Browsing by Subject "Children"
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Item A comparison of Braille reading and writing instruction in rural and urban areas for students in the state of Texas who are functionally blind(Texas Tech University, 1997-05) Wedding, Jeannette A.The purpose of this study is to compare the differences between rural and urban teachers in their attempts to meet the requirements of H.B. 2277. A review of the literature suggests that no research has been conducted to determine how school districts in rural and urban areas of the state are attempting to meet the mandates regarding instruction of braille reading and writing to students with visual impairments. The significance of this study is to determine whether or not the services offered in rural and urban settings are comparable. Whether a student who is functionally blind attends a rural or urban school should not be the predetermining factor in the level of services he or she receives. If these services are not comparable, concern exists as to whether the individual needs of the student, as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), are being met. Further, this study may be used as a basis for judging improvements made in school districts and to provide insights into methods of complying with the legislation in other states that may be attempting to reach the same goal.Item A study of the attitudes of mothers of blind children as compared with the attitudes of mothers of non-blind children(Texas Tech University, 1958-08) Patterson, Robert GeraldNot availableItem Acquisition of Mandarin phonology: segment versus tone(Texas Tech University, 1980-12) Hong, Li-janeThis study has as its focus the early phonological development of a single Chinese child (L). The period of study ranged from ages 1;6 to 1;10. Specifically, the relationship between early segment and early tone development was studied. In the field of child language, it is not unusual to find valuable research carried out with a limited number of subjects or even a single subject. Studies by Labov and Labov (1978), Shibamoto and Olmsted (1978), Ferguson and Farwell (1975), Ingram (1974), Smith (1973) and Moskowitz (1970) have contributed valuable information regarding early child language development. It is important to note that studies dealing with few subjects or a single subject have demonstrated that individual paths of language learning are more instructive and informative than those which have as their main purpose the identification of universal tendencies (Ferguson and Farwell, 1975).Item Acute Treatment Outcomes and Family Functioning of Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa(2006-08-11) Hetrick, Maryann O.; Kennard, Beth D.Recent studies have suggested that there is a relationship between treatment outcomes and baseline factors related to family functioning and specific eating disorder symptoms. However, these relationships have not been studied extensively within a pediatric population hospitalized for treatment. Therefore, it is unknown whether these relationships exist within an acutely ill population and whether these baseline characteristics improve significantly immediately following acute hospitalization. Given these limitations, the aims of the present study were to identify aspects of family functioning and eating cognitions and attitudes at admission that predict outcome at discharge, and evaluate what aspects of family functioning and eating cognitions and attitudes improve during an acute treatment period. The sample consisted of 41 patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa or eating disorder not otherwise specified between the ages of 10 and 17 years. At admission, all patients were administered a structured clinical interview to obtain valid psychiatric diagnoses. Additionally, patients completed self-report measures of eating cognitions, eating attitudes, and family functioning; while parents completed a self-report measure of family functioning. Families also participated in a standardized clinician-rated observational measure of family functioning. All measures were re-administered at discharge, and the patient's body mass index (BMI) at admission and discharge were obtained from the medical record. The attrition rate from intake to discharge for this study was 26.8%. Overall, it appeared that parents and patients perceived their families to be healthy at intake, with little improvements noted over the course of treatment. However, standardized observations characterized these families as being affectively avoidant. Additionally, parental perception of adaptive family functioning at intake was predictive of outcome based upon the unit psychiatrist's assessment, and patient perception of healthy familial Expressiveness at intake was predictive of outcome based upon pathological eating attitudes. BMI and eating attitudes based upon eating behavior during treatment improved significantly over the course of treatment. However, patients continued to endorse unhealthy eating cognitions at discharge. These results suggest that weight restoration and pathological eating behavior are the first symptoms to improve during an aggressive treatment period, and psychological symptoms may require a longer period of treatment to remit.Item An ecological-based approach to examining barriers and facilitators of a physical activity intervention(2016-08) Errisuriz, Vanessa Leigh; Bartholomew, John B.; Pasch, Keryn E; Jowers, Esbelle M; Cance, Jessica D; Springer, Andrew ETexas I-CAN! promotes physical activity (PA) among elementary school children by incorporating 10-15 minute, physically-active, academic lessons into the classroom. A socioecological approach to evaluate effectiveness could provide a deeper understanding of mechanisms promoting or hindering PA. Three studies examined the impact of implementation quality on child PA during active lessons. Teachers from 20 schools self-reported attitude and perceived behavioral control (PBC) related to implementation, and perceptions of school climate. Staff observed teacher feedback to students during active lessons and student PA. Student PA was also measured objectively (i.e. accelerometry). Before examining how teacher-level factors interact to impact student PA, foundational work was necessary. First, several mathematical cut-points have been developed to classify PA intensity among children. Though research indicates that cut-point selection impacts classification of PA among children aged 6-10 years, this has not demonstrated with school-specific PA. Study 1 demonstrated that cut-point selection impacts estimates of in-school PA intensity and students meeting PA guidelines. Second, quality of process (i.e. teachers’ ability to engage students in intervention programs) has been linked to program implementation. Study 2 examined associations between teacher feedback during lessons and staff-rated, class PA intensity. Positive associations between PA-related feedback (i.e. reinforcement, technical instruction) and PA intensity were found. Technical instruction was positively associated with how often and how many students were active during lessons. Negative feedback was inversely related to these outcomes. Study 3, then, examined the interrelatedness of quality of process (i.e.PA-related feedback), teacher-level data (i.e. attitudes, PBC, perceptions of school climate), and implementation dose, and their impact on objectively-measured student PA using structural equation modeling. PA-related feedback and dose were positively associated with PA intensity. PBC and attitude towards implementation were positively related to dose. Perception of higher quality school climate was associated with greater PBC and poorer attitudes. PBC was positively, and attitudes negatively, associated with PA-related feedback. Results may inform optimization of future physically-active academic lesson interventions. Identification of factors that impact implementation of active lessons provides opportunities to tailor teacher trainings to focus on these important factors and to intervene if implementation begins to wane during intervention periods.Item Attention in children and adolescents with nonverbal learning disabilities(2009-08) Butcher, Brianne Janeé; Keith, Timothy, 1952-; Nussbaum, NancyNonverbal Learning Disability (NVLD) is a syndrome characterized by impaired social perception, visual-spatial skills, fine motor coordination, and mathematics abilities. Researchers have found that children with NVLD often have significant symptoms of inattention, and there is evidence that the majority of children with NVLD also meet clinical criteria for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Subtype (ADHD:PI) (Brown, 2000; Gross-Tsur & Shalev, 1995; Voeller, 1996). Although significant overlap is observed between NVLD and behavioral symptoms of ADHD, little research has focused on the specific attention problems of children with NVLD. Given the high incidence of co-morbid attention problems with NVLD (Brown, 2000), many researchers have proposed that overlapping neural regions are responsible for the similarity in attention impairments observed in both NVLD and ADHD:PI (Denckla, 2000; Stefanatos, 2001). Other researchers suggest that there are distinct neurological impairments in children with NVLD and both subtypes of ADHD that result in attention problems. Specifically, Rourke (1995) suggested a developmental sequence that results in generally intact auditory attention with impaired attention for visual stimuli in children with NVLD. This study sought to reconcile the discrepancy between conceptualizations of attention problems in children with NVLD. It was hypothesized that children with NVLD would exhibit distinct profiles of strengths and weaknesses on neuropsychological measures of attention compared to children with ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Subtype (ADHD:PI) and ADHD, Combined Subtype (ADHD:C). Specifically, it was expected that the three diagnostic groups would differ on the neuropsychological measures depending on the attention modality (auditory vs. visual). Extant neuropsychological data from 88 children between the ages of 9 and 15 years of age with diagnoses of NVLD, ADHD:PI, and ADHD:C were analyzed. Neuropsychological measures of processing speed, working memory, vigilance, and inhibition were examined to compare specific domains of attention functioning in the three groups. Evidence from the current study supported the model in which NVLD and the two ADHD subtypes represent a continuum of dysfunction dependant on overlapping neural regions. Moreover, specific attention strengths and weaknesses in children with NVLD compared to children with ADHD:PI, ADHD:C, and normative data were identified in order to inform clinical diagnosis and intervention.Item Becoming the vanguard : children, the Young Pioneers, and the Soviet state in the Great Patriotic War(2009-05) deGraffenried, Julie K.; Wynn, Charters, 1953-This dissertation combines institutional history and social analysis to provide a more nuanced depiction of the Soviet experience in the Great Patriotic War, a portrait which considers the experience of children, the state’s expectations of children, and an exploration of the institution responsible for connecting child and state, the V.I. Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization. It argues that the state’s expectations for children during the Great Patriotic War were issued primarily in order to save the floundering Young Pioneer organization. Though the Pioneers were supposed to lead children in all sorts of tasks and behaviors – a role they had fulfilled since their inception in 1922 – the organization nearly collapsed under the strain of wartime conditions in the early years of the war. In order to resurrect its image and secure its rightful place in the vanguard of children, the Pioneers launched a concerted effort to reassert its leadership. Language, values, and models of heroism were revamped to more accurately reflect the war. The internalization of these standards by children supported the Pioneers’ claim to leadership. Campaigns of action were launched to allow the Pioneers to claim ownership of children’s accomplishments. To guarantee success, the organization drew its ideas from preexisting activities – activities children were already doing in 1941-42, largely on local initiative. What had been conceived of and run as a prescriptive organization for two decades became a descriptive organization, subsuming all appropriate acts into the task of reestablishing the Pioneers at the forefront of Soviet childhood. This suggests that children had far more agency than previously assumed, and their many roles complicate the typical “child-victim” normally associated with the Great Patriotic War and its propaganda. The post-Stalingrad turnaround allowed the Pioneers the opportunity to reassert themselves. Becoming the vanguard, the organization established the foundations for a Pioneer-led heroism storied in Soviet history. Though internal problems continued to dog the Pioneers for years, the foundational story was established in the latter years of the war. Beginning in 1943, the organization began writing itself into the post-war victory narrative, alleging successful leadership among children and ignoring the near-catastrophe they had averted.Item Bottom-up technology transmission within families : how children influence their parents in the adoption and use of digital media(2012-12) Correa, Teresa; Gil de Zúñiga, Homero; Straubhaar, Joseph D.This dissertation investigated the bottom-up technology transmission process in a country with varied levels of technology diffusion, such as Chile. In particular, I explored how children act as technology brokers within their families by influencing their parents' adoption of and learning about digital media, so as to include older generations in the digital environment. In order to do this, I measured to what extent this process occurs, I proposed a typology of factors that intervene in the process and analyzed the outcomes variables related to the phenomenon. Methodologically, I used a mixed-methods research approach by combining in-depth interviews with a self-administered paper-and-pencil survey taken by dyads of one parent and one child. I analyzed 28 interviews involving one 12 to 18-year-old child and one parent or legal guardian (14 dyads) stratified by socioeconomic background, age, and gender. In addition, I conducted the parent-child survey among school-aged children and their parents in three schools, stratified by socioeconomic status. One class per cohort from 7th to 11th grades was randomly surveyed. In total, 381 students and 251 parents completed the surveys. The analyses showed that bottom-up technology transmission occurs at some degree for all the technologies investigated in this study. However, children's influence should not be overstated because they play only one part among a number of factors involved in the digital inclusion of older generations. It also established a typology of factors related to the process at different levels, including structural influences, family structure, strategies employed by youth, and psychological dispositions of parents. Specifically, the analyses consistently found that this process was more likely to occur among people from a lower socioeconomic status. Also, the transmission was associated with more fluid parent-child interactions and occurred among parents who perceived the technology to be useful. Regarding the outcome variables, it demonstrated that this phenomenon is linked, although weakly, to greater levels of perceived competence among parents and higher esteem among young people. Finally, it suggested that bottom-up technology transmission is associated with the reduction of some socioeconomic gaps in digital media use.Item The Changing Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Infection in Children: Impact on Evaluation and Treatment at a Tertiary Pediatric Medical Center in the Southwest United States(2007-12-03) Hollmig, S. Tyler; Copley, Lawson ABBackground: Recent reports illustrate an increased incidence and severity of deep musculoskeletal infections in children. Our purpose was to review the historical experience with deep musculoskeletal infection at a tertiary pediatric medical center in the southwest United States and to compare this past experience with the more recent experience within the same institution. Methods: A retrospective review was performed of children treated for deep musculoskeletal infection at Children's Medical Center of Dallas between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2004. The review identified children with primary diagnoses of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, non-tropical pyomyositis, or abscesses requiring surgical intervention. Trends were identified in terms of causative organism, anatomic location of infection, frequency of requirement of surgical debridement, and identification of adverse sequelae. These trends were compared to past experience within the same institution. Results: 554 children were treated for deep musculoskeletal infection. Primary diagnoses were as follows: osteomyelitis - 212; septic arthritis - 118; pyomyositis - 20; and abscess - 204. The incidence of osteomyelitis rose from 11.7 cases per year, reported in 1982, to 70.7 cases per year, representing a six-fold increase. The incidence of septic arthritis rose from the 1982 report of 18.1 cases per year to 39 cases per year, a 2.2-fold increase. Staphylococcus aureus was responsible for the majority of infections, with methicillin resistant S. aureus representing an important cause of infection not identified in the previous study at this institution. The most common anatomic locations of infection occurred around the knee and hip joints. Deep venous thrombosis was identified as the most common major complication associated with musculoskeletal infection, with 13 cases occurring over the course of the review. Discussion: We have demonstrated a change in the epidemiology among children with musculoskeletal infection at our tertiary pediatric medical center. The marked differences that are present in our current practice when compared to the experience at the same institution over twenty years ago have prompted a detailed look into this epidemiology. The emergence of methicillin resistant S. aureus, the association of deep venous thrombosis musculoskeletal infection, and the reported occurrence of non-tropical pyomyositis, were unique finding in our study. Our recent experience demonstrated trends that motivated the development of clinical practice guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of pediatric musculoskeletal infection. Future prospective work will be necessary to study the success of implementation of these evidence based guidelines as well as to ascertain their merit in terms of beneficial clinical outcomes.Item Child, caregiver, and family predictors of rates of growth in clinical and functional outcomes in systems of care(2006-08) Sebree, Mikaela Kathlene; McCarthy, Christopher J.; Pituch, Keenan A.Over the last several decades there has been a growing recognition that children with serious emotional disturbances are considerably underserved. The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Family Program is the largest federal grant program to help communities to implement, advance, and evaluate the system of care approach to service delivery. One of the goals of the evaluation has been to determine if children who participate in system of care services demonstrate improved clinical and functional outcomes over time. Prior research has revealed that children do display significant improvements over time. While this research is promising, it is also important to explore the variability in the rates of improvement to determine who benefits the most from system of care services. This dissertation explores the predictive role of a selected group of variables (behavioral and emotional strengths, caregiver strain, and demographic variables) on differential rates of improvements in clinical and functional outcomes over time for children who participate in systems of care. These variables were also examined in relation to differences in levels of clinical and functional impairments at intake into system of care services. The results from the latent variable quadratic growth models indicated that children who are served by systems of care displayed significant improvements in clinical and functional outcomes over time, with the greatest improvement occurring in the first six months. Children's behavioral and emotional strengths, caregiver strain, sex, age, and race significantly predicted differences in instantaneous growth, as well as rates of deceleration, for clinical and functional outcomes. Clinical implications, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.Item Children & sports : how parents and the environment parents create lead children to pursue athletic achievement(2011-12) Clark-Mand, Jordan Ellen; Cicchirillo, Vincent J.; Atkinson, Lucinda J.This study investigates parental influence on children's advancement to higher levels of competition (i.e. older age group intramural and club leagues, high school level, collegiate level, professional, etc.) in sport participation. Much past research has been conducted on parental influence, but this study furthered the research by more directly addressing television's role in parental influence among children in school grades four-six. Results indicate that a noticeable amount of parents, regardless of their personal knowledge of sport, often use TV as a teaching tool to help their children advance through their sport experiences.Item The children are always watching : violence, distressed children, and signs of hope in the cinema of Michael Haneke(2011-05) Tate, Adam Wyatt; Staiger, Janet; Kearney, Mary C.This thesis is an analysis of director Michael Haneke’s theatrically-released films. Using a neoformalist approach, it is a dissection of how the director uniquely employs violence and child and youth characters in his films to critique society while looking for potential signs of hope. I argue that Haneke is a successor to those filmmakers who have taken violence to a new extreme in the cinema. However, Haneke has created a signature form of depicting violence in his films. I also argue that although Haneke typically places child characters in peril, a narrative facet that perhaps turns away some viewers, their placement in such scenarios serves to reflect his consistent view of a crumbling, insensitive society. Despite these representations of violence and children in peril, Haneke still finds places to infuse glimmers of hope in his narratives.Item Children in post-Revolutionary Iranian cinema : visions of the future(2015-05) Houck, Kelly Lawrence; Atwood, Blake Robert, 1983-; Aghaie, KamranThis project focuses on children in Iranian cinema in the Islamic Republic era in order to examine how child characters reveal visions of their future in Iran. This analysis will help the reader understand how privilege functions in relation to citizenship in Iran. Prior research argues that children in Iranian cinema represent humanist themes and utopic images of Iranian society. My thesis builds on this work to argue that images of the child represent more nuanced imaginings of the future, dependent on their ability to confront problems successfully. This study does not consider children's films, but rather films with prominent child characters. It looks at child characters both as agents whose desires and anxieties drive the film's action and as objects with whom the audience can visualize the future. This project includes Children of Heaven (Bachcheh-hā-ye āsemān), The Mirror (Āineh), Where is the Friend's Home (Khāne-ye dust kojāst), Bashu, the Little Stranger (Bāshu gharibe-ye kuchek), Baran (Bārān), The Apple (Sib), Life, and Nothing More (Zandegi va digar hich), The White Balloon (Bādkonak-e sefid), and The Day I Became a Woman (Ruzi ke zan shodam). My thesis argues that the ways in which child characters interact with their environment highlight their level of privilege, revealing what types of individuals are best fit to thrive in Iranian society under the Islamic Republic. I argue that notions of citizenship and nationalism are integral to the characters' identities and indicated futures. Specifically, both ideal children and non-ideal children who maintain Iranian citizenship will have successful futures as participants in Iranian society, while non-Iranian nationals may not.Item Children’s experience of therapeutic assessment techniques within school-based assessment(2012-08) Kuhlman, Jamie Thomas; Sherry, Alissa René; Tharinger, Deborah J.; Ainslie, Ricardo; Cawthorn, Stephanie; Finn, StephenThis dissertation examined students‘ experience with school assessment infused with Therapeutic Assessment (TA) techniques. Nine assessors from the school district were assigned to one of two groups, TA-infused group and the assessment-as-usual group. Those in the TA-infused group were trained in collaborative assessment practices based on Finn‘s model of TA with children (TA-C), specifically collaborative interviews, extended inquiries, and collaborative oral and written feedback (Finn, 2007). Thirty-three students from a medium sized public school district in central Texas completed the study in its entirety. It was hypothesized that those in the TA-infused group, compared with the assessment-as-usual group, would report learning more about themselves, experiencing a more positive relationship with the assessor, feeling more positive about the assessment process, feeling more collaborated with, and having greater perceptions of parental understanding. It was also hypothesized that those in the TA-infused group would report an increase in positive feelings and a decrease negative in feelings about themselves and their challenge when compared with the assessment-as-usual group. Additionally, it was hypothesized that those in the TA-infused group would report an increase in positive attitudes toward school after the intervention when compared with the assessment-as-usual group. Outcomes were measured by the Child‘s Experience of Assessment Survey (CEAS), the Children‘s Positive and Negative Affect Scale (CPNE-S), and the Attitude to School (ATS) subtest of the BASC-2-SRP. A descriptive discriminate analysis was conducted using the five subscales of the CEAS to measure the first hypotheses. RM ANOVAs were run on the CPNE-S and the ATS to analyze the second and third hypotheses. Additionally, a qualitative interview was conducted with participants. Analyses yielded no statistically significant results between the groups. Qualitative interviews indicated that both groups were satisfied with the assessment process. Additionally, those in the TA-infused group all reported positive reactions to the collaborative written feedback. Specifically, those that received a fable reported liking the fable and feeling that it related to their lives. Those that received a letter reported learning more about themselves, appreciating a written record of the feedback, and feeling positively about their relationship with the assessor. Further research is needed to understand the effects of collaborative techniques within school assessments, particularly the effects of the different forms of written feedback.Item Children’s willingness to accept labels in two languages: the role of exposure(2015-12) Rojo, Dolly P.; Echols, Catharine H.; Booth, Amy E; Bannard, ColinDespite the increasing number of bilingual education programs in the US, the topic of children’s willingness to accept and learn new vocabulary from non-native speakers has been understudied. The present study focuses on the role of exposure to a non-English language, by investigating how varying amounts and sources of exposure play a role in children’s openness to accepting labels in Spanish. Ninety-eight 4- to 6-year old participants of varying language backgrounds were presented with novel object labels in Spanish and English, and were asked to endorse either or both labels. Children with large amounts of exposure to, but not fluent in, Spanish were more likely than minimally exposed monolingual children to endorse both the English and Spanish label, and importantly, did not differ from bilingual children. Monolingual children with minimal exposure to Spanish were the least likely of these three groups to endorse non-native labels. Language Awareness is also considered as a factor that may contribute to children’s willingness to endorse native and non-native labels.Item “Come away, o human child” : the role of folkloric children in nineteenth-century British and Russian literature(2015-05) Cotey, Yekaterina; Garza, Thomas J.; Richmond-Garza, Elizabeth M. (Elizabeth Merle), 1964-; Kuzmic, Tatiana; Pesenson, Michael; Straubhaar, SandraCultural production in nineteenth-century Britain and Russia was characterized by two important phenomena that affected the literary sphere and visual arts – a burgeoning interest in folklore and a perception of childhood as a privileged space. In my dissertation, I explore how these two spheres converged in the figure of the folkloric child. I also uncover the semiotic dimensions of the binary oppositions intrinsic to the discourse of supernatural children, such as human – monster, child – non-child, cultural insider – Other. In my comparative analysis of supernatural children in Russian and English folklore, I focus on two main categories of supernatural children – unbaptized spirits and fairy changelings – and note the various affective responses they invoke in the bearers of culture. Narratives that focus on unbaptized children are characterized by a sense of communal guilt, whereas in changeling tales, interactions between the human world and the Otherworld are characterized by battles for resources in a contested semiotic space. In the second half of my dissertation, I show how supernatural children influenced prominent literary texts of the nineteenth century. Analyzing the influence of folkloric children on Russian literature, I examine the works of Fedor Dostoevskii and Fedor Sologub, two major writers with shared interest both in uncanny children and in folklore. In their writings, the folkloric child signifies the cultural anxieties specific to nineteenth-century Russia, from commodification of traditional culture to encroaching westernization and loss of spiritual identity. For comparison, I turn to an analysis of the changeling myth in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. These two novels actively use motifs from the lore of changelings to develop the theme of colonialism and its influence on the lives of the colonized or peripheral Others. The study of Otherness that constitutes the body of this dissertation is informed by Yuri Lotman's theory of semiotic core/periphery, as well as by Julia Kristeva's concept of abjection and J.J. Cohen's examination of monstrosity and its cultural significance.Item Contested innocence : images of the child in the Cold War(2008-12) Peacock, Margaret Elizabeth; Neuberger, Joan, 1953-This dissertation examines the image of the child as it appeared in the propaganda and public rhetoric of the Cold War from approximately 1950 to 1968. It focuses on how American and Soviet politicians, propagandists, and critics depicted children in film, television, radio, and print. It argues that these groups constructed a new lexicon of childhood images to meet the unique challenges of the Cold War. They portrayed the young as facing new threats both inside and outside their borders, while simultaneously envisioning their children as mobilized in novel ways to defend themselves and their countries from infiltration and attack. These new images of the next generation performed a number of important functions in conceptualizing what was at stake in the Cold War and what needed to be done to win it. Politicians, propagandists, and individuals in the Soviet Union and the United States used images of endangered and mobilized children in order to construct a particular vision of the Cold War that could support their political and ideological agendas, including the enforcement of order in the private sphere, the construction of domestic and international legitimacy, and the mobilization of populations at home and abroad. At the same time, these images were open to contestation by dissenting groups on both sides of the Iron Curtain who refashioned the child's image in order to contest their governments’ policies and the Cold War consensus. What these images looked like in Soviet and American domestic and international discourse, why propagandists and dissent movements used these images to promote their policies at home and abroad, and what visions of the Cold War they created are the subjects of this dissertation. This project argues that the domestic demands of the Cold War altered American and Soviet visions of childhood. It is common wisdom that the 1950s and 60s was a period when child rearing practices and ideas about children were changing. This dissertation supports current arguments that American and Soviet parents sought more permissive approaches in raising children who they perceived as innocent and in need of protection. Yet it also finds substantial documentation showing that American and Soviet citizens embraced a new vision of idealized youth that was not innocent, but instead was mobilized for a war that had no foreseeable end. In the United States, children became participants in defending the home and the country from communist infiltration. In the Soviet Union, the state created a new vision of idealized youth that could be seen actively working towards a Soviet-led peace around the world. By using the child’s image as a category for analysis, this project also provides a window into how the Cold War was conceptualized by politicians, propagandists, and private citizens in the Soviet Union and the United States. In contrast to current scholarship, this dissertation argues that the Soviet state worked hard to create a popular vision of the Cold War that was significantly different from the “Great Fear” that dominated American culture in the 1950s and 60s. While in the United States, the conflict was portrayed as a defensive struggle against outside invasion, in official Soviet rhetoric it was presented as an active, international crusade for peace. As the 1960s progressed, and as the official rhetoric of the state came under increasing criticism, the rigid sets of categories surrounding the figuration of the Cold War child that had been established in the 1950s began to break down. While Soviet filmmakers during the Thaw created images of youth that appeared abandoned and traumatized by the world around them, anti-nuclear activists took to the streets with their children in tow in order to contest the state’s professed ability to protect their young. In the late 1960s, both the Soviet Union and the United States struggled to contain rising domestic unrest, and took the first steps in moving towards détente. As a consequence, the struggle between East and West moved to the post-colonial world, where again, the image of the child played a vital role in articulating and justifying policy. Visual and rhetorical images like that of the child served as cultural currency for creating and undermining conceptual boundaries in the Cold War. The current prevalence of childhood images in the daily construction and contestation of public opinion are the legacies of this era.Item Cross-cultural investigation of children’s awareness and perception of stuttering(2009-08) Gamez, Maya Inez; Byrd, Courtney; Hampton, ElizabethStuttering is a universal phenomenon that has been identified in ethnic and cultural groups around the world. While it has been suggested that attitudes toward stuttering are different for various cultural groups, knowledge of, and attitudes toward stuttering have not been studied extensively across cultures. The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to investigate the awareness and perception of stuttering for American children age 3 to 7 from diverse cultures, and (2) to compare those to findings of awareness and perception of stuttering for children from Israel and America. Sixteen children in four different age groups were asked to complete three different types of experimental tasks after watching a video of fluent and disfluent identical seal puppets. The participant’s awareness of disfluency was assessed through discrimination between fluent and disfluent speech and identification of the puppet who spoke like them. Perception was addressed through labeling and evaluation of fluent and disfluent speech. Results revealed that at as young as age 3 some children began to demonstrate accurate awareness of disfluent speech. However, the highest level of accuracy was not demonstrated in the majority of participants until age 7. In addition, results further revealed across all age groups that children were more accurate when discriminating between fluent and disfluent speech than identifying it. Similarities and differences between previous studies that have used the same experimental stimuli (i.e., Ambrose & Yairi, 1994; Ezrati-Vinacour et al., 2001) are discussed. The lack of diverse cultural participants and its resulting effects on the present study’s recruitment methodologies are also discussed.Item Depression in children and adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome : the role of peer victimization and self-perceived social competence(2010-12) Harris, Kate Elizabeth; Keith, Timothy, 1952-; Allen, Greg D.Depression is among the most prevalent comorbid conditions in children with Asperger’s Syndrome. Little research has examined the variables that may contribute to depression among such children. Children with Asperger’s show social skill deficits and are often subjected to peer victimization, including isolation and teasing by their peers. It is hypothesized that peer victimization experienced by children with Asperger’s will, in part, explain their self-perceived social competence. It is also hypothesized that self-perceived social competence and peer victimization will help explain depression among such children. Multiple regression will be used to examine these presumed effects.Item Development and validation of the cognitive vulnerability schemas questionnaire for anxious youth(2014-12) Winton, Samantha Marie; Stark, Kevin DouglasAccording to cognitive theories of anxiety, anxiogenic schemata are a set of beliefs, rules, and assumptions that influence how those with anxiety make inferences and interpret threat. It is hypothesized that each anxiety disorder has a unique anxiogenic schema. This report describes the development of the Cognitive Vulnerability Schemas Questionnaire for Anxious Youth, an instrument used to measure anxiogenic schemata in youth aged 7-17 years old. Factor analyses of the scale demonstrated two empirically distinct and relatively stable dimensions of anxiogenic schema. The two identified factors of anxiogenic schema were: (1) Generalized Anxiety and Social Phobia Schema, and (2) Separation Anxiety Schema. The measure demonstrated good psychometric properties on a range of indices of reliability and validity. Results indicated that scores on the questionnaire subscales predicted anxiety symptomology. Regression analyses showed that both factors were predictors of anxiety symptomology, however did not predict anxiety diagnosis. Significant differences in the Cognitive Vulnerability Schemas Questionnaire for Anxious Youth subscales were demonstrated between patients with clinically significant Generalized Anxiety Symptoms, Social Phobia Symptoms, and Separation Anxiety Symptoms. The implications of these findings for theories of cognitive vulnerability and schema development in youth are discussed.