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- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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
The transition out of high school is a major milestone for adolescents as they earn greater autonomy and responsibilities. An estimated 69.2% of adolescents enroll in higher education immediately following high school completion, including increasing numbers of Latino adolescents (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). Integrative model (García Coll et al., 1996) suggests a need for research on promotive and protective contextual factors for ethnic minority children and adolescents. Guided by the model, the proposed research will explore a salient Latino cultural value, familism, and family communication as predictors of changes in depressive symptoms from high school to university among Latino adolescents (N = 209; 35.6% male; Mage=17.59, SD=.53). Furthermore, sleep, a key bioregulatory mechanism, was explored as a potential moderator of these processes (Dahl & El-Sheikh, 2007). On average, familism values were not associated with college depressive symptoms, but family communication was significantly negatively associated with college depressive symptoms. Neither sleep duration nor sleep problems significantly moderated the association between familism values and college depressive symptom. Patterns were similar for family communication. The interaction between sleep problems and familism-support values were significantly associated with college depressive symptoms. However, when simple slopes were probed, none were significant.
ContributorsPark, HyeJung (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
ABSTRACT
Historically, first-generation college students (FGCS), students whose parents have not attended college nor earned a degree, are more likely to have lower college retention rates and are less likely to complete their academic programs in a timely manner. Despite this, there are many FGCS who do succeed and it is imperative to learn what fuels their success. The theoretical perspectives that framed this study included: hidden curricula, resiliency theory and community cultural wealth. Drawing from these perspectives, this qualitative research study consisted of a 10-week photo-elicitation facilitation and reflection group in which participants identified aspects of the hidden curricula encountered in the university that were challenging in their educational journeys and guided them in identifying the sources of strength (i.e. protective factors) that they channeled to overcome those challenges. The participants for this study were selected using a stratified purposeful sampling approach. The participants identified as Latina, low-income FGCS who were on good academic standing and majored in two of the largest academic units at Arizona State University's Tempe campus- the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Fulton College of Engineering. This study used participants’ testimonios (critical, reflexive narratives), photo-elicitation images, student journal responses, focus group dialogue and Facebook group posts to better understand the resiliency of Latina, low-income FGCS at ASU. Using grounded theory analysis, this study revealed the following,
Latina, low-income FGCS:
- Primarily define and develop their academic resiliency outside of the classroom and use social capital connections with peers and aspirational capital connections to their future to be successful inside the classroom.
- Are heavily driven to succeed in the university setting because of their family's support and because they view their presence in college as a unique opportunity that they are grateful for.
- Operationalize their academic resiliency through a combination of hard work and sacrifice, as well as an active implementation of resilience tactics.
- Are motivated to pass on their resiliency capital to other students like them and perceive their pursuit of a college education as a transformative action for themselves, their families and their communities.
Historically, first-generation college students (FGCS), students whose parents have not attended college nor earned a degree, are more likely to have lower college retention rates and are less likely to complete their academic programs in a timely manner. Despite this, there are many FGCS who do succeed and it is imperative to learn what fuels their success. The theoretical perspectives that framed this study included: hidden curricula, resiliency theory and community cultural wealth. Drawing from these perspectives, this qualitative research study consisted of a 10-week photo-elicitation facilitation and reflection group in which participants identified aspects of the hidden curricula encountered in the university that were challenging in their educational journeys and guided them in identifying the sources of strength (i.e. protective factors) that they channeled to overcome those challenges. The participants for this study were selected using a stratified purposeful sampling approach. The participants identified as Latina, low-income FGCS who were on good academic standing and majored in two of the largest academic units at Arizona State University's Tempe campus- the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Fulton College of Engineering. This study used participants’ testimonios (critical, reflexive narratives), photo-elicitation images, student journal responses, focus group dialogue and Facebook group posts to better understand the resiliency of Latina, low-income FGCS at ASU. Using grounded theory analysis, this study revealed the following,
Latina, low-income FGCS:
- Primarily define and develop their academic resiliency outside of the classroom and use social capital connections with peers and aspirational capital connections to their future to be successful inside the classroom.
- Are heavily driven to succeed in the university setting because of their family's support and because they view their presence in college as a unique opportunity that they are grateful for.
- Operationalize their academic resiliency through a combination of hard work and sacrifice, as well as an active implementation of resilience tactics.
- Are motivated to pass on their resiliency capital to other students like them and perceive their pursuit of a college education as a transformative action for themselves, their families and their communities.
ContributorsRomasanta, Lindsay Rae (Author) / Liou, Daniel D. (Thesis advisor) / Margolis, Eric (Committee member) / Golden, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The purpose of this investigation was to develop a testable integrative social cognitive model of critical consciousness (Freire, 1973) that explains the relationship between critical consciousness and intent to persist in college among underserved students, such as undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers. Three constructs based on theory (i.e., critical reflection, critical action, and political efficacy) as well as a new one (i.e., political outcome expectations) were conceptualized and tested through a framework inspired by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994; Lent & Brown, 2013). A total of 638 college students participated in this study and reflected a spectrum of disadvantage and educational attainment, which included 120 DREAMers, 124 Latina/o students, 117 non-Latina/o minorities, and 277 non-Latina/o Whites. Goodness of fit tests showed support for the adequacy of using the new model with this diverse sample of students. Tests of structural invariance indicated that 10 relational paths in the model were invariant across student cultural groups, while 7 paths were differentiated. Most of the differences involved DREAMers and non-Latina/o White students. For DREAMers, critical action was positively related to intent to persist, while that relationship was negative for non-Latina/o Whites with legal status. Findings provide support to the structure of critical consciousness across cultural groups, highlight the key role that students’ supporters (i.e., important people in their life) play in their sociopolitical engagement and intent to persist, and suggest that political outcome expectations are related to higher persistence intention across all students.
ContributorsCadenas, German Andres (Author) / Bernstein, Bianca L (Thesis advisor) / Tracey, Terence (Committee member) / Spanierman, Lisa B (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017