Now showing items 1-20 of 75

    • 'With texting, I'm always second guessing myself': Teenage perfectionists' experiences of (dis)connection online

      Blackburn, Melissa; Zinga, Dawn; Molnar, Danielle S. (2024-03-11)
      Little is known about how perfectionistic adolescents experience social connection in online spaces. The current qualitative study addressed this gap by examining themes related to social (dis)connection in online and in-person settings from semi-structured interviews with 43 adolescents (Mage = 15.16, SD = 2.43; 62.8% female; 58.1% white; 54.4% self-identified perfectionists). Results demonstrated that perfectionists expressed feeling less connected online than non-perfectionists, likely driven by heightened levels of interpersonal sensitivity. However, a subgroup of perfectionists sought out meaningful online relationships, often in response to a fear or experience of rejection by in-person peers. The results highlight the role of interpersonal sensitivity in fuelling feelings of disconnection among adolescent perfectionists in both online and in-person settings, as well as the importance of self-monitoring in the social experiences of perfectionistic youth.
    • Assessing changes to adolescent health-promoting behaviors following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-methods exploration of the role of within-person combinations of trait perfectionism.

      Blackburn, Melissa; Methot-Jones, Tabitha; Molnar, Danielle S; Zinga, Dawn; Spadafora, Natalie; Tacuri, Natalie (2022-01-01)
      The current work provides a multi-methods exploration of how within-person subtypes of self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) were related to shifts in health-promoting behaviors among adolescents following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Study One tested the 2 × 2 and tripartite models of perfectionism through a quantitative test of how such subtypes predicted changes in health behaviors pre-pandemic to intra-pandemic among 202 adolescents (M = 17.86, SD = 1.421). Results indicated that the combination of high SOP/high SPP was linked to the most maladaptive changes to health-promoting behaviors, supporting the tripartite model. Study Two aimed to contextualize these findings by analyzing semi-structured interviews with 31 adolescent self-identified perfectionists (M = 15.97, SD = 1.991) during the initial lockdown mandate. Results indicated that participants experienced a welcome break and found more time to engage in health-promoting behaviors. However, those high in SOP - regardless of their level of SPP - had more difficulty relaxing due to a resistance to relenting their perfectionistic standards. Altogether, these findings support the exacerbating role of SOP when combined with SPP posited by the tripartite model of perfectionism with respect to adolescents' health-promoting behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Raising the Bar: Testing Prospective Relationships Between Multidimensional Trait Perfectionism and Undergraduate Academic Achievement

      Blackburn, Melissa; Puffer, Hanna; Molnar, Danielle S.; Zinga, Dawn (Elsevier, 2024)
      Prospective associations between trait perfectionism and academic achievement among undergraduate students were tested via a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. Undergraduate students (N = 316) who were enrolled in the core first- and second-year courses of a social sciences undergraduate program (Mage = 18.01 years, SD = 0.06; 74.86% female) completed surveys on multidimensional perfectionism and authorized the use of institution-verified grades for research. At the between-persons level and in line with previous research, self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) was positively linked with academic achievement whereas socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) was negatively related with academic achievement. At the within-persons level, an increase in academic achievement at the end of students’ first year of university, compared to their own personal mean, predicted an increase in SPP at the midterm of their second year of university, demonstrating that academic achievement may encourage undergraduate students to “raise the bar” via amplifying their perfectionistic tendencies.
    • "Assistant Professor with an Asterisk": Conflicting Tensions in the Workplace Experiences and Professional Identities of University Faculty on Fixed-Term Contracts

      Gosine, Kevin; Kristofferson, Robert; Skrubbeltrang, Glenn; Webber, Michelle (University of Calgary, 2021)
      Drawing on identity work theory and social capital theory, this qualitative study explores how Canadian university faculty on fixed-term contracts construct their professional identities in response to the opportunities and limitations associated with their employment. Study participants generally appreciate their remuneration, relative professional autonomy, the control they have over the products of their labour, and the opportunity to teach at the postsecondary level. Positive aspects of their employment, however, were undercut by various professional limitations. These limitations include job precarity, little acknowledgment of their contributions to their fields or to their universities, limited access to research funding, and the challenge of building bonding (i.e., intra-institutional) social capital. The perceived disconnect between participants' professional qualifications and the precarity of their employment situation further undermines their ability to cultivate positive professional identities. Participants negotiate the contradictory tensions of their employment via one or more of the following adaptive strategies: 1) pursuing research as best they can given prevailing obstacles; 2) making teaching the focal point of their professional identities; and 3) utilizing bridging social capital to create opportunities and forge connections beyond the university. Future research directions are discussed.
    • Young Children’s Ability to Describe Intermediate Clothing Placement

      Wylie, Breanne E.; Stolzenberg, Stacia N.; McWilliams, Kelly; Evans, Angela D.; Lyon, Thomas D. (Sage Publications, 2021)
      Children’s ability to adequately describe clothing placement is essential to evaluating their allegations of sexual abuse. Intermediate clothing placement (partially removed clothing) may be difficult for young children to describe, requiring more detailed explanations to indicate the location of clothing (e.g., the clothes were pulled down to the knees). The current study investigated 172 3- to 6-year-olds’ descriptions of clothing placement when responding to commonly used questions (yes/no, forced-choice, open-choice, where), as well as children’s on-off response tendencies when describing intermediate placement (i.e., labeling the clothing as fully on or off). Results revealed that where questions were superior in eliciting intermediate descriptions, even for the youngest children. Children sometimes exhibited tendencies to describe intermediate placements as “on” or “off,” which varied by question-type and clothing placement. The implications of the findings for interviewing young children about sexual abuse are discussed.
    • Pseudotemporal invitations: 6- to 9-year-old maltreated children’s tendency to misinterpret invitations referencing “time” as solely requesting conventional temporal information

      McWilliams, Kelly; Williams, Shanna; Henderson, Hayden M.; Evans, Angela D.; Lyon, Thomas D. (Sage Publications, 2023)
      Forensic interviewers ask children broad input-free recall questions about individual episodes in order to elicit complete narratives, often asking about “the first time,” “the last time,” and “one time.” An overlooked problem is that the word “time” is potentially ambiguous, referring both to a particular episode and to conventional temporal information. We examined 191 6-9-year-old maltreated children’s responses to questions about recent events varying the wording of the invitations, either asking children to “tell me about” or “tell me what happened” one time/the first time/the last time the child experienced recent recurrent events. Additionally, half of the children were asked a series of “when” questions about recurrent events before the invitations. Children were several times more likely to provide exclusively conventional temporal information to “tell me about” invitations compared to “tell me what happened” invitations, and asking “when” questions before the invitations increased children’s tendency to give exclusively conventional temporal information. Children who answered a higher proportion of “when” questions with conventional temporal information were also more likely to do so in response to the invitations. The results suggest that children may often fail to provide narrative information because they misinterpret invitations using the word “time.”
    • The Difficulty of Teaching Adults to Recognize Referential Ambiguity in Children’s Testimony: The Influence of Explicit Instruction and Sample Questions

      Wylie, Breanne E.; Gongola, Jennifer; Lyon, Thomas D.; Evans, Angela D. (Wiley, 2021)
      Adults often fail to recognize the ambiguity of children's unelaborated responses to “Do you know/remember (DYK/R) if/whether” questions. Two studies examined whether sample questions and/or an explicit instruction would improve adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. In Study 1 (N = 383), participants rarely recognized referential ambiguity in the sample questions or in children's testimony, and answering sample questions had no influence on their ability to detect ambiguity in children's testimony. Study 2 (N = 363) attempted to clarify the meaning of ambiguity for participants with explicit instructions. Results revealed that although an explicit instruction improved performance on sample questions, this also led to an overcorrection, and instructions and sample questions only modestly improved adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. Ultimately, the absence of an effective strategy for alerting adults to the problem of referential ambiguity highlights the dangers of DYK/R if/whether questions.
    • Child witnesses productively respond to "How" questions about evaluations but struggle with other "How" questions

      Henderson, Hayden; Sullivan, Colleen E.; Wylie, Breanne E.; Stolzenberg, Stacia N.; Evans, Angela D.; Lyon, Thomas D.; Cross, Theodore P.; Vandervort, Frank E.; Block, Stephanie D. (Sage Publications, 2023)
      Child interviewers are often advised to avoid asking “How” questions, particularly with young children. However, children tend to answer “How” evaluative questions productively (e.g., “How did you feel?”). “How” evaluative questions are phrased as a “How” followed by an auxiliary verb (e.g., “did” or “was”), but so are “How” questions requesting information about method or manner (e.g., “How did he touch you?”), and “How” method/manner questions might be more difficult for children to answer. We examined 458 5- to 17-year-old children questioned about sexual abuse, identified 2485 "How” questions with an auxiliary verb, and classified them as “How” evaluative (n = 886) or “How” method/manner (n = 1599). Across age, children gave more productive answers to “How” evaluative questions than “How” method/manner questions. Although even young children responded appropriately to “How” method/manner questions over 80% of the time, specific types of “How” method/manner questions were particularly difficult, including questions regarding clothing, body positioning, and the nature of touch. Children’s difficulties lie in specific combinations of “How” questions and topics, rather than “How” questions in general.
    • Describing Coercion in the Courtroom: The Influence of Language and Maltreatment Severity on Jurors' Perceptions of Child Witnesses

      Wylie, Breanne E; Stolzenberg, Stacia N; Evans, Angela D (2023-10-30)
      Regardless of compliance to coercion by an alleged perpetrator, child maltreatment is abuse in any form. However, the extent to which coercion is described as an obligation (mandatory compliance) or permission (optional compliance) is legally relevant. The present investigation examined how attorneys question children about coercion and how children describe coercion in courtroom investigations of alleged child sexual abuse, and whether such language influences jurors’ perceptions of children’s testimony. Study 1 assessed 64 transcripts of children’s testimonies and revealed that both attorneys and children use coercive language. Problematically, terms of permission were used when describing sexual abuse, potentially implying compliance was optional. Study 2 presented 160 adults with transcript excerpts, varied by coercive language (obligation or permission) and maltreatment type (sexual abuse or punishment). Coercive language influenced perceptions of coercion and whether the adult was to blame. Maltreatment type influenced perceptions of severity, credibility, and verdict. Overall, coercive language and maltreatment type influence perceptions of how the event unfolded
    • Off track or on point? Side comments in focus groups with teens

      Raby, Rebecca; Sheppard, Lindsay C. (Sage Publications, 2023)
      Side comments and conversations in focus groups can pose challenges for facilitators. Rather than seeing side comments as problematic behavior or “failed” data, we argue that they can add to and deepen analyses. Drawing on focus group data with grade nine students from a study on early work, in this methodological paper we discuss three patterns. First, side comments have highlighted where participants required clarification, and illustrated their views and questions about the research process. Second, side comments added new data to our analysis, including personal reflections, connections to others’ comments, and information about participants’ uncertainties about the research topics. Third, these comments offered insight into peer relations and dynamics, including participants’ reflections on age, and how they deployed gender relations in their discussions. Provided that their use fits within established ethical protocols, we argue that there is a place for attention to side comments, especially in focus group research with young people where adult-teen hierarchies and peer dynamics might lead young people to engage more with peers than directly respond to researchers’ questions.
    • Sensory sensitivity, intolerance of uncertainty and sex differences predicting anxiety in emerging adults

      Panchyshyn, Veronica; Tekok-Kilic, Ayda; Frijters, Jan C.; Tardif-Williams, Christine (Elsevier, 2023-02-26)
      As multiple vulnerability factors have been defined for anxiety disorders, it is important to investigate the interactions among these factors to understand why and how some individuals develop anxiety. Sensory Sensitivity (SS) and Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) are independent vulnerability factors of anxiety, but their unique relationship in predicting anxiety has rarely been studied in non-clinical populations. The objective of this investigation was to examine the combined effects of SS and IU on self-reported anxiety in a sample of university students. In addition, with the frequently reported sex bias in anxiety literature, we expected that the combined effects of vulnerability factors would be different for females and males. A convenience sample of 313 university students, ages 17–26 years was recruited. The participants completed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS-12), the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile (AASP), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Results of moderated mediation analyses demonstrated a strong partial mediation between SS and anxiety through IU, providing evidence that IU, a cognitive bias against the unknown, was one mechanism that explained how SS was related to anxiety. Further, the effect of IU on anxiety was approximately twice as strong in females. Our results highlight the importance of studying the unique relationships among multiple vulnerability factors to better understand anxiety susceptibility in emerging adults.
    • Children's participation as neo-liberal governance?

      Raby, Rebecca (Routledge, 2014)
      Children's participation initiatives have been increasingly introduced within various institutional jurisdictions around the world, partly in response to Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Such initiatives have been critically evaluated from a number of different angles. This article engages with an avenue of critique which argues that children's participatory initiatives resonate with a neoliberal economic and political context that prioritises middle class, western individualism and ultimately fosters children's deeper subjugation through self-governance. Respecting these as legitimate concerns, this article draws on two counter-positions to argue that while children's participation can certainly be conceptualised and practised in ways that reflect neo-liberal, individualised self-governance, it does not necessarily do so. To make this argument I engage, on the one hand, with Foucault's work on the care of the self, and on the other, with more collective approaches to participation.
    • Dynamic changes in perfectionism dimensions and psychological distress among adolescents assessed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

      Molnar, Danielle S.; Thai, Sabrina; Blackburn, Melissa; Zinga, Dawn; Flett, Gordon L.; Hewitt, Paul L. (Wiley, 2022)
      This prospective longitudinal study evaluated changes in psychological distress among adolescents, pre-pandemic to intra-pandemic, the extent to which within-person and between person differences in trait multidimensional perfectionism were associated with such changes, and the role of stress in explaining associations between perfectionism and psychological distress. Adolescents (N = 187; 80% female; 78% White, 7% Asian Canadian, 2% Indigenous Peoples in Canada, 2% Black or African Canadian, 2% Latin Canadian, or 9% Other; Mage = 17.96 years) completed online surveys assessing perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented [SOP] and socially prescribed perfectionism [SPP]), depression, anxiety, and stress pre-pandemic (i.e., March 12th, 2020 or earlier) and during Ontario, Canada’s first (i.e., March 13th, 2020 to July 24th, 2020) and second (December 26th, 2020 to February 7th, 2021) government-mandated lockdowns. Between-person differences and within-person changes in multidimensional trait perfectionism were associated with increases in psychological distress and perceived stress. Perceived stress served as an intermediary pathway linking multidimensional trait perfectionism to psychological distress during the pandemic.
    • “I’ll be more prepared than most people”: Very young Canadian workers talking about their first jobs

      Raby, Rebecca; Lehmann, Wolfgang; Easterbrook, Riley; Helleiner, Jane (Sage Publications, 2018)
      We report on interviews with very young Canadian workers regarding their first jobs, with a focus on why they started working, the rewards and risks of their work, and their familial supports. Our participants were largely positive about their early work experiences, although they also raised concerns, e.g. about safety. We reflect on three inter-related themes emerging from their accounts: competence and vulnerability, independence and dependence, and protection and under-protection.
    • Early teen-work assemblages and embedded dependence

      Raby, Rebecca; Lehmann, Wolfgang (Brill, 2021)
      This chapter aims to trouble the common linkage often made between work, independence and adulthood by emphasizing how young workers are embedded in human and non-human collectivities of interwoven dependences. We focus on two 16-year-old participants from conventional interview and photo elicitation interview data with 32 Canadian young people discussing their first part-time jobs, to we recognize how our participants, and indeed all of us, are embedded ‘in the midst of an open-ended swirl of extensions and supplementations’ (Lee 2001, 115). These entangled dependences can activate privilege; they also bolster the illusion of individual independence and autonomy. The intent of this chapter is to work with ideas from Actor Network Theorist Nick Lee and from Deleuze and Guattari to reveal this illusion, for we are all enmeshed in dependency. We particularly focus on four components of teen-work assemblages: family; time, space and bodies; tools/machinery, practices and roles; and capitals/money.
    • Constructs of childhood, generation and heroism in editorials on young people's climate change activism: Their mobilisation and effects

      Raby, Rebecca; Sheppard, Lindsay C. (Wiley, 2021)
      We analyse the effects of constructions and mobilisations of childhood, generation and girl heroism in 30 Canadian editorials written in response to 2019 climate change protests. We discuss how the editorials strategically position—and sometimes dismiss—young activists through discourses of childhood innocence, becoming and social participation. Second, we focus on how the editorials mobilise generation to emphasise either generational division or cross‐generational solidarity. Finally, we problematise the editorials' concentration on individualised girl heroism. We thus contextualise and deconstruct truth statements around age, generation and heroism, emphasising instead their effects and the potential for certain narratives to better recognise the diversity and solidarity in climate change activism.
    • Dynamic functional brain network connectivity during pseudoword processing relates to children’s reading skill

      Panda, Erin J.; Kember, Jonah; Emami, Zahra; Nayman, Candace; Valiante, Taufik A.; Pang, Elizabeth W. (Elsevier, 2022)
      Learning to read requires children to link print (orthography) with its corresponding speech sounds (phonology). Yet, most EEG studies of reading development focus on emerging functional specialization (e.g., developing increasingly refined orthographic representations), rather than directly measuring the functional connectivity that links orthography and phonology in real time. In this proof-of-concept study we relate children's reading skill to both orthographic specialization for print (via the N170, also called the N1, event related potential, ERP) and orthographic-phonological integration (via dynamic/event-related EEG phase synchronization – an index of functional brain network connectivity). Typically developing English speaking children (n = 24; 4–14 years) and control adults (n = 20; 18–35 years) viewed pseudowords, consonants and unfamiliar false fonts during a 1-back memory task while 64-channel EEG was recorded. Orthographic specialization (larger N170 for pseudowords vs. false fonts) became more left-lateralized with age, but not with reading skill. Conversely, children's reading skill correlated with functional brain network connectivity during pseudoword processing that requires orthography-phonology linking. This was seen during two periods of simultaneous low frequency synchronization/high frequency desynchronization of posterior-occipital brain network activity. Specifically, in stronger readers, left posterior-occipital activity showed more delta (1–3Hz) synchronization around 300–500 ms (simultaneous with gamma 30–80 Hz desynchronization) and more gamma desynchronization around 600–1000 ms (simultaneous with theta 3–7Hz synchronization) during pseudoword vs. false font processing. These effects were significant even when controlling for age (moderate – large effect sizes). Dynamic functional brain network connectivity measures the brain's real-time sound-print linking. It may offer an under-explored, yet sensitive, index of the neural plasticity associated with reading development. Reading requires us to link visual print with speech sound processing. Yet, most EEG reading research explores functional specialization not integration. While children's age relates to ERPs (N170) associated with print specialization. Children's reading skill relates to real-time functional brain network connectivity. EEG phase synchrony = sensitive index of functional integration during reading.
    • Roots, Rights and Risk: Canada, Childhood and the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

      Ciotti, Sarah; Moore, Shannon A.; Connolly, Maureen; Newmeyer, Trent (2021)
      The COVID-19 global pandemic highlights pre-existing inequities as well as the challenge of ensuring the protection of children’s human rights in countries like Canada that have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. SARS-CoV-2, referred to as the 2019 novel Coronavirus disease or COVID-19, presents a significant threat to public health. Although children are considered to be low risk of contracting, spreading, and serious complications of the disease, are considerably impacted by COVID-19 government-sanctioned distancing measures. COVID-19 is a persistent public health threat, thus, the long-term consequences are largely unknown. This qualitative research study, a content analysis of online Canadian media reports of COVID-19 and children, engaged transdisciplinary social justice methodology, social constructions of childhood at the intersection of race, socio-economic status, gender, and disability. The findings suggest COVID-19 reinforces the impact of social exclusion and economic disparity on equity-seeking young people and families in Canada.
    • Super-Spreaders or Victims of Circumstance? Childhood in Canadian Media Reporting of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Content Analysis

      Ciotti, Sarah; Moore, Shannon A.; Connolly, Maureen; Newmeyer, Trent (MDPI, 2022)
      This qualitative research study, a critical content analysis, explores Canadian media reporting of childhood in Canada during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Popular media plays an important role in representing and perpetuating the dominant social discourse in highly literate societies. In Canadian media, the effects of the pandemic on children and adolescents' health and wellbeing are overshadowed by discussions of the potential risk they pose to adults. The results of this empirical research highlight how young people in Canada have been uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Two dominant narratives emerged from the data: children were presented "as a risk" to vulnerable persons and older adults and "at risk" of adverse health outcomes from contracting COVID-19 and from pandemic lockdown restrictions. This reflects how childhood was constructed in Canadian society during the pandemic, particularly how children's experiences are described in relation to adults. Throughout the pandemic, media reports emphasized the role of young people's compliance with public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save the lives of older persons.
    • Did the UK COVID-19 Lockdown Modify the Influence of Neighbourhood Disorder on Psychological Distress? Evidence From a Prospective Cohort Study

      Teo, Celine; Kim, Chungah; Nielsen, Andrew; Young, Thomas; O'Campo, Patricia; Chum, Antony (Frontiers Media, 2021)
      National lockdown in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic severely restricted the mobility of residents and increased time spent in their residential neighbourhoods. This is a unique opportunity to understand how an exogenous factor that reduces mobility may influence the association between neighbourhood social environment and mental health. This study investigates whether the COVID-19 lockdown may modify the effect of neighbourhood disorder on psychological distress. Methods: We tracked changes in psychological distress, using the UK household longitudinal survey across the pre-COVID and lockdown periods in 16,535 adults. Neighbourhood disorder was measured along two subscales: social stressors and property crime. Fixed-effects regression was used to evaluate whether the widespread reduction in mobility modifies the association between the subscales of neighbourhood disorder and psychological distress. Results: The effect of neighbourhood social stressors on psychological distress was stronger in the lockdown period compared to the pre-COVID period. Compared to the pre-COVID period, the effect of being in neighbourhoods with the highest social stressors (compared to the lowest) on psychological distress increased by 20% during the lockdown. Meanwhile, the effect of neighbourhood property crime on mental health did not change during the lockdown. Conclusion: The sudden loss of mobility as a result of COVID-19 lockdown is a unique opportunity to address the endogeneity problem as it relates to mobility and locational preferences in the study of neighbourhood effects on health. Vulnerable groups who have limited mobility are likely more sensitive to neighbourhood social stressors compared to the general population.