No description available.

No description available.

Virtual humans serve as role-players in social skills training environments simulating situational face-to-face conversations. Previous research indicates that virtual humans in instructional roles can increase a learner's engagement and motivation towards the training. Left unaddressed is if the learner is looking at the virtual human as one would in a human-to-human, face-to-face interaction. Using a modified version of the Emergent Leader Immersive Training Environment (ELITE-Lite), this study tracks visual attention and other behavior of 120 counselor trainees counseling a virtual human role-playing counselee. Specific study elements include: (1) the counselor's level of visual attention toward the virtual counselee; (2) how changes to the counselor's viewpoint may influence the counselor's visual focus; and (3) how levels of the virtual human's behavior may influence the counselor's visual focus. Secondary considerations include aspects of learner performance, acceptance of the virtual human, and impacts of age and rank. Result highlights indicate that counselor visual attentional behavior could be separated into two phases: when the virtual human was speaking and when not speaking. When the virtual human is speaking, the counselor's primary visual attention is on the counselee, but is also split toward pre-scripted responses required for the training session. During the non-speaking phase, the counselor's visual focus was on pre-scripted responses required for training. Some of the other findings included that participants did not consider this to be like a conversation with a human, but they indicated acceptance of the virtual human as a partner with the training environment and they considered the simulation to be a useful experience. Additionally, the research indicates behavior may differ due to age or rank. Future study and design considerations for enhancements to social skills training environments are provided.

No description available.

Although developing a personal identity is a lifelong process, it has long been considered the critical developmental task faced by adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Previous studies have researched the factors contributing to identity formation and the correlates of identity; researchers have found that individuals whose identities are based in intensive exploration of values, beliefs and goals, followed by a strong commitment to said values, beliefs and goals, are more likely to have positive mental health and psychological well-being. The environment in which emerging adults face the developmental task of identity is often college or university. College students are generally separating from their families for the first time, and are faced with many decisions that will influence the development identity. Although college offers an opportunity for exploration, there are students that may not actively engage in the exploration process, potentially due to a lack of interest or ability. College student-athletes are a subset of college students that may be at a disadvantage when it comes to the exploration process. Due to their stringent schedules and focused commitment to one specific activity, college student-athletes may be developing identities that are limited in their scope while their non-athlete peers have the opportunity to explore their environments in greater depth and breadth. If this is the case, student-athletes may be at higher risk of poor mental health or psychological well-being. A factor that has not been considered in the literature is the impact that fitness behaviors have on the relationship between identity and mental health. The relationship between exercise and positive mental health has been widely researched and supported, and student-athletes regularly exercise as a part of their training. As such, the research would indicate that student-athletes are at risk of negative mental health correlates as a result of identities based on premature commitments or a lack of exploration, but would also likely benefit from the positive mental health correlates that exercising regularly would indicate. This exploratory study aimed to provide clarity to these conflicting correlates of identity and mental health, and answer three research questions about the relationship between college student identity, mental health and fitness behaviors. Data was collected from a sample of 347 college students who completed a web-based survey during the spring semester of 2016. The research questions for this study focused on the relationship between identity and mental health, and whether or not fitness behaviors moderate that relationship. Additionally, this study sought to identify any differences between student-athletes and non-student-athletes in terms of their patterns of identity and mental health. Finally, the study explored how identification with the athletic role among student-athletes impacts identity and mental health. There was no evidence found to support fitness as a moderator of identity and mental health. There were, however, trends in the results indicating that anxiety and depression do decrease for certain identity groups (i.e. Achievement, Carefree Diffusion, Undifferentiated) when individuals in that group engage in regular exercise. These findings support the need for future research on college student identity, as well as college student-athletes as a unique subset of the larger population of college students. The current research on college student identity and on student-athletes is limited in its scope, both in terms of how identity influences mental health and other factors that might contribute. This study contributes to the current literature by suggesting that fitness behaviors may moderate the relationship between identity and mental health. This would have implications for how the correlates of identity are understood and also imply that college student-athletes may be at higher risk for negative mental health consequences following their retirement from sport. For college students and college student-athletes that may be less susceptible to interventions targeting their exploration of, and commitment to, identity, interventions focusing on exercise may decrease the negative mental health correlates that have been shown to relate to identity statuses low in exploration and commitment. In summary, although there was no statistically significant evidence found to support the research questions examining identity, mental health and fitness behaviors, there were visible trends in the data. This may indicate that with a larger sample statistically significant results might be achieved. Future research that includes larger samples of college students from public and private universities and evaluates students from various areas of the United States may provide greater insight into how these variables are related. Additionally, future research that expands on the variables mental health and fitness behaviors may lead to greater understanding of how fitness may moderate the relationship between identity and mental health.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.

This study examined the Mindfulness Meditation for Sport 2.0 protocol (MMTS 2.0) (Baltzell & Summers, 2018), a six-week integrated mindfulness and self-compassion training, with a Division III women’s basketball team and coaching staff. The study design replicated a mixed method approach used in previous MMTS 2.0 studies, using an identical battery of eight validated quantitative instruments (with the student athletes only), as well as a qualitative interview guide (slightly modified for this study for sport-specificity). Both student athletes and coaches were interviewed post-training in order to explore their self-reported perceptions of the impact and the benefits and challenges of the MMTS 2.0 training. The MMTS 2.0 protocol was delivered by the researcher to fifteen total participants (n=15), ten student athletes and five coaches, over six weekly one-hour sessions. In addition to the weekly group sessions, as part of the MMTS 2.0 training, home practice was encouraged using audio-recorded meditations. The primary objective of the MMTS 2.0 training was to increase the student athletes’ and coaches’ poise as defined by ability to cope with the experience of negative thoughts and emotions that may be present due to the pressures of competition and training. In addition, the objectives of increased focus and psychological flexibility were investigated. The researcher hypothesized that the MMTS 2.0 intervention would show increases in measures of mindfulness and self-compassion, and other indices of sport-related performance variables (e.g., flow, grit, psychological inflexibility, etc.), as well as participant well-being. Reductions in sport-related anxiety and psychological inflexibility were hypothesized. The quantitative findings revealed no statistically significant results regarding the eight quantitative measures as well as no demonstrated moderate effect sizes. The qualitative results indicated strong support for the training. Both groups, student athletes and coaches, described a range of perceived impacts, aligning with the training’s core objectives of increased poise, focus and psychological flexibility. The emerging themes in the interview data revealed evidence for overall enhancements in awareness, focus, stress management, and strong support for enhanced team climate. The discussion synthesizes the findings and offers suggestions for future implementation and coach involvement.

The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how community-based organizations are supporting the positive development of court-involved youth. More specifically, this study examined how organizations support youth’s access to work-based learning opportunities. This study also investigated how organizations determine the kinds of activities to implement in their comprehensive transition programs. Additionally, this study sought to understand whether and in what ways these programs are incorporating positive youth development (PYD) principles. Purposive sampling identified five organizations that are implementing work-based learning programs for court-involved youth. These organizations were located in the Midwest, South, East and Western regions of the United States. The research considered multiple sources of data, including documentation review, semi-structured interviews, field notes and survey interviews. Documents collected included administrative reports, brochures, evaluation reports, annual reports, samples of recruitment materials, youth needs assessment, and partnership agreements with businesses. The semi-structured, open-ended interview was conducted with an executive director of each organization using an interview protocol that was guided by positive youth development and well-being frameworks. Survey interviews were conducted with other stakeholders of the organizations using a structured qualitative questionnaire. The data were analyzed using cross-case analysis. Each organization’s documentation, survey data and interviews were studied as a separate case to identify similarities, differences and unique patterns within the data. Then, a logic model was generated for each organization. Next, the separate logic models were compared using cross-case analysis. Lastly, based on the knowledge that emerged from the analyses, a proposed theory of change was created illustrating potential ways to incorporate positive youth development to guide future program design efforts. The major findings of the study were: (1) partnerships with various organizations explain the extent to which court-involved youth gain access to WBL activities; (2) the development of a theory of change, framework or assumptions based in evidenced based research impacts the integration of PYD principles in program activities; and (3) implementation of PYD principles varies across organizations.

In my dissertation, I broadly investigate social essentialism across three studies. More specifically, I examined three particular types of essentialist beliefs: stability, strict boundary, and homogeneity beliefs. In the first two studies, I explored the mechanisms through which children and adults come to understand race as a stable construct. A third study built upon this work to inform the development of interventions designed to enhance cognitive flexibility and ultimately reduce intergroup conflict. In Study 1, I looked at children’s stability beliefs and how they differed based on a child’s age and racial background (monoracial Black versus biracial Black). This concept has been understudied among children of color in present day society, resulting in outdated and disjointed research. Results from Study 1 indicated that the development of race essentialism looked differently for monoracial Black and biracial Black children until age 7 at which point the two groups looked similar. Subsequently, I was interested in building upon Study 1 and examining stability beliefs at the other end of the lifespan to consider adults’ race essentialism. Existing research links essentialism with stereotyping and discrimination among adults, warranting a more nuanced understanding of its development and maintenance over time. More specifically, in Study 2, I investigated how levels of race essentialism varied based upon demographic variables. Lastly, in Study 3, I examined children’s sensitivity to information presented on a continuum as opposed to categorically and the impact such framing had on their similarity judgments and inferences about behavior. Children of color from low-income backgrounds who received the continuum framing were able to perceive greater variability within members of the same group and greater similarity between members of different groups, corroborating previous work with 4-year-old middle- to upper middle-income children. Lastly, the final chapter of this dissertation addresses the implications of these findings for the field of education as well as clinical practice. Taken together, these results have the potential to inform classroom teachers, caregivers, and clinicians about the importance of encouraging the development of cognitive flexibility, especially in the context of social categories. / 2021-06-03T00:00:00Z

Critical consciousness refers to the process by which individuals increase awareness of the forces that perpetuate societal injustice and develop a sense of efficacy and empowerment to challenge them (Jemal, 2017). Critical consciousness has been correlated with aspects of positive youth development such as mental health and improved academic and civic engagement. However, less is known about the specific factors that may contribute to critical consciousness among youth, and particularly among White youth, who are under-studied with regard to their role in dismantling injustices in their environments. As such, this exploratory study aimed to examine the extent to which mental health indicators (i.e., presence of wellbeing and absence of psychological distress) and factors related to peer, parent, and school socialization (i.e., political discussions with peers, intergroup contact, political discussions with parents, and school-level critical consciousness) were associated with each dimension of critical consciousness (critical reflection, critical motivation, and critical action) among White adolescents. Additionally, given links between critical consciousness and taking action to challenge injustice, this study also explored the extent to which each dimension of critical consciousness related to self-reported bystander behaviors during incidents of bias-based harassment at school. Participants (n = 374 White high school students) completed an online survey which assessed critical consciousness, mental health (wellbeing and psychological distress), factors related to peer, parent, and school socialization, and self-reported bystander behaviors when witnessing bias-based harassment at their schools. Of the various factors explored, results consistently indicated a significant, positive association between youths’ general wellbeing and dimensions of critical consciousness. Additionally, critical motivation was the only dimension of critical consciousness that was significantly associated with self-reported bystander behaviors while witnessing bias-based harassment at school, suggesting that the development of motivation and efficacy to act against injustice may be an important component of intervention programs seeking to reduce bias-based harassment in schools. These findings contribute to the growing body of literature on critical consciousness among adolescents, as researchers increasingly seek to understand factors that support critical consciousness development, as well as the extent to which critical consciousness promotes action to combat injustice and inequity, particularly among White youth. Findings also have practical implications for school-based efforts to prevent bias-based harassment among youth, in that they indicate a relation between critical motivation (or perceived efficacy in the ability to challenge injustice) and bystander behaviors. / 2025-08-24T00:00:00Z