Racial discrimination has been linked to depressive symptoms (Pascoe & Richman, 2009), but only a few studies have explored this relationship longitudinally. This study examines the possible moderating role of faculty and peer support on the discrimination-depression relationship amongst 180 ethnic minority college freshmen. Results of the hierarchical regression indicate that racial discrimination, β = .13, p < .05, in the first semester of freshman year significantly predicted depressive symptoms in the second semester of freshman year. No interactions were found between discrimination and peer support (β = .06, p > .05), or between discrimination and two forms of faculty support (faculty interactions, β = .05, p > .05, and faculty concern, β = -.10, p > .05). Thus, unlike predicted, peer and faculty support did not serve as protective factors against discrimination-related stress. Future studies should investigate which types of coping most benefit ethnic minority freshmen.

The study explores binary classification with Support Vector Machines as means to predict a satisfaction score based on customer surveys in the customer supportdomain. Standard feature selection methods and their impact on results are evaluated and a feature scoring metric Log Odds Ratio is implemented for addressingasymmetrical class distributions. Results show that the feature selection andscoring methods implemented improve performance significantly. Results alsoshow that it is possible to get decent predictive values on test data based onlimited amount of training observations. However mixed results are presentedin a real-world application example as a there is a significant error rate fordiscriminating the minority class. We also show the negative effects of usingcommon metrics such as accuracy and f-measure for optimizing models whendealing with high-skew data in a classification context.

Parents are best able to identify their own support needs, and professionals can assist parents in receiving supports to assist with these needs. There has been an increase of children diagnosed with autism, which has resulted in a major concern for education professionals. Teachers, therapists, and medical personnel are better able to assist families of children with autism in obtaining supports because they are able to view the family and child objectively and are not emotionally tied to the situation. The focus of this study was to identify the forms of social support that mothers and fathers of children recently diagnosed with autism perceive as being important. Twenty couples (father-mother dyads) of children between the ages of three to five and diagnosed no more than a year and a half with autism participated in this study. Before the study began a social validation process with professionals and parents of children with autism was used to validate the usefulness of the 16 support items. Once the validation was complete, twenty families completed a Q-sort with the items, which allowed for a ranking from "most" to "least" important. Results indicated that both fathers and mothers ranked "information on how I can help my child" as the most important support and "help with transportation" as the least important support. Overall, fathers' preferred instrumental (goods, services, financial assistance, and information) types of supports, such as, "financial help for expenses." Mothers' preferred emotional (someone to talk to about problems, feelings, and attitudes) types of supports, such as, "contact with other parent(s) who experienced the same situation." T-tests, correlations, and a factor analysis were performed to analyze the data. Significant correlations were from on five support items. "Involvement with a church or strong religious beliefs", "special equipment to help meet my child's needs", "financial help for expenses", "participation in an organized parent support group", and "information on how I can help my child" were significant at the.05 level. From the findings, implications for professionals who work with families of children with autism and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Cette thèse étudie l’expérience de la retraite de personnes ayant travaillé en milieu protégé et ayant un handicap intellectuel. Cette expérience prend corps dans un contexte particulier, car l’organisation sectorielle des dispositifs médicosociaux rend la transition de la retraite des travailleurs handicapés particulièrement délicate. Le travail protégé créé une imbrication forte des sphères de la vie des travailleurs handicapés, et la transition vers la retraite relève alors d’une bifurcation. Dans ce nouveau temps de leur vie qu’est la retraite, ces personnes vont s’efforcer de recréer un équilibre dans leur existence, en s’appuyant sur différents supports matériels, relationnels ou symboliques, en fonction de leur disponibilité et de la légitimité qu’elles leur accordent. Les dispositifs à l’intention des « personnes handicapées vieillissantes » sont sans cesse agis et modifiés par un jeu de transactions entre quatre catégories d’acteurs : les personnes en situation de handicap bénéficiaires de l’action publique, les professionnels qui les accompagnent, les représentants d’organismes gestionnaires et les représentants des autorités de tutelle. Ainsi, si les travailleurs handicapés sont « pris » dans la fabrique du vieillissement opérée par les politiques publiques, ils jouent également un rôle actif dans la fabrique de leur propre vieillissement et agissent sur les dispositifs qui encadrent leur expérience de la retraite. / This thesis studies the experience of retirees having worked in a protected environment with an intellectual disability. This experience takes shape within a specific context, as the sectorial organization of medico social measures makes the transition towards retirement for disabled workers particularly delicate. Working in a protected environment creates a strong imbrication of the spheres of life for disabled workers, and the transition towards retirement creates a detour from this. In this new stage of their lives, these individuals will attempt to recreate a balance in their existence, by relying on various material, relational or symbolic aids according to their availability and the legitimacy that they give them. The measures for ageing disabled people are continuously being acted on and modified by a game of transactions between four categories of actors: disabled people benefiting from state support, professionals accompanying them, representatives from management organizations and representatives of guardianship authorities. Thus, if the disabled workers are “stuck” within the fabric of ageing implemented by the public authorities, they also play an active role in their ageing process and act on the measures that oversee their experience of retirement. Key words: retirement, ageing, disability, trial, support.

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / The out-of-school factors that low-income children face can impact their wellbeing and ability to learn (Rothstein, 2010), leading to low academic performance, and, in turn, high levels of stress among their teachers. One of the numerous potential strategies that exist to address this problem is the implementation of systemic student support interventions, which are hypothesized to support teachers in addition to students (Ball & Anderson-Butcher, 2014). Using the City Connects intervention as an example of a comprehensive, systemic student support intervention that has demonstrated positive effects for students, this dissertation study examines the impact of this same intervention on teachers. The study used data obtained from annual surveys administered to all teachers in public schools (across several districts) where the City Connects intervention was implemented. The sample consisted of 656 responses from teachers in Boston Public Schools that were participating in the City Connects intervention during three designated school years (2012-13, 2013-14, and 2015-16). The study implemented a mixed-methods approach that allowed for an in-depth analysis of teachers’ perceptions of support from the City Connects intervention through both quantitative and qualitative data sources. Following exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the survey instrument itself, survey data was analyzed using the Validating Quantitative Data Model (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007), in which quantitative findings were confirmed and expanded upon through analysis of data from a small number of open-ended survey questions. The results of this dissertation study support the continued use of systemic student support interventions in schools, as data confirm that teachers in schools with City Connects report being supported by the intervention. These results hold for veteran teachers who have been teaching for over sixteen years and have participated in the City Connects intervention for over ten years. Ultimately, the findings of this dissertation study suggest that, in addition to leading to positive changes in students’ developmental trajectories, student support interventions can improve the experiences of other members of the school community. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

abstract: As scholars continue to generate research on social support, so has the realization that our understanding of this theoretical concept is not so clear. Originally introduced by Francis Cullen in 1994, social support has traditionally been examined as a single measure. Cullen, however, posits that there are numerous forms of social support that can be provided by different actors. Little research has sought to examine these different forms of social support and their relationship with recidivating. Further, the extant literature generally places social support in the positive light, hypothesized to have an inverse relationship with crime. Studies have shown, however, that not all social support provides an inverse relationship with recidivism, and instead, some forms of support may actually increase an individual’s likelihood of recidivating. Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, this dissertation examines both positive and negative emotional family support and the effects they have on the likelihood that formerly incarcerated individuals will recidivate. Utilizing discrete time hazard modeling, and controlling for instrumental family and instrumental peer support, results reveal that while positive emotional family support does indeed have an inverse relationship with recidivating, negative emotional family support has a more salient and direct relationship with recidivating. Additionally, other findings are explored, along with implications for criminological theory, correctional programming, and criminal justice policy. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2019

<p>Forskning visar att ungdomar verkar må allt sämre. Undersökningen testade eventuella samband mellan ungdomars stödnätverk och deras känsla av sammanhang (KASAM), språk/kulturs påverkan på dessa faktorer, samt vad som är viktigt hos en stödperson. Enkätfrågor om det sociala nätverket, för att fastställa KASAM samt om vem man vänder sig till i olika situationer besvarades av 147 gymnasieungdomar från Mälardalen. Positivt samband mellan KASAM och ungdomarnas stödnätverk påvisades. Ungdomarna vände sig främst till familjen vid behov av stöd, men kompisar var också viktiga, speciellt för tjejer. Det viktigaste hos en stödperson var att lyssna, vara förstående, finna lösningar, att den känner individen, samt att den är snäll. Tidigare forskning verkar kunna befästas - att ungdomar med ett starkt stödnätverk mår bättre.</p>

Social support is important for health and well-being and has been associated with reduced isolation in rural communities. Support from family and friends may become increasingly important as one ages, and may enable some seniors to remain living in their communities. The purpose of this project was to understand variation in the social support resources of older adults in rural Canada. This included variation in seniors social networks, support networks, tasks and services received, and exchange patterns. Methods included secondary analysis of a national telephone survey of adults aged 65 and older residing in rural Canada. Four key findings emerged. First, there was variation in the connections seniors had to family and friends. While some seniors had social networks averaging two people, others had social networks averaging 17. Who is present in social networks sets limits on who can be recruited into the support network. Second, who gets recruited from social networks into support networks varies. On average, social networks comprised 10 people, but support networks averaged three people. Spouses, children, middle-aged and local social network members were most likely to be recruited into support networks. However, recruitment depended on who was available to provide support. Third, not everyone receives support. Findings revealed that 15 percent of seniors who had a social network reported receiving no support, while nine percent who received support had few people who provided help with tasks like housework and shopping. While some of that group may not need support and/or are providing help to others, some seniors may have only one or two people to rely on. Fourth, rural older adults are not passive receivers of support. Many provide a high number of tasks to family and friends, helping build social ties and maintain supportive relationships. These findings point to the need for rural communities to be vigilant about evolving support needs of older residents. If seniors have few people who provide them with support, or if they rely on non-kin, who will provide care if needed? Services will be needed to fill the gap, and these services are not always available in rural areas.

Forskning visar att ungdomar verkar må allt sämre. Undersökningen testade eventuella samband mellan ungdomars stödnätverk och deras känsla av sammanhang (KASAM), språk/kulturs påverkan på dessa faktorer, samt vad som är viktigt hos en stödperson. Enkätfrågor om det sociala nätverket, för att fastställa KASAM samt om vem man vänder sig till i olika situationer besvarades av 147 gymnasieungdomar från Mälardalen. Positivt samband mellan KASAM och ungdomarnas stödnätverk påvisades. Ungdomarna vände sig främst till familjen vid behov av stöd, men kompisar var också viktiga, speciellt för tjejer. Det viktigaste hos en stödperson var att lyssna, vara förstående, finna lösningar, att den känner individen, samt att den är snäll. Tidigare forskning verkar kunna befästas - att ungdomar med ett starkt stödnätverk mår bättre.

Intelligent decision systems have the potential to support and greatly amplify human decision-making across a number of industries and domains. However, despite the rapid improvement in the underlying capabilities of these “intelligent” systems, increasing their acceptance as decision aids in industry has remained a formidable challenge. If intelligent systems are to be successful, and their full impact on decision-making performance realized, a greater understanding of the factors that influence recommendation acceptance from intelligent machines is needed. Through an empirical experiment in the financial services industry, this study investigated the effects of perceived behavioral similarity (similarity state) on the dependent variables of recommendation acceptance, decision performance and decision efficiency under varying conditions of uncertainty (volatility state). It is hypothesized in this study that behavioral similarity as a design element will positively influence the acceptance rate of machine recommendations by human users. The level of uncertainty in the decision context is expected to moderate this relationship. In addition, an increase in recommendation acceptance should positively influence both decision performance and decision efficiency. The quantitative exploration of behavioral similarity as a design element revealed a number of key findings. Most importantly, behavioral similarity was found to positively influence the acceptance rate of machine recommendations. However, uncertainty did not moderate the level of recommendation acceptance as expected. The experiment also revealed that behavioral similarity positively influenced decision performance during periods of elevated uncertainty. This relationship was moderated based on the level of uncertainty in the decision context. The investigation of decision efficiency also revealed a statistically significant result. However, the results for decision efficiency were in the opposite direction of the hypothesized relationship. Interestingly, decisions made with the behaviorally similar decision aid were less efficient, based on length of time to make a decision, compared to decisions made with the low-similarity decision aid. The results of decision efficiency were stable across both levels of uncertainty in the decision context.