A questionnaire called the Mothers' Questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of measuring mothers' attitudes towards their nursery school aged children. To establish whether there is any relationship between mothers' answers to this questionnaire and the adjustment of their children, a second questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of the measurement of children's adjustment. This questionnaire was to be answered by the nursery school supervisors of the children. The questionnaires were first administered to a group of twenty mothers and to the nursery school supervisors of their children, and then to a group of 124 mothers and the nursery school supervisors of these mothers' children. On the basis of these two administrations three revisions were made of the mothers' questionnaire and one was made of the nursery school supervisors' questionnaire. Each new form was developed through the elimination of those items from the previous form that did not differentiate between high and low scoring subjects. The correlation obtained between mothers' attitude and children's adjustment scores was significant but not high enough to permit prediction from one to the other. During further investigations of the relationship between mothers' attitudes and children's adjustment it was found that mothers of only children have on the average less desirable attitudes than those who have several children. Mothers have generally the best attitudes towards their nursery school aged children when there are older children in the family. This study also indicates that whereas mothers with desirable attitudes towards their children rarely have children who are poorly adjusted in nursery schools, mothers with undesirable attitudes frequently have well adjusted children. There does not seem to be a simple straightforward relationship between mothers' attitudes and children's adjustment. Good mothers have a stronger influence on the adjustment of their children than have mothers with undesirable attitudes. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study investigated the relationship of personality type and parenting style. Using a sample of convenience, 102 parents (71 female, 31 male) completed three tests: the Myers Briggs Type Indicator which measures personality types, 64 items from the Block Child Rearing Practices Report which measures parental child rearing attitudes and values, and FACES III which measures family functioning. Forty of the 64 items from the Block Child Rearing Practices Report clustered into two homogeneous groups that served as subtests for parenting style. A canonical correlation between four personality type scores (extraversion-introversion, sensing—intuition, thinking—feeling, judging— perceiving) and two parenting style scores (nurturance, restrictiveness) indicated significant relationships between personality and parenting. Parents who were strong on sensing and moderately introverted tended to employ a parenting style that was highly restrictive and moderately nurturant. Parents who were strong on perceiving and moderately extraverted tended to employ a parenting style that was highly nurturing and much less restrictive. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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Toxoneuron nigriceps is a koinobiont larval endoparasitoid of the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens. No koinobiont parasitoid (which develop in active, growing hosts) has been reared completely in vitro. However, T. nigriceps has been partially reared in vitro, from egg stage through 2nd larval instar and from 2nd to 3rd larval instar. Despite reaching its final larval instar, T. nigriceps failed to develop past the larval stage. In the following study, two aspects of T. nigriceps development, post-egression tissue feeding and cocoon formation through pupation, were examined to determine why T. nigriceps failed to develop in vitro beyond the larval stage and how in vitro rearing might be improved to rear T. nigriceps to adulthood. The importance of post-egression feeding and the possibility of developing an artificial post-egression diet were examined by manipulating the post-egression feeding behavior of T. nigriceps. The tissues of pre- and post-tissue feeding T. nigriceps larvae were analyzed to investigate the macronutritional benefit of post-egression feeding. A preliminary artificial post-egression diet was tested, and the putative quality of T. nigriceps reared to adulthood using this diet was examined. The formation of subterranean pupation chambers by healthy and parasitized H. virescens larvae was examined to investigate potential behavioral manipulation by T. nigriceps during this process. Finally, the potential use of artificial pupation chambers by T. nigriceps was investigated. Post-egression feeding was determined to be a vital part of T. nigriceps development, contributing to both parasitoid size and survival to adulthood. A preliminary artificial post-egression diet was developed, which facilitated rearing of T. nigriceps from 3rd larval instar to adulthood. The dimensions and burial depth of chambers formed by parasitized H. virescens were significantly different from those of chambers formed by healthy H. virescens, suggesting that T. nigriceps manipulated host behavior during excavation. Toxoneuron nigriceps was able to use a number of common laboratory items as substitute pupation chambers during cocoon formation, and the merits of several artificial chambers were discussed. With provision of an adequate post-egression and artificial pupation chamber, in vitro rearing of T. nigriceps from the larval stage to adulthood may be possible.

Thesis (M.A. in human development)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2007. / Title from title page screen, viewed on February 11, 2008. Dissertation Committee: Steven A. Juliano (chair), Diane L. Byers, L. Philip Lounibos, Charles F. Thompson, William L. Perry. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-163) and abstract. Also available in print.