This exploratory study examined whether temperament, home environment, and family stress impact the amount of prosocial behavior displayed by pre-school age low-income children and examined how much of an impact each factor has. Each factor was explored in depth along sub-scale dimensions including, (1) self-regulatory temperament, negative reactive temperament, and positive reactive temperament, (2) physical environment, emotional environment, and learning environment, and (3) family stress due to financial difficulties, interpersonal tension, and child problems. This study applied a combination microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem person-process-context model to explore the role these factors played. Subjects were 35 low-income pre-school age children who were enrolled in the Oregon Head Start Pre-kindergarten Program at Oregon State University. The Children's Behavior Questionnaire: Short Form, the Early Childhood Home Inventory, the Family Events Checklist, and the Modified Prosocial Behavior Questionnaire were used to obtain information about the relationship between the factors and prosocial behavior. Results indicated that the physical aspects of the home environment tended to positively contribute to the production of prosocial behavior and that family stress due to financial difficulties tended to negatively contribute to the production of prosocial behavior by low-income pre-school age children. This study did not establish that temperament was significantly related to prosocial behavior. These results have implications for those who are responsible for shaping children's behavior, such as teachers, parents, and home visitors by providing specific areas of focus for impacting behavior. These findings also support programs such as the Oregon Head Start Pre-kindergarten Program because it provides a venue through which impacts can be made. / Graduation date: 2000

As increasing numbers of poor children enter child care programs due to changes in work requirements under the Welfare Reform Act, there is a critical need to examine factors that may affect the quality of care that these children receive. One factor that has received limited attention in the literature is how preservice teachers' perceptions of young children may vary according to characteristics of the child and the context in which the child exists. The current study employed an ecological person-process-context model to examine differences in preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. The sample for this study consisted of 68 children and 28 preservice teachers enrolled at a university-based preschool in Oregon. The preschool was the only site in the state featuring an integrated program in which Head Start children were enrolled with non-Head Start children under an Oregon Prekindergarten Program (OPP) grant. Hierarchical regression was used to determine if the contextual factor of enrollment in OPP would be a more significant contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence than the person factors of child age, sex, race/ethnicity, temperament and actual child competence. Qualitative data was also collected through focus group discussions with preservice teachers. Sex was the most important contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social competence, followed by enrollment in OPP, actual social competence, and age. For preservice teachers' perceptions of children's cognitive competence, age was the most significant contributor, followed by actual cognitive competence, enrollment in OPP, and sex. While enrollment in OPP was not the most significant contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence, it was still a significant contributor, beyond other person variables. For both social and cognitive competence, preservice teachers rated children enrolled in OPP lower than their non-OPP peers, girls higher than boys, and older children higher than younger children, even when the unique contribution of children's actual competence was included. Qualitative data generally supported these findings. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed. / Graduation date: 1999

Graduation date: 2004

The purpose of this cross-sectional population study was to provide an assessment of weight status of a county's preschool population utilizing the new growth charts and expressed as Body Mass Index, or BMI, -for- age percentile. This study was conducted in conjunction with an annual health screen for incoming kindergartners and consisted of two phases. The first phase involved assisting in the collection of, and statistically analyzing preschoolers' data collected during the Tillamook Health Screen on May 23-25th, 2001. Height, weight, blood pressure, hemoglobin, and blood lead levels were measured. Also, the preschoolers' parents completed a 24-hour food intake record and answered questions on mealtime habits. Phase Two consisted of a mailed questionnaire that was sent to parents of preschoolers who were screened in May, 2001, to investigate dairy food consumption, where meals are eaten, and physical activity habits of their preschoolers. Four significant findings were documented in this research. Foremost, Tillamook County preschoolers had a lower prevalence of healthy weight and a higher prevalence of at risk of overweight and overweight levels than children their age nationwide. Also, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased with increasing BMI-for-age percentiles for males and females. Third, hours spent viewing television—sedentary behavior—was positively related to BMI-for-age percentiles. The combination of more hours of physical activity with less television viewing time was inversely related to BMI-for-age percentiles. Last, Tillamook County preschoolers who were above the healthy weight range ate more Food Guide Pyramid servings of concentrated fats/sweets than children in the healthy weight range. Data that were not strong enough to reach conclusions about weight status related to dairy product consumption, fat content of dairy products, mealtime habits, meals eaten away from home, blood hemoglobin, and blood lead. Also, no significant associations were found between dairy food intake and blood hemoglobin, blood lead, or blood pressure. Even at preschool ages, physical activity and diet are important to assess when increasing rates of overweight levels and associated increases in blood pressure are being investigated. / Graduation date: 2003