Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-139).

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-139).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [47]-53).

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on June 8, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Salvatore Catanzaro (chair), Matthew Hesson-McInnis, Jeff Laurent, Adena Meyers, Mark Swerdlik. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-133) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-192). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Despite the burgeoning social scientific research regarding children and young people, there has been a paucity of research regarding the everyday issues and experiences of 'disabled' teenagers. This thesis presents an understanding of the encounters and experiences of teenage wheelchair users in a range of public and private leisure spaces. The thesis contributes to expanding debates surrounding the significance of difference in developing understandings of the lives of particular 'groups' of (young) people. It challenges the notion of 'wheelchair user' as a universal grouping, exploring the difference and diversity of their leisure experiences in relation to the home, transport, indoor and outdoor public leisure spaces. The study utilises a multi-method approach, tailored wherever possible to the needs of individual participants. The methods used include survey-based interviews, a photography exercise and participant-led tours. Significant emphasis is placed on the contributions of the young people themselves, as experts in their lives. The thesis presents the diversity of experiences that teenage wheelchair users encounter in those spaces used for, and designated as, leisure. Discussions centre on their enjoyment(s), disappointment(s) and the insights that they can give to the development of the everyday spaces that they frequent. A number of theoretical contributions are put forward in relation to the teenagers' use of spaces in accessing leisure, and which have wider ramifications for debates relating to geography, childhood and 'disability'. Throughout, the notion of disadvantage in the lives of the teenagers is discussed, alongside the significance of the (socially-constructed) labels 'childhood', 'disability' and 'wheelchair user'. These 'layers of disadvantage' are explained as they manifest in and through the spaces that the teenagers frequent in relation to leisure. The notion of 'deceptive access' is drawn out to explore spaces which are seemingly adapted and accessible for the generic wheelchair user, however where access is not afforded in relation to the diverse needs of the young wheelchair user. Throughout, the theme of emotion in relation to leisure is developed, situating the experiences of this group of young people in their 'present time worlds' (Sanders and Munford, 2008, p. 331), and highlighting the importance of the everyday in understanding the leisure of young people. Ultimately the significance of leisure in the here and now, rather than merely for the future good is maintained.

Youth disaffection is associated with huge personal and social costs, with future trajectories typically marked by school exclusion, poverty, unemployment, youth offending, and substance abuse. Core theoretical frameworks including perspectives concerning self-determination, self-discrepancy, and achievement motivation provide explanations for the role of social-environment factors, self-concepts and cognitions in human motivation. However, there has been little work to integrate these theories into a nuanced account of the socio-motivational processes underpinning school disaffection, and our understanding of how interventions may work to re-direct the negative trajectories remains weak. This thesis includes four papers reporting on a programme of theoretical and empirical research conducted in order to address this gap in knowledge. The first, a theoretical paper, presents an integrated model of the development of school disaffection in which multiple self-construals play a key role in bridging the gap between need fulfilment and cognitive and behavioural indicators of school disaffection. The second paper reports on a thematic analysis of extensive semi-structured individual interviews with school-excluded young people and practitioners working with them. In accordance with our theoretical model, the accounts of the young people‟s emotional and behavioural profiles in achievement contexts were connected to need-thwarting social experiences, with maladaptive constructions of multiple selves appearing to mediate the relationship between these factors. The third paper presents an analysis of quantitative survey data with school-excluded and mainstream secondary school pupils that investigated the direct and mediated pathways between key processes identified by our model. Results showed that pathways between key variables were moderated by the experience of exclusion such that distinct pathways emerged for excluded and non-excluded pupils. The final paper reports on an in-depth, longitudinal, idiographic study exploring the impact of theatre involvement on marginalised young people. Results from an interpretative phenomenological analysis of interview transcripts suggested that the nurturing, creative environment of the theatre project provided optimal conditions for promoting resilience and self-development in youth at risk. Together, the findings from this programme of research highlight the crucial role played by social experiences in the development of school disaffection via the impact on self-construals, motivation and achievement goals, as well as the role they can play in supporting young people to create more positive life trajectories. This body of work has implications for further research and also carries practical implications for interventions and school-based practices seeking to both support school-disaffected children, and increase engagement in those at risk of school disaffection.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-82). Also available on the Internet.