Browsing by Author "Kim, Kee Jeong"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Economic and Parent-Adolescent Relationship Capital Predicting Educational Outcomes
    Faas, Caitlin S. (Virginia Tech, 2010-05-04)
    Using the perspectives of social capital theory (Coleman, 1988) and life course theory (Elder et al., 2003), this study examined how economic capital and particular dimensions of the parent-adolescent relationship predicted educational outcomes. The economic capital variables were family income, parent education, and parent occupational prestige. Relationship capital variables included: closeness to parents, expectations for schooling, parental values, and parent trust. The three economic capital variables, expectations for schooling, and parent trust all significantly predicted final GPA and educational attainment. However, parent-adolescent closeness and parental values did not predict educational outcomes in the overall model. This study extended research in the field by examining both final GPA and educational attainment as educational outcomes. By using a nationally representative sample and four time points of data collection, this research was able to explore how various forms of capital predict early adulthood educational outcomes.
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    The Effects of Perceived Life Threat and Direct Exposure on Psychopathology in Parents and Their Young Children Following the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center Attacks
    Burns, Kelly Dugan (Virginia Tech, 2009-04-23)
    The impact of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center attacks was expansive in nature, and so many people were deeply affected by this disaster. In the years following this attack, many researchers attempted to assess this level of impact. Data point to increased prevalence rates of posttraumatic stress and depressive symptomatology among adults and a variety of difficulties among children following trauma. Additionally, research has shown that geographic proximity to a traumatic event plays a role in identifying those with increased psychological distress. One's subjective experience of a traumatic event, and in particular, one's perception of threat to life, also appears to be important in the identification of those in need. Moreover, understanding the psychological effects of individuals who have experienced a traumatic event is essential to the effective screening and identification of those in need of mental health services. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the ability of geographic exposure and the perceived life threat to predict psychological outcomes in parents and their young children following the World Trade Center attacks in New York City. Additionally, the moderational roles of race/ethnicity and socio-economic status were also examined. Neither maternal geographic exposure nor perception of life threat significantly predicted mental health outcomes in mothers or their young children. However, socio-economic status significantly moderated the relationship between maternal geographic exposure and children's externalizing behaviors. Finally, the effect of race/ethnicity approached significance for maternal PTSD symptoms; however, no significant moderation was found.
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    An Electrophysiological Investigation of Source Memory Development in Early Childhood
    Raj, Vinaya (Virginia Tech, 2009-04-30)
    The present study examined source memory development in a sample of 4 and 6 year children. Patterns of brain electrical (EEG) activity were examined in order to provide a neural basis for the role of prefrontal cortex functioning during source monitoring. Children were taught a series of novel facts from two difference sources (either an experimenter or puppet) and their memory for both item and source information was later tested. Results demonstrated that, after controlling for language, patterns of frontal brain activity predicted 6 year item recall performance, and trends toward significance were observed for temporal brain activity predicting 6 year source recall performance. No associations between frontal or temporal EEG activity and episodic memory judgments were observed among 4-year-old children. Future investigations should examine how source memory, and on a more general level contextual memory binding, influence the development of episodic memory in early childhood.
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    Episodic Memory Development in Childhood: Contributions from Brain Electrical Activity and Executive Functions
    Raj, Vinaya (Virginia Tech, 2012-04-06)
    Episodic memory is a critical component of human cognition. Episodic memory involves recollection of the contextual details surrounding an event, the capacity for mental time travel of past and future events, and is characterized by the subjective awareness that an event has been personally experienced. It is fundamental to our understanding of this complex memory system to examine how episodic memory emerges during the course of development. The present investigation explored the developmental improvement in episodic memory processing assessing recollection of factual information and the source of this information (i.e., source memory) between early to middle childhood. The electrophysiological (EEG) correlates of fact and source memory processing and measures of executive function were also examined as potential sources of variation in episodic memory. The focus of Study 1 was to examine source memory development in early childhood in a sample of 4- and 6-year-olds. Results revealed that older children were better able to recall both fact and source information. Source memory measures were correlated to early executive ability, namely measures of working memory, inhibitory control and set-shifting. Frontal EEG accounted for unique variation in fact recall but not source recall, whereas temporal EEG did not predict fact or source recall performance. The focus of Study 2 was to examine source memory development in middle childhood in a sample of 6- and 8-year-olds. Older children were better on fact recall, but both ages were comparable on source recall. Frontal EEG uniquely predicted fact recall performance beyond the contribution of age and language. Both frontal and parietal EEG and executive function predicted variation in source recall performance. In contrast, temporal EEG did not uniquely predict fact or source recall performance. Lastly, Study 3 was a longitudinal investigation of source memory between early and middle childhood. Although age-related increases in performance were evident, Time 1 and Time 2 source memory measures were not correlated. This investigation contributes to our understanding of the developmental changes in source memory processing between early and middle childhood, and identifies that patterns of frontal and parietal brain activity and executive function skills contribute to early episodic memory formation.
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    Parental Emotion Socialization of Seventh and Eighth Graders: Gender Differences in Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals
    Her, Pa (Virginia Tech, 2008-07-22)
    The primary goal of the present study was to assess linkages between parents' beliefs about children's emotions, parent-child discourse, and children's independent and interdependent self-construals with sixty 7th and 8th grade children. Children were interviewed with the Self-Guide Questionnaire (Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985) and completed an independent and interdependent reaction time measure (Watson & Quatman, 2005). Children's self-guide responses were coded for independent and interdependent traits and behaviors. Parents completed the Parents' Beliefs about Children's Emotions Questionnaire (Halberstadt et al., 2008) to assess their beliefs about the danger of emotions and parents' and children's roles in emotion socialization. Parents' elaborative reminiscing style and both parent and child emotion labeling were measured through a cooperative game designed to elicit emotion-related discourse. Results showed that girls responded faster to interdependent traits and included more interdependent and connected self attributes than did boys, whereas boys included more independent and unique self attributes than did girls. Parents who believe children can guide their own emotion socialization elaborated less about their children's independent and interdependent memories. Their children who responded more slowly to both independent and interdependent traits, with a stronger effect for independent compared with interdependent traits. The interaction between parents' beliefs about the danger of emotions and about their guidance of their child's emotions was related to girls', but not boys', balance of independent and interdependent traits in their self-construal. Results have implications for identifying beneficial developmental trajectories of positive adjustment and mental health.
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    Parental Influences on Children’s Ethnic Identity Development
    Kim, Kee Jeong (Institute for Promoting Research & Policy Development, 2021-10)
    Parental influences on children’s ethnic identity among middle-income Korean-American families (N = 52), including fathers, mothers, and their children were examined. The sample was comprised of 23 boys and 29 girls (M = 7 years and 3 months) and their parents. Mothers and fathers were asked to respond independently to a parent's ethnic identity questionnaire; children were interviewed using a children’s ethnic identity questionnaire. Results revealed the most important predictors of children’s ethnic identity were parental teaching behaviors regarding Korean culture and history. Among the three domains in children’s ethnic identity, Korean language fluency was most affected by parental ethnic identity variables. Results indicated that mothers and fathers generally share the same attitudes toward ethnic matters; thus, it was concluded that children receive a congruent ethnic message from their parents.
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    The Role of Executive and Motivational Laboratory Tasks in the Assessment of Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in ADHD-C and Non-ADHD-C Youth
    Jarrett, Matthew A. (Virginia Tech, 2006-04-28)
    The current study utilized laboratory tasks (Conners' Continuous Performance Test, CPT; Behavioral Inhibition Task, BIT) to examine the relationships among motivation, executive functioning, and parent and teacher-reported attention, internalizing, and externalizing problems in a clinical sample of 132 children with or without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type (ADHD-C; 69% male, mean age = 9.88). Specificity was examined through total, unique, and interactive effects via hierarchical regression. Higher CPT scores (i.e., executive disinhibition) were related to greater externalizing problems in total and unique effect analyses, while a relationship between lower CPT scores (i.e., executive inhibition) and greater internalizing problems was found only in unique effect analyses. No significant effects were found for motivational inhibition (i.e., low BIT) or disinhibition (i.e., high BIT). ADHD-C was associated with greater attention and externalizing problems in total effect analyses, but only externalizing problems showed a significant relationship in unique effect analyses. Interactive effects were found for ADHD-C and executive functioning, as lower levels of CPT (i.e., executive inhibition) coupled with ADHD-C resulted in greater parent-reported attention problems. In addition, higher CPT scores (i.e., executive disinhibition) were associated with greater parent-reported externalizing problems in Non-ADHD-C children. Although some main effects were predicted, the interactive effects were somewhat surprising, particularly in relation to ADHD-C, executive inhibition, and parent-reported attention problems. Exploratory analyses revealed that this effect may have been due to greater internalizing problems in ADHD-C children at lower levels of CPT (i.e., executive inhibition). Results are discussed in relation to past studies and laboratory task validity.
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    Theorizing and Testing Models of Community Capacity and Acculturation
    Lee, Soyoung (Virginia Tech, 2006-11-01)
    The primary purpose of this research project was to explain how Korean immigrants develop acculturation attitudes toward Korean and American culture and how these attitudes are related to their experiences within their community in America. In order to achieve this goal, this project consisted of two empirical studies. In Study 1, the model of community capacity and acculturation was tested using structural equation modeling and the model fit the data very well. The results of the hypotheses tests in Study 1 were as follows: Sense of Community, Community Provisions, and Community Engagement were positively correlated with each other. Sense of Community and Community Provisions directly influenced acculturation attitudes toward American culture. Community Capacity directly influenced acculturation attitudes toward Korean culture. Sense of community and Community Provisions had significant indirect effects on acculturation attitudes toward Korean culture. In Study 2, using structural equation modeling, the model of community adjustment was tested across three groups (INTEGRATION, ASSIMILATION, and SEPARATION) who had developed different acculturation attitudes and the model fit the data well except for ASSIMILATION. The results of the tests of the hypotheses in Study 2 were as follows: Sense of Community and Community Capacity were positively correlated with each other in all groups. Only INTEGRATION did Sense of Community directly influence Community Provisions. However, Community Capacity directly influenced community provisions in all three groups. In INTEGRATION and SEPARATION, Community Engagement directly influenced Community Provisions. Community Capacity indirectly influenced Community Provisions in both INTEGRATION and SEPARATION. Finally, I concluded that Korean immigrants experienced the process of community adjustment differently regarding acculturation attitudes. Results from these investigations explicitly reveal that the application of community capacity in research on acculturation was valuable for explaining some individual and contextual variations in acculturation. Acculturation was a complex, multi-dimensional process. Korean immigrants developed different attitudes and their attitudes impacted differently on their lives within their larger community. The theoretical concept of community capacity has much promise as a guide for future theory and research on acculturation.
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    The Treatment of Comorbid Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Anxiety in Children
    Jarrett, Matthew A. (Virginia Tech, 2009-09-25)
    The current study evaluated a treatment designed specifically for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety. The experimental treatment involved a combination of parent management training for ADHD and family-based treatment for anxiety. Sessions lasted approximately 90 minutes, and the treatment consisted of 10 weekly sessions. 8 children ages 8-12 with ADHD, Combined Type (ADHD-C) and at least one of three anxiety disorders (separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia) were selected for the study. Children were assessed with semi-structured diagnostic interviews and other standardized measures to determine study eligibility. The current study utilized a noncurrent multiple baseline design to evaluate treatment efficacy. Upon selection into the study, children were randomized to one of three baseline control conditions (i.e., 2, 3, or 4 weeks of waiting) in order to insure that change in behavior was associated with implementation of the treatment. Treatment commenced after the respective baseline periods. Families were assessed throughout treatment but more comprehensive assessments were conducted at pre-treatment, mid-treatment, and 1-week post-treatment. Results highlighted significant improvement in anxiety-related symptoms but more modest gains for ADHD-related symptoms.