An interactional model of the socialization process was used to investigate how children develop social competence in the day care center. Socialization is a multimodal process through which messages about how to behave in socially appropriate ways are communicated to children through several modes of communication. The interactional model describes one mode of socialization--the socialization event. Socialization events are interpersonal interactions in which the appropriateness of one or more interactants is explicitly discussed. During such events, socialization agents call upon their repertoires of interactional strategies and linguistic routines to accomplish culturally defined goals of socialization. Over six hundred socialization events were recorded in two day care centers which served different ethnic groups. Research with Anglo and Mexican-American populations revealed that cultural values and educational philosophies affected the way social interaction was organized and the types of socialization events found in the day care centers. Statistical analyses of the socialization events recorded in the two centers revealed significant differences in the ways the socialization process was organized in them. In both centers, there were gender differences in the socialization of individual children. At the Anglo center, emphasis was placed on the socialization of individual boys, while socialization in the Mexican-American center was concerned primarily with groups of children. Differences in the behavior of the teachers at the two centers during socialization events were found to be related to their ethnic background and philosophies of education. Contextual variation in socialization events was also found in the two centers. At the Mexican-American center, significant differences were found in socialization during academic and non-academic contexts. In the Anglo center, contextual variation was attributed to differences in the size of the group of children involved in the activity and the participant structure used to organize interaction during the activity. The results of these analyses indicated that the interactional model of socialization offers insight into both intracultural and cross-cultural variation in the socialization process.

This ethnographic case study describes the patterns of language socialization and literacy/biliteracy practices and the patterns of language choice and language use of a Spanish heritage bilingual family of Mexican origin from the participant perspective, the emic view, and the research perspective, an etic view. This analysis attempts to broaden the knowledge of how Mexican origin families use language at home by demonstrating how literacy/biliteracy practices (i.e., reading, writing and talk/conversation), language choice (i.e., Spanish, English, code-switching (CS)) and language use (i.e., domains) contribute to reinforce, develop or hinder the use of Spanish as a heritage language. Using ethnographic methodology, this study analyzes the participants' naturally occurring language interactions. Socialization and language learning are seen as intricately interwoven processes in which language learners participate actively.The analysis and discussion is presented in two sections: 1) language socialization in conjunction with literacy practices, and 2) language socialization in conjunction with language choice and CS. Language choice and CS are analyzed by means of conversation analysis theory (CA): the analysis of language sequences of the participants' conversation. The description of the domains (i.e., what participants do with each language and the way they use language) constitutes the basis for the analysis.The findings of this study show that language shift to English is imminent in an environment of reduced contact with parents, siblings, and the community of the heritage language group. Understanding which literacy practices are part of the everyday life of Hispanic households is relevant to the implementation of classroom literacy practices.

Substance use behaviours have been viewed as the end products of a combination of influences. Numerous theories for working with substance use behaviour utilizing a multi-systemic approach have been proposed. In this project, an effort was made to control for limitations and problems that have often beset previous studies utilizing such an approach. The overall objective of the current project was to test, using a multi-systemic approach, the ability of the family socialization framework to explain the development of substance use patterns in youth and young adults. The central hypothesis of this project was that family socialization factors (contextual factors) affect and predict the development of an offspring’s personality (individual factors) and substance use behaviour. The behavioural genetic approach (i.e., the adoption design) was utilized to examine the genetic and environmental impacts on associations between factors. This project used secondary data analyses of general population data to examine the links between aspects of the family environment, personality, and substance use patterns. The Vancouver Family Survey data set used here contained information on fathers, mothers, and offspring from 405 families (328 biological and 77 adoptive) at two points in time. The development of personality and substance use behaviours over time, and associations with family socialization factors, were examined through three studies. Study 1 focused on the associations between offspring’s perspectives of fathers’ and mothers’ parental socialization and offspring’s polysubstance use. Study 2 investigated the development of addiction-prone personality characteristics and the predictive effects of family socialization and demographic variables on these characteristics. Study 3 explored the subscales of the Addiction-Prone Personality scale: impulsivity/recklessness, sensation seeking, negative view of self, and social deviance proneness. The descriptive characteristics of each subscale and changes in subscale scores over time were investigated. Also examined were transgenerational associations on these subscales, and potential relationships between personality subscales and choice of substance. The results of this project suggest that family socialization may be linked with both substance use behaviour and personality development over time. Nurturing family socialization is negatively associated with the development of addiction-prone personality characteristics. It is also negatively associated with the development of substance use behaviours. These results are consistent with previous studies utilizing a family socialization framework. The findings supporting the family socialization framework are very encouraging for the field of child, youth, and family-related practice. Some of the limitations of the current project, implications of the findings, and future research directions are discussed. / Graduate

The exclusionary nature of colorism and how it affects personal awareness of self- identity behooves us to explore the socio-psychological interplay of life choices and racial socialization. This exploratory research is positioned within the context of black males’ relationship preferences and sought comprehension of how and why their perceptions inform their choices and inclination for lighter skin tones. The manifestations of colorism in these men’s experiences influence their interactions with women and how they perceive themselves. Findings of this phenomenological study informed the researcher of various dynamics that shape interactions of race, gender and colorism and utilized Black Feminist Thought as an epistemological framework. Purposeful sampling was used for recruitment and narrative interview methods highlighted perspectives and experiences of twenty, Atlanta black males, aged 21 and older for an overall essence of their phenomenon. Hopefully, this work will prompt analytical conversations to extend research of colorism within similar group dynamics.

The purpose of this study is to obtain a better understanding of what people fear might happen to them when being outside after dark. A lot of quantitative studies have been made on the subject of fear of crime to generalize and quantify people’s fears, but lacks any in-depth information about their fears and experiences. I have chosen to research about just that. Theories used are Doing gender and Ideal victims and I have interviewed 8 individuals about what they fear, why they fear it, where they think this fear comes from and other feeling and experiences associated with it. In my analysis we can see that there is a big difference in what individuals fear between men and women. The women in this study are more scared than the men to the point that they do not really venture outside after dark. Men on the other hand feel a bit more unsafe after dark, but never enough to avoid going outside. I also found that women feel shame over their pre-conceptions of men’s crime towards women. Men were mostly scared of assault and robbery while women are mostly scared of sexual assault, and their fears mostly derive from media and experiences people close to them have had. / Syftet med denna studie är att få en bättre förståelse över var människor är rädda kan hända dem om de är ute när det är mörkt. Många kvantitativa studier har genomförts angående rädsla för brott för att kunna kvantifiera samt generalisera resultaten till en hel population. Detta resulterar i en förlust av djupet i individers rädslor kring att bli utsatta för brott. Jag har valt att forska om just det. Valda teorier är ”göra genus” och ”ideella offer” och jag har intervjuat 8 individer angående vad de är rädda för, varför de är rädda för det, vart de tror denna rädsla kommer ifrån samt andra känslor associerade med det. I min analys kan vi se att det finns en stor skillnad mellan vad män och kvinnorna i denna studie är rädda för. Kvinnorna var räddare än män till den punkten att de avstod från att gå ut under kvällar och nätter. Männen å andra sidan kände sig lite osäkrare när det var mörkt, men aldrig tillräckligt för att avstå från att gå ut. Jag fann även att kvinnor upplevde skam över deras fördomar mot mäns brott mot kvinnor. Män var främst rädda för misshandel och rån medan kvinnor var rädda för sexuella brott, och deras rädslor härstammade från media och erfarenheter individer nära dem hade upplevt.

Master of Arts / Department of Communications Studies / Sarah E. Riforgiate / A commonly held belief in higher education is that a student’s educational program paves the way towards a specific career choice, forcing students to intentionally choose courses in preparation for a particular line of work (Lair & Wieland, 2012). Recognizing the influential role of education (Jablin, 2001) and the increasing numbers of nonprofit education programs (Mirabella & McDonald, 2012), it is important to understand the educational expectations created by university programs and how these expectations are enacted as students become nonprofit employees. To better understand communication practices that shape the expectations, experiences, and worker identities, this study applies organizational assimilation theory to nonprofit education and work through interviews of nonprofit employees’ experiences after completing a nonprofit education program. Qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts indicates that nonprofit-focused educational programs socialize students to work for a cause that they find personally meaningful. However, not all students are able to meet this expectation, creating two paths, a straight path and a winding path in search of meaningful work. Those on the straight path who found personally meaningful work attributed their experience to an internal locus of control based on an intentional job search and workplace opportunities. Participants who did not find the personally meaningful work they expected used external control attributions by blaming the job market, the way their generation approaches work, and how their educational program created unrealistic expectations. Findings deepen understandings of organizational assimilation theory in terms of education, while bridging educational practices and organizational assimilation theory to contribute practical implications. Practical implications include encouraging education programs to facilitate volunteering and networking opportunities for their students, prospective nonprofit workers to seek out volunteer and job shadowing opportunities, and nonprofit organizations to focus on the assimilation process of new employees.

The purpose was to investigate the role of influential persons in the professional socialization process of music educators as musicians and teachers. The problems were to determine: who encouraged subjects toward music and teaching during pre-college, college, and post-college years; and the interrerationships of gender and teaching specialty with influential persons in subjects' lives.

There is increasing acknowledgement of and concern over the growing social stratification in our society. This bifurcation is demonstrated in the widening gap between the wealthy and impoverished. A college degree is an especially critical asset in helping to break multi-generational cycles of poverty. Unfortunately, low-income and first-generation college students face daunting obstacles on their paths to college graduation. First-generation status and low-income status are each negative predictors of college success. This is a study focused on the success, as defined by persistence to graduation, of first-generation students from low-income backgrounds. It introduces faculty, college administrators, and policy makers to students from this background at a rural New England public college who were close to completing their college degrees. The research questions were (a) to what factors the students attributed their success, (b) what oncampus programs or services were helpful in leading to that success, and (c) how could factors identified as leading to success among these students be leveraged to assist the success of other students in this population? Criterion sampling was used to determine an eligible cohort. The three criteria identified were (a) first-generation status, (b) low-income background, and (c) likelihood of graduation, based on accumulated credits. Through qualitative interviewing I learned from these students to what they attributed their success. This research approach enabled me to gain in-depth information on the personal backgrounds of the individual students interviewed. The participants’ narratives – their life stories – drove the study. Extended quotes from respondents were compiled. Narrative analysis was used to code the data. Major themes that emerged included (a) the critical significance of faculty, (b) the value of support services, (c) the importance of flexibility in course requirements and delivery methods as well as program requirements, (d) the high value placed on positive reinforcement and feedback as a positive motivator, and (e) the ways in which the challenging aspects of their backgrounds, misunderstood as deficits (e.g., unvalued social and cultural capital), helped them to develop strengths instrumental to their success. The resulting recommendations focus on areas where the data indicated that institutional interventions could increase the likelihood of college retention and success. These include (a) better utilizing pre-arrival materials and programs as anticipatory socialization opportunities, (b) maximizing first-year celebratory socialization initiatives, (c) providing targeted support based on student background traits, (d) instituting faculty training and development focused on how their role and teaching styles affect student success, (e) reviewing strategies for informing students of services, and (f) leveraging the desire of students to assist their peers who have not yet realized their level of success. The hope is that the resulting knowledge gained will inform future practice as well as assist higher education faculty and staff to work toward the success of this student population.

In this study I examined the moderating effect of three profiles of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA at baseline, in response to a stressor, and in recovery from a stressor) on the relationship between parental emotion socialization during an emotion-related discussion and parental report of child internalizing symptoms 6 months later. Parents were observed during an emotion discussion task and coded for their use of emotion encouragement and general positive involvement. A total of 65 families with children between the ages of eight and ten years old completed this task while RSA scores were obtained from children during baseline, task, and recovery phases. Regression analyses were conducted to test for main effects of parental emotion socialization and RSA, as well as two-way emotion socialization x RSA interactions, in the development of internalizing symptoms 6 months following the initial interview. Interactions were further examined for the degree they statistically conformed to either a diathesis-stress or biological sensitivity to context framework (BSC). Hypotheses were partially supported: main effects were found for RSA baseline and recovery, whereas RSA reactivity moderated the association between parental emotion encouragement and child internalizing symptoms, such that parents of children exhibiting RSA withdrawal reported greater internalizing symptoms in the context of low emotion encouragement and lesser internalizing symptoms in the context of high emotion encouragement. This study highlights the importance of considering child psychophysiology, particularly reactivity to stress, in the study of the effects of parental emotion socialization on the development of psychopathology during childhood.

The typical duties of parenting may be multiplied when they must be performed within very demanding situations and with limited personal and physical resources. African American families may also be subject to race-related challenges that further complicate child rearing. In an effort to combat the effect of imminent racism, some African American parents have sought to racially socialize their children. Within the racial socialization literature, it has been determined that racially socializing one’s children has positive effects for those children, however, there is some ambiguity regarding the way it is best done. Although racist acts cannot be predicted nor avoided, parents can likely prevent their children’s effects by racially socializing them. If this is done appropriately, and parents feel secure in their preparation it will likely buffer the effects of racism their children feel, which may impact their level of parental stress. However, no literature exists that examines the parental effects of racially socializing one’s children. Therefore, this project proposes to 1) examine whether there is a correlation between racial socialization and parental stress in African American parents and to 2) determine whether being exposed to a racial socialization intervention significantly reduces parental stress from pre-test to post-test as compared to the control and comparison groups. 159 African American mothers were randomly assigned to 3 groups, a control, experimental and comparison group, and administered pre and post tests on a scale of racial socialization (SORS-P), affective mood state (POMS-B), and parental stress (PSI). A hierarchical multiple linear regression was conducted to determine whether racial socialization beliefs predict parental stress after controlling for mood. It found that racial socialization beliefs accounted for an additional significant proportion of the variance in parental stress. A preliminary MANOVA was run to determine if there was a significant difference between groups’ baseline levels of mood and racial socialization beliefs. Hypothesis 2 was tested by running a (2 X 3) Time (pre-test and post-test) X Group Assignment (intervention, comparison group, control) mixed design ANCOVA. As predicted, changes in parental stress from pre-test to post-test depended on the group assignment. Study results highlighted the importance of racial socialization interventions to reduce parental stress that may accompany racist encounters with their children.