Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gender Representation In Children's Media And Preschool-Aged Girls’ Internalized Beliefs About Gender, Jessica Lindsey Kanne Atkins

MSU Graduate Theses

The current study examines patterns of gender representation through three categories (distribution, presentation, and stereotyped behaviors) in children’s media and how these patterns relate to preschool-aged girls’ internalized beliefs about gender. Both historical and presently available children’s media tends to display high levels of stereotypical gender representation. By preschool age, children have already developed distinctions between boys and girls, and hold internalized beliefs regarding gender. The objective of the current study is to examine the relationship between these two factors. To accomplish this, preschool-aged girls were interviewed to assess their internalized beliefs about gender. Their caregivers completed questionnaires related to …

How A Professional Describes Reasons For Working In And Ultimately Leaving The Foster Care Field In The State Of Missouri: A Case Study, Lauren Williams

MSU Graduate Theses

The foster care field continues to have a high turnover rate of the professionals working in the field. While support and work balance are available for some professionals, many face the challenges of heavy workloads, unrealistic expectations, and health sacrifices that lead to many professionals leaving the field. This case study of one former foster care professional’s description of reasons they worked in the field, and reasons they ultimately left the field provides insight of the challenges and support as a foster care professional. The findings of this study are organized into three major themes including “Challenges for Foster Care …

Family Drug Treatment Court Program Effectiveness As A Protective Factor For Parents In Prevention Of Substance Abuse Foster Care Re-Entries: A Mixed Methods Study, Eugenia Ann Richardson

MSU Graduate Theses

Foster care re-entry rates are high. Studies show that many foster care entries are due to substance abuse. These parents may enter a Family Drug Treatment Court Program that offers intensive therapy for the parent as well as services for the family. This study looks at the effectiveness of a Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court Program at preventing foster care re-entry for those who graduate the program. This study uses a mixed methods research design. Caseworkers for the Missouri County Family Drug Treatment Court were interviewed. Quantitative secondary data was also obtained from the Missouri County Juvenile Office. Results …

Closeness And Conflict In The Parent-Child Relationship And Parental Self-Efficacy During Childhood, Stephanie Boekweg

MSU Graduate Theses

The present study examined the relationship between closeness in the parent-child relationship, conflict in the parent-child relationship, and parental self-efficacy during childhood. Quantitative data from an electronic survey on one hundred eighty-eight participants was collected. Results from a simple linear correlation indicated that parental self-efficacy during childhood and the parent-child relationship quality measures of closeness and conflict were moderately correlated. A simple regression showed that parental self-efficacy during childhood did not predict closeness nor conflict in the parent-child relationship when controlling for current parental self-efficacy. However, parental self-efficacy during childhood significantly predicted current-parental self-efficacy.

Grit, Efficacy, Commitment And Career Planning, Mary Clare Newsham

MSU Graduate Theses

This current study advanced understanding of the career goal-setting and relevant goal-related attitudes to the career planning process. Specifically, this study evaluated how career goal commitment, career goal self-efficacy and grit affect career goal structures and effort. A multidimensional career goal commitment scale was developed to differentiate intrinsic (affective) from rational types of commitments. Findings supported affective career goal commitment as consequential to the completeness of career goal structures and in career-relevant effort. Also, career goal self-efficacy was found to predict career planners’ self-efficacy for shorter term performance.

The Strong Black Woman Schema: How It Informs The Gendered Racial Identity Development Of Black College Women/Non-Binary Students And Their Navigation Of Pwis, Whitney Ngozi Akalugwu

MSU Graduate Theses

The strong Black woman schema (SBW) is known to be a salient aspect of Black womanhood. This culturally specific schema can be understood as a protective factor against the social inequities that Black women are subjected to. However, not much is known on how the SBW schema informs Black college women’s gendered racial identity development and how it informs their navigation of PWIs. The purpose of this study is to explore the strong Black woman schema and how it informs the gendered racial identity development of Black college women/non-binary students and their navigation of PWIs. This study will also address …

Factors Leading To Worry And Helpful Supports During The Transition To Middle School, Kearstin Hofstetter

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the worries that students encounter and to explore students’ perceptions of the helpfulness of specific supports when transitioning to middle school. It gives insight to schools, parents, future students, and administrators, which can help them create better resources, programs, and tools to support students during this transition. The research questions were: Which factors lead students to worry most during the transition to middle school? Which supports do students think would be most beneficial to assist with the middle school transition? This mixed methods study gathered data through surveys from seventy 6th grade …

Using Music Training To Increase Social Responsiveness And Happiness In Children With Autism, Meghan Talarico

MSU Graduate Theses

Social skills are imperative for individuals’ success in their daily lives because they are applied in areas such as shared interests and cooperative work and play. This study was a replication with extension of the study on a musical treatment of social skills by Finnigan and Starr (2010). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of musical and non-musical interventions on the sharing and turn-taking behavior of five children with autism. The participants were four boys and one girl between the ages of 4- and 8-years-old who had a diagnosis of autism and were receiving ABA …

Reducing Family Risk Factors Caused By Poverty Through Family Support Services, Aaliyah C. Williams

MSU Graduate Theses

This study aims to determine whether preventative measures are effective if implemented while a family is in crisis, through Family Support Services (FSS), to alleviate Risk Factors, prevent family separation and ensure prolonged family stability, instead of as services to reunify a family that already separated due to a lack of resources. This study examined the Poverty Related Risk Factors of Homelessness, Single Parenthood, and Unemployment as Risk Factors that families enrolled in Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation (OACAC) Head Start experience as negative influences on child development and Family Unity and analyzed OACAC Head Start’s implementation of FSS as …

A Study Concerning Factors That Contribute To School Counselors' Self-Efficacy, Cory J. Neal

MSU Graduate Theses

Many school districts and states still require that school counselors have previous teaching experience before one can begin a career in school counseling. There is little to no data to support these claims and the data that is available does not include how the school counselor’s own previous experiences influence their self-efficacy in their current roles. The data for this study was collected through an online survey sent to school counselors in Missouri. The qualitative data was evaluated using a grounded theory approach while the quantitative data was analyzed through a series of t-tests for independent samples, with group membership …

Affinity-Seeking: Student Desirability And Motivation In The Classroom, Taylor D. Corlee

MSU Graduate Theses

Affinity-seeking research once provided teachers with effective strategies to create an overall better classroom environment. Over the last twenty years there has been no continuation of this research and the effectiveness of these strategies seemed to be agreed upon. The purpose of this study is to bring affinity-seeking research back into the modern era and see how motivation is affected for both in-person and online classes. This study is a contribution that adds to these strategies for effectiveness in both in-person and online classrooms.

Content Validity Of Aba Language Assessments In The Totality Of Skinner's Verbal Operant Theory, Taylor Marie Lauer

MSU Graduate Theses

Content validity describes the degree of which a measure represents all the components of the overall construct being measured. Behavior analytic language assessments are largely based on Skinner’s verbal operant theory (1957). Three behavior analytic language assessments were utilized to measure the coverage of Skinner’s verbal behavior theory: the VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R, and PEAK. The purpose of the current study was to examine the content validity of each of these assessments coverage on the totality of Skinner’s verbal operant theory. Expressive items on each of the three assessments were compared to definitions of Skinner’s verbal operants and were coded as the …

Adult Transracial Adoptees' Childhood Experiences And Decision-Making In Forming Families Of Creation, Sarah J. Gray

MSU Graduate Theses

This study examined adult transracial adoptees’ (TRAs) childhood experiences and determined how specific factors influenced their likelihood to choose biological procreation, adoption, fostering, a combination of these options, or the choice to be child-free when forming their own families. These adoptees were Black, Indigenous and people of color adopted by white parents in the United States through domestic or international adoption. Childhood experiences included the TRAs’ sense of belonging, cultural socialization, and preparation for bias. The only dependent variable option predicted by a childhood experience was the preference to be child-free. TRAs who experienced higher levels of belonging were less …

Child-Directed Learning In Varying Contexts: An Examination Of Preschools In The Philippines, Teri J. Pardue

MSU Graduate Theses

While it has long been recognized that child-directed learning is a central feature of effective early childhood education, the impact of culture on its implementation is only recently gaining attention. In Asian contexts specifically, previous studies have documented challenges in implementing child-directed learning styles. This study applies holistic analysis to a collective case study of six Filipino preschools, documenting and analyzing their pursuit and implementation of child-directed learning. The study uncovers significant discrepancies among Filipino preschool directors and teachers regarding the meaning of “child-directed” and “play-based” learning, and it identifies apparent cultural barriers to implementing child-directed learning more effectively. The …

Using Behavior Skills Training To Increase Quality Parent Talk During A Read-Aloud, Britnea Monaco

MSU Graduate Theses

Reading to children is one way to engage a child in high-level conversations that go beyond the explicit message of the book. There is a positive correlation between the amount of high-quality caregiver/child joint attention activities and language development. The purpose of this study was to use Behavior Skills Training to teach parents seven component reading skills in order to increase parents word count and quality of words read during read-alouds with their children. Results showed as parents mastered the seven reading components they increased their overall word count. Implications of these findings are discussed within the context of caregiver/child …

Examining The Convergent Validity Of The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test - Third Edition And The Woodcock-Johnson Iii Tests Of Achievement - Form A - Standard Battery, Trent Howard Walters

MSU Graduate Theses

The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition (WIAT-III) and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) are two commercial standardized tests of academic achievement that are utilized in many settings, including educational, research, and clinical settings. Both measurements purport to measure academic achievement across a variety of curricular areas. Both instruments yield subtest and cluster or composite scores in the modes of percentile ranks, standard scores, stanines, normal curve equivalent scores, and age/grade equivalent scores. In the current study, similar subtest and composite or cluster standard scores were correlated to determine the degree of convergent validity between the two …

Quality Child Care In Missouri: The Intersections Of Policy And Teachers' Perceptions Of Quality Child Care, Catherine Slade

MSU Graduate Theses

A child’s health and well-being is supported by the environment in which they learn and develop. For an average of 36,000 children in Missouri, their environment includes an out-of-home child care program. Child care regulations are designed to protect the health and safety of children in child care. Using a constant comparative method, this study examined the extent to which the child care licensing regulations in Missouri align with the 13 Indicators of Quality Child Care published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This study also examined how effective teachers working in child care programs felt …

A Feasibility Study On The Implementation Of A Web-Based Intuitive Eating Program In A University Setting, Jaime Gnau

MSU Graduate Theses

This research reports on the feasibility of implementing a web-based intuitive eating (IE) program to employees through a university employee wellness department at Missouri State University (MSU). Barriers and facilitators to program participation were also identified and discussed.

Background: Ten IE principles present an evidence-based strategy for reducing incidence of weight cycling and improving one’s relationship with food and self, and reducing health risks associated with chronic dieting and weight regain. Offering web-based programming reduces barriers to program enrollment but is also associated with high rates of attrition.

Methods: The program was developed utilizing the PRECEED-PROCEDE model with application of …

Effects Of Chair Testing In Orchestra On Student Motivation: Student Perspectives And Applications From Motivational Theories, Rosanna Christine Honeycutt

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how string students perceive achievement on chair testing through the lens of attribution and achievement goal motivational self-theories. A teacher survey was administered to identify the goals of chair testing in two high school and seven middle school orchestra classrooms. A student survey was used to collect data in those same classrooms on (a) the reasons why students do and do not do well on chair tests, (b) the perceived goals of chair testing and (c) the ratings of motivation and self-achievement. Qualitative techniques were used to analyze attributions within both …

Imaginative Empathies: Exploring The Role Of Creative Writing In Developing Social Skills Of College Students With Autism, Rebekkah N. Richner

MSU Graduate Theses

Only one-third of students with autism who are enrolled in American universities go on to graduate (Cox & Williams, 2018; Newman et al., 2011; Wei et al., 2014). These students may be currently underserved by the writing curriculum of postsecondary institutions when it comes to facilitating social and personal development in college and beyond. This thesis begins with the hypothesis that creative writing classes already utilize pedagogical tools that could aid students with autism in strengthening their social skills, particularly through the more structured social environment of the creative writing workshop. This study examined a 200-level short story creative writing …

Did Hollywood Take Theatre "By Hook Or By Crook?", Catherine S. Wright

MSU Graduate Theses

Hollywood and Theatre have been partners in producing entertainment for over 100 years. The relationship was fruitful for both parties, but Hollywood moguls and playwrights battled over ownership of the work and crafting of its creative nucleus, story and character. Theatre was the dominant entertainment right before the rise of motion pictures. Once Hollywood’s talkies closed the curtain on silent films, playwrights had a high creative worth to movie makers. In the cinema, story and dialogue were essential for its survival and growth. Playwrights were courted by the Hollywood studio heads but were not offered equal partnership as they were …

Levels Of Professional Stress In Missouri State University Sport Coaches, James Edgar Seratt

MSU Graduate Theses

Due to the particular nature of collegiate sport coaching, that is, the need to secure victories at all costs in order to ensure job security, collegiate sport coaches are a population that are likely to experience high levels of personal and professional stress. Previous research has indicated that coaches at all levels of competition, experience degrees and levels of stress similar to those experienced by individuals in other high stress professions, including police officers, medical professionals, and teachers. Furthermore, research has indicated that high levels of stress are positively correlated with decreased work performance. For this research, 45 Missouri State …

Comparison Of Trial-Based, Synthesized Trial-Based, And Traditional Functional Analyses, Kara Leigh Forck

MSU Graduate Theses

I evaluated a synthesized trial-based functional analysis with two students who engaged in problem behavior by combining the methods from the trial-based functional analysis and synthesized contingency functional analysis. Multiple test conditions were combined into one test condition and were evaluated in 2-min trials. The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of correspondence of the results between the trial-based, synthesized trial-based, and traditional function analyses. One participant showed exact correspondence between the three functional analyses, while the other participant showed partial correspondence.

A Comparison Of Traditional, Trial-Based, And Synthesized Contingency Trial-Based Functional Analyses, Kaitlin S. Curtis

MSU Graduate Theses

Researchers have developed functional analyses (FAs) to improve efficiency and correspondence that still use core components of the traditional format. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the correspondence between the trial-based FA and the traditional FA. I also evaluated the correspondence between the synthesized-contingency trial-based FA and the traditional FA. Within this study, I determined that by combining methods, I was able to reduce false negatives for escape found within the trial-based FAs and false-positives found within the synthesized contingency FAs.

Charting Constellations Of Power: Texas Public Education Policy, Hollie Wright

MSU Graduate Theses

For decades, public education in Texas has been entrenched in neoliberalism-inspired policies that research shows largely fail to produce promised results and have a tendency to perpetuate the very problems advocates claim the policies will solve. This raises questions about the decision-makers and what is happening in the public education policy process. In line with Laura Nader’s directive for more anthropologists to make those in power the subject of their research, I used both ethnographic and social network analysis methods to ‘study up’ in Texas public education. This study describes some relationships of members of the Texas State Board of …

Contemplative Practices And Post-Secondary Well-Being: Potential Methods For Reducing Test Anxiety, Shannon S. Hayden

MSU Graduate Theses

Students encounter numerous sources of stress in college from school work to examinations. A proposed method for reducing test related anxiety is contemplative practice (namely, mindfulness meditation and expressive writing). These interventions were used immediately prior to an exam to determine effectiveness on students’ mood and test grade. Although the study produced few statistically significant results, a promising trend in utilizing these interventions for increasing exam grades, increasing positive mood, and decreasing negative mood was uncovered. Each intervention appears to have dissimilar effects on different types of students (i.e., varying degrees of dispositional mindfulness and cognitive test anxiety; for example, …

Language Learning And Metacognition: An Intervention To Improve Language Classrooms, Rebecca Elise Knoph

MSU Graduate Theses

In the USA, the trend of increase in foreign language enrollments at the college level has suddenly begun to decline since 2009, despite the notion that learning multiple languages is becoming essential for effectively communicating with others from diverse native language backgrounds. This new decline may be due in part to inefficient and outdated foreign language courses. The current study examined the effect of how we assess our current knowledge and learning techniques (metacognition) on educational outcomes in hopes to improve the effectiveness of the university classrooms. College students were exposed to new metacognitive strategies that could benefit their language …

Exploring The Caregiver-Child Relationship In Institutional Care Facilities In South Sudan, Jennifer Joy Telfer

MSU Graduate Theses

Institutional care for children separated from parents is expanding in Africa, but little research exists on caregiving at these institutions. This study explores the caregiver-child relationship in two residential institutions in South Sudan by investigating how caregivers experience their role and how children experience their lives in the institution. Semi- structured interviews assessed 14 caregivers’ backgrounds, parenting experience, attitudes, education, and motivations. The Orphans and Vulnerable Children Wellbeing Tool (OWT) assessed 98 adolescent residents, who also gave feedback about their answers. Caregivers employ parenting styles used by their parents and report treating non-relative children the same as biological children. Children …