LEONARD BURNS

 

My research uses structural equation modeling procedures (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis, structural regression analysis, latent growth modeling, item response theory) to develop and validate parent and teacher rating scales of attention-deficit and conduct problem behaviors within and across ethnic groups in the United States as well as within and across countries.  Current projects are comparing similarities and differences in the functioning of ADHD/ODD rating scales for parents and teachers of Brazilian, Thai, and American children.  Other research is focusing on the development and validation of ADHD/ODD scales with English and Spanish speaking Hispanic families.  Students who work with Dr. Burns have the opportunity to examine ethnic and cultural differences in child behavior problems as well as learned advanced measurement and analytic procedures.

 

Relevant Papers:

 

Shipp, F., Burns, G. L., & Desmul, C. (2010) Construct validity of ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI, ODD toward Adults, academic and social competence dimensions with teacher rating of Thai adolescents. Journal of Pyschopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 557-564.
 

 

Moura, M. A. & Burns, G. L.  (2010).  Oppositional defiant disorder toward adults and oppositional defiant disorder toward other children:  Evidence for two separate constructs with mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of Brazilian children.   Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry., 51, 23-30.

 

Severa, M., Lorenzo-Seva, U., Cardo, E., Rodríguez-Fornells, A., & Burns, G. L. (2010).  Understanding trait and source effects in ADHD and ODD rating scales:  Mothers’, fathers’ and teachers’ ratings of children from the Balearic Islands.  Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology., 39, 1-11.

 

Burns, G. L., Desmul, C., Walsh, J. A., Silpakit, C., & Ussahawanitchakit, P.  (2009). A multitrait (ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI, ODD toward adults, academic and social competence) by multisource (mothers and fathers) evaluation of the invariance and convergent/discriminant validity of the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory with Thai Adolescents.  Psychological Assessment., 21, 635-641.

 

Burns, G. L., Moura, M. A., Walsh, J. A., Desmul, C., Silpakit, C., & Sommers- agan, J.  (2008).  Invariance and convergent and discriminant validity between mothers’ and fathers’ ratings of oppositional defiant disorder towards adults, ADHD-HI, ADHD-IN, and academic competence factors within Brazilian, Thai, and American children.  Psychological Assessment, 20, 121-130. 

 

Gomez, R., Burns, G. L., & Walsh, J. A. (2008).  Parent ratings of oppositional defiant disorder symptoms:  Item response theory analyses of cross-national and cross-racial invariance.  Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 30, 10-19.  Burns, G. L., Walsh, J. A., & Gomez, R.  (2006).  Measurement and structural invariance of parent ratings of ADHD and ODD symptoms across gender for American and Malaysian children. Psychological Assessment, 18, 452-457

 

Burns, G. L., & Haynes, S. N.  (2006). Clinical psychology: Construct validation with multiple sources of information and multiple settings.  In M. Eid & E. Diener (Eds.), Handbook of Multimethod Measurement in Psychology.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

 

Gomez, R., Burns, G. L., Walsh, J. A., & Hafetz, N.  (2005). A multitrait-multisource confirmatory factor analytic approach to the construct validity of ADHD and ODD rating scales with Malaysian children.  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 241-254.

 

Burns, G. L., Gomez, R., Walsh, J. A., & Moura, M. A. (2003).  Understanding source effects in ADHD rating scales: Reply to DuPaul.  Psychological Assessment, 15, 118- 119. 

 

Burns, G. L., Walsh, J. A., & R. Gomez, R. (2003). Convergent and discriminant validity of trait and source effects in ADHD-Inattention and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity measures across a 3-month interval.  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 529-541.

 

Gomez, R., Burns, G. L., Walsh, J. A., & Moura, M. A.  (2003).  A multitrait-multisource factor analytic approach to the construct validity of ADHD rating scales.  Psychological Assessment, 15, 3-16.  

 

MASHA GARTSTEIN

 

I have established a collaborative relationship with Helena Slobodskaya, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, State Research Institute of Physiology Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, exchanging visits and pursuing a variety of projects. Most recently, Dr. Slobodskaya and I collected longitudinal data in Russia and the U.S., evaluating parental report of temperament for infants and toddlers, as well as the development of behavior problems in the toddler period. Prior cross- cultural research provided support for the reliability and validity of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) with a Russian sample, and yielded a number of significant mean differences between the two cultures. Parents of infants in the U.S. reported higher levels for infant characteristics associated with surgency/extraversion (i.e., positive emotionality), compared to parents of infants in Russia. In addition, Russian infants’ scores for the anger/frustration dimension were higher relative to their U.S. counterparts, based on parent-report indicators. Further comparisons of the structure of infant temperament for U.S. and Russia were conducted (via confirmatory factor analysis), demonstrating a generally consistent pattern of factor loadings across these two cultures. In addressing infant temperament predictors of toddler attention-based effortful control (EC), infant regulatory capacity/orienting was demonstrated as predictive of later EC for U.S. and Russian toddlers, with infant surgency/extraversion making a significant contribution to EC development for American but not Russian children. Temperament data has also been collected in other countries (e.g., Spain, Japan, Poland) and comparisons between these cultures have indicated a pattern of similarities along with significant differences between parents’ perceptions of their infants. Some of these differences, but not all, were consistent with the idea that the individualistic/collectivistic cultural orientation of the respective countries may be in part responsible for the observed discrepancies in child attributes.  

 

Montirosso, R., Cozzi, P., Putnam, S. P., Gartstein, M. A., (2010). Studying cross-cultural differences in temperament in the first year of life: United States of America (US) and Italy. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35, 27-37.

Gartstein, M.A., Slobodskaya, H.R., Żylicz, P.A., & Nakagawa, N. (2009). A Cross-cultural Evaluation of Temperament Development: Japan, United States of America, Poland and Russia. Manuscript submitted for publication.

 

Gartstein, M.A., Slobodskaya, H.R., Putnam, S.P., Kinsht, I.A. (2009). A Cross-Cultural Study of Infant Temperament: Predicting Preschool Effortful Control in the United States of America (U.S.) and Russia. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6, 337-364.

 

Gartstein, M.A., Peleg, Y., Young, B.N., & Slobodskaya, H.R. (2009). Infant temperament in Russia, United States of America, and Israel: Differences and similarities between Russian-speaking families. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40, 241-256.

 

Gartstein, M.A., Gonzalez, C., Carranza, J.A., Ahadi, S.A., Ye, R., Rothbart, M.K., & Yang, S.W. (2006). Studying the Development of Infant Temperament through Parent Report: Commonalities and Differences for the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America, and Spain. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 37, 145-161.

 

Gartstein, M.A., Knyazev, G.G., & Slobodskaya, H.R. (2005). Cross-cultural differences in the structure of infant temperament: United States of America (U.S.) and Russia. Infant Behavior and Development, 28, 54-61.

 

Gartstein, M.A., Slobodskaya, H.R., Kinsht, I.A. (2003). Cross-cultural differences in the first year of life: United States of America (U.S.) and Russian. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 316-328.

 

PAUL KWON

 

My research program includes the use of a positive psychology approach examining resiliency to life stress.  My past work has examined the roles of variables such as hope and humor in avoiding depressive reactions to negative life events.  I am interested in extending this work to examine how individuals from stigmatized groups [e.g., lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) individuals, ethnic minority individuals] maintain positive mental health outcomes in the face of societal discrimination.

 

Along these lines, we have completed a longitudinal study which examined how some lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are able to remain resilient in the face of life stress and experiences of discrimination.  Data from a sample of LGB individuals from both a rural and urban setting revealed that hope (high expectations of achieving future goals) is a buffering variable that allows individuals to maintain life satisfaction in the face of high levels of job discrimination. I am also interested in applying this work to ethnicminority individuals.

 

Relevant conference presentations:

 

Hugelshofer, D. S., Kwon, P., Sams, N. C., Hines, P., & Draggie, M. (2005, May). The influence of lesbian, gay, and bisexual speaker panels on undergraduates' behavior toward sexual minorities. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, CA. [Winner of the APS RiSE-UP (Research on Socially and Economically Underrepresented Populations) research competition]

 

King, L., Hugelshofer, D. S., Kwon, P., Sams, N. C., & Thompson, J. A. (2005, May). The effectiveness of LGB speaker panels in facilitating attitude change toward bisexuals. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, CA.

 

Thompson, J. A., Hugelshofer, D. S., Kwon, P., King, L., & Hines, P. (2005, May). Identifying the intervention selection bias in research examining attitudes toward sexual minorities. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Los Angeles, CA.

 

PAUL STRAND

 

I am interested in native language and ethnicity as a factor in the social and academic development of children. Consistent with this objective, we explore differential outcomes for preschoolers from Spanish- and English-speaking homes that participate in structured learning environments. Results of our investigations suggest differences in how the two groups make sense of emotionally powerful stimuli, how they participate in small-group learning activities, and how teachers evaluate them. Such differences may account for differential educational outcomes across ethnic groups. These investigations are in the service of developing instructional curricula that improve the social and academic performances of preschoolers at risk for school failure.

 

Strand, P.S., Cerna, S., Downs, A. (2008). Shyness and Emotion Processing Skills in Preschoolers: A 6-month Longitudinal Study. Infant and Child Development, 17, 109- 120.

 

Downs, A. Strand, P., & Cerna, S. (2007). Emotion Understanding In English- and Spanish-speaking Preschoolers Enrolled in Head Start. Social Development, 16, 410-439.

 

Strand, P.S., Cerna, S., & Skucy, J. (2007). Assessment and decision-making in early childhood education. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16, 209-218 Downs, A. & Strand, P.S. (2006). Using assessment to improve the effectiveness of early childhood education. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 15, 671-680.