NYU Applied Psychology OPUS

DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

SPRING 2011

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Vanessa Victoria Volpe

EDITORS Jackson J. Taylor Sibyl Hayley Holland

EDITORS-IN-TRAINING Alyssa Deitchman Javanna N. Obregon

STAFF Jacob Graham-Felsen Brandon Lam Brit Lizabeth Lippman Bofan Luo Coralie C. Nehme Josephine M. Palmeri

COVER PHOTO & LAYOUT Jackson J. Taylor

FACULTY MENTORS Dr. Diane Hughes Dr. Catherine Tamis-LeMonda

CONTRIBUTORS Don Asher Cohen Danny El Hassan Melissa Fulgieri Elizabeth Glaeser Priya Gopalan Maria Petrolekas Steven O. Roberts Katie Sylvester Jackson J. Taylor Vanessa Victoria Volpe

SPECIAL THANKS Dr. Gigliana Melzi E. James Ford Justine M. Kelly-Fierro

Applied Psychology OPUS was initiated in 2010 by a group of undergraduate students in NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Applied Psychology. The ideas and opinions contained in this publication solely reflect those of the authors and not New York University. All work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org

Volume II Spring 2011

Contents LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Vanessa Victoria Volpe | 4 STAFF ARTICLES | Brit Lizabeth Lippman | 6 “Cyberbullicide”: When Cyberbully Victims Can’t Escape| Josephine M. Palmeri | 8 Stigma: A Different Kind of Bully

SUBMISSIONS Women and HIV: A Discourse of Necessary Interventions

| Melissa Fulgieri | 11

Aspects of Gender Identity Development: Searching for an Explanation in the Brain | Elizabeth Glaeser | 16 The Relationship between Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement in Struggling Mathematics Learners | Steven O. Roberts | 22

ABSTRACTS Abstracts from Applied Psychology Honors students

STAFF & CONTRIBUTOR BIOS Staff Bios | 31 Contributor Bios | 32

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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor

It has given me great pleasure to serve as Editor-in-Chief of Steinhardt’s first Online Publication of Undergraduate Studies (OPUS). OPUS was created not only to showcase exemplary undergraduate work in psychology but also to provide unique learning opportunities for contributors and staff members alike and foster student collaboration. We are honored to be the recipient of a NYU President’s Service Award for the 2010-2011 year and believe that OPUS will continue to strive towards creating community both within and beyond the Applied Psychology Undergraduate Program.

OPUS has a knack for bringing certain kinds of students together— passionate, motivated individuals who are creatively bridging disciplines and engaging with ideas of social justice. Continuing this tradition, the current issue features stimulating work including articles on the unique considerations of modern forms of bullying, to literature reviews that consider gender identity development, HIV prevention efforts, and factors which influence children’s mathematics achievement. We hope that readers will find something within these pages that sparks an idea, a question, a dialogue. To truly create positive change, engaging with others’ work in a critical way is the first step towards bringing the ideas written about in OPUS to fruition.

While we founding members of OPUS are graduating this year, we have no doubt that the upcoming co-editors, Alyssa Deitchman and Javanna Obregon, will continue to ensure that OPUS stands for showcasing undergraduate work in psychology, building community, and providing undergraduates with training in a semi-professional editorial process.

As always, we hope that OPUS may continue to showcase many more of the unique work of undergraduate students and capture the breadth and diversity of their passions. To our readers, we hope that OPUS highlights important issues for consideration and inspires in you a desire to think critically, challenge your assumptions, and bring about change.

Vanessa Victoria Volpe Editor-in-Chief

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Staff Writer articles

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STIGMA A Different Kind of Bully Brit Lizabeth Lippman Most college students can attest to the challenges of adolescence: the tiring effort put into appearance, the hypersensitivity to peer criticism, and the prevalence of bullying in middle and high school. However, for those suffering from mental disorders, preoccupation with the opinion of others may take on a new meaning.

These individuals face a different kind of bullying that may erode their mental health and willingness to persist in treatment: stigma.

In recent years, the breadth of literature on the connection between stigma and adolescent mental illness has expanded as scholars have sought to understand how stigma affects the lives of young people. Researchers have also begun to explore how stigma manifests itself in peer groups, school environments, and family life.

Through a variety of methods, they have painted what is sure to be an ever-expanding mural of what stigma looks like for adolescents with psychiatric disorders. In learning about the experience of stigma as it relates to psychological well-being, psychologists have opened doors to effective methods for combating stigma.

The literature distinguishes between two types of stigma: public stigma and self-stigma. Public stigma is one’s perception of others’ reactions to his or her illness. Meanwhile, self-stigma involves the internalization of public stigma typically marked by feelings of shame, embarrassment, and low self-esteem directed toward oneself (Corrigan, 2004). Despite this differentiation, it is best to conceptualize the two constructs together since they are so closely related—public stigma instills self-stigma.

Most of the recent research on stigma reports that adolescents with mental disorders are personally affected by stigma in at least one area of their lives. For example, Moses (2010) found that adolescents who perceive stigma in one domain of their lives are likely to feel stigmatized in other domains as well. A study of stigma among

A Different Kind of Bully

Lippman | A Different Kind of Bully |

adolescents taking psychiatric medication discovered through qualitative interviews that 90% of participants demonstrated at least one of three measured stigma themes: secrecy, shame, and limiting social interaction (Kranke, Floersch, Townsend, & Munson, 2010). Many of these adolescents endorsed feeling some stigma from their friends or peers (Moses, 2010). Others expressed fear of being bullied by peers in school environments, consequently leading to secrecy, shame, and social withdrawal (Kranke et al., 2010).

Not only does stigmatization from family and peers negatively affect an adolescent’s psyche, but it can lead adolescents to actually define themselves by their illnesses, a phenomenon known as self-labeling.

The majority of adolescents do not seem to be self-labelers, but it is important to note that self-labeling positively correlates with self-stigma, depression, and a lower sense of mastery (Moses, 2008). That being said, self-labelers seem to have an overall poorer self-image, with a greater susceptibility to depression. Moses (2008) found that adolescents who self-label “refer to their illness as an organic part of themselves,” merging their own identity with that of their psychiatric disorder (p. 575).

These findings suggest that individuals who cannot separate who they are from their diagnoses might experience poorer psychological well-being that likely seeps into their academic performance, as well as other dimensions of their daily lives.

The negative effects of stigma are best avoided by contact with supportive family and peer groups who either suffer from the same condition or can empathize with the affected adolescent. Kranke et al. (2010) found that adolescents who did not endorse any stigma themes had such a support system, and thus were able to normalize their illness so that they “no longer felt that anything was wrong with them” (p. 504). In another study, an adolescent spoke highly of her father because he showed understanding by treating her “like a kid that doesn’t have any problems” (Moses, 2010). On the other hand, having family members who also struggle with some form of mental illness can actually serve as a positive factor for adolescents, since parents and relatives who empathize may be less likely to exclude their children or act condescendingly toward them (Moses, 2010).

We know that adolescents with psychiatric disorders fare better when they have parents and peers who can relate to them, but this begs the question: what about those who do not? What can we as peers, educators, and parents do to combat

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the shame and negative experiences of individuals who bear the burden of a DSM-IV diagnosis?

Explicitly enforcing and expressing acceptance of these adolescents is crucial since feelings of shame might eventually lead to treatment avoidance and unwillingness to seek care down the line. Research reveals that family shame in particular significantly predicts treatment avoidance (Corrigan, 2004). Vogel, Wade, & Hackler (2007) found that high levels of selfstigma are associated with negative attitudes toward counseling and seeking help. Similarly, a study on adolescent depression also noted that teenagers who felt more stigmatized, particularly within the family, were less likely to seek treatment (Meredith et al., 2009).

Since much of the literature currently published is qualitative and correlational in nature, research has yet to determine whether stigma actually causes poorer psychological well-being (e.g., in the forms of shame, low self-esteem, and withdrawal) or whether the correlation is contextual and extraneous factors are the bigger culprit.

As several studies have wisely acknowledged, future research must include longitudinal or experimental studies in order to get a clearer sense of how damaging stigma may be for adolescents over time, especially in terms of continuing with treatment (Kranke et al., 2010; Moses, 2008). Research on adolescent mental health stigma is especially valuable, since adolescence is a critical time period for identity development and solidification (Moses, 2008).

Longitudinal work is necessary to comprehend the nature of the more permanent developmental trends this bullying may produce.

As research in this area progresses, school administrators and teachers should continue to discuss how to appropriately address stigma experienced in the classroom. Recent evaluations of anti-stigma interventions in Germany (Conrad et al., 2009), Britain (Pinfold et al., 2003), and the United States (Mann & Himelein, 2009) have discovered that using first-person narratives from students who have personally dealt with mental illness is helpful in reducing stigma within schools.

Such studies suggest that schools in which students can share their own experiences with illness might be most helpful in fighting stigma. It is harder to change parents’ relationships with adolescents or the social dynamic within peer groups, but educators may serve as a stepping stone in advocating for a population that is so often misunderstood.

References Conrad, I., Dietrich, S., Heider, D., Blume, A., Angermeyer, M., & Riedel-Heller, S. (2009).

“Crazy? So What!”: A school programme to promote mental health and reduce stigma—Results of a pilot study. Health Education, 109(4), 314-328.

Corrigan, P. W. (2004). How stigma interferes with mental health care. American Psychologist, 59(7), 614-625.

Kranke, D., Floersch, J., Townsend, L., & Munson, M. (2010). Stigma experience among adolescents taking psychiatric medication.

Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 496-505.

Mann, C. E., & Himelein, M. J. (2008). Putting the person back into psychopathology: An intervention to reduce mental illness stigma in the classroom. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43, 545-551.

Meredith, L. S., Stein, B. D., Paddock, S. M., Jaycox, L. H., Quinn, V. P., Chandra, A., & Burnam, A. (2009). Perceived barriers to treatment of adolescent depression. Medical Care, 47(6), 677-685.

Moses, T. (2008). Self-labeling and its effects among adolescents diagnosed with mental disorders. Social Science & Medicine, 68, 570-578.

Moses, T. (2010). Being treated differently: Stigma experiences with family, peers, and school staff among adolescents with mental health disorders. Social Science & Medicine,70, 985-993.

Pinfold, V., Toulmin, H., Thornicroft, G., Huxley, P., Farmer, P., & Graham, T. (2003). Reducing psychiatric stigma and discrimination: Evaluation of educational interventions in UK secondary schools. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 342-346.

Vogel, D., Wade, N. G. & Hackler, A. H. (2007).

Perceived public stigma and the willingness to seek counseling: the mediating roles of self-stigma and attitudes toward counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(1), 40-50.

Palmeri

“Cyberbullicide” When Cyberbully Victims Can’t Escape

| When Cyberbully Victims Can’t Escape| 8

“Text-messaging isn’t going away. Bullying isn’t going away.

That combination killed my son.”

-Mother of cyberbullicide victim (Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007)

Josephine M. Palmeri Advancement in modern technology has influenced a new method of victimization that has taken traditional bullying to a new extreme.

Cyberbullying, the voluntary and repetitious abuse that is inflicted through computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010), is a modern method of victimization that has affected over 40 percent of adolescents in the past year (National Crime Prevention Council, 2010). Similar to traditional bullying, cyberbullying is used to exert power and dominance over another person (Beran & Li, 2005). Cyberbullying, however, accomplishes this control through text messaging, instant messaging, or social networking websites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter (Beran & Li, 2005), enabling the cyberbully to harass, threaten, or ridicule the victim in both public (e.g., the internet) and private domains (e.g., text messaging). While traditional in-school bullying is still prevalent amongst adolescents, cyberbullying can occur 24 hours a day, seven days a week, amplifying the frequency of the abuse. The cyberbully is able to attack the victim in a place where the victim should feel safe—within his or her own home. In doing this, the cyberbully may take away the victim’s sense of security altogether. Daily, about 160,000 children stay home from school for fear of being bullied by their peers (Bullying Statistics, 2009).

However, with the increase of cyberbullying, staying home from school may no longer be enough to avoid victimization.

Cyberbullying’s unique components can be especially detrimental for victimized adolescents.

For example, a cyberbully victim can receive an unlimited amount of harassing messages through several different networks. Within a matter of minutes the cyberbully can post a rumor on a victim’s Facebook status or send harassing text messages that fill the victim’s inbox. Each of these methods attribute to the inescapability of cyberbullying by broadening the potential audience of the cyberbully attack (Sourander et al., 2010). If a cyberbully posts something embarrassing or defaming about the victim on any social networking website, everyone who is friends with the cyberbully or the victim has the potential to see the post. The victim not only has to deal with the embarrassment of being victimized, but also with the knowledge that every-

one who has access to the Internet is able to witness this humiliation. Another damaging component of cyberbullying is the cyberbully’s ability to remain anonymous (Sourander et al., 2010). The cyberbully is able to setup a fake social networking account, email, or screen name in order to hide his or her identity when harassing the victim. In fact, while 84 percent of cyberbullies have targeted attacks at specific individuals, only 31 percent of victims reported knowing who is cyberbullying them (Ybarra & Mitchell, 2004). As a result, the victim often becomes afraid of going to school, and is also suspicious of everyone around them (Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007).

Much research on cyberbullying has examined short-term consequences of victimization, while there is a paucity of research pertaining to the relation between being cyberbullied and victims’ long-term psychological health. However, being that cyberbullying and traditional bullying share similar goals (e.g., exerting dominance and power over the victim), it can be suggested that the two forms of bullying share potential psychological consequences, such as loneliness, peer rejection, low-self esteem, poor mental health (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010), depression, isolation, and hopelessness (Pranjic & Bajraktarevic, 2010).

Considering that depression, hopelessness, and isolation have been linked to suicide (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010), if cyberbullying is linked to an increased level of these issues in the victim, then the experience of being cyberbullied may increase adolescents’ suicidal thoughts and attempts as well.

In 2007, suicide was found to be the third leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 15 to 24 years old (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2007). Despite the research linking traditional bullying to suicide (Brunstein-Klomek, Sourander, & Gould, 2010; Pranjic & Bajraktarevic, 2010), the research directly linking cyberbullying and suicide has been limited. However, Hinduja and Patchin (2010) have coined the term “cyberbullicide” from their recent survey of 2,000 middle school students to describe suicide that occurs indirectly or directly through experiences of online aggression. The study assessed peer harassment, online and offline bullying, and thoughts about suicide. Results showed that both victims of traditional bullying

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and cyberbullying scored higher on a scale of suicidal ideation than students who were not victims of either form of bullying. Moreover, research has found that even victims of infrequent cyberbullying have had high levels of suicidal thoughts (Brunstein-Klomek et al., 2010). These findings suggest that cyberbullying is just as detrimental for adolescent victims as tradition bullying, and must be taken just as seriously (Hinduja & Patchin, 2010).

There is still an extensive amount of research that needs to be done in order to fully understand cyberbullicide. Being that cyberbullying is a relatively new concept, most of the research on this topic only assesses the degree to which victims are cyberbullied, rather than the potential long term psychological outcomes of being cyberbullied (Sourander et al., 2010). Conducting further research may help anti-cyberbullying and intervention programs focus on particular ways to prevent cyberbullying as a whole (Sourander et al., 2010). More specifically, conducting longitudinal studies that assess the effects of cyberbullying over time may give a more precise understanding of how cyberbullying evolves, as well as the victim’s long term psychological issues influenced by this evolution. Therefore, by increasing our knowledge on the psychological outcomes of cyberbullying, as well as the steps that lead the victims to cyberbullicide, we may be able to help decrease the number of victims who are pushed to that extreme.

References American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

(2007). Facts and Figures: National Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.afsp. org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage &page_id=05 0fea9f-b064-4092-b1135c 3a70de1fda Beran, T., & Ling, Q. (2005). Cyber-harassment: A study of a new method for an old behavior.

Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32(3), 265-277.

Brunstein-Klomek, A., Sourander, A., & Gould, M. (2010). The association of suicide and bullying in childhood to young adulthood: A review of cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(5), 282-288.

Bullying Statistics. (2009). Bullying and Suicide.

Retrieved from http://www.bullying statistics. org/content/bullying-andsuicide.html Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010).

Suicide: Risk and Protective Factors.

Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ Violence Prevention/youthviolence/ riskprotectivefactors.html Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2010). Bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide. Archives of Suicide Research, 14(3), 206-221. doi:10.1080/13811118.2010.494133

National Crime Prevention Council. (2010). Stop Cyberbullying Before it Starts Facts.

Retrieved from http://www.ncpc.org/ resources/files/pdf/bullying/cyberbullying Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2006). Bullies move beyond the schoolyard: A preliminary look at cyberbullying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 4(2), 148–169.

Pranjic, N., & Bajraktarevic, A. (2010). Depression and suicide ideation among secondary school adolescents involved in school bullying. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 11, 349–362. doi:10.1017/S1463423610000307 Raskauskas, J., & Stoltz, A. D. (2007). Involvement in traditional and electronic bullying among adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 564. doi:10.1037/00121649.43.3.564 Sourander, A., Brunstein-Klomek, A., Helenius, H., Ikonen, M., Lindroos, J., Luntamo, T., …

Koskelainen, M. (2010). Psychosocial risk factors associated with cyberbullying among adolescents: A population-based study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67(7), 720-728.

Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: Associations with caregiver-child relationships, internet use, and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 319–336.

Submissions |

Submissions

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Women A Discourse of Necessary Interventions

HIV

MELISSA FULGIERI Millions of dollars each year are spent developing resources for gay men living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas, especially New York City. One such resource is The Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, and Prevention Studies at New York University, where Dr. Perry Halkitis is conducting a three-year longitudinal study called Project 18. I work as a research assistant on Project 18, assessing how sexual behavior and drug use affect HIV transmission for a group of young gay men as they transition into adulthood.

Given that my work on Dr. Halkitis’ research project focuses exclusively on gay men, I have grown increasingly aware that the resources accessible at Project 18 are not as readily available to women in urban areas who are also engaging in the high-risk behavior that could lead to the contraction of the virus. Those resources that are available for this demographic seem to be divided between either prevention or intervention based efforts. Prevention efforts are geared towards women who are engaging in high-risk behavior leading to HIV contraction, while intervention based efforts are focused on tackling the daily and ongoing issues that plague HIV positive women. After considerable research, it has come to my attention that while these two different efforts overlap in some cases, there are still major discrepancies between the two programs that fail to decrease the rate at which women are testing positive. In constructing this literature review, I hope to examine the resources available to women both suffering from and at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Although once considered exclusively a “gay man’s disease,” HIV/AIDS is an epidemic no longer affecting only homosexual men and it would be a disservice to overlook the virus’ affect on other populations, especially women. Although early research focuses solely on HIV contraction for gay men and intravenous drug users, studies are now examining HIV transmission among heterosexual individuals due to the increase in rates of HIV infection for this population (e.g., Carey et al.,

2000; Crepaz et al., 2009; Hobofoll, Jackson, Lavin, Britton, & Shepherd, 1994). In fact, AIDS is now the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 15 and 44 worldwide. Today in the United States, approximately 51,953 women are living with HIV/AIDS and women account for more than one in four new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and deaths caused by AIDS (WHO, UNAIDS, & UNICEF, 2009). Statistics from the last 10 years have confirmed that New York City continually reports the highest numbers of females suffering from AIDS by city and state (Carey, 1997; WHO, UNAIDS, & UNICEF, 2009). In order to assess the country’s response to this prevalence of transmission, it is imperative to explore the services that are available for high-risk women in urban areas. Furthermore, past research illustrates that there is a clear divide between preventative interventions available for women in urban areas engaging in HIV-associated high-risk behaviors and interventions for HIV positive women from urban areas already living with HIV in urban areas.

In this literature review, I will explore the differences among interventions offered to HIV positive women and prevention measures for women at high risk for HIV. I will consider what still needs to be done to merge these discrepant efforts in order to not only reduce the rate of transmission for women in urban areas but continue to promote the well-being of those women already living with the virus.

Interventions for Women Living with HIV/AIDS Although there continue to be efforts put forth towards preventing the risk of HIV transmission of women in urban areas, there are also interventions geared towards helping women who have already been infected with the virus and are battling with the various issues that coincide with HIV/AIDS contraction. Most major interventions focus on socioeconomic and psychological factors such as past or current history of trauma and drug abuse which relate to a woman’s contraction of the HIV/AIDS virus, as well as how such variables affect their quality of life (Gielen et al., 2000; Gielen, McDonnell, Wu, O’Campo, & Faden, 2001; Simoni, Frick, & Huang, 2006, Simoni & Ng, 2000).

Quality of life may be defined as encompassing “multiple aspects of life satisfaction such as: role functioning, self-esteem, spiritual fulfillment, a sense of control over one’s environment” (Gielen et al., 2001, p. 315). This theoretical framework succinctly summarizes the interpersonal, psychological factors that affect one’s sense of well-being. Despite the progressively higher rates

Fulgieri

of transmission in women, few published studies address their quality of life after contraction of the virus. However, it is extremely important to assess the quality of life of women after becoming HIV positive, as women generally report more psychological distress than men after contraction (Kennedy et al., 1995). Such distress can have negative consequences including decrease in selfesteem, onset of suicidal ideation, and lack of motivation in daily life and activities.

Most often interventions implemented in New York City assess the quality of life of women with HIV/AIDS through focus groups that help women cultivate skills to create and maintain social support networks (Gielen et al., 2001). Such interventions have demonstrated that HIV positive women report more positive quality of life and mental health when they have larger support networks. Furthermore, women who practice more self-care behaviors such as healthy dieting, adequate sleep and stress management report better physical and mental health and overall quality of life (Gielen et al., 2001). Such interventions have implications for the idea that maintaining both a psychologically and physically healthy lifestyle can have positive effects for HIV positive women.

Limitations persist in spite of interventions’ various enriching effects on the quality of life of HIV positive women living in urban areas. Despite the fact that the number and severity of HIVrelated symptoms and HIV/AIDS status are strong predictors of a person’s perceived quality of life, recent interventions should assess other components of life that could affect a woman’s experience living with HIV/AIDS. For example, interventions that focus on the quality of life of women living with HIV/AIDS should also examine past or current trauma including physical and sexual abuse in childhood or adulthood (Gielen et al., 2000; Gielen et al., 2001; Simoni & Cooperman, 2000; Simoni & Ng, 2000). In Simoni’s and Cooperman’s (2000) study of trauma and HIV in New York City women, results revealed a high prevalence of abuse in childhood (50%) and adulthood (68%); 7% had been raped or physically assaulted in the last 90 days. This study was replicated by Simoni (2006), who found that 5% of women with HIV in New York City were sexually abused and 69% were physically abused at some point in their lives. In these studies, trauma is associated with lower self-esteem and increased rates of anxiety, depression, suicide, sexual difficulties and interpersonal problems. In fact, physical and sexual abuse within childhood lowers the

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likelihood that women are able to adopt adaptive and avoidant coping strategies in their current situations, resulting in symptoms of depression (Simoni & Cooperman, 2000). Past abuse therefore plays an important role in the global well-being of women living with HIV and should be considered an important piece to address in intervention efforts.

Women should be provided with the opportunity to be holistically treated, addressing any past trauma, which may augment their feelings of depression and anxiety associated with contracting HIV (Simoni & Cooperman, 2000).

Research has shown that assessing past and/or current trauma is significantly associated with improving the psychological functioning of women living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas.

Furthermore, it has been found that revealing past traumatic experiences has proven to be therapeutic for those participating in interventions, as speaking out about difficult life experiences gives women more control over their current situation (Simoni & Cooperman, 2000; Simoni et al., 2006). The implementation of a component to address trauma in interventions may serve to improve the well-being of HIV positive women. Additionally, based on social support research, providing women with opportunities to create lasting relationships and meaningful connections with others may be a specifically viable resource in treating women living with HIV as a result of abuse.

Prevention Measures for Women Engaging in High Risk Behavior HIV-preventative services provided in urban areas focus mainly on cultivating behavioral risk reduction skills (Carey et al., 1997; Crepaz et al., 2009) and are geared towards reducing the rate of HIV transmission among women. Such prevention measures are necessary because it is not beneficial solely to educate women on the ways of contracting the virus, but also to provide them with supplementary training in developing behavioral skills and tactics (Carey et al., 1997).

Behavioral risk reduction measures are implemented in order to decrease high-risk behaviors - such as engaging in sex without a condom or with an intravenous drug user, engaging in intravenous drug use, and having sex with multiple partners - that are found to reduce the rate of transmission among women in urban settings. Specific behavioral skills developed during these prevention sessions help to decrease the prevalence of high risk behavior as women

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learn practice how to use male condoms correctly and role-play negotiating safer sex practices with a partner (Crepaz et al., 2009). Other behavioral sessions examine risk reduction problem solving, assertiveness in sexual situations, selfmanagement, and peer support (Holtgrave & Kelly, 1996). Behavioral training designed and implemented exclusively for women is necessary because women have been found to generally lack control over condom use, either because they have less power in relationships or because their impoverished status can increase the risk of financial and emotional dependency on men (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000).

Analysis of these preventative measures found that by decreasing high-risk behavior, safer sex practices like condom usage and negotiation with partners regarding safer sex practices, reduction of STI rates, significantly increased (Crepaz et al., 2009; Hobfoll et al., 1994; Holtgrave et al., 1996; Kelly et al., 1994). Yet, results from these studies cannot always generalize to other populations, such as low income women who reside in rural areas or women from other socioeconomic statuses who engage in high risk behavior (Crepaz et al., 2009). Furthermore, there may be external factors contributing to behavior change that are independent of these prevention measures. For example, social disadvantage and competing life stressors due to unemployment and relationships with high-risk men are external factors that are also associated with a woman’s tendency to engage in high-risk behaviors, and may have had an effect on the efficiency of the prevention program (Kelly et al., 1994). Prevention efforts should work within such contextual limitations in order to better gear programs for those who need them most.

In addition to developing behavior risk reduction skills, past literature demonstrates the promise in adding a motivational component to prevention measures to greatly reduce the prevalence of high-risk behaviors of inner city women (Carey et al., 2000; Carey et al., 1997). A motivational component such as assessing one’s risk perceptions of HIV transmission, for example, calls women to reflect on the impact of their past decisions and preferences in order to think more critically about their current decisions and preferences. Motivational constructs are vital for changing behavior because when only behavioral training is implemented, women develop the skills to change behavior but may continue to lack the motivation to do so (Carey et al., 2000).

Perceptual motivation training is especially necessary because those that engage in high-risk

behaviors are found to underestimate their own vulnerability towards contraction of the virus.

Many women do not believe that they will contract HIV nor do they think that engaging in risk reduction behaviors is socially normal or acceptable (Carey et al., 2000). Furthermore, evidence shows that many of these women do not regard the threat of HIV transmission as a daily problem (Carey et al., 1997). Adding a motivational component to behavioral risk reduction interventions therefore serves to enhance knowledge of transmission, lead to greater refusal of unprotected sex, increases communication between sexual partners, and provides daily reinforcement for traditional behavioral prevention tactics (Carey et al., 2000).

Such enhancements imply the necessity for a motivational component in prevention efforts, especially because adding the motivational piece allows individuals with low interest in changing their behavior skills to understand the relevance of risk reduction to their life goals (Carey et al., 2000). Moreover, clients are more committed to a behavior change that they feel is their own decision, which suggests that resistance to changes in behavior would decrease with a motivational component which allows clients a say in their own goals.

Comparing the Tactics of Intervention and Prevention Programs After examining both the prevention efforts for women who engage in high-risk behaviors that lead to HIV/AIDS in urban areas and the interventions for women already living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas, it is apparent that the topics covered in each type of program differ widely. HIV prevention measures seem to focus solely on educating those at risk about the virus itself and cultivating skills and tactics towards resisting contraction (Carey et al., 1997; Carey et al., 2000; Crepaz et al., 2009; Hobofall et al., 1994). On the other hand, HIV interventions for HIV positive women focus on assessing the wellbeing, quality of life, and past significant experiences, such as abuse and trauma, that potentially contributed to a woman’s contraction of HIV. There is little focus on traumatic or abusive experiences in prevention efforts for those at risk of contracting HIV, despite the fact that Wyatt et al. (2002) assert that “women who report early and chronic sexual abuse have a 7-fold increase in HIV-related risk behaviors” (p. 4) and that such childhood sexual abuse and HIV-related risks in adulthood have been well documented.

Fulgieri

Furthermore, very few high-risk prevention studies emphasize other factors that affect HIV risk, like socio-ecological, cultural, and mental health components, even though these components are so prevalent in the interventions for HIV positive women (Crepaz et al., 2009).

Additionally, including a discussion of participants’ sexual history in an intervention has been found to help reduce HIV contraction (Wyatt et al., 2002).

Although behavioral and motivational prevention regiments have proven to greatly decrease highrisk behaviors, they are still unable to significantly enhance risk perceptions, reduce women’s number of sexual partners, assess quality of life or get to the underlying causes of what possesses women to engage in high-risk behaviors (Carey et al., 2000). Clearly, past and current assessments of psychological well-being, sexual abuse and trauma, and sexual history that are used in interventions for HIV positive women would be useful in prevention measures for women who engage in high-risk behavior.

Considering Drug Use in Intervention and Prevention Efforts In the United States, a large amount of women acquire HIV through the high-risk behavior of intravenous drug use. This type of behavior is much more prevalent in women than in men when contracting HIV (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000).

Other drugs, including crack cocaine and alcohol, have also been found to increase a women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. However, none of the prevention or intervention measures described in the literature include assessments of a woman’s history of drug and/or alcohol abuse. The aforementioned interventions for women who engage in high-risk behavior provide training for skills to decrease these behaviors, yet the history or the dependency to this specific high-risk behavior has never been assessed. The use of alcohol and drugs are believed to be sexual disinhibitors that may place a woman at risk for HIV through unsafe sex. In fact, women who engage in drug and alcohol use may be more likely to engage in other high risk sexual behaviors (Wingood & DiClemente, 2000). Due to this connection, it may be useful to include a drug and alcohol usage and/or dependency assessment in both intervention and prevention efforts in order to determine the presence of these high-risk behaviors what can be done to decrease them. By assessing past and current drug and alcohol usage in women who are already HIV positive, we can examine these women’s history of drug or alcohol

| Women & HIV | 14

dependency and determine if that truly relates to their contraction of the virus.

Merging Preventative and Interventional Tactics to Reduce Transmission Prevention efforts for women who engage in high-risk behaviors that lead to HIV/AIDS are missing significant components that are needed to effectively reduce risk behaviors of all kinds and shed light on the causes of high-risk behavior.

Only one study of HIV prevention measures seems to address these causes by incorporating women’s accounts of childhood sexual abuse into their prevention program (Crepaz et al., 2009), whereas the overwhelming majority of studies that examined interventions for HIV positive women in urban areas focused mainly on past and current sexual abuse and/or trauma (Gielen et al., 2001; Gielen et al., 2006; Simoni & Cooperman, 2000a; Simoni & Ng, 2000b). The question remains: why are the prevention and intervention efforts so different? If urban interventions are putting an emphasis on certain factors only after these women contract HIV/AIDS, then there should be the same emphasis placed on prevention programs for women who engage in the risky behavior that leads up to transmission of HIV/AIDS. Even after merging both prevention and intervention into one cohesive therapeutic package, limitations and ethical considerations need to be addressed. For instance, previous interventions and preventions implemented examined a sample of women who had the means to attend their workshops. In reality, there may be an entire body of women who would benefit from these types of programs, whether they are HIV positive and require intervention or at risk for contracting HIV and require prevention efforts, but did not and will not have the means to attend past or future interventions. Even if the programs are free of charge to attend, it is assumed that the women have the money for transportation and availability to attend. However, many women living in urban areas (especially those who have children) may not have the time or resources to attend an HIV/AIDS workshop. An ethical priority for the overall implementation of a program, especially with regard to the inclusion of a trauma assessment, is that the intervention be more beneficial than harmful for the women. Assuming that the benefits outweigh the risks may be misguided, especially because an intervention that asks a woman to divulge her potential extremely

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painful past may end up being more harmful than helpful, regardless of what the research contends.

Conclusion Women are contracting HIV/AIDS in America at a higher rate than ever before, especially in urban areas (Carey et al., 1997). Due to this recent increase of contraction, programs need not only focus on lessening the chances that high-risk behaviors will occur, but also on getting to the underlying reasons of why such high-risk behaviors are occurring in the first place. In order to do this, interventions for women living with HIV/AIDS must be examined for their applicability to women at high risk for the virus and vice versa.

Discovering the factors that caused an HIV diagnosis for HIV positive women and assessing these factors for women at risk of HIV as part of risk reduction interventions are likely to help decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS for urban women. Future research should examine not only the current intervention and prevention mechanisms for HIV transmission, but also assess what components are included in the efforts put forth for drug and alcohol abuse, psychological concerns, and behavioral issues to determine what components HIV/AIDS intervention and prevention programs are still missing.

References Bryan, A. D., Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1996).

Increasing condom use: Evaluation of a theorybased intervention to prevent sexually transmitted diseases in young women. Health Psychology, 15(5), 377-382, Carey, M. P., Braaten, L. S., Maisto, S. A., Gleason, J. R., Forsyth, A. D., Durant, L. E., & Jaworski, B. C. (2000). Using information, motivational enhancement, and skills training to reduce risk of HIV infection for low-income urban women: A second randomized clinical trial. Health Psychology, 19(1), 3-11.

Carey, M. P., Maisto, S. A., Kalichman, S. C., Forsyth, A.. D., Wrigth, E. M., & Johnson, B. T. (1997). Enhancing motivation to reduce the risk of HIV infection for economically disadvantage urban women. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 65(4), 531-541.

Crepaz, N., Marshall, K. J., Aupont, L. W., Jacobs, E. D., Mizuno, Y., Kay, L. S…. & McCree, D. H. (2009). The efficacy of HIV/STI behavioral interventions for African American females in the United States: A meta analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 99(11), 2069-2078.

DiClemente, R., & Wingood, G. M. (1995) A randomized controlled trial of an HIV sexual risk-reduction intervention for young AfricaAmerican women. JAMA, 274(16), 1271-1276.

Gielen, A. C., Fogarty, L., O’Campo, P., Anderson, J., Keller, J., & Faden, R. (2000). Women living with HIV: disclosure, violence, and social support.

Journal of Urban Health, 77(3), 480-491.

Gielen, A.C., McDonnell, K. A., Wu, A. W., O’Campo, P., & Faden, R. (2001). Quality of life among women living with HIV: The importance of violence, social support, and self care behaviors.

Social Science and Medicine, 52, 315-322.

Hobofoll, S. E., Jackson, A. P., Lavin, J., Britton, P. J., & Shepherd, J. B. (1994). Reducing inner-city women’s AIDS risk activities: A study of single, pregnant women. Health Psychology, 13(5), 397-403.

Holtgrave, D., & Kelly, J. A. (1996). Preventing HIV/AIDS among high-risk urban women: The cost effectiveness of a behavioral group intervention. American Journal of Public Health, 86(10), 1442-1445.

Kelly, J. A., Murphy, D. A., Washington, C. D., Wilson, T. S., Koob, J. J., Davis, D. R., Ledezma, G. & Davantes, B. (1994). The effects of HIV/AIDS intervention groups for high-risk women in urban clinics. Journal of Public Health, 84(12), 1918-1922.

Simoni, J. M., & Cooperman, N. A. (2000).

Stressors and strengths among women living with HIV/AIDS in New York City. AIDS Care, 12(3), 291-297.

Simoni, J.M. & Ng, M.T. (2000). Trauma, coping, and depression among women with HIV/AIDS in New York City. AIDS Care, 12(5), 567-580.

Simoni, J. M., Frick, P. A., & Huang, B. (2006). A longitudinal evaluation of a social support model of medication adherence among HIVpositive men and women on antiretroviral therapy. Health Psychology, 25(1), 74-81.

WHO, UNAIDS, & UNICEF. (2009). Towards universal access: scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector. Progress Report 2009. http://www.who.int/hiv/pub /2009progressreport (Accessed Dec 18, 2010).

Wingood, G. M. & DiClemente, R. J. (2000).

Application of the theory of gender and power to examine HIV-related exposures, risk factors, and effective interventions for women. Health Education & Behavior, 27(5), 539-565.

Wyatt, G. E., Myres, H. F., Williams, J. K., Kitchen, C. R., Loeb, T., Carmona, J. V. … Presely, N. (2002). Does a history of trauma contribute to HIV risk for women of color? Implications for prevention and policy. American Journal of Public Health, 92(4), 660-665.

Glaeser | Aspects of Gender Identity Development

Aspects of Gender Identity Development Searching for an Explanation in the Brain ELIZABETH GLAESER

Psychologists consider some individual characteristics to be fixed while others are understood as flexible, such as preferences and intellectual ability. Professionals in the field of child development do not often put gender identity development in a category apt for much variation. However, sometimes gender identity is not so cut and dry. A small percentage of our population feels that their “brain” is one gender while their “body” is another, a phenomenon known as Gender Identity Disorder (GID). This variation from the norm creates immense discomfort and inhibits some children from developing a strong, confident sense of self (Hepp, Kraemer, Schnyder, Miller & Delsignore, 2005). In fact, past research has demonstrated that when is GID experienced in childhood, it has been correlated with low self-esteem and has been disruptive of healthy identity development (Hepp et al., 2005).

Recently, inclusion of GID in the upcoming DSM-V has been a subject of debate. As the DSM currently stands, GID is considered an illness that can be “treated,” and many psychologists argue that considering only one form of gender identity development to be “healthy” may define gender in a heteronormative way (Zucker, 2006). The lack of understanding about the true causes and considerations involved in GID only leaves room for discriminatory, stereotyped classification of individuals developing gender identities. Society passes judgment in the face of uncertainty and the mystery of sex and gender is no exception.

However, a neurological understanding of gender identity as it relates to sexual identity may allow both clinicians and the public increased exposure to constructs related to sex and gender. By increasing public knowledge about gender identity development beyond the heteronormative tradition, we may be able to improve social acceptance for both children and adults diagnosed with GID, who do not fall in the traditional gender paradigm.

Society’s Medical Model The medical model of our society has created a dualism in which infants, children, and adults are either male or female. Nothing apart from this dichotomy is typically tolerated, as society does not leave room for ambiguous gender expression or genderless people. For example, infants born with intersex conditions like congenital adrenal hyperplasia in genetic females and steroid 5reductase 2 deficiency in genetic males undergo near immediate surgery to “correct” the condition by sculpting the child as a male or female (Zucker, 2002). The assumption in these cases is that the human brain is organized in a sexually dimorphic manner and gender identity is not taken into account separately from sexual identity.

Therefore, the current model advocates that an individuals’ gender identity should never deviate from physical or genetic sex. However, it does

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happen and when it does, these individuals are labeled with a “disorder:” GID as described in the DSM-IV-TR is defined as: [E]vidence of a strong and persistent crossgender identification, which is the desire to be, or the insistence that one is, of the other sex. […]To make the diagnosis, there must be evidence of clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (APA, 2000).

Classifying GID this way assumes that the gender identity development of individuals with GID is maladaptive and dangerous. In turn, these individuals internalize that very societal understanding of their situation, often feeling that they do not belong in the body assigned to them by nature. This thought process might lead to a lack of self-confidence and uncertain sense of self (Zucker, 2002). Furthermore, the comorbidity of psychiatric and personality disorders is extremely high for those diagnosed with GID. Society’s medical model has further defined transsexualism as a disorder based on the desire of individuals to “correct” GID with surgery.

Transsexualism is defined as “desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by a sense of discomfort with, or inappropriateness of one’s anatomic sex, and a wish to have surgery and hormonal treatment to make one’s body as congruent as possible with one’s preferred sex” (APA, 2000). The 1 out of 30,000 adult males and 1 out of 100,000 adult females who identify as transsexual often undergo major hormone therapy, surgery, and lifelong complications that, despite their desires, do not “fix” the psychological problem of not fitting into society’s mold (APA, 2000). Despite the presence of corrective surgery in the Western world, social norms indicate that no person can ever completely be a member of the other sex.

The Need for Neurological Answers Currently, there is a significant lack of neurological evidence that defends or disputes the idea that the brain is sexually dimorphic, and if so, where exactly “gender” and “sexual” identities are located. The brain structures speculated to be the home of gender and sexual identity, are acted upon by hormonal activation at both puberty and prenatally. These activation periods are relatively well understood, yet they do not account for all of our gendered behavior. Further, genetic sex remains unaccounted for. If society and the medical profession insist on diagnosing the small percentage of the population that do not fit into assumed, socially constructed roles then evidence must be found to defend the belief that gender is neurologically determined.

However, the question of the origin of gender identity remains. The term “gender identity” was coined in the 1960’s by Hooker and Stoller, who defined it as “ a young child’s developing a fundamental sense of belonging to one sex, and

not the other” (Hooker & Stoller as quoted in Zucker, 2002). Hooker goes on to say that gender identity is assessed using a structured verbal interview in children. However, this study shows that most children do not have a sense of their own gender identity unless it is somewhat confused against the “normal” (Zucker, 2002).

Therefore, if gender identity, like all assumed human characteristics, is based in the brain, how would a verbal interview possibly aid neurological classification? Gender is fundamental to the human experience, and society has created such a distinction between the two that the lack neurological information regarding the differences between the developing sexes creates a remarkable paradox. With more research in the field of gender identity development, early detection and intervention will be possible to assist children in developing a strong sense of identity and to reduce the number of comorbid psychological conditions associated with gender identity disorder in any stage of life.

When a scholarly study refers to gender identity confusion, there is no blood test, MRI, or combination of answers to a questionnaire that can make a diagnosis. Instead, the diagnosis refers specifically to a detailed interview and psychiatric evaluation adhering to DSM-IV-TR criteria. When a neurological site is found for gender identity that is different from biological sex an argument can be made against simple biological sexual dichotomy and the legitimacy of GID as a disorder can be debated. In the present time, people afflicted with so-called GID are treated with hormones dictated by the medical model and current knowledge of clinicians and live in emotional turmoil because they are unable to forge a complete identity in the eye of society.

Gender Identity “Disorder” Damage throughout the Lifetime Naturally, the preoccupation with a desire to be a different gender starts early in life and as a result many psychiatric disorders develop due to lack of understanding, acceptance, and professional care. It would seem then, that a study of children and their comprehension of their gender conflict would provide answers to how gender identity is perceived at a young age. The damage associated with labeling these children as “disordered” further inhibits children’s ability to develop a strong sense of self. The intense stress of a “disorder” in childhood impacts this damaged sense of self throughout the lifetime and is intensified by the lack of knowledge around gender identity in the brain.

Current research attempts to isolate gender identity from biological sex in children in order to determine the validity of GID, and therefore lessen or even eliminate the stress and damage associated with the labeling as gender disordered.

Research conducted by Simonelli, Rossi, Tripodi, Stasio, and Petruccelli (2007) attempts to isolate

Glaeser | Aspects of Gender Identity Development

gender identity in children as its own separate entity apart from sex differentiation and sexual orientation. However, since a child is often unaware of his/her development, it can be difficult to decipher how a child feels about his/her gender unless he/she feels something is wrong (Simonelli et al., 2007). Through this study, Simonelli et al (2007) found that only 11 out of the 246 children had any atypical gender answers, but none were more atypical than typical (Simonelli et al., 2007).

In other words, no child answered questions outside of his/her biological sex more times than in congruence with his/her biological sex. These few atypical profiles, all of which were female, showed gender non-conformity, aggression, and low conscientiousness (Simonelli et al., 2007). The majority of children reported being satisfied with their gender, and none of the atypical profiles met the diagnostic criteria for GID (Simonelli et al., 2007). Interestingly, over 40% of the children could not find positive attributes to their gender indicating that children age 9 to 13 often do not understand their own gender in comparison with others (Simonelli et al., 2007). Due to the lack of concrete evidence for GID in children, generalizations about how children feel about their gender identity under “normal” circumstances are almost impossible (Simonelli et al., 2007). Although first of its kind, this study paves the way for researchers and clinicians to begin to understand that gender identity may be complex and fluid.

Though children may experience discomfort with their gender during their childhood years, not all individuals who display atypical gendered behaviors in childhood go on to identify as transsexual as adults. In fact, many people who prefer to identify as the opposite gender during childhood no longer feel that way after puberty.

Though 5% of girls and 2.6% of boys show opposite sex behaviors during childhood, this percentage shrinks to 2% of girl and 1% of boys in adolescence (Asscheman, 2009). However, for those individuals who continue to experience gender discomfort after puberty, the damage done by peers and violations of social norms is perpetual. As a result of this damage, the number of referrals of adolescents with possible GID has tripled in the last 30 years (Asscheman, 2009). As many as 25-27% of adolescents who felt discomfort with their gender in childhood continue this behavior through adolescents and beyond, while 75% identify as homosexual or bisexual (Asschemann, 2009). These statistics suggest that childhood identification of gender is not an indicator of adult transexualism, lending support to the notion that gender is not necessarily hard-wired at birth. In fact, the gender constructions of these children may be centered on their ability to adapt to their environment.

Though childhood gender role association develops into gender identity, which is located in the brain (Zucker 2002), there is no formula of understanding whether children who identify as

gender dysmorphic will eventually identify as transsexual.

As it stands, the damage done by this early diagnosis and “treatment” or lack of proper management of individuals with GID is well reflected in adults with the condition. In a study done by Hepp et al. (2005) it was found that 45% of GID adults had been diagnosed with a mood disorder in their lifetime, compared with 12.9% of the general population. Futhermore, 45% of GID adults have also been diagnosed with a substance abuse disorder, compared with 9.7% of the general population (Hepp et al, 2005). These remarkable statistics may indicate that diagnoses may fail to properly address gender identity concerns instead exacerbating them.

Hormones Hormones also play a role in developing gender identity at two distinct time periods in our lives. Prenatal hormones cause hard-wired, permanent brain organization. GID theoretically roots itself in the idea that individuals are prenatally wired for one sex, but identify as another in childhood. However, the hormones that aid in the neurological hard wiring of biological sex have a second activation at the onset of puberty, meaning that many children who felt that they were the wrong gender pre-puberty now feel gender satisfied as the hormones activate to create secondary sex characteristics. These new roles are “right” in 73-93% of gender-confused children (Zucker 2002; Asschemann, 2009).

Because of the very small percentage of people feel lifelong gender dysmorphic, it seems that some individuals are born with a biological sex that his/her gender identity contradicts, while others grow up feeling unsatisfied with their gender until puberty sways the hormonal influence back toward their assigned sex in accordance with gender identity. Therefore, hormonal activation in the brain does not independently create gender identity, but it is a reliable predictor of gender identity confusion if the confusion extends into adolescent and into adulthood (Asschemann, 2009).

A recent study by Swaab (2007) reviews what is currently known about the sexual differentiation of the brain areas and what areas are responsible for gender identity, sex, and sexual orientation, including the effects of hormones. Sexual differentiation brings about permanent prenatal changes in brain structures and functions. This is due to interactions of the developing neurons with the environment—formed by surrounding nerve cells, hormones, nutrients, medication, and other chemical substances in utero (Swaab, 2007, p.

431). Specifically, testicles and ovaries develop in the 6th week of pregnancy due to genetic sex of the fetus. It is thought that hormonal influences at this time have a direct effect on the brain’s gender identity while biological sex is developing.

Specifically, androgens produced by the Y

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chromosome account for the sexual differentiation between 6-12 week of pregnancy, while female development is based on the absence of androgens (Swaab, 2007).

Brain differentiation is due to influence of androgens on the developing brain that is permanent and organizational. In utero, hormonal influences on the brain peak at 34-41 weeks, then again 3 months after birth. The three month post birth period is considered arbitrary considering many sex-defining surgeries in cases of ambiguity are done right after birth with no further gender confusion. These two hormonal peaks organize and program the brain sexually for life with the presence/absence of testosterone (Swaab, 2007).

Later, during puberty, brain circuits are activated by sex hormones and secondary sex characteristics develop. The rising hormone levels “activate” circuits that were built during development, and behavioral patterns and disorders that originate much earlier in development, such as schizophrenia, are expressed (Swaab, 2007). Sexual differentiation occurs in two independent processes that can result when people with male sexual organs feel female and vice versa in the brain (Swaab, 2007). Since there are two distinct activation periods of gendered hormones, Swaab’s research states that a discrepancy in gender identity and sex are routed in the brain’s chemistry .

Swaab (2007) generalizes these hormonal processes in brain structure and function: Different brain structures that result from interaction between hormones and developing brain cells are thought to be the basis of sex differences in the structure of the brain, and thus of behavior, gender identity, gender role, sexual orientation, and sex differences regarding cognition and aggression. ( p. 433) Thus, Swaab (2007) asserts that hormonal influence creates our biological sex as well as our gender identity and sexual orientation during development, but they are distinct in both development and identification. Therefore, there is no proof that social environment has any effect on gender identity or sexual orientation. While research does not yet completely explain the process by which gender identity is developed in the brain, such examples using specific intersex conditions offer possible future research findings.

Learning from Intersex Conditions and Socialization Scholars researching gender indentify disorder and its possible causes and solutions learn from the information on the biologically concrete intersex conditions. Intersex individuals’ have an anatomical difference in their sexual organs different from individuals that are typically male or female (Zucker, 2002). In genetic boys with steroid 5-reductase 2 deficiency, a disorder that prevents testosterone from producing male genitalia, a “girl” with a large clitoris is born. These

children, subsequently, are raised as girls and there is no cause to think otherwise until puberty when testosterone production increases and this “clitoris” grows to penis size, the testicles descend, and the child begins to appear masculine. 60% of these children choose to live as heterosexual men, even though they were raised as girls due to the brain organization that testosterone inflicts on the brain prenatally (Swaab, 2007). The remaining 40% of people with steroid 5-reductase 2 deficiency continue to live as women. Without taking sexual orientation into account, that is a significant percentage. Thus, the influence of hormones may not be strong enough to sway all brain organization toward one gender expression at any given time. Evidence from these cases of “explained” gender identity dysmorphia offers insight to GID itself, which is not associated with any type of physical difference to typically developing males and females.

In line with Swaab’s (2007) findings and the theories of John Money in the 1950’s, 40% of individuals with steroid 5-reductase 2 deficiency live as their socially constructed gender (Zucker 2002). Money spent his life trying to prove that gender identity was a product of society, a learned way of life. His famous John/Joan experiment involved a genetic male whose penis was damaged during circumcision and was subsequently raised as a girl. Much to John Money’s dismay, after childhood, “Joan” chose to live as a man and eventually committed suicide in May 2004. Therefore, gender identity is at least in part socially constructed, but there are clearly other factors at play.

As with steroid 5-reductase 2 deficiency, genetic girls who possess excess testosterone in the womb, or congenital adrenal hyperplasia do not always go on to identify as females when adults. Yet, they do not always go on to identify as male either. These girls tend to be “tomboys” as children, prefer boys as playmates, and are more aggressive than other girls (Zucker, 2002).

These girls are also more likely to identify as lesbians or transsexuals than the rest of the population, but neither are always the case. The risk of transexuality in these girls is only 1-3% and those with serious gender problems are 5.2% leading to the consensus that these girls should be raised as girls despite the high levels of testosterone in utero (Swaab, 2007). Based on the current research, it is clear that neither hormones nor socialization create a definitive gender identity in the brain that can be used to predict gender from one case to the next.

Gender Identity in the Brain Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, (2008) believe the have isolated specific structures that may be responsible for gender identity in the brain.

According to their research, this network of structures in the brain is responsible for gender and sexual orientation as both genetically and

Glaeser | Aspects of Gender Identity Development

socially expressed (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008). While differences in the number of neurons and size of the INAH-3 and BSTc were originally thought to be just sex differences, now with more careful analysis they can be viewed as the discrepancy between biological sex and gender identity.

These structures responsible for biological sex and gender identity are all separate parts in the brain, each with a different component and developmental trajectory. Such research supports the idea that gender identity and biological sex can be thought of as separate from individual identity. The structures, all of which are related to the SDN-POA (Sexually Dimorphic Network), include the INAH1 and 2, which are related to the SCN, the BSTc, and the INAH3 and 4, which are all located in the hypothalamus of the brain (2008).

Each of these structure differs from person to person based on lifestyle lived. For example, adult Male- to- Female transgender individuals who receive no hormone injections or surgery in their lifetime have an INAH-3 volume of a male, but a neuron number of a female. On the other hand, hormone-treated Male-to-female transgender individuals have an intermediate value and a BSTc the size of typical female. However, the hormone treatments are not believed to have caused this change (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008). Swaab and Garcia-Falgueras’s (2008) findings indicate that the brain chemistry of individuals who identify as transgender is different from those individuals who do not, regardless of the presence of hormone treatment.

An individual who is exclusively attracted to women has an INAH-3 volume of a male because it is believe that the volume of the INAH-3 structure displays that of sexual orientation and has no correlation to the size of the BSTc, which is believed to be representative of personal gender identity (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008).

Therefore, these structural differences cannot be accounted for by hormone treatment or castration later in life. Instead, the differences are representative of early developmental abnormalities and differences during the critical fetal periods opposed to non-transsexuals. Therefore, the possible cause of atypical gender presentation presumes a combination of genetic background and early organizational effect on the interaction of sex hormones with the developing brain during critical fetal periods (Green & Keverne quoted in Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008). Individuals who have lifelong GID experience different hormonal breakdown, different gender role transition, and different sexual organizational effects in their brains than individuals without GID. Sexual differentiation of the brain occurs later in development and can be influenced independently of genital differentiations; the resulting modifications in brain structures in transsexual people are hypothesized to be the basis of GID (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008).

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With the tools to differentiate the gender identity structure and the biological sex structure, it is clear that specific measures can be developed to better understand GID. Firstly, both gender identity and biological sex structures remain atypical in transgendered people with or without reassignment therapy throughout the lifespan, suggesting that gender identity is hardwired at birth (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2008). This finding is the key to understanding that gender identities that are not “normal” are not necessarily unhealthy or physiologically maladaptive.

Conclusion Researchers in the field of sex and gender are on the brink of understanding a wealth of knowledge about the brain’s gender expression.

However, to make decisions about children’s lives based on assumed knowledge is premature. There are several genetic and inborn intersex conditions and syndromes that leave society wanting to “fix” the problem by uprooting natural anatomy, yet similar gender confusions exist without this anatomical disruption. These individuals are labeled gender identity disordered in childhood and many go on to identify as transgender as adults. The “cure” for the gender problem must be related to on a case-by-case basis until more neurological information is available to actually “test” for such a discord between brain and body.

There is a great need for more research in the area so that young children do not have to suffer with an identity imposed by society that leads to psychological distress and disorder in addition to not feeling at home in one’s own body.

For the first time, neurological findings conclude that there are differences in gender identity in the brain. Swaab’s (2008) findings isolate differences between transgender individuals and those of the assigned and identifying sexes. This research offers the first glance into the richness of a transgendered individual’s brain. Indentifying as one gender and looking like another can one day be a source of pride and insight, yet the lack of dissemination of this information leaves most, if not all, gender deviant children struggling with this completely alone. Their isolation for resources and clinical support leads to poor self identity and self esteem and can even lead to adulthood substance abuse and Axis 1 psychiatric disorders.

All of this could result because a child feels he cannot express his or her true self.

Researchers in the field of gender and sexual identity have a responsibility to create effective management models for identity development.

Currently, treatment is necessary to help children feel comfortable with their gender expression when it is non-normative.

Neurological researchers are still struggling to understand the real difference between people with these afflictions, but during this time it is wrong to call the confusion a disorder before it is fully understood, as scientists did until the 1970’s with

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homosexuality. Neither the affects of prenatal and puberty hormones nor socialization alone are enough to explain gender identity development, the process must lie in a brain structure. Perhaps someday, when society catches up with research, there will be no need to force a gender upon a child and the desire to live as another gender will not be considered a disorder at all.

References American Psychiatric Association. (2000).

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Asscheman, H. (2009). Gender identity disorder in adolescents. Sexologies, 18, 105-108.

Coolidge, F., Thede, L., & Young, S. (2002). The heritability of gender identity disorder in a child and adolescent twin sample. Behavior Genetics, 22(4), 251-257.

Hepp, U., Kraemer, B., Schnyder, U., Miller, N., & Delsignore, A. (2005). Psychiatric comorbidity in gender identity disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 58, 259-261.

Simonelli, C., Rossi, R., Tripodi, M. F., DeStasio, S., & Petruccelli, I. (2006). Gender identity disorder and preadolescence: A pilot study. Sexologies, 16, 22-28.

Swaab, D., & Garcia-Falgueras, A. (2008). A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncincate nucleus: Relationship to gender identity. Brain, 131, 3132-3146.

Swaab, D. (2007). Sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior. Best Practice and Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 21(3), 431-444.

Zucker, K. (2006). Commentary on Langer and Martin’s (2004) “How dresses can make you mentally ill: Examining gender identity disorder in children.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 23, 533-555.

Zucker, K. (2002). Intersexuality and gender identity differentiation. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 15, 3-13.

Roberts | Parental Involvement & Mathematics Achievement

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The Relationship between

Parental Involvement & Mathematics Achievement

÷+× - ≤ ≠

in Struggling Mathematics Learners

STEVEN O. ROBERTS Parental involvement is typically classified as deliberate acts of engagement (i.e., overt involvement) (Jeynes, 2010). These acts are found to have a profound effect on children’s academic achievement (Davis-Kean & Sexton, 2009; Reynolds, 1992; Sheldon & Epstein, 2005; Topor, Keane, Shelton, & Calkin, 2010). Planty et al.

(2009) has reflected on the value of parental involvement in a report for the National Center for Education Statistics. Planty et al. (2009) report that in 2007, roughly 89% of parents attended a general school or PTO/PTA meeting, 78% attended parent-teacher conferences, 65% participated in school fundraising events, and 46% volunteered/served on a school committee.

However, these data do not capture the entire concept of parental involvement. Planty et al.

(2009) report how many parents are overtly involved, but do not present data on how many parents are subtly involved (e.g., believe in a child’s ability, hold high expectations for the child). Reports on subtle parental involvement are highly important, especially for struggling math learners, as subtle parental involvement may contribute uniquely to mathematics achievement.

Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show why researchers are in need of a clear definition of specific types of parental involvement. This will enable researchers to effectively examine the pathways under which the relationship between parental involvement and mathematics achievement exists. As of now, these pathways are not clear.

Although parental involvement is clearly seen as a positive influence on academic achievement, there is ample research stating that the relation between parental involvement and mathematics achievement is either non-significant (El Nokali, Bachman, & Votruba-Drazl, 2010; Mattingly, Prislin, McKenzie, Rodriquez, & Kayzar, 2002) context driven (C.Okpala, A. Okpala, & Smith, 2001); or

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damaging (Izzo, Weissberg, Kasprow, & Fendrich, 1999; Levpuscek & Zupancic, 2009). These conflicting findings may result from the researchers’ tendency to measure both overt and subtle parental involvement in the same measurement (see DePlantey, Coulter-Kern, & Duchane, 2007; Min, Mudrey-Camino, & Steiner, 2010; Nokali et al., 2010; Okpala et al., 2001; Reynolds, 1992; Sheldon & Epstein, 2005; Yinsqiu, Gauvain, & Zhengkui, 2006; Zhan, 2005). To further understand the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement, researchers are looking at the different effects of overt and subtle parental involvement (Jeynes, 2005; 2007). Both subtle and overt forms of parental involvement are crucial in understanding the trajectories in which parental involvement affects mathematics achievement. Potential findings are especially important for children with math learning disability (MLD), as research has yet to examine the effects parental involvement has on children with the disability.

Research shows that when children with MLD grow older they will experience little career advancement later in life (Jordan & Levine, 2009).

A rigorous mathematics curriculum leads to mathematics competence, which is associated with entry to science, technological, engineering, and mathematics disciplines in higher education (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008).

Students with strong mathematics backgrounds are more likely to employed and earn 38% more per hour than those lacking in algebra, geometry, measurement, and probability skills (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). With these facts in mind, it is essential that methods in which mathematics achievement can be enhanced need to be thoroughly researched, so that children with MLD will be better prepared to meet the demands of our increasingly technological society (Council, 2001).

Volume II Spring 2011

Parental Involvement Involvement and academic achievement.

Parental involvement is found to positively predict a child’s reading achievement (Min et al. 2010; Reynolds, 1992; Zhan, 2005), mathematics achievement (Gonzalez & Wolters, 2006; Reynolds, 1992; Yinsqiu, Gauvain, Zhengkui, & Li, 2006), vocabulary skills (Min et al., 2010), Social Studies achievement (Jeynes, 2005a; Niemeyer et al., 2009), and Science achievement (Jeynes, 2005a). Furthermore, parental involvement is associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation (Ames, Khoju, & Watkins, 1993; Fan & Williams, 2010), reduced dropout rates (Barnard, 2004), increased motivation (Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, & Holbein, 2005; Grolnick, Ryan, & Detri, 1991), increased academic engagement (Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling 1992), less anxiety about school (Tan & Goldberg, 2009), increased self-concept (Senler & Sungur, 2009), and increased self-efficacy (Fan & Williams, 2010; Tan & Goldberg, 2009). However, the exact relationships between these constructs and specific types of parental involvement are not yet lucid.

Overt and subtle involvement. The relationship between overt parental involvement and academic achievement has recently been called into question (Jeynes, 2005b; Jeynes, 2007). As a result of this, recent research has examined the effects of subtle parental involvement (Jeynes, 2010). These types of involvement include maintaining high expectations of one’s children, communicating with children, and parental style (Jeynes, 2005b; Jeynes 2007). Most research examined overt measures of parental involvement, rendering it difficult to properly understand the differences between overt and subtle types of parental involvement.

Furthermore, a large body of research examines the differences between home-based involvement (e.g., providing a place and material for homework, visiting libraries) and school-based involvement (e.g., escorting children on trips, volunteering in classrooms) (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000; Manz, Fantuzzo, & Power, 2004).

These studies are important as they shift our understanding of parental involvement from a unidimensional perspective towards a multidimensional perspective. However, overt and subtle types of involvement seem to pervade both school-based and home-based involvement types.

Therefore, it is crucial to examine the independent

effects of overt and subtle involvement, so that researchers and policy makers may further their understanding on which types of involvement should be emphasized in schools and homes.

Although studies have begun to examine these independent effects, findings are lacking in agreement.

Numerous studies used exclusively overt parental involvement measurements and found its effect on academic achievement to be significant (DePlantey et al. 2007; Niemeyer, Wong, & Westerhaus, 2009; Sheldon & Epstein, 2005; Zhan, 2005). El Nokali et al. (2010) included both overt and subtle parental involvement items in the same measurement and found no relationship between either type of parental involvement and academic achievement (i.e., vocabulary skills, mathematics). Min et al. (2010) measured both overt and subtle types of parental involvement, but they were measured separately. The researchers found that certain types of overt parental involvement (e.g., helping with homework, TV rules) had a negative effect on academic achievement (i.e., reading achievement) while the measured subtle types of parental involvement (e.g., educational expectations) had a positive effect on academic achievement (i.e., reading achievement) (Min et al., 2010). Therefore, these varying findings suggest that the nonsignificant findings by El Nokali et al. (2010) were a result of overt and subtle types of involvement reacting upon one another. The meta-analysis conducted by Jeynes (2005b; 2007) shows that the interaction between overt and subtle parental involvement to be a possibility as subtle types of parental involvement had a greater influence on academic achievement than overt parental involvement. Topor, Keane, Shelton, and Calkins (2010) also concludes that subtle acts of parental involvement play a greater role in predicting children’s academic achievement.

Math Learning Disability Children with MLD are repeatedly found to perform poorly on mathematics related tasks (Geary, Bailey, & Hoard, 2009; Lackeye & Margalit, 2006; Lackeye et al., 2006; Räsänen, Salminen, Wilson, Aunio, & Dehaene, 2009; Vukovic & Siegel, 2010). These children have lower levels of effort investment, decreased self-efficacy, lower sense of coherence, less positive moods, and reduced hope in comparison to their high achieving peers (Lackeye & Margalit, 2006). Lackeye and Margalit (2006) also found these children to have higher levels of loneliness and negative moods (e.g., sad,

Roberts | Parental Involvement & Mathematics Achievement

worried). By the time children complete high school, roughly 5 to 10% will be diagnosed with MLD (Barbaresi, Katusic, Colligan, Weaver, & Jacobson, 2005; Gross-Tsur & Shalev, 1996; Ostad, 1998). A recent meta-analysis (Duncan et al., 2007) found school-entry mathematics to be the strongest predictor for later achievement in mathematics and reading. Thus, previous research shows that it is crucial to be able to predict, identify, and combat, MLD at an early age.

Recent research examined the executive functioning of children with MLD and determine these individuals to experience impairments on measures of working memory, processing speed, and phonological processing (Swanson, 2001; Swanson & Kim, 2006). Consequently, many researchers have implemented interventions which focused on increasing malleable aspects of executive functioning (e.g., attention), or by teaching children strategies to master intractable aspects of executive functioning (e.g., working memory) (Case, Harris, & Graham, 1992; Holmes, Gathercole, & Dunning, 2009; Olmstead, 2005; Räsänen et al., 2009). These types of interventions are dominant in attempting to enhance the academic skills of children with MLD. However, little research looks at the influence social interventions have on MLD children's academic achievement. Parental involvement seems to be a promising possibility.

Conclusion & Implications for Research Due to the differences in overt and subtle types of parental involvement, the relationship between these constructs and academic achievement should be examined. However, in order for this to occur, researchers must establish a concrete definition of parental involvement to ensure that the relationship is measured properly. The relationship between overt and subtle parental involvement has not yet been thoroughly examined. Research on this relationship can have a tremendous impact on struggling math learners as it will grant researchers a better understanding of how overt and subtle parental involvement affect mathematics achievement, and of the specific pathways under which these relationships exist. Potential findings may result in the creation of interventions and policies that are geared towards enhancing specific aspects of parental involvement, which would hopefully lead to enhancing mathematics achievement in children with MLD.

References Ames, C., Khoju, M., & Watkins, T. (1993). Parent Involvement: The Relationship between School-to-Home Communication and Parents’ Perceptions and Beliefs (Report No. 15).

Urbana, IL: ERIC Document Service No. ED362271, Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children’s Learning, Illinois U. Barnard, W.M. (2004). Parent involvement in elementary school educational attainment.

Children and Youth Services Review, 26(1), 39-62.

Barbaresi, W. J., Katusic, S. K., Colligan, R. C., Weaver, A. L., & Jacobsen, S. J. (2005). Math learning disorder: Incidence in a populationbased birth cohort, 1976-82, Rochester, Minn.

Ambulatory Pediatrics, 5, 281-289.

Case, L. P., Harris, K. R., & Graham, S. (1992).

Improving the mathematical problem-solving skills of students with learning disabilities: self-regulated strategy development. The Journal of Special Education, 26(1), 1-19.

Council, N.R. (2001). Adding it up: helping children learn mathematics. In J. Kilpatrick, J. Swafford, & B. Findell (Eds.), Mathematics Learning Study Committee, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Davis-Kean, P., & Sexton, H. R. (2009). Race differences in parental influences on child achievement: Multiple pathways to success.

Journal of Developmental Psychology, 55(3), 285-318.

DePlanty, J., Coulter-Kern, R., & Duchane, K. A. (2007). Perceptions of parent involvement in academic achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 100(5), 361-368.

Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., & Klebanov, P. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43, 1428-1446.

El Nokali, B. E., Bachman, H. J., & Votruba-Drazl, E. (2010). Parent involvement and children's academic and social development in elementary school. Child Development, 8(3), 988-1005.

Fantuzzo, J. W., Tighe, E., & Childs, S. (2000).

Family involvement questionnaire: A multivariate assessment of family participation in early childhood education.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2), 367–376.

Fan, W., & Williams, C. (2010). The effects of parental involvement on students’ academic self-efficacy, engagement and intrinsic motivation. Educational Psychology, 30(1), 53-74. doi: 10.1080/01443410903353302.

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Geary, D. C., Bailey, D. H., & Hoard, M. K. (2009).

Predicting mathematical achievement and mathematical learning disability with a simple screening tool: The number sets test. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 27(3), 265279.

Gonzalez, A. L., & Wolters, C. A. (2006). The relationship between perceived parenting practices and achievement motivation in mathematics. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 21(2), 203-217.

Grolnick, W. S., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (1991).

Inner resources for school achievement: Motivational mediators of children’s perceptions of their parents. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(4), 508–517.

Gross-Tsur, V., Manor, O., & Shalev, R. S. (1996).

Developmental dyscalculia: Prevalence and demographic features. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 38, 25-33.

Holmes, J., Gathercole, S. E., & Dunning, D. L., (2009). Adaptive training leads to sustained enhancement of poor working memory in children. Developmental Science, 12(4), 9-15.

Izzo, C. V., Weissberg, R. P., Kasprow, W. J., & Fendrich, M. (1999). A longitudinal assessment of teacher perceptions of parent involvement in children’s education and school performance. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(6), 817–839.

Jeynes, W. H. (2005a). Effects of parental involvement and family structure on the academic achievement in adolescents.

Marriage & Family Review, 37(3), 99-16.

Jeynes, W. H. (2005b). A meta-analysis of the relation of parental involvement to urban elementary school student academic achievement. Urban Education, 40(3), 237269.

Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relationship between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Achievement, 42(1), 82110.

Jeynes, W.H. (2010). Parental Involvement and Encouraging That Involvement: Implications for School-Based Programs. Teachers College Record, 112(3), 747-774.

Jordan, N.C., & Levine, S.C. (2009). Socioeconomic variation, number competence, and mathematics learning difficulties in young children. Developmental Disabilities, 15, 6068.

Levpuscek, M.P., & Zupancicn, M. (2009). Math achievement in early adolescence: The role of parental Involvement, teachers’ behavior, and students’ motivational beliefs about math.

Journal of Early Adolescence, 29(4), 541-570.

Manz, P.H., Fantuzzo, J.W., & Power, T.J. (2004).

Multidimensional assessment of family involvement among urban elementary students. Journal of School Psychology, 42, 461-475.

Mattingly, D. J., Prislin, R., McKenzie, T. L., Rodrigues, J. L., & Kayzar, B. (2002).

Evaluating evaluations: The case of parent involvement programs. Review of Educational Research, 72(4), 549-576.

Min, X., Kushner, S .B., Mudrey-Camino, R., & Steiner, R. (2010). The relationship between parental involvement, self-regulated learning, and reading achievement of fifth graders: A path analysis using the ECLS-K database.

Social Psychology of Education, 13(2), 237269.

National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008).

Foundations for Success: The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. U.S. Department of Education: Washington, DC: National Mathematics Advisory Panel.

Niemeyer, A. E., Wong, M .M., & Westerhaus, K. J. (2009). Parental involvement, familisimo, and academic performance in Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents. North American Journal of Psychology, 11(3), 613-632.

Okpala, C. O., Okpala, A. O., & Smith, F. E. (2001).

Parental involvement, instructional expenditures, family socioeconomic attributes, and student achievement. Journal of Educational Research, 95(2), 100-115.

Olmstead, R., (2005). Use of auditory and visual stimulation to improve cognitive abilities in learning-disabled children. Journal of Neurotherapy, 9(2), 49-58.

Planty, M., Hussar, W., Snyder, T., Kena, G., Kewal Ramani, A., Kemp, J., Bianco, K., & Dinkes, R. (2009). The Condition of Education 2009 (NCES 2009-081). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC. Ostad, S. A. (1998). Comorbidity between mathematics and spelling difficulties.

Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 23, 145-154.

Räsänen, P., Salminen, J., Wilson, A. J., Aunio, P., & Dehaene, S. (2009). Computer-assisted intervention for children with low numeracy skills. Cognitive Development, 24, 450-472.

Reynolds, A. J. (1992). Comparing measures of parental involvement and their effects on academic achievement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7(3), 441-462.

Senler, B., & Sungur, S. (2009). Parental influences on students’ self-concept, task value beliefs, and achievement in science. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 106-117.

Sheldon, S. B., & Epstein, J. L. (2005). Involvement Counts: Family and Community Partnerships and Mathematics Achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 196-206.

Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281.

Roberts | Parental Involvement & Mathematics Achievement

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Swanson, L. H. (2001). Mathematical problem solving and working memory in children with learning disabilities: Both executive and phonological processes are important.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 79, 294-321.

Swanson, L., & Kim, K. (2006). Working memory, short-term memory, and naming speed as predictors of children’s mathematical performance. Intelligence, 35, 151-168.

Tan, E. T., & Goldberg, W. A. (2009). Parental school involvement in relation to children's grades and adaptation to school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(4), 442-453.

Topor, D., Keane, S., Shelton, T., & Calkins, S. (2010). Parent involvement and student academic performance: A multiple mediational analysis. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community. 38(3), 183-197.

U.S. Department of Education. (1997). State Indicators in Education 1997, NCES 97-376.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Vukovic, R. K., & Siegel, L. S. (2010). Academic and cognitive characteristics of persistent mathematics difficulty from first through fourth grade. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 25(1), 25-38.

Yinsqiu, P., Gauvain, M., Zhengkui, L., & Li, C. (2006). American and Chinese parental involvment in young children's mathematics learning. Cognitive Development, 21(1), 17-35.

Zhan, M. (2005). Assets, parental expectations and involvement, and children's educational performance. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(8), 961-975.

÷+× - ≤ ≠

Volume II Spring 2011

abstracts The following abstracts highlight the research of Honors students in the Applied Psychology Undergraduate Program. These authors have presented their individual projects at several professional and undergraduate research conferences including APA, EPA, Pace, NYU, Stanford, as well as other academic forums.

Look for their work in future OPUS issues!

Reflections on Moral Decision-Making: A Qualitative Analysis of Holocaust Survivors

Don Asher Cohen Contemporary moral theorists stress the difficulties that trauma survivors face when making moral decisions. Moral decision-making has been demonstrated to be the outcome of an emotion regulation process and trauma survivors are particularly vulnerable to emotional dysregulation. As that is the case, research has primarily focused on trauma survivors’ inability to resolve hypothetical moral dilemmas. However, everyday life is inundated with subtle, morally-relevant decisions that survivors must make. To shed light on how trauma survivors make commonplace moral decisions, this study examined the moral decision making of Holocaust Survivors (N=4) who experienced life in a concentration camp between the ages of 12 and 16. Thematic analysis of Holocaust narratives revealed that the salience of compassion, duty/reverence, egalitarianism, justice, Holocaust vigilance, identity, other preservation, self-preservation, relationship/community-preference, religiosity/spirituality, and reciprocity motivated morally-relevant decisions. These findings contradict extant theories on trauma survivors and moral decision making and suggest that, over time, survivors become increasingly able to regulate their emotions and integrate them into moral decisions.

Predictors of Happiness among LGBQ College Students

Danny El Hassan Experiencing happiness is considered one of the most desirable goals in Western society.

Compared with other populations, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals may be challenged with increased obstacles to achieving happiness. According to minority stress theory, sexual minority people are at an increased risk of experiencing stress and poor mental health related to their stigmatization. However, certain characteristics have been found to buffer against the negative effects of minority stress. The purpose of the study was to assess whether social support and mastery might buffer against the negative effects of minority stress and lead to happiness in a sample of LGBQ college students. Additionally, the study aimed to assess whether perfectionism would be inversely related to happiness for this population. Participants were recruited during the fall of 2010 through the LGB listserv at two private universities located in New York City, and consisted of 51 LGBQ students aged between 18 and 21. On average, gay men scored highest on happiness and perfectionism, bisexual individuals scored highest on mastery, and individuals who identified as “other” scored highest on social support. A multiple regression revealed that the only variable significantly associated with happiness was mastery (= .49, B=.36, p<.01), which only partially supports the hypothesis. Given these findings, future research should replicate the study with a larger sample and also investigate interventions to increase mastery among LGBQ college students.

Abstracts|

Discrimination and Social Support: Impact on Behavior Outcomes of Children of Immigrants

Priya Gopalan The dramatic growth of immigration into the United States in the past two decades has resulted in an escalating proportion of children from immigrant backgrounds in American schools. Children of immigrants have unique needs due to their special circumstances arising from acculturation and perception of discrimination. However, young children of immigrants are an understudied population and there is a gap in research about their needs. Immigrant families experience the negative effects of discrimination, which may impact the behavioral outcomes of their children. Social support and school setting are potential buffers against the negative effects of perceived discrimination (PD). Data collected by the Longitudinal Immigrant Families and Teachers Study (LIFTS) in the third wave (2009) was analyzed to examine the moderating influence of social support and school setting on the relation between discrimination and behavioral problems of third grade children (N=103) from immigrant families in public and Islamic schools. Results suggest that there are no significant differences in PD or social support between genders. However, a correlation exists between PD and behavioral problems of children, as measured by total CBCL scores. Thus, the role of PD in the maladaptive behavioral outcomes is a crucial study in cultural psychology.

Mothers' Book Sharing Styles and Children's School Readiness Skills

Maria Petrolekas Parent-child book sharing is one context in which school readiness skills are fostered. A critical dimension of mother-child book-sharing is elaboration as it is predictive of emergent literacy. Narrative participation (i.e., the role mothers take during the interaction) is a second dimension posited to be related to children’s non-academic school readiness, especially for mothers in non-English speaking cultures. The current study examined both dimensions and their relation to children’s school readiness among 40 Greek and Greek-American mothers and their preschool-aged children. Dyads were asked to share a wordless book and interactions were coded for elaboration and participation. Children’s academic skills were assessed using letter recognition and vocabulary tasks; non-academic skills were measured using Leiter-R scale. Results show that for Greek dyads, participation is related to children’s school readiness skills and for Greek-Americans elaboration is only related to non-academic skills. Findings are discussed in relation to socialization goals for both cultural groups.

Internalizing Symptoms and Social Aggression Victimization among Early Adolescent Girls: Where Does Academic Achievement Fit In?

Katie Sylvester Social experiences are increasingly meaningful to girls in late childhood and early adolescence. Studies focused on girls have demonstrated a clear relationship between aggression victimization and the internalization of problems (e.g., depression). However, gaps remain in understanding the direction of the effects and whether experience of strength in one domain (e.g., achievement) protects against difficulties in another (e.g., social relationships). With a sample of ethnically diverse, fifth grade girls (N=100), the current study applies a developmental science and risk and resilience framework across one academic year to examine the predictive relationship between self-reported depressive symptoms and peerreported victimization. Furthermore, this study investigated the unique contribution of academic skills (i.e., teacher reported scores of students’ achievement in reading, writing, and math) in depressive symptoms, and whether achievement moderates the relationship between depressive symptoms and victimization. Preliminary results indicate moderate correlations between depressive symptoms and victimization within and across time, with fall depressive symptoms predicting spring victimization after controlling for levels of fall victimization. Implications for developmental science and school intervention are discussed.

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Volume II Spring 2011

Paternal Support of Emergent Literacy Development: Latino Fathers and Their Children

Jackson J. Taylor Despite growing evidence supporting the notion that fathers influence their children’s education, few studies examine the intersection of father involvement and children’s emergent literacy development. The present study explored the ways in which fathers support children’s developing literacy skills among a low-income Latino community. Twelve English-speaking fathers and their preschool-aged children participated in this study. In addition to completing self-report measures of involvement, home literacy, and an account of daily activities, fathers were asked to share a wordless picture book with their children.

Fathers reported adopting several daily involvement routines, highlighting the important roles fathers play in their children’s lives. The documented variety of involvement activities lends support to the study of fathering as a multifaceted construct and serves to challenge past stereotypical depictions of Latino fathers as uninterested and uninvolved. Furthermore, fathers were observed to provide rich linguistic environments during the book sharing activity. Trends among narrative participation scores support past literature suggesting cultural differences in narrative style during parent-child book sharing. Results provide important contributions to the development of a contemporary framework for studying Latino fathering, and suggestions are made for future researchers.

Sociopolitical Identity of Turkish Emerging Adults: The Role of Gender, Religious Sect, and Political Party Affiliation

Vanessa Victoria Volpe Emerging adults form their political identities through social interaction with their peers, family, and coworkers. While we understand that these identities exist in context, we have yet to explore how they are experienced in a political context. Using Turkey as a unique case, the current study sought to understand emerging adults’ identity formations in a political context that has been paradoxically described as both contentious and harmonious. Data were taken from a larger national study (Political Identity in Conflict Study: PI Selcuk R. Sirin) of diverse Turkish emerging adults (N=1242). Results indicate that the majority of emerging adults in Turkey experience both lower levels of social identity stress and own-group preference while maintaining relatively defined sociopolitical identities. Additionally, the experience of stress, own-group preference, and identity is a factor of gender, religious sect, and political party affiliation. Further studies should seek to understand the adaptive and flexible development of defined emerging adult identities nested within a variety of political contexts. .

To learn more about the Applied Psychology Honors Program, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/undergraduate/honors

Staff & Contributor Bios

Staff & Contributor Bios

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Volume II Spring 2011

Staff & Contributor Bios Alyssa Deitchman is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. Her main research interests include factors influencing academic achievement and predictors of autism. After graduating she plans to pursue a PhD in clinical or counseling psychology and start a not-for-profit organization for lowincome, autistic youth.

Jacob Graham-Felsen is a senior in the Applied Psychology program. He looks forward to traveling and continuing his pursuit of knowledge outside of the classroom.

Sibyl Hayley Holland is a senior in the Applied Psychology program. Her research interests include the academic resiliency of low-income children and the parental involvement in low-income communities. In addition to working as a research assistant for Dr. Elise Cappella and Dr. Diane Hughes, she works as an America Reads tutor, and considers herself truly grateful for these opportunities. After graduation, she will return to NYU to pursue a Masters in School Counseling. She hopes to one day work in the NYC public school system as an elementary school counselor.

Brandon Lam is a freshman in the Applied Psychology program. His research interests include decision-making processes and the study of perception. He ultimately plans to apply to graduate school and travel the world.

Brit Lizabeth Lippman is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. Her main research interests include mental illness, trauma, and the deaf population. After graduating, she plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology and to become fluent in American Sign Language.

Bofan Luo is a sophomore in the Applied Psychology program. He will transfer to Tisch School of Art to study film and television next fall and hopes to double major.

Coralie C. Nehme is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. She is interested in the study of adult immigrant populations and trauma survivors. She ultimately hopes to become a clinical or counseling psychologist.

Javanna Obregon is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. Her main research interests include eating disorder interventions and women's mental health. After graduating, she plans to apply to graduate school.

Josephine M. Palmeri is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. She is a member of Dr. Selcuk Sirin's research team and her main research interest lies in child and adolescent mental health.

After graduating, she plans to study clinical or counseling psychology.

Jackson J. Taylor is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. He serves as a research assistant for the Latino Family Involvement Project and INSIGHTS child temperament research teams, and vice president of Psi Chi at NYU. Outside of NYU, Jackson serves as an intern of United States Associating of Body Psychotherapy Journal exploring his interests in attachment and the process of psychotherapy. After graduating he will begin doctoral training in clinical psychology at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University. He dreams of postdoctoral psychoanalytic training, private practice, and one day editing a professional journal of psychotherapy research.

Vanessa Victoria Volpe is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. She currently works with Dr. Selcuk R. Sirin and Dr. Niobe Way in their examination of adolescent and emerging adult identity negotiation processes. Her research interests include the social construction and negotiation of collective identities, as well as the impact of macro-contextual influences on the identity development and identity expressions of marginalized adolescents. She has been honored as one of NYUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 15 Most Influential Students and as a recipient of a Steinhardt Undergraduate Service Award and the John W. Withers Memorial Award.

You can also see her poetry in the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 issues of West 10th. She will be attending the University of North Carolina â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Chapel Hill this coming fall to begin her doctoral study in developmental psychology.

Staff & Contributor Bios

Don Asher Cohen is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. His main research interests include emotion, non-conscious processes in phobias, trauma, and morality. After graduating, he plans to pursue a career in social justice and eventually apply for a doctorate in psychology to practice as a psychotherapist.

Danny El Hassan is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. His main research interest as an undergraduate has been in advocacy for LGBT populations, though he has diverse research interests that he is still exploring. After graduation, he will attend Teachers College, Columbia University to pursue a Masters in Education with a Mental Health Counseling specialty.

Melissa Fulgieri is a senior in the Applied Psychology undergraduate program. Her main research interests include HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, feminist theory, and gender/sexuality issues. In the fall, she will begin the Masters in Social Work program at Hunter College.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Glaeser is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. Her main research interests include gender identity, minority sexual identity development, and transgender issues. After graduating, she plans to continue her studies at the intersection of medicine and academia.

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Priya Gopalan is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. Her academic interests include immigrant families and children in urban contexts.

After graduating, she will pursue graduate study at NYU's Silver School of Social Work.

Maria Petrolekas is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. Her main research interests include Hellenic studies and the development of school readiness skills in preschoolers. After graduation, she plans to work at a Head Start and apply to graduate school.

Steven O. Roberts is a junior in the Applied Psychology program. His main research interests include the factors that promote childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic achievement, with a particular interest in children living in urban contexts. After graduating, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in school or educational psychology.

Katie Sylvester is a senior in the Applied Psychology Honors program. Her main research interest lies in interventions which use the risk and resilience framework. After graduating, Katie will join the Teach for America corps in San Francisco, CA teaching Early Childhood Education. Following her two-year commitment with TFA, Katie plans on applying to graduate programs in psychology and social interventions. She hopes to work towards bridging the gap between research and policy.

OPUS is a student-run publication. To get involved or to submit content for the next issue, please visit

steinhardt.nyu.edu/opus