Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of An Educational Intervention In Addressing Parent Spectator Behaviors In Louisiana Youth Sports, Jerry F. Reynolds Ii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Contemporary youth sports environments present significant psychosocial challenges to the family system. Among the greatest challenges to address are spectator behaviors of parents, which in the public eye has deteriorated and is out of control. Spectator behaviors and their impact upon the sports environment and family system is the topic of investigation in this study. Within the state of Louisiana, the advent of Act 355 extends the consequences of parent behavior and presents challenges to families, referees, and sports organizations. To better understand how legislation impacts parent perceptions of their spectator behaviors, the author examined spectator behaviors parents are observing, …

Couples' Relationship Qualities And Child Behavior Problems, Erin Wallace Lovett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation examines couples’ relationship quality on child externalizing behavior problems. Family systems theory and Belsky’s determinants of parenting model posit that child behavior problems stem from problematic familial relationships and lack of support within the couple’s relationship. A secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the National Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The independent variables represent couples’ relationship quality and are affection/support, relationship instability, and coercion. Dependent variables represent child behavior problems and are aggression measured when children are age five and age nine, and rule-breaking behavior when the child is age nine. To examine what …

Social Contexts And Disconnectedness: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Interrelated Effects Of Families, Peers, And Schools On African American Youth, Danielle R. Eugene

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Youth disconnection, characterized as no school and no work in emerging adulthood, is widespread in American society with debilitating outcomes for each affected young person. Substantial rates of this phenomenon have been found for all youth groups; however, more recently the disconnection rate for African American youth has increased from 17.2% to 17.9% despite remaining flat or falling for all other major racial and ethnic groups. This study utilized a mixed methods approach to examine features of social contexts that explain how African American youth become disconnected from education and employment. This study involved analyzing qualitative data collected from student …

Correctional Officers' Mental Health Literacy And Attitudes Toward Offenders With Mental Illness, Amber Rebecca Hebert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Overrepresentation of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system is a major societal problem. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, nearly three quarters of people housed in local jails report having symptoms suggestive of mental illness. Individual consequences to incarceration for people diagnosed with a mental illness include disruption in treatment, increase in symptomology, exposure to violence, and victimization. Correctional officers are an important component to the criminal justice system but their role in the lives of offenders with mental illness has been understudied. The current study explored the mental health knowledge, attitudes, and personal experiences of …

Social Determinants Of Health Inequality: Predictors Of Hiv Transmission Among African Americans In The Deep South, Kayla Allison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

HIV/AIDS has become an epidemic in Black communities in the Deep South, which poses a major public health crisis. Unfortunately, the lack of attention from health officials has resulted in African Americans experiencing the greatest burden of the disease as compared to any other racial/ethnic group. Thus, this cross-sectional, correlational study examined predictors of HIV transmission with an emphasis on the course of the disease among African Americans in the Deep South region of the United States given the legacy of slavery, historical racism, and plight of African Americans in this geographical area. The institution of slavery was not isolated …

Describing The Education Reform Landscape: A Typology Of State Charter School Laws, William Flanary Dabney Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Since 2014, 42 states have adopted charter school legislation. Research has been conducted on charter school effectiveness and legislative adoption. However, limitations in the research exist regarding school choice in that studies address inequalities and outcomes at the school level, with limited attention to the state-level policy environment. Additionally, research does not consider variations in state school choice policy nor does it link policy differences to equitable educational outcomes.

This descriptive study described and categorized the variation of state charter school polices and explored differences in state level education finance, student demographics and academic outcomes, and school type characteristics. A …

A Study Of The Lived Experience Of African American Males Who Transition From Out-Of-Home Care To Postsecondary Education, Marvin Cain Alexander

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While the literature is replete with studies of the factors contributing to the failure and social deviance of African American males, few qualitative studies have been conducted to determine the factors that support the success of African American males, and virtually none have focused on the transition of African American males from out-of-home care to postsecondary educational institutions. Despite the challenges faced preceding and during out-of-home care, African American males can transition to postsecondary educational institutions. There is a need to understand why some African American males who experience out-of-home care can accomplish this while others cannot. It is imperative …

The Influence Of Social Support And Mental Illness On Punishment For Rule Violations Among Male Prisoners, Missy T. Malone

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mental illness among prisoners is higher than the general population (James & Glaze, 2006). The purpose of this exploratory-descriptive study was to investigate the social support and mental health factors that best predict punishment severity for institutional rule violations among prisoners. I conducted a secondary data analysis on 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The survey participants in this study consisted of a sample of 11,569 male prisoners. Bivariate analyses of interrelationships were conducted to assess whether significant relationships exist between the severity of punishment …

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of An Early Truancy Intervention For Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Amongst At-Risk Students Through The Use Of Regression Discontinuity Analysis, Johanna M. Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Truancy is a major social problem affecting students, families, schools, and communities in the United States and is associated with low academic achievement, grade retention, and dropout. Truancy is also correlated with other adverse life outcomes including delinquency, substance abuse, and incarceration. Social work best practices literature suggests that truancy interventions should take place before habitual chronic truancy becomes a problem. There are few truancy preventions for elementary-age students that have been empirically assessed. Thus, this study examined the effectiveness of the Truancy Assessment and Service Centers intensive case management intervention for elementary-aged students (N = 700) using a quasi-experimental …

The Predictive Ability Of Demographic And Psychosocial Risk Factors, School-Related Characteristics, And Service Interventions On Grade Attainment Among At-Risk Elementary School Children In A Truancy Intervention Program, Judith L. F. Rhodes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current exploratory-descriptive retrospective study was to examine the demographic, school-related, and psychosocial risk factors among at-risk elementary school children (N = 12644) assessed at low and high levels of risk for continuing truancy. The sample was enrolled in 16 statewide program sites of a community-based truancy prevention program in Louisiana, which provided a letter and attendance monitoring for low-risk participants and intensive case management for high-risk participants. Intercorrelations among risk factors and referred services and on-time grade attainment were assessed for a subsample of the high-risk children (n = 6088). Binary logistic regression analyses were conducted …

Analysis Of The Association Between Socio-Demographic Variables, Juvenile Offending, And Formal Vs. Informal Juvenile Justice System Handling In A Non-Urban Sample, Stephen W. Phillippi, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

PURPOSE: This study compares and contrasts first-time juvenile offenders enrolled in a community-based intervention program whose cases were processed either informally or formally, and examines empirically- and conceptually-relevant contributors to re-offending. METHODS: This is a longitudinal, secondary analysis of 1072 male and female offenders. The study includes descriptive univariate analyses; chi-square bivariate analyses of each independent variable with the dependent variables (level of processing and recidivism at both one and three years); and binary logistic regression analyses to identify significant predictors of the dependent variables. Independent variables include age, gender, race, family structure, marital status of biological parents, family income, …

The Perceptions Of And Attitudes Toward Partner Abuse Among First Generation Korean-Americans: Their Relationships To The Incidence Of Partner Abuse, Bonnie Ahn

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the perceptions of and attitudes toward partner abuse, and various demographic characteristics on the incidence of partner abuse among first generation Korean-Americans. The study employed a correlational explanatory design using a cross-sectional survey technique utilizing a total of 223 Korean immigrant adults currently residing in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A three-part instrument was used for data colleciton. Part I of the instrument measured the perceptions of and attitudes toward domestic violence among Korean-Americans. Part II measured the incedence and nature of domestic violence, and part III inquired demographic information about …