Tesi sul tema "Psychology, child – history"

The aim of this project is to examine the relationships between two approaches to the measurement of life history strategies. The traditional method, termed here the biodemographic approach, measures developmental characteristics like birthweight, gestation length, inter-birth intervals, pubertal timing, and sexual debut. The alternative method under exploration, termed here the psychological approach, measures a suite of cognitive and behavioral traits such as altruism, sociosexual orientation, personality, mutualism, familial relationships, and religiosity. Although both approaches are supported by a large body of literature, they remain relatively segregated. This study draws inspiration from both views, integrating measures that assess developmental milestones, including birthweight, prematurity, pubertal timing, and onset of sexual behavior, as well as psychological life history measures such as the Mini-K and a personality inventory. Drawing on previous theoretical work on the fundamental dimensions of environmental risk, these measures are tested in conjunction with several scales assessing the stability of early environmental conditions, including both “event-based” measures that are defined with an external referent, and measures of internal schemata, or the predicted psychological sequelae of early events. The data are tested in a three-part sequence, beginning with the measurement models under investigation, proceeding to an exploratory analysis of the causal network, and finishing with a cross-validation of the structural model on a new sample. The findings point to exciting new directions for future researchers who seek to integrate the two perspectives.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], iv, 59 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-44).

My thesis focuses primarily on child portraiture and attempting to express the imaginative quality of young thought that has the potential of being forgotten with age. While my concept originated with the idea of children affected by the Holocaust and World War II, I have broadened my scope to examine the ways in which imagination is seen while children are sharing thoughts through storytelling. Using ink and pen, the quality of line will vary to depict different stages of a particular fragment of emotion. My research concerns children’s worldview and understanding of internally perceived reality as it to their environment. I also investigate the opera Bründibár written by Hans Krása during World War II as a historically contextualized example of children’s narratives and their outcomes. The transcending theme of my cumulative work is regarding the moments of intersection between outside stimulus and children’s imagined reality.

Familial child maltreatment continues to be an area of concern in child protection proceedings which often involves the psychological assessment of parents. Research has demonstrated that a significant number of parents assessed in child protection proceedings report experiences of victimisation in their own childhoods. While the consequences of childhood maltreatment are well known, few studies have focused on the intergenerational patterns of child maltreatment amongst mothers involved in child protection proceedings. This thesis attempts to explore the transmission of maternal child abuse and neglect through systematic review of literature in the field, a study comparing mothers who abuse with mothers who neglect, and a critique of a psychometric measure of personality in parents subject to child protection proceedings. Understanding interpersonal differences in intergenerational neglectful and abusive mothers involved in childcare proceedings may lead to the development of effective interventions which may disrupt the generational transmission of child maltreatment.

Studies have found that the type of parenting a child receives affects his or her subsequent development. This study investigates the relative influence of maternal parenting behavior and the impact of multiple variables influencing the quality of mothers' parenting behaviors. This knowledge will help to understand how early attachment experiences impact future parenting behavior.

Background: This study examined the bidirectional nature of mother-infant positive and negative emotional displays during social interactions across multiple tasks among postpartum women accounting for childhood maltreatment severity. Additionally, effects of maternal postpartum psychopathology on maternal affect and effects of task and emotional valence on dyadic emotional displays were evaluated. Sampling and Methods: A total of 192 mother-infant dyads (51% male infants) were videotaped during free play and the Still-Face paradigm at 6 months postpartum. Mothers reported on trauma history and postpartum depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Reliable, masked coders scored maternal and infant positive and negative affect from the videotaped interactions. Results: Three path models evaluated whether dyadic affective displays were primarily mother driven, infant driven, or bidirectional in nature, adjusting for mothers' maltreatment severity and postpartum psychopathology. The bidirectional model had the best fit. Child maltreatment severity predicted depression and PTSD symptoms, and maternal symptoms predicted affective displays (both positive and negative), but the pattern differed for depressive symptoms compared to PTSD symptoms. Emotional valence and task altered the nature of bidirectional affective displays. Conclusions: The results add to our understanding of dyadic affective exchanges in the context of maternal risk (childhood maltreatment history, postpartum symptoms of depression and PTSD). Findings highlight postpartum depression symptoms as one mechanism of risk transmission from maternal maltreatment history to impacted parent-child interactions. Limitations include reliance on self-reported psychological symptoms and that the sample size prohibited testing of moderation analyses. Developmental and clinical implications are discussed.

Psychiatric and behaviour disorder is common among people with learning disabilities. Young people at the transition stage between child and adult services are at especially high risk. Commentators on recent innovations in community-based service delivery have highlighted the need for further study of the psychosocial situation of this group. Also, the extent to which learning disability recognised in childhood has long-term consequences, in terms of both psychosocial functioning and service outcome, is as yet unclear. The present study was carried out in Cambridge Health District, between 1987 and 1992. The Health Authority School Health case notes of all children born in that district between 1967 and 1973 (N=33,800) were scrutinised to identify those who had received special education on the basis of learning disability (IQ under 80). These individuals, (aged 18-22 years at time of study) were contacted as young adults, 45% (N=149) agreeing to participate in the study. Two interviews were carried out, blind to each other: (i) psychiatric diagnosis and adaptive functioning; (ii) behaviour disorder and service contact. The cohort identified appears to have included the great majority of moderately to severely learning disabled children, on epidemiological considerations. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders found was high, but in agreement with previous studies. Much of the variance in behaviour disorder appears to be due to factors other than psychiatric diagnoses. There was a strong association between the severity of learning disability in childhood and both the subsequent capacity for independent functioning in adulthood, and also the pattern of day service/occupation in adulthood. The findings suggest that the detection of learning disability in childhood should lead to pro-active follow-up into adulthood, in order to maximise or support independent social functioning, and to detect and treat emerging psychiatric and behavioural problems.

The timing of pubertal development has important mental and physical health consequences. Individuals who enter puberty off-time are at greater risk for psychological disorders, social difficulties, and physical morbidity. One variable associated with early pubertal development is marital conflict. Life History Theory proposes that marital conflict signals an unreliable environment and promotes advanced pubertal timing to enhance reproductive fitness. Such calibrations allow individuals to unconsciously invest more resources in reproduction, following a quantity over quality approach. Despite research supporting the role of marital conflict in early-onset puberty, research has struggled to find a mechanism for this relationship. The current study examined two possible mediators: emotional insecurity and cortisol levels in a sample of children aged 6-12 years from 2-parent families. Neither variable was supported as a mediator of this relationship. However, parental depression significantly predicted pubertal development for girls. Findings regarding the role of parental depression in the timing of girl’s puberty support life history theory.

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is the self-inflicted damage to one’s bodily tissues without the intent to die. Previous research has sought to discover the motivation of an individual to perform such behavior and differences in the experience of pain among those who self-injure. The goals for the current study were to reveal any relationships between the function of NSSI, the subjective experience of pain, and an objective measurement of pressure pain threshold. Participants completed the Inventory of Statements About Self- Injury (ISAS; Klonsky & Glenn, 2009), which measures the functions that NSSI serves, and a measure assessing subjective pain experience, specifically frequency and severity of pain. Pain thresholds were also induced and recorded using a pressure algometer. The findings suggest that pain frequency significantly predicted pain threshold, whereas subjective pain severity did not. Furthermore, marking distress, the function of NSSI which serves as creating a tangible representation of emotional distress, was significantly associated with pain frequency, such that as marking distress increases in relevance, the less often one would be expected to experience pain. Therefore, the current study has implications relevant to both future research and the clinical setting.

[Truncated abstract] Early psychosocial stress is conjectured to place individuals on a developmental trajectory leading to earlier pubertal maturation, earlier initiation of sexual activity and earlier reproduction than those with less early psychosocial stress. This may have an adaptive function to minimise the chances of lineage extinction, which is more likely in environments of high risk and uncertainty. Previous studies have examined the relationship between early psychosocial stress and life history stages (e.g., age at puberty, age at first sex and age at first birth). However, these studies are limited in that they either examined only a few early psychosocial stressors, examined psychosocial stress relatively late in individuals' lives and/or were restricted to women. Thus, the first aim of the present thesis was to examine these findings in both genders using a measure of early psychosocial stress comprised of 24 categories of retrospectively assessed stressors (e.g., sexual abuse, physical abuse, parental divorce, rated quality of family life) during the first 7 years of life. It was hypothesised that individuals with high, as opposed to low, levels of early psychosocial stress would pass through life history stages earlier. The second aim was to examine how early psychosocial stress affects characteristics associated with life history traits, such as individuals? length, number and type of heterosexual relationships, number of sex partners, adult attachment styles, number of pregnancy terminations, and attitudes and behaviours towards contraceptive use. High levels of early psychosocial stress were predicted to be associated with characteristics reflecting a quantitative, as opposed to a qualitative, reproductive approach (e.g., more sex partners, more short-term relationships, insecure attachment styles). The third aim was to examine how early psychosocial stress is related to mate choice because numerous studies have identified what traits individuals' desire in a mate but not whether early psychosocial stress affects these choices. ... Early psychosocial stress generally had no effects on age at first sex, age at first birth, the number of pregnancy terminations, and mate choices. On the other hand, individuals with high, as opposed to low, levels of early psychosocial stress were more likely to be insecurely attached, had more short-term sexual relationships (men only), had more extra-pair copulations, were more likely to be divorced/separated, had a greater lifetime number of sex partners (men only), and had lower self-rated frequencies of contraception use. Overall, some of these findings are consistent with life history theory, which suggests that individuals with high levels of early psychosocial stress (i.e., those living in environments of high risk and uncertainty) should reach biological maturation earlier, engage in behaviours that facilitate earlier and more frequent reproduction to minimise the chances of lineage extinction. Implications for public health, limitations of the present study and future directions are also discussed.

Resilience is offered as a theoretical framework from which the competent functioning of a small proportion of survivors of childhood trauma can be understood. Despite the likely deleterious impact of abuse and neglect some individuals continue to thrive and achieve positive outcomes. The literature investigating protective factors implicated in resilience to childhood trauma is reviewed. Studies indicate that certain individual and environmental protective factors provide encouraging experiences and promote positive adaptation. Although current literature needs to move to a more process orientated approach for investigating resilience, existing findings offer valuable insights for the direction of prevention and intervention programmes for at-risk populations. This focus on strengths rather than deficits paves the way for innovative approaches especially with disenfranchised groups who might otherwise be less receptive, for instance individuals marginalised from society such as homeless individuals. On this basis, the empirical study investigated the relationship between childhood trauma and maladaptive coping and the relative influence of resilience, in homeless individuals. A significant relationship between childhood physical abuse and maladaptive coping existed, which was moderated by high levels of resilience. It is postulated that resilience in the homeless population may have a greater protective effect against maladaptive coping as severity of childhood physical abuse decreases. Studies replicating these findings in this and other disenfranchised groups are essential in order to fully understand the role of resilience and potential benefit of promoting and enhancing resilience and coping in reducing tenancy breakdown and therefore chronic and repeated homelessness.

Previous research indicates that those with a history of abuse have an increased risk to experience subsequent traumatic events. This study utilized a convenience sample of undergraduate students to examine the reaction of those with a history of abuse to subsequent traumatic experiences. In addition, the study assessed the level of posttraumatic growth an individual experiences following childhood abuse. The level of posttraumatic growth was examined to determine if the growth allowed for participants to better handle successive traumas. Those with a history of abuse experienced higher levels of symptomology following a successive traumatic event. Results did not support the hypothesis that among those with a history of abuse, lower levels of posttraumatic growth would predict higher levels of symptoms following a later trauma. Implications and limitations of the study, as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Experts in traumatology have postulated traumatized children play differently than non-traumatized children. These differences are called posttraumatic play and include the behaviors of intense play, repetitive play, play disruption, avoidant play and negative affect. The purpose of this study is the continued development of the Trauma Play Scale through the addition of a normative sample. The Trauma Play Scale is an observation-based instrument designed to distinguish the play behaviors of children in play therapy with a history of interpersonal trauma when compared to non-traumatized children. The present study compares two samples of children. One group (n=6) currently in play therapy with a history of interpersonal trauma and another group (n=7) considered normally developing (cognitively, emotionally, socially, and physically) by their parents with no known history of interpersonal trauma. Trained raters blind to the trauma history of the children rated a series of eight consecutive video-recorded play therapy sessions for each participant. One-way analysis of variance statistics, including effect sizes were compute to determine the discriminant validity of the Trauma Play Scale. Traumatized children scored significantly higher on the Trauma Play Scale than non-traumatized children on all domains of the scale as well as the overall Average Trauma Play Scale score. Large effect sizes indicated strong relationships between group membership (trauma history versus normally developing) and scores on the Trauma Play Scale.

Swedish child-care institutions - day nurseries, kindergartens - did not until the 1930s become a concern of the Government. In 1943 the Swedish Riksdag for the first time passed a bill that gave child-care institutions a Government subsidy. This thesis deals with the Government's and the parliamentary commissions' attitudes to child-care institutions. Which type of institution ought to receive a subsidy? And for what reasons? The main argument for child-care institutions has always been that they could stimulate a sound development, for the child's own good and for society's. From the 1930s and into the 1950s most participants in the child-care debate stated that the kindergarten or part-time institutions for the pre-school child from the age of three and upwards was the preferable type. Day nurseries for children, even infants, of families were both parents had to work might be necessary but were to be seen as an emergency solution. From the mid-60s the attitu-de changed. Step by step full-time day nurseries became the institutions that were given priority by the Government. This change in attitude presupposes that the notion of the child changed as well. But it did not change in a vacuum. Borrowing an explanatory model from sociologist Johan Asplund, the thesis treats the child as a "figure of thought", placed between a super-structural discourse on child-care and society's basic, material conditions. Important changes at the level of discourse have been the attitude to modern, industrial society, e.g. the necessity of learning to live and work in a society which is complex, highly specialized and in constant change, and the debate on women's emancipation. At the level of material conditions, the most conspicious change is that more and more women have entered the labour market. The changing notion of the child can be understood as the effect of an influence from discourse and base on the "figure of thought". At the same time, the "figure of thought" in-fluenced the discourse. Thus, a child-care system for the benefit of child and woman and labour market could be established, and harmony could be created, at least in the discourse.

In the midst of honing my craft as an educator, this ethnographic narrative was done for the purposes of taking an introspective look at the many moving parts of becoming an effective educator as well as developing an ethnographic view of the students who will pass through my classroom during my tenure as an educator. This ethnographic narrative examines my individual background, the educational spaces within which I find myself, communities I serve, and the students I was given the privilege of building relationships with within the classroom. This project serves as an in-depth analysis of the implicit biases one might hold as a teacher and a vehicle for continual introspection on my part as an effective and culturally-aware educator.

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Esta dissertação foi realizada em nível de mestrado profissional, no Programa de Pós- Graduação Docência para Educação Básica, da Unesp de Bauru/SP. Teve como objetivo geral escrever a história do desenvolvimento da escrita na criança na alfabetização e descrever as características específicas que a escrita sofre ao longo desse processo. Para tanto foram determinados os momentos críticos de transformação da escrita para caracterizar seus estágios e foram discretizados os expedientes que promovem o trânsito de uma forma de escrita para outra. Essa história só pôde ser escrita por meio das análises das produções das crianças registradas em vídeo, seguidas de transcrição dos diálogos ocorridos no momento da produção. Para sua execução, apoiamo-nos no conceito de escrita na perspectiva vigotskiana e na pré- história da escrita articulados aos processos fonéticos/fonológicos, morfológicos, sintáticos, semânticos e discursivos. O percurso metodológico da pesquisa seguiu o delineamento da pesquisa experimental. Para determinar os estágios da formação da escrita rumo à cultural os núcleos de generalização do pensamento por complexo serviram de base. Das escritas produzidas pelas crianças procedeu-se a análise que proporcionou o reconhecimento de traços comuns, os quais, por sua vez, levaram-nos a postular os estágios da escrita, bem como deslindar os expedientes usados pelas crianças para objetivar a escrita cultural. Tais descobertas (estágios da escrita e expedientes) ancoraram a construção de um instrumento para avaliar o desenvolvimento da escrita na criança que registra o movimento de sua formação, norteando o professor para atuar na zona de desenvolvimento iminente. De maneira geral os resultados de análise mostraram que, durante o processo de alfabetização: 1) as crianças usam mais de um sistema de escrita e não apenas o sistema alfabético; 2) os expedientes usados pela criança na pré-história da escrita, como forma, tamanho, cor, quantidade e desenho, para desenvolver signos subjetivos, reaparecem requalificados na história do desenvolvimento da escrita, além de outros expedientes que são incorporados; 3) os fenômenos linguísticos de cada palavra, incluindo a sua estrutura silábica, influenciam o movimento de evolução e involução da escrita na criança. Como resultados da pesquisa foram criados os estágios de formação da escrita cultural, em seu processo de apropriação; foram identificados os expedientes que transformam a escrita de um estágio para outro e foi produzido um instrumento avaliativo da escrita no processo de alfabetização, configurado no gênero textual relatório técnico. Esse instrumento visa a garantir a historicidade dialética da formação da escrita, que é muito maior que a mera classificação das escritas em estágios.
This dissertation was carried out at the professional master's level, in the Teaching Postgraduate Program for Basic Education, at Unesp in Bauru / SP. The general objective was to write the history of the development of the writing in the childhood in the alphabetization and to describe the specific characteristics that the writing undergoes throughout this process. For that, the critical moments of the transformation of writing were determined to characterize its stages and shared expedients that promoted the transit from one form of writing to another. This story could only be written through the analyzes of the productions of children recorded in video, followed by transcription of the dialogues that occurred at the time of production. For its execution, we rely on the concept of writing in the Vigotskian perspective and in the prehistory of writing articulated to the phonetic / phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and discursive processes. The methodological path of the research followed the design of the experimental research. In order to determine the stages of writing formation towards culture, the generalization nuclei of thought by complex were the basis. From the writings produced by the children, the analysis was carried out, which allowed the recognition of common traits, which in turn led us to postulate the stages of writing, as well as to identify the records used by children to objectify cultural writing. Such discoveries (writing stage and expedition) anchored the construction of an instrument to evaluate the development of writing in the child that registers the movement of its formation, guiding the teacher to act in the area of imminent development. In general, the analysis results showed that during the literacy process: 1) children use more than one writing system, not just the alphabetic system; 2) the records used by the child in the prehistory of writing, such as shape, size, color, quantity and drawing, to develop subjective signs, reappear requalified in the history of writing development, in addition to other records that are incorporated; 3) the linguistic phenomena of each word, including its syllabic structure, influence the movement of evolution and involution of writing in the child. As results of the research were created the stages of cultural writing formation, in its process of appropriation; it were identified the records that transform writing from one stage to another and were produced an evaluation instrument of writing in the literacy process, configured in the technical report textual genre. This instrument aims to guarantee the dialectical historicity of writing formation, which is much greater than the mere classification of writing in stages.

Theoretical and epidemiological studies indicate that women with a history of child sexual abuse (CSA) experience more sexual problems during adulthood compared to non-abused women. Despite the abundance of research conducted on prevalence and incidence of sexual difficulties associated with a history of CSA, very little is known on the psychophysiological sexual response of CSA survivors. A study was conducted to examine whether women with and without a history of CSA differed in their physiological and subjective sexual responses when exposed to erotic videos. A second study was conducted to explore potential predictors of the physiological and subjective sexual responses of women with a history of CSA. Overall, the physiological sexual arousal of CSA survivors was not significantly weaker than the response of women with no history of CSA. However, when controlling for levels of sexual distress and sexual function those CSA survivors with higher levels of sexual distress showed lower physiological sexual arousal compared to CSA survivors with less sexual distress. In agreement with prior studies, for women with no history of CSA the relationship between levels of distress and physiological sexual arousal was not significant. Similarly, levels of subjective sexual arousal reported in the laboratory were associated with sexual distress in CSA survivors but not in women with no history of CSA. Women who reported more re-experiencing symptoms and more negative affect before the erotic video showed a significantly lower increase in subjective sexual arousal in the presence of an increase in physiological sexual arousal. Cortisol levels measured before and after exposure to the erotic video indicated that higher dissociation experienced during the sexual interaction with a partner is associated with a cortisol secretion during exposure to sexual stimuli. This finding suggests a potentially learned stress response to erotic stimuli which may negatively affect the physiological sexual arousal for a subgroup of CSA survivors. Findings from the two studies suggest that the psychophysiological assessment of the sexual response of CSA survivors captures some important aspects of the sexual difficulties experienced by these women. A number of potential predictors of the physiological and the subjective sexual responses of CSA survivors were identified. Future studies will need to examine whether interventions that target these predictors can help CSA survivors to increase their physiological and subjective sexual arousal to sexual cues and whether this provides some relief to their sexual distress.

Shifting ideas about the qualities of children's imaginations transformed relationships between adults and children in nineteenth-century Britain. This dissertation contends that these new paradigms of children's fancy led authors of children's literature to partner with the young as creative collaborators, which accounts for frequent representations of children as an adult author's auditor, coauthor, illustrator, or guiding genius. These intergenerational collaborations were new models of authorship and evidence of a growing cultural imperative to recognize the young as active agents shaping their own social worlds. Alert to the fact that depictions of children are historically variable, I situate children's literature with and against discourses from psychology to education reform, demonstrating how the perceived powers of fancy granted children agency in a variety of cultural arenas. My project, then, offers an alternative to critical accounts that represent children as ciphers fulfilling adults' psychological and sexual desires. My introduction examines children's literature of the early nineteenth century, which I contend was a collaboration between adults Debates about the child's imagination, however, indicate a shift in expectations regarding adults' relationships to children. The remaining chapters detail the consequences of this shift, exploring four ways children were acknowledged as creative collaborators. Chapter one explores how many authors for children, inspired by fairy tale collections and cultural associations between children and preliterate cultures, structured their fictions according to models of oral narration. These authors defined children not as silent listeners but as participants in the narrative. Chapter two investigates coauthorship in the work of Robert Louis Stevenson, who understood composition as a collaboration between multiple familial, literary, and psychological personas. Partnering with his stepson, Stevenson developed a vocabulary of images that resurface throughout his works and express a social model of authorship. My third chapter explores the unruly child, examining children's literature that depicts collaborations between disobedient children and dim-witted adults in the context of education reforms that privileged imagination over adult authority. The figure of the disorderly child suggests anxieties about the imaginative power of those considered socially vulnerable. I conclude with a chapter on illustration, situating images by Edward Lear and Rudyard Kipling against ideas about children and art, arguing that these author-illustrators fuse childlike spontaneity and adult order, representing collaboration through playful images.

L’objectif de cette thèse était de contribuer à l’avancement des connaissances quant aux circonstances permettant une transmission intergénérationnelle du risque émanant de l’adversité maternelle et aux mécanismes sous-tendant cette transmission, dans quatre articles empiriques. Le premier visait à explorer la relation entre un historique d’adversité maternelle, la sécurité d’attachement mère-enfant et le tempérament de l’enfant. Les mères ont complété une entrevue semi-structurée portant sur leurs représentations d’attachement avec leurs parents, à 6 mois, et ont évalué le tempérament de leur enfant à 2 ans. La sécurité d’attachement fut également évaluée à 2 ans. Les résultats ont démontré que les enfants dont les mères rapportaient des niveaux supérieurs d’adversité présentaient de moins bons niveaux d’activité comportementale, uniquement lorsqu’ils avaient un attachement sécurisant avec leur mère. Ces résultats suggèrent une transmission intergénérationnelle des effets d’un historique d’adversité maternelle sur le tempérament des enfants. Le deuxième article visait à investiguer si le transporteur de sérotonine (5-HTTLPR) module la transmission de risque intergénérationnelle de l’adversité maternelle sur le tempérament des enfants. L’historique d’adversité maternelle fut évalué en combinant deux mesures auto-rapportées. Les mères ont également évalué le tempérament de leur enfant à 18 et à 36 mois. Le génotype des enfants fut extrait à 36 mois. Les résultats ont révélé un effet d’interaction entre l’adversité maternelle et le génotype de l’enfant sur le tempérament, suggérant une transmission intergénérationnelle des effets de l’adversité maternelle sur le fonctionnement émotionnel des enfants. Le troisième article visait à explorer la relation entre les difficultés d’adaptation psychosociale des mères, la sensibilité maternelle et les symptômes intériorisés de leurs enfants. Les mères ont complété plusieurs questionnaires desquels un score composite de difficultés d’adaptation psychosociale fut extrait. La sensibilité maternelle fut observée à 12 mois. Les symptômes intériorisés des enfants furent évalués par les deux parents à 2 et à 3 ans. Les résultats ont démontré qu’une augmentation des difficultés maternelles d’adaptation psychosociale étaient associée à davantage de symptômes intériorisés chez les enfants, mais seulement chez ceux dont les mères étaient moins sensibles. Ces résultats ont été observés par les mères à 2 ans et par les deux parents à 3 ans. Ces résultats suggèrent que les enfants peuvent être différemment affectés par l’adaptation émotionnelle de leur mère tout en mettant l’emphase sur le rôle protecteur de la sensibilité maternelle. Le quatrième article visait à investiguer les rôles médiateurs de la dépression et de la sensibilité maternelle dans la relation entre un historique d’adversité maternelle et le tempérament de l’enfant. L’historique d’adversité maternelle fut évalué en combinant deux mesures auto-rapportées. Les mères ont également rapporté leurs symptômes dépressifs à 6 mois. La sensibilité maternelle fut évaluée de façon concomitante. Les mères ont évalué le tempérament de leur enfant à 36 mois. Les résultats ont révélé une transmission intergénérationnelle des effets d’un historique d’adversité maternelle à la génération suivante suivant une médiation séquentielle passant d’abord par la dépression maternelle et ensuite par la sensibilité maternelle. Finalement, les résultats des quatre articles ont été intégrés dans la conclusion générale.
The main goal of this dissertation was to document more extensively the circumstances under which intergenerational risk transmission of maternal adversity occurs and to identify underlying processes. The dissertation is comprised of four empirical articles. The first article examined the relation between maternal history of early adversity, mother-child attachment security, and child temperament. Mothers completed a semi-structured interview pertaining to their childhood attachment experiences with their parents at 6 months and rated their children’s temperament at 2 years. Mother-child attachment was also assessed at 2 years. Results showed that children whose mothers received higher scores of early life adversity displayed poorer temperamental activity level outcomes but only when they also showed high concomitant levels of attachment security, suggesting intergenerational effects of maternal early life experiences on child temperament. The second article examined the intergenerational effects of maternal childhood adversity on child temperament targeting the serotonin transporter polymorphism, 5-HTTLPR, as a potential moderator of those maternal influences. Maternal history of early adversity was assessed with an integrated measure derived from two self-report questionnaires. Mothers also rated their children’s temperament at 18 and 36 months. Child genotyping was performed at 36 months. Results yielded a significant interaction effect of maternal childhood adversity and child 5-HTTLPR genotype on child temperament, suggesting intergenerational effects of maternal history of adversity on child emotional function. The third article investigated the interactive effects of maternal psychosocial maladjustment and maternal sensitivity on child internalizing symptoms. Families took part in four assessments between ages 1 and 3 years. Mothers completed several questionnaires from which a composite score of maternal psychosocial maladjustment was derived. Maternal sensitivity was rated by an observer at 12 months. Child internalizing symptoms were assessed by both parents at 2 and 3 years. Results revealed that increased maternal psychosocial maladjustment was related to more internalizing symptoms in children, however only among children of less sensitive mothers whereas children of more sensitive mothers appeared to be protected. This was observed with maternal reports at 2 years, and both maternal and paternal reports at 3 years. These results suggest that young children may be differentially affected by their parents’ emotional adjustment, while highlighting the pivotal protective role of maternal sensitivity in this process. Finally, the fourth article examined the mediating roles of maternal depression and maternal sensitivity in the relation between maternal history of early adversity and child temperament. Maternal history of early adversity was assessed with an integrated measure derived from two self-report questionnaires. Mothers also reported on their depression symptoms at 6 months. Maternal sensitivity was rated concurrently. Mothers also completed a questionnaire on their children’s temperament at 36 months. Results suggested the intergenerational transmission of the effects of maternal childhood adversity to offspring occurs through a two-step, serial pathway, specifically through maternal depression, first, and, then, to maternal sensitivity. Finally, the results of the four articles were integrated into a general conclusion.

Individuals who have experienced child maltreatment (CM) are at an increased risk for future interpersonal difficulties and violence in their romantic relationships. While positive connections with mentors have been shown to contribute to resilience among at-risk youth, the role of mentors in promoting positive romantic relationships among those with CM histories has not been previously examined. In this study, young adult women (N = 267; 18-25 years of age) who were in a romantic relationship at the time of the study completed a computerized questionnaire exploring CM, romantic relationship functioning, and mentoring relationships. Almost half of the women had a current or past mentoring relationship (n = 132). This study explored the associations between CM and romantic relationship qualities (i.e., levels of social support, negative interactions, relationship violence, and distribution of power), and examined whether having a mentor would be particularly helpful for women with a history of CM. Maltreatment experiences examined were child psychological maltreatment (CPM; 21%, n = 55), child physical abuse (CPA; 9%, n = 24), witnessing domestic violence (WDV; 16%, n = 43), and child sexual abuse (CSA; 11%, n = 29). Results showed that women who experienced higher levels of CPM and CPA, particularly by fathers, were more likely to report higher levels of psychological maltreatment and physical violence in their current romantic relationships compared to women with lower levels of CPM and CPA. Women who indicated a lack of emotional support (ES) from their parents reported higher levels of negative interactions in their romantic relationships. However, women with higher levels of ES from their fathers reported higher levels of social support in their romantic relationships. When these factors were accounted for in regression analyses, psychological and physical maltreatment experiences by fathers predicted levels of psychological and physical maltreatment in women’s romantic relationships. As well, higher personal levels of power in their romantic relationships were found among women with higher levels of WDV. Further, ethnicity, the participants’ age, relationship status (e.g., dating, common-law/married), and parental divorce emerged as important socio-demographic factors in relation to child maltreatment and relationship functioning. There was support for the role of mentors as a protective factor among women who had experienced physical abuse by their fathers. Mentoring characteristics such as duration of the mentoring relationship and attachment to the mentor were related to CM experiences and romantic relationship functioning. This study calls attention to the need for greater awareness of the link between CM and romantic relationship difficulties in young adulthood, as well as the role of positive mentoring relationships as a protective factor for those with a history of CM. Results from this study may benefit psychologists and others in similar professions who assist those who have experienced CM and who are at risk for interpersonal difficulties, and may help those already experiencing relationship difficulties. Additional implications include a need for better identification of youth who are at-risk for relationship violence and for the implementation of violence prevention programs in schools. Given the important role of mentors demonstrated by this study, there is also a need for further research regarding mentors and for greater support of mentoring programs.

Inspired by the work of the Swiss psychotherapist Alice Miller (For Your Own Good, 1983) on the negative effects of traditional childrearing practices in Germany, this thesis posits the existence in France of a similar tradition of "poisonous pedagogy," also founded on a set of moral principles and pedagogical techniques designed to desensitize, demoralize, and blame the child while protecting the parent/teacher. Working under the banner of Cultural Studies, I study examples of pedagogical discourse taken from a variety of cultural productions, ranging from moral treatises (lay and religious) and books on infant care (puericulture) to children's stories, primary school readers, and civics texts. Drawing on Michel Foucault's paradigms of power/knowledge and the "archeology" of knowledge, this study focusses on the various constructions of the child in nineteenth-century France. Beginning with an analysis of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's influential Emile ou de l’education (1762), this study traces the legacy of poisonous pedagogy in France during the July Monarchy, the Second Empire and the Third Republic. During the nineteenth century the discourse on children was in constant mutation, and opposing perspectives clashed throughout the century, although criticism of poisonous pedagogy became strong only in the last quarter of the century during the Third Republic. Child advocates at this time can be found in many different spheres-education, politics, medicine-but the contribution of literary writers to the discourse on children is perhaps the most dramatic of any group. The harshest criticisms of poisonous pedagogy and its concomitant construction of the child came at the end of the century in the form of two literary works: Jules Valles's L'Enfant (1879), and Jules Renard's Poil de Carotte (1894). By skillfully weaving powerful attacks on the techniques and principles of poisonous pedagogy into their texts, these two writers prefigure the pedagogical discourse of modern-day psychologists and child specialists.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Epidemiologic studies suggest that depression is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although several possible mediators of this association have been proposed, few studies have examined the role of moderators. Accordingly, I examined adverse childhood experiences (ACE) as a potential moderator of the depression-CVD association, given that individuals with a history of ACE show a greater inflammatory response to depression, and inflammation plays a role in the development of CVD. Data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) were analyzed. Participants were 29,282 adults (58% female, 42% non–white) aged 18–97 years, free of CVD diagnoses at baseline. Lifetime depressive disorder (LDD) was assessed by the Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule–IV (AUDADIS–IV), and adverse childhood experiences (abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction), and CVD were assessed during separate interviews. The primary outcome was incident CVD (n = 1,255), defined as nonfatal arteriosclerosis, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and/or stroke reported during the Wave 2 interviews. All analyses were adjusted for demographic and traditional CVD risk factors. Logistic regression models revealed that both LDD (OR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.28–1.62, p < .001) and any ACE (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.16–1.35, p < .001) were independent predictors of incident CVD. Interactions between LDD x any ACE (p = .024), LDD x neglect (p = .003), and LDD x household dysfunction (p < .001), but not LDD x abuse (p = 0.16), were detected. Analyses stratified by the ACE variables revealed that LDD was a predictor of incident CVD among adults with a history of (1) any ACE (OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.32–1.73, p < .001), but not among those without a history (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.87–1.50, p = .332); (2) neglect (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.36–1.87, p < .001) and among those without a history (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.07–1.62, p = .005); (3) household dysfunction (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.46–2.04, p < .001), but not among those without a history (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 0.96–1.43, p = .11). Overall, the present findings suggest that depression may be a stronger risk factor for CVD among adults with a history of ACE, especially neglect and household dysfunction, than among adults who did not have these experiences.

This study examined the cognitive functioning of a group of primary school-aged children with a history of maltreatment. Neuroimaging research has documented changes in the structure and function of the developing brain in children exposed to early trauma. There is also some evidence that these neural changes are reflected in changes to learning capacity, particularly observed in lower scores on standard intelligence tests and poor educational outcomes. The current study utilized a neuropsychological framework to assess a range of cognitive domains including intelligence, verbal and visual-motor skills, attention, executive functioning and memory. Twenty-eight children with a history of maltreatment were recruited through Take Two therapeutic service and Berry Street Home Based Care Services in Victoria, Australia, and compared to a control group of 28 children with no maltreatment history. Ages ranged between 6 and 11 years, and the groups were matched for gender and socio-economic status. Groups were compared on variables measuring general intelligence, verbal and perceptual reasoning, attentional and executive capacities, working memory, and verbal and non-verbal recall. Consistent with hypotheses, the study found significantly reduced functioning in the maltreated group in overall intelligence and verbal comprehension. A reduction in perceptual reasoning abilities was also found, contrary to predictions. Maltreated subjects performed more poorly on a task involving divided attention, and were rated on showing a greater level of executive dysfunction in everyday tasks. Finally, reduced verbal working memory and verbal immediate recall was observed in the maltreated groups. These findings may have significant implications for education, home adjustment and therapeutic strategies with maltreated children.

Drawing upon the Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1973, 1977) and the General Aggression Model (GAM; Anderson & Bushman, 2002), this research program endeavours to provide a deeper understanding of the causes of abusive supervision. In particular, it examines the mediating role of two psychological states (i.e., hostile cognitions and hostile affect) and the moderating role of angry rumination in the relationship between history of family aggression and subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. The proposed relationships were tested in a programmatic series of five studies each providing constructive replication and empirical extension of the study findings. The primary objective of Study 1 was to test the proposed positive relationship between history of family aggression and hostile cognitions and hostile affect. Results supported the hypothesised relationship in a sample of 255 student-parent dyads. Study 2 builds on Study 1 by examining the predicted relationships using a sample of 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads and extending the theoretical model to include abusive supervision. Results supported the proposed mediating role of hostile cognitions and hostile affect. Study 3 aimed to constructively replicate findings in Study 2 by using a different sample of 191 supervisor-subordinate dyads and operationalisation of hostile cognitions. In particular, the word completion task (Anderson et al., 2004) was used which taps into implicit social cognitions. Results once again supported the mediating role of hostile cognitions and hostile affect in the relationship between history of family aggression and abusive supervision. Alternative model tests also revealed that history of family aggression exerts its influence via a dual-activation process. Study 4 has two main objectives. First, it aimed to rule out alternative explanations by controlling for previously established antecedents of abusive supervision. Second, it examined the moderating role angry rumination in the proposed mediated relationship between history of family aggression and subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision. Once again, results supported the main effects and mediation hypotheses. In addition, the conditional indirect effect of history of family aggression in predicting subordinates' perceptions of abusive supervision via hostile affect was stronger for supervisors' with high as opposed to low levels of angry rumination. However, the conditional indirect effect involving hostile cognitions was not supported. Finally, Study 5 aimed to replicate the findings from Study 4 and address issues associated with the use of retrospective data (e.g., history of family aggression) by obtaining parent ratings of history of family aggression. Once again, results supported the main effects and mediation hypotheses. Similar to Study 4, only the conditional indirect effect involving hostile affect was supported. This research program makes several contributions to the understanding of abusive supervision. First, it presented a different theoretical approach in explaining the occurrence of abusive supervision by implicating the role of social learning experiences, psychological states, and personality characteristics. Second, it addressed methodological issues associated with extant abusive supervision research through the use of multi-source data, constructive replication, and implicit measures of social cognition. Theoretical implications with reference to abusive supervision research and practical implications for reducing and managing its occurrence are discussed. -- provided by Candidate.

The experience of complex childhood trauma produces a ripple-effect that psychologically impacts trauma survivors’ functioning in multiple areas. The aim of the current study was to investigate and describe the interplay between complex trauma, subsequent personality development and later psychopathology by means of the multiple case study method of six female psychiatric patients attending treatment at a tertiary psychiatric hospital within Gauteng, South Africa. This was accomplished by assessing and qualitatively analysing the results of a carefully selected battery of personality and other psychometric assessments presented to study participants. The results indicated that the experience of complex childhood trauma impacted the study participants’ personality in predictable ways, which further influenced the psychopathology they displayed as psychiatric patients. These findings aid in describing the psychological impact of complex trauma on the research participants, and also offers support for reconnecting past traumas to the current psychopathologies of psychiatric patients.
Psychology
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

This dissertation arose from a need to derive an inclusive model for describing the historical meanings of progressive education. It considers reform rhetoric published in two widely distributed and accessible journals in Ontario, The School and The Canadian School Journal, between 1919 and 1942. These sources brought together a wide variety of educationists in the province, including teachers, school board representatives, members of the Department of Education, inspectors, and the staff of teacher training institutions, and were forums for the exploration of new and progressive educational ideas. Various conceptions and interpretations of what progressive education would entail were published side by side, in parallel. This dissertation describes the rhetoric of progressive education, which concerned three domains—active learning, individualized instruction, and the linking of schools to contemporary society—and considers the distinctions within this language. Further, this dissertation argues that progressivist ideas were interpreted and represented in different ways according to conceptual orientation and context. Three distinct interpretations of progressive education are described in this thesis. The first progressivist orientation was primarily concerned with child study and developmental psychology; the second concerned social efficiency and industrial order; the third concerned social meliorism and cooperation. Hence, I draw not only on three different domains of progressivist rhetoric, but also on three distinct orientations to reform. What emerges is a description of how different progressivists understood and represented Ontario’s transforming schools, in a context affected by the forces of modernity, world war, and economic depression.
Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-06-14 19:00:04.184