The aim of this study was to validate an instrument that can be used by instructors or social scientist who are interested in evaluating statistics anxiety. The psychometric properties of the English version of the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS) was examined through a confirmatory factor analysis of scores from a sample of 323 undergraduate social science majors enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. In previous studies, the psychometric properties of the Spanish and Italian versions of the SAS were validated; however, the English version of the SAS had never been assessed. Inconsistent with previous studies, scores on the English version of the SAS did not produce psychometrically acceptable values of validity. However, the results of this study suggested the potential value of a revised two-factor model SAS to measure statistics anxiety. Additionally, the Attitudes Towards Statistics (ATS) scale was used to examine the convergent and discriminant validities of the two-factor SAS. As expected, the correlation between the two factors of the SAS and the two factors of the ATS uncovered a moderately negative correlation between examination anxiety and attitudes towards the course. Additionally, the results of a structural regression model of attitudes towards statistics as a predictor …

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 …

In order to implement more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into K12 classrooms, it is important to find out whether teachers are comfortable with this pedagogy. To determine teachers' current self-efficacy of STEM pedagogy, teachers in a southern state in the United States were asked to enlighten researchers into this phenomenon. Participants were K12 teachers (n = 119) from a public school district undertaking a district-wide STEM initiative. A measure of STEM teacher self-efficacy and a demographic questionnaire were administered online to participants. STEM teacher self-efficacy data were analyzed, along with demographic data, using descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Results suggest some demographic variables are more predictive of STEM self-efficacy (gender, grade level taught, feelings of administrative support, and professional development sessions attended) than others (whether or not gifted courses are taught, age, and length of teaching experience. This data should be used by school administrators that seek to begin or improve STEM pedagogy in their schools.

This study compared 3 approaches for handling a fourth level of nesting structure when analyzing data from a cluster-randomized trial (CRT). CRTs can include 3 levels of nesting: repeated measures, individual, and cluster levels. However, above the cluster level, there may sometimes be an additional potentially important fourth level of nesting (e.g., schools, districts, etc., depending on the design) that is typically ignored in CRT data analysis. The current study examined the impact of ignoring this fourth level, accounting for it using a model-based approach, and accounting it using a design-based approach on parameter and standard error (SE) estimates. Several fixed effect and random effect variance parameters and SEs were biased across all 3 models. In the 4-level model, most SE biases decreased as the number of level 3 clusters increased and as the number of level 4 clusters decreased. Also, random effect variance biases decreased as the number of level 3 clusters increased. In the 3-level and complex models, SEs became more biased as the weight level 4 carried increased (i.e., larger intraclass correlation, more clusters at that level). The current results suggest that if a meaningful fourth level of nesting exists, future researchers should account for it using …

There are a considerable number of Saudi Arabian students who attend U.S. schools. To date, no published studies exist that relate to the Saudi Arabian students, their families, and how they acculturate to the American society. Acculturation affects parents and children in different ways, and it can affect the way parents raise their children. Using semi–structured interviews, this study examined Saudi mothers' perspectives on acculturation to American society and how those perspectives affect their childrearing beliefs and their children's behaviors. The descriptive qualitative study acknowledges mothers' perceptions about adaptation of Saudi children to American society and if those parents observe behavioral changes in their children. The results showed there are some changes that occurred regarding parental beliefs of parents due to acculturation, but there were not any behavioral problems caused by acculturation to the American culture in the Saudi children.

Throughout the scientific literature, researchers have referred to self-respect and self-esteem as being the same construct. However, the present study advocated that they exist as two distinct constructs. In this quantitative study, an instrument was developed to measure self-respect as a construct, and subsequently distinguish that self-respect is distinct from the construct of self-esteem. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) indicated 32.60% of the variance was accounted for by the 11-item Jefferson Self-Respect instrument (JSR), which measured self-respect as a unidimensional construct. The reliability estimate of the scores from the JSR reached an acceptable α = .82. Fit indices (RMSEA = .031, SRMR = .037, CFI = .982, and TLI = .977) from the confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) signified a well-fitted hypothesized model of self-respect that existed as a unidimensional construct. Additionally, the CFA revealed that the construct of self-respect, and self-esteem was generally distinct, and the strength of the correlation between the two constructs was moderately positive (r = .62).