The purpose of this study was to investigate the shared and unique contributions of three metalinguistic skills to the word reading and reading comprehension abilities of Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. Across studies, the metalinguistic skills of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and orthographic knowledge have emerged individually as important predictors of ABE students' word reading and reading comprehension skills. In contrast to the children's literature, no studies have simultaneously included and considered the shared and unique predictive utility of all three metalinguistic skills to reading skills in ABE students. In addition, the study examined whether the relations of the three metalinguistic skills to reading comprehension were mediated by decoding and vocabulary knowledge. Jointly, the best fitting models indicated that the predictors accounted for 64% of the word reading variance and 91% of the reading comprehension variance. The metalinguistic skills did not emerge as uniquely predictive of word reading or reading comprehension skills; however, all three metalinguistic skills were significantly, indirectly related to reading comprehension via decoding and vocabulary knowledge as mediators. These results help to develop a more comprehensive model of the underlying component processes involved in ABE students' word reading and reading comprehension skills. The findings also may inform instructional practices and future intervention research in ABE programs. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2015. / June 8, 2015. / Adult Basic Education, Decoding, Metalinguistic Skills, Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Knowledge / Includes bibliographical references. / Christopher Schatschneider, Professor Directing Dissertation; Young-Suk Grace Kim, University Representative; Sara A. Hart, Committee Member; Michael P. Kaschak, Committee Member; Richard K. Wagner, Committee Member.

One resource to which children might look for role models is in the available literature. Stereotypically sexist depictions of girls and women in literature may serve not only to reinforce sexist attitudes in society, but also to impact the psychological development of females. Little Red Riding Hood is a classic example of a stereotypically sexist depiction of the protagonist, whose traditional portrayal ranges from polite and naive, to carnal and seductive. ^ This study is a qualitative critical analysis of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, from its oral beginnings to the latest contemporary retellings of the 1990's, examining the protagonist's depiction through both text and illustration. The retellings span six decades and are separated into three distinct categories to correspond with particular intellectual movements to which they conform; Traditional, Modern, and postmodern. Books which fall into the Traditional by updating the story, but the changes are usually superficial ones. The books in the Postmodern category are retellings that make more meaningful changes to the tale by addressing the political implications of the story, taking a critical look at the protagonist's portrayal. ^ This study examines how Little Red Riding Hood's image has changed over time, rather than asking if she has changed. Change is inevitable and not always a forward progression. Change can be a step backward and serve to reaffirm, rather than to dispel sexist stereotypes. When superficial changes to the story are made, depicting the protagonist in contemporary clothing for example, with no regard to her thoughts and actions, the reader receives a mixed message. The protagonist may look like a twentieth century young girl but may still behave according to 17th Century social standards as set forth by Charles Perrault who purportedly first penned the tale. ^ While Little Red Riding Hood's outward appearance changes (clothing, landscape) sometimes dramatically, throughout her written history, her inner personality characteristics with which we are so familiar, the naiveté, unwavering politeness, and pleasant demeanor, often remain constant and serve to define her as the quintessential victim. ^

This study evaluated the effects of an interactive, psychologically-oriented program upon pubertal growth, egocentrism, self-consciousness, and self-esteem for seventh-grade girls. An experimental group (N = 16) volunteered for an activity that taught about communication, stress-management, peer-refusal, and leadership, and applied their learnings to development of self. A sub-group (N = 11) taught a self-designed replication of this information to younger children. Three control groups were comprised of same-age girls: Those who volunteered for either Chorus (N = 15) or Sports (N = 6), and those who did not volunteer for an activity (N = 9) and were assigned to Study Hall. All students voluntariLy participated in this study. A pre-test, post-test design was applied to four measurements: The Puberty Scale, The Self Focus Sentence Completion: A Study of Egocentricity, The Self-Consciousness Scale, and a Self-Esteem Inventory, before and after the activity curricula. The results determined that all of the girls were significantly aware of their growth in height, perceived that their growth was similar to others, and the Sports Group was bothered by the growth. An examination of the conclusions related to the hypotheses revealed four significant findings about the experimental group: they achieved a balanced Self-Other egocentric ratio, they exhibited a decrease in social anxiety, they remained higher in private self-consciousness, and they demonstrated an increase in self-esteem. The three control groups did not shift from divergent to convergent thinking about self and other, even in a minimal way and showed marginal changes in self-consciousness and self-esteem. The Sports Group, however, revealed a significant decrease in self-esteem. The overall results indicate that a personal and interpersonal curriculum enhances positive psychological development in seventh-grade girls.

Individuals who display high levels of reward sensitivity are motivated by and respond to reward related cues, thus exhibiting more approach-motivated behaviors. A majority of the research on physiological indices of reward sensitivity in relation to self-regulatory abilities has focused on adults or adolescents, with relatively little work examining these associations in children. Thus, the current study sought to examine whether a common neural measure of reward sensitivity, left frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry, assessed in early childhood was predictive of children’s later self-regulation abilities in the context of reward delay. Emerging inhibitory control skills were also examined as a potential moderator of the association between reward sensitivity and self-regulation. The frontal asymmetry measure of reward sensitivity was assessed at Time 1, when children were between the ages of 4 and 7 years old. The Time 2 visit occurred 18-24 months later, at which point children completed a flanker task to assess inhibitory control and a lock-box task to measure two components of self-regulation: behavioral control (i.e., task effort and attentional focus) and emotion regulation (i.e., expressions of anger). Children with average levels of reward sensitivity showed the highest levels of overall effort (collapsed across low, moderate, and high effort scores) and the lowest levels of weak effort. Additionally, inhibitory control iv moderated the relation between reward sensitivity and effort such that children with low reward sensitivity and strong inhibitory control showed the highest levels of overall and moderate effort as well as the lowest levels of weak effort. There were no significant associations between reward sensitivity, inhibitory control, and attentional focus or anger expression. These results suggest that EEG frontal asymmetry is a useful physiological marker of reward sensitivity when predicting specific types of regulatory abilities in children.

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This dissertation examines the association between the quality of children’s language experiences – as operationalized by adult verbal warmth – and their cognitive developmental outcomes. A socioeconomically diverse sample of 43 parents and their 5-to-9-year-old children participated in this study. A digital audio recording of the home environment was obtained, and children completed a high-resolution, structural MRI scan as well as direct assessments of their language and reading skills. The audio recordings were transcribed and coded using a coding scheme newly developed by the candidate in consultation with leading experts, in order to identify and quantify psycholinguistic elements of adult-child communication. Primary hypotheses included that adult verbal warmth is associated with (1) language and reading outcomes (2) the neural regions associated with each. To date, no studies have combined a transcription-based, fine-grained analysis of naturalistic home recordings with neuroimaging data. As such, this study represents a new line of inquiry at the nexus of developmental psychology, neuroscience, and education. The findings shed light on the impact of psychosocial language experiences on child development and on which forms of adult-child communication are most conducive to learning. Such information can inform programs that aim to teach parents ways to nurture their children’s development through high-quality child-directed speech. Social, educational, and clinical implications for mitigating risk factors and bolstering protective factors in order to, ultimately, foster healthy development for all children, are discussed.

Relative to males, females have historically been underrepresented among recognized creators, inventors, and innovators. Despite vast strides toward female empowerment and gender equality in various social, political, and employment arenas, a trend of gender imbalance in many creative endeavors has persisted into the present day. Although real-world and anecdotal evidence present a clear disparity, the actual empirical literature regarding gender and creative capabilities presents a more muddled picture about gender differences. Some studies have suggested female superiority; some suggest male superiority; some suggest gender equality; and still others suggest that either gender can excel creatively depending on various measurement and contextual factors. The purpose of the current study was 1) to systematically investigate the accumulated evidence on gender differences in creativity and 2) to explore the conceptual factors and potential moderators that may account for past discrepancies in the literature. Specifically, a meta-analysis was conducted to address the question of whether females and males tend to differ in mean level of creativity across the empirical literature and also whether a variety of moderating variables (i.e., creativity construct, domain specificity of measure, measure format, sample age, study era) affect the relationship between creativity and gender. In order to collect a pool of primary studies to address these questions, a systematic literature search was conducted, pulling for studies across the lifespan and throughout historical eras. All studies relating gender to an individual-level, quantitative measure of creative ability or achievement were eligible for inclusion, resulting in a variety of included assessment instruments (i.e., divergent thinking performance tests, evaluation of creative products, self-report inventories, other-report inventories). The literature search returned 271 eligible studies, yielding 480 independent effect sizes and a total N of 137,247 participants. Analyses showed a significant relationship between creativity and gender overall (g ̅= .056, p < .05), such that females showed slightly higher creativity than males across all studies. Creativity construct and age were found to be marginally significant in moderating the association between gender and creativity, and creativity test format was significant at p < .05 as a moderator. However, in a multiple regression combining the predictive power of these three variables, age was no longer found to be a significant moderator. Domain specificity and study era were also not found to be significant moderators. Results of the study were discussed in terms of the strengths and limitations of the design, suggestions for future research, and practical implications for both males and females in pursuing their creative passions. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2016. / February 29, 2016. / Creativity, Divergent Thinking, Gender, Meta-analysis, Sex Differences / Includes bibliographical references. / Steven I. Pfeiffer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kathleen M. Clark, University Representative; Angela I. Canto, Committee Member; Martin A. Swanbrow Becker, Committee Member.

Adolescent depression is a common health problem. Despite the cost of treatment for adolescent depression continually increasing, the majority of adolescents who experience a depressive episode will experience another episode before the age of 30. As family therapists, the parent-adolescent relationship is particularly salient because it can be a point of intervention for improving adolescent depression symptoms. The parent-adolescent relationship is complex. However, much of the research examining the parent-adolescent relationship focuses on quality of the relationship. Using data form the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this study examined: 1) whether closeness, communication, conflict, and autonomy were distinct dimensions of the parent-adolescent relationship; 2) whether these dimensions can be used to create meaningful profiles of the parent-adolescent relationship; 3) whether closeness, communication, conflict, and autonomy differ in early adolescent and middle adolescent relationships; and 4) if adolescents within specific relationship profiles are more likely to exhibit depression symptoms and change in depression symptoms compared to other relationship profiles. Results demonstrated that closeness, communication, conflict, and autonomy were distinct dimensions of the parent-adolescent relationship that can be used to create four meaningful profiles. Using attachment theory, the profiles were labeled secure, avoidant, anxious, and detached. Adolescents in the avoidant profile for cohort 12 reported more depression symptoms at wave 1 and a larger decrease in depression symptoms after two years when compared to all other profiles. The results of this study suggest areas of assessment and intervention for clinicians working with adolescents presenting with depression symptoms. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 21, 2017. / Adolescence, Depression, Parent-Child, Relationships / Includes bibliographical references. / Lenore McWey, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carter Hay, University Representative; Ming Cui, Committee Member; Melinda Gonzales-Backen, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a second year in kindergarten on the self-concept, peer acceptance, academic attitude, classroom adjustment, and academic achievement of children who were identified by their kindergarten teacher as developmentally unready for first grade. The ex post facto study, which was conducted in a large school district in northern California, was unique in its longitudinal nature. Whereas other studies looked at subjects over a 2 or 3 year period, no other study was found that examined the effects of kindergarten nonpromotion over an 8 year span. The sample comprised 63 pupils who entered kindergarten between the chronological ages of 5 years 3 months and 4 years 9 months and who were assigned primarily to one kindergarten teacher. The subjects were divided into two groups: (1) The developmentally immature nonpromoted (DI-N), the children whose parents accepted the recommendation for a second year in kindergarten and (2) The developmentally immature promoted (DI-P), the children whose parents placed them in first grade notwithstanding the teacher assessment of readiness. The subjects represented various racial backgrounds and different socioeconomic levels. An analysis of variance was used to compare the self-concept (SCAHIN), peer acceptance (BRP Sociometric Scale), academic attitude (EAS), classroom adjustment (DESB II), and academic achievement (CTBS) means for the two groups. Grade level was used as a controlling variable to parcel out differences between grades into separate categories, to provide information concerning possible interaction effect among factors, and to extend the generalizability of the findings. Results indicated that nonpromotion of the developmentally immature kindergarten child had a positive effect upon subsequent levels of peer acceptance, academic attitude, classroom adjustment, and academic achievement. The difference between means was beyond the .01 level for the BRP and beyond the .05 level for scores on the EAS, 5 of 6 of the scores on the CTBS and 10 of 14 factors on the DESB II all favoring the nonpromoted group. The differences in the cumulative CTBS mean scores favored the nonpromotcd group and were beyond the .01 level at every grade. Although nonsignificant F-values beyond p>.05 were obtained on the variable self-concept, it was noted that the statistics consistently favored the nonpromoted group.

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