UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Family Values: Assessing Reciprocal Effects on Longitudinal Change in Children's and Parents' Valuing of Math and Sports
(2021) Faust, Lara Turci; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The present study investigated the bidirectional influence that children’s and parents’ task values in math and sports have on change in the task values of the other group from first grade to 11th grade. Using latent change score models, I found that fathers’ math value both positively and negatively influenced change in children’s math values from first grade to 11th grade, and children’s values both positively and negatively influenced change in both mothers’ and fathers’ math values from first grade to 11th grade, consistent with my hypotheses and some prior research. However, mothers’ math value did not impact change in children’s math value during the study period. In addition, both mothers’ and fathers’ sports values positively influenced change in children’s sports value, and children’s sports value positively influenced change inboth their mothers’ and fathers’ sports values. Findings in the sports domain indicated differences in how mothers’ and fathers’ values shape change in children’s values; namely that mothers have smaller but consistent effects whereas fathers have larger effects that occur during educational transitions. Supplementary analyses also suggest that children’s perceptions of their parents’ values in math and sports consistently and positively influence children’s own change in values from first grade to sixth grade. Possible explanations for these findings, as well as broader theoretical implications are discussed.
Understanding and Retraining the Causal Attributions for Exercise Intenders
(2019) Singpurwalla, Darius; Iso-Ahola, Seppo E; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Given that ~50% of all exercise intenders will fall into the intention-behavior gap (i.e., a situation where people fail to act on their intentions), it is necessary to identify the constructs and/or theories that can explain the discord between intention and behavior (i.e., the intention-behavior gap). For this purpose, the present research was conducted through two studies that were designed to test the efficacy of causal attributions as a means to reduce the intention-behavior discord. The first study collected information from 952 individuals on their exercise behavior and their associated causal attributions over a six-week period. The findings from this study included: (1) those individuals who fell into the intention-behavior gap made self-serving attributions for their exercise failure; (2) Weiner’s model accurately predicted several of the affective and cognitive responses to exercise behavior for the sample of exercise intenders; and (3) causal attributions were not found to be effective moderators of the intention-behavior relationship. The second study was an experiment that tested whether an attribution retraining intervention could improve exercise behavior for a sample of sedentary, exercise intenders (n=200). Results of this study were mixed as the intervention appeared to have been able to modify one of the targeted attributional dimensions (control), but the effect was not strong enough to change the exercise behavior of the participants in the experimental group. It is suggested that attributions may not be able to reduce the gap because they represent conscious deliberations of the behavior, while sustained exercise is based on nonconscious processing of relevant information to make exercise an automatic behavior.
A Motivational Analysis of Group Schisms
(2017) Dugas, Michelle; Kruglanski, Arie W; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Splinter groups are frequently recognized to be more violent and extreme in ideology than their parent groups, suggesting a need to understand how such schisms arise. Despite their practical significance, however, group schisms are relatively neglected as a topic of interest in social psychological research. Drawing from the literatures of motivation and group processes, the present research sought to further social psychological perspectives on group schisms with an emphasis on explaining the phenomenon of extreme splinter groups. A motivational model of group schisms exploring the roles of goal commitment, group commitment, and expectancy beliefs was developed and tested across six studies using varied designs and samples. Pilot Studies 1-3 supported the central tenet that commitment to a focal goal is associated with increased support for a schism from a moderate group to join an extreme splinter group. Studies 1-3 extended these findings by exploring the effects of social identity and expectancy beliefs. Study 1 found that commitment to a focal goal increased the desire to split from a group to pursue more extreme means to a goal, but social identification with the parent group worked independently to reduce desire for a schism. Study 2 revealed that the relationship between goal commitment and support for a schism could be attenuated when the parent group was perceived as open to compromise. Finally, Study 3 yielded evidence of a three-way interaction effect of commitment, identification with a parent group, and perceptions of a potential splinter group’s efficacy on support for a schism. Implications of these findings for understanding group processes in general and extremist splinter groups in particular are discussed.
THE ROLE OF VIETNAMESE AMERICAN FATHERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S EDUCATION
(2016) Ho, Amy; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Research in the field of parental involvement is important to identify ways to help support children’s academic achievement outside of school. This study extended the literature by examining father involvement within a sample of Vietnamese American fathers using mixed methodologies. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 18 fathers; and quantitative data were collected through questionnaires completed by the fathers, mothers, and one school-aged child in the family. The interview data were analyzed using grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and underwent peer review throughout analysis to ensure codes were reliable and valid. The questionnaire data were analyzed using correlations and descriptive statistics. Results from the interviews found two roles that fathers take on in their home involvement, the role of the principal and the role of teacher. Findings also revealed five dimensions to be considered in examining the roles and responsibilities of parents: distribution of roles, flexibility and specificity in the responsibilities of the principal role, and directness and frequency in the responsibilities of the teacher role. Further, results from the qualitative data showed that culture and ethnic identity have influence an on fathers’ beliefs, expectations, and practices. For example, fathers indicated that they prioritize their children’s activities around belief in the Confucius teaching that education is key to upward mobility. The collectivistic views within Asian culture helped fathers to set high expectations and enforce rules for children’s academic achievement as this reflect the achievement of the family and community too. Findings from the quantitative data showed that fathers’ ethnic identity, involvement, beliefs, and expectations, and children’s motivation and achievement were related to each other in various ways. Consistent across both types of data results showed that fathers were more involved at home, specialized and focused on math achievement, and that ethnic identity and culture played a role in the fathers’ beliefs and strategies to parenting. This study provides rich information on the breadth and depth of fathers’ involvement and the process involved in helping their children succeed in school. Future research should continue to examine fathers’ involvement to fully understanding the mechanisms of parental involvement.
Which Skills Predict School Success? Socioemotional Skills and the Achievement Gap
(2016) Boyars, Michal Y.; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This cross-sectional study examined the relations of four socioemotional skills with academic achievement among ethnic minority (e.g., Asian, Black, Latino/a, and multiethnic) and White elementary school students. Method: Participants included public school upper elementary students (N = 257; Mage = 9.71; 58% female; 10% Black, 5% Asian, 6% Latino/a, 12% multiracial; 61% White). Measures included student-reported grit, growth mindset, engagement, and emotion regulation, in addition to a student literacy achievement performance task (Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension, TOSREC) and student reading achievement scores (Measures of Academic Progress in Reading; MAP-R). Results: Across all analyses, socioemotional skills were more related to literacy achievement for ethnic minority students than for White students. While simple regressions supported several skills’ relation to achievement for both groups of students, multiple regressions suggested that grit was the sole significant predictor of achievement, and it was only predictive of minority students’ achievement. Although literacy achievement differed between the full samples of ethnic minority and White students, moderation analyses indicated that this achievement gap disappeared among high grit students. Yet, while these regression and moderation results suggested grit’s unique role as a predictor, SEM analyses suggested that the magnitude of all of the socioemotional skills’ prediction of achievement were more similar than different. These findings support a novel but cautious approach to research on socioemotional skills and the achievement gap: results suggest that the skills operate differently in students of different ethnicities, with grit playing a uniquely predictive role for minority students. The skills, however, may be more similar than not in the strength of their association with literacy achievement.
THE INFLUENCE OF MOTIVATION ON EMOTION REGULATION AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE: EXAMINATION OF A NEURO-AFFECTIVE MODEL
(2016) Tan, Ying; Hatfield, Bradley D; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Mental stress is known to disrupt the execution of motor performance and can lead to decrements in the quality of performance, however, individuals have shown significant differences regarding how fast and well they can perform a skilled task according to how well they can manage stress and emotion. The purpose of this study was to advance our understanding of how the brain modulates emotional reactivity under different motivational states to achieve differential performance in a target shooting task that requires precision visuomotor coordination. In order to study the interactions in emotion regulatory brain areas (i.e. the ventral striatum, amygdala, prefrontal cortex) and the autonomic nervous system, reward and punishment interventions were employed and the resulting behavioral and physiological responses contrasted to observe the changes in shooting performance (i.e. shooting accuracy and stability of aim) and neuro-cognitive processes (i.e. cognitive load and reserve) during the shooting task. Thirty-five participants, aged 18 to 38 years, from the Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) at the University of Maryland were recruited to take 30 shots at a bullseye target in three different experimental conditions. In the reward condition, $1 was added to their total balance for every 10-point shot. In the punishment condition, $1 was deducted from their total balance if they did not hit the 10-point area. In the neutral condition, no money was added or deducted from their total balance. When in the reward condition, which was reportedly most enjoyable and least stressful of the conditions, heart rate variability was found to be positively related to shooting scores, inversely related to variability in shooting performance and positively related to alpha power (i.e. less activation) in the left temporal region. In the punishment (and most stressful) condition, an increase in sympathetic response (i.e. increased LF/HF ratio) was positively related to jerking movements as well as variability of placement (on the target) in the shots taken. This, coupled with error monitoring activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, suggests evaluation of self-efficacy might be driving arousal regulation, thus affecting shooting performance. Better performers showed variable, increasing high-alpha power in the temporal region during the aiming period towards taking the shot which could indicate an adaptive strategy of engagement. They also showed lower coherence during hit shots than missed shots which was coupled with reduced jerking movements and better precision and accuracy. Frontal asymmetry measures revealed possible influence of the prefrontal lobe in driving this effect in reward and neutral conditions. The possible interactions, reasons behind these findings and implications are discussed.
Coordinating School Goals: A Process Model of Multiple Goal Pursuit
(2015) Baker, Sandra Ann; Wentzel, Kathryn R; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The social and academic goals students pursue in the classroom are important predictors of academic performance, particularly during the middle school years. Several motivational constructs, including self-regulation efficacy, have also been positively related to the goals students pursue in the classroom and academic performance. The role of multiple goal coordination (perceptions of inter-goal interference and facilitation) in predicting academic performance, however, has not been readily addressed. Goals are considered to interfere with one another when the pursuit of one goal conflicts with the pursuit of a second goal. Perceptions of inter-goal facilitation, on the other hand, occur when one goal is seen as beneficial to the pursuit of a second goal. The combined influence of these constructs in predicting academic achievement has not been explored. The purpose of the current study was to test a process model of multiple goal coordination that examined middle school students' self-regulation efficacy, multiple goals and perceptions of inter-goal interference and facilitation in relation to academic performance (GPA). Responses from sixth (n = 293), seventh (n = 226), and eighth (n =146) grade students from two racially diverse low-income school districts in the Southeastern U.S. indicated that self-regulation efficacy was a positive predictor of multiple goal pursuit. Students' multiple goals, in turn, mediated the relation between self-regulation efficacy and academic performance. Academic and social responsibility goals, in particular, were found to be important predictors of academic performance above and beyond levels of self-regulation efficacy. In addition, students' perceptions of inter-goal interference were negative predictors, and perceptions of inter-goal facilitation were positive predictors, of academic performance. Finally, results indicated that perceptions of inter-goal interference moderated the relation between self-regulation efficacy and academic performance (moderated mediation). If students perceived pursuit of one goal to interfere with the pursuit of a second goal, academic performance was lower regardless of levels of self-regulation efficacy. Findings provide evidence for a more complex model of multiple goal pursuit; one that includes both self-processes (self-regulation efficacy) and aspects of goal coordination (perceptions of inter-goal interference and facilitation) as factors that impact the relation between multiple goal pursuit and academic performance. Results also suggest that a measure of inter-goal relations can be a useful tool in examining motivational processes in young adolescent student samples.
A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF COLLEGE-EDUCATED QATARI WOMEN: FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE BOARDROOM
(2015) Jacobson, Claire; Croninger, Robert; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In Qatar, a small Middle Eastern Country, bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, over 75% of college students are female but only 34% of the workforce is female. This qualitative study explores the paradox of highly educated and underemployed Qatari women through interviews with six college-educated Qatari women. To date, the majority of the research about the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focuses on national- regional- and institution-level issues and not on individual experiences. There is a particular void in understanding the individual experience of Qatari women, even though there has been energy at the national level to create policies that expand educational opportunities, and to a more limited extent, workforce opportunities for women. Given this context, this study focuses on college-educated Qatari women's motivation for and experiences with higher education and workforce opportunities. This study found that this group of highly motivated and highly educated young Qatari women were entering the workforce, challenging the existing paradox; however, it was easier for some women to take advantage of educational opportunities than professional opportunities. Women faced challenges in negotiating professional and personal identities within Qatar's rapidly changing social structure, especially in terms of shifting gender norms. They experienced points of stress, especially in the workforce and in family relationships though they remained highly motivated to acquire additional education and succeed in the workplace. This study calls for further examination of these issues and of existing paradigms of women and work in MENA.
The Expression and Enactment of Interest and Curiosity in a Multiple Source Use Task
(2014) Grossnickle, Emily Marie; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Selecting and incorporating multiple text and non-text sources is an academic task that has been identified as both commonplace and challenging for undergraduate students. Although the term digital natives is frequently used to describe students of this generation, the degree to which undergraduate students prefer or effectively use digital as compared to print sources has been relatively unaddressed. Additionally, although individual differences such as knowledge have been identified as important for multiple source use and comprehension, the role of motivational variables has been under-examined and has focused on source use within a single medium (i.e., digital or print). This study investigated the role of two motivational variables, interest and curiosity. It examined the degree to which the confluence of these motivational variables in conjunction with knowledge predicted source selection, source use, and task performance when students were provided with multiple print and digital sources. Undergraduate students wore a head-mounted videocamera as they developed a PowerPoint presentation on Alzheimer's disease based on 16 available resources (8 print and 8 digital). Follow-up interviews were conducted to determine the degree to which interest and curiosity influenced students' selection and use of sources. Measures of topic knowledge, topic interest, and epistemic trait curiosity were assessed a priori. A coding scheme for capturing use of print and digital sources was developed for the purpose of this study. Differences across source medium and source type (e.g., textbook, image) were evident. Although students exhibited preferences for selecting several types of sources in a digital format, they spent twice as long using print sources, incorporated more print sources into their presentations, and developed more inferences based on print sources. Students with more knowledge, interest, and curiosity spent more time using print sources but less time using digital sources. Further, students' presentations revealed a tendency to replicate material from sources rather than to draw inferences, make conclusions, or integrate material across sources. Findings suggest the tendency for undergraduate students to focus their processes on the management of information rather source integration particularly when using digital compared to print sources.
PREDICTING AND MOTIVATING ACHIEVEMENT IN SELF-PACED LEARNING: A FORMATIVE DESIGN, STUDY AND EVALUATION
(2014) Goldman, Alina; Bederson, Benjamin; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Student motivation and retention is a notorious problem in self-paced and mastery environments. This thesis uses a formative study conducted during a self-paced mastery course at the University of Maryland to understand how background variables affect achievement and to explore whether student success can be positively influenced by: a) receiving a course credit suggestion; b) setting goals and sticking to self-made deadlines; c) viewing aggregated and individual progress feedback; and d) receiving game-inspired incentives and rewards. After evaluating the effectiveness of the integrated design, the thesis suggests design changes to improve motivation.

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