The current study focused on dyadic discrepancy, the difference between two individuals. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to compare three dyadic discrepancy estimation methods across a variety of potential research conditions, including variations on intraclass correlation, cluster number, reliability, effect size, and effect size variance. The methods compared were: raw score difference (RSD); empirical Bayes estimate of slope in multilevel modeling (EBD); and structural equation modeling estimate (SEM). Accuracy and reliability of the discrepancy estimate and the accuracy of prediction when using the discrepancy to predict an outcome were examined. The results indicated that RSD and SEM, despite having poor reliability, performed better than EBD when predicting an outcome. The results of this research provide methodological guidance to researchers interested in dyadic discrepancies.

Subjective feeling, or mood, is not just a product of situational and dispositional factors, but is also based in part on underlying circadian rhythms. Notably, accumulating evidence suggests that circadian patterning is limited to positive affect, possibly as an adaptive manifestation of an appetitive motivational system. Furthermore, dispositional factors may influence the observed patterning, such as blunting the rhythm in positive affect when depression is present. The present study sought to examine further these phenomenon at an individual-level, as well as to explore circadian and affective interactions at a couple-level for perhaps the first time by monitoring mood, interpersonal interactions, sleep, activity, and light in 31 bed-sharing cohabitating couples over the course of 7 days. Participants' depression, well-being, relationship satisfaction, and morningness-eveningness were also assessed. Systematic daily patterning was found in all three measures of affect, and was moderated by depression, well-being, and morningness-eveningness. Within-couple affective synchrony (covariation) was positively associated with relationship satisfaction, within-couple morningness-eveningness similarity, and synchrony of sleep timing. Finally, day-to-day within-couple sleep timing synchrony predicted the tenor of the following day's partner interactions and affect. These data provide further evidence of potentially important interactions between sleep, circadian, affective processes both within- and between-individuals.

Notre recherche s’intéresse au vécu du bébé dans la dyade lorsque la mère a vécu un événement traumatique et que lui ne l’a pas vécu. Pour ce faire, nous explorons l’impact du trauma maternel sur le contre-transfert d’un groupe de thérapeutes. Cette recherche qualitative est réalisée à partir d’entretiens collectifs. Des entretiens de recherche filmés mère-bébé ont été diffusé à huit focus groupes d’en moyenne cinq thérapeutes. Nous avons adopté une double méthode d’analyse du matériel : une analyse phénoménologique interprétative (Smith,2009) et une analyse psychanalytique de la dynamique groupale. Les résultats de notre étude mettent en avant la présence de manifestations contre-transférentielles intenses, s’exprimant à travers des réactions corporelles, sensorielles, verbales et affectives. L’exposition aux éléments irreprésentables du trauma, crée, une tension au sein du groupe, entraînant un repli sur des systèmes interactifs connus, et perturbe le recours aux outils de pensée habituels. L’enveloppe groupale et la fonction contenante sont particulièrement mobilisées et impactées par le récit des événements traumatiques. A travers les éprouvés sensoriels et les mécanismes d’empathie métaphorisante (Lebovici, 1998), les thérapeutes ont mis en lumière un sentiment de détresse originelle chez les bébés et des vécus d’abandon chez les plus grands. La dimension groupale favorise, cependant, le déploiement de mécanismes de défenses spécifiques permettant une relance des processus de pensée et de transformation. Cette recherche met en lumière les potentialités créatives d’un dispositif composé d’une équipe interprétante, dans la prise en charge de ces dyades, imposant la reconnaissance et l’analyse des éléments contretransférentiels et intertransférentiels. / Our qualitative research is part of a larger one which objective is to shed light on the infant’s experience in the context of his/her relationship to his/her traumatized mother. The mother’s trauma must have had occurred without the infant’s presence. Our section explores the impact of mother’s trauma on the countertransference reactions within focus groups of therapists. Eight groups composed each of four to five participants are shown a videotaped research interview of a traumatized mother and her infant. The data collected is analyzed upon the principles of two methods : the interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 2009) for the narrative discourse and the psychoanalytic analysis for the groups’ dynamics. Participants’expressed intense countertransference reactions : physical, sensory, cognitive and affective reactions. Exposure to the unrepresentable traumatic elements induces high tension in the group. The latter consequently withdraw into known interactional patterns as its thinking capacity seemed corroded by the toxicity of the traumatic elements.The “group envelope” and its holding function are eminently activated and impacted by the narrative of the traumatic events.Through the sensorial receptivity and the “metaphorizing empathy” (Lebovici, 1998) process,the participants’ reactions depict the original helplessness and the experience of abandonment experienced by new borns and infants. Moreover, the group dimension fosters the deployment of specific defensive mechanisms and restores the thinking and transforming processes. Our results reveal the pertinence and creativity of group settings in the treatment of mother-infant dyads stuck in the realm of trauma transmission. A group setting offers several interpretative capacities through the identification and analysis of countertransference and inter-transferencemechanisms.

Thesis advisor: Eric Dearing / For many children, preschool classrooms are a key context for early learning. While early education researchers and policy makers have focused considerable attention on the instructional and structural aspects of preschool classrooms, classic child development theory also points to the important role that peers play in early learning experiences (e.g., Vygotsky, 1978). Although best practices for early childhood education emphasize peer learning opportunities (e.g., Williams, 2001), adults, including early childhood teachers, often underestimate preschool children’s abilities to participate in cooperative interactions (Howes & Tonyan, 1999). And, within the empirical literature, many aspects of cooperative learning among very young peers remain poorly understood. This research aims to help build the knowledge base on peers and learning in early childhood. Seventy-two preschool children (mean age= 4.66 years) participated in a study designed to target counting skills through early math learning games that were adapted from empirically-supported curricula. In dyads (n=36), the children completed six game play sessions across three weeks with all sessions video-recorded and sessions one, three, and five coded for peer cooperative behaviors. The children’s general math skills were assessed prior to the first game play session and their counting skills were assessed after completion of the sixth game play session. The average rates of occurrence, and variations therein, of dyads’ peer cooperative behaviors during game play were examined. Using multi-level regression modeling to account for the dyadic nesting of these data, associations between cooperative behaviors and post-study counting skills were also explored. Results showed that these very young children demonstrated all of the peer cooperation behaviors of interest, including dyadic regulatory states and discrete peer cooperation behaviors (although the latter occurred less frequently than the former). Evidence that dyads’ peer supportive behaviors were significantly associated with their post-test counting scores was also found. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

No description available.

Due to the passage of Public Law 94-142 (1975), widespread attempts have been made to integrate children who have handicaps into settings with their nonhandicapped peers. Although integrated settings may provide the opportunity for social interaction to occur between children with and without handicaps, often interaction does not occur. In order to address the issue of how to best facilitate appropriate interactions in integrated settings, specialized programs such as the FMS buddy system (Quintero, Phelps, Striefel, & Killoran, 1987) have been developed to promote positive social interactions between children with and without handicaps. One important aspect programs such as the buddy system have not fully considered is the differential impact a nonhandicapped child could have on the level of social interaction of the child with handicaps. The impact the nonhandicapped buddy could make if constantly paired with the same child with handicaps may be different than the one a nonhandicapped child could make if paired, over time, in an alternating sequence with different children who have handicaps. In response to the question of possible differential impact, a single subject multiple baseline design was utilized to compare the effect constant buddies and rotating buddies had on the social interactions of 8 children who had handicaps. The intervention included training the buddies on how to interact with children who have handicaps and providing the opportunity for the children with and without handicaps to play together. Treatment effects were measured by direct observations of social interactions between the children with and without handicaps during free play and buddy sessions, sociometric measures, and attitude measures. Results indicated that pairing children who have handicaps with a nonhandicapped buddy increased social interactions between children with and without handicaps during buddy sessions. The level of interaction achieved during buddy sessions was not fully generalized to subsequent free play sessions. Buddies from constant dyads rated their playmates who had handicaps sociometrically higher than buddies from rotating dyads. Non handicapped children who served as buddies rated their buddy experience favorably. Suggestions for future research in this area are made.

Twelve porphyrin dyads linked by an ethene bridge were synthesised as model systems for conjugated polymers. The extent of interporphyrin interaction was investigated for meso-meso and meso-β linked homo- and heterobimetallo-porphyrin dyads. To complement these dyads, model monomers with alkenyl substituents were also studied. Once the synthesis of these compounds was achieved, the extent of interaction was studied using UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular modelling. In order to gain a true indication of the extent of interaction in a dyad, the effect of the bridge as a substituent must be accounted for. This was achieved by studying the series of monomers by UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. The increased conjugation resulting from mono- and bis-alkenyl substituents results in a red shift of the origin of transition energies in the absorption spectrum which is accompanied by a broadened and less intense Soret band and an increase in the intensity of the Q bands. The emission of these compounds also displays an increase in Stokes shift and a loss of vibronic coupling due to the increased conjugation. The serendipitous synthesis of three asymmetric meso-β ethene-linked porphyrin dyads was achieved by the use of palladium-catalysed Heck coupling of mesoethenyl- with meso-bromoporphyrins. A possible mechanism for this meso to β rearrangement was proposed. A series of nine meso-meso ethene-linked dyads was synthesised by palladium-catalysed Suzuki coupling of meso-(2-iodoethenyl)- with meso-borolanylporphyrins. All of these dyads were characterised by 1D and 2D NMR as well as MS analysis. The absorption spectra of ethene-linked dyads exhibit a split Soret band and a red-shifted and intensified HOMO-LUMO band. In the meso-β dyads, the degree of splitting in the Soret band is sufficient only to generate a shoulder on the red edge, whereas in the meso-meso dyads two separate bands appear. The extent of splitting is believed to be an indication of the amount of porphyrin-porphyrin interaction. The fluorescence profiles of the dyads change dramatically depending upon the central substituents in the porphyrins and the wavelength used for irradiation, which suggests that different conformations of these compounds give rise to different parts of their absorption and emission profiles. The fluorescence profiles of the dyads also do not reflect their absorption profiles, and therefore the excitation of the dyad is believed to be accompanied also by a change in geometry. All ethene-linked dyads exhibited an anti-Stokes shift, and the excitation spectra of the different parts of the fluorescence envelope also support the possibility of different conformers contributing to the fluorescence spectra. Molecular mechanics and time-dependent quantum mechanical calculations were performed on seven ethene-linked porphyrin dyads. These calculations further support the proposal of different conformations contributing to the physical properties of ethene-linked dyads. Electronic structure calculations also show considerable electron density on the alkene for the meso-meso ethene-linked dyads, which highlights the important influence of this bridge upon the electronic nature of these conjugated diporphyrins.

Notre recherche porte sur l’efficacité des systèmes d’évaluation du personnel. Nous étudions le déroulement de l’entretien annuel individuel, figure clé de l’évaluation. En nous fondant sur le cadre théorique de la structuration, nous montrons comment le déroulement de l’entretien, au-delà du « contexte immédiat de l’interaction », relève de contextes de signification plus larges. Il ressort trois dimensions de structuration des entretiens individuels, articulant les trois propriétés du structurel : la domination, la légitimation et la signification. Le contexte social et organisationnel produit un effet de domination qui soutient la légitimation de la démarche, auprès des acteurs. La signification est construite lors de l’entretien, sous l’effet d’interactions entre des facteurs individuels, relationnels et organisationnels. La structuration de l’entretien a des conséquences organisationnelles et individuelles, analysées en termes d’efficacité du système d’évaluation du personnel.Notre démarche de recherche, comprend une première phase d’analyse préalable combinant deux méthodes d’accès aux données (qualitative et quantitative) qui permet d’explorer le cadre formel des entretiens et de recueillir les perceptions auprès de dyades, composées d’un responsable et d’un collaborateur. La seconde phase, construite autour de deux études de cas, permet d’analyser les données dyadiques dans des contextes organisationnels différenciés. Nos nous appuyons sur une approche multi-acteurs et multidimensionnelle de l’efficacité du concept d’efficacité des systèmes d’évaluation du personnel, afin de rendre compte de son caractère circonstancié et construit. / Our research focuses on the effectiveness of employee evaluation systems. We study the structure of annual assessment interviews, considered to be the cornerstone of evaluation procedures. By underpinning our research on the theory of Structuration, we demonstrate how the structuration of the interview, in addition to the “immediate context of interaction”, depends on broader signification contexts. Three dimensions are identified, following the three properties of structures: Domination, Legitimation and Signification. The social and organizational contexts induce a Domination effect that amplifies the Legitimation of the interview process, as perceived by the actors involved. Signification is constructed during the interview, influenced by interactions between individual, relational and organizational factors. This structuration of the annual interview has organizational and individual consequences, which are assessed in terms of effectiveness of the employee evaluation systems.Regarding our research method, a first phase of preliminary analysis combining two methods of obtaining data (qualitative and quantitative) enabled us to explore the formal framework of assessment interviews and to record the perceptions of dyads, composed of a manager and an employee. The second phase, based on two case studies, enabled us to analyze dyadic data in different organizational contexts. We mobilize a multi-actor and multi-dimensional approach of employee evaluation system effectiveness in order to take into consideration its detailed, particular and constructed character.

The World Health Organization and the leading hospice organizations have emphasized the inclusion of family caregivers of hospice patients with cancer into end-of-life care, as these two dyad members may spiritually and emotionally influence each other. Given that depression and spiritual needs, which are prominent in these pairs, may impair quality of life (QOL) of hospice dyads, examining mutuality within dyads is imperative to develop a more accurate model that includes family caregivers. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to elucidate the importance of mutual effects within hospice dyads by examining the contribution of depression and unmet spiritual needs on their personal and their counterparts’ QOL. Structural equation modeling was used to integrate the feature of actor and partner effects in the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. After eliminating outliers, the final sample was comprised of 660 hospice dyads in which the majority of hospice patients were white (97%) and male (56.6%) with a mean age of 73 years. Most of the family caregivers were white (95.9%) and female (73.5%) with a mean age of 65 years. On average, hospice patients reported a depression score of 4.00 (SD = 1.53), and their family caregivers had a significantly lower mean depression score of 3.65 (SD = 1.48). With respect to their spiritual needs, 25.5% of hospice patients indicated going to religious services was an unmet need, and about 13% of family caregivers also reported that going to religious services was an unmet spiritual need, followed by being with friends, laughing, thinking happy thoughts, and being around children. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that depression and spiritual needs in cancer patients and family caregivers exhibited significant actor effects on the individual’s QOL after controlling for the partner effects. Among the spousal pairs, depression in family caregivers exhibited a positive partner effect on hospice patients’ functional well-being (β = .15, p < .05), implying that as depressive symptoms increase, hospice patients’ functional well-being increases. This study supported the need for considering both as one unit and the mutuality inherent in dyads. The findings of the study suggest the importance of consistent assessment in emotional and spiritual well-being for hospice patients as well as family caregivers, as their concerns may be transmitted to each other due to mutuality existing within the dyads.

No description available.