College student and Amazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) samples are regularly utilized in trauma research. Recent literature, however, has criticized these samples for not being generalizable to the general U.S. population. Measurement invariance (MI) using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), is rarely utilized in trauma research, even though the analysis can determine whether groups are invariant across factor structure, factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual error variances on a given measure of PTSD symptom severity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether college student (n = 255) and MTURK (n = 316) samples are invariant on the PCL-5. Model fit indices indicated the 7-factor Hybrid model was the best fitting model, but the 6-factor anhedonia model was the most parsimonious model. Both models demonstrated equivalence in factor structures (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), intercepts (scalar invariance), and residuals (strict invariance), indicating MTURK and college student samples are similar in regards to PTSD symptom severity. These findings provide evidence that these groups can be combined in future studies to increase sample size for trauma research. Only the Anhedonia factor exhibited mean differences between groups, which may be related to true differences between college students and MTURK survey-takers. Thus, there is …

Half of the students who begin college do not complete a degree or certificate. The odds of completing a degree are decreased if a student has a low socio-economic status (SES), is the first in a family to attend college (first-generation), attends multiple institutions, stops out multiple times, reduces credit loads over time, performs poorly in major-specific coursework, has competing family obligations, and experiences financial difficulties. Stopping out of college does not always indicate that a student is no longer interested in pursuing an education; it can be an indication of a barrier or several barriers faced. Institutions can benefit themselves and students by utilizing person-centered statistical methods to re-engage students they have lost, particularly those near the end of their degree plan. Using demographic, academic, and financial variables, this study applied latent class analysis (LCA) to explore subgroups of seniors who have stopped out of a public four-year Tier One research intuition before graduating with a four-year degree. The findings indicated a six-class model was the best fitting model. Similar to previous research, academic and financial variables were key determinants of the latent classes. This paper demonstrates how the results of an LCA can assist institutions in the decisions …

The impacts of emerging adults' social media use have been shown as generally negative, especially in decreasing their self-esteem and self-concept and increasing anxiety, depression, and more. Although there is research on social media's impact on various communities of adolescents and young adults, limited research has focused on this effect for young adults with mental health diagnoses or served under IDEA's emotional disturbance eligibility criteria. Additionally, no research has studied this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine how various types of social media use impact young adults' self-esteem, including those who are psychologically vulnerable. Participants included 119 individuals, 18 to 19-years of age, with and without mental health diagnoses or Emotional Disturbance special education eligibility recruited utilizing social media pages and social media hashtags. Participating individuals answered demographic and social media use questions and completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to provide information about self-esteem. Additionally, participants responded to questions regarding what role they feel social media use has had on their mental health, including contribution to or exacerbating their symptoms. Univariate statistics were run to control demographic factors and determine the percentage of participants who believe social media has negatively affected …

Parenting self-efficacy refers to the ability of parents to have confidence in their abilities to effectively parent their children. Parenting self-efficacy can be divided into two types: (a) general parenting self-efficacy, which is defined as a parent’s overall sense of ability to effectively parent; and (b) task-specific parenting self-efficacy, which is defined as a parent’s confidence level to perform specific parenting tasks, such as teaching and nurturing (tested in this study). The study applied Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory to an analysis of (a) the effect of the HIPPY program in interaction with family and neighborhood variables on parenting self-efficacy and (b) the effect of the interaction of family and neighborhood variables on parenting self-efficacy. A group of 138 HIPPY mothers and a group of 76 comparison mothers who did not receive HIPPY services were surveyed. The sample was largely Hispanic. Results indicated HIPPY predicts task-specific parenting self-efficacy for teaching tasks, but not general parenting self-efficacy or task-specific efficacy for nurturance. Many family variables that reflected Hispanic family values were unique predictors of all three types of parenting self-efficacy, both in analyses involving interactions with HIPPY and with neighborhood variables. Neighborhood variables solely predicted general parenting self-efficacy. Moderation effects were found for …

Two important health issues that can develop during young adulthood are related to mental health (e.g., depression) and physical health (e.g., cardiovascular disease). A common characteristic for both of these diseases is low-grade and chronic inflammation, but inflammation is negatively associated with physical activity (PA) and physical fitness. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate how PA and physical fitness were associated with biomarkers for depression and cardiovascular disease. Participants included 41 undergraduates who were considered to be "physical fit" (n = 21, Males = 15) or "physically unfit" (n = 20, Males = 17). They completed a battery of physical fitness assessments (e.g., 20m shuttle run, body fat percentage, handgrip strength, push-ups, blood pressure, and waist circumference), a self-report measure for depression and stress, and wore an accelerometer for one week. Afterwards, blood was drawn to estimate CVD risk using biomarkers for metabolic syndrome (i.e., triglycerides, glucose, and HDL) and inflammation (i.e., C-reactive protein [CRP], interleukin-6, interleukin-1b, and tumor necrosis factor alpha). The physically fit group had more moderate and vigorous PA, lower body fat percentage and handgrip strength scores, and performed better on the VO2max, curl-up, and plank tests compared to the physically unfit group. They …

Prevalence of physical inactivity in children and adolescents and the associated epidemic of obesity are increasing concerns. U.S. national health statistics indicate early adolescence (i.e., 10-14 years) appears to be a period of importance regarding physical activity, sedentary behavior, health-related physical fitness, and obesity trends. Considering a significant portion of their waking hours are spent in school, it is widely held that schools' should play a significant role in increasing students' physical activity and health-related physical fitness. To do this, physical education in schools focus on providing quality physical education programs that produce physically literate individuals who have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of health-producing physical activity. In effect, a call for developing a comprehensive and valid measure of physical literacy has been aptly expressed. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to test the psychometric properties of proposed models of physical literacy, examine correlates of the physical literacy factor, and investigate the significance of the relationship between physical literacy and interscholastic sport intention via structural equation modeling. Participants were 400 (231 female, 169 male) sixth-grade physical education students who completed three brief surveys assessing maturation, self-efficacy, self-esteem, knowledge and understanding, motivation, physical activity and sport …

Research has shown that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically have poor life outcomes. Students with EBD who are placed in an alternative education setting are likely to continue a path toward failure without carefully designed effective services. Existing studies have independently examined resilience in children and youth and alternative education settings. However, there is a gap in research examining resilience in students who have graduated from alternative education settings. Using semi-structured interviews, the present interpretive and descriptive qualitative study sought to explore factors of resilience in individuals who graduated from alternative education settings. The study sought to identify elements, specific to alternative education settings, that have contributed to resilience in young adulthood and to further our understanding of how alternative education placements have contributed to the participants’ current life status. Findings revealed three themes specific to alternative education settings that contributed to participants’ resilience: teachers who show that they care about their students, a positive learning environment, and a small student-teacher ratio where participants were able to get more one-on-one instruction. Additionally, two other themes arose from the data: having a supportive family and an innate sense of self.

This study examines the sense of preparedness of preservice special education teachers (PSETs) to instruct English language learners. Pre- and post-survey measures were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for a group of PSETs as they engaged in their second semester of student teaching experience. To explore emerging themes, a post-qualitative analysis was performed using focus groups. Quantitative results revealed no statistical difference except for the Self-Efficacy subscale. Focus group data showed increased confidence levels resulting from the student teaching experience. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare pre-survey results between PSETs who had and PSETs who had not taken advanced coursework or participated in student teaching. With the exception of the subscale, Attitude Towards ELs in the Classroom, results revealed no statistical difference between the two groups. At the same time, qualitative, open-response questions revealed PSETs who had participated in advanced coursework and student teaching seemed to have a deeper understanding of ELs' instructional and linguistic needs. Contributions to the literature are presented which may help in designing teacher preparation programs to increase PSETs' sense of preparedness to better serve ELs with disabilities.

Currently, there is a shortage of professors preparing personnel to teach in high need areas (e.g., special education, English language learners) at institutions of higher education (IHE). The purpose of the present study was to examine the motivations or influencers that impelled individuals to pursue careers in IHEs as professors in personnel preparation. Data were collected using Motivations for Choosing Academia as a Profession (MCAP) and a 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10). Two hundred eighty-nine professors of education representing the four U.S. census regions participated in the present study. The MCAP is a 25-item instrument designed to measure retrospective motivation of faculty decisions to enter the professoriate. The development of the MCAP is described and an exploratory factor analysis was employed to examine the psychometric validity of the instrument. Three factors emerged and implications are discussed. Data were analyzed using logistic regression with the dichotomous outcome variable being the area of education in which the professor works (i.e., general or special education).

This study was developed to examine the motivations of individuals who chose alternative routes to teacher certification and what they believe were the strengths and weaknesses of their alternative certification preparation (ACP). Data accrued from this study were based on a 55-item online survey and participant information from an online focus group. The study compared the differences between general and special educators in regards to the motivating factors affecting the decision to become a teacher, remain a teacher, and in choosing a non-university-based ACP, as well as the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the ACP. The results from the survey suggest there are differences in the motivating factors affecting general and special educator's decision to become a teacher and to remain a teacher. Additional survey results suggest there are no differences in the reason these two groups chose a non-university-based ACP. The results of the survey and the online focus group were comparable for these two groups. The remainder of this dissertation includes a review of literature related to teacher shortages and teacher preparation including alternative certification. Additionally, information on the results and analysis of the study are discussed, as well as recommendations for future research.

Educators today are faced with a worthy goal. Every student, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), must be taught by a qualified teacher. However, recruiting, training, and retaining quality special education teachers continue to confound the field. The purpose of this study was to determine if the completion of a NCATE/CEC (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education/Council for Exceptional Children) approved masters program specializing in EBD from a well-known university increased the confidence in knowledge and skills of special educators, the numbers of special educators, and/or the retention of special educators working with students with EBD. The sample in this study was composed of 199 students who had completed the master's degree in special education who specialized in emotional/behavioral disorders from 1985 to 2005. Data were compiled from 80 students at a response rate of approximately 40%. Additionally, five respondents participated in face-to-face interviews. The data did not lend themselves to the quantitative analysis and thus pose a limitation to the generalizability of this study. However, combined with the qualitative analysis, the study provided a rich analysis of a program whose graduates stay in the field of special education providing services to students with EBD.

Research pertaining to the distortion of the squared canonical correlation coefficient has traditionally been limited to the effects of sampling error and associated correction formulas. The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of attenuation of the squared canonical correlation coefficient under varying conditions of score reliability. Monte Carlo simulation methodology was used to fulfill the purpose of this study. Initially, data populations with various manipulated conditions were generated (N = 100,000). Subsequently, 500 random samples were drawn with replacement from each population, and data was subjected to canonical correlation analyses. The canonical correlation results were then analyzed using descriptive statistics and an ANOVA design to determine under which condition(s) the squared canonical correlation coefficient was most attenuated when compared to population Rc2 values. This information was analyzed and used to determine what effect, if any, the different conditions considered in this study had on Rc2. The results from this Monte Carlo investigation clearly illustrated the importance of score reliability when interpreting study results. As evidenced by the outcomes presented, the more measurement error (lower reliability) present in the variables included in an analysis, the more attenuation experienced by the effect size(s) produced in the analysis, in this …