Human Development & Quantitative Methodology Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2779
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Item 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.Item STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHER INSTRUMENTAL SUPPORT AS A PREDICTOR OF MOTIVATION IN READING AND MATH AND ACHIEVEMENT FROM SECOND THROUGH TWELFTH GRADE(2016) Mason-Singh, Amanda Marie; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this study, relations among students’ perceptions of instrumental help/support from their teachers and their reading and math ability beliefs, subjective task values, and academic grades, were explored from elementary through high school. These relations were examined in an overall sample of 1,062 students from the Childhood and Beyond (CAB) study dataset, a cohort-sequential study that followed students from elementary to high school and beyond. Multi-group structural equation model (SEM) analyses were used to explore these relations in adjacent grade pairs (e.g., second grade to third grade) in elementary school and from middle school through high school separately for males and females. In addition, multi-group latent growth curve (LGC) analyses were used to explore the associations among change in the variables of interest from middle school through high school separately for males and females. The results showed that students’ perceptions of instrumental help from teachers significantly positively predicted: (a) students’ math ability beliefs and reading and math task values in elementary school within the same grade for both girls and boys, and (b) students’ reading and math ability beliefs, reading and math task values, and GPA in middle and high school within the same grade for both girls and boys. Overall, students’ perceptions of instrumental help from teachers more consistently predicted ability beliefs and task values in the academic domain of math than in the academic domain of reading. Although there were some statistically significant differences in the models for girls and boys, the direction and strength of the relations in the models were generally similar for both girls and boys. The implications for these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.Item School readiness of maltreated preschoolers and later school achievement: The role of emotion regulation, language, and context(2015) Panlilio, Carlomagno del Carmen; Jones Harden, Brenda; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Academic achievement is an important indicator for the well-being of children with a history of maltreatment. Unfortunately, many of these children fall behind their non-maltreated peers in measures of academic performance, and the achievement gap between these groups is increasing. Attempts to close this gap at later ages can prove to be challenging. The focus on early childhood as a developmental period to direct research and intervention efforts holds promise. Early childhood is a critical time for the ongoing development of emotion regulation, which is an important domain of school readiness. For young maltreated children, however, specific individual-level and context-level factors need to be considered in understanding how emotion regulation development proceeds. That is, the placement experiences for these young children vary greatly in the cognitive stimulation, emotional support, and stability they provide. Qualitative differences in these context-level factors can place children in different trajectories of development. These varying trajectories, in turn, may place young maltreated children in different pathways that lead to different academic outcomes in later grades. The goals of this study then were to: 1) examine the growth curves and determine the functional form of emotion regulation across time, beginning with early childhood when first contact with Child Protective Services (CPS) occurred; 2) identify latent classes based on developmental patterns of emotion regulation for maltreated preschool-aged children; 3) examine developmental differences based on individual-level and context-level factors specific to the experiences of young maltreated children; and 4) elucidate the different pathways to later academic achievement. This study utilized data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW I) study, which was a nationally-representative study that employed a complex probability sampling framework that provided estimation of national-level parameters. Data analyses used latent growth curve models, latent class analyses, and latent transition analyses to answer the goals stated above. Results indicated stability and change in emotionally regulated vs. emotionally dysregulated latent classes across 4, 5, and 6 ½ years of age. Moreover, children classified as emotionally dysregulated at age 6 ½ scored significantly lower than children who were classified as emotionally regulated on measures of reading and math achievement by age 10. Policy implications for child welfare and early childhood education are presented.Item 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.