Teacher Self-efficacy and Accommodating for Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom

The purpose of the present study is to investigate how teachers feel about their abilities to educate students with special needs, how their degree of teacher self-efficacy compares to intended courses of action, if teachers develop learned helplessness over time, if there is a relationship between low teacher efficacy and high learned helplessness, and if teacher self-efficacy and learned helplessness differ by gender, educational level, years of teaching experiences, and grade level taught.

International Service-Learning and the Development of Civic Identity: Understanding the Role of Short-Term International Service-Learning and its Influence on the Development of Civic Identity in College Students Using a Mixed Methodological Approach

Higher education has a responsibility to educate a democratic citizenry and recent research indicates civic engagement is on the decline in the United States. Through a mixed methodological approach, I demonstrate that the potential exists for well structured short-term international service-learning programming to develop college students’ civic identities. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire data, collected from American college students immediately prior to their participation in a short-term service-learning experience in Northern Ireland and again upon their return to the United States, revealed increases in civic accountability, political efficacy, justice oriented citizenship, and service-learning. Subsequent qualitative analysis of interview transcripts, student journals, and field notes suggested that facilitated critical reflection before, during, and after the experience promoted transformational learning. Emergent themes included: (a) responsibilities to others, (b) the value of international service-learning, (c) crosspollination of ideas, (d) stepping outside the daily routine to facilitate divergent thinking, and (e) the necessity of precursory thinking for sustaining transformations in thinking. The first theme, responsibilities to others, was further divided into subthemes of thinking beyond oneself, raising awareness of responsibility to others, and voting responsibly.

Distress Disclosure and Personality in College Students

This study examined distress disclosure, the tendency to confide unpleasant feelings and experiences to others. Other factors under consideration were gender, personality factors (such as extraversion and one's general tendency to disclose), and the identity of the person to whom individuals were asked to disclose. The subject pool included 22 male and 34 female volunteers from Bucknell University. Participants were asked to complete a measure of basic demographics, the Distress Disclosure Index, and the NEO-FFI measure of personality. They were then asked to disclose about an aspect of their lives that they personally found stressful, as if they were confiding in a best friend, a parent, or a professor, respectively. The transcriptions of those recordings were coded for length, depth, and breadth of the disclosure. The researcher hypothesized that greater length, depth, and breadth would be disclosed by females who scored highly on the Distress Disclosure Index, had high extraversion scores on the NEO-FFI, and had been asked to disclose to a best friend. The study found positive associations between openness and depth, neuroticism and depth, and gender with length, such that males were more likely to have longer disclosures. Negative associations were found between extraversion and depth, neuroticism and length, and openness and breadth. Personality factors, gender, and the disclosure target may act as better predictors of the tendency to disclose, rather than of the particular dimensions of disclosure, since every instance is unique.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STYLES, LEARNING AUTONOMY, AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Throughout the years, the role that parents play with regard to a child’s academic achievement has been the source of considerable research. The type of parenting style employed by parents, whether it is authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive, has and continues to be a major theme in these studies. One area of particular interest that has been overlooked in these studies, however, is the influence that parents may have on a student’s learning autonomy. Learning autonomy is the idea that a student has internal motivation to learn or achieve. The purpose of this study was to investigate therelationship among the three styles of parenting, learning autonomy, perceived parental autonomy support, and scholastic achievement in undergraduate college students. Sixty-one participants were recruited at a small liberal arts college in the northeastern United States to complete questionnaires, which measured perceived parental authority of the participants’ parents, perceived parental autonomy support, and students’ own learning autonomy. The participants were also asked to list their grade point average. The results revealed positive and negative correlations between many of the variables in the study;however, simple regression analyses did not yield any statistically significant relationships between parental authority, learning autonomy, perceived autonomy support, and scholastic achievement.

Where Is "Home"? Value Conflicts, Identity Crises and the Formation of Cosmopolitan Identity in Myanmar Students Studying in the United States

Fully engaging in a new culture means translating oneself into a different set of cultural values, and many of the values can be foreign to the individual. The individual may face conflicting tensions between the psychological need to be a part of the new society and feelings of guilt or betrayal towards the former society, culture or self. Many international students from Myanmar, most of whom have little international experience, undergo this value and cultural translation during their time in American colleges. It is commonly assumed that something will be lost in the process of translation and that the students become more Westernized or never fit into both Myanmar and US cultures. However, the study of the narratives of the Myanmar students studying in the US reveals a more complex reality. Because individuals have multifaceted identities and many cultures and subcultures are fluctuating and intertwined with one another, the students¿ cross-cultural interactions can also help them acquire new ways of seeing things. Through their struggle to engage in the US college culture, many students display the theory of ¿cosmopolitanism¿ in their transformative identity formation process and thus, define and identify themselves beyond one set of cultural norms.

The Impact of Parental Psychological Control on College Students’ Relational Aggression and Friendship Quality

The present study investigated the relationships between parental psychological control and college students’ relational aggression and friendship quality. Based on previous research, it was expected that parents’ use of psychological control would be associated with students’ increased use of relational aggression with peers and lower friendship quality. Students completed a series of survey measures assessing their mothers’ and fathers’ use of psychological control, behavioral control, and warmth/acceptance. Students also completed a series of survey measures assessing their friendship quality, social skills, relational aggression, self-esteem, and social desirability. The study’s findings revealed that parental psychological control was associated with and predicted students’ increased use of relational aggression with peers. Parental psychological control was also associated with students’ lower friendship quality. However, parents’ use of psychological control did not predict students’ friendship quality after accounting for the influence of students’ personal and peer relationship variables. This finding suggests that characteristics of peer relationships may play a larger role than parenting behaviors in shaping college students’ friendships. The study also found that students who displayed higher levels of relational aggression had lower quality friendships. Other findings revealed that the relationship between parental psychological control and students’ friendship quality can be partially explained by students’ use of relational aggression with peers. Students’ friendship quality can also help to explain the influence of parental psychological control on students’ relational aggression. In addition, the study found that combinations of parenting behaviors were more informative predictors of students’ relational aggression and friendship quality than psychological control alone. Finally, this study revealed the importance of assessing participants’ social desirability when measuring sensitive personal qualities such as relational aggression, friendship quality, and self-esteem. Overall, this study contributes to the field of research on parental psychological control by revealing its effects on college students’ relational aggression and friendship quality.

Personality Factors of Women Participating in College Athletics

There exists some discrepancy considering the overall health and well-being of young women in sports and performance domains. The current study aimed to examine self-reported levels of perfectionism, body esteem, and social support among college women participating in organized sports and dance. A total of 103 participants completeda series of questionnaires intended to capture these major variables of interest. Results upheld one of three major hypotheses, specifically in regards to between-group differences for lean and non-lean sport athletes. One of the most important findings wasthat among lean sport participants the relationship between body esteem and social support was statistically significant and positive, and among non-lean sport participants this same relationship was nonsignificant and negative. The applied implication of thisfinal finding is discussed, with particular emphasis on potential strategies for upholding the positive relationship between body esteem and social support among lean sport athletes.

Public Speaking Anxiety, Test Anxiety, and Academic Achievement in Undergraduate Students

Public speaking anxiety and test anxiety are both psychological difficulties which may adversely influence academic achievement in undergraduate students. Previous research has indicated that both public speaking anxiety and test anxiety are negatively correlated with academic performance, usually measured by grade point average. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of public speaking anxiety, test anxiety, and their effects on academic achievement in a sample of undergraduate students, and to determine if certain groups of students are more likely to be affected than others. Although test anxiety and public speaking anxiety were both found to be negatively correlated with grade point average, these correlations were not statistically significant. Potential reasons for the lack of statistical congruence with previous studies, as well as implications for future research and treatment, are discussed.

Perceptions of Social Mobility in Community College Scholars at Bucknell University

While national leaders have joined the discussion more recently, scholars in the fields of education, psychology, and sociology, have been exploring the ways in which students? socioeconomic background affects the outcomes they experience as a result of their education (Lareau, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, 2003).Furthermore, the role played by the education system in creating or diminishing socioeconomic disparity has also been studied in depth (Bourdieu, 1977; Boudon, 1977). However, the journeys of students from low-income families that begin their education at community colleges and continue it, through careful planning or chance, at elite four-year institutions, has not been the subject of much attention. This thesis explores these students? perceptions of social mobility as they have been shaped by their experiences so far in life. This includes the exploration of changes in their perceptions as the contexts for their lives have been changed. Quantitative analysis of survey results and qualitative analysis of participant interviews serve as the data set for this study. The implications ofthe findings for student affairs practitioners are also explored.

Sex Differences in Hookup Behavior: a Replication and Examination of Parent-Child Relationship Quality

In the current research, we assessed the impact of parent-child relationships on attitudes toward, and engagement in, hookup behaviors using a sample of 407 college students. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that heterosexual participants, especially women, who do not perceive themselves as having a strong, close, positive relationship with their opposite-sex parent would be more likely to engage in or attempt to engage in casual sexual behavior (hookups). Also, men were expected to be more satisfied with, and more in agreement with, hookup behavior than women. The results were partially consistent with the hypotheses. Men were more satisfied with and more in agreement with hookup behavior than women. But, opposite sex parent-child relationship quality only affected men’s agreement with the hookup behavior of their peers. Men with lower relationship quality with their mothers agreed more with the hookup behavior of their peers. These results are discussed in relation to prior research on hooking up and prior research on parent-child relationships.

Sex Differences in Hookup Behavior: A Replication and Examination of Parent-Child Relationship Quality

In the current research, we assessed the impact of parent-child relationships on attitudes toward, and engagement in, hookup behaviors using a sample of 407 college students. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that heterosexual participants, especially women, who do not perceive themselves as having a strong, close, positive relationship with their opposite-sex parent would be more likely to engage in or attempt to engage in casual sexual behavior (hookups). Also, men were expected to be more satisfied with, and more in agreement with, hookup behavior than women. The results were partially consistent with the hypotheses. Men were more satisfied with and more in agreement with hookup behavior than women. But, opposite sex parent-child relationship quality only affected men’s agreement with the hookup behavior of their peers. Men with lower relationship quality with their mothers agreed more with the hookup behavior of their peers. These results are discussed in relation to prior research on hooking up and prior research on parent-child relationships.

Gender Differences in Emotional Responses to Hooking Up

The present research looked to explore the relationship between the emotional responses of college students to different hooking up behaviors. Seven hundred and nine undergraduates participated in a web-based survey that included a demographic questionnaire, SDS, PANAS, AUDIT, and a measure of hooking up. This measure examined the frequency with which they participated in eight different types of hooking up varying by degree of familiarity to their hook partner and whether or not the hook up was coital or non-coital, as well as their emotional responses to the behavior and their perception of the emotional responses of their partner. Results showed that both menand women experienced more positive emotional responses to hooking up behaviors than negative emotional responses. Men experienced significantly more positive emotional responses to hook up behaviors than did women. Women experienced significantly more negative emotional responses for hook ups that were coital with strangers than did men, while men experienced more positive emotional responses for hook ups that were coital with strangers, coital with acquaintances, and coital with partners that were previous romantic partners than did women. Men also experienced more positive emotional responses for hook ups that were non-coital with strangers and non-coital withacquaintances. Men tended to rate their partner’s positive emotional responses higher than what women reported experiencing, particularly for hook ups with less familiar partners. Women’s ratings of their partner’s negative emotional responses were lower than what men actually reported experiencing. The data collected provide several opportunities for future analyses to be conducted and this research will add to the relatively small body of literature on hooking up.

Lexical Development in Adult Beginning Second Language Learners

This research tests the hypothesis that knowledge of derivational morphology facilitates vocabulary acquisition in beginning adult second language learners. Participants were mono-lingual English-speaking college students aged 18 years and older enrolled inintroductory Spanish courses. Knowledge of Spanish derivational morphology was tested through the use of a forced-choice translation task. Spanish lexical knowledge was measured by a translation task using direct translation (English word) primes and conceptual (picture) primes. A 2x2x2 mixed factor ANOVA examined the relationships between morphological knowledge (strong, moderate), error type (form-based, conceptual), and prime type (direct translation, picture). The results are consistent with the existence of a relationship between knowledge of derivational morphology andacquisition of second language vocabulary. Participants made more conceptually-based errors than form-based errors F (1,22)=7.744, p=.011. This result is consistent with Clahsen & Felser’s (2006) and Ullman’s (2004) models of second language processing. Additionally, participants with Strong morphological knowledge made fewer errors onthe lexical knowledge task than participants with Moderate morphological knowledge t(23)=-2.656, p=.014. I suggest future directions to clarify the relationship between morphological knowledge and lexical development in adult second language learners.

Effects Of Perceived Financial Accessibility Of Colleges And Universities On Studentsâ¿ Assesment Of Institutional Desirability

This study focused on the effects of socioeconomic exclusivity indicators on college students¿ attitudes toward a hypothetical private liberal arts university. Students enrolled in two undergraduate courses in Education at an elite private liberal arts university in the northeast were randomly presented with one of three versions of an admissions brochure describing a fictitious university. The three versions of the brochure varied in their portrayals of the institution¿s financial exclusivity, ranging from high exclusivity to low exclusivity. Each student was asked to review the brochure and respond to a questionnaire, containing items pertaining to the overall desirability of the institution, as well as its student culture, academic program, campus traditions, and alumni network. Based on Thorstein Veblen¿s theory of the leisure class and Pierre Bourdieu¿s theory of social reproduction, it was hypothesized that students would judge the institution most favorably in all areas under the high exclusivity condition and least favorably under the low exclusivity condition. It was further hypothesized that differences in students¿ ratings of institutional desirability would be mediated by their own financial aid statuses. Results of a two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant (p < .05) interactive effects of institutional exclusivity and student aid status on the perceived desirability of the academic program and campus traditions of the institution. While recipients of need-based financial aid tended to rate more socioeconomically exclusive institutions more favorably on these two variables, those who were not receiving need-based financial aid tended to rate such institutions less favorably. Implications of the findings for student affairs practice are discussed and recommendations for further research are presented.

I want to be my own person: the meaning-making and psychosocial processes of legacy students at Bucknell University

This study examined the meaning-making and psychosocial processes of five female legacy students at Bucknell University, each of whom having had at least one parent graduate from the institution. With a research philosophy, design, and methodology rooted in qualitative inquiry and phenomenology, inductive data analysis led to three primary categories that underscored legacy identity development. The first, Paradox of Influence and Identity, revealed through six themes nuanced experiences of separation-individuation. Second, Teaching and Learning, comprised of five themes, illuminated the impact of family — and of Bucknell parent alumni in particular — on their children’s internal working models. Lastly, Bucknell — the Environmental Contextand the five themes grouped therein highlighted the contributions of University community members, and of the campus culture and climate itself, to the co-construction of psychosocial formation. A tentative outline of grounded theory was offered, which explored categorical relationships; Paradox of Influence and Identity emerged as thedominant phenomenon, informing and being reinforced by the data of Teaching and Learning and Bucknell — the Environmental Context. Provisional intervention strategies for student affairs practice, in the contexts of academics, residential life, and career development, were discussed. Further, triangulated research is needed to substantiate and evolve the findings and theoretical model of this thesis.