Date Approved

2026

Degree Type

Open Access Senior Honors Thesis

Department or School

Psychology

First Advisor

Angela D. Staples, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Rusty McIntyre, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Natalie Dove, Ph.D.

Abstract

Frustration is experienced when there is interference with one’s goal or progress towards one’s goal. This study sought to examine how age and sleep affect child frustration through the observation of 2 experimental tasks, each a year apart. This study included data from 100 children (boys = 54) ages 3 to 5 years (M = 3.86) at Wave 1. There are 2 waves, occurring a year apart. The first task in Wave 1 consisted of giving a child keys to a locked, clear box with intriguing toys, but unbeknownst to them, the keys did not work. The second task consisted of an experimenter asking the same child to draw “perfect” circles for 3 minutes and critiquing each circle. Hypothesis 1 states that a child with a lower sleep quality would have a greater frustration tolerance at both time periods. Hypothesis 2 states that older children would express less frustration and would use more attentional deployment strategies, in comparison to situation modification, at both time periods. Hypothesis 3 states that greater sleep activity at Wave 1 would predict more frustration and less utilization of attentional deployment strategies at Wave 2. It was found that children who engaged in support seeking during the transparent box task at Wave 1 were more likely to engage in anger-related behaviors in the impossibly perfect circles task in Wave 2. Children who engaged in distraction-related behaviors during the transparent box task at Wave 1 were more likely to engage in anger-related behaviors in the impossibly perfect circles task in Wave 2. These findings were unexpected. This could be developmentally appropriate or could be a sign of learned helplessness.

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