Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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Thesis (MSW) -- University of Newcastle, 2003. / School of Social Sciences. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-183). Also available online.

Cultural geography draws attention to the diverse meanings and values of groups in society, however, despite a growing interest in the geographies of children and youth, there have been few recent empirical studies investigating young people’s experience of place. In particular, comparatively little is known about the multiple realities of young people living in contrasting social and environmental contexts. This study investigates the multiple geographies of young people growing up in inner and outer urban areas of an English Midlands town in the late 1990s. An investigation of this kind is especially apposite in that it provides geographical perspectives on the widening, and increasingly more complex, discourses surrounding young people, space and society. This thesis uses participatory and ethnographic methods to engage young people in evaluating their local environments and to explore in detail the meanings, values and experiences young people associate with different places and place uses. The theoretical framework for this study is based on an extensive cross-disciplinary review of literature and informed by recent theories of childhood and youth, social change, social action, children’s rights, participation and citizenship and contemporary cultural geography. It adopts an holistic approach to understanding the complex and multifaceted world of young people as a product of their reflexive relations with their social and environmental contexts. The study recognises the multiple realities that exist within and between different groups of young people and the variable factors which influence young people’s geographies. It utilises conventional social variables such as gender and age to differentiate between ‘cultures of childhood’, together with contingency factors concerning location and parental influence. The study reveals both commonalities and differences in young people’s experience of place, which cut across social and spatial divides to give rise to a heterogeneity of childhood experiences. A major conclusion is that ‘lifestyle’ or ‘microcultures’ offer a more suitable way forward for future children and youth research. The thesis contributes to discourses of childhood and youth by investigating how childhood is constructed, contested and reproduced in neighbourhood space. The marginal status of young people in urban neighbourhood space is exposed in terms of the neglected spaces of young people, marked by a dearth of appropriate environmental provision, environmental hazards and conflict with adult place users. However, the thesis also reveals young people’s keenness to be more involved in improving their communities, together with a range of different ‘modes’ of participation in local decision making and community development processes. The thesis concludes by highlighting key implications for policy and planning with and for young people with respect to social and environmental provision for young people, environmental quality, and the social integration of young people in everyday community life, local decision making and environmental planning

Empirical work investigating children's temporal representations has included investigations of children's awareness of the past, present and future; their understanding of temporal order and their representation of duration. Previous work on children's temporal awareness leads to the question of whether children can access cognitive representations of durations in situations where the temporal aspects of the task are not made directly apparent either in the information given prior to stimulus presentation or in the subsequent question. There is very little evidence to indicate whether these representations might be accessed in the absence of any specific reference to the temporal aspects of the procedure. The empirical work in this thesis focuses on children's developing representation of duration in a procedure that avoids making specific reference to the temporal aspects of the task, in a context more closely analogous to their real world experiences where durations occur in the absence of salient prompts and cues. Results Data from over three hundred children who participated in the seven experiments in this series are encouraging and suggest that by the age of six years children do become able to differentially represent durations of 10 and 25 seconds in a procedure where no explicit reference was made to the temporal aspects of the experience, and the ability to differentially represent durations of 25 and 40 seconds, in this context, emerges later in development, at around eight years of age. 2 Conclusions This series 0 xperiments indicates that by six years of age children are able to represent durations in the absence of explicit reference to the temporal aspect of the task, and they are able to differentially represent durations of 10 and 25 seconds. Around eight years of age they are able to differentially represent durations of 25 and 40 seconds However whilst these findings indicate that children of six years and above may be able to differentially represent durations in this range.the inconsistencies in performance in the series of experiments suggest that the ability may be fragile. Whilst children in this age range are able to demonstrate the ability to code durations the limiting factors on their ability to do so in real world contexts remain unclear. Short abstract. Word count: 363.

The importance of parenting behaviour as a risk factor for the development and persistence of externalising behaviour problems, and as a focus for early interventions, has led to a desire for the accurate measurement of parenting attitudes and practices. Several methods of measuring parenting behaviour have been employed in theoretical research and program evaluation, including self-report and observational measures. Both of these methods have advantages and limitations, but a systematic comparison of self-reports and observations of parenting behaviour has not been conducted. This study compared self- reports and observations of parental responsiveness and control in a sample of 68 parents of preschool children in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. Videotaped observations of parents interacting with their children in four set tasks (free play, drawing, pack-up and no distraction) were interval-sampled using behavioural items that paralleled self- report items on the Parenting Scale and the Child-Rearing Practices Questionnaire. In addition, parents completed questionnaires about their child's behaviour and temperament, and factors associated with parenting behaviour including parental psychopathology, social support, marital adjustment, disagreements about child-rearing and demographic characteristics. Reports of children's behaviour at preschool were also obtained from teachers. When the correlations between corresponding behaviour domains on the self-report and observational measures were compared, the only significant correlation was for parental warmth. Observations of parental control practices (such as permissiveness, inconsistency and overreactivity) were not significantly associated with self-reports of these behaviours. The observational system used in this study yielded observations of permissive and inconsistent parenting that had good validity and reliability, whereas self-reports of harsh and overreactive parenting practices were more validly and reliably assessed using self-report methods. Self-reports and observations of responsive parenting practices demonstrated results that are more equivocal. Possible explanations for these results and the implications for the use of self-report and observational measures in parenting research are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Department of Psychiatry, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Results of a study of 241 children participating in the Wisconsin Study of Families and Work (WSFW), an ongoing longitudinal study of familes and child development. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-112). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-80). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis--University of Maryland, College Park. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2003. / Thesis directed by Julia M. Braungart-Rieker for the Department of Psychology. "December 2003." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-80).