Florence J. J. Yip. / Includes questionnaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-40).

There are two general goals that personality researchers seek to accomplish. The first goal is to define domains that comprise the thousands of personal characteristics that make a person unique. And the second is to examine the generalizability of dimensions across cultures and languages, that is, to observe whether personality domains are universal or culture-specific. Following the steps of personality psychologists the first goal of this dissertation was to define dimensions of personality of Americans and Mexicans, and the second was to observe if dimensions were equivalent or unique across these two cultures. Typically personality researchers, in order to identify the most relevant aspects of human personality, have turned to a questionnaire method whereby people rate themselves along dimensions of traits most often described in natural language. These trait terms are derived from various dictionaries within the researchers' culture. Multiple ratings are then factor analyzed yielding a smaller group of broad traits that then serve to define the culture's primary personality dimensions. In this investigation, personality terms were culled from open-ended personality descriptions. Relying on a new text analytic procedure called the meaning extraction method, it was possible to define dimensions of personality in Americans and Mexicans. The factoranalytically derived results showed that there were seven relevant dimensions of personality for Americans and six dimensions for Mexicans. Using qualitative and quantitative analyses it was possible to observe which dimensions were equivalent and which dimensions were unique to each culture. Specifically, for both Americans and Mexicans, the most important dimensions were Sociability, Values, Hobbies/Activities, and Emotionality. Three dimensions were unique to Americans (i.e., Fun, Existentialism, and College Experience), and two for the Mexicans (Relationships and Simpatía). Other analyses were done to explore the universality and uniqueness of the dimensions. For example, dimensions were correlated with self-reports that measure dimensions wellestablished by personality researchers. The challenge of establishing dimensions across cultures and languages are discussed, along with the limitations of the approach.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine educators’ perceptions of how students’ social and emotional needs impact the educational environment and to determine if participating educators felt prepared to meet their students’ social and emotional needs. The research was conducted in two Midwestern states using an online survey instrument. The study participants included in-service teachers, former educators, college faculty, and graduate-education students, all of whom were solicited using a convenience sample method. Participants were solicited from graduate-level education classes and from a public school system. The participants varied in numerous ways including age, gender, educational training and teaching experiences. Data gathered in the study was used to examine the relationships between the educators’ initial teacher training and the educators’ perceptions concerning the importance of meeting students' social and emotional needs in the classroom. The majority of educators (93%) ranked meeting students’ social and emotional needs in their classrooms as either important or very important. Many educators reported that they believed meeting students’ social and emotional needs impacted the students’ learning. Most educators (81%) indicated that their initial teacher did not properly prepare them to meet their students’ social and emotional needs. Additionally, 75% of the educators reported that they would be interested in receiving more training in this area. Some of the educators’ responses appeared to be related to their education, experience and training. Special education teachers were most likely to suggest that meeting students’ social and emotional needs would improve their students’ learning. Early childhood educators ranked the importance of meeting students’ social and emotional needs significantly higher than did their colleagues who were working with older students. Educators trained during or after 2002 felt better prepared in areas concerning social and emotional needs than those trained before 2002. The results of this survey indicate that educators perceive social and emotional learning to be an important topic and are interested in receiving more training in this area. More research is needed to solicit opinions from educators across the United States on how to best prepare and support classroom teachers in the area of meeting students’ social and emotional needs. / Department of Elementary Education

The purpose of this project was to examine potential differences in undergraduate student attachment styles based on their nationality (Taiwanese and U.S.), gender (female and male), and the duration of their dating relationships (no relationship, less than 1 year, more than 1 year but less than 2 years, more than 2 years but less than 3 years, and more than 3 years). A total of 2,580 students participated in this study. Of these students, 1,298 were recruited from a university in Taiwan, and 1,282 were obtained from a university in the U.S. Due to a lack of culturally-sensitive attachment theory and measures for the Asian population, in the current project, the author created a new scale based on the five Eastern cultural constructs identified by Wang and Song (2010) in order to gather data to better understand Taiwanese relational patterns. However, rather than confirming the five cultural constructs, a three-factor solution was found in this project. This solution better fit the data for Taiwanese students. The three-factors that were discovered were dialectical thinking and interdependent self-construal, filial piety, and yuan. In the study to test the hypotheses, it was found that among the three cultural constructs, dialectical thinking and interdependency and yuan seemed to be more relevant to the attachment styles of Taiwanese students than filial piety. For the U.S. students, however, responses to yuan were significantly correlated with responses to attachment styles. Regarding the comparison between Taiwanese and U.S. participants, Taiwanese respondents seemed to relate to a dialectical thinking pattern, interdependency, and yuan better than U.S. students, while U.S. respondents rated higher on filial piety than the Taiwanese participants. In addition, the longer individuals were involved in a dating relationship, the lower they scored on attachment avoidance. Even though females' overall scores on avoidance were higher than males, being in a relationship had greater salience for females than males. Strengths, limitations, and implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Global self-worth -- Sense of competence -- Acculturation -- Psychological adjustment -- Self-Perception Profile for College Students -- Multicultural Acculturation Scale -- Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) -- One-way MANOVA.

This study compares American and Turkish male and female university students in terms of moral orientation (justice and care) and Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning to examine the influence of culture and gender on moral development. A total of 324 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 46 are administered the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and the Measure of Moral Orientation (MMO). Statistical analyses indicate Turkish participants reflect more postconventional reasoning, while American participants reflect more conventional reasoning, particularly Stage 4 reasoning. Analyses also reveal Turkish participants reflect significantly more care orientation and more justice orientation compared to American participants. These findings are discussed in terms of cultural and gender influences in moral decision-making.

The growing Haitian population in the United States is directly affecting all institutions of higher education As institutions continue to diversify across the country, HBCUs are also responding to this trend According to Ricard and Brown (2008), HBCUs are changing in order to keep up with the growing demand of institutional diversity, and they recognize that having a diversified student body will make the institutions more competitive Although their historic mission focuses on educating Black students, there remains a gap in the literature on HBCUs on one of the largest Black groups in the United States: the Haitian immigrant In the literature, the Haitian population constitutes approximately 15% of the total US foreign-born population, and 15% of the total Black immigrant population in the US, behind Jamaicans at 18%, respectively Moreover, Haitians make up the fourth largest immigrant population from the Caribbean behind Cubans, Dominicans, and Jamaicans (Anderson, 2015) However, these numbers do not include the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who fled the Country after the devastating earthquake of 2010 nor the thousands of undocumented Haitian immigrants currently living in the US This qualitative phenomenological study sought to explore the college choice process of ten Haitian students who chose to attend a highly selective HBCU located in the Northeast region of the United States Moreover, this study sought to explore how these ten Haitian students developed a sense of belonging to the HBCU campus The primary methods for data collection included semi-structured one-on-one interviews, a demographic questionnaire, and artifact analysis Using the theoretical frameworks of Chapman’s (1981) Model of College Choice and Sense of Belonging, this study discovered the factors that influence Haitian students’ decision to attend a highly selective HBCU centers around family Moreover, this study discovered that Haitian students at a highly selective HBCU described their sense of belonging through various forms of relationships / Includes bibliography / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) constructed a universal psychological structure for cross-cultural studies of motivational dynamics. To test this structure, Simmons (1991) adapted data from a twenty year broad-based value survey of student cohorts at an American university. The availability of reliable, long-term data on American students permitted a comparison with responses of contemporary Chinese college students to a standardized personal value questionnaire. Ratings and priorities assigned by the Chinese and American students differed significantly. Chinese students emphasized Achievement, Maturity, and Prosocial motivational domains. American students emphasized Self-Direction, Security, and Enjoyment. Tradition, Power, and Stimulation were listed as least important for both groups. The effects of traditional Chinese religious and philosophical teachings on the stability of community norms were noted, as was some evidence of priority shifts in the values for Chinese youth, suggesting changes in response to altered political and economic expectations in China. / Graduation date: 1992

Ethnic differences in etiological factors linked to body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders were examined. In addition, the interaction of acculturation and body image dissatisfaction in influencing minority women's relationships with their parents was investigated. Participants consisted of 302 undergraduates from three ethnic groups: Caucasian, Hispanic American, and African American women who were administered self-report measures. Differences were not found between the groups in body image dissatisfaction. Low self-esteem, internalization of the thin ideal, and family emphasis on weight and appearance were all related to more body image dissatisfaction for each of these groups; however, differences in degree of endorsement were also noted between the ethnic groups on these factors. Based on the interaction findings (body image x acculturation) separation from one's mother was found in the area of attitudes and emotions for the Hispanic sample but not for the African American sample on any of the parent scales. Areas for future research and implications for diagnosis and treatment of minority populations are also discussed.