Browsing by Subject "Child Development"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Beyond The Sum Score: A Multidimensional Examination Of Allostatic Load Using Principal Component Analysis And Latent Profile Analysis In Previously Institutionalized Youth
    (2023-09) Zhong, Danruo
    Allostatic Load (AL), the stress-related physiological toll on the body, has been significantly associated with long-term health in humans. In this dissertation study, I examined the impact of early institution care on allostatic load in adolescents, using 13 biomarker data collected from 97 previously institutionalized youth who were adopted internationally from orphanage-liked institutions (PI; 61 females and 36 males; age range 12.02 to 21.39 years; Mean age = 16.31, SD age= 2.4 years) and 96 youth born and raised by birth families (Non-adopted, NA; 50 females and 46 males; age range 12.11 to 21.82 years; Mean age = 15.24, SD age= 2.35 years). Three distinct statistical approaches, namely, the Group Allostatic Load Index (GALI), the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) were used to characterize the allostatic load. ANCOVA, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), and multinomial logistic regression were utilized to examine how AL was associated with the experience of early institutional care. Our findings revealed a significant association between early institutional care and elevated allostatic load in adolescents. The sex difference was also found, such that males were more vulnerable to elevated AL levels than females. Moreover, age was positively associated with allostatic load. Furthermore, the construct of AL transcended beyond a single sum score, as evidenced by the detected multi-dimensions of AL and various underlying AL profiles among the studied individuals. Finally, three methods in the present study each offered unique perspectives that collectively enriched our understanding of AL. Taken together, this dissertation study underlined early health risks in youths who experienced early institutional care, highlighting the need for early, targeted, and personalized intervention programs for the ELS-impacted, at-risk population.
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    Community Playgroups as a Platform for Civic Engagement
    (2025) Kane, Kali
    This study explores community playgroups' multifaceted role in creating stronger, healthier, and more resilient families and communities through research data and a case study of Tod Pod in Bloomington, Minnesota. In addition to the research, the project includes the creation of a toolkit for parents interested in forming a playgroup. Results show that community playgroups can support young children's developmental needs by providing a safe space to engage in play and opportunities for social activities. Playgroups can mitigate mental health issues in parents and caregivers by cultivating social connections and offering emotional support. Playgroups can also be credited with creating more civically engaged families by connecting them with their local communities. By improving developmental growth in children and parental well-being, community playgroups can be credited with long-term economic benefits for society by reducing government spending.
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    It takes a village? neighborhoods and children's readiness for school
    (2014-01) Wruck, Peter Jordan
    From classical theorists like Durkheim, to the Chicago School's Park and Burgess (1916) and Shaw and McKay (1942), to today's work in criminology, sociologists have demonstrated clear relationships between residential context and a variety of outcomes. We also know that children vary in their school readiness. A variety of social forces push and pull on preschool age children and impact their overall school readiness, including family, health, institutions, and neighborhood. This research bridges the neighborhood and early education research literatures to answer three questions: first, is there an association between neighborhoods and school readiness in the United States? Second, which social disorganization-theory informed neighborhood characteristics are most salient in describing this observed association? Finally, do families act as a mediator of this relationship? Given the literature and theory, I hypothesized that these relationships would be substantial and endure across a variety of definitions of neighborhood and school readiness. My results, however, paint a different picture: while neighborhoods appear to be associated with school readiness, the importance of this association is perhaps best described as mild. This has important implications for neighborhood and social capital theories, as well as future research into neighborhood effects on individuals and families.
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    Roots and Seeds: Sewing Healthy Development for Young Native American Children
    (2018-10) Blyly-Strauss, Mina
    Native American children have frequently been overlooked in early childhood development and education literature, though they are part of demographic with some of the highest levels of documented educational and health disparities. The roots of disparities often occur early in life, so this study sought to address the gap in early childhood literature by investigating the phenomenon of raising healthy young Native American children. Using a phenomenological approach, this study addressed two questions: 1. What does it mean to raise culturally whole Native American children, birth through five years of age, in an urban context? 2. How do these important Native American skills and knowledge areas align with items on a federally-approved tool for monitoring young children’s development? Ten Native American caregivers from tribally diverse backgrounds (skewed more heavily Ojibwe) were interviewed, with each interview lasting from one to four hours. Close to 300 pages of transcripts were typed up. Wholistic, line-by-line, comparison, and relational levels of analysis identified themes answering the first question. Comparison was then made between participant comments from the line-by-line analysis and items on the Survey of Well-being of Young Children. Native American children were found to develop within four intersecting planes of existence—Child and Adult, Past and Present, Physical and Spiritual, and Native and Non-Native. A model of this developmental context is proposed, with five thematic examples—Historical and Ongoing Trauma, Cyclical Nature of Parenting, Passing on Living Culture, Healthy Educational Environments, and Healthy Spaces to Grow and Develop. When compared to items on the developmental screening tool, Native American caregivers had most overlap with items for a healthy home environment and motor and communication milestones. Distinct differences were noted between caregiver discussion and screening tool items in the social emotional domain. Further research on this area is needed with both a broader sample as well as to do validation work on developmental screening tools. It is important that practitioners, researchers, and policy makers keep in mind the great diversity of experiences of Native peoples and take time to get to know any individuals they work with to learn about their unique story.
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    Wilderness adventure programming as an intervention for youthful offenders: self-efficacy, resilience, and hope for the future.
    (2009-09) Walsh, Michael Allen
    A review of the literature on positive youth development clearly identifies demonstrated empirical relationships between perceived self competence, adolescent resilience, and hope, which are theorized in a strengths-based focus on youth offenders to be predictors of reduced recidivism. This evaluation of outcomes associated with participation in the Wilderness Endeavors (WE) Program of Thistledew seeks to test this theory that individuals who participate in WE will develop enhanced levels of perceived self competence, resiliency, and hope for the future, and therefore, result in a reduction of recidivism. The specific aims guiding this exploratory study include: 1) to establish a matched-pair control group using youth who were not referred to Thistledew, but which were referred from the same county court system to a Minnesota Department of Correction (MDOC) disposition or other programs, by using as matching variables age, age of first offense, type of committing offense, and risk assessments as determined by the Youth Level of Service Inventory (YSLI) used by the referring Youth Probation Officer (if possible given county court use of the YSLI from which a control group will be drawn); 2) to assess the baseline scores of the youth participant's on the following measures: a) Perceived-Self Competence (Self Efficacy), b) Hope, and c) Adolescent Resiliency; and to assess post-program scores on Perceived-Self Competence, Hope, and Adolescent Resiliency, and 3) to conduct a six-month follow-up assessment that will assess both treatment and control youth re-offense rates, including the nature and degree of the re-offense. The The paired t tests revealed that self efficacy and hope scores showed significant changes from pretest to posttest, suggesting that the Wilderness Endeavors Program had a significant positive effect on participant's self-efficacy and hope for the future. The non parametric test (McNemar) utilized to investigate the four hypotheses related to Wilderness Endeavors Program participation on the future offending behaviors (recidivism) of participants revealed that there were no significant differences in recidivism rates, or new program placements, between the treatment and control groups. Furthermore, involvement in school and employment were not significantly associated with recidivism rates in both treatment and control groups. The binary logistic regression showed that higher levels of hope were associated with those Wilderness Endeavors Program participants who did not recidivate, while changes in self-efficacy and resilience scores had no association with recidivism. Finally, the three demographic variables that are supported in the literature as being strong predictors of recidivism for juvenile offenders revealed only YLSI scores were associated with recidivism; those individuals who did not recidivate were more likely to have a lower risk score. Gender and age of first offense had weak or no associations with either group.