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This pioneering investigation is based on a longitudinal research, expanding over a 3 year period, exploring the Psychological and Social aspects of infertility and infertility treatment on Persian (henceforth referred to as Iranian) infertile couples attending infertility clinics in Tehran. In phase 1 of the investigation an 85-item questionnaire in Farsi (Persian) was developed and validated, based on a four point Likert-type scale measuring the following factors: Psychological Distress, Social Extroversion, Marital Satisfaction, Attitudes Towards Modem Medicine and Religious Beliefs. In phase 2 of the investigation, lasting over a period of two years, the above 85-item questionnaire was administered at three time phases, namely: initial assessment (when patients first attended the clinic for the purpose of diagnosis of their problem), during In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment (24 hours before egg collection), and a week after an unsuccessful treatment cycle. The same questionnaire was also administered to fertile couples (the control group) attending the clinics for routine and non-fertility related treatment at three time phases (about three weeks between each administration). The data from the patient group (n = 37 couples) and control group (n = 10 couples), together with data obtained from the general population (n = 197) i.e. those who responded to the items for the purpose of validating the questionnaire (norms), was subjected to statistical analysis. In comparison to norms and control group, infertile patients were more psychologically distressed. This finding is true for both men and women investigated. The degree of this psychological distress, however, is significantly greater for women than for men. Standard Multiple Regression Analyses of the infertile patients' data showed that the main predictors of psychological distress were gender, marital satisfaction, attitudes towards modem medicine, and religious beliefs. F or female patients, marital satisfaction was a significant predictor of their psychological distress. Marital satisfaction was the main contributing factor to the socially withdrawn behaviour of the patients. In phase 3 of the investigation, a year after data collection, examination of patients' notes showed that 7 out of the 37 infertile couples eventually had successful IVF with a term pregnancy. Results of a Stepwise Regression Analysis showed that the degree of psychological distress was the main predictor of pregnancy. In particular, couples who eventually conceived scored lower on psychological distress measures than those who did not. These findings are discussed in line with comparable reported literature on a mainly Western population, and implications of the findings for future research and counselling of infertile patients are outlined.

Using a mixed methods approach, this dissertation included two studies exploring procrastination and academic motivation beliefs of adolescents from Canada and Thailand. Study 1 examined the relationships between procrastination, motivation beliefsself-efficacy, self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, self-esteem, and test anxietyand academic performance and explored significant predictors of adolescent procrastination across two cultures. In this study, 312 Canadian and 401 Thai adolescents from secondary schools in an urban area in western Canada and an urban area in North-Eastern Thailand completed a 47-item survey containing procrastination and four motivation measures. In Study 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Thai adolescents representing low and high achieving students, to provide additional information about the role of motivation on adolescent procrastination and investigate academic procrastination of Thai adolescents in more depth. The quantitative findings demonstrated that all motivation variables significantly predicted procrastination, with self-efficacy for self-regulated learning strongly influencing adolescents across cultures. Findings from the qualitative study revealed six themes pertaining to academic procrastination: a) definitions of procrastination, b) antecedents of procrastination, c) consequences of procrastination, d) overcoming procrastination, e) the role of motivation, and f) the role of cultures on motivation, achievement, and procrastination. Quantitative and qualitative findings were integrated and discussed in order to provide insights into adolescent procrastination. Theoretical and educational implications as well as suggestions for future research were also provided. / Psychological Studies in Education

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AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF PATRICIA J. ROSENBERGER, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in EDUCATION presented on FEBRUARY 2, 2012, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: NO SCHOOL LEFT BEHIND: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY OF HIGH-PERFORMING THIRD-GRADE READING PROGRAMS IN LOW-INCOME, RURAL SCHOOLS IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Lynn C. Smith Since the 2008 implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) plans in Illinois, rural schools in southern Illinois with a high percentage of low-income students have been compelled to implement school-wide reforms of their reading programs. Often, limited funding makes it difficult to sustain growth trends in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Nonetheless, Adequate Yearly Progress has become the accountability tool by which the public and politicians perceive the success or failure of the public school system. Bauch (2001) articulated the importance of giving consideration to the uniqueness of rural schools, such as those included in this study. Taylor, Pearson, Clark, and Walpole (2000) stressed the need for relevant research that meets the needs of poor children to increase academic achievement and educational opportunity. Currently, there is limited research that describes high-performing reading programs in low-income, rural southern Illinois schools that would guide comprehensive reform of reading programs in these schools. Both of the schools in the study were representative of rural schools with a high percentage of low-income students in southern Illinois and had achieved three years' growth of third-grade Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) reading scores. Third-grade programs were the focus of the study because the students did not have previous ISAT experience. Using case study design, within-case studies of two rural, high-performing third-grade reading programs focusing on the areas of resource allocation, decision-making models, curriculum and instructional methods, and teacher beliefs and attitudes were undertaken to provide descriptions of the third-grade reading programs at each of the participant schools. Data was collected during a one-week onsite visit to each school and included pre-observation surveys, interviews with administrators, faculty and staff, and field notes collected from classroom observations. Through a comparison of common themes from each school, eight overarching themes became the basis for cross-case analysis. These overarching themes can serve as a foundation for further research, guiding comprehensive reform of reading programs in poor, rural schools.

The nonconscious processing of the mind is a prevalently studied body of research in the social psychology literature. The central focus assesses how priming of stimuli is able to activate trait concepts within the mind thus leading to cognitive and behavioral changes outside of the individuals' awareness or intent. Unfortunately, management scholars have failed to use this methodology to study organizational phenomenon. As such, it is the purpose of this research to apply a nonconscious thought processing lens to one of management's most studied areas, group processes. This dissertation proposes a model that accounts for the influence of priming on group processes. We conducted two studies measuring expectations regarding a specific work group (Study 1) and perceptions of group processes and performance on a group task (Study 2). To accomplish this, we utilized two priming techniques: subliminal (Study 1) and mindful (Study 2) to assess the influence of these nonconscious processes. In order to test our model, we used ANOVAs (Study 1) and ANCOVAs (Study 2) to measure the impact of priming on our dependent measures. We found the predicted results that priming is able to directly influence both expectations about groups and various group processes (i.e. group cohesion, group credibility, group coordination, and perceived loafing) during the performance of an actual group task as well as group performance (i.e. actual group behavior). Such results provide initial evidence that nonconscious processes can influence the expectations and performance of individual's to be more productive while working in groups. Most importantly, these results show that these changes can be made without the individual's awareness. Theoretically, these results provide additional support for organizational behavior scholars to include more nonconscious thought processing components in their current models. Future research should focus on the experiences individuals have with groups and how they can be used to shape the beliefs systems and subsequent behaviors when performing in groups. In other words, do individuals with positive past experiences inherently perform better, and prefer to work, in groups in the future?

While research has touted the educational benefits of music composition in the classroom, studies have also revealed the numerous difficulties teachers encounter in its inclusion. From lack of time and materials to lack of training and confidence, teachers have struggled to incorporate composition in their lessons. At the same time, a body of research also has suggested that what teachers believe about a subject can have significant bearing on what they teach and how they teach it. This multi-case study looked at three teachers to investigate what they believed about music composition, where those beliefs originated and how those beliefs may be expressed in their classrooms and use of composition. The results revealed the significance of early music influences with family and church music directors, a strong connection to identity through music, and the importance of the sharing and peer teaching of music. There was a distinct bias for European forms and standard notation that eclipsed other ways of knowing, understanding, and expressing music. Other than jazz, forms of improvisation were often viewed as childish or primitive. The teachers most likely to find success in the use of composition in the classroom were flexible, and able to align their beliefs about music education, the efficacy of their students and themselves, with their beliefs about composition and what it can offer.

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a long-term inflammatory arthritis which starts before the age of 16; 60% of those with JIA continue to have symptoms into adulthood. There are wide variations in experiences of adolescents with JIA, including the effects of the condition on social and intellectual development, self-management, psychological and physical functioning. Individual differences may be due to differences in how adolescents conceptualise JIA. Leventhal's Common Sense Self-regulatory Model (CS-SRM) has been used to theorise adults' experiences of illness, however, this has rarely been used with adolescents. The CS-SRM has three components, mental representations (component 1) that drive coping procedures and illness behaviours (component 2) which are then evaluated and appraised (component 3). A review of studies with adolescent cohorts that applied the CS-SRM found no evidence-base with which to justify application of an adult theory with children or adolescents. Thus the applicability of the theory and the use of the associated questionnaire, the Revised Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (IPQ-R), with adolescents are problematic. Aims: The aims of this PhD were first to assess the suitability of the CS-SRM for adolescents with JIA by investigating the three components of the model, and second, to develop a questionnaire for use with this population. Methods: To investigate the first two components of the CS-SRM, twenty-one participants aged between 11-16 years were recruited from a national cohort of JIA patients. Data collection was undertaken using cognitive interviewing. Framework analysis of the data was used to identify domains used by adolescents to conceptualise their JIA and content analysis to further investigate the suitability of the IPQ-R to assess beliefs. Transcripts were analysed identifying problems or inconsistencies with IPQ-R use. Adolescents' ways of coping with JIA were investigated using the somatic experience module of a computer-based interview, 'In My Shoes' (IMS). To evaluate the third component of the CS-SRM, quantitative data were used in a longitudinal mediation analysis to investigate the extent to which emotional representations and pain predicted physical behaviour (n= 50). To address the second aim of this PhD, Version 1 of the Pain Perception Questionnaire for Young People (PPQ-YP) was devised and sent to 18 healthy adolescents (11- 16) to assess linguistic validity and face validity of the items using a recent pain to answer items and provide feedback on language and length. The psychometric properties of a revised version were tested with 76 adolescents with JIA. Results: Adolescents' responses to having JIA were driven by their emotional and cognitive responses to symptoms (in this case pain) rather than illness beliefs per se. Thus, it is important to assess pain beliefs rather than broader illness representations. The need to preserve their social identity as 'normal' was a coping goal shared across the sample, however different strategies were identified, either to focus on maintaining normal activities or to attend to pain directly. Adolescents who focused on their pain held a more negative emotional representation, reported higher pain and lower functionality compared to adolescents who tried to maintain normality. Based on these results, longitudinal mediation models investigated the role of emotional representations and pain in predicting physical behaviour. Pain mediated 44% of the relationship between emotional representations and physical behaviour. Conclusions: Modifications to the model are recommended to take into account the role of social identity in the process of developing illness behaviours as well as the importance of a symptom driven conceptualisation of the condition.