Psy. D., Antioch University, 2014, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

This qualitative, theoretical review and analysis of extant literature explored the sociocultural influences effecting conceptualization of childhood sexual behavior problems. Themes emerged from analysis of peer-reviewed journals that illustrated the complex, multidimensional, and ecological factors influencing child sexual development and problematic sexual behavior. These included major themes of Child Sexuality: Ecological Context, Developmental Context, Complex Trauma, and Ecological Interventions. Specific factors associated with childhood sexual behavior problems included trauma, domestic violence, sexual and physical abuse, psychological and emotional distress, impaired attachment, and the effects of diverse ecological systems such as the family, parents, and sociocultural influences of the greater community. Analysis culminated with an enhanced conceptualization of childhood sexual behavior named Ecological Developmental View. This conceptual model, integrated within the framework of ecological theory, evolved into an innovative approach of clinical assessment for childhood sexual behaviors applicable in outpatient clinical settings. The model, Integrated Developmental Ecological Assessment Approach (IDEAA), recognized the significance of the developing child influenced within the ecological contexts of the child, family, social, and community environments. The IDEAA model intends to help professionals and adults to address concerns related to childhood sexual behavior from an ecological perspective that will enhance and benefit outcomes for children, parents, families, and communities. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Committee: Mary Wieneke Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Melissa Kennedy Ph.D. (Committee Member); William Luecke Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Families and Family Life; Mental Health; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2016, Social Welfare

Youth in the child welfare system experience multiple risk factors for substance use and exhibit higher rates of substance use disorder (Pecora, White, Jackson, & Wiggins, 2009). However, although early substance use (i.e., by age 13) is a known risk factor for substance use disorder (Grant & Dawson 1997, 1998), scarce research has examined early substance use in child welfare youths. In this two-part study, a developmental psychopathology perspective is applied to examine pathways to early substance use with data from the first National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW). In part 1, the prevalence of substance use, including alcohol, marijuana, and inhalant use, among child welfare (n = 896) and general population eighth graders from the Monitoring the Future Study was compared. Second, path analysis was used to examine demographic predictors (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, and out-of-home placement) of substance use among child welfare eighth graders. Part 2 used path analysis with MPLUS in a sample of 11–13 year olds at Wave 1 (n = 796) to examine the relationships between physical and sexual abuse severity and early substance use, the mediating role of internal well-being problems (i.e., internalizing behavior problems and posttraumatic stress), and gender differences. Focal measures included the child-reported Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (physical abuse severity), the Trauma Symptom Checklist (posttraumatic stress), the Youth Self Report (internalizing behavior problems), and the NSCAW's caseworker-alleged abuse (sexual abuse severity) and child substance abuse module (any use of alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, inhalants, or nonmedical prescription drugs). Findings indicated comparable or lower incidence of substances among NSCAW eighth graders overall than the general population, but higher past 30-day inhalant use among NSCAW eighth graders in out-of-home placement. Out-of-home placement was associated with higher inhalant use (life (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Hussey (Committee Chair); Megan Holmes (Committee Member); Sonia Minnes (Committee Member); Mark Singer (Committee Member); Adam Perzynski (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Work

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Sociology

Both rates of school suspension and expulsion and the use of therapy or stimulant drugs as treatment for a growing number of behavioral problems among children have increased steadily over the past twenty-five years. Using two different nationally representative data sources, this dissertation examines how behavior problems in African American and White children, particularly young males, are differentially socially constructed along racial lines. Findings from the first paper suggest that over the previous two decades, White boys are being medicalized through the use of therapy or medication, while African-American boys are being criminalized through school suspensions and expulsions. More importantly, this disparity cannot be explained by differences in the frequency of observed misbehavior or other socioeconomic characteristics. Results from the second paper reveal that racial disparities in the labeling of childhood misbehavior significantly contribute to racial disparities in trajectories of social control throughout adolescence and young adulthood. White males use medicalization to avoid long-term involvement with the criminal justice system, while their African Americans counterparts are unable to do so. In the third paper, I find that the school-level association between racial composition and criminalized or medicalized school discipline is highly dependent on the proportion of African American students in the surrounding school district. Moreover, the moderating influence of district level racial concentration appears to work in opposite directions for punishment as opposed to medical approaches.

Committee: Cynthia Colen PhD (Advisor); Dana Haynie PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Christopher Browning PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, Sociology

Families in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse and complex, with the potential to have significant impacts on children. One of the most notable changes in recent decades has been the dramatic increase in cohabitation rates. However, the existing research on the effects of transitions into and out of cohabitation on child outcomes is limited. Most of the existing research is cross-sectional (Nelson, Clark, and Acs 2001; Brown 2004), focuses on the number of maternal relationship transitions experienced by children, rather than the type (Hao and Xie 2007; Manning and Lamb 2003), or uses retrospective data on the amount of time children spend in various family structures (Dunifon and Kowaleski-Jones 2002; Fomby and Cherlin 2007; Hao and Xie 2002). The exception is Brown (2006), who compares the effects of various maternal relationship transition types. However, Brown's research is limited to adolescents and her data do not allow for race-specific analyses. I extend this research using data from the 1986-2004 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and the Children of the NLSY79. I compare the effects of experiencing various maternal union entrances and exits and stable maternal unions on child behavior problems, as measured by the Behavior Problems Index. The data allow for an examination of the effects of transitions experienced by children between the ages of 4-5 and 6-7, 6-7 and 8-9, 8-9 and 10-11, and 10-11 and 12-13. In addition to age-specific analyses, I also include interactions by child sex and race/ethnicity and consider the role played by the relatedness of the mother's spouse or partner to the child. I consider the possibility that there is a spurious association between maternal relationships and child behavior, such that children with behavior problems may exhibit such problems before any maternal relationship transition occurs. Finally, I examine the mediating role played by parenting after the transition, as measured by (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Menaghan (Advisor); Zhenchao Qian (Committee Member); Liana Sayer (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; Families and Family Life; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Human Development and Family Science

The quality of mother-child interaction has been identified as a salient element associated with child development. Extant literature shows that sensitive and responsive maternal interactive behaviors have a positive effect on child outcomes. This work explores the use of the Emotional Availability Scale which assesses dyadic emotional attunement between caregiver and child. Six dimensions of mother-child interaction are rated: maternal sensitivity, structuring, nonintrusiveness, nonhostility, and child involvement and responsiveness. This study examines 1) the reliability and the validity of the Emotional Availability Scale; 2) the influence of maternal psychological well-being (i.e., depression and parenting stress) on EA; 3) the relationship between EA and child cognitive functioning; and 4) the relationships among EA, maternal psychological well-being, and child behavioral problems (i.e. externalizing and internalizing problems). Three different study samples with different demographic characteristics were employed. The Study 1 sample consisted of the 3-years-olds, Study 2 consisted of 6-years-olds, and Study 3 consisted of different age groups ranging from 1½ to 5 ½ years-old. In study 3, the population was characterized as low income, mothers had more depressive symptoms, higher parental stress levels, and there were more child behavior problems. Both maternal and child EA were strongly associated with child cognitive functioning, regardless of differences in child age and populations. In addition, maternal nonintrusiveness appeared to have the strongest influence on child cognitive functioning in all three studies. Further, our data suggests that children who have higher EA scores and children whose mothers have higher scores experienced fewer externalizing and internalizing problems. Among the EA dimensions, maternal nonhostility was most significantly and negatively associated with child externalizing problems and maternal nonintrusiveness was strongly r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ellen Hock (Advisor) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Sociology

The goal of this work is to examine how child and adolescent well-being are influenced by family mobility and neighborhood quality. Both of these factors have been shown to influence the overall well-being of youth, by altering successful behavioral development. Moving and high poverty neighborhoods often increase behavior problems. The connection between these two processes has not been looked at previously, except among families participating in very selective residential mobility programs (e.g. Gautreaux and Moving to Opportunity). I address several questions. Does child behavior change as a result of family mobility? Does neighborhood context pre- and post-move have any bearing on the change? Finally, does mobility have different effects on behavior depending upon when they are measured? That is, do the effects surface immediately after the move, or is there a lagged effect, with change not being seen for several years? I overcome limitations from past research by combining a nationally representative sample of children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's linked mother-child files with the 1990 US census. Together these data allow for the measurement of child behavior and neighborhood poverty both before and after the move. I find that moving, when measured without taking neighborhood context into account, has no effect on the negative behavior of children and adolescents. However, once neighborhood context is considered, the effect of mobility on child behavior changes. Several important effects are noted, which vary by the class context of the origin and destination neighborhoods. First, moving from a poor to a nonpoor neighborhood reduces negative behavior. Second, this positive impact diminishes four years after the move. Third, moving to a higher poverty neighborhood, or to another poor neighborhood, increases a child's negative behavior. Fourth, these harmful effects do not manifest until four years post-move. Finally, moving between two nonpo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Townsand Price-Spratlen (Advisor) Subjects: