College of Education
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1647
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item "They're my kryptonite but they also empower me": The double-edged sword of familismo(2016) Goldthrite, Antoinette Marie; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The objective of this study is to examine the relations of familismo to academic functioning and mental health among non-citizen Latina/o college students. The study utilizes both quantitative self-report surveys to explore attitudinal family obligations, and qualitative interviews to explore behavioral family obligations. One hundred and eighty citizen students (M = 21.30, SD = 2.92) and 84 non-citizen students (M = 21.13, SD = 2.98) completed surveys. Correlational analyses found that family obligation attitudes were linked to academic emotional engagement for non-citizen students only (r = .305, p = .005, n = 84). Cluster analyses revealed risk, resilience, and protected clusters from stress and family obligation groupings. Twenty-one non-citizen students also completed interviews. Narrative analysis of the interviews revealed that family obligation behaviors may be linked to motivation and stress. Overall, this study illustrates the complex nature of family obligations and achievement in the lives of non-citizen Latina/o college students.Item The Effect of Living-Learning Program Participation on College Students' Mental Health(2012) Fink, John E.; Hummel, Mary L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis used Astin's (1993) I-E-O framework to explore how participation in a living-learning program as well as other college environments affected college students' mental health. Data from seven unique institutions that administered an additional mental health module as a part of the 2008 and 2009 National Study of Living-Learning Programs were used in this study. Independent samples t tests, chi-squared tests, and multiple regression were the statistical methods used to investigate three research questions with Keyes et al. (2008) Mental Health Continuum - Short Form (MHC-SF) as the dependent variable. The final predictive model explained 33.5% and 37.6% of the variance in students' MHC-SF scores in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Findings did not evidence a predictive relationship between students' participation in a living-learning program and their mental health. Several aspects of the college environment favorably predicted students' mental health, including ease with transition to college, socially supportive residence hall climate, self-confidence, sense of belonging, and sense of civic engagement. Other variables unfavorably predicted students' mental health, including identification as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, as well as emotional consequences of alcohol use. This study's findings offer implications for practitioners and directions for future research.Item A Portrait of School District Crisis Management: Leadership Choices in Montgomery County during the Sniper Shootings of October 2002(2010) Porter, Brian Joseph; Mawhinney, Hanne B.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The actions of two assailants who shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others, including a student, in the region around Washington, D.C., in October 2002, provides the backdrop for a qualitative study of the emergency response by school district leaders in Montgomery County, Maryland. The study explores and describes the experiences of the district's superintendent and a group of leadership staff, including the author as a participant researcher, and two elected officials and a union president who contributed to the decisions and actions. A non-evaluative study, based on portraiture in the form of case study, the narrative report provides often minute-to-minute detail of the events of the case and a unique perspective of crisis management and decision making at the school district level. The study revealed aspects of the case regarding implementation of an emergency response plan, involvement of principals, management style, political extremes, and phases of the crisis. The study also illuminated targeted objectives for decision and actions, including a central focus on mental health and communications. The study reflects a subject area that is largely overlooked in the research of education leadership. Implications from the study are that school district leaders need specific training and experience necessary to manage a crisis, make decisions under crisis circumstances, and improve their performance through practice. The study identifies licensure for school district leaders as a way to attain a standardized level of competency in crisis management and decision making skills. The study also provides an entry point for further research in educational crisis management and decision making. In particular, the study explores a unique blend of research encompassing critical tasks in public leadership during a crisis, complex transformational processes among the components of a school district's social system, and expectations of high reliability in organizational environments that support mindfulness and expertise.