Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item Developing and validating a measure of epistemic competence beliefs to examine undergraduate students’ critical-analytic thinking in a multiple source use task(2024) Schoute, Eric Cornelis; Alexander, Patricia A; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: This dissertation aimed to develop and validate a novel Epistemic Competence Beliefs Measure (ECBM) to capture students’ ability to identify and utilize relevant sources for complex issues. Epistemic competence was hypothesized to be critical in performing multiple source use (MSU) tasks, particularly in predicting critical-analytic thinking in argumentative essays. The study was conducted in two phases, focusing on the ECBM’s development, its content validity, and predictive validity in an MSU context. Methods: Phase 1 involved creating the ECBM’s based on epistemic beliefs and cognition theories, presenting students with controversial scenarios. Content validity was assessed by an international panel of experts. Phase 2 implemented the ECBM in a university course, collecting data through argumentative claim selection forms, search logs, notes, essays, and a retroactive behaviors questionnaire. Data were analyzed using content analysis, cluster analysis, ANOVA, multiple linear regression, and regression trees to determine the ECBM’s predictive validity. Findings: The study revealed significant variability in students’ epistemic competence as measured on the ECBM, though no direct predictive relationship to enacted epistemic competence and exhibited critical-analytic thinking was established. Students’ critical-analytic thinking varied significantly, influenced by their GPA and TORR scores. Notably, students with higher relational reasoning abilities exhibited superior critical-analytic thinking in their essays, supporting the theorized link between these constructs. Implications: For future research, the ECBM can be refined and more closely integrated into the MSU project by aligning its completion with the task’s introduction. This integration may enhance students’ epistemic agency and awareness. Furthermore, diversifying study populations across different sociocultural contexts and employing Bayesian and mixed-methods analyses can provide deeper insights into epistemic competence and critical-analytic thinking. Practical implications suggest procedural adjustments to better align the MSU project with theoretical frameworks, potentially improving instructional practices. Conclusions: The novel Epistemic Competence Beliefs Measure is a meaningful contribution to the literature on epistemic beliefs as it unearthed theoretically and practically meaningful profiles of undergraduates’ appraisal of the characteristics of complex, controversial issues. The data-analytic focus on students’ variability rather than only consistency in characterizations of the scenarios highlighted the value of examining epistemic beliefs in a more situated, contextualized manner. This resulting findings of varying beliefs dispute the lingering assumption that epistemic beliefs are stable across contexts. While the assessment of the ECBM’s predictive validity identified no significant relations, the findings underscore the importance of relational reasoning to critical-analytic thinking. Future research should focus on refining the ECBM, exploring its applicability in diverse contexts, and employing comprehensive analytical methods to further elucidate these constructs.Item Writing to Discover: Adding Complexity to Views Of Writing As an Agent of Change in Undergraduates’ Knowledge, Interest, Confidence, and Calibration(2024) van Meerten, Julianne E.; Bolger, Donald J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The rationale behind the present study consisted of evidence reported to date for Galbraith et al.’s (1999, 2018, 2023) dual-process model of writing, suggesting that not only do writers engage in knowledge transformation, but in the development of new knowledge. An additional aspect of Galbraith et al.’s (2023) work is their proposal and validation of a novel subjective knowledge measure, tailored to those two processes, with potential to be used as a tool for calibration, knowledge activation, and learning. The purpose of the present study was to (a) investigate knowledge development comparing two different writing tasks relative to a comparison task of rereading a text passage, (b) explore patterns in subjective knowledge, confidence, and situational interest ratings throughout engagement with such tasks, (c) examine the predictive power of those ratings for post-intervention knowledge, and (d) compare confidence ratings with evidence of knowledge, that is, calculating calibration scores.The study used a pretest-posttest repeated measures intervention design, in which 146 undergraduate students, enrolled in human development and psychology research methodology courses, were randomly assigned to experimental or comparison conditions. Students in all conditions started by reading a text on the topic of research design, after which students in the experimental conditions engaged in two writing activities, consisting of a free-write (for both experimental conditions) and either an explanatory or persuasive writing task. Simultaneously, students in the comparison condition reread the initial text twice while being tasked with, first, surface-level strategies and, second, deep-level reading strategies. At least a week after the intervention, students in all conditions completed a transfer test, consisting of an argument writing task. Students rated their subjective knowledge about the topic (using an adapted version of Galbraith et al.’s [2023] instrument), confidence in their knowledge about the topic, and situational interest in the topic at hand multiple times throughout the study. The study occurred in real classrooms, using materials akin to existing course materials, on a topic already part of existing course curricula but not yet covered, which contributed to its high ecological validity. Exploratory factor analyses indicated that the two subscales of subjective knowledge ratings and the single-item confidence rating needed to be combined into one factor (Subjective Knowledge/Confidence; SKC) and treated as such in all analyses. Further, tests of condition regarding knowledge gains, one of the primary hypotheses, needed to be adjusted because of a failure of randomization between groups that was observed upon analyzing initial between-group equivalence. Despite random assignment to conditions, significant differences between conditions on the primary dependent variable of conceptual knowledge were found at pretest for the comparison (control) group. Because such a difference at pretest would invalidate any causal conclusions drawn from comparisons between the experimental and comparison conditions, further comparisons were made only between the two experimental groups in addressing those research questions that pertained to the effect of condition on changes in knowledge and the subjective factors measured, as well as the predictive value of those subjective factors for post-intervention knowledge levels. Findings indicated that the writing intervention central to the present study had a positive, significant effect on learning about the topic of research design for students in both experimental conditions (i.e., explanation and persuasion) relative to their pretest knowledge levels. Additionally, students in the persuasion group were significantly better calibrated than students in the rereading group, and SKC ratings at posttest were a significant predictor of transfer-test knowledge scores for both the explanation and the persuasion groups, indicating an improved relationship between confidence and actual knowledge levels. The findings of this study underscore the importance of providing students with a range of learning strategies, including rereading and writing, to help them acquire knowledge. Educators can use these findings to inform their instructional decisions, recognizing that students’ individual needs will vary and that a combination of strategies may be most effective in promoting knowledge development.Item HIGHER-ORDER THINKING ACROSS STAGES OF AN ARGUMENTATIVE MULTIPLE SOURCE USE TASK(2024) Sun, Yuting; Alexander, Patricia A.; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Higher-order thinking is foundational to deeper learning and has been a major theme in the philosophical, psychological, and educational literatures. Multiple source use tasks (MSU) offer a rich context to investigate higher-order thinking, although systematic research on higher-order thinking in MSU contexts remains scarce. In addition, prior studies were often conducted in orchestrated settings, limiting their ecological validity. Guided by the Integrated Framework of Multiple Texts (List & Alexander, 2019), the current study aimed to unearth higher-order processes that unfolded over the Preparation, Execution, and Production stages of an ecologically valid MSU task. The study explored how a notetaking scaffold impacted higher-order processes, as manifested in the notes taken during the Execution stage and the argumentative essays written during the Production Stage.Participants were 105 undergraduate students enrolled in a course where MSU tasks are integral components. Over four class sessions, students completed learner characteristics measures, searched for sources online while completing a search log (Preparation stage), read and took notes on documents they selected (Execution stage), and wrote argumentative essays based on their notes (Production stage). Further, using a quasi-experimental design, students in the experimental class received a notetaking scaffold that prompted them to attend to key features of individual documents and integrate information across documents. The comparison class took notes in their preferred ways. Analyses revealed a variety of higher-order processes at each task stage. Students seemed to face more challenges in some processes (e.g., critical analysis, synthesis) than others (e.g., documenting evidence, justifying claims). The notetaking scaffold effectively facilitated some processes in notetaking (documenting source information) and essay writing (sourcing, counterarguing). Further, associations were found among processes occurring at different stages, with those related to sourcing and source evaluation being central. The study contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of students’ higher-order thinking across stages of a natural, class-based MSU task. Implications for future investigations using improved MSU tools and alternative analytical approaches and designs are discussed. Practically, the study pointed to the need for more explicit instructions and support in such areas as enhancing students’ understanding about argumentation and critical analysis of documents.Item The Portrayal of Anger and Anger Management in Children's Picture Books(2024) Hernandez, Ilcia; Teglasi, Hedwig; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Through a comprehensive analysis of a sample of 80 children’s picture books, this study highlights the importance of embedding language to describe anger experiences and elements of social information processing (SIP) within stories to enhance young children’s understanding of anger arousal within themselves and others, as well as of anger management strategies. This study identified anger-eliciting situations, physiological and behavioral reactions, coping strategies proposed by helpers or the main character, along with other themes related to emotion socialization within the books. The current study identifies gaps in the portrayal of SIP mechanisms within stories, which underscores a need to emphasize the role of emotion dysregulation and of SIP biases during interpersonal conflicts as it is critical to foster regulation, reappraisal, and problem-solving skills among readers. The depiction of anger arousal and its escalation, predominantly through illustrations, is explored, along with implications for emotion understanding and cultural considerations of emotion expression. Picture book stories convey beliefs and values about anger by normalizing the emotion while promoting constructive regulation and expression through addressing the arousal in the body, delaying reactive responses, and using cognitive coping strategies. Overall, the current study has implications for caregivers and clinicians, in that becoming aware of how anger experiences are portrayed in picture books can aid in book selection based on a match with an individual child’s experiences and temperament to maximize its use as a tool for social-emotional learning and anger management in young children.Item INHIBITION IS KEY: A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO SUCCESSFUL WORD PROBLEM SOLVING(2024) Jaffe, Joshua Benjamin; Bolger, Donald J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Numerical competency and reading comprehension skills are necessary, but insufficient for word problem success. Depending on the word problem structure, successful problem solving may require inhibiting the seemingly obvious and correct answer. Inhibitory control plays a significant role in processing and solving word problems. Through classroom practices and textbook problems, I argue that individuals form associations between relational terminology and specific mathematical operations (“more” for addition and “less” for subtraction), and the notion that all numerical values in a problem must be used to produce an answer. In this study, I proposed an inhibitory performance-based model that posits two approaches to problem solving: (a) a successful approach where solvers inhibit mathematical associations and form appropriate set schemas to conceptualize semantic relations, and (b) an association approach where solvers do not inhibit associations and therefore may have an inaccurate understanding of the semantic relations. To test the model, data were analyzed from 105 undergraduate students at the University of Maryland. The study consisted of four sections: cognitive skills, word problems, domain-specific inhibitory control tasks, and a semi-structured interview. The word problem section included problems that were both consistent and inconsistent with an individual’s operational and numerical associations. Overall, the quantitative results identified that participants performed significantly worse on inconsistent problems. Further, the data suggest that failure to correctly answer inconsistent problems may be due to inhibitory control rather than other cognitive skills. The qualitative data indicated that a vast majority of participants believed in both mathematical associations and remembered classroom experiences that may have contributed to these beliefs. While inhibitory control has been suggested to play a significant role in word problem performance, this is one of the first studies to explicitly examine the relationship through domain-specific inhibitory control tasks and an interview. These results guide a path for future research to examine how individuals develop mathematical associations and for interventions to dissuade their usage.Item Integrating Cognitive and Perceptual Processes in Mental Arithmetic(2023) Medrano, Josh Rainier Lucas; Prather, Richard W; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Decades of research have established the importance of working memory in arithmetic computation (DeStefano & LeFevre, 2004). More recently, research has also shown that a formally irrelevant perceptual cue—spacing—can influence problem-solving (Landy & Goldstone, 2007). In a multi-operand problem, individuals solve less accurately and more slowly when the spacing between operands and operators is inconsistent with the order of operations (e.g., 2 x 3+4) compared to when spacing is consistent (e.g., 2x3 + 4). While this effect of physical spacing is widely demonstrated, it is unknown whether this perceptual cue also influences working memory. To examine this, I used a dual-task paradigm, wherein participants (N = 115 adults, mean = 32.41 years, median = 27.22, standard deviation = 15.56) evaluated an expression while completing either a visuospatial (dot pattern) or phonological (letter span) memory task. There were three conditions. The arithmetic stimuli differed between conditions: In the no-spacing (NS) condition, spacing was neutral for all arithmetic expressions; in the spacing-varying (SV) condition, spacing was neutral, consistent, or inconsistent; in the spacing-varying with parenthesis condition (SVP), spacing varied and there were parentheses around multiplied operands (e.g., (2 x 3)+4). The configuration of the working memory tasks was the same for all conditions. Analyses of variance tests (ANOVAs) of arithmetic and recall performance were conducted with spacing, working memory load (low and high) and type (visuospatial and phonological) as independent variables. Results showed that first, working memory load and type, as well as spacing, influenced arithmetic and recall performance, consistent with previous work and partially supporting our hypotheses. Second, compared to the SV condition, inconsistent spacing yielded higher arithmetic accuracy and spacing did not affect or interact with working memory in the SVP condition. Third, exploratory analyses showed that participants’ performance was influenced by math anxiety, age, and math education. Participants who had lower levels of math anxiety, were younger, and had taken three or more math classes after high school had, descriptively, higher arithmetic and recall accuracy. Overall, these results have theoretical implications particularly for mathematical cognition research, as well as practical implications, such as in the design of instructional materials.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 THE PREDICTIVE POWER OF GRIT VERSUS GROWTH MINDSET ON LATER LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT(2022) Meyering, Kristin; O'Neal, Colleen; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Noncognitive, socioemotional variables impact individual’s academic achievement. Grit and growth mindset are two well researched socioemotional variables known to positively predict academic outcomes. This quantitative study is the first to systematically evaluate if growth mindset predicts later literacy achievement above and beyond grit. Method: The relative predictive strength of these two variables was evaluated using a short-term longitudinal dataset with a total of 267 upper elementary school students from two schools (5% Asian, 10% Black, 6% Latinx, 17% Multiethnic/Other, and 62% White; 36% dual language learner; 60% female; average age = 9.7 years). Measures included self-report on the Short Grit Scale, the Resiliency: Helpless vs. Mastery-Oriented Responses to Failure Scale, and a student literacy achievement performance task (Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension, TOSREC). Analytic Approach: Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were run to determine the factor structure of the grit and growth mindset scales for the data. Consistency in grit and growth mindset over time was evaluated via measurement invariance testing. A latent variable path analysis (LVPA) of latent grit and latent growth mindset at Time 1 predicting observed literacy achievement Time 2 was run to determine the relative predictive power of grit and growth mindset. Results: A second-order two factor structure fit the data and theoretical model for both grit and growth mindset. Partial measurement invariance was established for the Short Grit Scale and non-invariance was found for the Resiliency: Helpless vs. Mastery-Oriented Responses to Failure Scale. Finally, both grit and growth mindset were significant positive predictors of later literacy achievement, but grit was found to predict literacy above and beyond the variance accounted for growth mindset. Findings support the continued study of grit and growth mindset as viable predictors of outcomes among elementary-age students. Psychologists and educators should consider integration of socioemotional constructs, such as grit and growth mindset, into academic learning.Item Literacy and anger regulation among upper elementary students(2022) Weinberg, Hayley Ilana; O'Neal, Colleen; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The contribution of this study is the examination of the relation between literacy and use of anger regulation strategies in upper elementary children. This short-term longitudinal study includes two time points, approximately four months apart. This study examines whether performance on a literacy achievement task predicts later self-reported frequency of anger regulation strategy use. I will also examine the effects of gender on the relation between literacy and anger regulation. Participants included a sample of 253 students between ages 8-11 years old from two Maryland elementary schools (mean age = 9.7; 57% female; 32% dual language learners; 5% Asian, 10% Black, 6% Latinx, 65% White, 12% multiethnic students). Path analyses were conducted to test a model of Time 1 literacy achievement impacting the outcome of later Time 2 anger regulation, controlling for related demographic variables and Time 1 literacy achievement scores. Literacy was not found to be a significant predictor of anger regulation. However, this study provides insight into the relation between literacy achievement and anger regulation and ideas for future directions for research in this area.Item Anxiety and Anxiety-Coping in Children's Picture Books(2023) Hui, Janisa; Wang, Cixin; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The contribution of this study is to provide an understanding of how picture books educate young children on the common experiences of anxiety. This qualitative study used thematic analysis to analyze 82 English children’s picture books for infants and young toddlers (0 to 5 years old) that were published in 2020. Picture books in this sample portray anxiety in a way that match with the clinical knowledge of childhood anxiety in terms of characterization and signs of anxiety. This study identified five major themes of anxiety-eliciting situations, namely schools, bad things happen, being alone, health and diversity. The findings of this study also include themes and patterns of coping strategies that were used by the protagonists; finding comfort, inhibiting emotions, solving problems, recognizing and expressing emotions and culturally-related strategies are the five themes that summarize the coping strategies found in this sample. Across all types of anxiety-eliciting situations, finding comfort is the most frequently presented coping strategy. This study holds implications for caregivers, teachers and clinicians, through which they can have an idea of how anxiety is presented in some recently published children’s picture books in their use of the books for educational or clinical purposes. Publishers may also take reference on the gaps noted in this study to diversify the content of anxiety-related picture books.