2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Winners ðŸ†: Dylan Wollschlager (psychology), Edlira Sako, Paris Simpson, Fatima Naeem, Dina Abbas

Graduate co-authors: Alana Keller, Bridget Murphy, Mareena Atalla

Faculty mentor: Douglas Barnett

Abstract

Role models include the person(s) one looks up to or wants to be like. Prior research is focused on role models' impact on children's health behaviors such as diet and exercise. Evidence suggests that children with a healthy role model tend to be healthier themselves. (Coto et al. 2019)

There is little inquiry into how role models influence children's psychological health (e.g., general emotional wellbeing, prosocial behavior), furthermore, there is no research looking at how the accessibility (e.g., family member v. celebrity) of role models impacts psychological health. The purpose of this study was to explore the statistical relationship between the accessibility of role models and children's well-being and prosocial behavior.

The sample includes 51 school-aged children (40 % girls) (M = 12.08 years, SD = 2.14) from the Downtown Boxing Gym afterschool program in Detroit. Data was collected as part of a needs assessment, using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) along with measures designed by the family and child study group.

The results of an independent-samples t-test showed that there was no significant difference in emotion measure scores between the accessible (M = 8.87, SD = 3.01) and inaccessible groups (M = 8.83, SD = 2.37), t(52) = .053, p = .96. The results of an independent-samples t-test showed that there was no significant difference in prosocial behavior scores between the accessible group (M = 15.23, SD = 2.36) and the inaccessible group (M = 14.57, SD = 1.88), t(52) = 1.114, p = .27.

Poster pitch

Poster

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