discover whether or not internal developmental changes are fundamental to the transformation process of moving from welfare dependency to self-sustaining, economic self-sufficiency among welfare dependent mothers who enroll in highly structured academic and career related training programs to become practical nurses. To realize their goal of welfare independence, subjects entered a grant-funded, community college Career Access Program in Nursing which offered a progressive hierarchy of career ladder steps including Patient Care Assistant training, Developmental and Academic coursework, and Licensed Practical Nurse preparation. Utilizing eight welfare dependent mothers as subjects and an interview protocol modeled on developmental principles, the researcher tracked the transformation process as indicated by changes in self-identity, movement towards autonomy, and cognitive growth, and analyzed situational, economic, and other demographic themes. Within the context of the study is an analysis of the potency of gender, class, and socioeconomic status on issues of female dependency and empowerment; the impact of age and stage on readiness patterns of welfare dependent mothers; and the relationship of gender related themes of affiliation and interdependence on women's career choices, maternal relationships, and learning preferences. The study's most important finding emerged within the realm of psychosocial change. The results indicated that a welfare dependent mother's ability to reconstruct her gender role to encompass a self-identity which is both psychologically and economically autonomous is core to her successful transformation process. This dissertation presents a "process model of change" which depicts four discrete, invariant, domain specific stages of change which are embedded within the transformation process: Precondition, Transition, Reconstruction, and Independence. This model subsumes the multiple changes acquired by the subjects in the external arena of skills and knowledge competencies, as well as within the internal domains of psychological and cognitive functioning. This model contains constructs from which intervention strategies may be developed aimed at reducing welfare dependency through education and empowerment, as well as for evaluating the effectiveness of intervention programs proposed to promote long term, economic self-sufficiency among welfare dependent women.

Women's attitudes concerning their understanding of and relationship to the environment were explored in relation to Robert Kegan's structural clinical-developmental model of ego development, using a randomly selected sample of 27 women between the ages of 40 and 49 from a Massachusetts town. Ways of thinking about the environment were differentiated qualitatively according to ego stage. Extended illustrations of stage distinctions focused on the women's feelings of relationship/connection to the environment, including the impact of religion and spirituality on their attitudes, and on their presented rationale for their environmentally related behaviors. Several additional measures were utilized to explore related questions quantitatively, including the following: Is concern for the external environment related to one's treatment of the internal environment--that is, personal, physical health? Environmental concern as measured by Weigel and Weigel's Environmental Concern Scale was significantly correlated with self-reported personal health care behaviors. Will age be related to ego stage? Within this sample of women in their 40's, age was significantly negatively correlated with ego stage. Explanations for this negative correlation are discussed within a historical context. In conclusion, educational implications and relevance to clinical practice are discussed.

Learning to read is a major developmental achievement with wide ranging societal, educational, and economic costs associated with low literacy attainment. A robust body of literature has documented the stability and persistence of reading difficulties in early elementary school, underscoring the importance of identifying and intervening with children at risk early in development, before they enter formal education. Current efforts to identify children early in development who will require specialized educational support are missing a significant segment of children, and in turn, the opportunity to intervene early. This study evaluated competing models of the factor structure of emergent literacy skills and examined predictive relations between social communication skills in the second year of life and later emergent literacy skills using structural equation modeling (SEM) within a longitudinal sample of preschool children (4–5 years) with diverse early developmental skills. A similar latent structure of emergent literacy skills was found for children with typical development (TD) and early developmental delay (EDD), yet differences in how specific emergent literacy skills relate to one another were documented between groups, possibly reflecting differences in emergent literacy development between children with TD and EDD. Analyses also documented predictive relations between early social communication and preschool emergent literacy skills, supporting the characterization of literacy development as a continuous developmental process beginning early in life. This study extends the current literature by documenting relations between early social communication skills in the second year of life and later preschool emergent literacy skills using a well-characterized longitudinal sample of young children with diverse early developmental abilities. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 19, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Wetherby, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hugh Catts, University Representative; Christopher Lonigan, Committee Member; Christopher Schatschneider, Committee Member; Jeanette Taylor, Committee Member.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate factors that contribute to the social adjustment to college for gifted emerging adults. Specifically, perceived parental attachment, and social competence were included. Additionally, social competence was examined to determine if it served as a mediator between parental attachment and social adjustment to college. Results from bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses revealed positive, significant correlations between parental attachment and social adjustment to college, parental attachment and social competence, and social competence and social adjustment to college. Analyses also found that social competence partially mediated the relationship between parental attachment and social adjustment to college. Limitations, implications, and future research directions were discussed. The majority of research regarding gifted individuals focuses on the experience and developmental domains within the K-12 setting. The findings of the present study add to the significant dearth of literature concerning the college experience of gifted individuals. Specifically, the results provide support that a secure parental attachment influences positive development of social competence and better social adjustment to college in gifted emerging adults. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Child and Family Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 16, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Kendal Holtrop, Professor Directing Thesis; Ming Cui, Committee Member; Lenore McWey, Committee Member; Steven Pfeiffer, Committee Member.

No description available.

This study takes a look at baby signing and its effect on caregiver responsiveness, considering how vital caregiver responsiveness is when it comes to language development. A meta-analytic review that quantitatively combines data was conducted to estimate the effect size between baby signs and caregiver responsiveness. There were no restrictions on geography or culture in which studies were conducted. However, the time period of publication was limited from 2009 to 2020 in an attempt to examine the most recent research possible. The following search terms were used: baby signing, gestures, caregiver responsiveness, caregiver interactions, and caregiver. For a study to be included it must have met a specific criteria. Based on the criteria, a total of three articles related to baby signs and caregiver responsiveness were located. Each study was coded for outcomes related to caregiver responsiveness and the influence of signs and gestures. Age of participants was classified as months of age based on either the age range of participants provided or the mean age of participants. Each study was also coded for the research design that best described the study, the location of data collection, and publication year. The present meta-analysis found a significant positive relationship between baby signs and caregiver responsiveness. The r value for the relationship between the use of baby signs and caregiver responsiveness was .72. The estimates of the study were not substantially different from the overall effect size which indicates that no single study made a disproportionate contribution to the overall effects. The current study provides preliminary evidence that the use of baby signing influences caregiver responsiveness, which in turn, promotes language development.

Our naïve theory of social behavior assumes that the positive and negative actions of others are caused by some underlying social disposition. Furthermore, adults automatically infer such traits in advance based upon whatever observable, even superficial, properties are available (e.g., how someone looks or sounds). The goal of the current study is to explore the developmental origins of this bias. We tested whether 12-month-old infants automatically infer a character’s social disposition (i.e., whether they ‘help’ or ‘hinder’ another character’s goal) based upon the superficial properties they display. Infants were habituated to two characters that possessed surface properties that were rated either more positively (a soft, fluffy appearance and a happy-sounding laugh) or more negatively (a sharp, pointy appearance and a deep, ominous laugh) by adults. We then observed whether babies showed more visual interest in the characters that engaged in social actions that were inconsistent rather than consistent with their appearance. A control condition helped determine whether any observed looking differences were based upon infants inferring a causal relationship between surface property and disposition or a non-causal association between positive and negative characteristics. Results from these two studies showed that infants are able to use an agent’s superficial properties in determining that agent’s future behavior.

No description available.