Children

The overall goal of the present study was to examine the data from several research studies to aid in understanding sex, ASD, and its subcomponents using the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale or GARS-2, an ASD diagnostics questionnaire, and to explore the relation between facial emotional recognition, sex, and ASD. We did not find a significant difference in the GARS-2 overall scores, nor was there a difference in the GARS-2 subscale scores when examining the scores of boys and girls (both ASD and TD). Our findings suggest the GARS-2 is an excellent choice in diagnostic measures and does not appear to have a sex bias. That being said, research into ASD measures is much needed. This is a significant issue as such research does not consider the potential different symptomology of girls with ASD. The issue at the heart of this study is that for so long research on ASD has been limited to studying samples of boys with the disorder (Lundstrom et al., 2019).

Children who are perceived by classmates as being fun increase their peer status over time, but little is known about whether being fun predicts other peer outcomes. Also unknown are mechanisms whereby being fun predicts changes in peer outcomes. Associations with fun, like surgency, suggest that children high in fun are more likely to gain friends while children low in fun are more likely to lose friends, indicating that friend gain and friend loss may serve as intervening links between being fun and peer outcomes. Participants (171 girls, 190 boys) were third to seventh grade students attending a public school in Florida. Across three time points approximately three-months apart, participants reported who their friends were, nominated peers who best fit descriptions of fun and popular, and completed self-reports assessing peer problems. Results indicated that being fun predicted subsequent changes in popularity and peer problems via friend gain but not friend loss. The findings suggest that being fun is a unique predictor of peer outcomes and that friend gain is a mechanism whereby fun children experience positive peer outcomes.

Developmental research on moral psychology has long been driven by the classic studies of Lawrence Kohlberg with an almost exclusive focus on reasoning. The adoption of an evolutionary perspective has opened moral psychology to investigations into the deep roots of morality. From this perspective, it is thought that group living (cooperation), evolved psychological mechanisms, disgust, emotion, and punishment make for the complex building blocks that is morality. Based on this notion, it is quite possible that morality is present early in life and driven by the forces of natural selection.
Thus, moral development may be understood by taking a different approach, one that takes into account the tenants of evolution. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of third-party punishment on children’s moral sentiments using a common moral transgression (exclusion from a group). For this cross-sectional study, children in age groups 4-5, 7-8, and 12-13 years heard two short stories describing a perpetrator (matched in gender to the participant) who excludes a victim (also matched in gender to the participant). For each story, children were asked to imagine a different relationship to the victim: kin (i.e., brother or sister) or non-kin (i.e., friend/stranger). After each story, children were asked to rate the intensity of the moral transgression, choose a possible punishment for the perpetrator, identify an emotion associated with the transgression, and then offer a justification for the emotion. A total of 109 children were interviewed for the study. Results were mixed. Relationship (kin vs. non-kin) made a difference in some cases, while not in others. Overall, all children rated the treatment of the victim as wrong, deemed punishment as necessary, and reported neutral emotions. The children in the 12 to 13 age group were different on measures of wrongness and emotional responses. There is some evidence that relationship may influence moral sentiments, which is in line with an evolutionary hypothesis. Moral sentiments seem to be present early, and common moral transgressions are perceived as wrong early and consistently across age groups. This study provides some insight into the evolutionary roots of morality. Additional research is necessary to gain a greater understanding of other factors contributing to the evolutionary roots of morality.

This dissertation focuses on using one tangible component of filicide, the method or weapon used by a parent to kill a child, as a means by which to understand parental psychology. An evolutionary psychological perspective (e.g., Buss, 2004; Bjorklund & Pellegrini, 2002; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992) can provide insight into our understanding of filicide. Questions that have not been asked by previous researchers may come to the fore by using an evolutionary perspective as a guide for investigating filicide and its surrounding circumstances and contexts. I present the results of three empirical studies using archival data on filicides recorded in Chicago, Illinois. In Study 1, I present the results of an investigation of parental psychological differences evidenced by the methods of filicide, for filicides recorded between 1965 and 1994. The key results of Study 1 are: (a) while overall (i.e., non-genetic and genetic parents combined), beating was the method of filicide used most often, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by beating significantly exceeded the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents; (b) in contrast, the percentage of filicides committed by non-genetic parents by asphyxiation was significantly less than the percentage of filicides committed by genetic parents. In Studies 2A and 2B, I present the results of an investigation using the 1965-1994 dataset as well as a dataset of filicides-suicides recorded between 1870 and 1930. The key results of these two studies indicate that filicide-suicide may be more likely to occur in certain contexts (e.g., multiple-victim killings) and in certain circumstances (e.g., following paternal filicide). In the final chapter, I discuss the key findings, identify limitations of the current research, and present several future directions for research.

The Supreme Court's Ruling in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (1989) eld that "A State's failure to protect an individual against private violence simply does not constitute a violation of the Due Process Clause." (489 U.S. 189 at 197). A state child protection agency's failure to prevent near-fatal abuse of a four year old child under its supervision was not considered a violation of the child's fourteenth amendment rights. This thesis critcally examines the reasoning behind the majority decision in DeShaney ; and using feminist legal theory, discusses ways to effectively address state policy and liability when private violence is used on vulnerable citizens, challenging the arbitrary dichotomy between the public and private spheres.