Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership (California State University, Fresno and University of California, Davis). / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via the World Wide Web. (Restricted to UC campuses).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--East Tennessee State University, 2002. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 30, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44). Also available via Internet at the UMI web site.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104).

Parents take a powerful role to a child's sport socializing. Such roles of parents for children's sport are neither static nor constantly applied, depending on parents' cultural beliefs and values. An understanding of these dynamics is crucial for sport managers if they are to design and implement sport programs that can attract a culturally diverse group. A cross-cultural study investigated how Korean immigrant parents were different from American and Korean parents in terms of parents' influences on their children's sport participation. It was found that a parent's cultural model was a significant criterion that explained different degrees of practicing role mechanisms---parents as a provider and interpreter. Parents' acculturation accounted for the outcomes of Korean immigrants in the U.S. The in-depth interviews then explored how Korean immigrant parents supported children's sport according to their contexts and environments. It was found that they interacted with contextual factors such as family, neighborhood, school, sport organizations, work, policy and system, and cultures. These interactions were affected not only by surrounding contextual factors but also by their traditional customs and values. Being released from education fever, the Korean immigrant parents interacted more actively with the values and customs of American society. Thus, they generally implemented an American sport-friendly environment to make their children's sport happen and continue. This dissertation's combined studies demonstrate the crucial role of parents in children's sport and the effect of culture on shaping those roles. Finally, this dissertation helps build up an integrative paradigm of sport development toward expanding the field of sport participants. Culture is invisible but powerfully affects parenting. Sport parenting is a cultural product. Cultural differences are not easily bridged, though the key is in how we understand such differences. / text

The purpose of this study is to identify satisfaction levels and retention intention of Chinese foster parents in Hong Kong. Foster parents are one of the major caregivers of children in out-of-home care services. However, in recent years, there has been a decreasing number of foster parents. The aim of the study is to discover what aspects foster parents value in fostering, and in what way they perceive value fulfillment through fostering and what their wants are. Finally, the relationship between foster parenthood satisfaction and foster parent retention is examined. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are applied in this study. The quantitative research data was collected with the aid of a questionnaire. 666 questionnaires were sent out to current foster parents giving Ordinary Foster Care service and 150 questionnaires were sent to deregistered foster parents who had quit since 2009; and these questionnaires were sent out through the Social Welfare Department of Hong Kong SAR Government. 200 responses were received from the former and 15 from the latter. The response rate was 30.03%and 10%respectively. The qualitative research data comprised13 in-depth interviews with three current foster parents joining the service in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s respectively, along with13 deregistered foster parents from 10 families. The results from analyzing questionnaire data collected from the current foster parents reveal that foster parent retention can be explained through foster parenthood satisfaction (.839). It is found that foster parenthood satisfaction can be explained by foster parents’ perception regarding what they gained as they went through fostering (.513). The results indicate that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to foster parenthood satisfaction. The in-depth interviews reveal that foster parents are happy when they can see positive changes and development in children under their care. All 16 interviewed respondents stated that foster care worker support was important to them, particularly to those looking after special needs children. The author recommends that foster care agencies review their practices and find ways to facilitate foster parents to achieve what they value. It is recommended that the foster home ownership system be evaluated so that foster care agencies can try to build up a stable relationship with foster parents to strengthen their support. It is also recommended that the need for developing different types of foster care apart from ordinary service be reviewed as a method of relieving foster parent shortage. In addition, further research is recommended to be carried out into understanding the different wants of foster parents at different stages of their fostering experience. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Past studies from various cultures have reported that parents of children with special needs experience more distress. The present study aimed to explore the psychological states of local Chinese parents of children with special needs in Hong Kong with the construct of coping flexibility incorporated. Participants were 116 parents of children with special needs and 62 parents of children without special needs. Results indicated that Chinese parents of children with special needs had higher anxiety and lower life satisfaction than did parents of children without special needs. The former also had lower perceived social support, perceived controllability, and coping flexibility for childcare than did parents in the control group. Another aim of the current study was to identify factors for prediction of anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction. Status of having children with special needs predicted depression, but not anxiety and life satisfaction. Social support not only demonstrated a main effect on anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction, but also showed a buffering effect on coping flexibility for childcare in predicting anxiety and depression respectively. Social support moderated the relation between controllability and life satisfaction as well. The results in this study guide us in designing suitable services for parents. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Before a child is born, parents might have a general (e.g., happy and healthy) or particular vision for their child (e.g., become a doctor). Parents’ ability to focus on their child’s needs and interests (child-oriented goals) above their own self-interests (parent-oriented goals) has been found to predict their sensitivity to their children in the moment (Dix, 1991; 2000). In this study, 126 mothers and fathers, during the mother’s third trimester of pregnancy with both parents’ first child, were asked to verbally report three wishes for their future child. Content analyses of parents’ transcripts revealed eight wish categories: 1) well-being, 2) personal relationships, 3) particular characteristics, 4) particular goals, 5) personal achievement and responsibility, 6) personal fulfillment, 7) protection, and 8) dependence on the parent. Mothers reported more wishes that their future children would be happy and emotionally fulfilled (child-oriented), and fathers reported more wishes that their future children would have a particular characteristic or achieve a particular goal (parent-oriented). Whether mothers wished for their children to have a particular characteristic and whether fathers wished for their children to achieve a particular goal, were negatively associated with their parenting sensitivity (for both fathers and mothers) and children’s developmental outcomes (for mothers only) at 24 months. Linear regression analysis revealed that parenting sensitivity at 24 months acted as a partial mediator among whether mothers reported a prenatal particular characteristic wish and their children’s autonomy at 24 months. Similar mediation analyses were performed with fathers’ prenatal wishes, parenting sensitivity, and children’s developmental outcomes; however, none of the results were significant. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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