Thesis advisor: Anderson J. Franklin / The differential effects of the achievement gap on lower-income youth persist in this country (National Association of State Boards of Education, 2013). Recognition of the role of Out-of-School Time (OST) factors contributing to achievement differences has been growing (Gordon, Bridglall, & Meroe, 2005). As a result, OST programs have been gaining popularity; however, program efficacy varies. Socio-emotional climate represents one area of quality that likely influences student outcomes. Socio-emotional climate was assessed through a custom observation tool from a larger study. Social competence and resilience was the outcome variable as measured by the DESSA-RRE. Factor analysis empirically profiled the socio-emotional climates of 37 summer learning programs from five school districts across the country, resulting in four “GROW” dimensions of socio-emotional climate: (1) Growth-promoting Instruction, (2) Resolve and Focus, (3) Organization, and (4) Warmth. Given the randomized control design of the larger study, variability among the 37 climates was limited. Thus, hierarchical linear regression examined the influence of climate on students’ outcomes. HLR found that the socio-emotional climate explained a statistically significant (R2=0.12, p<0.001, f2=0.14) amount of variance in students’ social competence and resilience, above and beyond demographics alone (􏰀 R2=0.005, p=0.007, f2=0.01). Moderation results were non- significant. Limitations to the study centered on data collection and quantitative methodology. Implications for both counseling psychologists and OST providers were discussed at length, notably supporting programs towards Growth-promoting Instruction. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Due to globalization and increasing complexity within the business environment, teams have become a way of life for many organizations in order to generate higher performance and sustain competitive advantage. Organizations, however, may fail to fully benefit from teams despite all the investment and efforts that they make. Herein, we believe that a possible way to cope with these failures might be establishing an understanding that individuals’, particularly team members’ need for autonomy within teams through accomplishing self-discipline and managing their emotions and behaviors. Therefore, our purpose in this study is to investigate the relationship between individuals’ emotional intelligence and their self-leadership ability in the context of team performance. In line with this purpose, we find plausible to employ conceptual research approach in order to build an integrated and logical model, with proposed hypotheses, which could be used as a departure point for the researchers and their empirical studies in the future. Through this model, we argue that individuals’ emotional intelligence has a positive impact on the self-leadership ability and its three strategies, which are behavior focus strategy, natural reward strategy, and constructive thought patterns strategy, by managing and regulating one’s own and other’s emotions. Hence, as suggested, the association of emotional intelligence and self-leadership can influence team communication, team trust, team learning and team creativity positively thus it may enhance the overall team performance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that a cognitivebehavioral based psycho-educational group counseling program would increase at-risk female adolescent emotional intelligence (EI). The EI research reviewed and discussed entailed a competency building program composed of affirmations, meditation guided imagery, individual therapy sessions, group therapy, psychodrama, journaling, and parent handouts. The study was based upon theories related to the development of EI in at-risk youth, and the outcome research related to the effectiveness of emotional interventions for enhancing positive social-emotional development of at-risk adolescents. ...T his study investigated whether a group therapy process that encompasses programmatic components fostering self-regulation, self-awareness, empathy, and positive social skills, could effectively increase the EI and social adjustment of a target group of at-risk female adolescents. / by Monica Nicoll. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Teacher-student relationships can influence the academic, social, and behavioral adjustment of children and youth. Students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) experience poor quality relationships with teachers. The current study explores the importance of working alliance (i.e., agreement on tasks and goals, bond) among teachers and their students. Seventy-six teacher-student dyads completed measures of classroom working alliance, perceptions of the student-teacher relationship, student engagement, and student behavior (i.e., externalizing and internalizing behavior). Findings indicated that (a) students and teachers have weak agreement about the quality of their alliance, (b) working alliance was associated with student engagement, and (c) students’ externalizing symptomology predicted teacher ratings of alliance. Interpretation of these findings, study limitations, and suggestions for future research and practice are discussed.

This thesis aims to investigate how, and under what circumstances, intimacy in grandparent-grandchild relationships is enabled, enacted and sustained in the early years of grandchildren. Previous work on emotional closeness of grandparent-grandchild relationships suggests that grandmothers and maternal grandparents are more likely to feel stronger bonds with their grandchildren, and that grandparents with a good quality of relationship with parents and living geographically close to grandchildren have greater opportunities to develop a strong emotional tie. The majority of previous research involves data on perceptions of closeness of grandparents focusing on one of their grandchildren or by young adult grandchildren reporting on closeness with a specific grandparent. In addition, qualitative research with grandparents indicates the diversity of ways they exercise agency, and involvement in the life of grandchildren, as well as gendered changes in grandfatherhood. However, there has been limited scholarly attention given to practices of intimacy, emotions and masculinities in grandparent-grandchild relationships, and the ways grandparents interpret and negotiate intimate relationships with their grandchildren amid changes in individual, familial and relational aspects over time. This study uses quantitative data to examines the extent to which individual, family and socio-structural factors influence the mothers' perception of emotional closeness of the relationship of an infant child with four types of grandparents. This is supplemented by qualitative data on grandparents' views of closeness with all their grandchildren. There is a limited scholarly literature on the relation of grandparents' lived experiences, and shared normative understandings, and a sense of being close and special to their grandchildren. The 'practices of intimacy' approach highlights the significance of practices of everyday life enacted by individuals in relation to others in building the quality of being close, and the processes through which individuals attach meaning to such practices. This approach is adopted to understand the diversity of ways grandparents interpret and do intimacy with their grandchildren. The thesis aims were achieved through a mixed methods research process combining secondary data analysis of the Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study and in-depth interviews with 24 cases of grandparents (12 solo, either with a grandmother or grandfather, and 12 with couple). GUS maps the emotional closeness of grandchild-grandparent relationships through the grandchild's mother's perception. Analysis revealed that perceived emotional closeness was more likely if the grandparent had social contact with the mother, lived geographically close, and looked after and engaged in outings more regularly with the infant child. In general, social contact and propinquity impacted less on grandmothers, particularly maternal grandmothers, and more on paternal grandfathers. Also, looking after grandchildren on a regular basis was distinctly salient for grandmothers, whereas going more frequently on outings was more salient for grandfathers than grandmothers. As regards practices of intimacy, grandparents emphasised the importance of communication through verbal, bodily and relational forms enacted through a large variety of activities in the daily living related to forms of caring, playing and spending time together, which construct a sense of emotional closeness. The study suggests that intimate grandparent-grandchild relationships are intersected by moral understandings of 'good grandparenting', which are challenged or find contradictions in lived experiences of grandparenting that produce asymmetrical emotionalities among grandchildren, and ambivalences in relation to children and grandchildren. The study suggests that grandparents reflect on their emotionality, and enact embodied emotions, depending on relational and family circumstances, and throughout changes in the relationship with their grandchildren as they get older. The study shows that grandfathers engage in emotional forms of caring, which may challenge hegemonic masculinities, and that the relation between masculinities and practices of intimacy are troubled, particularly in the event of parental divorce.

Children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) have serious medical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms that are stressful to their parents. Higher general intelligence quotients (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI) in children could allay parental stress. Self-reported stress, anxiety, and depression were measured in parents of children with 22q11.2DS (n=42) and a healthy control group (n=20) in relation to children’s IQ and EI. Children with 22q1.2DS had lower IQ and EI scores. Parental groups did not differ in their reported stress, anxiety, or depression. Children’s IQ and EI levels did not relate to parental measures of affect even in the 22q11.2DS group. Based on these families at this measurement point, it appears that parents are coping well with the challenges of raising a child with a complex neurodevelopmental disorder and that IQ and EI do not play a significant role in parental affect. Further interpretation and future directions are discussed.

Emotional impairment can lead to emotional disorders or dysfunction. Childhood abuse or neglect can be used to predict disorders and dysfunction. Missing from the literature was research exploring a direct relationship between a history of abuse or neglect and future emotional impairment. This quasi-experimental study served to examine whether histories of childhood abuse or neglect can be used to predict future emotional impairment using the Mayer and Salovey model of emotional functioning. A community sample of 138 adults from rural Wyoming completed retrospective reports of childhood trauma and current measures of emotional functioning, and 42% of the sample reported a history of childhood emotional abuse. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated childhood emotional abuse was not a valid predictor of impaired emotional functioning, while the covariates of physical neglect and sexual abuse were significant predictors. A history of childhood physical neglect could be used to predict lower measures in emotional understanding and global emotional functioning, while sexual abuse in males could be used to predict lower measures in emotional regulation and global emotional functioning. The new knowledge that childhood abuse or neglect can impair emotional functioning during adulthood provides a pathway for researchers to further explore the detrimental impact of childhood abuse and neglect on emotional functioning during the developmental years. In addition, for those individuals with a history of childhood abuse or neglect, positive social change may stem from gains in emotional understanding, emotional regulation, and global emotional functioning through improved interventions, preventative methods, and efficacious treatments.

The delivery of quality care has been a priority for the health care industry in the United States. Researchers have established positive correlations between the levels of emotional intelligence of registered nurses and their clinical performances. However, new evidence suggests the need to enhance the use of emotional intelligence (EI) in high-risk clinical units. With the intent to understand the use of EI, a phenomenological research approach was used to identify the emergency room nurse's understanding of EI. The Four-branch Model of Emotional Intelligence was used as the theoretical framework, while the research question identified the emergency room nurse's perception of EI. Eight emergency room nurses from two facilities participated in the study. The inclusion criteria consisted of emergency room nurses with one to ten years of experience, nurses that worked thirty-six hours or more per week, and were not in leadership roles. The data were collected through face-to-face interview sessions and analyzed using the Colaizzi's Method of Data Analysis. All participants reported unfamiliarity with the concept of EI. Nevertheless, evidence that indicated the presence of all elements of this concept such as the ability to perceive emotions, understand emotions, use emotions to enhance reasoning, and manage emotions, were apparent in the stories shared by the nurses. The results of the study indicated a potential influence toward positive social change at the organizational and professional level. The implementation of educational activities to improve the use of this concept and the modification of current health care policies to incorporate emotional intelligence as clinical competencies are actions that can influence positive social change.

Recording police officers can result in distraction, fear, and false perceptions of law enforcement personnel when citizens upload the videos to social media, though little is understood about police perceptions of this phenomenon. Using evaluation apprehension theory, emotional labor theory, and emotional intelligence as the foundation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the feelings and experiences of police officers recorded by citizens with cell phone cameras while working. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 police officers in the State of Indiana who were recorded with cell phone cameras. The data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then subjected to descriptive 7 steps, thematic, and cross-case analysis procedures. Key findings suggest officers experienced feelings of disengagement from duties when recorded by citizens. Results revealed concerns of professional appearance, self-reputation, and self-esteem. However, the study also indicated that the application of emotional intelligence and emotional labor from leadership could be used to assist officers in managing such disengagement. The implications for social change provided by this study include the development of training materials for law enforcement professionals who work through emotional intelligence while fostering opportunities for community engagement. For the public, this study provides an educational opportunity for the community to understand the feelings and significances of police officers who are recorded.

Frontline service personnel (FSP) play an invaluable role in the marketing mix by directly influencing the customers perception of both the service organization as well as the service quality during the face-to-face delivery service encounter (Ashforth and Humphrey 1993). The purpose of this dissertation is to examine how sources of job stress for FSP such as perceived customer demands, role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, and emotional labor and various mediators such as job autonomy, emotional intelligence, and emotion-focused coping directly and indirectly influence job stress and outcome variables such as attitudes, behaviors, physical consequences, emotional exhaustion, job performance, and intentions. Research from frontline social service personnels (FSSP) perspective was collected in three phases: 1) eight personal in-depth interviews to determine the fit of the constructs in the model in a social service environment, 2) a cognitive response survey gathered from 86 FSSP to identify appropriate line items, and 3) a survey questionnaire gathered from 533 members of the National Association of Social Workers-Florida. Psychometrically sound scales developed and purified in the study demonstrated reliability and validity. These scales were then used to examine the structural model. Structural equation modeling, correlations, and regression analyses were used to examine relationships in the model. Results of the study indicated that self-management of emotionally-based behavior was significant in the creation and reduction of job stress. Findings suggest that the influence of emotional-based behavior plays a significant role in job performance at the social service encounter and indirectly influences intention to switch and intention to leave.