Stander Symposium abstract book - University of Dayton

POSTER SESSION 1
Parental Sensitivity to Child Anxiety Problems: An Examination of Child, Family, and
Demographic Influences
Presenter(s): Jeannette M Iskander
Advisor(s): Jackson A Goodnight
Psychology - Graduate Research
The present study examined family, child, and demographic influences on parents’ decisions to carry out efforts to reduce their child’s anxiety
problems. The current study analyzed data from 363 families who participated in the Child Development Project (Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1990),
a longitudinal study of social development. When children were 11 years old, parents were asked whether they had become concerned enough
about their child’s anxiety in the last two years to begin an active campaign to help their child. Unadaptable (inhibited) child temperament,
socioeconomic status, family stress, child gender, ethnicity, and mother-rated anxiety/depression from the Child Behavior Checklist served as
predictors of parents’ decision to mount a campaign. Predictors were measured at least one year before parents reported on their concerns about
their children’Âs anxiety. Results from logistic regression analyses revealed that high levels of stress and unadaptability in infancy, as well as low
SES were all associated with an increased probability that a mother would start a campaign to reduce her child’s anxiety problems. However, once
the effect of child anxiety/depression on mother’s concern was statistically controlled, none of these variables were significantly associated with
mothers’ campaign efforts. Moderating effects of the child and family variables on the association between child anxiety/depression levels and
mothers’ decision to mount a campaign were also examined. Child gender was the only variable found to increase parental sensitivity to child
anxiety/depression. The association between child anxiety/depression and mothers’ concerns/campaigns efforts was stronger for girls than for
boys. The results of this study suggest that child and family influences (e.g., stress, SES) on parents’decisions to respond to child anxiety may be
explained by differences in child anxiety levels. In addition, the findings indicate that parents are more sensitive to levels of anxiety and depression
in their daughters than in their sons.
Performance and Assessment of Accuracy in a Visual Sustained Attention Task
Presenter(s): Steven A Bare, Adam Barnas, Brittany L Bernard, Nnimnoabasi E Essien, Christian L Sutphin
Advisor(s): Susan T Davis
Psychology - Independent Research
Vigilance, or sustained attention, typically requires observers to monitor for infrequent critical signals over extended periods of time (Warm,
2003). Critical signals are presented differently than the more frequent neutral signals that we experience in perception and are typically indications
of impending danger that demand attention. Past research has proposed that the decline in vigilance as an attention task continues for
some time and is caused by mindlessness, or withdrawal of attention from the monitoring task (Robertson et al., 1997). The present research
investigates the ability to detect changes in visual stimuli. Participants will be presented with sets of stimuli containing four arrows facing the
same clockwise or counter-clockwise direction in a circle. Participants will respond when a set has one arrow facing the opposite direction from
the other three. In addition, participants will be queried about their confidence in the accuracy of their detections. Our expectation is consistent
with the typical decline in attention over monitoring time; that is, confidence will also diminish as the vigilance task continues. The results of the
present study can be applied to any situation requiring sustained monitoring of informational displays. For example, pilots and technicians are
required to monitor streams of visual and auditory stimuli for prolonged periods of time where the consequence of not detecting a critical signal
could be catastrophic. Understanding more about vigilance processes can help avoid disaster.
Predictors of Cell-phone Driving: A Theory of Planned Behavior Approach
Presenter(s): Ming Yue Chan
Advisor(s): Keri J Kirschman
Psychology - Honors Thesis
Research has shown that motor vehicle crashes are one of the main factors for pediatric unintentional injuries, which is the leading cause of death
for children beyond the age of one in the United States. It has been proposed that due to technological developments, wireless devices such as cellular
phones have become a serious distraction for drivers. This is because engaging in a conversation on a cellular phone is a cognitive distraction
that takes away resources needed to process visual and auditory information from the road. Research has also shown that a driver’s field of vision
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