Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
Browse
35 results
Search Results
Item The Role of Effortful Control in Moderating the Relationship Between Temperamental Shyness, Fearfulness, and Internalizing Behaviors(2023) Zheng, Shanyun G; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety and depression, have frequently been associated with temperament characteristics, specifically Behavioral Inhibition (BI) traits, such as Shyness and Fearfulness. While Effortful Control (EC) has been posited as a potential moderator in the relationship between heightened negative emotionality and Internalizing problems, empirical evidence precisely about BI remains inconclusive. This cross-sectional study investigated the role of Effortful Control and its sub-constructs (Attentional Focusing, Inhibitory Control, Low-intensity Pleasure, and Perceptual Sensitivity) in moderating the relation between Behavioral Inhibition (fear and shyness) and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 130 kindergarteners. The findings indicated that Behavioral Inhibition was significantly correlated with and predicted internalizing behaviors. However, no significant correlations were found between Effortful Control, its sub-constructs, and internalizing behaviors in this sample. Additionally, Effortful Control and its sub-constructs did not moderate the relationship between Behavioral Inhibition and internalizing behaviors.Item Reciprocal Relations Between Perceived Stress and Literacy Achievement in School-Age Children Over Time(2021) Babaturk, Leyla; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Stress has a negative impact on academic achievement, but it is unclear whether achievement impacts stress. Most stress research utilizes a unidirectional design (e.g., stress affects achievement). Recent research has begun to examine cross-lagged models in which social-emotional variables and achievement affect one another; however, associations have typically been found at the between-person level of analysis. In contrast, within-person effects may provide information about the state- or trait-like nature of an individual’s, versus a group’s (between-person effects), growth over time. This short-term longitudinal study examined the direction of relations between the social-emotional variable of perceived stress and literacy among diverse elementary students. In addition, this study was the first to examine stress-literacy achievement relations at both the between-person and within-person levels. Participants included upper elementary students (N = 397; Mage = 9.61; 56% female; 57% Dual Language Learners; 12% Black, 6% Asian, 30% Latinx, 7% Multiracial; 43% White) from three schools. Measures were collected at three timepoints over four months, including student-reported perceived stress (two factors: stress-coping and stress-distress) and a literacy achievement performance task (Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension, TOSREC). Latent variable path analyses revealed that stress-coping was a significant predictor of later literacy achievement. Reverse relations also held true with literacy achievement as a negative predictor of later Time 2 stress-distress, and a positive predictor of later Time 2 coping, when previous stress was not a control. In contrast, no significant stress-literacy achievement relations (i.e., direct, reverse, or cross-lagged) were found when a latent curve model was used at the residual level, which suggests that the relations between stress and literacy achievement were more trait-based than state-based for students across a short period of time. Results are discussed in the context of reciprocal and between-person versus within-person mechanisms of change between stress and literacy achievement.Item Perceived Stress and Academic Engagement for Dual Language Learners: Grit and Academic Support as Protective Factors(2020) Estevez, Gabriella Cristina; O'Neal, Colleen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)For decades, the academic achievement gap between dual language learners (DLLs) and their non-DLL counterparts has remained at the forefront of education research. Stress is considered one of many contributors given its negative effects on academic achievement. However, little research exists on the effects of stress on academic engagement for DLLs, despite evidence that academic engagement is paramount for academic success. This study examines grit (teacher-reported and student-reported) and academic support (teacher and peer) as protective factors via moderation model testing of the relationship between perceived stress and two subtypes of academic engagement: emotional engagement (teacher-reported and student-reported) and behavioral engagement (student-reported only). Relying on transactional stress theory and risk and resilience theory, this model was tested using data collected from a school serving a majority of low-income, dual language learner (DLL) 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students (N = 142, 75% Latinx). Results indicated peer academic support was a protective factor for high-stressed DLL students (with outcome of student-reported emotional engagement) while student-reported grit was a protective factor for low-stressed DLL students (with outcome of teacher-reported emotional engagement). Schools and school psychologists are encouraged to address DLL students’ stress and implement evidence-based, systems-level practices that can mitigate the effects of stress on academic engagement for this demographic.Item The Roles of Anger and Self-Regulation on School Readiness in Kindergarten(2020) Callan, Sabrina; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Young children who are anger-prone or have poor self-regulation skills tend to have difficulties in school (Diaz et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018; Valiente et al., 2012). However, few studies have explored how anger may work together with different self-regulatory tendencies to predict children’s school readiness. This study examined the relations of anger, effortful control, executive functioning, and school readiness among kindergarteners (n = 72). Executive functioning skills were found to be particularly important for academic readiness, whereas anger and effortful control were found to be particularly important and to work together to predict social-emotional readiness. These findings provide evidence for the conceptual distinctions between executive functioning and effortful control as two distinct types of self-regulation, and demonstrate the need for tailored approaches to social-emotional learning (SEL). Future SEL programs would benefit from approaches that take children’s pre-existing tendencies for anger and self-regulation into account in anger management training.Item Disability service use and academic outcomes for college students with disabilities(2020) Blasey, Julia; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite the availability of disability support services, college students with disabilities continue to face poorer academic outcomes than their peers without disabilities. Over 70 percent of eligible college students with disabilities do not disclose their disability to their campus disability service to receive academic accommodations or supports. Among those who do utilize accommodations and supports, findings have been mixed regarding the relation between service use and students’ academic outcomes. However, few studies have examined timing of registration with disability service and use of services over time. The current study used secondary data to examine the relation between time of disability service registration and length of accommodation use on the academic outcomes of undergraduate students with disabilities (N= 1,980) who used accommodations between fall 2015 and spring 2019. Descriptive analyses showed overall strong academic outcomes, with a mean GPA of 3.10 and a six-year graduation rate of 82.7 percent. Students delayed an average of 2.38 semesters before registering with the disability service and used their accommodations for an average of 3.23 semesters. Differences in academic outcomes and accommodation use patterns are discussed with regard to gender, race/ethnicity, and disability type. As hypothesized, multiple regression analyses revealed that delayed registration with the disability service negatively predicted cumulative GPA and positively predicted time to graduation. Similarly, length of accommodation use positively predicted cumulative GPA and negatively predicted time to graduation. Results of the multilevel model regression with fixed effects showed that continued accommodation use positively predicted within-subject changes in students’ semester GPAs across the eight semesters of the study period. Implications for future research and for improving service delivery for university disability offices are discussed.Item What does it mean to be ready for school? Analysis of the measurement of school readiness.(2020) Mulder, Blakely; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Recent research has found that school readiness is a multi-faceted construct associated with academic ability as well as social-emotional skills, executive functioning, demographic, environmental, and other variables. However, most research assesses school readiness through children’s performance on discrete, typically standardized tasks, which may not be representative of the skills and behaviors children display at school day-to-day. The present study utilized a new measure, the Teacher School Readiness Scale (TSRS), to examine teachers’ perceptions of kindergartners’ school readiness. Drawing from a sample of 70 kindergarten students attending private schools in a semi-urban area, this study used exploratory factor analysis, bivariate correlation, and multiple linear regression to analyze how students’ demonstrated classroom skills and behaviors relate to one another as well as to students’ global school readiness. The study then used multiple linear regression to examine how teacher-rated school readiness relates to children’s performance on standardized performance tasks and rating scales representative of those typically used in school readiness literature. Factor analysis separated items on the TSRS into factors of Academic Understanding and Social Interactions, which correlated significantly with one another and predicted global readiness ratings. TSRS factor scores were not significantly correlated with performance measures of the same constructs. From five composite variables representing children’s academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning skills, only teacher-completed rating scales of executive functioning skills significantly predicted children’s overall school readiness. Results suggest poor ecological validity of traditional school readiness research methods and indicate need for inclusion of teacher-report measures in future school readiness studies.Item Stress and achievement in elementary school students: The mediating role of growth mindset(2019) Babaturk, Leyla; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The achievement gap is one of the most pernicious education problems in the United States, and stress has a negative impact on achievement. Growth mindset may explain how stress impacts achievement. This study used a short-term longitudinal design (n = 251; 36% DLL) to evaluate growth mindset as a mediator of the negative impact of stress on literacy achievement in 3rd - 5th grade students. Results confirmed that perceived stress was negative related to achievement. The present study also explored whether mediation model results differ between dual-language learning (DLL) and English-native students. Although growth mindset did not act as a mediator in the full sample, growth-minded attributions mediated the negative effect of stress on achievement for non-DLL students only. These results hold implications for understanding how to help students with the consequences of stress on their mindsets and academic performance.Item Stress and Literacy Achievement: The Potential Moderating Role of Socioemotional Factors for Dual Language and Non-Dual Language Students(2019) Goldthrite, Antoinette Marie; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The achievement gap is one of the most pervasive education problems in the United States. Stress may contribute to this achievement gap, since it is inversely related to achievement. Dual Language Learners (DLLs) may face a wide variety of stressors that contribute to their lower grades, relative to their non-DLL peers. Researchers have turned to a slew of socioemotional factors to see which may help reduce the gap between ethnic minority and White students. However, in the face of stress, these factors may not all be equally protective. This study explored the potential protective effects of three socioemotional factors – grit, growth mindset, and anger regulation - by using moderation analyses within both a self-regulation and a risk and resilience framework in an ethnically diverse sample of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. Results were compared between the DLL (N = 81) and non-DLL (N = 170) students. Results indicated that grit was a significant moderator of the relationship between stress and reading achievement for the for the DLL subsample; those with high grit outperformed those with low grit in times of high stress. Additionally, in the DLL group, growth mindset moderated this relationship; those with high growth mindset outperformed those with low growth mindset in times of low perceived stress, while those with low and high growth mindset performed similarly in times of high perceived stress. Anger regulation was a significant moderator for the non-DLL group; those with reporting high usage of anger regulation skills outperformed those with low use of anger regulation in times of high stress. The findings of this study suggest that there may be different protective factors for different groups facing stress, though more research needs to be conducted to explore this relationship. School administrators and school psychologists should continue to consider the potential benefits of fostering socioemotional skills to promote reading achievement but are cautioned to critically consider and tailor which interventions are selected for which students.Item THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG STRESS, ACADEMIC COPING, AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES: A MODERATED MEDIATION MODEL(2018) Perlow, Benjamin Joseph; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Researchers have attempted to ascertain how to improve student academic success. In this short-term longitudinal dissertation study, I used archival data and the constructs of self-determination theory and the cognitive appraisal model, to investigate the relationships among perceived stress, academic coping, and academic outcomes. The goal of this dissertation was to determine whether T2 problem-solving academic coping strategies mediated the relationship between student T1 perceived stress and T3 student academic outcomes and if T1 perceived stress served as a moderator between the T2 academic coping strategies and the T3 academic outcomes. I adapted and augmented an academic coping measure and determined the reliability and validity of the measure in a sample of 146 students in 3rd through 5th grade (68% Latino/Hispanic; 97% DLL students). I conducted an exploratory factor analysis to test if the modified items loaded onto two expected factors. I subsequently conducted correlation, mediation, moderation, and moderated mediation analyses to test the predictive validity of the modified scale and the moderated mediation model. Results indicated that, contrary to my expectations, the modified academic coping measure loaded onto one factor. As expected, the T1 academic coping measure had a significant correlation with T3 student-reported academic engagement. However, it was not significantly correlated to T3 teacher-reported academic engagement or T3 literacy achievement. Mediation analyses suggested that T2 academic coping did not mediate the relationship between T1 perceived stress and T3 academic outcomes when controlling for demographics and T1 academic-outcome variables; however, mediation was significant with the student-reported engagement outcome and without the T1 academic outcome control. T1 perceived stress did not significantly moderate the relationship between T2 academic coping and T3 academic outcomes, in the context of the mediation model. Future researchers may want to conduct similar studies on a larger more diverse sample of participants.Item Mental Health Literacy, stigma, and attitudes toward help-seeking at school for Asian- and Latino-American adolescents(2018) Barlis, Julia Emily Christine; Wang, Cixin; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Although adolescents are most likely to receive mental health services in the school setting compared with other settings, few studies have examined barriers to mental health help-seeking at school for ethnic minority students. The current mixed-methods study utilized surveys and semi-structured interviews to examine the relation between mental health literacy (MHL), stigma, and attitudes toward formal help-seeking among 56 adolescents (50.0% Asian-American, 44.6% Latino-American, 5.4% Asian/Latino bi-racial; M age= 17.28 years, SD= 2.28). As hypothesized, stigma negatively predicted attitudes toward formal help-seeking. However, contrary to our hypotheses and prior work, MHL did not predict attitudes toward formal help-seeking. Qualitative analysis revealed important knowledge, attitudinal, and practical barriers that inhibit minority adolescents from seeking help for mental health problems at school. The current work has implications to assist school personnel and service providers in understanding and reducing barriers to care, particularly for Asian- and Latino-American adolescents at school.