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An individual may internalize their role as a police officer which may affect identity when that role is changed at retirement. The purpose of this study was to measure the identity role effects of former police personnel who have transitioned from a police department to civilian life. Past research has indicated identity change with role transition. Social identity theory addressed individuals who categorize, identify, and compare themselves as part of a group. Role theory addressed behavior based on social membership, which may change when roles are transitioned. Adjustment regarding a voluntarily verses a forced early retirement from a police department was measured, along with continuation of work after retirement versus not continuing to work after retirement. Also, adjustment of retired police officers who continue employment in a police- related field versus a non-police-related field was measured along with length of retirement. A sample of 204 retired police personnel was recruited and participants completed a questionnaire. Data were analyzed to address the research questions using independent sample t-tests and one- way ANOVAs to determine relationships between variables. Results indicated that police officers are significantly better adjusted to a voluntary retirement versus a forced retirement from a police department, as p < .05. No difference in adjustment regarding continuation of employment after retirement from a police department, continued employment in a police-related or non-police-related field, or length of retirement of police officers was found. This study may potentially benefit communities in understanding that police departments could aid retired police officers with identity well-being in retirement.

Urban middle school students experience poor self-efficacy and poor attitudes toward school climates after being retained. Previous research has indicated that grade-level retention in primary and secondary education might cause long-term achievement gaps, school failure, and high school dropout rates. However, current research has yet to examine relationships between archival data retrieved on retained middle school students' achievement outcomes and perceptions of school climate. The purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study was to assess the relationships between retained middle school students' self-efficacy as measured by the School Climate Survey and their performance outcomes as measured by PowerSchool®. Bandura's theory of self-efficacy maintains that an individual must have the belief, motivation, determination, and drive to persevere when challenged. The archival data were collected from 1 northeastern urban middle school in the United States representing underachieving participants (N = 45) enrolled in the Postive Academic and Behavioral Support Program during the academic school years of 2017 and 2018. Population groups of female and male students ranged in age between 11-14 years old. A repeated measure design analyzed the same participants over a 6-month period by measuring archival data on achievement outcomes from GPAs, attendance, and demographics (sex and age). Results showed significant increases in GPAs and significant increases in males' positive perceptions of school over the school years of 2017 and 2018. The results of this study can be used to promote positive social change for education professionals working in urban school districts providing support services to at-risk students facing school failure.

This study examined the inconsistency within research surrounding the relationship between executive functioning skills and autism symptomology in those being assessed for autism in early childhood (e.g., 34 to 60 months of age). Inconsistencies in current research connecting autism symptomology and executive dysfunction affect the best practice of practitioners that assess for disabilities. This study aimed to identify correlations between autism symptomology and executive functioning skills and whether combining autism symptomology and executive functioning skills assessments provide a more reliable classification as autism or non-autism. The framework foundation drew upon research that determined connections between those suffering from traumatic brain injury to the frontal lobe and those with autism. Autism and executive functioning testing outcomes (N = 42) were provided by an early childhood assessment center and entered in to multiple linear and logistic regression models. The results of the multiple linear regression indicated that there is a significant relationship between executive function skills and autism symptoms, and the results of the multiple logistic regression showed that together executive functioning skills and autism symptomology are strong predictors of classification. There is a positive social impact in the results of this study as it provides further knowledge of the best practice for practitioners who assess for disabilities due to the established connections between executive function deficits and autism in early childhood and determined some predictors when assessing for autism. The results may affect how autism and recommendations are identified in early childhood.

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<p> Computer users with low vision must use additional methods to enlarge content in order to perceive content comfortably. One common method is a screen magnifier, which typically requires horizontal scrolling. Another method is through the web browser zoom controls, and with the coding technique, responsive web design (RWD), content remains within the browser window as it is enlarged. The purpose of the present study was to assess how the different magnification methods affect reading comprehension and visual fatigue of people with low vision when reading on a computer screen. After reading on a screen magnifier for about an hour, participants tended to report higher levels of nausea. Younger participants also completed the second half of reading passages quicker than the first with this method. This finding was likely due to a strong aversion for using a screen magnifier for extended periods of time due to the need to horizontally scroll.</p>

abstract: Coarsely grouped counts or frequencies are commonly used in the behavioral sciences. Grouped count and grouped frequency (GCGF) that are used as outcome variables often violate the assumptions of linear regression as well as models designed for categorical outcomes; there is no analytic model that is designed specifically to accommodate GCGF outcomes. The purpose of this dissertation was to compare the statistical performance of four regression models (linear regression, Poisson regression, ordinal logistic regression, and beta regression) that can be used when the outcome is a GCGF variable. A simulation study was used to determine the power, type I error, and confidence interval (CI) coverage rates for these models under different conditions. Mean structure, variance structure, effect size, continuous or binary predictor, and sample size were included in the factorial design. Mean structures reflected either a linear relationship or an exponential relationship between the predictor and the outcome. Variance structures reflected homoscedastic (as in linear regression), heteroscedastic (monotonically increasing) or heteroscedastic (increasing then decreasing) variance. Small to medium, large, and very large effect sizes were examined. Sample sizes were 100, 200, 500, and 1000. Results of the simulation study showed that ordinal logistic regression produced type I error, statistical power, and CI coverage rates that were consistently within acceptable limits. Linear regression produced type I error and statistical power that were within acceptable limits, but CI coverage was too low for several conditions important to the analysis of counts and frequencies. Poisson regression and beta regression displayed inflated type I error, low statistical power, and low CI coverage rates for nearly all conditions. All models produced unbiased estimates of the regression coefficient. Based on the statistical performance of the four models, ordinal logistic regression seems to be the preferred method for analyzing GCGF outcomes. Linear regression also performed well, but CI coverage was too low for conditions with an exponential mean structure and/or heteroscedastic variance. Some aspects of model prediction, such as model fit, were not assessed here; more research is necessary to determine which statistical model best captures the unique properties of GCGF outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Psychology 2012

<p> This dissertation explores the surprising phenomenon of listeners' unconsciously breathing in time to music, inspiring and expiring at select moments of specific works. When and how the experience of hearing music might produce stimulus-synchronous respiratory events is studied through Repeated Response Case Studies, gathering participants' respiratory sequences during repeated listenings to recorded music, and through Audience Response Experiments, responses for participants experiencing live music together in a concert hall. </p><p> Activity Analysis, a new statistical technique, supported the development and definition of discrete phase components of the breath cycle that come into coordination: the onsets of inspiration and expiration, the intervals of high flow during these two main phases, and the post-expiration pause. Alignment in these components across listenings illuminate when the naturalistic complex stimuli can attract or cue listener respiration events. </p><p> Four patterns of respiratory phase alignment are identified through detailed analysis of stimuli and responses. Participants inspired with the inspirations of vocalists and wind performers, suggesting embodied perception and imagined action may exert influence on their quiet breathing. Participants suppressed and delayed inspirations when the music was highly unpredictable, suggesting adaptation in aid of auditory attention. Similar behaviour occurred with sustained sounds of exceptional aesthetic value. Participants inspired with recurring motivic material and similar high salience events, as if marking them in recognition or amplifying their affective impact. And finally, participants occasionally breathed following structural endings, suggesting a sigh-like function of releasing the respiratory system from cortical control. </p><p> These instances of music-aligned respiratory phase alignment seemed to be stronger in participants who were typically active with heard music, but the impacts of training and expertise was not a simple condition for this behaviour. Contrasts between case study participants showed highly idiosyncratic patterns of respiratory alignment and differences in susceptibility along side moments of shared effect. In the audience experiments, alignment within phase components was measurable and significant, but rarely involved more than a quarter of participants in any given instance. These levels of concurrent activity in respiration underline the subtlety of this bodily response to music.</p><p>