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- Title
- Attachment in preadolescence: consequence or cause of children's perceptions of parenting ?.
- Creator
- Menon, Meenakshi, Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Psychology
- Abstract/Description
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This one-year longitudinal study was designed to illuminate the direction of the causal arrow between children's perceptions of their mother's behavior and children's attachment style during a period of development that has been relatively neglected in research on attachment - preadolescence. The possibility that children's behavior problems moderate the influence of perceived parenting on attachment, or of attachment on perceived parenting, was also investigated. Participants were an...
Show moreThis one-year longitudinal study was designed to illuminate the direction of the causal arrow between children's perceptions of their mother's behavior and children's attachment style during a period of development that has been relatively neglected in research on attachment - preadolescence. The possibility that children's behavior problems moderate the influence of perceived parenting on attachment, or of attachment on perceived parenting, was also investigated. Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 407 children (213 girls, 194 boys) who were in the fourth grade at initial testing (M age = 11 years 1 month). Measures included children's perceptions of five maternal behaviors (harassment, overprotectiveness, monitoring, affectionate contact, and reliable support), peer reports of children's behavior problems (internalizing and externalizing), and children's self-perceived attachment styles (preoccupied and avoidant). Contrary to a traditional attachment perspective, there was limited evidence that perceptions of parenting led to change in children's attachment styles. Though children with internalizing problems who perceived their mother as harassing developed preoccupied attachment over time, and children with externalizing problems who perceived their mother as v overprotective developed avoidant attachment over time. However, there was considerable support for the reverse causal hypothesis that children's attachment style influences how they perceive their mother: Preoccupied attachment predicted increasingly favorable perceptions of maternal behavior over time (reduced harassment and increased monitoring), whereas avoidant attachment predicted increasingly unfavorable perceptions of the mother over time (increased harassment, reduced monitoring, reduced affectionate contact, and reduced reliable support). Children's behavior problems moderated a few of these relations., Overall, results support a "child effects" interpretation of the links between perceived parenting and attachment styles during preadolescence.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/58007
- Subject Headings
- Parent and teenager, Attachment behavior in adolescence, Child rearing, Parenting, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Beyond fidelity: relating educational practices and their determinants to student learning gains.
- Creator
- Urdegar, Steven M., Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
- Abstract/Description
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This study explored how contextual factors influenced the effect of educational practices on student reading achievement and describes an alternative means of assessing educational programs under conditions of multiple-treatment interference and innovation diffusion. Over 1,500 reading teachers at 69 elementary schools within a large diverse district completed surveys regarding multiple aspects of the reading program, actions of their reading leaders, and instructional program coherence at...
Show moreThis study explored how contextual factors influenced the effect of educational practices on student reading achievement and describes an alternative means of assessing educational programs under conditions of multiple-treatment interference and innovation diffusion. Over 1,500 reading teachers at 69 elementary schools within a large diverse district completed surveys regarding multiple aspects of the reading program, actions of their reading leaders, and instructional program coherence at their schools. Nearly 13,000 students in grades 2 through 5 were assigned to those teachers. Factor analyses were used to separately identify patterns within survey items that measured educational practices, leadership actions, and instructional program coherence. Then, the students' achievement gains were adjusted for the effects of fixed demographic and organizational variables through hierarchical linear modeling. Finally, classroom level relationships between the adjusted achievement gains, and subscales computed from the factors that were identified, were examined through a path analysis. Educational practices were found to align to six factors labeled Technology, Training Utility, Advanced Skills, Basic Skills, Grouping, and Assessment. Leadership actions were found to align to two factors labeled Relationship and Task. Fixed effects at the student, classroom, and school levels were found to have an impact on both the initial status and growth components of student achievement. In the path model, Task was found to have a significant direct effect on Advanced Skills, while the effect of Relationship on educational practices was partially mediated by Instructional Program Coherence. Both Advanced and Basic skills were found to have positive effects on Adjusted Gain when taught at the appropriate level, and negative effects, when taught at the inappropriate level., Technology was found to facilitate Basic Skills instruction overall, with greater benefits seen at the upper grades. It was concluded the rates of use seen for Advanced and Basic skills instruction were similar at the three types of schools examined because of poor differentiation due to innovation diffusion. Teachers who perceived their leaders as supportive, tended to rate their schools as more coherent and training requirements as more appropriate, and used technology and assessment more often, leading to gains in student achievement.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77653
- Subject Headings
- School management and organization, Decision making, Education, Evaluation, Educational tests and measurements, School improvement programs, Evaluation
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Community college and university experiences of high school dual enrollment students.
- Creator
- Heath, Laura A., Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
- Abstract/Description
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The purpose of this study was to examine academic and social experiences of students who participated in a two-year intensive dual enrollment program housed on a community college campus. The academic experiences were examined through an analysis of community college and university data for 275 dually enrolled students and a comparison group of 258 traditional community college transfer students. An independent test of means was used to compare dual enrollment students to traditional...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to examine academic and social experiences of students who participated in a two-year intensive dual enrollment program housed on a community college campus. The academic experiences were examined through an analysis of community college and university data for 275 dually enrolled students and a comparison group of 258 traditional community college transfer students. An independent test of means was used to compare dual enrollment students to traditional community college transfer students. The findings were significant and found that dually enrolled students had higher community college GPAs, higher associate's and bachelor's degree completion rates, and shorter time periods to associate's degree completion. The social experiences were examined through the use of a survey from 93 students who participated in the intensive dual enrollment program., Repeated measures of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to examine the students' experiences while participating in the dual enrollment program compared to their regular high school and compared to the university. The analysis revealed that the dually enrolled students had significantly higher ratings of overall satisfaction with the dual enrollment program and better quality ratings for relationships with students, faculty, and administration while participating in the dual enrollment program, compared to their experiences while at the high school and university. Qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed that the dually enrolled students typically missed their friends and extracurricular activities of their regular high school, but many positive aspects of the dual enrollment experience made up for "missing out" on a traditional high school experience. Initially, students opted to participate in dual enrollment in order to get a free head start on college., Many survey respondents indicated that the small size of the program was crucial to their success by providing a close-knit family environment. Recommendations are provided for policymakers to support dual enrollment programs and for high school, community college, and university advisors to provide guidance to address the unique concerns of dual enrollment students.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/58005
- Subject Headings
- Dual enrollment, College credits, Advanced placement programs (Education), College-school cooperation, Educational acceleration
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Cross-cultural stories of race and change: a re-languaging of the public discourse on race and ethnicity.
- Creator
- Oliver, Eloise D. (Kitty), Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Languages, Linguistics and Comparative Literature
- Abstract/Description
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A progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls....
Show moreA progressive discourse on race is impeded by several factors: debates on the reality or unreality of the term race itself; discussions of ethnicity that tend to marginalize a discussion of race; the view by majority members of society that race is a topic for discussion principally by minorities; and the lack of models for non-confrontational public conversations on the subject. In the process, a discussion of racial change rarely enters the discourse beyond brief responses in opinion polls. This study proposed the Race and Change Dialogue Model to facilitate the exploration of how race operates in society on an interpersonal level in everyday lives of people across cultures and how changes in racial attitudes occur over time. Theories of race and ethnicity, language, effective communication strategies, and social change provided a starting point, but a "re-languaging" approach was used to advance the innovative nature of this work. In audiorecorded oral histories for public dissemination and interviews in a documentary series on public television, cross-cultural narrators were provided with a safe rhetorical space to tell their stories and to be heard, and a framework of "racenicity" allowed for the discussion of the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, and culture as fused aspects of the same issue. An environment was created that enhanced effective communication of a difficult subject. Despite the challenges that arose in the patterns of talk about racial change, the door has been opened to bring change into the dialogue in a more prominent way that moves the discourse on differences in more productive directions. An alternate model for public discussions on race as "racenicity" was created that has the potential to build coalition in the U.S. and has implications for other societies as well.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3337184
- Subject Headings
- Pluralism (Social sciences), Discourse analysis, Psychological aspects, Language and culture, Social change, Ethnic relations, Psychological aspects, Race relations, Psychological aspects
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- An exploration of the relationship between experiential learning and self-directed learning readiness.
- Creator
- Amey, Beth E., Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
- Abstract/Description
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The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between experiential learning and self-directed learning readiness of bachelor's and master's level social work students. A quantitative design was utilized. The study consisted of 115 senior social work students and 70 master's level social work students (separated into three student groups) from a state university. Students participated in a one-semester field education component as part of their social work degree program. The...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between experiential learning and self-directed learning readiness of bachelor's and master's level social work students. A quantitative design was utilized. The study consisted of 115 senior social work students and 70 master's level social work students (separated into three student groups) from a state university. Students participated in a one-semester field education component as part of their social work degree program. The research instrument utilized was the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) constructed by Guglielmino (1978). The SDLRS is a self-report questionnaire with 58 Likert scale items designed to measure the attitudes, values and abilities of learners relating to their readiness to engage in self-directed learning. A pretest, treatment, posttest design was utilized. Demographic data were collected with the pretest administration and level of satisfaction information was collected with the posttest administration. The bachelor's level social work students demonstrated statistically significant differences in the pre and posttest SDLRS scores while the master's level social work students' changes in readiness for self-directed learning were not significant. It is important to note that the master's level social work students spent only half the amount of hours in the field education as the bachelor's level students at the time of the posttest. Correlations between change score from pretest to posttest SDLRS with students' previous exposure to the field of social work, prior experiential learning in a social work program, their satisfaction with the experiential learning component, and demographic factors of gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, number of children, and number of years pursuing degree were not significant., The initial SDLRS scores of the bachelor's level students were found to be consistent with those of nursing students previously scored on the SDLRS. In the ANOVA of all groups, significant differences were not found with the four groups of social work students in their change scores of pretest and posttest SDLRS or their overall level of satisfaction with the field experience and overall level of satisfaction with the quality of the supervisor in the field experience. The internship did not demonstrate particular merit for improving readiness for self-directed learning except for the bachelor's level students. However, students were satisfied with the experience and felt it changed their perceptions of self and others.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/107799
- Subject Headings
- Experiential learning, Adult learning, Learning, Psychology of, Self-culture
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Exploring barriers to education for Native American Indians: a native perspective.
- Creator
- Conley, Enid., Florida Atlantic University, College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology
- Abstract/Description
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This qualitative storytelling and exploratory research design investigated the barriers, enhancers, and coping strategies to education experienced by adult Native American Indians from various Native American Indian Nations. In addition, differences between the sexes, Native American Nations, and/or languages spoken, and/or participation in cultural activities regarding barriers, enhancers, and coping strategies of Native American Indians were examined. The study with 23 adult Native American...
Show moreThis qualitative storytelling and exploratory research design investigated the barriers, enhancers, and coping strategies to education experienced by adult Native American Indians from various Native American Indian Nations. In addition, differences between the sexes, Native American Nations, and/or languages spoken, and/or participation in cultural activities regarding barriers, enhancers, and coping strategies of Native American Indians were examined. The study with 23 adult Native American participants revealed a main theme of identity both passive and aggressive that permeated all of the thematic areas: barriers, enhancers, and coping strategies. The barriers ranged from reinventing the Native American Indian to language barriers caused by forcing Native American Indians to speak Eurowestern languages in order to survive. The educational enhancers themes described by the participants revolved around themes of people, culture, community, and the environment. Elements of Garrison' s Model (1997) on self-directed learning emerged in this study under the thematic area of coping strategies. Self-directedness was evident in the coping strategies; which included self-management (control by acknowledging the social environment in which the participants were interacting), cognitive responsibility (self-examination), and motivation (assuming personal responsibility). The role of a Native American Indian as a researcher was noted in enhancing the depth and breadth of the research., The examination of the differences between the sexes, Native American Nations, and/or languages spoken, and/or participation in cultural activities revealed: (a) one male and five females participants described sexism as a barrier; (b) no participant expressed particular barriers with regards to the Native American Nation in which they belonged to; (c) a majority of participants expressed that language was a barrier in one form or another; (d) participants described barriers to Native American Indian cultural participation as thoughts and feelings of being "lost" and "not belonging," which is evident in identity crisis or identity diffusion.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/108066
- Subject Headings
- Discrimination in education, Educational equalization, Indians of North America, Education, Indian philosophy
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Family, obligation, and educational outcomes: unraveling the paradox of high aspirations and low academic achievement among the children of Haitian immigrants.
- Creator
- Nicholas, Tekla., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Anthropology
- Abstract/Description
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The desire for academic success is shared by Haitian parents and their American-born children. Yet, despite this will to succeed, second generation Haitian students have been shown to fare poorly in school when compared to other ethnic groups. This qualitative study revealed that students' poor results in high school were not due to adversarial attitudes toward education; rather, they reflected inadequate foundations in basic academic skills. In particular, limited vocabularies hamper the...
Show moreThe desire for academic success is shared by Haitian parents and their American-born children. Yet, despite this will to succeed, second generation Haitian students have been shown to fare poorly in school when compared to other ethnic groups. This qualitative study revealed that students' poor results in high school were not due to adversarial attitudes toward education; rather, they reflected inadequate foundations in basic academic skills. In particular, limited vocabularies hamper the academic achievement of many Haitian American students. Some students who expected that passing grades would lead to college are unable to pass the FCAT exam required to earn a high school diploma. Surprisingly, the highest levels of academic achievement were attained by the students with the poorest and least educated parents. They displayed extraordinary motivation attributed to a strong sense of familial obligation.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/77648
- Subject Headings
- Minorities, Education, Haitian Americans, Education, Children of immigrants, Education, Motivation in education
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- The Filipina-South Florida international Internet marriage practice: agency, culture, and paradox.
- Creator
- Haley, Pamela Sullivan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of Sociology, Florida Atlantic University
- Abstract/Description
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This dissertation concerns the structures and individual agency of Filipina brides who met their American husbands through Internet or pen pal advertisements. Popular media, legal scholars, and some feminists have largely described the phenomenon in terms of its oppressiveness toward the women involved, thus dismissing any agency on the part of the women. Similarly, much of the scholarship has located the American Internet grooms as ogres who are out to exploit these women for domestic and...
Show moreThis dissertation concerns the structures and individual agency of Filipina brides who met their American husbands through Internet or pen pal advertisements. Popular media, legal scholars, and some feminists have largely described the phenomenon in terms of its oppressiveness toward the women involved, thus dismissing any agency on the part of the women. Similarly, much of the scholarship has located the American Internet grooms as ogres who are out to exploit these women for domestic and sexual services. If prominent researchers of this phenomenon are correct in their assessments that Filipina Internet brides operate as effective agents, then one also assumes these women continue that agency when they settle into their new lives as Filipina wives married to American men. Therefore, my central research question is: How has this agency manifested itself, and has this manifestation been problematic for the American groom, who, from the typical Internet ad's text and images and couple d with prevailing American cultural assumptions, assumed he was getting a submissive wife? To explore possible answers to these questions I performed a rhetorical analysis of two typical Internet advertisements. The focus on the ads is important to my study because the Internet advertisements both shape and reflect the popular view of the so-called Filipina "mail-order bride." Next, in order to gain the Internet brides' and grooms' perspectives of the phenomenon, I interviewed three Filipina-Americano couples currently living in South Florida between November, 2005, and October, 2007. My findings support the scholars who forefront the brides' agency and, therefore, reject the stereotypes projected on the Internet advertisements. My findings also reject the stereotype of the exploitative husband. From my interview data, the women appeared agentive and the men encouraged their wives' agency., An unanticipated and paradoxical outcropping of the interview descriptions of their courtshand subsequent marriages. In this one area both the brides and grooms unanimously deemphasized their own agency, and instead highlighted romantic narratives with each insisting that they had "fallen in love."
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186295
- Subject Headings
- Arranged marriage, Social aspects, Marriage brokerage, Intercountry marriage, Mail order brides
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Gay-centric identity: a challenge to gay cultural script, gay ghetto and performance.
- Creator
- Beebe, Robert D., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
- Abstract/Description
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For many gay men performing a gay-centric identity can be challenging. By adopting a set of expected behaviors known as the gay cultural script, many of these men are potentially met with discrimination from both heterosexual and homosexual communities. The gay cultural script is readily available as it is found within the gay ghettos and through various representations of gay men in the media. This research question examines how the gay cultural script when found within the gay ghetto and...
Show moreFor many gay men performing a gay-centric identity can be challenging. By adopting a set of expected behaviors known as the gay cultural script, many of these men are potentially met with discrimination from both heterosexual and homosexual communities. The gay cultural script is readily available as it is found within the gay ghettos and through various representations of gay men in the media. This research question examines how the gay cultural script when found within the gay ghetto and through the media's representation of gay men provides a lens to which the performance of a gay-centric identity may be communicated and shared. The focus of this research is separated into three interconnected areas: (1) exploration of gay-cultural script, (2) location to which the gay cultural script operates and, (3) analysis of the relationship between the gay cultural script and gay-centric identity performance.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/107802
- Subject Headings
- Gender identity, Gays in popular culture, Gay men, Identity, Gay men in mass media
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Unintended alliances: Kennedy, Israel, and Arab nationalism.
- Creator
- Bocco, Michael., Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
- Abstract/Description
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This thesis will explore the origins of the U.S.-Israeli alliance during the Kennedy administration. John F. Kennedy provided Israel with the first U.S. weapons sale, issued the first informal security guarantee, and established the first joint security consultations between both nations. Ironically, Kennedy gave these concessions to contain Israel, not to establish closer relations. His primary objective for the Middle East was to improve U.S. relations with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel...
Show moreThis thesis will explore the origins of the U.S.-Israeli alliance during the Kennedy administration. John F. Kennedy provided Israel with the first U.S. weapons sale, issued the first informal security guarantee, and established the first joint security consultations between both nations. Ironically, Kennedy gave these concessions to contain Israel, not to establish closer relations. His primary objective for the Middle East was to improve U.S. relations with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, seeing Nasser as the path for gaining pro-American sentiments among the Arab population in the region to the detriment of the Soviets. Kennedy unintentionally laid the foundations of the U.S.-Israeli alliance while trying to restrain Israel, fearing Israeli actions would impede his plans. The Palestinian refugee issue, the regional arms race between Egypt and Israel, and Israel's secret nuclear weapons program became three pivotal concerns for Kennedy that unintentionally led to the U.S.-Israeli alliance.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/107804
- Subject Headings
- Arab-Israeli conflict, Nationalism, Foreign relations, Foreign relations, Politics and government
- Format
- Document (PDF)