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 WHO SERVES IN COLLEGE?: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACKGROUND, COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTS, AND COLLEGE COMMUNITY SERVICE PARTICIPATION(2009) Gasiorski, Anna Louise; Jones, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to examine demographic characteristics, background experiences and environmental influences for their ability to predict college community service participation. Additional analyses looked at college community service participation to determine in what type of service students were participating and for how long. Astin's Inputs-Environments-Outcomes (1991, 1993) conceptual model provided the framework for how the variables were entered into a logistic regression analysis. A logistic regression analysis was chosen because the outcome, college community service participation, was measured as a dichotomous variable. Data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership were used to answer the research questions. Results from the logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the proposed set of predictors significantly increased the odds of predicting community service participation in college from 53.1% to 73.2%. Each of the seven blocks was significant, but the blocks that improved the fit most were the college involvement experiences, high school experiences and characteristics, and pre-tests. Of all significant predictors, frequency of volunteer work in high school, low college grades, participation in a Greek organization, participation in a service organization, involvement in college organizations or off campus organizations, and socially responsible leadership capacity were the strongest predictors of college community service participation. Additional analyses described the outcome variable, college community service participation. Out of the sample of 47,230 students, 25,059 or 53.1% indicated that they regularly participated in community service. Most students were participating in community service either through a student organization or on one's own instead of through class or federal work study. Also, students were generally participating in community service for less than 20 hours each term (67.6%), and less than 1% of students were contributing more than 75 hours each term. Overall, the findings from this study support the notion that background characteristics and pre-college experiences alone do not predict college community service participation. A student's involvement while in college as well as socially responsible leadership capacity, both areas which interventions can be designed to address, greatly increase the likelihood of participation in community service.Item Engaging in Community Service and Citizenship: A Comparative Study of Undergraduate Students Based Upon Community Service Participation Prior to College(2008-05-06) Bonnet, Jennifer; Jones, Susan R.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study addressed community service participation and citizenship among undergraduate students, based upon participation in community service prior to college. In particular, this study investigated three service groups: mandatory volunteers in high school, non-mandatory volunteers prior to college, and students who had never volunteered prior to college. Gender, race/ethnicity, and parent(s)/guardian(s) education were also examined. Data were collected from 47,898 undergraduate students at 52 institutions across the U.S., as part of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership. Two four-way analyses of variance were conducted to evaluate differences in college 1) community service participation and 2) citizenship, when considering service group, gender, race/ethnicity, and parent(s)/guardian(s) education. Regarding community service participation, significant main effects emerged for service group, gender, and race/ethnicity. Results for citizenship evidenced significant main effects for service group and race/ethnicity, and interaction effects for parent(s)/guardian(s) education by race/ethnicity by gender, and parent(s)/guardian(s) education by race/ethnicity by gender by service group.Item Developing Citizenship Through Community Service: Examining the Relationship Between Community Service Involvement and Self-Perceived Citizenship Among Undergraduates(2006-05-22) Smist, Jennifer Anne; Jacoby, Barbara; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis investigated the relationship between community service involvement in curricular and cocurricular community service and students' self-perceived citizenship. Community service involvement was addressed through four methods: community service as part of a class, with a student organization, as part of a work-study experience, and on one's own. This study used data collected from 1,205 undergraduate students at the University of Maryland in spring 2006 as part of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership. The instrument employed in this study was based on a revised version of the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-Rev 2) and was designed to assess student leadership development within the framework of the social change model of leadership development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996). Self-perceived citizenship scores differed significantly based on whether students participated in community service during college. Community service through student organizations and work-study experiences were found to be significant predictors of self-perceived citizenship.Item DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES ASSOCIATED WITH SERVICE-LEARNING IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS(2004-05-04) Skjonsby, Britt; Torney-Purta, Judith; Human DevelopmentMany opportunities for service participation are emerging in educational institutions. While research has found effects of service in multiple developmental domains, variations associated with the context of service, and the students' gender, have not been examined. The current study examines 612 undergraduates participating in service activities in one of three contexts: service-learning course, co-curricular service, or America Reads America Counts (ARAC). Service-learning students were classified into low and high reflection groups. Self-report questionnaires measured perceived citizenship, leadership, and diversity outcomes. ARAC students reported higher scores on most items, with ARAC and high reflection curricular scores often significantly higher than low reflection curricular and co-curricular students. ARAC students likely reported more positive outcomes because of the time commitment required for their employment, and high reflection curricular students presumably reported more positive outcomes because of the integration of the service experience with their coursework. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.