The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among specific variables identified in research literature as obstacles and benefits to interprofessional collaboration-- academic education, interprofessional education, teamwork & communication skills, and trust-- as it relates to the participation of clergypersons in interprofessional collaborative practice. The sample consisted of ordained Christian clergypersons in Florida. The participants were asked to voluntarily complete a survey questionnaire. In order to adequately address the objective, standard multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the data. The model of four variables can account for 25% of the variation of interprofessional collaborative practice. Stepwise regression was used to analyze significant influences in the model. The results revealed that the education (academic and interprofessional) variables explained significantly 20% of the variance of interprofessional collaborative practice. Clinical implications are discussed; this includes exploring opportunities to enhance clergypersons' interprofessional education experience. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2007. / October 29, 2007. / Interprofessional, Clergypersons, Collaboration, Mental Health Counseling / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas A. Cornille, Professor Directing Dissertation; Nicholas Mazza, Outside Committee Member; Robert E. Lee, Committee Member; Lenore McWey, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine the self-reported weight control behaviors of adolescents and report any differences in the variables of age, gender, and race. Also, the relationships between weight control behaviors and exercise, body image, and sports participation were investigated. The hypotheses were that there would be differences in age, gender, and race with weight control behaviors and that there would be relationships between weight control behaviors and exercise, body image, and sports participation. The survey used in this study was the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2005. Age, gender, and race differences were found for frequency of weight control behaviors. In addition, relations were found between weight control behaviors and body image and frequency of exercise and sports participation. Age, race, and gender make a difference in adolescents engaging in weight control behaviors. Also, body image, exercise behaviors, and sports participation are related to adolescents engaging in weight control behaviors. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2010. / October 25, 2010. / Vomiting, Laxatives, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorder / Includes bibliographical references. / , ; Tom Cornille, Committee Member; Tom Ratliffe, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine the interpersonal identity development of early adolescents from ages 11-14 and its effects on academic achievement. The study was also designed to allow for cross-sectional comparisons of early adolescent interpersonal identity development including the effects of gender and age. Two hundred forty six middle school students completed the interpersonal identity section of the Extended Version of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status- II and supplied additional demographic information. Interpersonal identity development was not found to have a statistically significant relationship to academic achievement. Gender was not found to have a statistically significant effect on interpersonal identity development. Eighth grade students displayed significantly increased "foreclosed" identity statuses compared to sixth and seventh grade students. Also, school-related extracurricular activities were found to be positively and significantly related to GPA, FCAT Math, and FCAT Reading scores. The theoretical implications of the results were discussed and implications for future research were indicated. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2008. / June 18, 2008. / Interpersonal Identity, Academic Achievement, Early Adolescence, Identity / Includes bibliographical references. / Ronald L. Mullis, Professor Directing Thesis; Patrice Iatarola, Outside Committee Member; Ann K. Mullis, Committee Member.

This thesis describes the development and implementation of a curriculum augmentation for the 6th grade that utilizes archaeology and aspects of cultural, physical, and linguistic anthropology to integrate lessons from a variety of disciplines under the unifying concept of culture. The project seeks to demonstrate the utility of archaeology in the sixth grade core curriculum, while simultaneously using the formal educational system to introduce archaeology and the value of preservation to young students. The thesis project took place over an entire year, but can be divided into two major components. The first is the introduction of anthropological themes such as culture and evolution, introduced in lectures and exercises that enhance lessons presented within the core subject areas. The second is a group project where students imagine cultures, create artifacts for those cultures, bury the artifacts, excavate each others' cultures material remains, and deduce characteristics of the cultures that left the remains. This project was developed in conjunction with core subject teachers and was presented to all 177 students in the sixth grade at the Florida State University School (FSUS). A key premise of this project was that archaeology presented characteristics that could be easily exploited to help K-12 educators achieve critical educational goals. The extraordinary amount of personal and class time dedicated to this project by the teachers supports the validity of this premise. / A Thesis Submitted to the Interdisciplinary Program of Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester, 2008. / April 4, 2008. / K-12, Archaeology education / Includes bibliographical references. / Rochelle Marrinan, Professor Directing Thesis; Robert Crew, Outside Committee Member; Glen Doran, Committee Member.

This study examined the longitudinal influence of father involvement on emerging adult children's psychological well-being. This was explored in the contexts of mother involvement, interparental marital relationships, and children's attributes. In addition, it was aimed to focus only on positive aspects of children's psychological well-being, because protecting children from negative outcomes is not identical to promoting positive child outcomes. This study was based on Ecological Systems Theory. In particular, the PPCT (process, person, contexts, and time) model guided this study, in that proximal processes were represented by the interactions between a father and a child, person was represented by children's attributes, contexts were represented by mother involvement and interparental marital relationships, and time was represented by a longitudinal analysis of this study. To examine the research question, a secondary analysis was performed with three waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). The sub-sample of this study was 362 households where parents had maintained their marital relationship and responded to the survey since Wave 1, and where the focal children were the biological children of the parents. Variables of interests were constructed, using items measuring each construct: father/mother involvement, interparental marital relationship, children's attributes (race, household income, and gender), and children's psychological well-being (life satisfaction and self-mastery). The analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling with the AMOS 5.0 software. The results showed that father involvement in young childhood had a long-term influence on emerging adult children's life satisfaction. In addition, father involvement was influenced by mother involvement and interparental marital relationship contemporaneously in both Waves 1 and 2. Furthermore, interparental marital relationship was the strongest determinant of emerging adult children's life satisfaction. Mother involvement did not show any direct influence on children's psychological well-being. Interparental marital relationship and father involvement affect each other across data collection times (Waves 1 and 2). Children's attributes represented by race, household income, and gender did not affect these relationships except for the effect of father involvement at Wave 1 on children's self-mastery. All these results partially supported the hypotheses of this study and Ecological Systems Theory; children's developmental outcomes are the products of father-child relationships in the contexts of mother involvement and interparental marital relationship, and time; children's attributes were not strong determinants of child outcomes. This study suggested several implications: (1) early father involvement has a long-term influence on children's psychological well-being in emerging adulthood, (2) father involvement is influenced by contextual factors of mother involvement and parents' marital relationships, (3) children's attributes of race, household income, and gender affect father/mother involvement, interparental marital relationship, and children's psychological well-being in various ways. Although this study had limitations, it indicated that children's positive psychological well-being in emerging adulthood could be promoted by several familial factors in young childhood and adolescence as well as children's attributes. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2007. / March 28, 2007. / Life Satisfaction, Mother-Child Relationship, Interparental Marital Relationship, Fathering, Father-Child Relationship, Self-Mastery, Emerging Adulthood, Children's Well-Being / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas A. Cornille, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gary Peterson, Outside Committee Member; Ann K. Mullis, Committee Member; B. Kay Pasley, Committee Member.

This study is designed to determine if elementary students experience test anxiety in relation to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Forty-eight students were recruited from one 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classroom at a high performing elementary school in the Leon County Public School System. The pre-test anxiety measure, the Children's Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS), was given two weeks prior to the administration of the FCAT. The CTAS asks students how they feel when thinking about tests and measures three forms of anxiety responses relating to the student's thoughts, autonomic responses, and off-task behaviors. The students were also given a post-test the week after the FCAT with questions about how they felt when taking the FCAT and used the same three forms of anxiety responses included on the CTAS. Results were compared by pre/post FCAT administration, grade, race, and gender. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters in Science. / Summer Semester, 2008. / May 14, 2008. / FCAT, test anxiety, Elementary students / Includes bibliographical references. / Ann Mullis, Professor Directing Thesis; Ron Mullis, Committee Member; Jayne M. Standley, Outside Committee Member.

For seventy-five years tobacco farmers and processors in a small district along the Florida-Georgia boundary produced shade tobacco, a specialty leaf used as the outer wrapper of premium cigars. Then, within a period of a few years, the market for the product vanished, and the industry vanished with it. This paper explores several reasons offered for the decline of the business and goes on to explore what happened to the farm owners and to their largely African American work force. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2003. / November 11, 2003. / Cigar Wrapper, Shade Tobacco, Gadsden County, Cigars / Includes bibliographical references. / Elna Green, Professor Directing Thesis; Bruce Grindal, Committee Member; Barney Warf, Committee Member.

This descriptive study investigated whether emerging adults' gender differentially impacted perceptions of mother (figure's) parenting style and subsequently identity formation in African American undergraduates. To assess whether association existed between the categorical variables of gender and mother (figure) parenting style (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive) and to determine statistical significance, chi-square difference tests were conducted. To assess whether association existed between the variables of gender, mother parenting style, and identity status and determine statistical significance, frequencies and correlations were compared. Results revealed no significant differences in perceptions of mother (figures') parenting style based on gender; however, there were other specific differences noted. Emerging adults in this sample who perceived of their mother (figures) as Authoritative were more likely Undifferentiated in identity status; females in this status were more likely than males to perceive of their parenting as Authoritarian. The findings of this study appear to have implications for developing parent education in African American families and interventions for young adults who may be experiencing identity confusion. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Family Relations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2011. / March 14, 2011. / Identity, African-American Emerging Adults, Gender Differences, African-American Parenting styles, Parent-child Relations / Includes bibliographical references. / Ann K. Mullis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Patrice Iatarola, University Representative; Lenore M. McWey, Committee Member.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between African American parental involvement, parental social capital and gains in children's reading achievement. Research has examined the link between reading achievement and academic achievement and has found that children's reading gains and reading achievement are positively correlated with overall academic achievement and success. The study utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, (ECLS) Kindergarten class of 1998-1999 which is administered by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). Ten variables representing parental school involvement, parental educational expectations for their children, home and community resources, and household structure served as predictors of reading gain from Kindergarten through fifth grade. Results from this study found that parental educational expectations, that is, parents' expectations of the highest level of education their children will attain, accounted for most of the relationship with reading gain. Additionally, this study showed that there are differences in family structure and family functioning in that the structure of the family is less important than how the family functions. Finally, this study also discusses the findings in relation to implications parents, teachers, researches and policymakers. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / April 20, 2010. / African American, Parents, Parental Involvement, Reading Achievement / Includes bibliographical references. / Ann K. Mullis, Professor Directing Dissertation; Patrick Mason, University Representative; Carol Anderson Darling, Committee Member; Marsha Rehm, Committee Member.

This qualitative study was conducted to acquire a description of low income African American mother's beliefs about play's relationship with cognitive development. African American mothers of preschool children attending a Head Start program in the central region of Florida were recruited. Parental beliefs were explored through a semi-structured interview to gain insight regarding play's impact on language development, critical thinking, and social competency. Head Start was selected based on being an established national federally funded program for low income families. Overall, the sample of low-income mothers held very positive views on the value of play for cognitive development. They believed that play may be essential for young children's development in social interactions, creativity, problem solving, and other areas that contribute to kindergarten readiness. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in the Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / October 30, 2009. / African American, Low-Income, Beliefs, Play, Preschool, Head Start / Includes bibliographical references. / Marsha Rehm, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mary Francis Hanline, University Representative; Christine Readdick, Committee Member.