Evidence from studies related to the workplace (Ziemenski, 1981 and Knautz, 1982) suggest that occupational stress is a causal factor in job-related illnesses such as coronary heart disease, psychoneurotic and personality disorders, and migraine headaches. II In addition to physiological problems resulting from stress almost every psychosocial variable of importance is affected by stress in the workplace, including productivity, morale, and the .psychological well-being of workers" (Ivancevich and Matteson, 1980). Cooper and Marshall (1975) proposed two central features of stress at work, the interaction of which determines either coping or maladaptive behavior and stress related disease: (1) the characteristics of the persons (dispositional) and (2) the potential sources of stress in the work environment (situational). There is a growing need to use stress responses to cope with stressful situations encountered in occupations. In order to fulfill their responsibilities, employees should be aware of stressors that develop. The methods utilized in this study should provide an approach to identifying stressors and assessing counterproductive job situations. The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the degrees of stress experienced by administrators, teachers I and support personnel of the District of Columbia Public School System to selected occupational factors. This study utilized a descriptive research methodology and survey technique to gather data from a sample population of employees of the District of Columbia Public School System including: (a) administrators, (b) teachers, (c) support personnel, including engineers and clerical support personnel. It was hypothesized that: (1) there is no statistically significant difference in stress levels of administrators, teachers, and support personnel as measured by responses to measurements of perceived occupational stressors (change, clarity, tedium, control, intensity and conflict) according to reported situational and dispositional factors. Analysis of Variance procedures and Pearson Moment Correlation were used to test the hypothesis. Data for the study were obtained from five high schools in the District of Columbia. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cross-age tutoring by high school students on the affective perception of fourth graders in the areas of self-concept, perception of self as a student, perception of self as a social studies student, and perception of self in the school environment. The tutoring was done in social studies--specifically in Arizona history--relating to the culture, history, and environment of the students' own surroundings. A rationale for the study was based on the social learning theory. High school students modeled behavior for the elementary students and reinforced positive learning experiences dealing with their own culture. This experience would enhance the elementary students feelings of self-worth, and improve their self-perception. The literature was reviewed from three aspects: cross-age tutoring, self-concept, and affective perception. Eight elementary classrooms, four experimental and four control, in four schools in the southwest part of Tucson, Arizona were involved in this one study. Nine hypotheses were tested dealing with self-concept and perception of self. Results of the study were assessed through the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale pre- and post-measures, and the Affective Perception Inventory. An analysis of data was subjected to a two-factor analysis of variance using a hierarchical design. The primary aspect of this design is the assumption that an individual's score is partly influenced by the social unit of which the individual is a member. In all categories the treatment of cross-age tutoring had no effect on the experimental means. The hypotheses did not prove to be significant at the F = .05 level of significance. (A significant difference was found in the direction of the control group's mean score on the post self-concept scale.) It is the finding of this study that there were too many variables, other than the tutoring process, that could not be controlled. A further examination of the results shows that there were significant school within treatment effects, in the perception of self in the school environment, which indicates that the treatment interacted with classroom variables.

The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of the male primary teacher in Arizona. It was hoped that such research would provide practical information for Arizona's teacher education programs for the purpose of attracting qualified males into teaching as well as for school districts who wish to attract and maintain qualified male primary teachers. The study population consisted of 112 primary teachers (K-3) in the public school systems of Arizona. Data for this study was obtained by the questionnaire method. The questionnaire designed for this study was based on a review of the literature. Data was gathered that pertained to three areas: Personal Attributes, Professional Attributes, and Perceived Contributions. The typical male primary teacher in Arizona is Anglo, 36, and married to a working wife. He is likely to be a first born, born out of Arizona, and not the first in the family to go to college. Most were born into a middle- or working-class family and were reared in a traditional family in that the mother's main occupation was that of a housewife. The typical male primary teacher in Arizona is likely to have a master's degree, and over half have an undergraduate degree in primary education. The majority received their degree from an Arizona institution. He is likely to be teaching in the third grade and has previously taught at the primary level. Well over half reported professional membership and have attended a professional conference within the past six months to a year. Most, however, do not belong to a professional support group. Low salaries was the most reported career impediment, and less than half see opportunities for advancement. A majority plan to continue teaching at the primary level, while some plan to teach at the intermediate level. The typical male primary teacher feels accepted by students, parents, and female colleagues. They see the public as having a more positive attitude towards men who teach grades K-3. Over half see themselves as helpful with discipline problems and effective when conferring with parents. They also see themselves as effective motivators and offering their students a different learning experience. A little over half agree that they are a father substitute and that children should have a male primary teacher. Well over half do not think boys benefit more than girls do from having a male primary teacher. Most think the elementary schools should be defeminized. Most think their school administration values their teaching at the primary level.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of giving students specific assessment criteria in the first part of a badminton unit on the response rates of students with various skill levels. This study also investigated whether setting and stating specific assessment criteria in the beginning of an activity unit increased student achievement and learning throughout the course of instruction. Participants of this study consisted of a purposeful sample of 12 female physical education students from an Indiana high school participating in a badminton unit. Data was collected during a 10-day badminton unit on two more-skilled, two average-skilled, and two less-skilled students in each of two classes. One of these classes received specific assessment criteria in the first part of the badminton unit, while the other class received the specific assessment criteria at the end of the same badminton unit. The participants' response rates for each forehand, backhand, overhand, and serve badminton hit attempted were coded as correct successful, incorrect successful, correct unsuccessful, or incorrect unsuccessful. Participant data was graphed, including a 3-day baseline, and compared between the control group and experimental group.Research findings revealed that participants in the experimental group, who received specific assessment criteria in the first part of the badminton unit, had a higher quality of response rates throughout the unit than participants of similar skill level in the control group, who did not receive the specific assessment criteria unit the end of the same unit. The results of this study suggest that student response rates increase throughout a unit when specific assessment criteria is given at the beginning of the unit for students of more-, average-, and less-skill levels. This study concludes that physical educators may increase student achievement and learning throughout an instructional unit by setting and stating specific assessment criteria at the beginning of an instructional unit. Increased student response rates mean greater time spent on task and improved skill development. / School of Physical Education

Depressive symptomology was examined in this study as a function of conflict and intimate support with parents, friends, and siblings among a non-clinical sample of 223 predominately white sixth-grade early adolescents. Moreover, sixth-graders' depressive symptomology was examined as a function of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. The purpose of the present study was twofold: 1) to explore the effects of intimate support and conflict in family and friend relationships on sixth-grade early adolescent depressive symptomology, 2) to determine whether poor conflict management skills self-efficacy and poor intimate support self-efficacy are linked with depressive symptomology in sixth-grade early adolescents. Friend relationship qualities had little impact on depression in sixth-graders. However, the presence of conflict and deficits in family intimate support, especially from parents, was associated with increased depression. Increased levels of depression also corresponded with lower ratings of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. Moreover, relationship difficulties combined with self-efficacy deficits to affect depression.

This study was concerned with analyzing selected Texas school administrators in an attempt to locate intrapersonal patterns of (1) values, (2) leadership traits, (3) personality traits, (4) critical thinking ability, (5) perception, and authoritarianism. A second aspect was correlating these profiles with each other. The study had a threefold purpose. The first was to perform a detailed analysis of school administrators to determine selected intrapersonal patterns. The second was to determine possible relationships between these selected profiles. The third was to generate plausible hypotheses for testing the intrapersonal patterns found and for determining the magnitude of any existing relationships. The case studies revealed the uniqueness of each participant in this study. With the possible exception of one individual, certain weaknesses were evident in each of the participants. Canonical correlation and the Pearson correlation of D matrices determined that a relationship existed between many of the profiles. Eight hypotheses were presented at the close of the study as guides for additional research. The results of this study indicated that further research was justified in these particular areas. The results of this study indicated that intrapersonal patterns existed within school administrators and that these patterns or profiles are related. However, the determination of the magnitude of these relationships was left to additional research.

This qualitative and quantitative study examines the potential improvement in aggressive student behaviors when a block schedule is implemented in a rural, low socio-economic and multi-cultural middle school. The number of incidents of physical aggression and harassment were obtained from official school records for the years 1992-1996. Interviews were also conducted with staff members who had long term tenure in the school and who had a clear vision of student behaviors both pre and post-block schedule implementation. The face value of the school record data suggest a dramatic improvement in student behaviors. These data corroborate very closely with interview information. Teachers believe behaviors have substantially improved. In 1992-1993 there were 30 assaults in the school. In 1993-1994 there were 15, in 1994-1995 there were 0, in and in 1995-1996 there were 4. The substantive conclusion is the development and implementation of a block schedule in this particular middle school was highly successful in helping alter the aggressive behaviors of students. / Graduation date: 1997

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how high school students managed their learning while working within the guidelines of a student-centered approach to teaching and learning. Data collected included interviews, questionnaires, participant observations, and Kolbe Conative Index scores supplied by the school. Seven teachers and forty students were interviewed. Student interviews were based on Zimmerman's (1995) self-regulation questionnaire. Teachers were interviewed using the Survey on Teaching Roles (Woolfolk, 1995). Analysis of the questionnaire on self-regulation was clustered into four categories representing Zimmerman's (1995) learning strategies. The open-ended questions dealt with strengths and weaknesses of the program and were analyzed for recurring themes. Patterns drawn from these categorized data sets were then triangulated with the Kolbe Conative Index for confirmation. It was concluded that the more productive students used four specific learning strategies: (1) organizing and transforming information, (2) goal setting and planning, (3) seeking help from peers, and (4) seeking help from adults. Less productive students were weak in two or more of these learning strategies along with one of two action modes as identified on the Kolbe. Students weak in Fact Finding or Follow Thru as identified by the Kolbe and that used all four learning strategies covered themselves with having the skills to learn. These same students talked about a fatigue factor involved in a student-centered approach. All students shared the importance of knowing themselves as learners and how that was a process learned over time. They also talked about the importance of the teacher-student relationship. Graduates of this program shared the perception that a student-centered curriculum provided more opportunity to develop the skills necessary for self-regulation than a traditional high school program. / Graduation date: 1997

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

The author examined the effect of personality traits and the buffering effect of social support on psychological well-being of primary school teachers in inclusive education in Hong Kong. A sample of 200 Chinese teachers was surveyed. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that neuroticism was highly correlated with and accounted for depression, anxiety, and burnout in our sample. Family support was found to have significant main effect on depression (R² = 48%, ΔR² = 3%), and anxiety (R² = 63%, ΔR² = 2%) when the main effects of neuroticism were partialled out. Significant moderating effect of family support on the relationship between neuroticism and depression was found. To further investigate the effect of marital status on this buffering model, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with teachers who were married and those who were single, respectively. The analyses revealed significant main effects of neuroticism regardless of teachers’ marital status. Significant main effect of family support and interaction Neuroticism x Family Support were only found for married teachers. These findings have implications that family support was an important factor in mitigating psychological distress particularly for teachers who were married and reported high level of neuroticism. Interventions of enhancing family support and school support were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences