<p> The purpose of this dissertation is to offer a greater understanding of the potential of genograms through my clinical work from a Bowen Family Systems lens. I account for how I processed and effectively blended metaphorical components, by examining six cases from my two-year journal entries, of bringing genograms to life in sessions. I also explain how I created a useful tool, the Metaphoric Generative Genogram, that can benefit other clinicians working with children and families in the foster care community.</p>

<p> Previous literature substantiates that military spouses have a direct impact on reenlistment decisions of active duty service members. Studies state that life satisfaction and family support are interrelated, and a military spouse&rsquo;s life satisfaction with the military is conceded as the key predictor in reenlistment decisions. Previous research on military spouses focuses on the female spouse population and there is a lack of research concerning the growing male spouse population. This dissertation research study utilized a quantitative experimental design with the primary goal of investigating the relationship between civilian male military spouses&rsquo; life satisfaction, sense of community, social support, and utilization of U.S. Air Force overseas base agency support and community services. Data was collected from 81 completed surveys through an online format using SurveyMonkey using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, &amp; Griffin, 1985), Sense of Community Index-2 (SCI-2) (Chavis, Lee, &amp; Acosta, 2008), Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) social support survey (Sherbourne &amp; Stewart, 1991), and a dichotomous survey. The gathered data was subsequently analyzed utilizing simple linear regression and ANOVA. No statistically significant correlation between participating in base community services and life satisfaction was found. Sense of community and social support were found as statistically significant predictors of life satisfaction. There was no statistically significant correlation in life satisfaction, between those that do actively utilizing base agency services compared to those that do not. Military leadership can use the knowledge gained from the findings of this study to identify and construct support services and programs to adequately support the male spouse population. </p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory single case study was to explore how parents and teachers perceive the influence of socioeconomic status on parental involvement in suburban southern Georgia elementary schools. Two research questions were posed to fulfill the purpose of this study: How do parents perceive the influence of socioeconomic status on parental involvement in suburban southern Georgia elementary schools? and How do teachers perceive the influence of socioeconomic status on parental involvement in suburban southern Georgia elementary schools? Epstein&rsquo;s Framework for Parent Involvement and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler&rsquo;s Model of Parent Involvement served as the theoretical foundations. Purposive sampling was used to select 22 parent and 59 teacher participants. Data collection comprised of semi-structured interviews of parents and teachers, questionnaires, and archival review of school documents to triangulate the data. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. Thematic analysis identified five themes: Defining Parent Involvement, Perception of Socioeconomic Status, Communication Methods, Perception of Involvement, and School Environment. Findings of this study revealed that elementary parents and teachers in South Georgia have differing perceptions of the influence of socioeconomic status on parent involvement. Overall, data revealed that while parent and teacher perceptions varied, they indicated that communication and the school environment were the most pertinent factors to their involvement. The implications for this study implicate that sharing the results of this study with both parents and teachers could possibly clarify expectations of each group and open a dialogue. </p><p>

<p> This qualitative research study examines the effects of parental historical trauma on the educational aspirations and outcomes of second-generation Cambodian Americans. Twenty second-generation Cambodian Americans whose parents survived the Cambodian genocide (1975&ndash;1979) participated. The dissertation utilized the conceptual framework of historical trauma to navigate the research questions: 1). To what extent are children of Cambodian genocide survivors affected by the trauma their parents experienced and what form does this inherited trauma take? 2). What home experiences enhance or hinder academic aspirations and outcomes of the children of Cambodian genocide survivors? 3). What are the supportive networks and actions that foster hope and positive development for second-generation Cambodian Americans? The data were analyzed using qualitative methods and NVivo software. Three key themes were found. The first theme was unresolved trauma. As a result, parental guidance and an open relationship between parents and children were limited. The second theme was overprotection. It was a common behavior among parents who survived the genocide to want to shield their children from any unforeseen circumstances. The last key finding was a lack of communication between parents and children due to a language barrier. </p><p> Building on the findings of this study, it is recommended that schools with large Cambodian American populations should educate later generations about Cambodian history, including the Genocide, and provide dual immersion language classes. This would help to interrupt intergenerational trauma, reduce the language barrier, and allow students and their parents to find purpose and peace. Future research should explore the experiences of survivors, including survivors who lived through the genocide but did not suffer persecution. Such research could lead to truth and reconciliation.</p><p>

<p> This study examined the relationship between intentional father involvement and intergenerational transmission of Christian faith (ITCF) among Evangelical Presbyterian families in South Korea. Although God has assigned fathers as the leaders of the family who should assume the primary responsibility for their children&rsquo;s spiritual formation, many Korean evangelical fathers have overlooked their responsibility. In the meantime, the number of Korean youth who identified as Christians has been decreasing. While there are many studies that have examined parental or maternal influence on faith transmission, not enough empirical studies focused on the role of fathers on ITCF. Moreover, there was sparse, if any, literature that dealt with the relationship between intentional father involvement and ITCF among Korean families. </p><p> Based on review the of theoretical, empirical, and theological literature, this study selected and examined the relationships among four major variables: fathers&rsquo; religiosity, fathers&rsquo; attitude on their role as a father, intentional father involvement with their children, and family faith activities. In addition to the major variables, some demographic variables were also analyzed to better understand the sample and to compare with the preceding literature. </p><p> The target population was Korean Evangelical Presbyterian fathers in South Korea, residing with their children from kindergarteners to middle schoolers (approximate ages from 4 to 14). In this study, a total of 388 fathers from 33 Evangelical Korean Presbyterian churches participated by answering via personal mobile devices an online survey questionnaire (Survey Monkey^&reg;) that measured intentional father involvement (Inventory of Father Involvement), fathering attitude (Theistic Sanctification of Parenting Scale), religiosity (Religious Commitment Inventory-10), family faith activities (Faith Activities In The Home Scale), as well as some demographic background data. The collected data were analyzed through the Spearman&rsquo;s Rank Order correlations, Mann-Whitney&rsquo;s <i>U</i> test, and Kruskal-Wallis <i> H</i> test. </p><p> The results of this study showed that Korean Evangelical Presbyterian fathers&rsquo; intentional involvement in childrearing is associated with intergenerational faith transmission as measured by the frequency of family faith activities at home. The significant results of this study can be summarized as follows: (a) Korean Evangelical Presbyterian fathers highly valued their religious faith and their role as a father, and moderately participated in childrearing, yet they did not actively practice family faith activities; (b) Korean Evangelical fathers&rsquo; personal religiosity, attitude on their role as a father, intentional paternal involvement with their children, and family faith activities were significantly correlated; and (c) fathers&rsquo; graduate level of education, their church offices as pastors/evangelists, and their experience of parenting class attendance were correlated with family faith activities. </p><p> Based on the results of this study, several implications were suggested in order to encourage families and church leaders to help fathers more actively participate in the process of faith transmission. Also, some limitations, and future research recommendations based on the limitations were suggested. </p><p>

<p> In the 1960s and 1970s, there was an important issue in education that dealt with student privacy. Student education records were not accessible to parents, and important decisions were being made for the students without input from the parents. Based on this abuse, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was signed into law. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to determine if site administrators and teachers from educational institutions understand how to enforce FERPA. This study assessed the site administrators&rsquo; understanding of FERPA via a survey with questions on the knowledge of FERPA, student data, and student/parent rights. The study also assessed the impact of providing FERPA training to site administrators with a pre- and post-test. Interviews were conducted with the teachers to gain an understanding of their knowledge of FERPA with questions on student confidentiality and student data. The methodology for this study was a mixed-methods approach that used a one-group pretest-posttest design for the quantitative research and was supplemented by the qualitative data. </p><p> The results presented in this study contribute to the research literature on the importance of being trained in FERPA to enforce compliance and protect student confidentiality and privacy. Although there was a small sample size, there were slight increases from the pre-test to the post-test, which reinforces the importance of being trained on FERPA.</p><p>

<p> Over 50% of mental disorders have an onset in childhood, and mental health issues during adolescence impact adult psychological, social, and occupational functioning. Parents serve as the primary gatekeepers to child mental health resources, and as such factors that influence parental help-seeking were discussed, and a manualized psychoeducational program for parents was developed with the aim of addressing these barriers. The program was developed based on the need for evidenced-supported school-based programs that target parental knowledge, competence, and access to community resources while simultaneously decreasing stigma toward children with mental health difficulties. A quantitative pilot study was conducted as a means to examine change in parent perception of knowledge of social skills in youth before and after receiving the preventative program. It was hypothesized that parent perception of their knowledge post-presentation would be negatively correlated with parental age, and positively correlated with education and household income. Bivariate correlations indicated that parent age, ethnicity and sex, as well as highest level of education were not significantly associated with perceived knowledge of social skills post-presentation. The implications for program development, including the possibility of adding manual versions based on parental education level were considered, and study limitations were discussed. </p><p>

<p> Due to being at risk for a number of unfavorable environmental factors (Barcons, Abrines, Brun, Sartini, Fumad&oacute;, &amp; Marre, 2014), adopted children have an increased likelihood of developing social, emotional, cognitive, and attachment issues (Rushton, 2010). Whether adopted domestically or internationally, adopted children are at risk for experiencing socio-emotional difficulties (Dalen &amp; Theie, 2014; Vandivere, Malm, &amp; Radel, 2009; Vandivere &amp; McKlindon, 2010) that can stunt the child&rsquo;s ability to effectively regulate their emotions and connect with others. Adoptive parents may find it difficult to emotionally connect with adopted children who are experiencing socio-emotional difficulties (Dalen &amp; Theie, 2014). </p><p> Adoptive parents can aid their adopted children in learning how to connect emotionally and regulate difficult emotions through <i>emotion coaching </i> (Gottman, Katz, &amp; Hooven, 1996). Emotion coaching is a construct based in a parent&rsquo;s meta-emotion philosophy (PMEP), which is defined as parents&rsquo; thoughts and feelings about their own emotions as well as their child&rsquo;s emotions. Emotion coaching is one of the four PMEPs and is considered the ideal PMEP. Emotion coaching parents accept and validate all of their children&rsquo;s emotions, and views their children&rsquo;s emotional expression as an opportunity to connect with them and teach them how to manage challenging emotions. Researchers (e.g., Ellis, Alisic, Reiss, Dishion, &amp; Fisher, 2013) has shown that children of emotion coaching parents have higher levels of emotion regulation than children of parents with less ideal PMEPs. But how do parents develop their thoughts and feelings about their own emotions and their children&rsquo;s emotions? Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969) may lend some answers to this question. </p><p> Attachment Theory emphasizes the importance of emotional attunement between the mother and infant when developing secure attachment: the ability to form intimate relationships with others (Bowlby, 1969; Gus, Rose, &amp; Gilbert, 2015). According to Attachment Theory, an individual cannot respond to others with empathic attunement unless they have secure attachment (Bowlby, 1969). The very act of emotion coaching seems to require high levels of emotional attunement between mother and child. Bowlby (1969) emphasized the importance of the mother as a primary attachment figure, and so this study will be looking at the adoptive mother&rsquo;s attachment and PMEP. </p><p> Although researchers (e.g., Cowen, 1996; Chen, Lin, &amp; Li, 2012) have made connections between Attachment Theory and PMEP in biological families, they have not yet explored these constructs in adoptive families. Thus, the purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how adult attachment may or may not influence adoptive mothers&rsquo; PMEP and how adoptive adult attachment and PMEP may or may not influence adopted children&rsquo;s ability to emotionally regulate and attach to their adoptive parent. Because the ideal PMEP is emotion coaching, the researcher measured this type of PMEP only. Adoptive mothers completed questionnaires assessing their attachment, level of emotion coaching, and their view of their child&rsquo;s ability to emotionally regulate. </p><p> Utilizing Pearson&rsquo;s pairwise correlations, the researcher analyzed the relationships between the adoptive mothers&rsquo; level of emotion coaching and her attachment; the relationship between the adoptive mothers&rsquo; level of emotion coaching and her child&rsquo;s emotion regulation skills; and the relationship between the adopted mothers&rsquo; attachment and her child&rsquo;s emotion regulation skills. The researcher discovered that there was a statistically significant negative relationship between emotion coaching and adult attachment; a statistically significant positive relationship between emotion coaching and emotion regulation; and statistically significant positive relationship between attachment and lability. Finally, the researcher utilized a regression analysis to discover that the adoptive mothers&rsquo; level of emotion coaching acted as a mediator between the adoptive mothers&rsquo; attachment and the adopted child&rsquo;s level of emotion regulation. These findings indicated that emotion coaching is an effective method of aiding adopted children&rsquo;s ability to emotionally regulate. Furthermore, the findings indicated that even if an adoptive mother is struggling with attachment, if she is able to learn emotion coaching, she may still have a positive effect on her adopted child&rsquo;s emotion regulation development.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to provide an insight into the perspectives that teachers have on the barriers that prevent parental involvement in the classroom. Four qualitative questions formed the foundation of this study: 1. What are teachers&rsquo; perceptions regarding barriers to parental involvement in the school? 2. How does parental involvement in the school influence the parent-teacher relationship? 3. What efforts are teachers taking to incorporate parental involvement within the schools? And 4. What recommendations would teachers suggest to better incorporate parents into their child&rsquo;s educational programming? Participants in this study were elementary teachers who have had at least three or more years of teaching experience. To collect data, semi-structured face-to-face interviews that lasted approximately half an hour were used. Three themes emerged from the interviews: 1) Barriers of Parental Involvement, 2) Strategies for Communication, and 3) Recommendations for Parental Involvement.</p><p>

<p> Findings in the study indicated slight differences in the resilience and academic performance of high school children who had a parent deployed with the military. Although some sample sizes were too small to calculate some statistics, it is evident that there needs to be more research to eliminate the possibility that some significances by chance. Conflict is decreasing, but there are still many military services and missions in the immediate future deserving of the Commands attention to the impact on military high school dependents during the deployment process. The academics findings of this study suggested additional research to be implemented to examine the direction of the impact of deployment on the military dependents resilience, academic performance and parent-child relationship.</p><p>