Young children are being exposed to violence at an alarming rate. Many societal issues have changed over the last three decades since Head Start began, including an increase in violence. According to Beyond the Blueprint: Directions for Research on Head Start's Families (Phillips & Cabera, 1996), violence is a major issue which should be studied to determine Head Start's role. Head Start parents were surveyed in 1996 to determine (a) how they teach their children non-violence, and (b) how they would like Head Start to support them. Surveys were analyzed and served as the basis for developing interview questions for a separate group of parents in 1997. Interviews were conducted with Head Start parents to determine (a) how their child is exposed to violence, (b) coping methods parents use when their child is exposed to violence, and (c) what parents think Head Start's role should be regarding violence. Interviews were analyzed and recommendations regarding Head Start's role are discussed.

In 2000, the number of students giving up on school will increase to about 40% or nearly 2,000,000 (The National Dropout Prevention Center, 1989). Unfortunately, these students typically will drop out of society and out of the work force. This study examined 387 eighth graders' general attitudes toward school, ditching school, peer influence in the context of dropping out, educational aspirations, how time is spent, parental involvement, and attitudes toward dropping out of school. The strongest factor that emerged was parental influence. The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between parental influence and students' educational aspirations. Moreover, chi-square tests for independence revealed significant differences between the levels of parental influence and students' thinking of dropping out and students' believing that they would drop out. These findings suggest that there is a strong positive relationship between parental influence and students' attitude toward dropping out of school and students' educational aspirations.

<p> The present study built on the design and results from the pilot study in an attempt to explore the relationship between psychologists' personal ideologies and the decisions they make in school-based counseling. Of particular interest was whether higher levels of self-reported ideology were related to support of relevant school policies. Participants included 166 psychologists who responded to an online survey that included questions related to personal and professional ideologies, attitudes toward school policies, training and preparedness in four areas of interest, and hypothetical scenarios. Consistency among responses in areas including theoretical orientation, political party, and training and preparedness in ethics and multicultural issues limited the analyses that could be performed to compare different populations. Correlation data indicated that there was no relationship between those who reported to be religious and those who reported that they were not religious, though slight differences were noted qualitatively. There was also no difference between responses of individuals who had not taken a class but felt prepared as compared with responses of the rest of the population. Correlation data also indicated some associations between the school policies related to liberal/conservative political views and the vignette designed toward that ideology.</p>

In an attempt to explore how children relate to and explain the concept of suicide, three non-clinical male children, ranging in age from 3 to 5 years, were presented with children's stories adapted to include suicidal content. Following each storyreading session, children were asked to respond to questions designed to assess their understanding of five suicide components: evitability, motive, volition, nonfunctionality, and realization. / The results revealed that these children's understanding of suicide components, when compared to a mature definition of suicide, varied across age and fluctuated across stories. A major finding was that the use of suicide-related theme stories appeared to be a viable technique for assessing suicide concept in children. Children's responses to questions about suicide suggested that other variables may influence children's suicide concept understanding, including verbal ability, nonverbal expressiveness, emotional development, death-related experiences, and religious background. None of the children who participated in the study appeared to experience any severe anxiety in response to suicide story subject matter. The conclusion is that the use of stories as a technique for exploring suicide concept development in young children is warranted. Implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-05, Section: A, page: 1389. / Major Professor: Gary W. Peterson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to address the underrepresentation of Black students among baccalaureate degree recipients. Because the majority of Black students begin their postsecondary careers at the community college, successful transfer to the upper-division is imperative if they are to achieve the goal of baccalaureate degree attainment. This study sought to identify and compare the concerns that Black students, who began their postsecondary careers at the community college, perceived would affect their persistence to bachelor degree completion. / Students participating in the study attended rural, suburban, and urban community colleges and a regional university in northern Florida. Focus groups were conducted to determine students' perceived concerns. Content analysis procedures were used to analyze focus group transcripts. Concerns were categorized as either pre-entry, academic, social, institutional, or miscellaneous. Quotes enhanced the findings of the study by providing insight regarding perceptions of concerns about completing the bachelor's degree. / Of the fifty-one concerns identified about completing the bachelor's degree, only three were common to all participating groups. Those concerns dealt with student/faculty relationships, meeting the costs of college, and life after graduation. The College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) was perceived as a concern for three out of the four groups. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2487. / Major Professor: Barbara Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

This study investigated how eight reentering women classified as seniors overcame barriers for completion of higher education programs. In particular, it focused on their responses to personal and institutional barriers as they returned to a college setting following an extended absence from their original entry. It sought answers to the following questions: (1) What constitutes a "personal barrier" for a returning woman? (2) How do reentering women surmount personal barriers? (3) What constitutes an "institutional barrier" for returning women? (4) How do reentering women overcome institutional barriers? / The Cross (1981) chain of response (COR) model provided the conceptual framework. This study investigated reentering women to determine whether their responses supported or failed to support the Cross (1981) theory. It was assumed that reentry women face different barriers than traditional students when they return to the college campus due to their complex roles and life stages. / The methodological approach selected for this study was qualitative research. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight selected reentering women as profiled in the literature. The interviews provided a rich description of the participants' stories as advocated by McMillan and Schumacher (1989). Accuracy checks were made by participants to assure valid reporting of the research. The data were then analyzed for emerging commonalities and/or differences. / The findings of this study show that reentry women experience personal and institutional barriers of the kind delineated in the Cross (1981) COR model both before and after reentry in higher education programs. Data not only support the steps of the COR model before reentry, but extend its constructs to cover continued participation throughout a degree program. / Participants perceived personal barriers as psychological factors that interfered with their optimal learning as a student. They overcame personal barriers by relying on individual determination, informal and formal supportive networks, and interaction with students and faculty. Participants viewed institutional barriers as obstacles or hindrances presented by the university that deterred their learning. They overcame institutional barriers through persistence and utilization of university procedures. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2485. / Major Professor: Barbara Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

PRELIS and LISREL 7 were used to test an on-campus interview model. The model consisted of five latent variables (1) resume, (2) cognitive aptitude, (3) face-to-face interview/likability, (4) self/employer fit, and (5) overall performance of the interviewee. Based on fit information, thirteen successive modifications were made to the model. The hypothesized model was not positive definite, hence, three error terms were constrained. In Model 3 two variables were dropped from the 15 variable model. Model 7 proved to be the best model. It examined the influence of two pre-interview exogenous variables (resume, cognitive aptitude) on the endogenous variables (face-to-face/likability, self/employer fit, overall performance of the interviewee). The influence of face-to-face/likability and self/employer fit significantly influenced the interviewees' overall interview performance. It was found that the paths from resume and self/employer fit to interviewee's overall performance were significant. However, the paths from cognitive aptitude to self/employer fit and likability to overall performance were not significant. / A multi-group analysis was attempted in order to determine the fit of the model with regard to gender and selection. However, the covariance matrices for the analysis of gender and selection were not positive definite. Therefore, it was not possible to examine gender or selection differences in the model. Based on the findings of this investigation, implications for practice are given. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2468. / Major Professor: E. J. Burkhead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The study investigated an hypothesized relationship between level of vocational identity and degree of congruence between expressed and measured vocational aspirations of a nonrandom sample of 182 juniors and seniors majoring in electrical and mechanical engineering at The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Vocational identity was measured with the Vocational Identity Scale of the My Vocational Situation, The Self-Directed Search was used to capture measured vocational aspirations and expressed aspirations were captured with the Engineering Aspirations Checklist, an instrument based on a model of engineering occupations developed for the study and assigned three-letter codes based on John Holland's (1985a) typology of vocational personalities and work environments. / Results did not support the hypothesis. While the model of engineering occupations developed for the study appeared to be a useful way of classifying engineering occupations, the codes assigned to the production and management categories appeared to be erroneous. While students aspiring to production careers appeared to be a cohesive group, students aspiring to management were more diverse in terms of personality type, indicating a possible dichotomous orientation towards Enterprising or Investigative occupations among students in this group. Analyses of Variance indicated that vocationally undecided students were significantly lower in level of vocational identity than students aspiring to management. Analyses of Variance indicated no significant differences in level of vocational identity for demographic groups, however, a two-tailed t-test indicated that Asians were significantly lower in level of vocational identity than Caucasians. Implications and suggestions for further research are included. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2480. / Major Professor: David W. Leslie. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the status of collaborative dropout prevention programs at two-year public community colleges in Georgia and Florida to determine the forces that either support or hinder the implementation or maintenance of such programs. The study utilized descriptive survey and case study research methodology focusing on the states of Georgia and Florida. Study conclusions included: (1) According to the questionnaire results, approximately half of the respondents, 47% in Georgia and 53% in Florida, reported that they had collaborative dropout prevention programs in place. Programs included early intervention, dual enrollment, tech/prep, and adopt-a-school programs as well as other on-campus activities or programs. According to questionnaire results, 5,174 Georgia and 16,720 Florida public school students had been served by the collaborative programs. (2) Collaborative programs did not appear to be designed based on the need to address certain dropout risk factors as found in the literature. (3) The attitudes and perceptions of two-year college personnel were found to be very favorable toward the need for collaborative dropout prevention programs. (4) The following restraining forces may exist and need to be addressed at those institutions that wish to implement a collaborative dropout prevention program--lack of funding, lack of personnel time, negative attitudinal or campus climate conditions, transportation problems, and scheduling conflicts. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3453. / Major Professor: Barbara A. Mann. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of selected factors in students' decisions to persist in retention activities and to examine the relationships between demographic and background variables and students' perceptions of persistence factors. The conceptual framework was based on Tinto's (1975) academic and social integration model of student persistence in higher education. / Using a cross sectional research design, a sample of white, black, and Hispanic students participating in retention activities in three Florida community colleges were surveyed on their perceptions of factors that influence persistence. Dependent variables measuring persistence were Comfortability, Convenience, Benefits, and External Influences. Demographic and background characteristics were independent variables. / Results indicated that while all four dependent variables were important to persistence decisions, Benefits were the most influential, followed by External Influences, Convenience, and Comfortability. Statistically significant differences were found between traditional college-aged students and those 22 years of age and over for Comfortability and External Influences as well as between genders on the dimension of Comfortability. Responses were also significantly different among white, black, and Hispanic students on the Convenience, Benefits, and External Influences constructs. Student interviews revealed Comfort-related preferences among black and Hispanic students. For the remaining independent variables, there was no statistically significant difference in the levels for any of the four persistence dimensions. Tinto's model was very useful in explaining students' persistence/withdrawal behavior with retention activities. Overall, academic integration had a stronger influence on persistence decisions than did social integration. / Conclusions cited the need to promote benefits from participation in retention activities, the important role of faculty and staff, the necessity of recognizing differences in perceptions of various racial/ethnic groups, and the influence of retention activities on student satisfaction and institutional retention. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-01, Section: A, page: 0086. / Major Professor: Louis W. Bender. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.