Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
Browse
7 results
Search Results
Item “I BELONG HERE”: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY ON THE EXPERIENCES OF PARTICIPANTS IN WOMEN’S CLUB SPORT(2022) Crawford, Mary Kathryn Sullivan; Espino, Michelle M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Dominant narratives are the stories society tells about the way things are and the way things should be. Often, these stories are internalized and thought of as true and accurate representations of people and systems. In sport, and in higher education, dominant narratives reinforce notions that men are always superior to women. Men are more athletic, more exciting to watch, have greater natural inclinations towards leadership, and as a result, are rightly in positions of power in sport and higher education institutions. In this study, I present counterstories that are contrary to these dominant narratives and represent the experiences of 7 club sport participants who engaged at the intersection of sport and higher education. In this narrative inquiry, club sport participant stories resist these dominant narratives and provide insight into the experiences of women and non-binary students as they navigate sport participation and leadership in student organizations. Findings suggest club sport participants rely on sport for familial and social connections and as a protective environment to express one’s true self. Additionally, club sport participants thrive as leaders when they feel supported and valued by teammates. Implications for practitioners of collegiate recreation and for future research are discussed.Item The Role of Negative Outcome Expectations in Career Exploration and Decision-Making(2020) Ireland, Glenn W; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study had two objectives. First, responding to calls for improved measurement of outcome expectations in the domain of career exploration and decision-making (Fouad & Guillen, 2006), a measure of outcome expectations was developed that incorporates Bandura’s (1997) conceptualization of both positive and negative outcomes, as well as classes of physical, social, and self-evaluative effects. Second, the replicability of the scale’s factor structure and evidence of its validity were examined. Social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent & Brown, 2013) was used to explore the theoretical relationships between positive and negative outcome expectations, and other domain-specific variables, including (a) self-efficacy, (b) learning experiences, (c) social support, and (d) career exploration goals. In addition to exploring direct relationships proposed by the SCCT career self-management model, negative outcome expectations were also explored for their theorized moderation of the relations of self-efficacy to goals and positive outcome expectations to goals. Data were collected via an online survey in two separate samples of college students who were in the process of making initial career decisions. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the new outcome expectations measure indicated a 22-item, four-factor scale with distinct positive and negative factors. Subsequent measure and hypothesis testing analyses offered support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale in the samples, found that exploratory intentions was linked with both self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations, and indicated a potential moderator role for negative outcome expectations in these relationships.Item Walking the Woods: The Lived Experience of Sexual Assault Survival for Women in College(2012) Monahan-Kreishman, Mollie Marie; Hultgren, Francine; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: WALKING THE WOODS: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVAL FOR WOMEN IN COLLEGE Mollie M. Monahan-Kreishman, Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Francine Hultgren Department of Teaching, Learning, Policy and Leadership This phenomenological study explores the lived experience of sexual assault survival for women in college. Through a grounding in the philosophy of hermeneutic phenomenology (Gadamer, 1960/2000; Heidegger, 1927/1962, 1968, 1928/1998, 1971/2001, 1950/2002), this work uncovers the lives of six sexual assault survivors who lived through rape during their university years. The research activities designed by van Manen (1997) provide the methodological framework for the study. Within this framework, the researcher is able to bring readers into a visceral feeling of the lived experience. Deep, rich meaning is brought forth from the words of each rape survivor. The six survivors in this study remained at their respective universities for one to four years following the rape. They identified as American Indian, Taiwanese American, Italian American, European American, Caucasian, and White. At the time of the study, participants ranged in age from their late twenties to early forties. They attended different universities across the country. Hermeneutic phenomenological conversation revealed one overarching theme of the all en-COMPASS-ing nature of rape survival in college. In other words, after being raped in college, the experience continued to be intimately connected to everything they would live through thereafter. The first of two sub-themes, stoppings, uncovered experiences that halt survival from the outside, the inside, through (re)iterations of the rape, through divisions, and through loss of control. The second of two sub-themes, movings, uncovered experiences that progress rape survival, such as moving away from campus, reclaiming reiterations, reclaiming voice, reclaiming strength, reclaiming body, reclaiming reactions, reclaiming foundation, and the movement from victim to survivor. From this work, two main sets of pedagogical implications come into view. The first, being with, examines the personal ways in which we, as college and university professionals, can authentically listen and respond to women surviving rape. The second, being-for, examines the campus world, and the possibilities brought forth when faculty, staff, students, friends, family and survivors come together in the creation of communities that pause and focus on what survivors need in order to survive.Item Secondary Transition Experiences: Analyzing Perceptions, Academic Self-Efficacy, Academic Adjustment, and Overall Impact on College Students' with LD Success in Postsecondary Education(2011) Butler, Allison Lynette; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The National Center for Special Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences under the United States Department of Education funded the National Longitudinal Transition Study - 2 to provide the first national overview of the characteristics and experiences of youth with disabilities which includes self-representations of themselves, their schooling, their personal relationships, and their future aspirations. The study was initiated in 2001 and data collection ended in 2010. The NLTS2 provided insight to youth's perceptions of secondary experiences and expectations for the future which was an area with limited research. The current study draws from college students with learning disabilities in an attempt to analyze their perceptions through experience. Exploratory and descriptive, this investigation examines the relationship between students' perceptions of their secondary transition experiences, academic self-efficacy, academic adjustment, and cumulative semester grade point average (GPA). The purpose of this study was to analyze participants' experiences to generate information regarding how students perceive the effectiveness of their secondary transition programs in pursuit of postsecondary success. In addition, this study examined self-efficacy issues and academic adjustment. Through online survey administration the following instruments were used: a demographic questionnaire, National Longitudinal Transition Study - 2 (NLTS2) Youth Continuation Interview (YCI) containing questions asking participants to rate their perceptions, the Academic Self-Efficacy scale (CASES; Owen and Froman, 1988), and the academic adjustment subscale of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1989). Data was analyzed using a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Pearson's product moment correlations. In addition a step-wise multiple regression was performed in order to identify the most influential factors associated with postsecondary academic success (GPA). Academic self-efficacy was the primary determinant of student success. Variables found to have significant relationships with academic self-efficacy were perceptions of secondary transition experiences, academic adjustment, self-reported cumulative grade point average, and number of semesters completed. An inverse relationship was discovered to exist between academic self-efficacy and type of institution as well as being African American and Latino students.Item From dialogue to action: The development of White racial allies(2010) Alimo, Craig John; Inkelas, Karen K.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Supreme Court rulings of Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. and Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. (2003) legally affirmed the relationship between positive student learning outcomes and the presence of racial diversity on college and university campuses (Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002). Institutions of post- secondary education are poised to leverage the presence of racial diversity to engage and educate for social change. The purpose of this study is to examine how a race/ethnicity themed intergroup dialogue facilitates the development of confidence and frequency of White college students' engagement in actions that are congruent with the development of White racial allies. Variables measuring confidence and frequency of action engagement included: (a) self-directed, (b) other-directed, and (c) intergroup collaborative actions. Participants were part of the Multiversity Intergroup Dialogue Research (MIGR) project that included nine college and universities. Using an experimental design with stratified random assignment, three MANCOVA analyses were used to determine the differences in dependent variables between experimental dialogue and waitlist control groups. Covariates included pretest responses repeated survey measures and college involvement variables. All three analyses yielded multivariate group differences. Univariate ANOVA analyses revealed group differences for only the frequency subscales.Item The Relationships between High School Sports Participation, High School Completion, and College Enrollment for African-American Males(2009) Harris, Paul Christopher; Lee, Courtland; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to explore the direct, indirect, and total effects of high school sports participation on high school completion and college enrollment for African-American males using a large, nationally representative, longitudinal database (ELS:2002). The lens through which this phenomenon is viewed in this study is the sports-impedes-mobility hypothesis (Braddock, 1981). A path analysis procedure for determining underlying causal relationships between variables was presented for six different sports participation models. The only sports participation variable to have a significant effect on either high school completion or college attendance was that of junior varsity sports participation significantly influencing (totally) high school completion and (indirectly) college attendance for African-American males. The effect was positive. While the implications of the results of this study are relevant for all who work with this population, school counselors are specifically highlighted.Item Re-Dis-Covering Identity: A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Ontological Complexities of Being Gay(2008-07-28) Eddy, Wallace; McEwen, Marylu K.; Hultgren, Francine H.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This phenomenological study explored the lived experience of gay men. The study of identity in student affairs and higher education is grounded in student and human development theory. Does theory explain identity for gay men? How do gay men make meaning of their experience? This study is conducted in the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology. This methodology is based in the work of Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Derrida, Levinas, and Sartre as key philosophers in phenomenological inquiry. Although these philosophers ground the methodology, van Manen offers the set of research activities that come together and offer ways to organize the exploration of this phenomenon. Through exploration of existential sources, the themes of being an imposter in majority culture, living a double life, the power of words to hurt or connect, and the notion of "the closet" emerged. Once these themes from the existential sources were uncovered, participants who live the phenomenon under investigation were sought. Working with six college students, I looked deeper into how the phenomenon manifests itself and how gay men make meaning of their lived experience. The theme of identity emerged as paramount. Specifically, the gay men participating in this study describe their identity as both complicated and, at times, ineffable; they knew who they were, but found theoretical descriptions of them limited and limiting. Gay men also find that their identity plays a pivotal role in the connections they are able or are not able to make with others - sometimes being gay hinders, and at other times it helps make connections. From my work with these men, I suggest to educators that we need to stay attuned to the pedagogical environment, allow gay role models to be available, and educate future teachers about the potential crises and anxieties faced by gay men in middle and high school due to bullying. Finally, I suggest to those who teach developmental theory that it be underscored that theory is not a panacea and can never fully describe human beings. The concern I have is with the over application of theory in place of listening to and engaging with students.