Date of Award
August 2016
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Child and Family Studies
Advisor(s)
Eunjoo Jung
Keywords
Challenging Behaviors, Developmental Disabilities, Parent Management Behaviors, Preschool, Prosocial Behaviors, Special Needs
Subject Categories
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine the association between challenging behaviors in preschool children with and without developmental disabilities or delays and parent management behaviors. It was hypothesized that a lower incidence of challenging behaviors in preschool children with and without developmental disabilities would be associated with high use of parent management behaviors. The Early Child Behavior Screen as well as the Parenting Young Children (PARYC): Self-Report Parenting Measure were used to capture children’s challenging behaviors and parents’ management behaviors, respectively. The current study surveyed 56 total parents. Out of the parents that responded, 46 were female, 48 identified themselves as white, and the average age was 36.8 years old. The children in the study were 31 males and 25 females with a mean age of 4 years and 3 months, and 19 children were identified as children with special needs. The results indicated that children with developmental disabilities have lower levels of prosocial behaviors than children without developmental disabilities. There was no difference between parents of children with special needs and parents of children developing typically in terms of parent management behaviors. The parent management behaviors of limit setting, proactive parenting, and positive parenting were associated with challenging behaviors in children without a developmental disability or delay, but these parent behaviors were not associated with challenging behaviors in children with special needs. The implications of the study are that parent management behaviors are not associated with challenging behaviors in children with special needs, but these same parent management behaviors are effective in children without developmental disabilities or delays. Because children with developmental disabilities or delays had lower levels of prosocial behaviors in this study, alternative parenting behaviors need to be researched in order to make recommendations for this population.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Gottuso, Ellen, "Challenging Behaviors of Children with and without Developmental Disabilities in Early Childhood and Parent Management Behaviors" (2016). Dissertations - ALL. 619.
https://surface.syr.edu/etd/619
