Several theoretical risk models were proposed previously regarding the prediction of child maltreatment. Although child maltreatment was predicted individually in these models by such variables as parent temperament, emotional and behavioral regulation, stress, coping, and child temperament, these variables were not yet examined collectively. As such, a new transactional theory was proposed for the current study. As part of this study, a national community sample of 158 culturally diverse mothers of young children who were between the ages of 1½- to 5-years rated their own temperament, emotional and behavioral regulation abilities, parenting stress, daily hassles, and coping behaviors as well as their young children's temperament. Correlational analyses demonstrated many significant relationships among the variables of interest. In addition, hierarchical regression analyses suggested that several parent (i.e., mother mood quality, mother flexibility/rigidity, emotion dysregulation, parenting stress, cumulated severity of stress, and emotion-focused coping) and child characteristics (i.e., young child mood quality) added unique incremental variance to the prediction of child maltreatment potential. Finally, mediation analyses indicated that mothers' emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between mothers' flexibility/rigidity and child maltreatment potential. Overall, this study contributed information regarding the importance of emotion dysregulation as a mechanism through which difficult mother temperament may be related to increased child maltreatment potential. Accordingly, these findings suggested that emotion regulation skills may serve as a potential point of intervention for mothers who are at increased risk for child maltreatment due to difficult temperament characteristics.

The main purpose of this research synthesis was to determine recommendations that promote the development of a trauma-informed approach in Venezuelan schools to address the traumatic effects of political unrest in young children through a systematic review of existent intervention programs. After conducting an initial search, four studies were identified that studied the effectiveness of an intervention program in schools targeting trauma in children younger than 14 years old. Results showed that there were four categories that all studies incorporated. All intervention programs used an assessment tool to determine PTSD presence and symptomatology, as well as other domains that could be impacted. The assessment was used to determine the need for extensive intervention and to record the effectiveness of the program. The development of the intervention program was carefully established. Approaches varied in length, intervention provider, curriculum used, and ages, yet all focused on either Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Play Therapy as the foundation. Third, teachers were trained and received support throughout the study. Training included education on the repercussions of trauma, symptomatology, and ways to address the need of children. Clinicians provided ongoing classroom support to improve the environment. Finally, in three of the studies, parents received training on trauma symptomatology and the effects of trauma. Parents learned strategies to work with their children and were able to take part in the intervention. Even though the understanding of trauma in childhood populations dates back to World War II, there is a lack of tiered intervention programs provided in schools for children at risk. In Venezuela today, children experience an ongoing environment of toxic stress paired with systemic oppression trauma. Thus, there is a need for an intervention program to reach large groups of children that does not generate an economic burden on parents. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of effective methods that can be used for a further intervention program. New policies need to be established to ensure that the most vulnerable populations receive all the services needed to succeed in the future and that the socioeconomic gap is narrowed.

Negative body image can cause serious psychological problems. In some Western societies, body image concerns can develop at a young age, with early preadolescents preferring thinner bodies and reporting body dissatisfaction. The aims here were to clarify the significant gaps in published research, and to challenge existing assumptions around weight, muscularity, and body satisfaction in children. In addition, this novel research focused on young children’s body dissatisfaction, particularly young boys (aged 4-11 years). Traditional measures of body satisfaction are limited and do not incorporate muscularity, assess individual body parts, or indicate the direction of dissatisfaction. Here, new visual measures were developed along with a prototype application for a touch-screen tablet to measure body satisfaction in children. Through 4 innovative experimental studies the current research explored factors influencing body image: including gender, age, ethnicity, BMI, perceived body size, and sociocultural factors (e.g. cultural ideals and body size stereotypes). Results consistently supported the findings of study 1 which showed gender differences in body satisfaction: boys were more dissatisfied with their bodies than girls, and their dissatisfaction varied over the different body parts (torso, arms and legs). Stereotypical idealised body perception was evident: boys wanted to be muscular and girls desired to be lean. In study 2, ideal body choices saw boys choosing more muscular figures and girls more lean figures for the self, than the ones they choose for another boy or girl. Boys desired more muscular ideal figures than what they perceived the opposite sex would choose. Study 3 revealed the pattern of assigning positive attributes was gendered. Boys viewed the hypermuscular figure the most positively and girls the normal weight and lean figures the most positively. However, both sexes did not want to look like the overweight figure as a child or adult. Study 4 showed parent’s body satisfaction and their perception of their child’s current body size predicted child’s body satisfaction, and exposure to media predicted the child’s ideal and future ideal adult figure choices. Overall, a combination of factors involved in the development of children’s body image were revealed, including sociocultural influences, age, ethnicity, and perceived body size. The research carried out within this thesis has extended our knowledge of pre-adolescent’s body dissatisfaction, has developed innovative measures for use with younger children, and revealed fascinating findings around young boys’ body image.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Physical activity (PA) in preschool children (3- to 5-year olds) is characterized by short bouts of intermittent movement, generally accumulated during free play activities. Little is known about how the amount of PA or the patterns of PA accumulation are related to health in preschoolers. Ninety-six healthy preschool children (46 boys, 50 girls; 4.4 ± 0.9 years) participated in assessments of PA, body composition, health-related fitness, blood pressure, and motor proficiency. PA data were collected for 7 consecutive days using Actigraph accelerometers. PA prevalence was assessed by the amount of total and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in min/day and as a % of wear; PA patterns were assessed by the frequency and duration of MVPA bouts and by the duration of breaks between MVPA. Younger preschoolers engaged in less PA than older preschoolers, according to measures of prevalence and patterns (<em>p </em>< 0.05). Girls participated in less PA, less frequent MVPA, and longer breaks between bouts of MVPA compared to boys (<em>p </em>≤ 0.001, for all). Health-related fitness was higher in preschoolers who engaged in more total PA, more frequent bouts of MVPA, longer bouts of MVPA, and shorter breaks between bouts of MVPA (<em>p </em>< 0.05, for all). Blood pressure was higher in preschoolers taking longer breaks between bouts of MVPA (<em>p </em>< 0.05). Motor proficiency was poorer in preschoolers who participated in shorter bouts of MVPA (<em>p </em>< 0.001). Preschoolers who met current PA recommendations of 180 min of total PA and 60 min of MVPA daily had better body composition and health-related fitness, respectively, compared to their peers who did not meet recommendations (<em>p </em>< 0.05). To the best of our knowledge, these data are the first to provide support for new PA guidelines and to demonstrate relationships between PA and health-related fitness and blood pressure in preschoolers. Our findings indicate that PA patterns are just as important as PA prevalence in describing relationships between health measures in preschool children.</p> / Master of Science in Kinesiology

<p>Leptin, an adipose derived hormone, has emerged as a regulator of bone metabolism. Recent findings support a role of leptin in the process of fetal bone remodeling during pregnancy; however, the link between maternal leptin during pregnancy and offspring bone status is undocumented. Evidence exists that the intrauterine environment plays a role in programming peak bone mass that is achieved in late adolescence and thus osteoporosis risk later in life. We investigated the association between maternal leptin during the third trimester and offspring bone mass at 3 years of age.</p> <p><strong>Method:</strong> Based on a sub-sample of a prospective birth cohort study, we conducted analysis on 425 mothers from whom maternal blood samples in pregnancy were analyzed for leptin and 25- hydroxyvitamin D, and whole body bone mass by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry were available for both mother and child at 3 years. Data were collected for maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), lifestyle, and nutrition during pregnancy, as well as the child’s nutrition and physical activity at 3 years.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> Women obese on entering pregnancy have a two-fold greater circulating leptin during pregnancy than women with normal weight BMIs. Maternal age and skinfold thickness were positively associated with maternal leptin status. However, maternal leptin status was not a significant predictor of offspring BMC z-score at 3 years of age, when adjusted for relevant maternal and child variables. Maternal vitamin D status was also not a predictor of offspring bone status. Rather the key predictors of child BMC z-score were maternal bone mineral density z-score and child’s weight and vitamin D intake at 3 years.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> While maternal leptin status during pregnancy is highly variable among women of different BMI categories, in utero exposure to leptin is not a significant factor that influences child bone status at 3 years of age when adjusted for other relevant variables.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Kidney transplant recipients must take immunosuppressive medications to prevent the rejection of their transplanted kidney. If female transplant recipients become pregnant, however, very limited data are available about the effects of these medications on their exposed offspring. This study specifically reviews two of the most commonly used immunosuppressive medications prescribed to transplant recipients, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, and evaluates physical and cognitive development of the recipients' children who were exposed to these medications in utero. Participants in this study (n = 71) were female kidney transplant recipients who (a) voluntarily consented to be part of the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry, (b) took cyclosporine or tacrolimus while pregnant, (c) had a child who is under the age of 6 years at the time of the study, and (d) were reachable via phone. Participants were asked standardized assessment questions related to their child's cognition and physical abilities from the Development Assessment of Young Children (DAYC). Standard scores from the assessment were recorded and analyzed to show that children exposed to cyclosporine or tacrolimus showed higher cognitive scores on the DAYC compared to the normative population. Children exposed to cyclosporine also showed higher physical scores compared to the normative population. Children exposed to tacrolimus did not show significant differences in physical development from the normative population. When cyclosporine or tacrolimus are required during pregnancy, these results help provide reassurance to parents and medical care providers about the cognitive and physical development of their offspring. Practical implications for school psychologists, limitations of this research, and directions for future research were discussed. / School Psychology

The purpose of this research was to investigate how adults identify music behaviors of young children in play-based early childhood settings. The research questions were (1) Are there statistically significant effects of training, parental status, or direction condition on the number of individual musical acts identified by adults? (2) How does response latency vary based on training, parental status, and direction condition? (3) Of the music acts identified by the subjects, what types of music acts are identified as consensus acts (those identified by 75% of subjects or more within any three-second window)? and, (4) How do consensus acts differ with regard to type, frequency, and difficulty? Seventy-two adults (24 child development teachers, 24 early childhood music teachers, and 24 musicians) participated in the study. Of the 24 subjects in each group, half were parents, and half were nonparents. Subjects were randomly assigned equally to two direction conditions: Meaningful Direction Condition and Intentional Direction Condition. Subjects watched video of young children (five to fifteen months old) and adults interacting musically in a play-based early childhood setting. Subjects in the Meaningful Direction Condition pressed the space bar on a computer when they thought any child in the video demonstrated a meaningfully musical behavior; subjects in the Intentional Direction Condition pressed the space bar when they thought any child in the video demonstrated an intentionally musical behavior. When each subject pressed the space bar, a computer program recorded time stamp data. Subjects in the Early Childhood Music Teacher (ECMT) group identified significantly more music behaviors than subjects in the Child Development Teacher (CDT) group and the Musician group. There were no significant differences in the total number of music behaviors identified according to parental status or direction condition. Subjects in the ECMT group agreed statistically significantly more often than adults in the CDT group and the Musician group that behaviors demonstrated by children in the video were music behaviors. Adults in the Parent group agreed statistically significantly more often than adults in the Nonparent group that behaviors demonstrated by children in the video were music behaviors. When adults identify consensus acts, young children's music behaviors contain common features: beat-related movements and vocalizations. Adults in the ECMT group agreed significantly more often than adults in the CDT group and the Musician group that vocalizations demonstrated by young children were music behaviors. Adult ability to identify music behaviors as measured in this study is dependent upon musical training and experience, but not solely. Specialized early childhood music pedagogy may help adults identify behaviors (especially vocalizations) demonstrated by young children as music. / Music Education