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The purpose of this one-year ethnographic study was to explore and make meaning of the "lived reality" of white working-class girls from Riverfront who are at risk for dropping out as they make the transition from eighth grade to ninth. The focus on white working-class girls from Riverfront, a deindustrialized neighborhood in the Northeast, reflects the fact that they are one of the many subgroups vulnerable to dropping out. While large quantitative studies are providing us with information abut who drops out, when they drop out, and the "official" reason based on school codes, the voices and views of students are glaringly absent. This study provides an in-depth account of seven girls as they make the transition to high school, employing the methodology and analytic techniques of ethnography. Situated in the context of class, the study explored how these girls and their families made decisions, and investigated their beliefs, feelings and behaviors during this critical year. The study found that the girls' lives and educational experiences sharply diverged after they left their neighborhood elementary school and spread out to various high schools. The girls who attended magnet and other selective schools increased their chances to realize their potential as these schools were far superior in terms of offering students curricular, pedagogical and environmental advantages that would prepare them for higher education and well-paying jobs. In contrast, the girls who went to neighborhood schools further increased the likelihood that their economic position would remain stagnant, as the schools they attended were poorer in every respect from teacher quality to curriculum and classroom environment. While the neighborhood negatively impacted the education of these working-class girls, the influence of their families varied. Families that had social and cultural capital transmitted many advantages to their daughters, while the poorest and most socially excluded families unwittingly perpetuated poorer life outcomes for their daughters. / Educational Administration

This study was conducted using qualitative measures to determine how head coaches at NCAA Division IA schools perceive the field of sport psychology. Specifically, the following areas were addressed: (a) How do collegiate coaches perceive of the merit of the various titles used by professionals working in the area of sport and exercise psychology, (b) How do coaches perceive the field of sport psychology as a whole (i.e., the potential benefits of employing an sport psychology consultant (SPC)), and (c) What potential barriers must be overcome in order to make sport psychology more appealing and available to coaches and how might those barriers be overcome? A descriptive qualitative design was used to examine the coaches' perceptions. Fourteen coaches participated in semi-structured interviews to gain insight into how the coaching community perceives the field of sport psychology. All interviews were conducted over the phone, and the time required for the interviews ranged from 22-51 minutes (M = 34.5 minutes). Coaches' ages ranged from 38-64 years (M = 48 years) with the number of years as head coach at their respective schools ranging from 3-25 years (M = 12.29 years). Once completed, all interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through an inductive open coding process to allow themes to emerge from the data. Four major themes emerged from the data (i.e., perceptions, desires, barriers, and hierarchy), with 10 associated subthemes that described the overall perceptions and impressions of the participants. The coaches generally had a positive view of sport psychology and the services that SPCs are able to offer. However, they often expressed the fact that, despite their own personal opinions, they felt confined by a number of barriers that prevented them from hiring an SPC. Unfortunately, sport psychology is still viewed largely as too costly of a service and, as such, falls rather low on the list of needs that coaches must consider in the execution of their duties. In an attempt to provide a better understanding of the needs of collegiate coaches, a theoretical model for understanding where sport psychology ranks with regards to other support personnel was developed. / Kinesiology

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter R. Schumm / Fathers, once deemed as “forgotten contributors to child development” (Lamb, 1975, p. 246), may provide more than just a bread winning role for their children. More studies have examined the effects of a father’s absence and involvement on his children, specifically among adolescents’ early sexual activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of father absence on young adults’ choices of cohabitation, marriage and divorce. The data for this analysis came from The February-March 2007 Social Trends Survey by the Pew Research Center, a nationally representative sample in the United States. This analysis selected 802 young adult respondents (ages 18-40 year old). Results support previous research that the two key factors leading to father absence are children whose parent never married or whose parents divorced. Father absence was associated with children's future cohabitation rates for the whole sample, but not when examined individually by gender, race or ethnicity. Higher marriage rates were associated with father-present homes among men and in the overall sample, but not for women or according to race or ethnicity. No associations were found between father absence and children's future divorce rates. Tracking young adults’ rates of marriage and divorce according to father absence and cohabitation (tables 4.4 through 4.9) found that young adults who had the combination of a father-present and did not cohabit had the lowest divorce rates. Future research should investigate the disparity in father-present homes between those who did and did not cohabit, father and child religiosity, and father involvement. Implications for family life education were also presented.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Candyce S. Russell / Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) over the past twenty years have increased their visibility by using their clinical skills and a systemic framework in other areas outside of therapy (i.e., business, school, medicine). Many of these individuals have pioneered roads of systems theory application through a creative process. Traditional creativity research has focused mainly on individual factors. However, Csikszentmihalyi’s theories of flow and creativity have offered important insight on the systemic nature of the creative process. Recently, research regarding intrinsic motivation and group creativity has provided more insight on how Csikszentmihalyi’s theory could be further developed. Furthermore, applying an ecological systems theory framework to his current model provides additional levels of influence to be examined in regards to maximizing creative potential in individuals and groups. Using deductive and inductive methodologies, an ecological systems theory of creativity is presented providing a framework for studying how MFTs that have successfully entered into non-traditional realms of systemic application go through the creative process of entering into their endeavors. Interviews with successful MFTs applying skills in non-traditional areas of applications were conducted using a modified phenomenological approach. Creative processes were outlined based on themes and patterns that emerged during the analysis. Implications of these findings are made regarding how to improve creativity in MFTs at the individual, academic, and professional field levels. In addition, implications are made regarding how to improve student recruitment and maximize potential in MFT trainees. Finally, implications regarding the maximization of productivity in university settings and applying systemic creativity to business, school, government, and education settings are presented.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter R. Schumm / This exploratory study examines abortion decision-making attitudes of adolescents attending Roman Catholic schools. With a theoretical background using both cognitive-developmental theory and moral development theory, this study investigated adolescent abortion decision-making attitudes with a multi-part paper and pencil survey. The first part of the Abortion Attitude Scale consisted of a combination of the seven General Social Survey (GSS) abortion questions, intermingled with seven additional author-devised abortion questions. The second part of the survey consisted of sixteen reality-based scenarios, each containing a high or low level of four dimensions. The dimensions consisted of the four most common reasons for abortion females wrote about in their online written testimonies about their actual abortion experiences. The four dimensions were determined after the author conducted a frequency count of reasons for abortion originating from 87 testimonies from pro-choice web sites and 82 testimonies from pro-life web sites, plus phone calls to 8 pro-choice agencies and phone calls to 8 pro-life agencies. The Abortion Attitude Scale was offered to a convenience sample of 8th through 12th graders attending the Topeka, Kansas Catholic Schools, which includes five elementary schools and one high school. Written parental consent and written student ascent were required for students to be eligible to participate in the study. A total of 350 students participated. The study’s six hypotheses explored whether or not the combined GSS and author-devised abortion questions are unidimensional; whether or not interaction effects exist among the four dimensions in each of the scenarios; and how the independent variables of gender, age, ethnicity, and intrinsic religiosity may impact adolescents’ abortion attitudes. Results suggest several conclusions. The GSS and author-devised abortion questions are multidimensional. Regarding the four dimensions used in each of the scenarios, there were interaction effects among the four dimensions. Whereas the adolescent female participants in this study did appear to be less accepting of abortion than the male participants, and the adolescents with higher intrinsic religiosity appeared to be less accepting of abortion, the hypotheses regarding younger age and greater ethnic diversity did not appear to lend support to adolescents being less accepting of abortion. The findings thus appear to show that this study’s participants had complex attitudes about abortion decision-making, and that these attitudes appear to be at least somewhat situationally-dependent. Implications for further studies are discussed, along with limitations and conclusions.

<p> Many Canadian school districts use standardized reading achievement data to support reading instruction. Over 30% of 9th-grade students in the Anglophone School District-South (ASD-S) have not met targets for the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA), a graduation requirement in New Brunswick, Canada. This study compared archival reading scores of 6th-grade students from 2009-2012 with the same students&rsquo; scores in 9th-grade from 2012-2015, to determine if 6th-grade scores were a predictor of 9th-grade results. Rendering the impact illiteracy plays on society, this study applied the theoretical framework of social theory from Bourdieu&rsquo;s (1977, 1984, 1986) view of social mobility and Turner&rsquo;s (1960) view of contest mobility. A quantitative design employed a regression analysis to determine how standardized reading scores for three cohorts of students in 6th-grade between 2009-2012 compared with the reading achievement test scores as 9th-grade students in 2012-2015. A sample of 1,200 students was selected. A paired samples <i>t</i> test determined which level(s) of reading comprehension (literal, inferential, or critical) presented the most difficulties for students between 2009-2015. Results of the study concluded that 6th-grade overall reading scores were a predictor of 9th-grade overall scores and that inferential and critical levels of reading comprehension were areas of concern. These findings are intended for administrators and District leadership in ASD-S to support the implementation of an intervention year in Grades 7 and 8 to address this problem. This research promotes positive social change by identifying potential pathways for improving adolescent reading skills for New Brunswick youth.</p>

The thesis examines post-event displacement of households in the year following Hurricane Harvey. Using data gathered from a three-page mail survey conducted approximately 1-year after the storm, this study examines two primary research objectives. First this thesis aims to identify variables that predict displacement or non-displacement after the disaster. Second, this study explores patterns in the destination and duration of displaced households following Hurricane Harvey. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the extent to which household composition characteristics and level of damage sustained during Hurricane Harvey predicted post-disaster displacement. Next, independent sample t-tests and descriptive statistical analyses were used to identify patterns in the destination of post-event relocations. Research findings indicate in the overall binary logistic regression model that after Hurricane Harvey, being White, level of home damage, wind damage, and number of days a member of the household returned home post-Harvey increased the likelihood of a household being displaced. Analysis of the survey responses also indicated that many households made multiple moves following Hurricane Harvey and specifically, displaced households were more likely to stay with a friend or relative. Additionally, this study found that with each additional relocation, the duration of stay at each destination increased while the distance from their pre-disaster home decreased. This thesis advances understanding of what predicts household displacement after a disaster and offers new insights into where people go during the short-term and beginning of the long-term recovery phases.

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