The purpose of this study was to investigate recruiting and retention practices for African American music students in selected colleges and universities. This study also investigated model programs formulated for the improvement of African American student enrollment in higher education, generally or in other professional fields and specialized programs.Subjects in the study were twenty-two music executives in music units of selected colleges and universities based on three general criteria as follows: (1) Historically Black Colleges and Universities whose enrollments were 4,000 and above; (2) Institutions that participated in the Richardson Study and cited for having success in minority student access, retention, and graduation; and (3) Institutions that participated in the National Black Student Retention Conferences (1987 or 1988).A survey questionnaire was completed by the subjects in order to determine the effectiveness of recruitment and retention practices and strategies employed by music units. The data were organized for analysis by frequencies, percentages and calculations of chi-squared statistics.The results of this study suggest that there are a variety of recruiting practices and admission policies that may impact increased enrollment of African American students in music units. Various retention practices were determined that may promote persistence and achievement. Support services were identified as financial resources and special assistance programs. Other factors included non-academic retention predictors and the presence of African American faculty in the music unit.Another valuable source of information regarding the recruitment and retention of Black students was found in eight model programs. Recruiting strategies included outreach programs, precollege programs, linkages with elementary and secondary schools, faculty, staff and alumni involvement, and flexible, multiple criteria for college admission. Retention strategies included support services that focused on the academic, cultural and social needs of African American students.This study revealed numerous findings which may be employed by music units. These findings offer supportive evidence for the development of model programs that promote and enhance access, retention, and graduation for the African American music student in higher education. / School of Music

This thesis has compared a sample of married couples with a matched sample of cohabiting couples from the Ball State University area on the variables Affective Support, Mutual Knowledge, and Relationship Satisfaction.Reviewing the literature on marital adjustment, the American society and the family system, and heterosexual cohabitation, it was hypothesized that cohabitants would exhibit greater degrees of the three interpersonal variables under examination. The data, however, necessitated a rejection of the hypotheses; explanations for the findings are offered, as well as suggestions for further research.

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This study examines occupational aspiration and choice of traditional first-time college students utilizing longitudinal data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). Focus is given to beliefs about the importance of family and money in relation to selection of an occupation that is classified as sex-typed. Change from one occupational category to another is also considered. The dissonance between students' beliefs about the importance of family and money as associated with their sex-typed occupational choice is explored. Understanding students' occupational plans that subsequently determine future prestige, wealth, and status is vital to higher educational professionals who facilitate students in their career selection and major. Therefore, environmental factors of satisfaction with career counseling and academic advising are examined. The U.S. Census Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) data is applied in the classification of sex-typed occupations. Race and ethnicity is investigated to determine if the same gender patterns exist among cultural groups with regards to their occupational selection. The results indicate that students' occupational aspirations were influenced by their belief regarding the importance of family or money. In addition, their beliefs regarding family and money changed after four years of college with family increasing in importance. Strong beliefs that were, either concordant or discordant with relation to students' gender and occupational choice predicted change after four years of college. Also, race and ethnicity showed some relation to sex-typed occupational aspirations of students. Being Hispanic predicted female sex-typed occupations, while being Asian predicted male sex-typed occupations. However, the results of this study may have been compromised by the extremely skewed representation of an elitist student sample. Thus, future research that includes a more diverse student sample (race/ethnicity, social class, and geographical location) was recommended for validation of this study's findings.

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The purpose of the present research was to investigate whether or not there is similarity of values between American and Japanese college students. The following research hypothesis was established: There is a positive relationship between the value system of the Japanese college students and that of American college students.

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With the exception of a few studies (Leak, 2009; Fulton, 1997), psychological research on religion has not been studied from an Eriksonian identity status perspective (Erikson, 1959; Marcia, 1966). Further, Erikson’s (1963) concept of identity appears to be inherently individualistic and may be conceptualized differently in Eastern/Asian cultures (Cloninger, 2008; Paranjpe, 2010). This study aims to understand the relationship of religiosity and quest to identity development across two cultures: USA and India. A total of 326 undergraduate students (mean age= 19.47, sd= 1.58) participated from two urban colleges in Mumbai, India (n= 159) and one in Orlando, USA (n= 167). All participants completed a battery of measures, including the measure of Religiosity, Quest Scale, Identity Distress Survey, and Ego Identity Process Questionnaire. Our first hypothesis was confirmed that females would have greater religiosity as compared to males amongst the Indian and USA sample. The second hypothesis was also confirmed that the USA sample would be found more among the achieved and moratorium ego identity statuses as compared to the Indian sample, who would be found more frequently in the foreclosed or diffused ego identity statuses. Although the USA sample was found to be significantly higher in identity exploration, the Indian sample was found to experience greater identity distress. Finally, our third hypothesis was partially confirmed in regard to religiosity, as it was not differentially related to identity variables in both the Indian and USA groups. However, religious quest was differentially related to the identity variables, in that it was related to identity distress in the USA sample, but not in the Indian sample.

This paper uses a sociological model to compare the residential energy consumption between immigrant students and native-born American students and to explain the difference by demographic characteristics, values, and specific attitudes. Further, it tries to explore whether the relationship between immigration status and residential energy consumption is mediated by value orientation towards frugality and specific attitudes towards energy conservation. The data of an online survey among native-born and foreign-born students at the University of Central Florida are used. The results suggest that immigrants consume less energy at home than native-born Americans, but the time stayed in the US doesn’t have an impact on the energy consumption of immigrants. In addition, the results do not show evidence that value orientation towards frugality and specific attitudes toward energy conservation mediate the relationship between immigration status and energy consumption at home.