Research Experience for Undergraduates

2023-2024 REU Cohort Alumni

• Raven Bacchas
• Sabian Bowen
• Emily Espinoza
• Kaitlin Frazier
• Martha Hopkins
• Elizabeth Martinez
• MeSha McClanahan
• Emily Stern
• Alexia Vargas

2023-2024 Alumni Research Projects

Raven Bacchas – See Bacchas’ Research Poster (pdf)

Currently, there are many barriers that negatively impact caregivers from participating in research, such as limited amount of culturally diverse staff on the research team, mistrust with research studies, and lack of understanding about what child development research is. For my research topic, I am exploring how families can have more inclusive and meaningful experiences when participating in child development research. Moreover, I want to understand how researchers can be more aware of what different caregivers hope to receive from participating in research, such as child development knowledge, information about needed resources, and more. I will be analyzing survey responses to examine this, sampling caregivers from WEIRD—White, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic—populations and non-WEIRD backgrounds. From these responses, I expect there will be significant differences between what these two groups value when choosing to participate in research. To diversify this field, child development researchers should understand caregivers’ motivations for participating in research and should further modify how to recruit, inform, and incentivize their participants.

Martha Hopkins

Does the problematic usage of social media relate to impulsivity/emotional dysregulation? This question is important because as social media usage increases amongst today’s generation, it is crucial that we understand its effects. We know from prior research that certain social factors can impact cognitive development and overall mental health. As we evolve, and new ways of social interactions emerge, it is important to further our knowledge on how they impact us. As we measure emotional regulation, we look at the awareness, the intensity, and the control of emotions such as happiness, anger, frustration, and sadness. Emotional dysregulation means an individual has a difficult time controlling said emotions. We are curious to find the relation between the amount of time individuals spend on social media, and their awareness of their own emotional regulation. We predict to see some correlation between individuals’ emotional dysregulation and their time spent on social media. As a parent, this research is important because I want to be aware of what potential risks my children are exposed to and make preventions accordingly. And I hope to share this knowledge to help other parents do the same.

Emily Stern – See Stern’s Research Poster (pdf)

The aim of my project is to explore the impact of an active playful learning program for parents and children on proactive parenting practices and positive reinforcement. Prior research has established the importance of high-quality parenting on optimal child development. Through semi-structured play sessions, the “Play with Me” (Juega Conmigo) 12-week program helps parents acquire the skills necessary to provide high-quality care. I will assess the program’s impact through the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) and qualitative data from parents. We will identify changes in parenting practices from surveys collected in the final week of the program. Our areas of interest include communication, setting expectations, and providing adequate praise. Short-term programming can have a positive impact on the wellbeing of children, but the key to raising a well-adjusted child is consistency. With this in mind, my goal is to examine the ways service providers can support parents in providing sensitive, child-centered care at home. My project connects the skills parents report implementing to changes in parenting overall. This shows how lessons have been applied day to day, and if they’ve led to positive changes in parenting behavior after time. Evaluating programming in this way tells providers where to focus their efforts, ensuring effective programming capable of changing the lives of children and families for the better.

Emily Espinoza – See Espinoza’s Research Poster (pdf)

The LENA system is a common method used by researchers and clinicians who are interested in exploring children’s home language environment. This system includes a recorder and software that breaks down audio into 3 different variables: the number of words spoken by an adult, the number of conversational turns, and the number of vocalizations produced by a child. Researchers use different methods when analyzing LENA recordings, such as choosing high-interactive segments (high number of words spoken by an adult and high conversational turn count) and randomly selected segments. My first research question is, are highly interactive language samples and/or randomly selected samples more representative of children’s language abilities? Further, we will identify whether the parent and child’s highest quality interactions (e.g., high interactive samples) or typical interactions throughout the day are most important for children’s language development. Ultimately, findings from this study could help researchers understand effective ways to utilize home language recordings and determine what kind of parent language input matters most to children’s language growth.

Elizabeth Martinez – See Martinez’s Research Poster (pdf)

Parentese, commonly known as infant directed speech or baby talk, is characterized as a use of higher pitch, exaggerated vowels, and slower speech rate. Research has shown that the use of parentese helps with children’s early language development. However, most research studies have been done on monolingual English-speaking children, and there’s a lack of research on English-Spanish bilingual children. Culture plays a role in the way language is used among families. For example, Mexican American families value politeness and the importance of turn-taking rather than initiating conversation. Also, Spanish-speaking caregivers prefer to use less parentese when talking to their children and believe that mature forms of language benefit their child’s language development more. With this, my research will investigate what percentage of parentese in each language Spanish-English bilingual caregivers use when talking to their child. And how does bilingual parentese influence children’s language development? This research will help us unpack the variability we see in bilingual families’ language use and will help us understand if parentese should be recommended as an important language development strategy for bilingual children.

Kaitlin Frazier

The majority of developmental science is conducted among WEIRD (White, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples which leads to a lack of representation in science and the policy decisions that follow. My research question is looking to find if the use of scientific language over plain language presents a barrier to more diverse participation in child development research. I am expecting to find that the overcomplicated language used in research presents a barrier to those who do not have a strong English language background and this results in less diverse participation in developmental research. I also expect that participants will vary in their preferences for the language(s) used in research studies, with non-native English speakers preferring studies conducted in their home language. I believe this research is important because it will aid future researchers in providing resources that promote more inclusivity in developmental science.

MeSha McClanahan – See McClanahan’s Research Poster (pdf)

My research projects examines if minority groups use behavioral control—ways that parents try to sway children to do what they want, i.e. if you do not wash the dishes, Santa will not bring you the toy you want for Christmas—in the same way as non-minority groups. This project extends the work of Dr. Candice Mills’ Santa Project, in which the majority of the participants identified as White. My research adds a diverse perspective, which more accurately represents the demographics of America. I’m also examining how participants viewed the ethnicity of Santa Claus when they were children. I grew up in a household where all of our important figures matched my family’s race—Santa, Jesus and even our angel toppers were all Black. I want to see if this has an impact on a person’s ethnic pride. I believe it is important to have children grow up in an environment that promotes ethnic pride, which could lead to higher self-esteem, lower suicide rates, and lower self-hatred.

Alexia Vargas – See Vargas’ Research Poster (pdf)

If a parent has a high belief in their self-efficacy, that means they are confident in their ability to handle and care for their children’s behavior. My research is looking into how the Play with Me program influences parents’ self-efficacy. Parental self-efficacy is taught in the Play with Me program, an outreach program for young children ages 0-3 and their parents, through weekly lessons and facilitator modelling. This research investigates the impact of the Play with Me program on self-efficacy, while controlling for variations in the educational backgrounds of the parents. No research has looked into these connections. This research is important because parents who are more confident in their parenting can create stronger connections with their child and can handle their children’s behaviors more effectively.

Sabian Bowen – See Bowen’s Research Poster (pdf)

2022-2023 REU Cohort Alumni

• Yanet Admasu
• Bella Burda
• Paola Golemon
• Monse Hernandez
• Mi Huynh
• Sebastian Oliva
• Bahia Ramirez
• Marley Richter
• Ruben Rivas
• Andrea Roguer
• Janine Settle

2022-2023 Alumni Research Projects

Janine Settle – See Settle’s Research Poster (pdf)

It is estimated that 7% of the population has developmental language disorder (DLD), a deficit with the understanding and use of language. This disorder cannot be explained by global deficits in cognitive development, hearing impairment, multilingualism, or autism. Unfortunately, DLD is usually not diagnosed and treated until children reach school age and, by then, large language deficits are noted in their academic performance. A current theory in the field is that children with DLD struggle with the coordination of sequentially patterned elements that underlie several developmental areas, such as grammar, speech-motor control, and gross/fine motor skills. According to the current literature, children with DLD show significant deficits in motor control, especially in manual dexterity and balance, compared to children with typical development (TD). The goal of this project is to evaluate the relationship between motor tasks and novel sign (gesture) learning, with a focus on coordinated sequential patterns in children with DLD and their TD peers. Understanding how the motor component of DLD is characterized in young children could aid in earlier identification and intervention efforts. Children with DLD should not have to wait until they present a serious struggle with language to be diagnosed and receive help.

Ruben Rivas – See Rivas’ Research Poster (pdf)

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US, yet Spanish use at home has declined in recent years. There’s abundant research on how parents influence their children’s language development, but there’s little work on how siblings, many of whom attend English schools, impact children’s dual language development. My research looks at the impact of sibling language input on the language outcomes of preschool children from Spanish-dominant homes. I am investigating this question by looking at parent reports of the language spoken to children by their siblings and relating that to children’s Spanish and English Language assessment scores. Hopefully, my findings will offer a renewed look into the impact of sibling interactions on child language development.

Andrea Roguer – See Roguer’s Research Poster (pdf)

Higher socioeconomic status (SES) is related to better health and sleep (Moore et al., 2002). Additionally, higher SES is linked to lower levels of household chaos. Few studies have investigated how SES and household chaos relate to sleep and health, and fewer focus on Hispanic/Latino parents. Hence, this study aims to identify how SES may relate to household chaos, and how both factors may relate to sleep quality, among Hispanic/Latino parents. We predict that parents with low SES will experience greater household chaos and thus report poorer sleep. By examining the relationship between SES, household chaos, and sleep quality among Hispanic/Latino parents, this study may shed light on potential mechanisms underlying health disparities and inform the development of culturally sensitive interventions to improve sleep and overall health outcomes. Improving sleep quality may have significant implications for positive physical and mental health, academic and work performance, and overall quality of life for Hispanic/Latino parents.

Marley Richter – See Richter’s Research Poster (pdf)

Ethnic-racial socialization is a fundamental process in identity formation where children adopt values, beliefs, and a sense of belonging to their ethnic group from their caretakers. Promoting a strong connection to the child’s cultural background can result in better academic, behavioral, and emotional outcomes for children of color later on. Our research looks at how parenting strategies measured in discussions about racism between parent and child impact child ethnic identity. Further, we are investigating how positive parenting strategies can foster a strong connection between a child and their ethnic group, and whether this connection can have an effect on the child’s sense of belonging in the school environment. This is especially important in the face of possible racial bias and serves to safeguard a child’s social-emotional wellbeing in school.

Paola Golemon – See Goleman’s Research Poster (pdf)

My research is focused on the relationship between Latine parents’ calm authority and the language development of their autistic children. Parents’ calm authority is based on the value of respeto, a parenting trait that is highly regarded in Latine culture. There is often a misconception that respeto is an authoritarian or harsh parenting style. Latine parents, however, use respeto as an authority that is calm and affectionate while also conveying their expectations regarding their children’s obedience. Parenting styles have a noticeable effect on children’s language development, and this is especially important in autistic children, who often struggle with language. This research area is fairly new but of much importance since it is still unknown how Latine parents’ use of calm authority facilitates the language development of their autistic children. It is important to see this kind of inclusivity in research since culture plays an essential role in all aspects of child development. Early intervention is crucial to promote language development in autistic children. With the population of the Latine community on the rise in this country, in order to provide services that promote the language development of autistic children, there needs to be an understanding first of the cultural values that these children are being raised with.

Sebastian Oliva – See Oliva’s Research Poster (pdf)

Latine parenting is heavily guided by respeto, a cultural value that calls for calm authority from the parent and affiliative obedience from the child. Previous studies indicate that affiliative obedience, the ability to follow directions in a way that communicates warmth and affection, positively correlates with parent responsivity (verbal feedback) and language match (how parents match their language to their child’s level). However, these studies have been conducted with neurotypical children, and not with autistic children who may lack the social awareness to adhere to cultural standards like affiliative obedience. Our study focuses on how parent responsivity and language shape interactions between Latine parents and their autistic children. We hypothesize that parents who are more verbally responsive to their children’s communication and who use language that is sensitive to their child’s language level will have children with higher levels of affiliative obedience. Our findings would give Latine parents of autistic children insight into how to better facilitate interactions with their children in ways that align with the values of their culture.

Yanet Admasu – See Admasu’s Research Poster (pdf)

My research question focuses on how adult and child language use during mealtimes impacts children’s language outcomes, specifically in Spanish-speaking homes. This research is important because mealtime talk between parent and children has long been associated with children’s current and future language skills (Smolen et al., 2021) and this could have a significant impact on children’s language outcomes. This research allows us to take a holistic look at children’s language environment by looking at their interaction with parents, other adults in the house, as well as siblings. We expect that children who are asked more open-ended questions during mealtime conversations will have higher language outcomes than those whose conversations are marked by more imperative (commands) or declarative statements. Overall, we found it important to investigate this topic because the results may shed light on how families can support children’s language development during mealtimes.

Bella Burda – See Burda’s Research Poster (pdf)

Infants and young children spend a majority of their time asleep and this is essential for their developing brain and body. Sleep quantity and sleep quality are equally important when it comes to sleep health. Parents play a huge role in child sleep outcomes, such as developing a bedtime routine to encourage better sleep. Children’s sleep outcomes may be affected by parents’ attachment style to each other, but little research has examined the relationship between adult attachment and child sleep in Hispanic/Latino families. In our study with Hispanic/Latino families, we predict that parents with poorer attachments to their partner (rated higher in attachment anxiety or attachment avoidance) will report greater child sleep problems. Learning more about this topic could help pave a way for future early intervention programs that promote stronger attachments in parents’ relationships to improve children’s sleep health.

Monse Hernandez Ramirez – See Ramirez’s Research Poster (pdf)

The relationship that exists between a parent and a child is a critical component of a child’s emotional and mental development. Further, this relationship can be affected by parents’ behavior and sleep. Research findings have demonstrated that poor sleep is associated with greater daily stress reactivity. Therefore, poor parental sleep can interfere with positive parent-child interactions, as parents can experience more stress after nights of poorer sleep, but this association can be overlooked in research. The goal of our study is to assess how sleep relates to perceptions of everyday life stress and how this ultimately impacts parent-child relationships among Hispanic families. Our findings will indicate whether there is a direct relationship between parents’ sleep and the way they interact with their children. The overall goal for this study is to assess sleep and stress reactivity among Hispanic families to help promote positive parent-child relationships.

Mi Huynh – See Huynh’s Research Poster (pdf)

Adults can implicitly learn prosodic sequences in languages to help them remember pronunciation. Prosody is the rhythmic pattern of languages. For example, the phonetic transcription for remember is /rImEmbUH/. The emphasis on vowels produces the prosody and this pattern is continued every time the word is pronounced. While substantial work on prosodic variation exists, culturally responsive research is needed to explore this among underrepresented groups, such as Spanish-English bilingual speakers. How do Spanish-English speaking adults with either high or low English proficiency apply prosodic structure in their language use? This study will analyze how different types of Spanish-English speakers perform. Our prediction is that individuals with lower language proficiency will apply less prosody to facilitate their learning. The results of this study will expand the research on bilingual speakers and could be used to assist bilingual children with their language learning.

2021-2022 Inaugural REU Cohort Alumni

• Rod Bezanilla Davila
• Monze Gonzalez
• Kani Mirza
• Ikram Mohamed
• Giselle Reyes
• Aurora Rochin
• Paloma Salas
• Venise Shaw
• Melissa Ulloa
• Sandra Ventura
• Enrico Young

2021-2022 Alumni Research Projects

Sandra Ventura – See Ventura’s Research Poster (pdf)

Speaking is an important part of a child’s development. It’s more than just a tool to communicate, it’s also the primary way that people create lasting connections with one another. When a child struggles to develop school readiness and language skills, they’re usually given a screening that helps clinicians understand if intervention should take place. For primarily Spanish-speaking children, there is a lack of intervention. Existing literature provides evidence that there is a high amount of misdiagnosis for primarily Spanish-speaking bilingual children. Being misunderstood by adults can lead to a lot of stress for a child and in the long term, it can lead to adverse outcomes. My research question looks at how many families use referrals to seek support for their child’s development. Findings from this study could inform changes in developmental screening tools so that they can be more accurate for primarily Spanish-speaking children. Providing more support for children’s development could help them succeed in school, engage in society, and lessen the amount of trauma they’ll experience throughout their lifetime.

Aurora Rochin – See Rochin’s Research Poster (pdf)

Many people associate household chaos with disorganization, loud noises, and unpredictability. However, in recent years scholars have acknowledged that household chaos cannot be defined so simply for many families. Whereas some families may find loud, messy environments to be stressful and overwhelming, others embrace and even thrive in them. The experience of household chaos can have tremendous effects on parent-child relationships and interactions. For example, a parent who is feeling overwhelmed by their environment may be less engaging with their child. I am interested in determining the relationship between household chaos and parenting characteristics such as warmth, hostility, and directiveness in culturally diverse environments. Using a combination of LENA audio recordings, parenting measures, and parent-reported household chaos, findings from this study will expand our understanding of chaos in the home and how it affects parenting, discipline, and relationships with children in the home.

Venise Shaw – See Shaw’s Research Poster (pdf)

Mothers are typically viewed as “the” parent for all things meal-related, but what about fathers? In Jansen et al (2020), many of the fathers who participated in that study said that the mothers assumed greater responsibilities concerning meals and mealtimes. Research is lacking regarding the level of fathers’ involvement in mealtimes with young children. I’m interested in examining how fathers are involved during family mealtimes, specifically, how they use controlling and/or autonomy-promoting practices, including nutrition education and negotiation. This is important because the division of labor has proven benefits in the business world, but its influence in the home has not been widely researched. Mealtimes provide an atmosphere for socialization around food and are influenced by routines, rituals, and behaviors, and each parent plays a distinctive role. The direct or indirect contributions of fathers during mealtime warrants further research, as children of engaged and present fathers during meals exhibit higher self-esteem, along with enhanced cognitive, social, and emotional development.

Rod Bezanilla Davila – See Davila’s Research Poster (pdf)

Chaos in the home—noise, disparate schedules, etc.—can negatively affect child development and adversely impact the child-parent relationship. Stressors such as chaos can also impact one’s physical and mental health. The cultural components of parents’ perception of chaos in the Latinx community can be crucial to determining what factors play a significant role in household chaos. My research question is: What is the concordance between objective and subjective measures of chaos in the home? We will obtain critical and concrete data through one-on-one parent interviews, questionnaires, and LENA recordings (a wearable device that collects information about a child’s language and listening environment). How we define the root causes of chaos in a family home is vital to creating solid solutions to diminish its harmful effects.

Ikram Mohamed – See Mohamed’s Research Poster (pdf)

There is not much information about the role of fathers during mealtimes as it is rarely investigated because mothers are typically seen as the primary caregiver. My research question asks college students to report on their father’s involvement during mealtimes when they were children, and on their father’s feeding practices. My question investigates how college students’ reports may be related to their own current healthy or problematic eating behaviors. My research question is important because it examines the future effects of paternal choices and behaviors about food options on children in their early adulthood. By conducting this study, I hope to learn about the positive or negative effects of a father’s presence or absence at the dinner table.

Kani Mirza – See Mirza’s Research Poster (pdf)

Family interactions during mealtimes are powerful times for parents to engage in socialization behaviors with their children, and their feeding practices are an effective way to look at parent-child relationships. Chaos in the family can have a detrimental effect on a child’s functioning (Fulkerson, 2019), and in turn may cause controlling and coercive parental feeding practices which implicates further negative effects within a child’s development. With that said, I am interested in exploring the connection between household chaos and parental feeding practices. Specifically, is household chaos related to more controlling or coercive parental behaviors during mealtime? Through the use of coded LENA recordings and self-reports of family chaos, we will be identifying coercive or autonomy-promoting feeding practices among parents, as well as measuring the children’s verbal responses (through the indication of crying, fussiness, or food refusal). With these findings, we will be evaluating their connection to parent-reported measures of household chaos. Every child deserves a healthy home food environment and recognizing the impact of the external environment on parental child feeding practices is the first step. We may not be able to change a parent’s level of education or socioeconomic status, but with this research we hope to support parents in managing household chaos and fostering responses to supplement children’s healthy development and positive eating behaviors.

Enrico Young – See Young’s Research Poster (pdf)

Bilingualism is often seen as an asset when joining the US workforce, but this skill is perceived very differently as Latinx/Hispanic children begin school. Hispanic children are often unfamiliar with the language of instruction which puts them at risk for lower academic achievement –especially as it relates to literacy skills. I am interested to know if this disparity experienced by these children can be diminished through early interventions. My current research involves identifying markers in their early language skills which are predictive of academic achievement. I believe this academic disparity can be better understood by identifying these early language predictors to implement interventions that will strengthen children’s early English language skills.

Melissa Ulloa – See Ulloa’s Research Poster (pdf)

Individual culture and home environment are part of an eco-cultural context. One element of eco-cultural context is daily family activities and routines at home. Under a cultural lens, the daily activities, interactions, and environments in a home may be perceived differently by different people. For example, one might feel that a noisy home is a chaotic environment that causes stress. Conversely, another might perceive noise as a cheerful feature of the home environment. Due to this subjectivity, my research question is as follows: What do Latinx mothers perceive as chaotic in their home environment, activities, and routines? My research method will include Latinx mothers’ responses to an interview that includes questions about their home activities and interactions. This study on the perceptions of chaos is crucial to learn about Latinx families’ environments and interactions. In addition, my project allows the Latinx community to be heard and to share aspects about their culture that may not be known. Lastly, this work will contribute to further research into children’s development, the effects of noise, language acquisition, parent and children interaction, and parenting stress among Latinx families using an eco-cultural context.

Giselle Reyes – See Reyes’ Research Poster (pdf)

Our research is focused on behaviors that revolve around the family mealtime, and I am researching mealtimes in the context of gender socialization. We already know that gender socialization begins early in childhood, and that parents play an important role in showing children what are appropriate behaviors for their gender assigned at birth. There is also plenty of research showing what adults and adolescents think are appropriate eating behaviors for women versus men, but not as much is known about how these beliefs develop during childhood. My question is focused on what kinds of foods and portion sizes parents think are appropriate for their children, and what are their motivations behind those decisions. For this research, parents will complete a task where they create a meal for two children—a 3-year-old and 10-year-old boy or girl—and then respond to questions about their motivations behind the types of food and portion sizes they selected for these meals. We anticipate that this research will give us some insight into what parents think are appropriate meals for their children at different ages, and what roles this may play into their children’s gender socialization.

Paloma Salas – See Salas’ Research Poster (pdf)