Researchers who study clinical and developmental psychology are often interested in answering questions such as how interventions work, when treatment begins to improve health outcomes, or for whom treatment has the greatest impact. Answers to these and similar questions impact the general understanding of health and behavior, and can be imperative for effectively implementing intervention and prevention programs. To evaluate such complex relationships among variables, researchers have turned to moderated mediation analysis. Moderated mediation analysis is a statistical tool used to identify the conditional processes among observed or latent variables. However, in developmental and clinical psychology, variables are regularly measured using multiple sources or multiple methods. In fact, best practice recommendations in clinical psychology suggest measuring variables with multiple methods (Achenbach, 2006). The question arises how to use multimethod assessments in statistical analyses such as moderated mediation analysis. The objectives of the present study were to create a multimethod moderated mediation model, apply the model to an extant dataset of child developmental behaviors, and evaluate conditions under which the model performed well using a Monte Carlo simulation study. Results from the application showed that the indirect path from hyperactivity to academic impairment through oppositional defiant behavior was significant but not moderated by inattention. Results from the simulation study indicated that excluding true method effects from a moderated mediation model resulted in unacceptable parameter and standard error bias. These results point to the advantages of using the M4 model to evaluate moderated mediation in the presence of multimethod data.

In a traditional sense, religion has been culturally, societally, and relationally influential on humankind in substantial ways. However, consumers are shifting towards a more modern expression of religion in which brands are seemingly equal alternatives. This shift is viable due to the concept of brand religiosity within community, defined as an intense devotion to a brand that is central in a consumer’s life, which is contingent upon identification with a brand community. Across four studies, I show that the concept of brand religiosity has overlooked the importance of the brand community. Although the brand is important, brand religiosity is rooted in the brand community, and the brand is the mechanism to which community members express religiosity. Specifically, I conduct 24 in-depth interviews using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to uncover antecedents and outcomes of brand religiosity within community. I empirically test the antecedents and outcomes of brand religiosity within community using Social Identity Theory. From there, I conduct a textual content analysis to reveal the nuances of brand religiosity within community in a different context. I analyze the role appreciation of the brand community plays in strengthening the outcomes of brand religiosity within community. Studies 1, 2, and 3 examine the positive aspects of brand religiosity within community; however, it is important to understand the construct holistically, so Study 4 analyzes the dark side of brand religiosity within community. Study 4 examines the outcomes of brand religiosity within community that could lend themselves to perceptions of fanaticism, ultimately hurting the brand through brand avoidance and dislike of the brand community. Conducting these studies offers answers to the following research questions – What are the antecedents and outcomes of brand religiosity within community? How do the antecedents influence brand religiosity within community and, ultimately, the outcomes? What are the nuances of brand religiosity within community? How does the appreciation of a brand community impact the relationships from brand religiosity within community to the outcomes? Does brand religiosity within community have a dark side? How can outcomes of brand religiosity within community lead to negative outcomes for a brand? Implications are also discussed.

Since the U.S. Recession of 2008, more Mexicans are leaving than coming to the United States. Many Mexican families return to Mexico with their U.S.-born--or American Mexican--children and youth. Approximately 700,000 American Mexican children and youth are now living and attending K-12 schools throughout Mexico (Gándara & Jensen, 2021; Jacobo-Suárez, 2017; Jensen et al., 2017; Passel et al., 2012). They are part of a broader category of students who have educational experiences on both sides of the border often referred to as transnational students. Return migration to Mexico presents both challenges and opportunities that affect their adaptation to Mexican schools. Current research identifies that they are “largely invisible” and face myriad bureaucratic, pedagogical, linguistic, and cultural challenges (Hamann et al., 2010, p. 230; Jensen & Jacobo-Suárez, 2019; Zúñiga & Hamann, 2013). Although research suggests these students may be at academic risk because of challenges related to their return migration, there is limited research on how they fare academically in Mexican schools. Some work addresses the effects of migration on school attendance and education attainment, but less is known about the effects of migration on academic achievement or other developmental outcomes (Giorguli et al., 2021; Jensen et al., 2018). The purpose of this study is to provide information for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in both countries to enhance academic learning opportunities for American Mexican students. While it expands our current understanding of transnational students by providing information about how they are performing academically in Mexican schools. This includes insights about their (a) individual and family background characteristics, (b) school and community milieu, and (c) migratory context in relation to their math achievement. Employing an ecological framework and a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach with multilevel data, I analyze 2018 mathematics achievement and survey data of a nationally representative sample of sixth-grade students in Mexico (a) to determine how American Mexican sixth-grade students compare to their Mexican peers and transnational counterparts consisting of those who are born in Mexico and have studied in U.S. schools (i.e., Mexican returnees) in terms of math achievement; (b) to evaluate the effects of school and community variables and migration-related factors on their math achievement; and (c) to evaluate the extent to which effects of migration on math achievement are moderated by teaching and school climate. Descriptive results offer a new narrative about transnational students. Prior studies have raised questions about their academic well-being in Mexican schools, advancing the premise that they may be falling through the cracks and academically failing, particularly on the evidence of their challenges to integrate in Mexican schools related to return migration and higher grade retention rates compared to their Mexican peers. Key findings highlight that (a) while transnational students (i.e., American Mexican students and Mexican returnees) are largely invisible in Mexico's education system, their math achievement varies considerably with American Mexican sixth graders' mean performance close to the Mexican national average and Mexican returnees' performance almost one standard deviation below; (b) there are striking distinctions in their social, educational, and migratory milieu that may be providing different in-school and out-school experiences even though their challenges may overlap in some ways, and (c) there appears to be a durable math achievement disparity between transnational students across observed differences that is not explained by the privileged social class backgrounds of American Mexican students and other factors. The implications of these findings suggest the need for Mexican administrators and teachers to tailor how their educational needs are met as well as the need for further research to examine what factors explain their math achievement disparities. SEM model results show that urbanicity and marginalization have the largest negative effect relative to other school and community factors on the math achievement of American Mexican sixth graders. A unique finding is that American Mexican sixth graders attending schools in very rural areas of Mexico had better math outcomes than their peers in urban areas. The effects of school type on math achievement follows the narrative of Mexico in which students in private schools have better academic performance than their peers in indigenous or communitarian schools. Student learning support, as element of teaching quality, has a positive and significant effect. In terms of migration-related factors, exposure to family international migration history has a negative and significant including exposure to domestic migration but with a much smaller effect. Delayed migration plans have a positive and significant effect. Less acculturation time (i.e., recency of return) signifies better math performance, an insightful finding that is contrary to expectations. While school, community, and migration-related factors had significant effects, (a) their educational aspirations, (b) having experience with grade retention, (c) their mother's level of education, and (d) living in two-parent households show high relative importance of influence on their math achievement. The implications of these unprecedented findings are consequential to integration of the students we share across borders and their academic trajectories considering many American Mexican students aspire to return to and continue their education in the U.S. These findings suggest the need for binational collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico to enhance their academic learning opportunities.

ISO 9001 has been world widely implemented in both manufacturing and service organizations. A lot of studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 implementation on the performance of these organizations. Most of these studies show that ISO 9001 implementation realized positive operational improvements and financial success. Building on the merits of successful implementation of ISO 9001 quality management system in manufacturing and service, educational institutions have been attempted to adopt it in their operations. Even though there are studies relating ISO implementation to education, no research has been done to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 at the individual level. The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of ISO 9001 quality management implementation on the performance of administrators and teachers. The Indonesian vocational education system is selected as a case example as there is a significant number of such institutions in Indonesia that attempt to achieve ISO certification and there is a national need to improve the performance of vocational education. It is a challenge to assess objectively the degree of ISO 9001 implementation in this specific educational context because of the size and diversity. This study relies on survey that measures the respondents’ perception. Hence, this study applies a self-reported survey based performance measurement. The questionnaires are developed based on extensive literature review. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) has been used to examine the relationships between the different elements of quality management systems, quality culture; administrator and teacher performances. The study is able to examine multiple interrelated dependence and subsequent relationships simultaneously among examined factors such as teacher and administrator performance, existing iv quality culture and ISO principles; and to incorporate variables that cannot be directly measured, such as leadership, for example. The findings of this study show that ISO 9001 implementation has positive significant effect on the performance of the vocational school administrator and teacher. The study also identifies key influencing elements of the ISO quality management system and examines their direct and indirect relationships with teacher and administrator performances. This study is expected to improve the current practices in implementing ISO and quality culture in any educational settings, specifically in the case of vocational educational system.

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<p> In this project we used structural equation modeling to analyze the data collected for the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) Cycle 1.2 - Mental Health and Well-Being conducted by Statistics Canada. The data are cross-sectional.</p> <p> We looked at the relation between depression and obesity adjusting for gender, socioeconomic status, gene-environment interactions, eating and physical activity and stress.</p> <p> We used the AMOS and Mplus softwares to analyze our data. The first one used continuous variables for depression ("persistence of depression", in years) and obesity ("body mass index"-BMI), while the second used categorical variables: lifetime depression, 12 month depression and obesity (normal weight, overweight and obese). We also used two variables to measure different aspects of stress: self-perceived ability to handle an unexpected problem and work stress-social support.</p> <p> We fitted the models across the entire data, but also across different groups: males versus females and groups based on gender and BMI.</p> <p> The results indicated that the relationship between depression and obesity is different across gender.</p> <p> The limitations of the study are also discussed. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The demand for workers with college level training in computer related skills is growing rapidly. Although the number of computer science jobs is growing, the percentage of these jobs currently held by women is lower than in 1983 (Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, 2004). The underrepresentation of women and minorities in postsecondary computing education has become a major national concern (Cohoon & Aspray, 2006). Despite a growing literature on women in STEM fields, there is a lack of theoretical development about women's participation and attrition in computer related majors. The findings are often inconsistent and there are few discipline-specific guidelines for policy. An important next step is to examine these insights with confirmatory quantitative methods. Larsen and Stubbs (2005) argue that efforts to increase diversity in computer fields should be broad-based and move beyond gender. Factors that are successful in attracting and retaining a diverse population of undergraduates in computer related majors will also benefit women and minorities. The purpose of this quantitative study was to develop and test a model of factors influencing the satisfaction and persistence of undergraduates in computer related majors at two universities in Virginia. There were three major independent constructs: academic, social, and institutional factors. Dependent constructs were persistence and satisfaction. The sample was a convenience sample of classes at differing academic levels. A total of 388 students in computer-related majors were surveyed during regularly scheduled class sessions. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The goal of SEM is to determine the extent to which a theoretical model is supported by data. Both measurement and structural models were tested. Results indicate that these factors have significant and substantive effects on satisfaction and persistence. They highlight the importance of faculty, peers, and family support for student satisfaction and retention, and the need to examine instruction and content in computer related majors. The findings suggest the need for further work in the measurement of the constructs, and for further refinement of the final model. In addition, comparison of individual item means suggest that models may vary significantly among majors and between white and minority students. Future research should continue to test and refine the model for the influence of academic, social, and institutional factors on student satisfaction and persistence in computer related majors so that educators and policy makers can enhance the academic and social support structures for students in these majors. / Ph. D.