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
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Trainees' Use of Supervision for Clinical Work with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients: A Qualitative Study(2010) McGann, Kevin; Hoffman, Mary Ann; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Most studies considering lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients and their therapists have primarily focused on the clients' experience in therapy (Israel, Walther, Gorcheva, & Sulzner, 2007; Liddle, 1996) or on the therapist's experience of the client (Bieschke & Matthews, 1996; Garnets, Hancock, Cochran, Goodchilds, & Peplau, 1991). However, the role that clinical supervision plays in therapists' development in working with LGB clients is rarely studied. Not enough is known about how supervision is perceived from the perspective of the supervisee who is developing skills in working with LGB clients. The current study examined 12 interviews with randomly selected predoctoral interns at APA-accredited counseling centers around the country, to explore how they made use of the clinical supervision they received for their work with LGB clients. The single previous qualitative investigation of this topic (Burkard, Knox, Hess, & Shultz, 2009) examined interviews with LGB advanced doctoral students. The current study extends the investigation of this topic by interviewing six heterosexual-identified trainees in addition to six trainees who identified as LGB or queer (Q), and by investigating a more geographically heterogeneous sample. The interviews explored various aspects of the supervision experience, including trainees' expectations of their supervisor for supervision of their work with their LGB client, the contributions of trainees and their supervisors to the supervision process, and the impact of supervision on work with the LGB client and other clients. The data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill, Knox, Thompson, Williams, Hess, & Ladany, 2005; Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). All participants valued their supervision relationship, and found their supervisors helpful in assisting them in their therapeutic work with their LGB client. Trainees typically experienced their supervisors as multiculturally sensitive, and some felt that their supervisors helped them with LGB-specific interventions and case conceptualizations. Some differences between how heterosexual and LGB-identified trainees used supervision for their work with their LGB clients. All participants reported gains from their supervision experience with their LGB client that positively affected their work with other clients, regardless of these clients' sexual orientation.Item Affective Pathways of Work-Family Enrichment Among Dual-earner Couples(2009) Dunn, Marianne Grace; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study examined the extent to which resources generated at work influence family functioning among dual-earner couples while accounting for interdependence of observations among couples. Path analytic findings based in the Actor Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Cook & Kenny, 2005) and Work-Family Enrichment Theory (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006) supported the presence of a mediated model. The relationship between resources generated at work to positive family performance was mediated by positive affect at work. A number of intrapersonal effects, including one mediated effect emerged between work, positive affect at work, and family variables. One interpersonal effect was detected: female family-supportive organization perceptions predicted male dyadic adjustment. The results and implications for theory, policy, practice, and research are discussed.Item Influence of Student Problem Behavior and Teacher Tolerance on Student Grades(2010) Bruckman, Katherine; Gottfredson, Gary; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The current study examines the influence of student problem behavior (as rated by teachers), teacher disposition to tolerate problem behavior, and interaction effects on student grade point average, reading grades, and math grades. The sample includes 3rd through 5th grade students (N = 12,993) and their classroom teachers (N = 562) from 45 schools. Multilevel models, with students nested within classrooms, test the influence of student problem behavior and teacher tolerance on student grades. Results imply that problem behavior negatively influences grades for students at each grade level, controlling for standardized academic achievement and other student and classroom-level covariates. Results also indicate that low teacher tolerance predicts higher current student grades in some analyses. Finally, tests for interactions of teacher tolerance with student problem behavior indicate that 5th grade students rated as having extreme problem behaviors receive lower grades in classrooms with more tolerant teachers, and higher grades in classrooms with less tolerant teachers.Item Effects of Group Status and Cognitive Appraisal Prime on Integrative Complexity in a Decision Making Context(2009) Van Allen, Katherine Lynn; Stangor, Charles; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Integrative complexity has been shown to influence information-processing and decision-making in different social situations. The present research assessed the effects of group status and cognitive appraisal prime on complexity in a group decision-making context. Experiment 1 assessed group status effects, and Experiment 2 tested whether priming threat or challenge would moderate those effects. Both experiments found that minority members showed greater complexity than majority members. Experiment 2 found that appraisal prime moderated the relationship between status and complexity. Minority members receiving the threat prime were the most complex, while majority members in the threat and control conditions were the least complex. The mediating roles of cognitive appraisal, anxiety, and coping expectancy were assessed, but none were found to be significant mediators of complexity.Item The Inluence of Cultural Identity and Intergroup Contact on Adolescents' Evaluations of Arab-Jewish Peer Relationships(2009) Brenick, Alaina Faye; Killen, Melanie; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Recent research has documented the negative intergroup attitudes between Jewish and Arab youth and adults in the Middle East (Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005; Brenick et al., 2007; Cole et al., 2003), yet little is known about how these negative intergroup biases manifest in the same cultural communities removed from the daily stress and tension of an intractable conflict, and living in the U.S. Moreover, while negative intergroup tensions between Jews and Arabs and, cultural stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination towards Muslim and Arab groups have increased in the U.S. (Alliance of Civilizations, 2006; Sheridan, 2006), they may still benefit from increased opportunities to engage in intergroup contact, which has been shown to reduce intergroup prejudice (see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005). However, these attitudes have yet to receive much empirical scrutiny in the developmental literature. The present study investigated age related changes in the influence of intergroup contact and cultural identification on evaluations of Arab-Jewish intergroup friendships. The focus of this study was on how Jewish-American, Arab-American, and unaffiliated (e.g., non-Jewish, non-Arab) American adolescents evaluate exclusion and inclusion in peer situations between Jewish and Arab youth in the peer, home, and community contexts. This study surveyed 953 ninth and twelfth graders (36 Arab participants, 306 Jewish participants, and 591 unaffiliated participants (259 in the Jewish comparison group and 332 in the Arab comparison group). Overall, all participants were primarily rejecting of intergroup exclusion, more so when the exclusion was based on cultural group membership than when no reason for the exclusion was specified. Further, males were more accepting of the intergroup exclusion and more accepting of including an ingroup member as compared to females. Context effects emerged revealing that intergroup exclusion was considered most acceptable in the community context and the least acceptable in the friendship context. The interactive influence of intergroup contact and cultural identification demonstrated that high levels of intergroup contact and high levels of identity commitment predicted less accepting ratings of intergroup exclusion, whereas high levels of intergroup contact and high levels of identity exploration, led to more accepting ratings of intergroup exclusion. These interactions varied by cultural group.Item The Assessment of the Forms and Functions of Childhood Aggression Reconsidered(2009) Potter, Tracey Meryl; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the relationships between aggression and adjustment with a configuration of aggression categories derived from factor analyses of two commonly used scales to measure aggression, Dodge and Coie's (1987) Reactive/Proactive scale and Crick and Grotpeter's (1995) Children's Social Behavior Scale (relational and overt aggression). Second and third grade students and their teachers completed aggression ratings and a battery of adjustment measures. Teacher and peer rated aggression scales were constructed from an exploratory factor analysis of the aggression items. The teacher rated scales that emerged were pure overt, reactive relational, and reactive overt, and emerging peer rated scales were pure overt and reactive relational. The factor analysis of the teacher ratings revealed numerous cross-loaded as did the analysis of peer ratings. Cross-loaded teacher-rated items captured the construct of emotional dysregulation whereas the cross-loaded peer-rated items represented pure relational aggression. Unique associations were observed between teacher-rated pure overt aggression with externalizing behaviors, peer rated reactive relational aggression with self-rated depression and anxiety symptoms, and peer rated pure overt aggression with self-rated depression symptoms. The results regarding overall gender differences were consistent with prior research in that boys were perceived as more purely overtly aggressive than girls when rated by both their teachers and peers, and girls were perceived as more reactively relationally aggressive than boys when rated by both teachers and peers. Gender was also found to moderate certain relationships between aggression and adjustment. Importance of informant, as well as implications for understanding the construct of aggression and its relationship to adjustment are discussed.Item Teacher Identification of Students for a Social-Emotional Intervention(2009) Sedlik, Samantha Lynn; Teglasi, Hedwig; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study described how students received services for social-emotional issues in several schools where a social competence program was implemented. The study examined several variables including a) teacher referral practices in the context of a program designed as a prereferral intervention for these issues in elementary school-aged children; b) child characteristics; and c) group dynamics. Referring teachers completed pre and post-test behavior rating forms for 45 children (N=45) in the program. All students completed pre and post-test measures of listening comprehension and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and anger. A case study of two children with different initial profiles highlights how initial child characteristics affect performance and progress in the group situation. The variability in child performance demonstrates the need for careful selection of participants when conducting group interventions in schools. Implications for prereferral interventions are discussed.Item Connecting the forgotten half: The school-to-work transition of non-college bound youth(2009) Ling, Thomson Joseph; O'Brien, Karen; Kivlighan, Dennis; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When we think of high school students making the transition to adulthood, most of us picture students pursuing a college or university education. However, for many individuals, this image is not the case. For some youth, the transition to adulthood is marked by entrance into the workforce. While previous research has examined the school-to-work transition of non-college-bound youth, most only have considered a limited set of variables and only examined job attainment. By considering job quality and employment stability in addition to job attainment, the present study examined the school-to-work transition of non-college bound youth using a nationally representative sample of youth followed longitudinally. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort, we examined a comprehensive set of predictors within an ecological framework. This study sought to determine: "What were the predictors of job attainment, stability of employment, and job quality for youth who are making the school-to-work transition?" Logistic regression and structural equation modeling were used to examine the hypotheses. With regard to job attainment, depression, substance use, adolescent educational attainment, and employment in adolescence were associated with obtaining employment. With regard to job quality and stability of employment, depression, substance use, adolescent educational attainment, employment in adolescence, parental educational attainment, and income were associated with these job characteristics. Parent-adolescent relationship and physical risk were not associated with job characteristics.Item LOW-INCOME TEEN FATHERS' TRAJECTORY OF INVOLVEMENT: THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL, CONTEXTUAL, AND COPARENTAL FACTORS(2009) Holmes, Allison; Harden, Brenda J; Human Development; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While teen births are on the rise and marriage rates are on the decline, fathers have become a recent focus. However, there is a dearth of literature on teen fathers' parenting behaviors. The current study provided a portrait of Early Head Start teen fathers' involvement throughout early childhood and salient influences on that involvement. This study maximized developmental and life course perspectives by employing a longitudinal analysis (i.e., Latent Growth Curve Model) that emphasized time-effects. The majority of teen fathers were involved with children initially, but their involvement decreased over time. Consistent with extant literature, teen fathers who were prenatally engaged, resident after the birth, and in romantic coparental relationships at 14- and 24-months were more involved in their children's lives initially. Teen fathers who were in romantic coparental relationships at 36- and 64- months were less likely to decrease their involvement over the course of early childhood. Surprisingly, age, race, employment, and school status were not significant influences on father involvement. Although the present study had its limitations, trends were noted and should be considered in future studies. Teen fathers are a unique population facing several challenges to meeting their own developmental needs and enacting their father role. Some conceptual factors shown to be influential for father involvement with adult and married fathers (i.e., age, employment) do not hold the same meaning and impact among teen fathers. The conceptual and ultimately practical meaning of behaviors and characteristics must be contextualized within teen fathers' developmental trajectory and ecological settings. Similarly, examination of teen fathers within a dynamic, longitudinal framework emphasized the need to address fatherhood in a different way. Previous studies have examined longitudinal data, but not examined the patterns of involvement for individual fathers. This different perspective (i.e., person-centered) revealed unique patterns for teen fathers. Further analyses will allow when and how to best intervene with teen fathers. Teen fathers may be at-risk, but they are involved with their children and can positively benefit both children and mothers. Head Start and Early Head Start could continue to support teen fatherhood through its mission to serve low-income children and parents; availability from pregnancy through 5-years; and mission to adapt to the needs of the community and family. But without support or intervention, the cycle of teen of parenthood is perpetuated.Item Structuralism and Natural Philosophy: Method, Metaphysics and Explanation(2009) Cifone, Michael Christian; Bub, Jeffrey; Philosophy; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation is an examination of the foundations of what I call a "fourth" tradition of analytical-scientific philosophy, the tradition of "structuralism". It is a disavowal of a metaphysics of substances and/or entities in the pursuit of scientific theory and truth. We look, in particular, at the current manifestation of this tradition, which advances the thesis of "structural realism"; we ask how tenable this thesis is, and whether we can weaken it. I argue that we should focus on methodology--a program for the formulation of scientific hypotheses about the sorts of things there are--rather than on metaphysics per se. We replace "substance" with "relation" as the basic ontic posit, and hold that substances or entities are metaphysically derivative from relational structure. Thus, the thesis is not that "there are no things" (or that "everything must go", as Ladyman et al. suppose); rather, the thesis is that the things (entities or substances) are relational structure, and there is no complete specification of an independent entity that is not itself more relational structure (so a metaphysics of substances is merely secondary to that of relational structure). I also suggest that there is no complete, unitary or monistic theory of what `structure' itself is. That is, I hold that there is no "total" structure of which everything that is relational structure is a "part", on the grounds that this would constitute an "illegitimate totality" in Russell's sense (the claim that "everything is structural" does not mean that there is a single structure which everything has--what a monistic theory of structure seems to demand). We then turn to the question of scientific explanation in light of structural realism: can there be explanation without a metaphysics of substances? I answer affirmatively. I then turn to two cases where, I argue, structuralism (and the specific thesis of structural realism) is in play regarding scientific explanation: quantum information theory, and the recent attempt to render quantum mechanics local by re-interpreting physical law time symmetrically. I conclude with a consideration of some objections to structuralism, and an articulation of the general view of metaphysics that structuralism seems to presuppose.