Relationships between underachievement, individual type and attributional motivation were investigated among 37 underachieving senior science students from a boys' college, a girls' college and a coeducational college in New Zealand. An adaptation of the Myers-Briggs type inventory was used to identify individual type, and attributional motivation was determined by using two questionnaires, based upon attributional constructs established by Weiner (1979). Students in the sample were also interviewed. Results show a significant difference, too great to be attributed to a sampling fluctuation, between the observed number of students and the greater than expected number of students, particularly for the ESFJ (Extrovert-Sensing- Feeling-Judging) and ISFJ (Introvert-Sensing-Feeling-Judging) individual 'types' within the sample of underachieving students. A difference also was found between the observed number of Function Pairs, derived from the Myers-Briggs descriptions, and the expected number of Pairs within the sample. These differences were also too great to be attributed to a sampling fluctuation.A general lack of motivation was found among the students, with 'lack of effort' being attributed as a major cause of underachievement. Differences in attribution trends were found between different 'types'. Most of the students indicated that they were passive learners and generally were unaware of how to use metacognitive strategies to improve their learning and motivation.Implications from this research suggest that intervention approaches should be made by educators to improve accountability and reduce underachievement by students. Recommendations for various approaches used by the author, and by others described in the thesis to reduce or overcome underachievement are suggested. These might be used for individual types who are prone to underachieve, and for ++ / underachievers generally.

This study investigated efficacy of an online, preventive intervention program, Children of Divorce-Coping with Divorce (CoD-CoD; Boring, 2011). It extends previous findings to a sample of eight youth from high-conflict families who recently initiated legal divorce proceedings. CoD-CoD is a cognitive-behavioral intervention that targets coping efficacy, coping strategies, and divorce-related cognitive appraisals. A multiple-baseline single case experimental design evaluated change in daily use of active and avoidant coping strategies and corresponding coping efficacy ratings. Individual patterns of change were inspected for the program’s putative mediator variables and overall mental health functioning. Results indicate that daily coping efficacy ratings increased for four participants and decreased for the three participants who reported the highest levels of exposure to interparental conflict. The majority of participants increased use of at least one type of active coping strategy and half decreased use of at least one type of avoidant coping strategy. There were no observed patterns of systematic change in divorce-related cognitive appraisals and changes in mental health functioning were mixed. An exploratory analysis found that youth were classified as "high-risk" on a psychometrically-sound risk index in 100% of cases with documentation of two or more conflict-indicative legal events in the family court file. The study findings are consistent with previous evidence of a moderated program effect on coping efficacy, although positive effects on youth-reported mental health functioning were not replicated. Findings are discussed within the context of a high-conflict sample with temporal proximity to the legal divorce and in light of study limitations. Research directions toward effectively connecting at-risk youth with evidence-based prevention services are detailed.

This thesis attempts to answer the research question: What are the causal mechanisms for behaviour change undergirding choice architecture (CA) interventions in alcohol use? This thesis is organised along two dimensions: conceptual and empirical. At the conceptual level, this project discusses the application of CA to public policy; the lack of consensus regarding the theory of change underpinning the relationship between CA intervention stimuli and modified behaviour; and the need for clearer understandings of the CA intervention components in relation to other behavioural interventions. At the empirical level, this project systematically reviews available CA interventions intended to reduce alcohol consumption in public drink settings and suggests new alcohol-related CA intervention strategies.

Convergence among treatment, prevention, and developmental intervention approaches has led to the recognition of the need for evaluation models and research designs that employ a full range of evaluation information to provide an empirical basis for enhancing the efficiency, efficacy, and effectiveness of prevention and positive development interventions. This study reports an investigation of a positive youth development program using an Outcome Mediation Cascade (OMC) evaluation model, an integrated model for evaluating the empirical intersection between intervention and developmental processes. The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is a community supported positive youth development intervention implemented in a practice setting as a selective/indicated program for multi-ethnic, multi-problem at risk youth in urban alternative high schools. This study used a Relational Data Analysis integration of quantitative and qualitative data analysis strategies, including the use of both fixed and free response measures and a structural equation modeling approach, to construct and evaluate the hypothesized OMC model. Findings indicated that the hypothesized model fit the data (χ2 (7) = 6.991, p = .43; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; WRMR = .459). Findings also provided preliminary evidence consistent with the hypothesis that in addition to having effects on targeted positive outcomes, PYD interventions are likely to have progressive cascading effects on untargeted problem outcomes that operate through effects on positive outcomes. Furthermore, the general pattern of findings suggested the need to use methods capable of capturing both quantitative and qualitative change in order to increase the likelihood of identifying more complete theory informed empirically supported models of developmental intervention change processes.

Recent intervention efforts in promoting positive identity in troubled adolescents have begun to draw on the potential for an integration of the self-construction and self-discovery perspectives in conceptualizing identity processes, as well as the integration of quantitative and qualitative data analytic strategies. This study reports an investigation of the Changing Lives Program (CLP), using an Outcome Mediation (OM) evaluation model, an integrated model for evaluating targets of intervention, while theoretically including a Self-Transformative Model of Identity Development (STM), a proposed integration of self-discovery and self-construction identity processes. This study also used a Relational Data Analysis (RDA) integration of quantitative and qualitative analysis strategies and a structural equation modeling approach (SEM), to construct and evaluate the hypothesized OM/STM model. The CLP is a community supported positive youth development intervention, targeting multi-problem youth in alternative high schools in the Miami Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS). The 259 participants for this study were drawn from the CLP’s archival data file. The model evaluated in this study utilized three indices of core identity processes (1) personal expressiveness, (2) identity conflict resolution, and (3) informational identity style that were conceptualized as mediators of the effects of participation in the CLP on change in two qualitative outcome indices of participants’ sense of self and identity. Findings indicated the model fit the data (χ2 (10) = 3.638, p = .96; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; WRMR = .299). The pattern of findings supported the utilization of the STM in conceptualizing identity processes and provided support for the OM design. The findings also suggested the need for methods capable of detecting and rendering unique sample specific free response data to increase the likelihood of identifying emergent core developmental research concepts and constructs in studies of intervention/developmental change over time in ways not possible using fixed response methods alone.