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I interviewed twenty-four International students from the following countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Spain. Hereafter I shall refer to the respondents as Hispanic International students. My primary interest was to learn the way in which Hispanic International students defined themselves in view of ethnic definitions imposed on them by the administrative system in the U.S. First, Hispanic International students defined themselves primarily by their nationality. The second finding dealt with the usage of language. The Hispanic International students spoke Spanish with relatives and friends. They spoke English when a non-Spanish speaker joined the conversation. The third finding was related to the problems and adaptations encountered by Hispanic International students.

In recent years America has witnessed a major shift in its population to various geographic regions. Educators have speculated on the effects of this frequent migration on students' academic and social advancement. Educators have also been interested in the effects of grade retention on academic and social advancement. Despite research on each of these factors, no investigations have addressed these factors in conjunction with each other. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of high student mobility on classroom teachers' promotion-retention decisions. Additionally, other factors that may influence classroom teachers' promotion-retention decisions were examined. Two hundred twelve elementary school teachers evaluated two case studies: one of a highly mobile student, and one of a non-mobile student. Each subsequently made a decision to either retain or promote that student. Both first grade and fifth grade students were considered. Each case study was identical for each grade level with the exception of the number of schools attended. Although the retention-promotion decisions did not differ significantly for first grade students, the teachers chose to retain the mobile fifth grade student more frequently than the non-mobile fifth grade student. Examination of various factors on a retention questionnaire revealed that different factors emerged as most important to the teachers when making promotion-retention decisions. The factors differed for both grade level and mobility status. The results were discussed in relation to interventions that may be warranted in an attempt to alleviate disadvantages in entering a new school. Further investigation of the mobile student-grade retention relationship was indicated. Additional investigation of the highly mobile minority student was also emphasized.

This study examined the question of whether there was a difference in the general school experiences of children who move to a new country with an entirely different culture and language and children who immigrate to a country with a language and culture that is similar to their native culture. It was noted that existing literature had stated that immigrant children's school experiences can be affected by any attitudes about the country of immigration and its people which they pick up from their parents as well as from the degree of parents' willingness to interact with the new culture. Based on these postulates, it was predicted that being in a culture different from one's own makes for far more problems in school than merely language or academic difficulties. Subjects in the study consisted of Arab families whose children were attending school in either the United States of America or the United Arab Emirate and who had one or more children in the fourth or fifth grades. All data were collected using researcher-designed questionnaires given to parents, children, and their teachers. Four research questions were formulated which examined the general school experiences of Arabic school children who immigrated to the United Arab Emirate or to the United States. The findings reveal that U.A.E. parents held more positive views of their children's school experiences than did U.S.A. parents. However, children in both U.A.E. and U.S.A. show positive views in terms of general school experiences. Teachers' perceptions of children's school adjustment and level of school success did not differ in association with cultural differences. Both descriptive (computation of frequencies and percentages) and inferential (t-tests, chi square) analyses were conducted. Findings revealed several differences in association with differences in the similarity/dissimilarity of the country of immigration to the country of birth for parents, children, and teacher groups. The study recommended that objective measures, more social variables, gender differences, time period of immigration, different level of schooling, language proficiency and method of teaching be investigated in the future.

Chinese international students in American colleges and universities report low levels of physical activity involvement, which may limit them in terms of realizing their full human potential (i.e., cognitively, physically, socially). The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the psychosocial mechanisms as well as the sociocultural influences to understand physical activity behavior among Chinese international students in American higher education. The first manuscript reviewed the background of physical activity participation among Chinese students. It also reviewed empirical findings related to the Youth Physical Activity Promotion (YPAP) model (Welk, 1999). The second manuscript tested a model of meeting physical activity recommendation (MPAR), using the YPAP model as the guiding framework in an effort to identify theoretical predictors of physical activity participation among Chinese international students. Results revealed that the predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors predicted MPAR among Chinese international students. Different from Welk's (1999) model, however, we found that the enabling and reinforcing factors influenced physical activity indirectly through the predisposing factors, able(i.e., Am I able?) and worth (i.e., Is it worth it?), instead of directly. The results clarify how the YPAP model might be used to understand the physical activity behavior of Chinese international students studying in American colleges and universities. The third manuscript qualitatively explored the physical activity experiences of Chinese female international graduate students in terms of meanings, facilitators, and barriers to participation. It revealed that physical activity provided the participants with a break from their academic work, allowed them some alone time, gave them feelings of accomplishment, and taught them a process for accomplishing other things in their lives. Major facilitators included social influences, the availability of ample resources, their changing perceptions of femininity, and the need to improve or maintain their health. The most frequent barriers included a lack of time, self-efficacy, social support, "how to" information, and cultural barriers. This study adds to our understanding of the physical activity experiences of Chinese international graduate students, as well offers some direction to colleges and universities in the U.S. regarding how they might facilitate the physical activity behavior of Chinese international graduate students in the future. Based on the two empirical studies, colleges and universities ought to provide physical activity resources, as well as social resources, to increase the perceived competence, self-efficacy, positive attitude, and enjoyment of physical activity among Chinese international students. University curriculums and fitness training programs should include cross-cultural course content to increase awareness of the unique needs of international students, as well as to help them to remove barriers to their physical activity participation. / Graduation date: 2012

In this study, I explore the ideas of doctoral level counselor education students on spirituality using a postmodern feminist research paradigm. I have found spirituality to be vital aspect of my own life and have been pleased to see its importance recognized within the counseling field. I analyzed the data through an intra case analysis and a cross case analysis. Within the intra case analysis, several findings were described including: definitions of spirituality, religion, spiritual experiences, counseling clients, counselor education, ethics, and more. From the cross case analysis, I perceived two themes. The first theme included questioning important aspects of life. The second theme was related to the ethical concerns surrounding spirituality in the education of counselors and in the counseling of clients. The participants seemed concerned about a counselor or professor imposing her/his beliefs on clients or students. Several mentioned they preferred to wait for clients to bring up spiritual issues rather than bring these issues up themselves. Suggestions for future research are given. / Graduation date: 2001

The field of gender bias indicates that teachers are a significant source of gender-role socialization for students. This study focuses on post hoc recollections of college students' perceptions of gender bias exhibited by their high school teachers. Specifically, this study asks students to define sex discrimination, as well as describe instances of sex discrimination they experienced or observed exhibited by their high school teachers. Several unanswered questions emerged from a review of the literature: (1) students' reports of the extent to which they experience sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers; (2) students' observations of sex discrimination exhibited toward students of the same sex, as well as toward students of the opposite sex; (3) students' reports of the sex of teacher involved in the sexually discriminative instances they describe; (4) students' definitions of sex discrimination; and (5) students' descriptions of their own experiences of sex discrimination. Consequently, one hypothesis and five research questions are posed to investigate these unanswered questions in the literature. A survey instrument incorporating both closed and open-ended questions explores the hypothesis and research questions. Participants for this study include 149 undergraduate students (63 females, 86 males) in introductory communication and psychology courses at a western university. Results of the survey are analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The closed-ended questions reveal that male and female students experienced and observed sex discrimination exhibited by their teachers with similar frequency (in this case 'Very Rarely'). The open-ended questions indicate that males and females experienced and observed their teachers exhibiting different types of sexually discriminative behaviors toward male and female students (e.g., females described being treated as if they were unintelligent; males described being disciplined more strictly than females). Both male and female students' definitions of sex discrimination are very similar. In addition, the sex of the teacher described exhibiting sex discrimination appears to make a difference. Although previous research seems to suggest that male and female teachers are equally biased in their display of sexually discriminative behavior toward male and female students, this study's results show that both male and female students perceived male teachers to be more biased toward female students than female teachers. / Graduation date: 1995

This study focused on the worldminded attitudes of Japanese college students in Japan and in the United States. The effects of studying abroad and the change in attitudes between Japanese college male students and female students were examined in terms of worldmindedness, which is defined as a frame of reference, or value orientation, favoring a worldview of the problems of humanity, with mankind rather than nationals of a particular country as the primary reference group. In this study worldminded attitudes are defined as attitudes about religion, immigration, government, economics, patriotism, race, education and war. This study tested the hypotheses that worldmindedness scores would increase as a result of the study program in the United States, and that Japanese women would score higher worldmindedness scores than would Japanese men. The data were collected from Japanese students who studied at Oregon State University for five months, and those who had not studied abroad before. The results revealed that woridmindedness scores increased as a result of the study in the United States, supporting the first hypothesis. While female students began their foreign study significantly more worldminded than their male counterparts, only the males changed significantly. Paradoxically, the females who did not study abroad scored more worilmindedness than the females who did. However, the sample size for females was very small (N=18). Generalizations drawn from the experimental group data are limited by the low completion rate: the data were collected during the last two weeks of a five-month period at Oregon State University, and only 40 percent of the questionnaire were completed. Therefore, those who had adopted more worldminded position might have been over represented. A replication of the study could insure against partial data. Also, it would be important to know if Japanese students revert back to their less worldminded views after returning to Japan. Longitudinal studies could resolve this issue. / Graduation date: 1991

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