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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Item Navigating college search and choice: How immigrant capital paves a path to postsecondary education for first-generation Students of Color(2023) Malcolm, Moya Nikisha; Griffin, Kimberly A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Immigrant youth represent one of the fastest growing and most diverse groups in the U.S. K-16 system. Though immigrant youth generally report high educational aspirations, they face multiple interrelated obstacles to postsecondary enrollment. Despite barriers, data indicate that immigrants are going to college and in some cases are enrolling at a rate higher than their non-immigrant counterparts. Previous research highlights multiple forms of capital, including community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), that immigrants who share a racial or ethnic background leverage to access higher education. However, few studies have examined the extent to which immigrants, across race and ethnicity, engage similar resources to navigate the college choice process. This study sheds light on the pre-college experiences of a racially diverse sample of 1.5-generation immigrants who, at the time of this study, were first-year students at a 4-year institution.The following research questions guided this study: (a) How do low-income immigrant students of color engage in the college search and choice process? (b) How do various forms of capital and community resources shape students’ college choice process. Through semistructured interviews, 10 Asian, Black, and Latinx immigrants shared detailed accounts of their family background, migration, and transition to U.S. schools; development of college aspirations; and college search, application, and decision-making experiences. Participants also discussed the tools and resources they used, individuals who assisted them, and how they made sense of their experiences, significant moments, and turning points in their journey. Findings reveal multiple forms of capital that developed within participants’ immigrant families: capital that fostered an early predisposition toward college and enabled participants to navigate a complex college application process, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ultimately gain admission to multiple postsecondary institutions. Findings from this study suggest immigrant capital as a unifying concept capturing skills, assets, and perspectives immigrants use to achieve their educational goals. Findings also have implications for future research, policy, and practice.Item Multilevel Factor Influence on Alternative Tobacco Product Use Among U.S. Foreign-Born Residents(2022) Roh, Esther Jungmee; Fryer, Craig S; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: In the United States, the use of alternative tobacco products (ATPs), such as e-cigarettes, cigars, little cigars, hookah, or smokeless tobacco, has been rising even as conventional cigarette smoking continues decreasing. Broadly speaking, smoking behaviors are influenced by multiple factors at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, organizational, and community levels, including individual harm perceptions toward ATPs, peer and family use of tobacco products, ATP marketing and promotions targeted at specific races and ethnicities and acculturation. However, data on ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents are limited and factors influencing ATP use among this population are not yet well understood. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to understand multilevel factors, addressed in Social Ecological Model (SEM), that influence ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents. Purpose: The aim of study one was to assess the association between acculturation, harm perceptions, and peer and family use of tobacco products, and ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents using waves 3 and 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study. The aim of study two was to assess the association between acculturation, peer and family use of ATPs and exposure to ATP advertisements, marketing and promotions, and ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents using the same dataset. The aim of study three was to obtain a deeper understanding of how multilevel factors influence ATP use among non-U.S. citizen Korean residents. Methods: In studies one and two, quantitative data analyses were conducted from 2,507 foreign-born adult residents using PATH waves 3 and 4. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regressions were used, and moderation and mediation analyses were conducted. In study three, twenty-one non-U.S. citizen Korean residents who currently or formerly smoked or used any ATPs and were aged 18-39 years in District of Columbia (DC), Maryland (MD) or Virginia (VA) completed 60-minute semi-structured in-depth interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed thematically. Findings: In study one, findings suggest that certain acculturation factors predicted current and lifetime ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents. For example, less acculturated foreign-born residents in the U.S. perceived ATPs as very or extremely harmful to their health and were less likely to use ATPs compared to the U.S.-born counterparts. In study two, findings indicated that less acculturated foreign-born residents were less likely to have peer and family who use ATPs and to be exposed to ATP advertisements, marketing and promotions compared to the U.S.-born counterparts. In study three, e-cigarettes were the most popular ATPs with participants, followed by hookahs and heated tobacco products (specifically IQOS). Participants showed more ambivalence or regarded e-cigarettes and hookahs as less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Additionally, smoking initiation was influenced mainly by peers who smoked. Conclusion: Multiple factors at different determinant levels influence tobacco product use behaviors among U.S. foreign-born residents. Acculturation factors, along with harm perceptions, peer and family influence, and ATP advertisements, marketing, and promotions exposure, seem to influence ATP use among U.S. foreign-born residents. Implications: This research calls for culturally tailored interventions and smoking cessations for U.S. foreign-born residents. Future research should investigate multiple tobacco product use among foreign-born residents as well as how the country of origin influences ATP use behaviors.Item Discourse and Dissent in the Diaspora: Civic and Political Lives of Iranian Americans(2013) Zarpour, Mari Tina; Freidenberg, Judith N; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the political agency of Iranian immigrants. Through the rhetorical device of "political talk" which encompasses politically- and civically- oriented discourse, action and ideology, this research follows political talk as it presents itself in two locations within the public sphere: in the life course of Iranian Americans, and through online discourse. Methods used included a combination of conventional ethnography (participant observation, informal interviews, life history interviews), and virtual ethnography to develop a typology of political and civic action. Life history interviews provided an understanding of the meanings informants assigned to political and civic action within the larger trajectory of their lives, especially within the context of migration experiences. Virtual ethnography involved the analysis of three different Iranian digital diaspora communities. First, this research found that the civic and political spheres of engagement are linked, and that Iranian immigrants use organizations to learn participatory democracy. It illustrates how ethnic organizations, online and offline, act as both vehicles and activators for immigrant political participation and further civic engagement in the U.S. Additionally, this research uncovers how factors (age at migration, length of time in U.S., particular migration experience) impact notions of belonging and solidarity. It unpacks immigrant political agency to demonstrate the range of behaviors and activities which constitute political and civic participation. It contributes to understanding modes of citizenship and belonging by relating individual, historical, and situational variables in order to understand the relationship between homeland events, immigrant politicization and political behavior. Analysis of the three digital communities evidenced the multiple ways that digital diasporas can be a forum for engaging politically and in creating political community by allowing for a diversity of voices. Finally, merging conventional and virtual ethnography highlighted the dominant discourses about participation in larger society, and demonstrated the formation of a distinctly Iranian-American civil society.Item Learning How to Navigate U.S. Society with Young Children: Experiences of Immigrant Mothers Utilizing Early Childhood Care and Education(2011) Vesely, Colleen Kirkwood; Roy, Kevin M; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Nearly one in four children in the United States are children of immigrants (Fortuny, Hernandez, & Chaudry, 2010), and these children are the fastest growing segment of children in the country (U.S. Census, 2000 as cited in Matthews & Ewen, 2006b). Given this growth, grounded in Berry's (1997) acculturation framework and ecocultural theory (Weisner, 1997) , this study investigated the lived experiences of immigrant mothers with young children as these mothers adjusted to being parents in the U.S. An ethnographic approach was utilized to explore the experiences of 41 immigrant mothers living in Washington, DC and Virginia who were engaged with the ECCE system. Consequently, in-depth interviews as well as observations were conducted with immigrant mothers living in northern Virginia and Washington, DC, hailing from both Latin America (n= 22) and Africa (n=19). Data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach in which three waves of coding were conducted: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The findings from this study indicate that mothers' immigration stories, including, their reasons for coming to a new host society, their journey and finally, adjustment to life in the new country, shaped their expectations of parenting in the U.S. Mothers' in this study negotiated parenting ideas and practices from the U.S. and their home countries to create a new social framework for parenting in the U.S. that was distinct from parenting in their COOs and the U.S. Finally, a process model emerged from the data reflecting these immigrant mothers' navigation of the ECCE system. It illustrated that mothers drew upon a variety of social, organizational, and geographic connections to find ECCE, sometimes faced obstacles to securing ECCE, and ultimately were able to develop important social capital as a result of utilizing ECCE. The findings from this study will provide practitioners, policy makers, and researchers with a greater understanding of how immigrant families with young children adjust to life in the U.S., experience parenting, and how they navigate the U.S. ECCE system. This knowledge will contribute to creating the most effective programs, policies, and studies to support immigrant families.Item Essays on the Role of Specific Human Capital(2007-06-04) Hu, Xiaohan; Hellerstein, Judith; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Human capital theory states that workers' knowledge and skills increase their productivity and thus raise their earnings. An important dimension of human capital theory distinguishes between general human capital and specific human capital. Chapter Two and Chapter Three of this dissertation examine two groups of individuals who encounter interruptions in their work careers and cannot completely transfer their specific human capital to their new jobs. Chapter Two investigates displaced workers who lose jobs due to mass layoffs by their employers. Their success in job transition depends partially on the extent to which their human capital can be carried over across jobs. The Chapter Two analysis adds to the extensive literature on the earnings cost of displacement by distinguishing the earnings losses between high technology (hi-tech) displaced workers and low-tech displaced workers. Earnings losses are estimated using a generalized difference-in-difference model which compares the earnings patterns of displaced workers with a comparison group of non-displaced workers. The empirical results demonstrate that earnings decline substantially upon displacement and then recover gradually. Hi-tech displaced workers suffer larger initial earnings losses and have faster recoveries than other displaced workers. Chapter Three examines female immigrants to the U.S. whose entry wages fall short of those of comparable natives because their human capital accumulated in foreign countries is not completely transferable to the U.S. labor market. The entire literature on immigrant skills has focused almost exclusively on male immigrants. Chapter Three extends the previous research to the population of female immigrants by examining changes across cohorts in their labor market skills, as measured by their English proficiency, educational attainment and wages. The results show that, across successive cohorts of female immigrants, English proficiency at entry stays constant and average education level increases. After controlling for human capital and demographic characteristics, predicted wages are lower for female immigrants upon entry relative to female natives. Compared to male immigrants in the same period, female immigrants exhibit faster growth across cohorts in educational attainment and in predicted wages. Overall, this dissertation provides further evidence of the role of specific human capital in explaining multiple dimensions of workers' earnings patterns.Item Life Story(2007-06-07) Ruggiero, Leigh Ann; Casey, Maud; Creative Writing; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Writing stories is more than fantastic structure. It's character, too. This statement is something I hope to illustrate with my thesis: a collection of short stories that focus on characters at different stages in their lives. This thesis represents seven characters (not necessarily in search of an author, but an author in search of their story) who at one time were (some of them most likely still are) trapped in a structure imposed on them by their author. Though I do think these selections are more than character sketches. Maybe a better way to phrase it is character slices. If we take these stories, the first "crush" (though Brooke would be sure to call it love), the first death of someone you really cared about, the moment when all you want to do is disappear from "it all" (or try to), they are all of our stories.