The current study explored coach training and experience, and individual identities and roles that youth sport coaches hold as well as how they enact social justice within youth sporting communities. Using convergent mixed-methods design, critical consciousness (Freire, 1970) was the theoretical framework and method of analysis for this study. Forty-seven participants responded to this open-ended survey; 85.1% of coaches reported coaching part-time, 59.5% of the sample were volunteer coaches, and 33% of coaches had less than 1–3 years of coaching experience. Findings revealed a majority White (69%) and Majority Male (61%) sample of youth sport coaches and described coaching identities were categorized into multiple and intersectional (Women of Color; n = 5) identities. Emic coding through cross-analysis of open-ended questions suggested a deeper understanding of coaches’ connection to community in relationship to how coaches described identities. These were coded as Coach-Centered Coaching , Limited Connection, or Synthesizing Connection. Furthermore, community-based sport coaches were engaging in and enacting social justice within youth sporting communities in ways that mirror critical consciousness patterns of dialogue, reflection, and action. The theoretical implications of this study expand the application of societal roles, more specifically the role of a youth sport coach to the theory of intersectionality. This study supports past literature that found that youth sport coaches are dissatisfied with the education they receive; thus these findings inform suggestions for how to make coaching education more relevant and accessible. Empirically, study findings suggest that the underresearched area of youth sport coaches’ identities may be related to the depth of connection coaches have to community, impacting the holistic developmental outcomes of participating youth athletes. Practically, this study delivers a critical pedagogy framework for community-based coaching education that blends the personal (identity and role development) and professional (coaching specific knowledges). Results of this study can inform future empirical research of youth sport coaching and intervention development that theoretically considers the integration of intersectionality with critical consciousness.

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Thesis advisor: Jacqueline V. Lerner / Young people identifying as Black, Latino/a/x, Hispanic, Asian, and other races and ethnicities that are minoritized and marginalized have constrained opportunities for positive development in the United States due to oppression grounded in white supremacy (NASEM, 2019). Importantly, youth of color engage in critical consciousness: interrogating and dismantling systems of oppression (Freire, 1970/2016). My aim was to illuminate the variation within youth of color in their development of critical consciousness, and to consider the implications for their overall development as viewed from a positive youth development perspective (Lerner et al., 2015). Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and two variables measuring youths’ perceptions of their school context were examined. Using latent profile transition analysis, I explored variation among a sample of youth of color (n = 335) in cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioral processes of critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2016; Watts et al., 2011) over a short longitudinal period. The mean age was fourteen at time 1 (which took place in 2016) and fifteen at time 2. Group-differential patterns in critical consciousness development were related to contribution—supporting the development of self and giving back to community; engagement in risk and problem behaviors; and emotional problems. Associations between patterns of critical consciousness development and (1) classroom discussions about social justice and (2) open classroom climate were estimated. Multiple patterns of engagement with critical consciousness were identified. Some youth shifted in their patterns of critical consciousness over time. Many participants reported a pattern of low engagement in multiple components of critical consciousness across both time points; higher classroom discussions about social justice were associated with a lower likelihood of youth following this pattern. These youth concurrently reported low contribution. Young people who sustained high levels across all dimensions of critical consciousness had high levels of emotional problems and risk and problem behaviors. Findings indicate broad involvement in critical consciousness can be associated with negative outcomes. Nevertheless, young people who were participating less in critical consciousness may struggle to promote positive development within themselves and their contexts through contribution. Implications for supporting the thriving of youth of color are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Scott C. Seider / Engagement in sociopolitical activism, such as protesting, has important implications for youth of color and for the communities in which they live (Ballard & Ozer, 2016; Ginwright, 2010; Hope & Spencer, 2017). Critical Consciousness (CC; Freire, 1970/1998; Watts et al., 2011) and Youth Sociopolitical Development Theory (Youth SPD; Watts & Flanagan, 2007) are two prominent frameworks for investigating sociopolitical activism among youth of color. Although both frameworks position motivation as one of the key factors influencing youth activism, motivation is narrowly defined as a single construct—one’s sense of efficacy to effect change. Using motivation constructs from two established motivation frameworks, Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT; Higgins, 1997), this dissertation investigated the multidimensional nature of motivation in relation to Black and Latinx adolescents’ commitment to activism. Drawing from a longitudinal data set examining Black and Latinx adolescents’ civic development over four years of high school (N = 733), I used group differential approaches (latent profile analysis, latent profile transition analysis, and latent profile moderation) to (a) identify distinct combinations of motivations among Black and Latinx high school students in ninth, tenth, and twelfth grade, (b) assess whether and the extent to which adolescents changed profile membership across high school, (c) examine motivation profiles in tenth grade as predictors of commitment to activism in twelfth grade, and (d) examine motivation profiles in tenth grade as moderators of the relation between adolescents’ analysis of social problems in tenth grade and their commitment to activism addressing these problems in twelfth grade (controlling for their initial commitment to activism). I identified two motivation profiles in ninth grade, four motivation profiles in tenth grade, and four motivation profiles in twelfth grade. At both tenth and twelfth grade, I named the motivation profiles: “Low Motivation,” “High Motivation,” “Moderate Motivation, Low Autonomy,” and “Moderate Motivation, High Autonomy.” At both time points, the “Low Motivation” profile comprised the smallest proportion of the sample and the “Moderate Motivation, High Autonomy” profile comprised the largest proportion of the sample. Most youth shifted to a different motivation profile over time. Adolescents in the “High Motivation” profile at the end of tenth grade reported the highest average commitment to activism at the end of twelfth grade; however, this number was only statistically significantly higher than the “Moderate Motivation, Low Autonomy” profile. Contrary to expectations, youths’ social analysis in tenth grade was not predictive of their commitment to activism in twelfth grade; thus, there was no latent profile moderation in relation to social analysis and commitment to activism. Instead, I did find evidence that motivation profile membership moderated the relation between commitment to activism at the end of tenth grade on commitment to activism at the end of twelfth grade. Overall, results suggest that adolescents’ motivation is multidimensional and incredibly dynamic. Future CC/Youth SPD research should consider investigating a more complete set of established motivation constructs in relation to youths’ sociopolitical development. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

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Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / Critical Consciousness (CC) refers to a critical theory that recognizes oppressive systems and provides those oppressed with a framework to overcome and act against these structures. Although the theory’s origin addressed illiterate adults and empowered them to become critically aware, critically reflective, and active agents of change, researchers have applied this theory to marginalized students in school and other oppressed communities. This study focused on the development of white school leaders as active anti-racist leaders using critical consciousness as a framework for this growth. Exploring white school leaders as transformative leaders - ones who become aware of their whiteness and leverage their positions to address inequities in the face of opposition - may provide a blueprint for other white school leaders. This study lends to the current research because few studies exist on critical consciousness development in white school leaders, the specific leadership strategies they employ, and the seeming effectiveness to foster critical consciousness in their schools. Ultimately, this study explored the development of critical consciousness and the leadership practices white leaders utilized to develop critical consciousness and to nurture active anti-racist educators as a praxis against inequities and oppression. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / School districts throughout the Commonwealth have engaged in initiatives to increase educators of color. Ingersoll et al. (2019) argue that while “many believe that the small number of minority teachers is caused by a lack of recruitment or intake” they concur with Pearson and Fuglei (2019) that recruitment is not the only problem. The issue is retention. Recent studies like these shed new light on the need for additional research on factors that increase the retention of educators of color. I posit that supporting the development of critical consciousness in Educators of Color can also support their retention in school districts. The purpose of this individual study is to identify the practices that Educators of Color (EOCs) report to be supportive, increase their critical consciousness, and/ or impact their retention in the district. This study centers the experiences of Educators of Color (EOCs), and amplify their voices in order to learn about the impact of school-based and district-sponsored practices. This individual study is part of a group qualitative case study that examines the practices of district leaders, school leaders, educators, and students to foster and advance the development of critical consciousness. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Multiple accelerated cultural and social changes have been attributed to social media, from mobilizing social movements to problematizing or normalizing terms and concepts. Digital platforms are considered a vital element in the ecosystem for realizing change in societies, yet the focus is often on overtly sociopolitical content and the issue-driven or identity-driven networked society content. However, and despise the ubiquitous nature of digital media, the accumulative impact of mundane casual interaction has rarely been scrutinized beyond its ability to support rapport building. This research explores the influence of the mundane content in communities’ cultural repertoire. It positions it in the schema of narrative (re)building and meaning (re)making tools, processes that contribute to making lasting impactful change in society. The research especially highlights how the mundane content serves to aid the cultural evolvement of marginalized communities annihilated from the public sphere. Utilizing Paolo Freire’s critical consciousness, Andrea Brock’s work on Black cyberculture, and Zizi Papacharissi’s affective public thesis, this research explores how cultural and digital practices of the (stateless) Bidoon community in Kuwait intertwine in their everyday usage of Twitter. Through digital ethnography that involved discourse analysis of tweets and in-depth interviews with eight participants from the Bidoon community, this research exhibits how mundane Twitter usage has allowed the Bidoon community to reinterpret and recontextualize their cause through weaving their interpersonal grievances into a collective narrative, and how regaining power over their story and using the platform to spread their voice empowered a sense of agency to not only imagine a new world but also find creative ways to realize it. Mundane Twitter has allowed Bidoons to create counternarratives, penetrate the public sphere, control the advocacy rhetoric, and regain power over cultural symbols and thus their relationship with their collective memory. Through highlighting how what appears to be inefficient mundane tweets actually intertwine cultural with digital practices and motivate critical dialogue and reflective processes, this research identifies the importance of raising critical consciousness as an affordance of mundane Twitter, and it encourages extending the scoop of what is considered critical action to be inclusive of the accumulative digital efforts of communities suffering from cultural erasure. / Media & Communication

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Competitive youth sport does not occur in a vacuum, and societal changes impact coaches' practices. Researchers have called for a paradigm shift for coaches to become more socially responsible and adopt a critical praxis. The purpose of this dissertation was to advance our current understanding of critical praxis development within competitive youth sport, through narrative introspections into coaches' learning journeys. Anchored in cultural sport psychology research, this dissertation was guided by a relativist ontology, a social constructionist epistemology, and narrative inquiry methodology. The critical positive youth development framework (Gonzalez et al., 2020) was used to explore coaches' critical praxes and critical consciousness development in sport. In Article 1, I explored coaches' challenges and successes in creating safer and more inclusive sport spaces. The coaches felt responsible for enacting change in sport while questioning when it was okay to intervene, feeling burnt out, and finding success with their critical actions. Composite creative nonfictions were developed to reflect the individual and shared experiences in developing their critical praxes as coaches. The coaches shared a desire for in-situ support for unpacking their biases and understanding complicated social issues in sport. In Article 2, a 15-month collaboration is detailed, whereby I acted as a personal learning coach to support a competitive Nordic ski coach's (Sophie) critical praxis as they reflected on social issues and acted to enact positive change in their sport context and community. As suggested by Rodrigue and Trudel (2019), my role as a personal learning coach was guided by the narrative-collaborative coaching approach (Stelter, 2014) to focus on Sophie's narratives and co-create knowledge. From working together during two competitive seasons, Sophie's learning journey is presented through time hopping snapshot vignettes as they figured out what to fight for, grew through discomforts and unknowns, and experienced progress in their critical consciousness-building. An autoethnographic account is presented in Article 3 to detail how I 'ran with' becoming a personal learning coach for two competitive youth sport coaches, Sophie and Zoe. Through reflexive, evocative, and analytical writing, three salient experiences are presented, including how I used my 'full' biography to be(come) a personal learning coach, focused on the intricacies of relationality, and learned how to understand my limits as a researcher-participant acting as a personal learning coach. The complexities involved in co-learning between researchers and coaches are narratively explored. Collectively, this dissertation contributes to cultural sport psychology research with the use of the critical positive youth development framework and the narrative-collaborative coaching approach to explore coaches' varying levels of critical consciousness. Through creative analytical practices, narratives are shared of coaches' who are working to create safer, more inclusive competitive sport spaces. Researchers, sport leaders, and coaches are all responsible for looking inwards, challenging biases and assumptions, and advocating for a transformed competitive youth sport system that is safer and more inclusive for all.