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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
This study used exploratory data analysis (EDA) to examine the use of a biofeedback intervention in the treatment of anxiety for college students diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (n=10) and in a typical college population (n=37). The use of EDA allowed for trends to emerge from the data and provided a foundation for future research in the areas of biofeedback and accommodations for college students with ASD. Comparing the first five weeks of the study with the second five weeks of the 10 week study, both groups showed improvement in their control of heart rate variability, a physiological marker for anxiety used in biofeedback. The ASD group showed greater gains, more consistent gains, and less variability in raw scores than the typical group. EDA also revealed a pattern between participant attrition and a participant's biofeedback progress. Implications are discussed.
ContributorsWestlake, Garret (Author) / McCoy, Kathleen M. (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Jane T (Committee member) / DiGangi, Samuel A. (Committee member) / Caterino, Linda K (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of the study is to explore the identity development and organizational culture of a student organization, the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations council (NALFO) by implementing a community of practice approach at a large, public university in southwestern United States. The objective is to construct a sustainable camaraderie among the existing Latino fraternal organizations at the university to influence leadership development, work toward a common vision, and a cohesive and systematic approach to collaboration, consequently transforming organizational culture. This study investigates the factors that contribute to and/or inhibit increased communication and collaboration and to describe the experiences of Latino fraternal members who are purposefully engaged in a community of practice. There are 57 fraternal organizations in five umbrella councils at the university, including predominately Caucasian, historically African American, Latino, and Multicultural groups, whose platforms are commonly leadership, scholarship, and philanthropy. This action research examines the experiences of six NALFO members individually and working as a community with the guidance of a mentor (the researcher). The researcher employs use of an anonymous initial and post electronic survey, a participant personal statement, an intentional and purposeful community of practice, a semi-structured individual interview, and focus groups to collect data. Findings suggest that length of membership and fraternal experience influence participant responses; however, the themes remain consistent. Building relationships, perception (by members and outsiders), identity development, organizational management, and challenging perspectives (from outside influences) are factors that influence the organizational culture of the organization. On the post electronic survey all participants indicate that the implementation of an intentional community of practice can benefit the organization by encouraging participation and increasing communication. While participants suggest activities for encouraging member engagement, they determine that actual participation would be dependent on individual motivation.
ContributorsHeredia, Anna-Maria (Author) / Rund, James (Thesis advisor) / Calleroz White, Mistalene (Thesis advisor) / Corey, Frederick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Research on the impact of stress on the academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students is limited, leaving institutions of higher education without needed information about how to better support this growing population of students. The purpose of this study was to identify stressors that have a negative impact on academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students. Themes were derived from focus groups and interviews regarding stress, stressors and related academic performance impacts of Hispanic undergraduate students attending a large multi-campus urban university and incorporated into a survey addressing common stressors, their impact on academic performance, stress impact on other areas of life, stress management ability, and demographic characteristics. The survey was administered to a random sample of Hispanic undergraduate students using an online format (n = 169). Descriptive statistics were used to examine frequencies. Stressors were placed into themes and tested for reliability of fit using Cronbach's Alpha. Pearson's Chi-Square and Cramer's V were used to measure association. Significance was set at ¡Ü .05. Overall stress of respondents resulted in serious performance effects among 32.5% of respondents and moderate performance effects among 43.8% of respondents. Stress impeded academic performance at least weekly among 36.1% of respondents. Stressors resulting in the most serious stress and academic performance effects included family, time factors, finances, and academics. Moderate stress and academic performance effects were evident in stressors related to mental health, technology, commuting, personal concerns, physical health and legal problems. The majority of respondents indicated doing a fair (n = 84, 49.7%) or good (n = 52, 30.8%) job managing stress. The remaining 20.0% (n = 33) of respondents did a poor job managing stress. Students with lower grade-point averages managed stress poorly compared to students with higher grade-point averages, X2 (6, N = 163) = 15.222, p = .019, Cramer's V = .019. These findings provide evidence that stressors related to family, time factors, finances, and academics, and overall stress have considerable negative effects on the academic performance of Hispanic undergraduate students. Institutions of higher education can improve academic outcomes among this student population by addressing and reducing the impact of common stressors affecting these students.
ContributorsMoses, Karen S (Author) / De Los Santos, Jr., Alfredo G. (Thesis advisor) / Ewing, Kris (Thesis advisor) / Melnyk, Bernadette (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Artists and designers are preparing for rapidly changing and competitive careers in creative fields that require a healthy dose of resiliency to persevere. However, little is known on how students within these fields become more self-efficacious, gritty, situated toward a growth mindset, and persistent over time. This mixed-method action research study investigates how undergraduate arts and design college students approach and navigate perceptions of failure as well as incorporates an intervention course designed to increase their self-efficacy, growth mindset, and academic persistence. Participants were eighteen arts and design students representing a variety of disciplines from an eight-week, one-unit, 300-level course that utilized arts-based methods, mindfulness, and active reflection. After the course, students had significant changes in their self-efficacy and academic persistence as well as moderate significant change in their fixed mindset.
ContributorsWorkmon Larsen, Megan (Author) / Kulinna, Pamela (Thesis advisor) / Henriksen, Danah (Committee member) / Heywood, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Guided by cognitive, socio-cognitive, and socio-cultural learning theories, large-scale studies over multiple semesters, multiple instructors and at two different institutions have been performed in order to understand the factors that contribute to student performance in general organic chemistry. Students’ cognitive abilities were assessed in a new way based on a categorization of problem types in a standard organic chemistry curriculum. Problem types that required higher cognitive load were found to be more predictive of overall course performance. However, student performance on high cognitive load problems was different when compared in terms of non-cognitive factors, e.g. whether they were pre-health students or not. These results suggested that organic chemistry performance may be significantly influenced by non-cognitive factors. Students’ motivation and related self-regulation factors were then studied using an instrument specifically designed for general organic chemistry, the Organic Chemistry Motivation Survey. Of all the factors examined, self-efficacy was found to be the most significant predictor of performance. Socio-cultural factors were also studied using a newly developed instrument for measuring college students’ cultural and social capital, the Science Capital Questionnaire (SCQ). Of the different socio-cultural variables measured by the SCQ, students’ social connections in college were found to be most predictive of organic chemistry performance. Finally, cognitive and socio-cognitive variables were studied together in the context of gender differences in organic chemistry. Females were found to underperform in comparison to the males. This gap was found to be alarmingly large on the basis of final letter grade, in some semesters the percentage of males earning an A grade was twice as large as that for females. Spatial ability was not a factor that contributed to this difference, nor was the gender of the instructor. Instead, self-efficacy was found to be both significantly different between males and females, and also the factor that connected most strongly to course performance. It is suggested that sociocultural factors be the subject of further study in college science courses.
ContributorsAustin, Ara Cho (Author) / Gould, Ian R. (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert K. (Committee member) / Williams, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
A record number of Latino students are enrolling in higher education in the U.S., but as a group Latinos are the least likely to complete a bachelor’s degree. Cultural factors theoretically contribute to Latino students’ success, including orientation toward ethnic heritage and mainstream cultures (i.e., dual cultural adaptation), feeling comfortable navigating two cultural contexts (i.e., biculturalism), and the degree of fit between students’ cultural backgrounds and the cultural landscapes of educational institutions (i.e., cultural congruity). In a two-part study, these cultural factors were examined in relation to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis stress response (indexed by salivary cortisol), a physiological mechanism that may underlie how psychosocial stress influences academic achievement and health. First, Latino students’ cortisol responses to stress were estimated in their daily lives prior to college using ecological momentary assessment (N = 206; 64.6% female; Mage = 18.10). Results from three-level growth models indicated that cortisol levels were lower following greater perceived stress than usual for students endorsing greater Latino cultural values (e.g., familism), compared to students endorsing average or below-average levels of these values. Second, cortisol and subjective responses to a standard public speaking stress task were examined in a subsample of these same students in their first semester of college (N = 84; 63.1% female). In an experimental design, viewing a brief video prior to the stress task conveying the university’s commitment to cultural diversity and inclusion (compared to a generic campus tour) reduced cortisol reactivity and negative affect for students with greater Latino cultural values, and also reduced post-task cortisol levels for students with greater mainstream U.S. cultural values (e.g., competition). These findings join the growing science of culture and biology interplay, while also informing initiatives to support first-year Latino students and the universities that serve them.
ContributorsSladek, Michael R. (Author) / Doane, Leah D (Thesis advisor) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Committee member) / Grimm, Kevin J. (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
There were two primary goals of this study, the first of which was to replicate previously established curvilinear associations between school affluence and substance use, while assessing potential relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and academic success during the transition to college. The second goal of this study was to establish patterns of perceived parenting factors in order to assess predictive value of such latent profiles with respect to student outcomes relevant to wellbeing and retention in college. Results indicated that substance use was, in fact, associated in a “U-shaped,” curvilinear fashion with high school affluence. Additionally, students grouped into three primary perceived parenting profiles, characterized broadly as “authoritative,” “warm and permissive,” and “uninvolved.” While “optimal” outcomes were associated with students in the authoritative group, these latent profiles lacked predictive value. Supplemental analyses revealed differential associations of various parent factors with males and females, as well as advantaged and disadvantaged youth. Taken together, these results emphasized the importance of parenting during high school in order to promote healthy, safe habits and sufficient self-agency during the transition to college.
ContributorsSmall, Phillip (Author) / Luthar, Suniya S. (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank J. (Committee member) / Crnic, Keith A (Committee member) / Berkel, Cady (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Native Americans reported the least number of degree completion than any other population in the United States. Native American students experience multiple challenges while in college making them a high-risk population for college departure. This study used two hierarchical multiple regression to explore the relationship between non-cognitive factors (financial concerns, family support for education, cultural involvement, ethnic identity, academic self-efficacy) with both academic stress and academic persistence decisions from a combined sample of 209 Diné college students attending two tribal colleges on the Navajo reservation. Two-week test-retest reliabilities were calculated for three scales: family support for education, financial concerns, and Dine’ cultural involvement. The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity Scale was modified to measure two facets of ethnic identity (centrality and private regard) for Diné students. Academic Self-Efficacy was measured by the College Self-Efficacy Inventory. The Daily Hassles Index for College Stress was used to measure academic stress and the Persistence/Voluntary Dropout Decisions Scale was measured academic persistence decisions. Due to its suppression effect on the relation of private regard and academic stress, centrality was not included in the hierarchical regression predicting academic stress; however, it was included in the prediction of academic persistence decisions. Diné students reported high scores for family support for education that suggested that generally the students at Dine’ College perceived that their families as being supportive and encouraging their efforts to get their college degree. In the hierarchical regression predicting academic stress, in step one more cultural involvement and fewer financial concerns predicted less academic stress. In the final model, only fewer financial concerns
and greater academic self-efficacy predicted less academic stress. In the hierarchical regression predicting academic persistence decisions, private regard and academic self- efficacy were significant, positive predictors of persistence decisions. These findings are discussed in light of the role counseling psychologists can play in addressing financial concerns, ethnic identity, and academic self-efficacy among Dine’ students in order to decrease their academic stress and increase their positive decisions about staying in school.
and greater academic self-efficacy predicted less academic stress. In the hierarchical regression predicting academic persistence decisions, private regard and academic self- efficacy were significant, positive predictors of persistence decisions. These findings are discussed in light of the role counseling psychologists can play in addressing financial concerns, ethnic identity, and academic self-efficacy among Dine’ students in order to decrease their academic stress and increase their positive decisions about staying in school.
ContributorsShorty, Gerald (Author) / Robinson-Kurpius, Sharon E. (Thesis advisor) / Tracey, Terence J. G. (Committee member) / Kinnier, Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a mentoring program on self-efficacy beliefs. High-risk undergraduate students at Arizona State University majoring in Public Health and other closely-related fields represent this study’s sample. Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory guides this study’s theoretical framework. This study used a mixed method, action research design. Participants took a pre-test that measures their self-efficacy and registered the barriers to their academic success; following that, they enrolled and participated in a mentoring program. Upon completion of the program, they completed a post-test to evaluate any changes to their perspectives. Non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were applied to the surveys. Throughout the mentoring program, participants completed field notes and I completed a journal about our interactions. These, along with two focus group discussions, were analyzed using grounded theory in addition to the pre- and post-tests. The surveys found that the mentoring program impacted their self-efficacy in overcoming educational barriers the qualitative data showed a strong correlation between the intervention and perceived confidence. This included their perceived ability to perform difficult or unusual tasks, but also their ability to overcome barriers.
ContributorsSavaglio, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Ott, Molly (Thesis advisor) / Hrncir, Shawn (Committee member) / Orozco, Holly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In any instructional situation, the instructor's goal is to maximize the learning attained by students. Drawing on the adage, 'we learn best what we have taught,' this action research project was conducted to examine whether students, in fact, learned college algebra material better if they taught it to their peers. The teaching-to-learn process was conducted in the following way. The instructor-researcher met with individual students and taught a college algebra topic to a student who served as the leader of a group of four students. At the next step, the student who originally learned the material from the instructor met with three other students in a small group session and taught the material to them to prepare an in-class presentation. Students in these small group sessions discussed how best to present the material, anticipated questions, and prepared a presentation to be shared with their classmates. The small group then taught the material to classmates during an in-class review session prior to unit examinations. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Quantitative data consisted of pre- and post-test scores on four college algebra unit examinations. In addition, scores from Likert-scale items on an end-of-semester questionnaire that assessed the effectiveness of the teaching-to-learn process and attitudes toward the process were obtained. Qualitative data consisted of field notes from observations of selected small group sessions and in-class presentations. Additional qualitative data included responses to open-ended questions on the end-of-semester questionnaire and responses to interview items posed to groups of students. Results showed the quantitative data did not support the hypothesis that material, which was taught, was better learned than other material. Nevertheless, qualitative data indicated students were engaged in the material, had a deeper understanding of the material, and were more confident about it as a result of their participation in the teaching-to-learn process. Students also viewed the teaching-to-learn process as being effective and they had positive attitudes toward the teaching-to-learn process. Discussion focused on how engagement, deeper understanding and confidence interacted with one another to increase student learning. Lessons learned, implications for practice, and implications for further action research were also discussed.
ContributorsNicoloff, Stephen J (Author) / Buss, Ray R (Thesis advisor) / Zambo, Ronald (Committee member) / Shaw, Phyllis J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011