Title: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Academic Performance
Authors: Janae Russell, Casey Call, Ph.D.

College students face many challenges when it comes to discovering their identity, establishing independence, developing a routine, adjusting to a new lifestyle, handling stress and social interactions. Furthermore, students that have been exposed to chronic Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can experience negative impacts on their mental health and academic performance. ACEs are childhood experiences of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and/or household dysfunctions such as substance abuse, mental illness, suicide, or incarceration (Felitti et al., 2019). Felitti et al. (1998) found that ACEs are linked to many different health risk factors such as declining health, smoking, alcohol abuse, depression, and substance abuse. College students that have been exposed to ACEs are more likely to struggle with their mental health, depression, and anxiety (Hatton-Bowers et al., 2023). The purpose of this research is to examine how ACEs impact a college students’ performance. I would like to learn how students define academic success and if they believe they fit that definition. I would like to discover how ACEs influence students’ overall ability to learn and retain information, focus on academic work, develop study habits, and have successful social interactions with peers. I theorize that students who have been exposed to four or more ACEs will struggle more with the demands and pace of college life than students who have 3 or fewer ACEs. This research is essential for universities to be able identify students with ACEs to better understand and support these students.

Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., Koss, M. P., & Marks, J. S. (2019). REPRINT OF: Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 56(6), 774–786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.001

Hatton-Bowers, H., Lombardi, C. M., Kemp, B., Decker, K. B., Virmani, E. A., Brophy-Herb, H. E., & Vallotton, C. D. (2023). Risks and resources for college students’ mental health: ACEs, attachment, and mindfulness. Journal of American College Health, 71(5), 1510–1521. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1942007

Over the past decade, mindfulness-based practices have gained popularity in the mainstream media as a way of alleviating stress. Indeed, state- and trait-based mindfulness is correlated with enhanced well-being, meaning in life, and life satisfaction. In this way, mindfulness-based interventions could be a pivotal tool for educators and colleges aiming to improve student outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to test the feasibility and engagement of a brief mindfulness intervention for nursing students. Participants (N = 72) were recruited from the nursing department at Texas Christian University. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a mindfulness exercise or a relaxation exercise, and then asked to complete survey questions. Engagement in the intervention will be assessed using recruitment numbers and program completion. Additionally, we are expecting that people assigned to the mindfulness exercise will report higher levels of happiness, well-being, and gratitude when compared to those assigned to the relaxation exercise. The implications of this work will be discussed.

The preterite and imperfect past tenses, which do not have exact English equivalents, exemplify grammatical nuance in the Spanish classroom. These nuances evoke questions regarding effective ways to present this material to students. Some evidence suggests that interleaved schedules of practice – in which material is presented in a mixed order during learning – benefit learning of grammar in a non-native language (Nakata & Suzuki, 2019; Pan et al., 2019); however, other evidence suggests that blocked schedules of practice benefit pronunciation learning (Carpenter & Mueller, 2013). Given these mixed outcomes, I compared blocked and interleaved schedules of practice on learning of the preterite and imperfect tenses in Spanish. Participants were randomly assigned to interleaved or blocked practice, in which they classified verb constructions as imperfect or preterite (when conjugated to Spanish) and were given feedback following each item. Participants then completed multiple tests assessing their grammar learning. The interleaved and blocked groups did not significantly differ in their test performance; however, both groups showed significantly improved performance compared to a pre-test, indicating that learning did occur. These outcomes can inform pedagogical practice. Future research should consider time processing feedback, and extend these outcomes to Spanish language learners, with materials translated into Spanish.

With the rate of children growing up in single-parent households on the rise, the challenges that these children experience are becoming more evident. One challenge that often remains unacknowledged is parentification. Many single parents engage in this process due to the number of stressors that they must face on their own. Parentification allows parents to place responsibilities on their children that they would otherwise not do in order to relieve some sort of stress. These responsibilities can include caring for siblings, being a translator, taking on a parent's emotional turmoil, and even paying bills. With this adornment of responsibility, these children can garner mixed emotions about themselves and their purpose in the world. However, we hypothesize that children who experience parentification will have high self-efficacy. The findings of this study may lead to implications that assist single parents in performing positive and sensitive parenting behaviors in order to promote a secure attachment with their children, as well as promote conversations on policy interventions that relieve unique stressors for single mothers so that they avoid having to rely on parentification.

The philosophical concept of free will is often highly debated. Benjamin Libet, an academic in experimental philosophy, discovered through recordings of cerebral activity that there is neural activity that correlates with a decision prior to our conscious declaration of that decision (Libet et al., 1983). In songbirds, previous studies have begun to show an increase in neuronal and respiratory activity in the seconds prior to song production, indicating preparatory action before performing this learned behavior (Daliparthi et al., 2019). In this study, the preparation for the learned motor behavior (song production) is compared against an unlearned control (defecation) in Zebra Finches. Electromyography (EMG) of respiratory muscles is employed as an additional technique to provide more detailed exploration of preparatory motor activity compared to previous studies. Our analysis of EMG recordings focused on the six expirations that occur prior to song production, because previous research has shown that there is an acceleration of the respiratory rhythm occurring in the last three respiratory cycles before song (Méndez et al., 2022). By measuring the electrical activity in the muscle, we hope to provide a more detailed understanding of how birds prepare for their upcoming song. Overall, this study aims to explore motor responses to determine whether expiratory muscular activation is preparatory for and predictive of an upcoming behavioral event. The larger goal of this study is to be able to “read a bird’s mind” by establishing physiological models for predicting behavior before the decision has occurred.