M.A. Theses

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A measure of conflict inhibition in toddlers: the animal-vehicle task
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2015., 2015.) Özdemir, Cihan Züleyha Aydın; Alp, İ. Ercan.
Despite the recent increase in the number of age-appropriate cognitive tasks for very young children, their paucity is still obvious. Inhibitory abilities emerge very early in life but the research generally focuses on the preschool years because of the deficiency of tasks that are appropriate for toddlers. The present study was motivated by the fewness of age appropriate conflict inhibition (CI) tasks. Although its validity was not fully supported, the Animal-Vehicle Task (AVT) was presented as a CI task for toddlers in an earlier study. This study was an attempt to replicate and extend the earlier investigation of the AVT by considering the limitations of that study. In the present study, multiple criteria were used to evaluate the validity of the AVT as a CI task. Its relation to CI, working memory (WM) and simple delay (SD) was investigated. The AVT involves training toddlers to ‘hop’ animals and ‘push back-and-forth’ vehicles in the first part of the task (the single part). In the second part (the mixed part), eight further exemplars from each category are presented, this time in a mixed-order (random presentation) fashion and their reaction times (RTs) and errors for each trial were measured. The AVT was expected to be negatively correlated with CI and WM while none or moderate relation between the AVT and SD was anticipated. Forty-eight toddlers aged between 22 to 36 months were included in the study. The results showed that (1) the main finding of the previous study, the CI relation to the AVT could not be replicated, (2) as expected, performance of children who have a higher working memory capacity is affected less by mixing the two category exemplars, and (3) SD was not correlated with the AVT performance. The results also confirmed finding of the previous study that there are switch and mixing cost regarding the errors in the AVT. In conclusion, the AVT seems to be viable cognitive tasks that can be employed with toddlers but its validity needs further investigation.
Attachment style, family environment depression and anxiety
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Sciences, 1996., 1996.) Bekiroğlu, C. Baybars.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
Attachment styles and their relationship to family environment, anxiety and depression were investigated. A sample consisting of 81 university students provided scores of attachment style (as measured by Adult Attachment Scale), perceived cohesion and control within the family (as measured by Family Environment Questionnaire), anxiety (as measured by Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) and depression (Beck Depression Inventory). As avoidance and ambivalence scores were very close in a considerable number of cases, these were collapsed into a single category of insecurity. Thus, in the analyses, the attachment quality variable had two levels, secure and insecure. The results indicated significant differences in terms of mean anxiety and depression scores between secure and insecure groups; insecure group scored higher in both variables, as it was hypothesized. In terms of perceived cohesion, a tendency for the secure group to score higher than the insecure group and in terms of control, a tendency to score lower than the insecure group were detected in the hypothesized direction. Male and female participants were not found to differ with respect to any of these variables.
Developmental relations between Turkish preschool children's theory of mind skills and their ability to track character references in narrative discourse
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2012., 2012.) Ünlütabak, Burcu.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
This thesis investigates the developmental relationship between young children’s theory of mind (ToM) abilities and their competence in organizing narratives through character references, to see how ToM contributes to the emergence of the narrative skills. For this purpose, narrative competence of 75 Turkish speaking children (ages 3;0 to 6;0) was assessed; focusing on how adequately they refer to characters in different discourse contexts where mutual knowledge was blocked: i) story-retelling, ii) picture-elicited stories with 1MC and 2MC, iii) picture-elicited story acted out with toys. For the assessment of ToM skills, children were presented with the tasks scaled by Wellman & Liu (2004). In addition, working memory (WM) measures were included as control variables. It was hypothesized that children’s adequate use of referential expressions in all types of discourse would increase with age and ToM development would be positively related to referential adequacy. A one-way MANOVA revealed that except for the story-retelling, referential adequacy performances in different story contexts increased with age; 4 and 5-year-olds performed better than 3-year-olds. Also, children refer more adequately to characters in stories with 1MC than in stories with 2MC. Hierarchical regression analyses show that forward word span performance was positively associated with referential adequacy in story-retelling. ToM skills were also positively associated with referential adequacy in 1MC stories while the association between ToM skills and referential adequacy in 2MC stories was marginally significant. Finally it has been found that WM performance was positively and strongly associated with ToM skills. Following the adequacy analyses, the specific linguistic forms Turkish children are using in their narratives for introduction, maintenance and reintroduction functions were examined. Age and story type affected the patterns for using different linguistic forms. Three-year-old children were not yet capable of using indefinite forms for introducing characters; instead, they mostly used zero pronouns and on some occasions bare noun phrases. The use of bare noun phrases increased with age and almost 50% of children used bare noun phrases for the first character introductions in all story types except story retelling in which the proper name was used as it was given when the story was first told. The use of indefinite noun phrases began to appear at ages four and five. When maintaining reference to the same character, children in all age groups preferred using zero pronouns. In addition, children mainly used zero pronouns for character reintroductions and age-related increase in the use of definite forms for reintroduction function was not observed in any of the story types.
Psychological adjustment and sibling relationships of older brothers and sisters of children with pervasive developmental disorders
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute of Social Sciences, 1996., 1996.) Apalaçi, Virna.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the psychological adjustment (depression, self-concept, behavioural problems and social adjustment) of siblings of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and interactional processes (nature of sibling relationships, sibling caregiving and domestic work, and perceived differential parental treatment) among these children. Additionally, the effects of gender and age-spacing on these variables were studied. The 5>ubjects were 58 children (aged 7 - 16 years), half with and half without a younger sibling with PDD. The questionnaires were completed by the older siblings and their mothers. Children whose siblings had PDD scored significantly higher on depression and lower on self-concept than the comparison group. No differences were found among the two groups in tenus of maternal reports of behaviour problems and social adjustment of children. Siblings of children with PDD reported their relationships as being less warm and close, and more asymmetrical in nature than the relationships of nondisabled sibling pairs. No significant difference was found among the two groups in terms of the amount of conflict in sibling relationships. Whereas the sisters of children with PDD reported more caregiving work than the brothers and sisters of nondisabled children, brothers of children with PDD reported less domestic work than the siblings (of both gender) of normally developing children. Finally, the siblings of children with PDD perceived their mothers to be more affectionate toward their disabled sibling and more controlling toward themselves. No differences were found on children's reports of differential paternal treatment.
The relationships among working memory, inhibition and temperament in the third year of life
(Thesis (M.A.) - Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2011., 2011.) Özdemir, Begüm.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
The third year of life depicts the transition period during which children gradually become more competent in controlling their thoughts and emotions. Recent studies with preschool children suggest that delay inhibition and conflict inhibition are the two types of inhibition, the former requiring the child to suppress a dominant behavior, while the latter requiring not only to suppress it but also to enact a subdominant behavior conflicting with it. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether or not delay inhibition and conflict inhibition relate to working memory and temperament differentially in younger children. Thirty-four Turkish children aged 24-to-36 months and their mothers participated in the study. Two separate sessions were arranged for each child individually. For half of the children, the first session involved Imitation Sorting Tasks (IST) as the working memory measure, and the second involved a total of six inhibition measures including three tasks for delay inhibition and three for conflict inhibition; whereas for the other half, the order of the sessions were reversed. The mothers rated temperament of their children on the very short form of Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ). Using hierarchical regression, it was found that working memory capacity predicted conflict inhibition performance beyond delay inhibition performance even when controlled for age. Contrary to the expectations, temperamental characteristics measured by the ECBQ in terms of negative affectivity, surgency and effortful control did not predict delay inhibition performance. Nor there was any relationship between conflict inhibition performance and any of the temperamental characteristics. However, there was a significant association between conflict and delay inhibition even after age was controlled. These results support both the distinction and the relation between delay inhibition and conflict inhibition as well as highlight the role of working memory capacity in predicting conflict inhibition performance in the third year of life.
The Role of parenting and family background on Turkish adolescents' academic achievement
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2004., 2004.) Heyndrickx, Friederike.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
The major aim of the present study was to investigate the prediction of adolescents' academic achievement in the Turkish culture. Authoritativeness of the mother and the father, maternal employment, parental marital satisfaction, parental educational level and importance of education were proposed as predictive variables within a model. In the model it is suggested that (1) the predictive variables could have a direct effect on adolescents' academic achievement, (2) authoritativeness of mother and father could have a mediating role between parental education, maternal employment, parental marital satisfaction, and academic achievement, (3) importance of education and parental marital satisfaction could have a moderating role between authoritativeness of mother and father and academic achievement. A sample of 302 high-school students attending four private schools in Istanbul and living within an intact family were included in the study. A background questionnaire, Authoritativeness Measure (for mothers and fathers separately), importance of education questions and a parental Marital Satisfaction Scale were used for collecting data. The results indicated that for all adolescents, psychological autonomy of the mother and importance of education (asked in the negative) predicted academic achievement, with maternal psychological autonomy granting being a stronger predictor. No mediating effects of psychological autonomy granting
The roles of parenting practices and school attitudes in academic competence of Turkish high school students
(Thesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2008., 2008.) Cebenoyan, Ayşegül Parmaksızoğlu.; Alp, İ. Ercan.
Primary aim of the present study was to study the variables associated with academic competence of the Turkish high school students. Specifically, (1) Whether dimensions of parenting practices, involvement, psychological autonomy granting and strictness/supervision, assessed with more Turkish culture sensitive scles, can be associated with academic competence. (2) Whether the determinants of academic achievement were the same for high and middle SES pupils alike. (3) Whether the inclusion of a school attitude measure among the potential predictors of academic competence would cause any difference to the importance of parental practices in academic competence of the high school students, were investigated. Parental and maternal practices, maternal employment, parental marital satisfaction, parental educational level, importance of education and school attitudes of the adolescents were proposed to be associated with the academic competence of the adolescents. A sample of 805 (440 girls and 365 boys) 9th and 11th grade students living with an intact family were included in the study. Among these students 228 girls and 223 boys were attending private schools and 212 girls and 132 boys were attending public schools in Istanbul. Demographic information questionnaire, maternal and paternal authoritativeness measures, importance of education questions, marital satisfaction scale and school attitudes measure was the instruments used for data collection. A series of reqression analyses indicated that importance of education asked in the negative, maternal psychological autonomy granting and parental strictness/supervision were associated with academic competence of high SES students, whereas only maternal strictness/supervision was associated with academic competence of middle SES students. When considered simultaneously with school attitude measures, parental practices lost their predictive power almost entirely and academic self-perception and motivation/self regulation emerged as the strongest predictors of academic comptetence across the two SES groups and genders. This suggested a mediating role of the school attitudes between parenting practices and academic competence of the students.

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