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Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Walter R. Schumm / The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate factors related to quantity and quality of biological father involvement in non-intact families and family support and their association with young adult child outcomes. The independent variables examined were the biological father's number of years living with his child, early, middle and late developmental periods present, number of transitions, and relationship quality with the young adult child during childhood. The dependent variables were related to sexual health and five distinct domains that have emerged from the research literature: 1) education, 2) economic, 3) physical, 4) social, and 5) emotional. This dissertation drew on a subsample of the 2,988 respondents of the New Family Structures Study (NFSS). Biological fathers were examined from non-intact families (n = 1793) of which 1,080, lived with their child for at least part of a year. The Father Adult-child Involvement Relationship Outcomes (FAIRO) Model was developed with current literature and theory to form quantity and quality father involvement hypotheses and test those using mean comparisons, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. This study detected weak to moderate positively statistically significant associations between the quantity and quality of the biological father involvement in the non-intact families and young adult child outcomes. The results seemed to indicate the importance of the role of the father; even in a non-intact family where the father spends time apart from his children, he is still able to influence the outcomes of his children. The findings pointed to the need for further research into fatherhood transitions, early involvement, and the salient influence of family support. This research takes a small step in examining quantity and quality father involvement associations on young adult outcomes to make an incremental contribution to the research, theory, and practice of father involvement that may benefit the future well-being of children.

Thesis advisor: Eric Dearing / Family educational involvement is consistently and positively associated with child achievement, but little work has closely examined the involvement practices of families of color, particularly immigrant families. Utilizing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Cohort 1998-99 (ECLS-K), this study used Hierarchical Linear Modeling to analyze trajectories of parent-reported barriers to involvement and rates of parent involvement from kindergarten through grade five for children of Whites, Blacks, U.S.-born Latinos, U.S.-born Asians, Latino immigrants, and Asian immigrants. Additionally, it examined between and within-family associations between family involvement and children's mathematics and reading achievement across elementary school. Analyses focused on similarities and differences in these trajectories across racial, ethnic, and immigrant groups. Results demonstrated that parent-reported barriers to involvement at school were generally highest at kindergarten and diminished over time, but immigrant parents consistently reported the highest levels of barriers. Although immigrant parents had significantly lower levels of school-based involvement than non-immigrants, their educational expectations for their children were significantly higher than that of white parents. Moreover, while school-based involvement tended to peak at grade 3 and decrease between grades 3 and 5 for most groups, parents' educational expectations remained relatively stable. Importantly, school-based involvement positively predicted both math and reading achievement across all groups. However, there was a significant moderating effect of race, ethnicity, and immigrant status for educational expectations. Parents' educational expectations were significantly less predictive of achievement for children of Blacks, Latinos, and Latino immigrants compared to Whites. In addition, there was some evidence that school characteristics mediated this interaction. Specifically, mediated moderation was evident for parents' educational expectations such that these expectations were less strongly associated with mathematics achievement of children of U.S.-born Latinos compared to Whites, in part because these Latino children attended schools with greater concentrations of poverty. Implications for families, schools, and policy are discussed in light of the changing demographics of the United States. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of School Home Links activity guide homework on kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory scores. Student Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores were obtained and analyzed for gains in score from the Middle of Year (MOY) and End of Year (EOY) administration. Parents were provided School Home Links Activity Guide Homework to use with their child on a weekly basis for twelve weeks. This group formed an experimental group. A control group did not receive SHL activity guide homework. For the control and experimental group each student's letter/sound score was entered into SPSS for the MOY and EOY TPRI, and average gains were calculated. Groups of students were isolated and analyzed for gain based upon participation in a district reading program, and/or high or low parental involvement in SHL activity guide homework. Research in the upper grades shows that homework completion and parent involvement positively affect student achievement. Students whose parents are involved in their education reap many benefits. These benefits include higher academic achievement (Davies, 1991). Fuller & Olsen (1998), Davies (1991), and Epstein (1995) believe parent involvement is a stronger indicator of student achievement than socioeconomic status, parent education, ethnicity, or any other indicator. The research supports the use of homework for upper grades. The results of this study remain inconclusive for kindergarten age students. This study shows that there is no statistically significant difference between experimental and control group kindergarten TPRI scores when homework is an independent variable.

Abstract From related studies about volunteer in this country (Taiwan), the following problems are very obvious. They are high circulation of these volunteer and low sustenance of the serving effects. From these studies, we find that training might be one important factor to help the volunteer in the organization construct the work enthusiasm, matured skill, service ideas, and become a loyal employee in the organization. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the relationship between the volunteer of training and the degree of their job involvement. This study will be discussed from the following aspects. First, is training the major factor to affect the degree of job involvement? Second, is the degree of volunteer¡¦ job involvement affected by the attribution of the organization and volunteer¡¦ individual factors? Third, Do the attribution of the organization and volunteer¡¦ individual factors affect the degree of the effect that volunteer of training causes on the job involvement? In this study, data collection is by questionnaire. The subjects are from 250 nonprofit organization. 233 organizations enrolled in http://volunteer.nyc.gov.tw (the youth volunteer service net of the youth-guidance society) , and 17 organization in the Minitsry of the Interior One hundred organizations from the 250 are selected randomly. The questionnaires collected are from 996 volunteer belonging to 64 organizations. The effective questionnaires from nonprofit organization are 64, (64%). The effective questionnaires from volunteer are 982, (49.1%). The result of these questionnaires shows: First, The five characteristics of the organization, ¡§attribution of organization¡¨, ¡§degree of volunteers¡¦ job involvement¡¨, ¡§the installment of presidence¡¨, ¡§missions of the organization¡¨, and ¡§the operating method of the organization¡¨ show significant effect on job involvement; while ¡§type of management of volunteers¡¨ and ¡§routine work of volunteer¡¨ don¡¦t show significant effect on job involvement. Second, The following 12 individual factors of volunteer, ¡§age¡¨, ¡§religion¡¨, ¡§job¡¨, ¡§marital status¡¨, ¡§seniority¡¨, ¡§social working experience¡¨, ¡§position of job¡¨, ¡§gender¡¨, ¡§education degree¡¨, ¡§times of working¡¨, ¡§working hours¡¨, ¡§part-time social working¡¨ show significant effect on job involvement; while ¡§degree of profession¡¨, ¡§degree of working autonomy¡¨, and ¡§training experience¡¨ don¡¦t show significant effect on job involvement. Third, Generally speaking, the degree of the implementation of every stage of training doesn¡¦t show significant positive effect on job involvement. The more multiple goals in the training session and the higher frequency of the implementation, the more significant negative effect on job involvement it will be. The higher degree of multiple investigation methods and the higher frequency of implementation, the higher degree of the positive effect on the recognition of the importance of work it will be. If only resources are provided for volunteers to learn by themselves, the effect on the volunteers¡¦ job involvement is lower than given the opportunities for volunteers to join the training of ¡§²»©M­pµe(peace-plan)¡¨, ¡§off the job training¡¨, and ¡§external training¡¨. Fourth, The following four factors, ¡§the number of mission of organization¡¨, ¡§the operating method of the work¡¨, ¡§the installment of presidence¡¨, and ¡§routine work¡¨ interacting with training individually show significant effect on the job involvement; while ¡§the attribution of organization¡¨, ¡§the degree of joining in the organization¡¨, and ¡§the type of management of volunteers¡¨ interacting with training show no significant effect. Fifth, The following eight individual factors, ¡§volunteers¡¦ training experience¡¨, ¡§position in the job¡¨, ¡§age¡¨, ¡§times of service per month¡¨, ¡§hours per service¡¨, ¡§gender¡¨, ¡§job¡¨, ¡§experience of being volunteers¡¨ interacting with training show significant effects on the job involvement; while ¡§degree of profession¡¨, ¡§degree of working autonomy¡¨, ¡§part-time social working¡¨, ¡§degree of education¡¨, ¡§marital status¡¨, ¡§seniority¡¨, and ¡§religion¡¨ interacting with training show no significant effect. Key words¡Gvolunteer¡Ftraining¡Fjob involvement

This study examines community involvement in major U.S. military base closures and realignments from 1988 to 2001. There were four waves of base closures during this time. They were in 1988, 1991, 1993, and 1995. Community involvement became an important criterion in the reuse decisions for the closed bases. The methods used in this study are the literature review, a questionnaire with analysis and three case studies. The literature review looks at the subject of community involvement in general and community involvement in connection with closed military bases. The questionnaire was sent to 107 closed bases with fifty one base representatives responding. The contents of the completed questionnaires were analyzed for community involvement both during the base closure phase and the reuse phase. There are three analyses based on community involvement plus a description of the involvement techniques used. The first analysis uses the Community Involvement Analysis. The results of this analysis were as follows. Community satisfaction depended upon the community elements. In the next analysis, the Representation Analysis, community satisfaction depended upon the amount of representation and time of representation. The regression analysis also showed that amount of representation and time of representation to be optimum. The third analysis, the Involvement Analysis uses the type and amount of community involvement, the amount of representation and the time for representation for the analysis. The results were that the best model was the type and amount of community involvement and amount of representation. In addition, participation methods employed by the base redevelopment agencies were described. Strategic planning was the overall method of community involvement used and multiple involvement methods were used in that framework. Finally, three bases were identified in the questionnaire as candidates for further study and discussed in the study. They were Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida, Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois and Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey. The study of these bases provided more information on the base closure process.

This study examines ethnic group differences on different dimensions of parentrated and teacher-rated parent involvement after adjusting for the influence of family socioeconomic factors, and the role of involvement scale in moderating ethnic differences in parent involvement. Parents and teachers provided information on parent involvement for 476 first-grade children attending one of three school districts (1 urban, 2 small city) in Southwest Texas, who were recruited in two sequential cohorts to participate in a larger longitudinal study on the impact of grade retention on academic achievement and psychosocial outcomes. Parents rated the following four dimensions of parent involvement: Positive Perceptions about School, Communication, Parent-Teacher Shared Responsibility, and Parent School-Based Involvement. Teachers rated the following three dimensions of parent involvement: Alliance, General Parent Involvement, and Teacher Initiation of Involvement. The two research hypotheses generated for this study were partially supported by the data. As predicted, controlling for parent education and employment status, the data showed significant ethnic/racial group differences in Communication (parent-rated), Alliance (teacher-rated), and General Parent Involvement (teacher-rated). In addition, ethnic differences in parent involvement were moderated by the type of involvement for teacher ratings. However, contrary to prediction, no significant ethnic differences were found in Parent School- Based Involvement (parent-rated) whereas significant ethnic differences were noted in Parent-Teacher Shared Responsibility (parent-rated). In addition, ethnic differences in parent involvement were not moderated by the type of involvement for parent ratings. Current results demonstrated a low correspondence between parent ratings and teacher ratings on parents’ school-based involvement. Possible explanations and implications for current findings and suggestions for future research were discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate parents' involvement in secondary student education. In addition, the relationship between school leaders use of selective educational leadership theories to enhance parental involvement were explored. The participants consisted of 200 parents of freshmen students at two different high schools in Southern Arizona. The participants completed a survey instrument.Pearson Product Correlations were used to investigate the effects of gender of the student, grades of the student, and educational level of the parent on the parent perception of the school, parental involvement at home, and parental involvement at school. The results were disaggregated by ethnicity.There was significance found with the parents of Hispanic students. These parents were significantly more involved with their sons at the school and the higher educated the parents were, the more significantly they were involved at the school. Data from the open-ended question section of the survey instrument revealed the need for communication between parents and school.The overall findings from this study suggest the importance of building partnerships between parents and school and the manner in which education leaders can employ various educational theories to support the implementation of successful home/school partnerships.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of School Home Links activity guide homework on kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory scores. Student Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) scores were obtained and analyzed for gains in score from the Middle of Year (MOY) and End of Year (EOY) administration. Parents were provided School Home Links Activity Guide Homework to use with their child on a weekly basis for twelve weeks. This group formed an experimental group. A control group did not receive SHL activity guide homework. For the control and experimental group each student's letter/sound score was entered into SPSS for the MOY and EOY TPRI, and average gains were calculated. Groups of students were isolated and analyzed for gain based upon participation in a district reading program, and/or high or low parental involvement in SHL activity guide homework. Research in the upper grades shows that homework completion and parent involvement positively affect student achievement. Students whose parents are involved in their education reap many benefits. These benefits include higher academic achievement (Davies, 1991). Fuller & Olsen (1998), Davies (1991), and Epstein (1995) believe parent involvement is a stronger indicator of student achievement than socioeconomic status, parent education, ethnicity, or any other indicator. The research supports the use of homework for upper grades. The results of this study remain inconclusive for kindergarten age students. This study shows that there is no statistically significant difference between experimental and control group kindergarten TPRI scores when homework is an independent variable.

This thesis argues the case of community involvement in coastal management in New Zealand. It takes as its starting point objective six of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (2010). Which it is suggested, frames the issue on community involvement in specific but rather limited ways. The thesis examines the potential for community-based management in two contrasting places, namely Kaikoura and Waiheke Island. Not only are these within different Regional Council jurisdictions, but they also have different community profiles. Kaikoura is a small rural town with a strong Maori presence in coastal management. Waiheke Island is a more mono-cultural, but rapidly growing island well within wider metropolitan Auckland. Using three research questions the thesis explores existing methods of community-based management in these two places and considers the extent to which these are effective and might also give insight into how objective six could be more appropriately constructed in order to mobilise voices from our beaches.