Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 61 p. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 31-37).

Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Parenting is one of the most salient influences in children's development, particularly during early childhood. Substantial theoretical and empirical evidence has linked sociodemographic risk to compromised parenting, and has contributed to the development of two-generation programs to support low-income parents and their young children. Despite decades of research on these families, little is known about how styles of parenting change across time, how children's emotion regulation influences parenting styles, or how risks predict longitudinal stability and change to parenting. Furthermore, it is unclear how one two-generation program, Early Head Start, promotes positive parenting styles and buffers against contextual risks. The aim of the three papers in this dissertation study is to describe maternal parenting within a low-income sample, by linking longitudinal trajectories of parenting to contextual risks, Early Head Start, children's emotion regulation (ER), and risk for child maltreatment. Guided by the bioecological model, and components specific to the Ecological-Transactional Model of Child Maltreatment (Cicchetti et al., 2010), these three papers indicate specific risks that are most salient to exhibiting unsupportive parenting behaviors: family conflict, maternal depression, and attitudes and beliefs that indicate risk for child physical abuse. Furthermore, the papers highlight important methodological considerations for the study of parenting at risk, children's ER, as well as for clinicians assessing risk. The three papers, collectively, highlight the complex interplay of determinants of parenting, including sociodemographic characteristics, psychological factors, interpersonal relationships, child effects, family-level characteristics, and Early Head Start involvement.

Although sensation-seeking status is associated with age of initiation and amount of drug use among adolescents, and sensitivity to the behavioral and reinforcing effects of drugs among young adults, it is unclear whether sensation-seeking status among adolescents is predictive of sensitivity to the pharmacological effects of drugs (i.e. abuse potential) as adults. This study examined the acute behavioral effects of oral diazepam and d-amphetamine in young adults, ages 18-21 years, who had consistently scored in the highest or lowest third of their grade-based cohort on a modified Sensation Seeking Scale that was completed annually between ages 10 and 14 years. Healthy participants completed 16 7.5-h test days, with test days separated by a minimum of 48 h. Each day, assessments consisting of computer task performance, verbal report of drug effects, and cardiovascular measures were completed 0, 50, 110, 170, 230, and 290 min after drug administration. Placebo and three active doses of diazepam and d-amphetamine (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/70 kg) were tested under double-blind conditions according to a randomized-block design. Typical stimulant and sedative effects were obtained with d-amphetamine and diazepam, respectively. Drug effects varied as a function of sensation-seeking status, with magnitude of effects on cardiovascular function, task performance, and report of positive drug effects being greater among high sensation seekers, and report of negative drug effects being greater among low sensation seekers. Adolescents who report high levels of sensation seeking on a consistent basis are more sensitive to pharmacological effects of stimulant and sedative drugs that are associated with abuse potential as young adults.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3327.pdf: 911481 bytes, checksum: c1f66ef62dbb8f60a08d24dc68ba23a8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-27 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / This study aimed at developing a cross-validation of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) to Brazil. The specific objectives were to verify the semantic equivalence of the measure, to investigate and to assess the content validity, and to investigate and assess the construct validity using Item Factor Analysis and reliability. To evaluate the general and referential meaning of the CAP Inventory s items, 6 researchers translated the CAP Inventory and assessed it using the Assessing Semantic Equivalence Form. An English teacher also conducted a back-translation, and, finally, 13 parents evaluated the comprehension of each item. In terms of the general meaning, 89.4% of the items were considered without the need of changes. The Portuguese version of the CAP Inventory showed 81.4% of agreement between judges about the referential meaning of items. In general, 19 items (12%) were altered. To evaluate the content validity, three expert researchers participated as judges. By using the Assessing Content Validity Form, it was verified that when there was only one concept in an item, the judges agreed above 80% in 9 (31.1%) items. When there were two concepts, the judges agreed above 80% in 4 items (10.8%), and when there were 3 concepts, the judges did not agree above 80% in none of the items. In terms of construct validity, 135 parents were selected using a random sample procedure, and they answered the final version of the CAP Inventory, and a demographic questionnaire. Data from other Brazilian studies with the same version of the CAP were used to expand the analysis. In terms of participants profile for the present data: mean parent age of 35.9 years, female, married, less of four years of education, 2.5 children (mean). Demographic data were similar to other Brazilian studies and the North-American sample, except for years of education which was higher for the North-American sample. To analyze data from the CAP Inventory, a cross-adaptation of the validity scales was needed to define the cutscore for Brazil. The mean score for potential child abuse in the Brazilian sample was 180.1(102. 5). This result was higher than the mean score in the North-American sample which was 91 (75). Using the Principal-Components Factor Analysis, a structure of 5 factors was chosen: distress, unhappiness, rigidity, problems with child and others, and discipline. The resulting structure showed similarities to the original factor analysis of the English CAP Inventory, except for the discipline factor. It was hypothesized that the Brazilian version of the CAP Inventory could present an alternative factor structure to the original North-American version. Other studies should be developed to verify this hypothesis. The Crombach alpha of internal consistency was 0.95. In general, data showed positive results of semantic equivalence and content validity, construct validity and reliability, what confirms the hypothesis of viability of cross-adaptation of the CAP Inventory to Brazil. However, other studies should be conducted to create a strong body of knowledge that it will allow analysis of tendencies and relationships between results. / O objetivo foi realizar a adaptacao transcultural do Inventario de Potencial de Abuso Infantil (CAP) para o Brasil. Os objetivos especificos foram realizar e avaliar a equivalencia semantica do instrumento, sua validade de conteudo e sua validade de constructo. Para avaliar o sentido geral e referencial de cada item, 6 pesquisadores realizaram a traducao do Inventario CAP e o avaliaram, por meio do Formulario para Avaliacao de Equivalencia Semantica. Adicionalmente, um professor de ingles realizou a retrotraducao, e 13 cuidadores avaliaram a compreensao dos itens. Em relacao ao significado geral, 89, 4% dos itens foram considerados inalterados. O Inventario CAP demonstrou um indice de 81,9% de concordancia entre os juizes sobre o significado referencial dos itens. No total, 19 itens (12%) do instrumento foram reformulados. Para verificacao da validade de conteudo, participaram tres pesquisadores especialistas que atuaram como juizes. Por meio do Formulario para Avaliacao da Validade de Conteudo verificou-se que, quando havia apenas um conceito expresso no item, houve concordancia acima de 80%, entre os juizes, em 9 itens (31,1%). Quando havia dois conceitos, houve concordancia acima de 80% em 4 itens (10,8%), e quando havia 3 conceitos, nao houve nenhum item com concordancia acima de 80%. Em relacao a validade de constructo, participaram 135 cuidadores que foram selecionados por amostragem aleatoria simples e responderam ao Inventario CAP e a um questionario sociodemografico. Bancos de Dados de outras pesquisas, realizadas no Brasil, foram utilizadas para ampliar a analise dos resultados. O perfil dos participantes do estudo foi: cuidador com idade media de 35, 9 anos, sexo feminino, casado(a), com escolaridade inferior a quatro anos de estudo, com media de 2, 5 filhos. Os dados sociodemograficos foram semelhantes aos encontrados nos outros bancos de dados do Brasil e na amostra comparativa norte-americana, excetuando-se, o nivel de escolaridade, que foi maior na amostra norte-americana. Para analisar os dados advindos das escalas do Inventario CAP, procedeu-se, primeiramente, a adaptacao das escalas de validade do instrumento que possibilitou a definicao das notas de corte para o Brasil. Em relacao ao escore de potencial para abuso fisico infantil, a media de escore da amostra brasileira foi de 180, 1 (102, 5), resultado superior ao encontrado na amostra norte-americana que foi de 91 (75). A partir da Analise Fatorial de Componentes Principais decidiu-se pela estrutura de 5 fatores, denominados como: sofrimento, infelicidade, rigidez, problemas com a crianca e com os outros e disciplina. A estrutura encontrada apresentou similaridades com a analise fatorial original do Inventario CAP, excetuando-se o fator disciplina. Hipotetiza-se que a versao brasileira do instrumento possa apresentar uma estrutura fatorial alternativa a versao original norte-americana, sendo necessario outros estudos a fim de verificar tal hipotese. Por meio do alfa de Crombach chegou-se ao coeficiente de 0, 95 de consistencia interna. Em geral, os dados apresentaram resultados positivos sobre a equivalencia semantica do instrumento, sua validade de conteudo, validade de constructo e fidedignidade, confirmando as hipoteses relacionadas a viabilidade de adaptacao do Inventario CAP para o Brasil. Entretanto, a fim de gerar um corpo de conhecimento que permita a analise de tendencias e relacoes entre os resultados aqui principalmente relacionadas a verificacao da validade de constructo.

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Dissertation war, die spezifischen Effekte von mütterlicher Misshandlungserfahrung, Depression und Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung auf kindliche psychische Gesundheit zu identifizieren und mediierende Pfade zu testen. Das erste spezifische Ziel war zu ermitteln, ob mütterliche Misshandlungserfahrung und Depression nicht nur einen Effekt auf kindliche Psychopathologie haben, was bereits gezeigt werden konnte, sondern auch auf kindliche Lebensqualität. Das zweite Ziel war, spezifische Übertragungspfade zu identifizieren, die diese intergenerationalen Effekte von mütterlicher Misshandlungserfahrung, Depression und Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung auf kindliche psychische Gesundheit hinsichtlich der Lebensqualität und Psychopathologie erklären können. Es wurden alle drei mütterlichen Risikofaktoren als gleichwertige Prädiktoren in einer Studie untersucht und gleichzeitig verschiedene Mediatoren berücksichtigt. Der Fokus dieser Dissertation lag dabei auf mütterlichen emotionalen und behavioralen Charakteristika wie Erziehungsverhalten, emotionalen Kompetenzen und Misshandlungspotenzial als potenziellen Mediatoren. Zusammengefasst konnten wir zeigen, dass mütterliche Depression nicht nur einen Effekt auf die Psychopathologie der Kinder hat, sondern auch auf deren Lebensqualität. Dieser Effekte wurde meditiert durch Feinfühligkeit und Erziehungsstress der Mutter. Sowohl schwerere Misshandlungserfahrung, als auch Depression und Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung erhöhen das mütterliche Misshandlungspotenzial. Wir konnten weiterhin zeigen, dass erhöhtes mütterliches Misshandlungspotenzial einen Effekt auf kindliche Psychopathologie hat. Schwierigkeiten in der Emotionsregulation wurden dabei als Mediator für den Effekt von Depression und Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung auf Misshandlungspotenzial identifiziert und empathischer Distress als Mediator für den Effekt von Depression und Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung auf kindliche Psychopathologie. / The overall aim of this dissertation was to disentangle the specific contributions of maternal early life maltreatment (ELM), major depressive disorder (MDD), and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) to child mental health and identify specific mediating pathways of intergenerational transmission. The first specific aim was to test the hypothesis that ELM and MDD not only bear a risk for child psychopathology – which has previously been shown – but they also influence child quality of life (QoL). The second aim was to identify specific mediating pathways that might explain these intergenerational effects of ELM, MDD, and BPD on child mental health regarding child QoL and psychopathology. The set of studies in this dissertation have incorporated two or all three of these maternal risk factors as predictors in one study and considered several potential mediators. This dissertation thereby focuses on maternal emotional and behavioral characteristics such as parenting behavior, emotional competences and abuse potential in mothers with ELM, MDD, and BPD as mediators for the effects on child mental health. In summary, our findings show that maternal MDD not only poses a risk for child psychopathology but also for child QoL. Sensitivity and parenting stress mediated this effect. We found elevated abuse potential in mothers with MDD, BPD, and higher ELM and a link between abuse potential and child psychopathology. Difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the effects of MDD and BPD on abuse potential. We also identified personal distress as a mediator for the effect of maternal MDD and BPD on child psychopathology.