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<p> Children in foster care are a vulnerable population, having experienced abuse, neglect or other loss. For some children, foster care is a temporary stop on the way to reunification with their families; others never return home. Every year tens of thousands of children in the foster care system are "emancipated," or age out of the foster care system. Research suggests poor outcomes for former foster youth, who exhibit higher rates of homelessness, joblessness, poverty, alcohol and substance abuse, and mental health diagnoses than their age-matched peers. Most prior research on foster youth has focused on negative outcomes, although several qualitative studies have examined the experiences of youth in foster care, and one study has examined youth experience of self-reliance during the aging out process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand better the experience of former foster youth who have aged out of care. Using the Foley Life Story Interview (FLSI), this study sought to elicit the experience of aging out foster youth with attention to how they found hope for the future; this is the first study to date that has examined the experience of former foster youth, the aging out process, and their experiences of hope through the lens of positive youth development, which holds that contexts can be altered to improve youth outcomes, and how such changes in context may actually create changes within the person.</p>

Siblings are an integral part of the support network for adults with a developmental disability (DD). However, little is known about the psychological stress of having a sibling with a DD in adulthood. This project had four main objectives: (1) to identify variables that predict and moderate psychological well-being and depressive symptoms in adults who have a sibling with a DD; (2) to examine differences in sibling relationship characteristics, psychological well-being, depressive symptoms, and support use in siblings of individuals with a DD alone versus siblings of individuals with a DD and symptoms of a mental illness; (3) to determine whether relationships with siblings with a DD differ from relationships with siblings without a DD; and (4) to explore the perspectives of adults with a DD regarding their sibling relationships and how these relationships affect their well-being. One-hundred ninety six adult siblings of individuals with a DD completed online questionnaires about life events, relationship closeness, sibling contact, impact of having a sibling with a DD, family functioning, use of supports, symptoms of depression, and psychological well-being. Life events and having a sibling with a DD and behavioural or psychiatric symptoms predicted symptoms of depression and psychological well-being. However, the relationship between these predictor variables and psychological well-being was moderated by general family functioning. Additionally, siblings of individuals with a DD and behavioural or psychiatric symptoms reported less positive feelings about their sibling relationship, more symptoms of depression, and lower psychological well-being than siblings of individuals with a DD alone. A subset of the participants (n = 128) who also had a sibling without a DD completed questionnaires about their relationship closeness, sibling contact, and perceived impact of their sibling without a DD. Participants reported more in-person and telephone contact with siblings with a DD, more positive feelings about the sibling relationship, and greater perceived life impact as compared to their relationship with their sibling without a DD. Seventeen adults with a DD also completed in-person interviews and answered questions about their sibling relationship closeness, shared activities, and support exchanged with siblings. Participants identified numerous activities they enjoyed doing with siblings and indicated a desire to spend more time with siblings. They also reported that they both provided support to and received support from their siblings. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2013-02-07 23:47:06.32

A developing vertebrate embryo can only subsist for a finite time without a vasculature. The vascular system is one of the earliest organ systems to develop and allows continued rapid maturation of complex multicellular organisms. Failure of the cardiovascular system to develop results in early termination of the fetus. Together, my thesis research demonstrates the important implications that development and cell biology have on vascular function and repair. First, a thorough evaluation of characteristics of vascular smooth muscle cells from differing regions of the adult and embryonic aorta revealed that differences between the ascending and descending embryonic aortae converge in the adult. These data have important implications for vascular development and disease. The second story examines the cell biological implications of the loss of centromere protein F (CENP-F). A cardiac specific deletion of CENP-F results in dilated cardiomyopathy and by understanding how CENP-F alters cell biology in a model cell line, we now know how loss of CENP-F modifies cardiac biology. Ultimately, these seemingly disparate studies further our understanding of vascular biology and disease.

<p> In <i>Surviving Death</i>, Mark Johnston claims we can trace the persistence of others and ourselves in simple and offhand ways that are criterionless--that do not depend on the use of sufficient conditions for cross-time identity. According to Johnston, we offload the question of persistence onto substances. Furthermore, Johnston claims, if we are able to trace others and ourselves by way of offloading, then neo-Lockean accounts of personal identity fail. According to Johnston, personal identity depends on how concern is directed rather than psychological continuity. </p><p> In this thesis, I respond to Johnston's arguments against neo-Lockeanism presented in <i>Surviving Death</i>. I argue that Johnston's account of offloading misinterprets research in cognitive science and developmental psychology. While we may trace some objects non-conceptually, it is implausible that we could trace persons in the manner Johnston claims. In addition, I argue that Johnston's concern based account of personal identity is problematic. </p>

<p> This study examined cultural differences in children's collaborative processes and explored the relationship between these collaborative processes and the children's collaboration in household work. 30 6- to 10-year-old sibling pairs from Mexican-heritage and middle-class European-heritage backgrounds participated in the study. Home visits were conducted using a planning task where dyads planned five grocery-shopping trips using a model store, first creating individual plans and then working together to create a combined plan. After participants completed their individual plans, the research assistant asked them to work together and help each other to make the shortest route to pick up all the items on their shopping list. Using 10-second segments, data were coded in four main categories; fluid ensemble, coming to agreement, one child leads activity, or dividing separate roles (which had several subcategories). Mexican Indigenous-heritage siblings collaborated as an ensemble in a higher proportion of segments than middle-class European-heritage siblings, who spent more segments dividing roles. Specifically, when European-heritage pairs were dividing roles they spent a higher proportion of segments being <i>bossy </i> to their sibling with the sibling <i>implementing</i> their plan, and ignoring their sibling while working on the plan. There was a positive relationship between siblings' collaboration at home and collaboration in the planning task. Siblings who were reported to collaborate with initiative in household work, based on mothers' reports, were more likely to collaborate as fluid ensemble with their sibling in the planning task. In contrast, children that were reported to do household work only when adults managed their chores were more likely to collaborate by being bossy to their sibling or by ignoring their sibling while working on the plan. Findings may help us better understand how cultural practices contribute to children's tendencies to collaborate with others in different contexts, including in the classroom setting where collaboration might be discouraged or managed by adults.</p>