Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sonya L. Britt and Martin Seay / This three essay dissertation examined questions related to personal financial difficulties of military members with the aim of suggesting the most effective focal points for those involved in development of policy or programs or working directly with military members on improving their personal financial condition. The introduction (Chapter 1) describes the nature of the problem, the level of attention it has received within the civilian and military leadership structure, and generally what has been done to address it before presenting an outline of the chapters which follow. The first essay (Chapter 2) relies on theoretical guidance from stress and coping theory to examine determinants of a military member’s choice of problem-focused over emotion-focused coping strategies. The study used primary data collected from a sample of soldiers (n = 688) at a large Midwestern military installation. Its results indicated that military members with an internal locus of control and those who performed positive financial behaviors in response to a financial stressor reported lower levels of financial stress. Taking its theoretical guidance from the theory of planned behavior, the second essay (Chapter 3) examined the relationship of the behavioral antecedents of attitude toward behavior, subjective beliefs, and perceived behavioral control with behaviors related to establishing and maintaining an adequate emergency fund and maintaining positive cash flow, the term used for keeping spending at levels below income over time. The study analyzed primary data from a sample of soldiers at a large Midwestern military installation (n = 93). Of the 11 models analyzed, most were statistically significant, though, individually, the behavioral antecedents themselves did not yield statistical significance as often. Although fewer definitive findings emerged from the cash flow group of models, results of the emergency fund group indicated that attitude toward behavior and perceived behavioral control are positively influential on behaviors related to maintaining an emergency fund. The third essay (Chapter 4) detailed a study which tested the theoretical assumption that better informed consumers make better financial choices. The study examined self-assessed financial knowledge, a self-assessed measure of confidence in day-to-day personal financial management termed financial confidence, and objectively measured financial knowledge as potential determinants of certain positive and negative financial behaviors. The positive behaviors were maintenance of positive cash flow and an adequate emergency fund, and the negative behaviors were engaging in high-cost borrowing through auto title lenders, payday lenders, pawn shops, and rent-to-own stores, collectively termed alternative financial services (AFS). The study analyzed secondary data from a sample of military members collected by the 2012 National Financial Capability Study which yielded a set of 949 responses useable for the study described in this chapter. Subjective knowledge was found to be associated with emergency fund maintenance, but not positive cash flow, while objective financial knowledge and financial confidence were found to be positively associated with positive cash flow, but not emergency fund maintenance. Females and those with higher incomes were found to be more likely to maintain positive cash flow, while those with three or more dependent children and those having experienced a recent income shock were less likely to do so. Females, members with graduate degrees, and members with a higher investing risk tolerance were more likely to maintain emergency funds, though members with two or more children and those having experienced a recent income shock were less likely to do so. Subjective financial knowledge was found to be positively related to AFS use, while objective financial knowledge and financial confidence were found to be negatively associated with AFS use. Members with more dependent children and those having experienced recent income shocks were more likely to have used AFS, while those with higher incomes were less likely to have done so. The conclusion (Chapter 5) summarizes the findings of all three essays, their implications, and suggests directions for future research. It re-emphasizes the unique contributions of the essays to personal finance literature pertaining to military members and its importance for policy makers, military leaders, and anyone involved in developing or administering personal financial improvement programs for the benefit of military members.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda Markham / Resiliency in the low-income population includes individual as well as familial and community achievement. In order to break down the barriers of poverty, all three must be interconnected. This report provides a review of the current literature on factors that affect individuals and families to become resilient and what programs are available for support along the way. Circles Manhattan is one program in the Manhattan, Kansas community that rallies around individuals and families in poverty and works to see them through to earning 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. This report also provides an evaluation of the Circles Manhattan Circle Leader training using pre-evaluation, post-evaluation, and weekly evaluation tools. Based on the results of the evaluation, recommendations are made for the future of Circles Manhattan as well as for researchers studying the topic of resiliency and poverty.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Farrell J. Webb / The current study was focused on the role Black grandmothers played in biraical (Black and White) racial socialization process of their grandchild or grandchildren. Racial socialization process where by the grandmothers engaged in a systemtic and deliberate attempt to ensure that their grandchildren develp an awareness and sensibilty toward their Black hertiage. There were several criteria the grandmothers had to meet. They included being born before 1975, ensuring that the grandmothers expereienced the post 70s Black pride movement. The grandmother also needed to have contact with the identified grandchild. Qualitative methods with a phenomenological lens were employed. The Black grandmothers are seen as the experts on their experiences, thus phenomenology allowed me to probe deeper into the experiences of these grandmothers and their reality. One-on-one interviews were conducted with the participants at the location and time of their choice. The results revealed the perspective and methods they exercised in racially socializing their biracial grandchildren. The participants had similar beliefs as it related to what their role in the racial socialization process was supposed to be. There were eight primary themes that emerged were community influence, spirituality, social adjustment, feelings toward “the other”, social perception, cultural indoctrination, grandma’s burden, and the road ahead. Although, each grandmother had a different journey their conclusions regarding the way to socialize their biracial grandchildren as Black was unanimous.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter Schumm and Kristy Archuleta / Financial literacy has become a prominent topic of discussion since the latest economic downturn. Although many studies reveal that our youth’s financial literacy is low, no study to date provides an overview as to how our youth are learning financial literacy concepts. This dissertation seeks to explore how homeschooling families prepare their children to be financially literate. This study reviewed four sensitizing concepts: (a) communication, (b) engagement, (c) outside influences, and (d) parental perspectives based on the learning theory: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Twenty primary educators in homeschooling families from a variety of states were interviewed for this study. Out of the twenty participants, eight were classified in the elementary age group, five were classified in the middle school age, and seven were classified in the high school age. Each sensitizing concept was examined for each school age group. This exploratory study found that parents who homeschool tend to focus on three main topics of personal finance: debt or the avoidance of debt, savings, and budgeting. Little evidence suggests that parents help their children with the mechanics of these behaviors. There were three important findings extracted in this study. First, the results suggest that homeschooling parents need to become better prepared to teach their children about money, and second, that personal finance should be thought of as a core subject in the elementary age years in lieu of just a life skill. Finally, this study found that there is a large focus around personal finance topics in the elementary age years and the high school years, with little attention to personal finance behaviors for the middle school age group. The results of this study provide those entities that advocate improved financial literacy an understanding as to the “how” parents who homeschool prepare their kids to understand money.

Master of Science / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Briana S. Nelson Goff / Parenting a child with Down syndrome may pose unique challenges for parents’ relationship quality. Structural equation modeling was used with a sample of 351 mothers of children with Down syndrome to test if hope mediated the associated between various coping behaviors and relationship quality. Results indicated a greater degree of religious coping and internal coping were each significantly associated with more hope, whereas support seeking was not related with more hope. Higher hope was significantly associated with greater relationship quality. An indirect effect from both religious coping and internal coping to hope, and then hope to relationship quality was identified. Implications for family professionals and future research are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Joyce A. Baptist / The Chickasaw represent one non-reservation bound American Indian tribe whose experiences of family life, historical trauma and resilience has not been fully understood. Therefore, this study sought to identify the qualities common to Chickasaw families, Chickasaw families' experiences of historical trauma and the factors that contribute to Chickasaw families' ability to persevere under adversarial circumstances. Using in-depth phenomenological interviews with nine (N = 9) three-generation minimum Chickasaw families, four central themes emerged that answered the four research questions. The first theme, "Chokka-chaffa' Nanna Mó̲́đma Ímmayya/The Family Is Everything" indicated that Chickasaw families were a heterogeneously complex system with a natural orientation toward the family unit itself, whereby the families valued emotional closeness, warmth and affection, quality time together, praise, respect and openness. Families were involved with one another and were active participants in strengthening their own families and communities. Families were prideful of family members' accomplishments and valued extended kin and spirituality. Further, families were confronted with challenges, but showed an ability to "bend, but not break," often citing the very same qualities, such as involvement, pride and an orientation toward family, as contributing to their ability to solve problems and keep the family unit intact. The second theme, "Impalahá̲mmi Bíyyi'ka/They Have It Really Bad," indicated the families experienced historical trauma by mourning the loss of land, language, culture and identity and that losses went unacknowledged by their non-Native counterparts and were ongoing, thus expecting to affect younger and future generations. The third theme, "Chikashsha Poyacha Ilaa-áyya'shakatí̲'ma/We Are Chickasaw, and We Are Still Here" indicated that despite hardships, families saw resilience as a trait found within their Chickasaw heritage. Maintaining a positive outlook, a spirit of determination, a fierce loyalty toward family members and a close connection to the Chickasaw Nation further contributed to families' resilience. The fourth theme, "Hooittapila/They Help One Another" indicated that resilient qualities were passed in a multidirectional pattern throughout all generations of family members, whereby family members from all generations supported and uplifted one another. Also discussed are the study's strengths and limitations and the clinical and research implications for Chickasaw families.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra Stith / Recent literature has highlighted the importance of considering personal and relationship factors in predicting IPV perpetration. The present study sought to investigate whether trait mindfulness is associated with IPV, as well as the mechanisms by which mindfulness might predict IPV. Utilizing longitudinal data collected from 247 undergraduate students, the study tested a hurdle model of IPV occurrence and frequency at Time 3 being predicted by trait mindfulness at Time 1 and other known risk factors at Time 2. Results indicated that trait mindfulness at time 1 was associated with IPV perpetration at Time 3; however, when controlling for other known risk factors at time 1, the association between mindfulness at Time 1 and IPV at Time 3 was no longer significant. Finally, results from the mediational analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of trait mindfulness on IPV through relationship satisfaction and conflict resolution while all variables were measured at the same time point, but no indirect effect of trait mindfulness at time 1 on IPV at time 3.These results indicate that although mindfulness might not be a significant direct predictor of IPV when other known risk factors are controlled for, it is important since mindfulness indirectly predicts IPV through other relationship processes when measured at the same time point. Suggestions for future research and clinical intervention are offered.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sonya L. Britt / There has been increased interest in understanding the significant disparity in U.S. households’ retirement preparedness due to concern about the stability of Social Security benefits, the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, and the decreased rate of saving. This dissertation explores a model that can be utilized to understand and enhance retirement preparedness by individuals, educators, practitioners, and policy makers. Retirement preparedness was measured in two different ways—using the income replacement rate and the capital accumulation ratio—for two separate empirical models. The general conceptualization of the framework is based on the retirement planning work of Hershey (2004). This study utilized the 2008 Rand version (Version L) of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and 2006, 2008, and 2010 psychosocial and lifestyle questionnaire. The Rand HRS data file is a user-friendly version of the HRS data and contains cleaned data. The two hierarchical regressions were used to analyze the association between retirement preparedness and the theoretical concepts of cultural influence, environmental influence, task components, and psychological influence. Entering the conceptual components as four separate blocks allows for observation of changes in R[2] based on the addition of the conceptual components. This research investigates the following research questions: (a) How strongly are cultural influences associated with retirement preparedness?, (b) How strongly are environmental influences associated with retirement preparedness?, (c) How strongly are task components associated with retirement preparedness?, and (d) How strongly are psychological influences associated with retirement preparedness? Current retirement planning practices are often based on structural profiles such as financial resources, financial needs, and goals. The holistic approach used for this dissertation is based on the awareness of the influence of psychological and personal factors on financial decision making. The results showed that the variables positively associated with the retirement income replacement rate were self-perception of aging, homeownership, stock ownership, household pension ownership, IRA/Keogh ownership, and business ownership. Pre-retirement income log had a highly negative association with the retirement income replacement ratio. Big Five personality and perceived mastery were not significant. However, when asset ownership (excluding homeownership) was not controlled, conscientiousness and low emotional stability became significant and showed a positive association for conscientiousness and a negative association for low emotional stability. Self-perception of aging was a significant psychological variable in both models. The significant variables from the second model measured by the capital accumulation ratio were asset ownerships including homeownership, stock ownership, IRA ownership, real estate ownership, and business ownership. None of the psychological variables were significant, except for agreeableness, which was related negatively to the capital accumulation ratio when the asset ownerships (excluding home ownership) were not controlled. Other significant variables, when asset ownership was not controlled, were home ownership, pre-retirement income log, being non-White.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda Stafford Markham / Walter R. Schumm / This study produces a grounded theory of how parents make decisions regarding the custody arrangements of their children in the divorce process. Eleven parent/adolescent pairs in shared physical and legal custody arrangements were interviewed. Ten factors were found to influence the custody arrangement decisions of divorcing parents: former partner, children, work, new partner, use of a lawyer, role of family, parenting role, place of residence, finances, and divorce. Parents also weighed perceived costs and rewards when making custody arrangement decisions. In addition, an understanding of the involvement of an adolescent in the custody arrangement decisions was gained through this research. The majority of adolescents in this study had some type of input in the custody arrangements at one point or another. Parents and adolescents both expressed concerns with involving adolescents in custody arrangement decisions as well as an appropriate age for adolescent involvement, and how to determine when an adolescent is ready to be involved in the custody arrangement decisions. Custody arrangement decisions are complex decisions that parents and adolescents face; a number of factors are considered and the custody arrangement decision making process varies for all families.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared Anderson / Using data from young adults (N = 224) living in Beijing and Guangzhou, China this study examined the direct association between frequency of pornography use and relationship confidence and indirect associations through depression symptoms and physical assault. Results using structural equation modeling demonstrated that higher frequency of pornography use was indirectly linked with lower relationship confidence via depression symptoms and physical assault. These findings are informed by Social Constructionist Theory (Gergen, 1985), which considers how individuals take what they understand from their culture, exposure to material such as pornography, and other social experiences to develop and make meaning of who they are within their relational context.