The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of former beginning agriscience teachers and to explore the relationships between these perceptions, the characteristics of former beginning agriscience teachers, work satisfaction, work-life balance, and their reasons for leaving the profession. Information was gathered from former secondary agriscience teachers across Texas who left the profession during the 2001-2 through 2005-6 academic years. A survey instrument was created specifically for this study through which information about perceived work satisfaction, work-life balance, effect of work-life on attrition, and demographic characteristics of the former beginning agriscience teachers was gathered. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational statistics. For this population, work satisfaction, work-life balance, and teacher attrition were not found to differentiate among demographic and career characteristics: age, gender, ethnicity, employment, salary, teacher training institution, years of experience, agriscience department size, hours on the job, or FFA area association. The results suggested evidence of an inverse relationship between work satisfaction and beginning agriscience teacher attrition as well as an inverse relationship between work-life balance and agriscience teacher attrition. Nearly half of all respondents reported the wanting of balance between professional work and personal life as their chief reason for leaving the profession. Closely following this reason were the placement of students in agriscience classes who did not choose to be in the elective courses and too much time away from family. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents offered the recommendation to set a maximum student enrollment per class period and to decrease the number of class preparations/course sections taught by beginning teachers. Over half of the respondents made the recommendation to share the load of shows and contests equally among teachers and to increase the number of teachers in the agriscience department. To improve the preparation and retention of agriscience teachers, two-thirds of the respondents recommended a salary increase. The recommendation following salary and given by nearly half of respondents was to provide mentor teachers. And, one-third of respondents offered the recommendation for more follow-ups from university teacher trainers.

Includes vita. / Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 141 pages. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The factor structure of the work/family conflict scale developed by Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams (2000) was analyzed for measurement invariance between a US and an Australian/New Zealand (ANZ) sample using a multisample confirmatory factor analysis procedure. Results indicated that factor pattern fit between the female samples on the common model was good-to-mediocre, and factor pattern fit between the male samples and the common model was mediocre-to-poor. Both samples exhibited significant changes in chi square when testing for the more restrictive factor loading equivalence. Partial measurement invariance revealed a better fit between the male samples when three of the items were unconstrained, and when eight items were unconstrained between the female samples. Finally, males and females in the ANZ sample exhibited factor pattern invariance, but required two items to be unconstrained before factor loading invariance was achieved. / ABSTRACT: Mean differences on the six scales revealed higher levels of time-based work interference with family and family interference with work for males than for females in the ANZ sample. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Working mothers are stressed, juggling various roles and responsibilities both at home and at work, which can result in life imbalance. Writing has the potential to help working mothers to more effectively manage the challenges that cause this imbalance. Previous research and studies have shown that engaging in personal narrative writing can have physical and psychological healing effects, enhance problem-solving, lead to self-discovery, and build social connections, all factors that could potentially provide support to working mothers. This qualitative study explored the specific effects that personal narrative writing could have on the lives of working mothers. Initial data collection included autobiographical samples from each participant, in which she described her current issues as a working mother, her coping methods, and her previous experiences with personal writing. Over the next five months, participants were asked to write at least two times per week, at least 20-30 minutes per session, or longer if she felt compelled or simply chose to do so. Participants were interviewed four times: once before they began the study writing, once during the five-month study period, and twice during the post-study periods, during which each participant was also invited to share some of her personal writing as data sources. Analysis of the collected data enabled five themes to emerge: 1) writing can relieve stress; 2) writing can impact problem-solving and memory; 3) writing can impact concepts of identity and self; 4) writers desire to control writing practices; and 5) a relationship exists among motivation, perceived value of writing, and stress relief. From these themes, five recommendations related to establishing balance within the composition classroom were made: 1) balance personal and social elements in composition research; 2) balance personal and social elements in composition instruction; 3) balance personal and social elements through online networks; 4) balance mind and body in composition instruction; 5) balance writing with elements of personal value. From this last recommendation, a Linked Value Balance Model was proposed, which can have applications both for working mothers and within the composition classroom. / Dr. Jeannine M. Fontaine Dr. Ben Rafoth Dr. Lynne Alvine

The aim of this dissertation is to explore various dimensions of work–life balance in Europe. I examine the extent to which institutional factors, working conditions and individual resources influence individuals’ capabilities to have a family and engage in family life. The theoretical framework is inspired by Amartya Sen’s capability framework, a multi-dimensional approach that provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between institutional contexts and individual capabilities. Four studies have been conducted. The first study focuses on women’s short-term childbearing intentions in ten European countries and finds that the association between such intentions and economic uncertainties varies by the policy support for work-family reconciliation in the country as well as individual factors, such as her educational level, and her number of children. The second study addresses the impact of family-friendly working conditions on young adult women’s childbearing behaviour in Sweden, showing the importance of family-friendly working condition for the transition to motherhood of less educated childless women with low income, and for second births of low educated mothers. The third study analyses gender differences in perceived work–home conflict in ten European countries, and the importance of work-family policies and gender norms. I find that gender differences are more pronounced in countries with weaker support for work-family reconciliation and more traditional gender norms. The fourth study focuses on tensions between work and family demands that parents in Hungary and Sweden experience, and on their capabilities to make claims for work–life balance. We find greater agency inequalities for Hungarian parents for claims making for and achievement of work-life balance, in contrast to a strong sense of entitlement to exercise rights to care among Swedish parents, which reflect country variations in policy supports for work−life balance, working time regimes and social norms regarding work and care. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted. Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted.</p>

This phenomenological study expands from current mentoring literature within the mass communication field in understanding how mentoring can contribute to the successful careers of public relations entrepreneurial women. While many scholars indicate that mentoring is effective for women, the present study describes how mentoring has affected the women participants' public relations careers and personal lives. In-depth interviews focused on following five research questions: What have been the key contributing factors in the success of public relations women entrepreneurs? How has mentoring helped the women participants achieve their goals in a public relations career and in starting their own company? Which mentoring strategy (formal or informal) is perceived as being most effective? Do women benefit more from having a women mentor versus male? What motivating reasons attributed the public relations women participants to undertake their own business? The qualitative interview data generated six common themes which are: (1) networking, mentoring, building key relationships and a strong work ethic as being key to their success, (2) career mentoring from university faculty members and/or Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) as an integral part in the commencement of their public relations careers, (3) mentoring affirmed their self-worth, (4) informal mentoring being perceived as more beneficial due to the long lasting relationship that follows, (5) male mentors being as effective as female mentors relative to career issues, although women provide both career and psychological mentoring, and (6) mentoring, lack of employment opportunities, and a better work-life balance being the three main key contributing factors in women professionals starting their own public relations company.

The current study contributes to the already substantial scholarly literature on telecommuting by estimating a joint model of three dimensions- option, choice and frequency of telecommuting. In doing so, we focus on workers who are not self-employed workers and who have a primary work place that is outside their homes. The unique methodological features of this study include the use of a general and flexible generalized hurdle count model to analyze the precise count of telecommuting days per month, and the formulation and estimation of a model system that embeds the count model within a larger multivariate choice framework. The unique substantive aspects of this study include the consideration of the "option to telecommute" dimension and the consideration of a host of residential neighborhood built environment variables. The 2009 NHTS data is used for the analysis, and allows us to develop a current perspective of the process driving telecommuting decisions. This data set is supplemented with a built environment data base to capture the effects of demographic, work-related, and built environment measures on the telecommuting-related dimensions. In addition to providing important insights for policy analysis, the results in this study indicate that ignoring the "option" dimension of telecommuting can, and generally will, lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the behavioral processes governing telecommuting decisions. The empirical results have implications for transportation planning analysis as well as for the worker recruitment/retention and productivity literature. / text

Using the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) and ordered logistic regression, the relation of intergenerational child care and short-term fertility intentions is explored in the gender-egalitarian Swedish family policy context. Overall, receiving child care help from parents or grandparents does not seem to influence whether women or men with one or two children plan to have another child. The results support the Swedish public child care system's effectiveness in facilitating relatively high fertility and work- and family compatibility, while informal child care is at best complementary. Only women and men aged 18-29 years old with two children were found to be significantly more likely in having another child within three years when receiving intergenerational child care support.

Alternative work arrangements (AWA) policies allow employees to select varied work schedules that are both conducive to the organization’s goals and to employees’ personal needs. Though common in the business sector, such policies are rarely articulated within American colleges and universities. Practitioners within the student affairs profession regularly work beyond the average 40-hour week due to the fundamental nature of their work with students’ co-curricular involvement outside of the classroom; as a result, the lack of work-life balance can result in high employee turnover which can be detrimental to an organization. Utilizing grounded theory, a qualitative methodology that allows researchers to espouse new theories to explain phenomena based on data, 14 student affairs practitioners employed at a large research institution in the southeast were interviewed to examine their experiences which emanated from the institution’s AWA policy implemented in 2007. The emergent theory collectively affirmed the importance of flexibility as participants indicated that they expected variations in their work hours given the unusual hours that are commonly associated with the student affairs profession. They reported benefits such as better work-life balance, increased productivity, reduced stress, and increased job satisfaction. Conversely, participants expressed concerns that AWAs were not consistency available to all employees and awareness of the policy was limited. They also experienced feelings of guilt and often felt the need to prove that they were working. Finally, participants recommended that AWA policies should be transparent, regularly assessed, and benchmarked against existing policies at other universities. Results provided evidence of how proven strategies used in corporate human resource models can be applied in a higher education setting, and the findings further suggested that employees and employers could greatly benefit from the establishment of formal policies that allow flexibility in the workplace through the use of AWAs. Implementation of these policies may provide employees with more opportunities for work-life balance, thereby improving job satisfaction and increasing employee retention in the student affairs profession.

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There is growing concern surrounding the detrimental effect of term-time employment on university students’ academic success. The narrow focus of previous studies has resulted in the literature being characterised by mixed results. This study sought to clarify the effects by comprehensively investigating and controlling for a large number of variables across a diverse range of university students (N = 1841). Students completed an online survey during the first semester of study (2010) and their responses were later matched to their academic records for that semester. The results show that the majority of working students reported working out of financial necessity. There was no difference in grades between employed and non-employed students; however, hours worked had a direct negative linear effect on the grades of employed students. Analysis indicated that employed students would have had significantly higher grades than the non-employed subsample, if they had not worked during term. The variable ‘reported negative effects of work on study’ partially mediated the effect of hours worked on grades. Studying engineering moderated the effect; when engineering students worked, the negative effect on grades was greater than for those studying other subjects. In addition, hours spent in employment partially mediated the effects of age, debt and financial pressure on GPA. Students also reported that work affected other areas of their life (time spent socialising/relaxing, in leisure/sport, sleeping and with family). Just over a fifth of the working students reported feeling that the university did not make it possible to combine work and study. These findings have implications for students, student supporters and academic institutions. Students should be aware of the negative effects of work on academic performance and seek to minimise the amount they work. Supporters may be able to relieve financial pressure on students, encourage realistic perceptions about students’ financial needs, and encourage students to limit the number of hours they work. Finally, academic institutions can also assist students in balancing work and study by providing a flexible learning environment.