Doctoral Dissertation Research: The behavioral ecology of children's signals of need

儿童需要从父母和其他照顾者那里获得基本的好处，如食物、照顾和保护，他们经常试图通过哭喊和其他需要的信号来引起这些好处。尽管已经在几个人群中对婴儿哭声进行了研究，但从未在所有年龄段的儿童中调查过可能超出哭声范围的各种潜在的儿童需要信号，也不知道父母对这些信号做出积极或消极反应的频率有多高。这个项目通过收集关于孩子需要的信号和父母对他们的反应的观察、自我报告和实验数据来帮助填补这一空白。它还调查儿童的自我危险行为，如逃跑，是否是需要的信号。除了对研究生进行混合方法的数据收集和分析方面的培训外，这项研究还提供了可以提高儿童幸福感的信息。研究人员打算将研究结果发表在同行评议的期刊上，并与儿童福利组织分享数据和发现。该项目将在两个文化和社会经济地位不同的人群中的一个岛屿社区进行，由于旅游业和移民的增加，这两个群体都正在经历迅速的变化。日常调查被用来检查孩子们多久发出一次需要的信号，他们是如何做到的，父母对这种信号是如何反应的，以及孩子们对父母的反应是如何反应的。研究人员还在复制一项关于青少年和年轻人自我危害行为的实验性小插曲研究，该研究验证了这一假设，即这些行为是可靠的需求信号。通过提供来自两个群体的信息，1)需要信号在整个发育过程中的频率和代价，以及2)这些信号从照顾者那里收到积极或消极反应的程度，该项目深入了解为什么儿童在发出信号时行为不同，以及为什么父母可能对儿童需要的迹象做出积极或消极的反应。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Children require essential benefits from parents and other caregivers, such as food, care, and protection, which they often attempt to elicit with cries and other signals of need. Although infant cries have been studied in several populations, the full range of potential child signals of need, which likely extend beyond cries, has never been investigated in children of all ages, nor is it known how often parents respond favorably or unfavorably to these signals. This project helps fill this gap by collecting observational, self-report, and experimental data on child signals of need and parental responses to them. It also investigates if children’s self-endangering behaviors, such as running away, are signals of need. In addition to training a graduate student in mixed methods data collection and analyses, the research provides information that can enhance child well-being. The researcher intends to publish the results in peer-reviewed journals and share the data and findings with child welfare organizations. This project will be conducted in an island community among two populations that differ in culture and socioeconomic status, both of which are experiencing rapid change due to increased tourism and immigration. Daily surveys are used to examine how often children signal need, how they do this, how parents respond to such signaling, and how children respond to parental responses. Researchers are also replicating an experimental vignette study on adolescent and young adult self-endangering behaviors that tests the hypothesis that these are credible signals of need. By providing information from two populations on 1) the frequency and costliness of signals of need across development and 2) the extent to which those signals receive positive or negative responses from caregivers, this project provides insight into why children differ in their signaling behavior and why parents might respond positively or negatively to indications of child need.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.