Human Development & Quantitative Methodology Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2779

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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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Motivational Processes and the Pursuit of Postsecondary Education
    (2014) Musu-Gillette, Lauren Elizabeth; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Enrollment in postsecondary education is at an all-time high, and a college education is increasingly seen as a necessity for the majority of students. Prior research has established that several variables account for students' postsecondary enrollment differences, including students' demographic characteristics and their academic achievement. However, despite the wealth of research that shows students' motivation-related beliefs and behaviors are important predictors of academic outcomes and choices, motivation-related theoretical frameworks have rarely been applied to the research examining postsecondary enrollment as an outcome. Therefore, data from the ELS:2002 dataset was used to examine how students' ability beliefs, value for school, postsecondary expectations, and goal-directed behaviors were related longitudinally, as well as how these variables related to students' postsecondary enrollment. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine whether students' postsecondary expectations changed over time differently for students from different demographic groups. Next, structural equation modeling was used to examine how the full set of motivation-related beliefs and behaviors were related to one another as well as how they predicted postsecondary enrollment. Demographic differences by gender, ethnicity, and SES in the relations between variables were also examined. The results indicate that patterns of change in postsecondary expectations differentially predicted students' postsecondary enrollment. Specifically, students who reduced their expectations were less likely to be continuously enrolled in college. Further, students' ability beliefs and value for school predicted their postsecondary expectations and goal-directed behaviors which in turn predicted students' postsecondary enrollment. Mean-level differences as well as differences in the relations between variables emerged for students' from different demographic groups. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
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    Engagement as a Mediator of the Associations Among Expectancies and Values for Reading and Reading Outcomes
    (2014) Cambria, Jenna; Wigfield, Allan; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Previous research studies have shown that cognitive engagement could be included in the Eccles et al. (1983) expectancy-value model as the indirect means, or mediator, by which motivational influencers drive achievement (e.g., Greene et al., 2004; Hardré et al., 2007; Skinner et al., 2008). To explore the associations between values, expectancies, cognitive engagement and reading performance, I conducted a study with 1197 seventh graders. Values, expectancies, and cognitive engagement were measured using survey data. Performance was measured using the informational text comprehension test (ITC) and Reading/Language Arts grades. The main finding of this study was that cognitive engagement was a significant mediator of both expectancies and values with reading performance. Guthrie et al. (2012) discussed how reading requires effort and attention. Expectancies and values partially drive engagement, which is to say, they initiate engagement and not that motivation stops when a student becomes engaged in a task. When reading is valued and students believe they can be successful, students will be more persistent and put in more effort in deducing meaning from passages, like the ITC test. If students are more motivated, they will put in more effort and will result in better Reading/Language Arts grades. As discussed, the indirect effects of values and expectancies, and the direct of values, expectancies, cognitive engagement, and demographic controls were the same across the ITC and Reading/Language Arts grades. One exception to this association was the effects of gender and race on the reading outcomes. For gender, girls had higher grades than boys, but boys and girls did the same on ITC. This finding replicated previous research that males and females do not differ on standardized tests at this age and girls often perform better in Reading/Language Arts grades, which are typically seen as favoring females than do other classes such as mathematics (Banks & Banks, 2010). For race, there was no difference in performance in Reading/Language Arts grades, but there was a race difference on ITC. From an expectancy-value framework, mediation may mean that through engagement, expectancies for success and values may be actualized into achievement.
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    CONTRIBUTIONS OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, MOTIVATION, AND STRATEGIES TO KOREAN COLLEGE STUDENTS' L2 WRITING DEVELOPMENT
    (2011) Chae, Soo Eun; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The current study examined Korean college students' L2 writing development and performance, motivation, and strategies while taking ESL writing classes. The present study expands the literature by examining the effects of various learner characteristics on L2 writing development. The selection and the expected effects of learner variables were particularly guided by the Model of Domain Learning (MDL). Prior work has demonstrated motivation, strategy, and prior knowledge are associated with L2 writing development. For example, a study by Leki (2007) showed L2 writing motivation (i.e., goals) to be related to L2 writing proficiency. He (2005) developed a model and a measure for assessing strategies relevant to motivation in L2 writing. The current study sought to expand and elaborate on previous works, as the extant L2 writing literature has been limited in showing changes in learning factors over time and in incorporating learner characteristics into studies of L2 writing. The current study sought to answer the following questions: 1. To what extent and in what manner do Korean college students' initial self-efficacy and interest contribute to changes in L2 writing performance over time?; 2. How are Korean college students' interest and self-efficacy at the beginning (Time 1) and at the conclusion (Time 3) of an L2 writing course related to L2 writing performance and self-reported strategiy use at time 1 and 3?; 3. How is Korean college students' prior L2 writing knowledge associated with their L2 writing motivation, self-reported strategy use, and writing performance? In order to answer these questions, a multi-methods design was performed, where interviews were used to support what was found in analyses results with self-report measures. Results based on growth curve modeling with cohort data at three time points suggested that students' motivational orientation significantly predicts Korean college students' L2 writing performance at the beginning of a semester. However, the influence of initial motivation on the growth rate of L2 writing proficiency, specifically L2 writing performance, was negative. The cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in this study concluded that the contributions of motivation constructs to L2 writing performance depended on time. While there were a few exceptions (i.e., non-significant relation between L2 prior knowledge and students' interest at Time 1), study findings generally indicated that L1 and L2 writing prior knowledge were significantly related to L2 writing motivation, performance, and strategy use. In addition, interview data demonstrated students' level of L2 writing self-efficacy, interest, and strategy uses. While the records from self-report data and interview data did not perfectly match, the two data sets were similar.