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 THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND: THE RELATIONS BETWEEN FRIENDSHIP NETWORK CENTRALITY, READING ACHIEVEMENT, AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS(2021) Archer, Casey Jonathan; Blazar, David; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Peer relationships form the bedrock for numerous developmental outcomes, including students’ social-emotional wellness, their sense of belonging, their decision-making, and the development of their sense of self. While educators acknowledge the importance of students’ social-emotional well-being and their relationship building, these concepts are often thought of as secondary to developing students’ academic achievement, particularly considering the oversized role of high-stakes testing in the US educational system. However, the divide between social interactions and academic achievement is not as stark as policymakers may make it seem. Indeed, research by developmental psychologists and education researchers has long documented that having strong peer relationships will allow children to thrive, including on academic development. This three-paper dissertation aims to provide evidence demonstrating the relation between being connected to one’s peers, reading achievement, and the development of executive functioning skills for elementary-aged students, including on a sample of primarily English Learners. Throughout all three studies, data were collected as part of Project LEARN, a three-year longitudinal study that measured various components of reading development alongside executive functioning and other variables, ultimately aiming to compare reading trajectories for elementary-aged English Learners and English Monolinguals. Paper 1, “Peer Effects on Oral Language Comprehension in Elementary School: A Social Network Analysis” uses student friendship nominations across three semesters (N=414) as well as students’ oral comprehension scores. This paper asks, What is the relation between student centrality (i.e., being connected to one’s classroom peers) and change in academic achievement, as measured by oral language skills? After generating social networks using the friendship nominations, I calculated how central each student was within their classroom friendship network. Using a student fixed effects model comparing students’ oral comprehension growth as a function of their classroom centrality, I find that students’ predicted oral comprehension growth is significantly greater when students are more central within their classroom network, even after controlling for other reading variables in the model. This paper supports the connection between peer relationships and academics (using oral language as a proxy), suggesting that reading interventions and pedagogy should leverage peer relationships as one way to improve student learning. Paper 2, “The Differential Relation between Friendship Centrality and Reading Outcomes for English Learners,” uses the same data as Paper 1, focusing on whether student centrality differentially predicts reading outcomes for English Learners and English Monolinguals. This paper asks, a) To what extent does classroom friendship centrality predict reading achievement gains for English Learners? and b) To what extent does the relationship between classroom friendship centrality and reading achievement gains differ between English Learners and English Monolinguals? I used a series of multiple linear regression models, with students nested in homeroom classrooms, to answer the two research questions. First, using a sample of only English Learners (N=160), I find that English Learners are more likely to experience significant gains in oral language comprehension—but not reading comprehension—when they are more central within their classroom network. Using the full sample of students (N=229), I find that English Monolinguals are significantly more likely to experience gains in reading comprehension when they are more central within their classroom friendship network, but there is no relation between friendship centrality and reading comprehension development for English Learners. This surprising finding, that friendship centrality predicts English Learners’ oral language development but not their reading comprehension development, raises pedagogical questions about how best to support English Learners’ reading outcomes. More research is needed, with particular attention focused on whether English Learners who are more connected within their classrooms experience similar levels of self-efficacy and sense of belonging as their connected English Monolingual peers. Paper 3, “Do Executive Functioning Skills Predict Reading Comprehension Growth?” uses students’ executive functioning composites—consisting of inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and memory scores—and reading comprehension scores in two subsequent semesters. This paper asks, To what extent do students’ growth in executive functioning predict their reading comprehension growth? Using two methods that aim to limit omitted variable bias—multiple regression with covariate adjustment and propensity score matching—I find that students’ growth in executive functioning significantly predicts their reading comprehension growth. This study provides support that interventions targeting students’ executive functioning may also contribute to their reading development.Item CHILDREN'S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH MOTHERS, FATHERS AND FRIENDS: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY(2008) Oh, Wonjung; Rubin, Kenneth; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to cross-culturally examine children's perceptions of their relationships with mothers, fathers and friends among South Korean and European-American children. During middle childhood and preadolescence, although parent-child relationships are presumed to be the primary source of social support, friendships become increasingly salient; provisions for closeness and interdependence begin to shift from parents to friends. Researchers, however, have mostly examined mother-child and father-child relationships and friendships in isolation. The present study examined children's mother-child and father-child relationships and friendships as relationship networks in terms of various latent relationship constructs (social provisions; negative interactions; power distance). Of particular interest was whether the traditional emphasis on the family system in the South Korean culture would reveal distinct patterns of children's relationships with their mothers, fathers and friends. Participants included the South Korean and the European-American children ages 10 to 11 years old from two-parent families in the Seoul and the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. Variable-centered and person-centered approaches were employed to address individual differences (latent classes) on relationship qualities. Results revealed both cultural dissimilarities and similarities. Cultural differences were found in the mean levels of affection, conflict, and punitive aspects. The South Korean children perceived more social provisions from their mothers and fathers than from their friends, whereas the European-American children perceived similar levels of social provisions from their mothers, fathers and friends. Despite the changes in today's South Korean society, the South Korean family system continues to play a major role in providing social provisions for South Korean children. Cultural similarities were found regarding the patterns of relationship networks on power distance in both of the South Korean and European-American samples. Structural Equation Modeling also revealed structural invariance in terms of the manner in which the relationship constructs were associated with children's satisfaction with their mothers and fathers. In addition, considerable heterogeneity was revealed in affection, punitive aspects, and power distance. Taken together, findings from the present study highlight the importance of considering cross-cultural perspectives as well as person-centered approaches in the examination of relationship qualities.