<p> U.S. and world communities face the challenges of understanding how children grieve and of giving them sufficient social and educational support. Inner-city minority adolescents have not been represented well in the bereavement and attachment literature. The purpose of the quantitative study was to use the attachment theory to understand the impact of parental bereavement on these adolescents. Data were collected using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), the Piers-Harris Children's Self- Concept Scale (2^nd ed.), and school records. MANOVAs were used to analyze the influence of attachment organization, bereavement status, and gender on self-concept and academic and behavioral functioning in school. Results indicated that securely attached adolescents functioned better across all 3 variables than did insecure and unresolved/disorganized adolescents. There were no differences in functioning in the bereaved group according to attachment organization. Results according to gender indicated that although the female participants experienced more academic success and had fewer behavioral difficulties in school, their self-concept was more negative than was that of their male counterparts. There were no differences in functioning in the bereaved group according to gender, but compared to the entire sample, the bereaved females no longer functioned better than males, academically or behaviorally, and there were no longer differences in self-concept. Possible positive social changes from these findings include improvements in school-related student support such as promoting the use of the AAI, linking educational and clinical environments, and assisting schools in developing safe-base classroom environments that could better meet students' needs according to their attachment organization and bereavement status.</p>

<p> Large-scale crises continue to surprise, overwhelm, and shatter college and university campuses. While the devastation to physical plants and persons is often evident and is addressed with crisis management plans, the number of emotional casualties left in the wake of these large-scale crises may not be apparent and are often not addressed with mental health preparedness plans. As a result, there is a growing sentiment that campuses should investigate and document detailed mental health preparedness plans that would address the readiness of their institutions to meet the mental health needs of their faculty, students, and staff should a large-scale crisis impact their campus. In addition, it has been recognized that an instrument is needed to help colleges and universities assess the mental health preparedness of their campuses. Utilizing a Delphi methodology, this four round Delphi study (with 34 experts from 17 states with combined expertise in mental health and higher education) adapted the <i>Mental Health All-Hazards Disaster Planning Guidance</i> (2003), written for state and local mental health agencies, to create a mental health preparedness plan for college and university campuses should a large-scale crisis occur. Utilizing the aforementioned mental health preparedness plan, this study also created an instrument, identified as a numeric scorecard, to help colleges and universities assess the mental health preparedness of their campuses should a large-scale crisis occur on their campus.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to identity how events perceived as traumatic or very difficult to handle, factors of emotional distress, and demographics may predict nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMPD) among traditional undergraduate college students. This secondary analysis utilized data from the National College Health Assessment II (NCHA II) from the Fall 2010 for the primary analysis. Data from the Fall 2008 and 2009 semester were subsequently analyzed to validate results over time. Sequential logistic regression was used to determine NMPD; first evaluating events perceived as traumatic, then including factors of emotional distress, and finally adding demographics of race and ethnicity, gender, Greek affiliation, and year-in-school. Fifth year (58&ndash;103%), 4^th year (46&ndash;67%), 3^rd year (43&ndash;60%), Greek affiliation (35&ndash;55%), feeling suicidal (27&ndash;49%), difficulties with intimate relationships (22&ndash;46%), males (28&ndash;39%), sleep difficulties (14&ndash;37%), feeling angry (29&ndash;35%), death of a family member or friend (13&ndash;29%), 2^nd year (25&ndash;28%), feeling anxious (18&ndash;27%), and difficulties with finances (16&ndash;24%) were significantly more likely to predict NMPD during Fall 2008&ndash;2010 semesters. Conversely, Asians or Pacific Islanders (70&ndash;79%) and Blacks or African Americans (19&ndash;40%) were significantly less likely to use prescription drugs nonmedically over the same time period. While statistically significant, the model lacked increase of strength as variables were added to the regression equation. Regardless, college counselors, health professionals, and administrators should target support and interventions to assist students struggling with trauma, emotional distress, and the misuse of prescription drugs.</p>

<p> Nearly one-half of doctoral students will never finish their program of study. This statistic is alarming. There is a need for an additional method to assess applicants, aside from prior academic success, in order to best identify those that will not only perform well in courses, but also have the psychosocial skills to persist to degree attainment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an intentionality rubric which was found to have evidence of initial construct validity. Intentionality is a multivariate construct comprised of five domains: motivation, beliefs, goal-setting, goal-seeking, and self-efficacy. Such domains have been found to be important for pursuit of long-term goals. Doctoral students require high intentionality as there is not only coursework to complete, but dissertation research as well. Students need both the academic potential to complete the coursework and intentionality to maintain the journey. Doctoral students and faculty from a university in the Southwest participated in this study. With the rubric evaluated, tests were done of prompts to confirm that intentionality could be elicited in writing samples. The study found evidence of initial construct validity and confirmed that intentionality could be elicited from prompts. A recommendation for incorporating intentionality writing and evaluation into curriculum was offered with suggestions that additional research be conducted on the relationship between intentionality and success. </p><p> <i> Key Words:</i> Intentionality; attrition, university admission, goal setting; goal seeking, statement of purpose, self-efficacy, purpose, projective writing, psychosocial evaluation</p>

<p> As higher education changes to reach larger numbers of students via online modalities, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the issue of student attrition and other measures of student success become increasingly important. While research has focused largely on undergraduate online students, less has been done in the area of online non-traditional doctoral student success, particularly from the student trait perspective. On the trait level, the concept of grit has been identified as an important element of the successful attainment of long-term goals. Earning a doctorate can be classified as a long-term goal; therefore the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of doctoral student grit scores on student success. Success was measured in three ways: (a) in terms of persistence as measured by longevity in the program (the number of courses a student had successfully completed), (b) by examining current student GPA, and (c) by studying whether or not students have reached the critical milestone of successfully defending their dissertation proposal. The results of the study found no significant differences in mean grit scores for first, second, or third year students, nor found differences in mean grit scores for students that had or had not successfully defended their dissertation proposals. However, significant relationships were found between grit and current student GPA, grit and the average number of hours students spent of their program of study weekly, and grit and age. The results of this research are important for informing how doctoral education is structured, which characteristics may help students succeed, as well as providing areas for future research. </p><p> <i>Keywords: Higher education, grit, doctoral education, non-traditional students, online education, academic success, attrition</i></p>

<p> This phenomenological case study of finding meaning explored the developmental nature of Pepperdine University&rsquo;s Doctor of Education in Organization Change (EDOC) program through graduates, who as students, found deep, visceral, and life changing meaning. The primary request of participants, identified as co-inquirers, was to: describe in as much detail as possible how meaning was found through their participation in the EDOC program. Detailed storied descriptions from 10 graduates were gathered through interviews. Anecdotes were gathered by email from other graduates concerning the meaning found, relational experiences, and vivid program experiences. In my analysis of data, I explicated the structure (the relationship among the most invariant constituents of the phenomenon) and meaning (implications) from their lived experience. Though particulars differed, the interview data revealed a structure surrounding each of the ten co-inquirers as being (a) self-aware learners who joined the program with assumptions concerning the challenging nature of the learning experience; (b) a socially constructed environment that facilitates the formation of relational sets and community engagement; (c) deep and rich dialogic relationships among participants within the learning community; (d) co-constructed learning through collaboration with faculty and fellow students; (e) abundant free-space in learning enabling the transcendence of boundaries to personal growth; (f) an immensely helping and caring environment; (g) significant opportunities to challenge and broaden worldviews through program experiences; and (h) consistent validation of progress toward personal, educational and life goals. In coming to understand the phenomenon for finding meaning, I used descriptive phenomenology and given my presence as a student in the program being studied, I offered my own observations. I framed propositions from the study&rsquo;s findings for progressive educators and organization development professions. Meaning found led to life changes such as improved personal and professional effectiveness, a deeper sense of self and self-worth, a clearer view of the world, and an ability to enact what had been taken from the experience; a significant educational outcome in addition to cognitive competencies, field knowledge and application. Those who have experienced the program came away with a deeper sense of purpose and far reaching capabilities to serve.</p>

<p> As a relatively new field of psychology, positive psychology generates momentum to enlighten a reciprocating view of human nature, to look at human potential as opposed to human shortfalls. In the course of building the field and theoretical foundations, courses and programs in adult learning environments have been established to educate students. Quantitative measures of formative and summative evaluation evaluate one type of learning. Given the idea stemming from Aristotle philosophies that noted education as part of meaning in life (as cited in Curren, 2010), the established theoretical view that meaning itself is created by an individual and sets a path for a more flourishing life. Thus, by creating meaning from integrating established knowledge and new knowledge, the transformation processes takes place. For the reason that these types of transformations cannot be quantifiably measured, a collective case study was used to support the theoretical foundations for the presented research. The presented research paper reflects the critical element of data collection and interpretation. The research study details the qualitative dissertation exploration of the research question: How do educators teaching Positive Psychology in the adult learning environment describe students&rsquo; personal transformations in response to the curriculum? The specific research investigation was to explore the perceptions of the presiding educators and to realize their portrayals of the learning transformations in the positive Psychology adult learning environment. After addressing inclusive criteria for a bounded unit, data were collected from seven presiding educators of the adult learning positive psychology environment. Additionally, the participant wrote reflective narratives to deepen and widen the perspective of the study. The interviews consisted of conversational open-ended questions, and the narrative was a free-writing exercise to purposely unburden participants from parameters. From the data collected, a code list was generated and then categorized into themes through a constant comparison of similar of codes from within and between individual participant cases. The themes represented generated patterns across data that created a description the phenomenon associated with the research question. As a result of the findings, implications of usefulness and recommendations for further studies were discussed.</p>

<p> People with intellectual disabilities (ID) struggle with social interactions that are vital to the development of a high quality of life. Although evidence exists to support the use of technology as cognitive aids for youth with ID, little exists on the use of common hand-held devices for social support. The use of such devices has the potential to level the playing field in adult social roles, helping people with ID make and keep relationships. It is unclear how applications like video chatting might be used to support transition-age youth with ID in adult social roles. Using a framework of modeling (i.e., social learning), generalization across settings (i.e., ecological systems), and self-determination, this single-case study was developed to learn the effect of direct instruction of youth with ID on initiation of and responses to others in adult social roles while using common hand-held devices. Three participants, selected from 9 youth participating in a structured social skills class, were taught to initiate interaction and respond to initiations made by others with modeled support in self-selected adult social settings. Visual analysis of graphed data showed generally increased initiations and responses. Percent of nonoverlapping data (PND) and percent of all nonoverlapping data (PAND) found varied effect size from one participant to the next. Quality of interactions had mixed results across participants. The results found these 3 transition-age youth with ID to be quite adept in their use of common hand-held devices, and they all used them successfully to access support. These findings suggest that the use of well known devices may increase the number of people who can provide social support, reduce the cost of devices and live supports, and reduce the of stigma of having a paid staff shadowing the individual.</p>

<p> This study sought to fill the gap in the literature concerning gifted students and academic motivation by examining the academic motivation in 126 non-gifted (<i>n</i> = 66) and intellectually gifted (<i>n </i> = 60) middle and high school students. The study used archival data to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between motivational variables, test anxiety, and student GPA for both non-gifted and gifted students? Are there differences in motivation across student group and across gender? And does a unique profile of motivation exist for intellectually gifted students? Study results revealed positive relationships between certain aspects of motivation and academic performance within the non-gifted students and the gifted students. Findings indicated that intellectually gifted middle and high school students tend to be more motivated than their non-gifted peers and experience significantly less test anxiety than their non-gifted peers. Gender differences in motivation were found only within the gifted group on intrinsic goal orientation, with gifted female students reporting more intrinsic goal orientation than their male counterparts. While a unique profile of motivation did not arise for intellectually gifted students, the gifted students were more likely to fall within cluster groups with high motivation, high sense of control over academic outcomes and high perception of their ability to successfully complete academic tasks. These students tended to have a higher GPA and experience very little test anxiety when compared to students with low motivation.</p>

<p> This dissertation examined the reward system in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). I empirically tested the social motivation hypothesis as a potential explanation for social impairments in ASD. </p><p> Chapter 1 investigated typically developing (TD) children's electrophysiological responses to rewards accompanied by incidental social versus nonsocial stimuli. This chapter introduced a paradigm that allows reward anticipation to be measured while controlling for both reward and stimulus properties. TD children had increased activation while anticipating rewards accompanied by social versus nonsocial stimuli, suggesting that TD children find social stimuli more rewarding than nonsocial stimuli. </p><p> Chapter 2 investigated how children with ASD compare to TD children on reward anticipation and processing using the paradigm described in Chapter 1. TD children had larger reward anticipation for social versus nonsocial stimuli, while children with ASD did not. Children with ASD also processed social versus nonsocial stimuli differently than their TD peers. These results suggest that children with ASD have selective deficits in anticipation and processing of social rewards. </p><p> Chapter 3 examined whether familiarity might normalize social reward anticipation for children with ASD. Neither children with nor without ASD had different magnitudes of reward anticipation for familiar versus unfamiliar faces, or scrambled versions of those pictures. However, when collapsing across familiarity, results from Chapter 2 were replicated&mdash;TD children had larger reward anticipation for social versus nonsocial stimuli, while children with ASD did not. Chapter 3 also found evidence for an Nc-like component that occurred prior to social stimuli. This component was larger for TD children versus those with ASD. </p><p> To explore possible mechanisms for these differences in social reward processing, Chapter 4 proposes oxytocin as a potential neuropeptide involved in social motivation. Chapter 4 reviews research on oxytocin's effect on social behavior in individuals with and without ASD, as well as implications for treatment of joint attention deficits in ASD. This chapter makes suggestions for future research that combine pharmacological and behavioral interventions in order to optimize outcomes. </p><p> Collectively, this dissertation provides evidence in favor of the social motivation hypothesis, and important information about the nature of the reward system in children with ASD.|</p>