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Latinx families, particularly those whose primary language is Spanish, are significantly underrepresented in independent schools nationwide and experience barriers to engaging in their children’s education. Recognizing the crucial role of parent engagement in student academic success and socioemotional well-being, this research aimed to understand the unique challenges faced by Spanish-dominant parents in navigating the independent school contexts. Grounded in Khalifa et al.’s (2016) culturally responsive school leadership framework, the study intended to identify effective practices and strategies that facilitate Spanish-dominant parent engagement. The narrative data, collected through both a group plática and individual interviews, offered valuable insights into the experiences of a group of Spanish-dominant mamás The findings revealed three major themes: the importance of enhanced access to services and resources for meaningful engagement, the critical role of bilingual school contacts in bridging communication gaps, and the positive impact of cultivating a sense of belonging to create a more inclusive and supportive environment for Spanish-dominant families. Language access proved to be a vital factor in fostering parent engagement, enabling these parents to actively participate in their children's education through support with translation and interpretation services and other resources in Spanish. Additionally, a bilingual family liaison provided them a portal of accessibility to the whole school. Lastly, opportunities for authentic and culturally sensitive involvement further enhanced their sense of belonging, contributing to a more inclusive and supportive school environment. This research highlighted the transformative potential of culturally responsive school leadership, emphasizing its role in empowering Spanish-dominant parents and facilitating their active involvement in independent schools.

Siblings are the longest lasting relationships most individuals may experience in their life. What makes sibling relationships unique is the overlap of both shared and unshared experiences. While there is limited research on the mechanisms behind sibling relationships in general, research on Latino/a/x sibling relationships is even more limited. The limited research on Latino/a/x siblings from immigrant families has found they have an impact on each other's cultural adaptations. The current study explored the influence of the acculturation cultural adaptation processes to the U.S. and how this adaptation may impact Latino/a/x sibling relationships. Semi-structured dyadic interviews were conducted with eight sibling dyads (N = 8) and dyadic analysis methods from Tkachuk et al. (2019) were used to analyze the qualitative data. The findings suggest that the sibling relationship is influenced by parental and cultural expectations, unique experiences pertaining to growing up (e.g., sibling positionality), and their shared experiences of growing up in the United States (i.e., shared cultural navigation). Findings regarding the importance of family are congruent with current literature on Latino/a/x immigrant families and a new finding that emerged related to the validation of younger siblings on the experiences of the older siblings. Clinical implications suggest clinicians familiarizing themselves with cross-cultural sibling relationships and the benefits of having siblings in therapy. Limitations and recommendations for future study are discussed. / Master of Science / The Latino/a/x population is among the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States. There is vast research on immigrant families that emphasize the acculturation processes as crucial to understanding how these families blend multiple cultures. Most of the research of acculturation and its influence on familial relationships focus on parent-child relationships and limited research has been done on the influence of this phenomenon on other family relationships, including sibling relationships. Siblings relationships can be the longest lasting relationship an individual can have in their lifetime and what makes this relationship unique is the overlap of both shared and unshared experiences. The limited research on Latino/a/x siblings from immigrant families has found that siblings have an impact on each other's cultural adaptations. The current study explored the influence of the acculturation cultural adaptation processes to the U.S. and how this adaptation may impact Latino/a/x sibling relationships. Semi-structured dyadic interviews were conducted with eight sibling dyads (N = 8) and dyadic analysis methods from Tkachuk et al. (2019) were used to analyze the qualitative data. The study's findings highlight that the sibling relationship is influenced by parental and cultural expectations, unique experiences pertaining to growing up (e.g., sibling positionality), and their shared experiences of growing up in the United States (i.e., shared cultural navigation). Given these findings, clinical implications suggest clinicians familiarizing themselves with cross-cultural sibling relationships and the benefits of having siblings in therapy. Limitations and recommendations for future study are discussed.

This study examined whether spirituality and dyadic coping protected partners from becoming psychologically aggressive toward each other using secondary, cross-sectional data from a sample of 104 couples living in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The model tested was based on Bodenmann's Systemic Transactional model (1997) and incorporated an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model approach (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). SEM results indicated that each partner's spirituality had a direct negative effect on their own psychological aggression, and a direct positive effect on their own supportive dyadic coping, and the couple's common dyadic coping. Each partner's spirituality also had an indirect effect on both partners' psychological aggression through increases in the couple's common dyadic coping. Supportive dyadic coping was not found to mediate the relation between spirituality and psychological aggression. Limitations of the study as well as clinical, programmatic, and research implications are discussed. / Master of Science

Overweight and obesity have been increasing dramatically in the United States. Certain ethnic and sociodemographic subsets of the population, including Latino children, tend to suffer proportionally higher rates of overweight. The first body figure scale was published in 1983 by Stunkard, Sørensen, and Schulsinger, researchers delineating the influence of genetics. Body figure scales consist of a series of similar figures, ranging in appearance from emaciated to obese. Respondents circle the figure that resembles the person or ideal of interest. Currently no figure scale targets multi-ethnic or minority pre-adolescent populations. This study sought to discern the favored design parameters, including format and stance, for the creation of an evidence-based body figure scale for use with mixed populations of youth. Eighty-nine fourth and fifth-grade students from four ethnically diverse elementary schools in northern Virginia were surveyed using novel and standard body figure scales, and assessed for anthropometric measures. Approximately 37% of subjects were at-risk of overweight or overweight; levels varied between and within ethnic groups. Subjects identified best with photographic format scales with figures shown in a three-quarters stance with their arms at their sides. The choice of a "self" figure on both the novel and Collins (1991) figure scales was related to BMI-for-age percentile and body image. The novel scale allowed differentiation of mean self-identified figure choices between ethnic groups. There is hope that body figure scales will one day provide rapid, inexpensive assessment of overweight and obesity. / Master of Science