Education Commons^™

Dental Care Utilization Among U.S. Children Participating In Early Head Start Programs, Ahlam Ibraheem Joufi

Health Services Research Dissertations

Early childhood caries (ECC) remains one of the most common preventable diseases among children under the age of 6 years. Several national stakeholders recommend establishing a continuous collaboration of individuals involved with receiving oral health services (dental home) and routine dental care for the child by 12 months. Despite this recommendation, disparities exist among young, low-income children in preventive dental service utilization. The Early Head Start (EHS) program serves low-income children aged 0-3 years and their families and promotes oral health practices and service utilization within the program. This study aims to examine predictors of dental care utilization among children …

Validation And Measurement Invariance Of A First-Generation College Student Identity Scale, Kelsie K. Allison

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (FGCS) comprise approximately 56% of the U.S. post-secondary institution population, yet they face substantially more academic, financial, and additional unique issues than continuing-generation college students. Research on FGCS has been steadily growing in recent years, however, literature on identity for this population is sparse. To address these gaps in the literature, the aim of the current study was to adapt, validate, and establish full factorial measurement invariance across Black and White FGCS for a multidimensional quantitative measure of first-generation college student identity. The final sample included 425 current FGCS (81.2% female; M_age = 24.4 years, SD …

Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating Among College Women’S Social Networks: An Investigation Of Perceived Changes Following A Dissonance-Based Body Image Intervention, Rachel I. Macintyre

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Body dissatisfaction is associated with numerous health consequences and is pervasive among college women. Effective interventions exist that reduce body dissatisfaction in college women by helping them resist sociocultural pressures to conform to the appearance ideal, such as the Body Project. Yet research is limited on whether social and behavioral processes help participants reduce their engagement in sociocultural appearance-ideal messages and contribute to the intervention’s effectiveness. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine these social and behavioral processes, including the changes in college women’s social networks associated with their participation in the Body Project. Undergraduate and graduate …

Mindfulness And Its Impact On Adaptive Coping And Psychological Well-Being: An Intervention For Undergraduate Students, Charles Bradley Freligh

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The concept of mindfulness has been shown to positively impact psychological well-being, and one application of mindfulness-based interventions has been the development and implementation of courses specifically for college students, a population that has been shown to be particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of stress. While these interventions have displayed beneficial outcomes, the mechanisms of how mindfulness exerts its impact remain unclear. One potential mechanism of mindfulness’ enhancement of well-being may be through its cultivation of an adaptive coping style in which an individual becomes more likely to approach and investigate stressors rather than avoid them. In this study, …

Alcohol Use And Drinking-Related Eating Restriction Behaviors Among College Students, Peter Preonas

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The combination of eating restrictions and alcohol use is a prevalent problem on college campuses. Some students engage in eating restrictions prior to drinking to limit their overall caloric intake or to enhance intoxication effects. To date, limited research suggests that drinking-related eating restriction behaviors are associated with additional and unique health risks relative to high-risk drinking or eating restrictions alone. As such, additional research examining this unique, risky set of behaviors is warranted. Consequently, the present study aimed to address gaps in the literature by further examining the risks associated with drinking-related eating restrictions and testing trait factors related …

Using The Question-Answer Relationship Strategy To Improve Listening Comprehension In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lisa A. Phalen

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

A well-established research base indicates that many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience deficits in reading comprehension skills. There is currently limited research which examines the relation between the communication and language impairments in ASD and emergent literacy skills in early childhood. Listening comprehension has been identified as one emergent literacy skill closely linked to reading comprehension development. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the question-answer relationship strategy (QAR) and QAR cue cards as a shared book reading intervention package on the listening comprehension skills of children with ASD. A single-subject concurrent multiple-baseline …

The Effects Of An Online Sleep Hygiene Intervention On Students' Sleep Quality, Giuliana Farias

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Students in college or in their first year of medical school undergo increased educational and social pressure. To cope, students may sacrifice sleep to meet demands. Poor sleep affects learning, performance, and health. Studies have been successful at improving sleep quality through the use of in-person recruitment or cognitive-behavioral therapy delivered over the internet (Trockel, Manber, Chang, Thurston, & Tailor, 2011). The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether an online sleep hygiene intervention could improve sleep quality. One hundred thirty-eight students from one undergraduate institution in Southeast Virginia completed this study. Students were divided into groups; one …

Effectiveness Of The Combat Operational Stress Control Training Program: Expectations Of The U.S. Marine Corps, Marek M. Sipko

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the U.S. Marine Corps combat operational stress preventive training program to determine whether the program meets the training effectiveness criteria of the Marine Corps. This evaluation entailed both qualitative and quantitative inquiries to answer the subject matter research questions.

The participants consisted of active duty and reserve Marines on active duty. For the purposes of the quantitative analysis, the researcher obtained a random sample of 480 Marines. Additionally, the researcher obtained a purposefully stratified qualitative sample of 12 active duty Marines consisting of four junior non-commissioned Marines, four staff non-commissioned officers, and four commissioned …

Test Anxiety And Other Factors As Predictors Of Outcome For An Undergraduate University's Examination Of Writing Competency, Carrie D. Smith

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Testing in American schools has increased dramatically in recent years (Cizek & Burg, 2006), increasing the need for research in test anxiety (TA). Writing apprehension, a subcategory of TA, may be of particular concern among students at all levels of education given the recent addition of writing assessments on the SAT and GRE tests.

Very few recent studies have examined demographic correlates of TA and the demographics of students in higher education have been changing for some time. These changes include an increase in all categories of nontraditional students. Nontraditional students, by definition, face a particular set of challenges in …

A Pilot Study To Explore The Use Of Expressive Writing To Reduce Anxiety And Psychological Threat In An Academic Setting, Cynthia Delores Jenkins

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the use of Pennebaker's short-term expressive writing intervention would have a positive effect on the academic performance of a group of third semester underperforming freshmen. This is a relatively brief and simple intervention pioneered by J. W. Pennebaker (1997) who conducted numerous studies using the procedure. Most of the research has involved having subjects write about traumatic, stressful or emotional events for 15–20 minutes (the maximum) over 3–5 days. In contrast, the studies by Wilson (2006) and Cohen et al (2006) used self-affirmations for writing. For this study self-affirmation directions were …

Achievement Motivation In African American College Students, April Michelle Muldrow

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between academic performance and stereotype threat (ST), achievement motivation, and racial socialization for African American (AA) students at an historically black university. Participants were 108 students randomly assigned to high or low ST condition. Students completed a performance measure, Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), and Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale (TERS) (Sedlacek, 2004; Stevenson et al., 2002). Results indicated that performance was not dependent upon threat, p = .63. Appreciation of AA culture was negatively associated with performance, p = .05. Drive toward academic self-development was positively related to performance, p = .05. Limitations and implications …

Social Support, Prior Interracial Experiences, And Network Orientation: Factors Related To Later Adjustment Among Black Freshmen At A Predominantly White University, Calvin Graham

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

African-American students (mostly Freshmen) enrolled for the first year at a four-year university completed information about the racial composition of their high school, family income, living arrangements, and stressor prior to entering school. At two times during the first semester they completed measures of social support, network orientation and adaptation to college. Information about Grade Point Average (GPA) for the following term and attendance at the University one year later were also obtained. Racial composition of high school had some affect on social support at the university: Students from integrated and mainly Black high schools reported more social support satisfaction …

Category Test And Wais Scores: Sex And Age Inter-Relationships, Julia Ann Shelton

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The current study investigated sex and age differences on the WAIS and Category Test in a sample of 218 persons, half male and half female, between the ages of 16 and 39. The sample was composed of well educated diabetics without neurological symptomatology and of above average intelligence.

Three types of statistical analyses were performed. The first of these were factor analyses of structural composition of WAIS and Category tests as influenced by sex. Results suggested that males and females exhibit different patterns of performance. The second analyses were regression analyses to predict Category Test performance from WAIS scores and …