Education Commons^™

Development Of A Self-Efficacy Scale For Teachers Who Teach Kids With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Abigail M. A. Love

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This study aimed to measure teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Teacher self-efficacy refers to the belief teachers hold about their ability to affect student learning and has been shown to change teachers’ motivation, stress levels, and amount of given effort (Klassen, Tze, Betts, & Gordon, 2011). Numerous studies have dealt with the measurement of this construct and developed measures that assess teachers in different domains and populations; however, only one study (Ruble, Toland, Birdwhistell, McGrew, & Usher, 2013) has attempted to measure within the population of students with ASD. The purpose of the current study …

Aspects Of Science Engagement, Student Background, And School Characteristics: Impact On Science Achievement Of U.S. Students, Larry J. Grabau

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Science achievement of U.S. students has lagged significantly behind other nations; educational reformers have suggested science engagement may enhance this critical measure. The 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was science-focused and measured science achievement along with nine aspects of science engagement: science self-efficacy, science self-concept, enjoyment of science, general interest in learning science, instrumental motivation for science, future-oriented science motivation, general value of science, personal value of science, and science-related activities.

I used multilevel modeling techniques to address both aspects of science engagement and science achievement as outcome variables in the context of student background and school characteristics. …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between The Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale And Preschool Children's Literacy Outcomes: Multilevel Longitudinal Modeling And Longitudinal Measurement Invariance, Caroline J. Gooden

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The current study examined associations between teacher characteristics and child literacy outcomes in a Kentucky preschool sample. The study also examined the psychometric properties of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), a frequently used measure of teacher self-efficacy. A widely used preschool assessment instrument, Teaching Strategies GOLD^® (GOLD; Heroman, Burts, Berke, & Bickart, 2010), measured child literacy progress. Psychometric examination included confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and longitudinal measurement invariance (LMI) of TSES scores. Statistical analyses included longitudinal growth modeling of TSES scores and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) of TSES and child GOLD literacy …

An Examination Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Working Model Of The Child Interview Coding Scheme With Biological Mothers Who Have Maltreated, Brian D. Gustman

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

There are hundreds of thousands of children living in foster care in the United States on any given day. Mental health professionals may be called upon to assist with evaluating the parental capacity of these children’s parents in order to inform reunification decisions. One of the key parental capacity domains to be evaluated is the relationship between parent and child (Schmidt et al., 2007). The Working Model of the Child Interview coding scheme (WMCI; Zeanah et al., 1996) is one tool for evaluating this relationship. There is a significant practice-to-research gap with this measure. To date, no peer-reviewed studies have …

Connecting The Dots: Social Capital And The College-Going Beliefs Of Rural Appalachian Students, Amanda R. Butz

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

First-generation students and students of lower socioeconomic status often prepare for postsecondary education without the benefit of information provided by their families, resulting in lower levels of college access (Lundberg, 2007). Few researchers have sought to understand how potential first-generation college students might go about obtaining the necessary information for a successful transition to college. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine to whom students talk about college and to explore the potential reciprocal relationship between resources for and information about college provided by others and students’ educational beliefs.

This dissertation consisted of two empirical studies. In the first …

An Examination Of The Association Between Student-Teacher Interactions And Academic Self-Concept Among African American Male High School Students, Lauren D. Hargrave

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Students generally spend more than ten years interacting with teachers in a classroom and thus, such interactions can have a positive or negative impact on students’ academic self-concept and educational goals (Rosenthal, Folse, Allerman, Boudreaux, Soper, & Von Bergen, 2000). The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant relationship between student-teacher interactions and academic self-concept. Participants in the study include African American male high school students in an urban school district. The independent variable is the student-teacher interactions, as measured by the Student-Professor Interaction Scale (Cokley et al., 2004). The dependent variable is the students’ …

The Short Grit Scale: A Dimensionality Analysis, Caihong Li

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This study aimed to examine the internal structure, score reliability, scoring, and interpretation of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) using a sample of engineering students (N = 610) from one large southeastern university located in the United States. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare four competing theoretical models: (a) a unidimensional model, (b) a two-factor model, (c) a second-order model, and (d) a bi-factor model. Given that researchers have used Grit-S as a single factor, a unidimensional model was examined. Two-factor and second-order models were considered based upon the work done by Duckworth, Peterson, …

The Relationships Among Creativity, Grit, Academic Motivation, And Academic Success In College Students, Joanne P. Rojas

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Creativity research is an underdeveloped area of educational psychology. For example, studies of students’ creativity as a predictor of academic achievement are uncommon in the field. Moreover, perseverance—which is an integral part of the definition of creativity (Sternberg, 2012)—is not typically measured in creativity research. To address these issues, the current study sought to discern within an academic context whether perseverance serves as a mediating factor between creativity and academic achievement. Two undergraduate student samples (N = 817; N = 187) participated in a survey measuring their creativity and perseverance. This multiple manuscript dissertation sought to examine the psychometric …

Effects Of Headings On Processing Of Audio Texts, Hung-Tao Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Text-to-speech devices often do a poor job of translating signals such as headings from visual into audio mode. Previous research studies have attempted to address this problem but these studies have mainly used heading detection tasks. The current study seeks to investigate 1) whether listeners find the presence of audio headings useful in natural learning tasks, and 2) the type of heading rendering that is most useful in natural learning tasks. The three learning tasks in this study include note-taking, cued recall, and knowledge transfer. Results from this study reveal that listeners find audio headings useful in the note-taking task. …

Exploring The Significance Of Social Influences On Epistemic Beliefs, David D. Gatsos

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This document proceeds from an interest in applying theories of student development to higher education policy. The process sobered me from idealistic expectations of profundity to focus on adding relevant building blocks to the established foundation of epistemological development. Progress was found in moving toward clarifying what happens during the change process as a student moves from naïve to mature beliefs. Lead forth out of this ambiguity, unearthing the nature of social influences as a player in the developmental process became a target of this work.

Moving toward a deeper understanding of how concepts of attachment, naiveté, authority, and potential …

Measuring Undergraduate Students’ Engineering Self-Efficacy: A Scale Validation Study, Natasha Johanna A. Mamaril

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate engineering self-efficacy measures for undergraduate students (N = 321) and to examine whether students' engineering self-efficacy differed by gender, year level, and major. The relationships between engineering self-efficacy and academic achievement and intent to persist in engineering were also investigated. Data from engineering students from two southeastern universities were collected in spring 2013. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in a unidimensional general engineering self-efficacy scale and a three-factor (i.e., research skills, tinkering skills, and engineering design) engineering skills self-efficacy scale. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that self-efficacy did not differ by …

Long-Term Trends Of Participation In Physical Activity During Adolescence With Educational Ambition And Attainment, Frances Jillian Priesmeyer

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Insufficient physical activity is a serious concern for the youth of this nation. In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents could be classified as either obese or overweight (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity are two major factors contributing to this epidemic. A physically active lifestyle during youth not only improves physical health, but has also been shown to improve emotional health, behavior, and academic performance. It is important that this area of research is continued and expanded so appropriate educational policies that support the health and well-being of …

Predictors Of Academic Success Among African American College Students, La Toya Bianca Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

African American students are graduating from high school and enrolling in higher educational institutions at greater rates than in previous years (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Yet, they have not achieved the same level of academic success as their racial counterparts (American Council on Education, 2010; Ross, 2012). Ultimately, this disparity has resulted in only 17.7% of the African American population 25 years of age and older having at least a Bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012). Many researchers have employed comparative study designs to explore this disparity. Additionally, researchers commonly study academic success through the exploration of intrapsychic …

Investigating Ability Grouping And Self-Efficacy In Middle Grade Mathematics, Ashley G. Hall

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Ability grouping has been prevalent in American schools for over a century (Burris & Welner, 2005; Museus, Palmer, Davis & Maramba, 2011; Slavin, 1990). Although ability grouping has been studied in terms of student performance, little research has examined the relationship between this practice and student motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students’ (N = 2,279) mathematics self-efficacy and its sources in ability grouped mathematics courses in the Southeastern U.S. The study also examined whether students in each ability group were represented proportionately by gender, ethnicity, and SES when compared to the full sample. …

Multidimensional Perfectionism And Social Connectivity Among Youth: Findings And Implications, Alexander Nounopoulos

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Although traditional researchers exploring perfectionism frequently cast the construct in a negative light, a steady stream of recent studies have demonstrated that perfectionistic beliefs can yield both positive and negative outcomes. Despite this progression in the research, perfectionism remains an understudied phenomenon among youth, especially as it relates to the ways in which these individuals are perceived by others. The current study builds on the previous literature by exploring adolescent perfectionism across a variety of psychological and psychoeducational dimensions. Moreover, a unique addition to the literature offered by this study was the inclusion of peer-reports along with self-reported measures in …

Stability Of Academic Performance Across Science Subjects Among Chinese Students, Meng Fan

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

With data describing 110,520 eighth grade students from 592 junior high (middle) schools in China, a three-level hierarchical linear model was developed in this study to create a multivariate multilevel environment to examine (a) the effects of student-level and school-level variables on science achievement in four subject areas (science inquiry skills, biology, earth science, and physics) and (b) the consistency or stability of academic achievement across the four subject areas among students and among schools. Results indicated that (a) student characteristics, including gender, parental SES, time spent in learning, and the type of family separation, were related to high academic …

An Examination Of Education Services For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders In Rural Areas, Melissa A. Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Much research and media attention in recent years has focused on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), a pervasive developmental disorder that impacts children in multiple areas of their lives. Early identification and intervention, as well as access to mental health, behavioral, and pediatric services for this population are crucial to their later outcomes and quality of life (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001; Blane & Borden, 2008; Jacobson & Mulick, 2000; Rogers & Vismara, 2008). Unfortunately, research suggests that access to educational services may be complicated for individuals living in rural areas (Applequist, 2009; Collins et al., 2005, Ludlow, Conner, & Schechter …

Reading Self-Efficacy In Early Adolescence: Which Measure Works Best?, Raven Richardson Piercey

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and reading achievement and to examine the predictive validity of a variety of reading self-efficacy measures in a sample of 364 students in Grades 4 to 6. Mean differences in self-efficacy were also examined by gender, ethnicity, and school type. Results suggested that the four measures of reading self-efficacy were psychometrically sound. Mean differences were not present for students based on gender or ethnicity. Elementary school students reported higher levels of reading test self-efficacy than did middle school students. Reading self-efficacy predicted reading performance as measured by four …

Examining The Influence Of Parents, Teachers, And Neighborhood Safety On African American Adolescents’ Motivation And Achievement, Clarissa R. Roan-Belle

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Guided by the theoretical frameworks of Baumrind’s parenting style theory, interpersonal expectations, Self Determination Theory, and self-efficacy, this study examines factors that influence African American students’ GPA and motivation, specifically associations between parents’ and teachers’ control, warmth, and educational expectations and African American adolescents’ GPA, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation were examined. The moderating effects of neighborhood safety on the aforementioned associations were also assessed. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study found that parents’ warmth and expectations were positive predictors of all educational variables, while parents control was a negative predictor of GPA and intrinsic motivation. …

Predicting Students’ Confidence: How Teacher Feedback And Other Sources Influence Self-Efficacy In Mathematics Classrooms, Megan Kleine-Kracht Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

In this two-part dissertation, the sources of self-efficacy were investigated for elementary and middle school students in mathematics classrooms. In the first study, the Sources of Middle School Mathematics Scale (Usher & Pajares, 2009) was validated with a younger sample. Participants included 367 fourth- through sixth-grade students; these participants completed two surveys investigating their beliefs regarding their capabilities to perform successfully in mathematics. This study included an examination of the psychometric properties and a confirmatory factor analysis of the Sources of Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale, and an investigation into the relative power of mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, …

The Cultural Discontinuity Hypothesis: An Appalachian American Perspective In Eastern Kentucky, Timothy W. Conner Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

K.M. Tyler et al. (2008) propose a quantitative method to measure differences between school and home experiences had by students of ethnic minority status and how such differences (cultural discontinuity) may affect psychological factors related to student achievement. Although study of cultural discontinuity has been applied to understanding African American, Asian American, Latino American, and Native American student populations, little attention has been given to the ways in which cultural discontinuity may manifest in the Appalachian American population. This study conceptualizes the socio-cultural conditions that would warrant such an investigation, establishing evidence from ten interview subjects of the presence of …

Minority Stress And Physical Health In Lesbians, Gays, And Bisexuals: The Mediating Role Of Coping Self-Efficacy, Fowler Nicholas Denton

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Mental health issues have been the primary focus of much of the health research concerning lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals over the previous decade. Studies have demonstrated that LGB individuals experience psychological distress due to prejudice and discrimination (Lewis, Derlega, Berndt, Morris, & Rose, 2002; Meyer, Schwartz, & Frost, 2008; Rostosky, Riggle, Horne, & Miller, 2009). Health researchers have not given the physical health of LGB individuals the same level of attention (Dibble, Eliason, & Christiansen, 2007). The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA; 2001) asserted that little was known about LGB physical health disparities and called for more …

An Examination Of The Process Of Forgiveness And The Relationship Among State Forgiveness, Self-Compassion, And Psychological Well-Being Experienced By Buddhists In The United States, Masami Matsuyuki

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of forgiveness and the relationship among state forgiveness, self-compassion, and psychological well-being experienced by Buddhists in the United States. An integral feminist framework was developed for this mixed-method study.

For the quantitative component of this study, a convenience sample of 112 adults completed an online survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine: (a) the impact of gender, age, and the years spent in Buddhist practice on state forgiveness and self-compassion; (b) the outcome of psychological well-being in relation to state forgiveness and self-compassion; and (c) self-compassion as a mediator …

A Qualitative Study Of The Perceived Health Benefits Of A Therapeutic Riding Program For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Margaret Ann Stickney

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Therapeutic horseback riding can be recommended as a useful health promotion intervention for individuals with disabilities who face challenges to optimal health and wellness. This qualitative study examined the perceived benefits of a therapeutic riding program for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with particular focus on aspects that can potentially help maximize the physical, emotional, and social health of this population.

This study utilized multiple methods to gain an in-depth perspective on the benefits of a therapeutic riding program based at Central Kentucky Riding for Hope in Lexington, Kentucky, for subjects presenting primarily with ASD. Focus groups were held …

An Examination Of The Association Between Middle School Students' Perceptions Of Teacher Interactions, Home-School Dissonance, And School Attachment, Ruby Jewel Stevens

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether middle school students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance are predictors of school attachment. The study sought to determine if there were differences in students’ perceptions of teacher interactions and home-school dissonance based on ethnicity, gender and/or grade level. This investigation is one of the first to explore the association between these variables.

Data for this investigation was obtained from a larger study where surveys were administered to over 800 racially diverse students in grades 6 through 8 in Language Arts classrooms in two public middle schools with diverse student …

Exploring A Multidimensional Model Of Victimization And Eating Disturbances For College Women, Malinda Martin Sudduth Isaacs

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Research demonstrates that sexual harassment, sexual assault, and eating disorders are pervasive gender-based social problems on college campuses. These phenomena can cause long- term psychological consequences, and negatively impact women’s ability to succeed in both academia and the workplace. Not only have the prevalence and effects of these issues been documented, a significant number of studies have found a relationship between various forms of victimization and eating disorders/symptoms. Research has shown that eating disorders may function as coping strategies for managing the psychological distress that often results from the trauma of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Although, this link has …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) In Children Following Acute Injuries Requiring Emergency Medical Care, Virginia Depp Cline

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Unfortunately, one rite of passage of childhood is often serious injury that carries psychological impact along with the obvious physical repercussions. Prior studies have found conflicting results for protective/risk factors, thus this study attempted to explore PTSD in a sample of children ages seven to thirteen years of age with moderate to severe injuries. In this study (N = 32), 31.3% of children experiencing such a sudden injury requiring hospitalization at the University of Kentucky Childrens Hospital demonstrated significant indications of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the injury. Several pre, peri, and post-trauma variables from during the childs hospitalization to …