Relationship maintenance, democratic decision making, and decision agreement

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2012Relationship maintenance uses different strategies to maintain a relationship at the desired level of intimacy. Democratic decision making is a practice through which each individual has equal rights in the decision-making process. The present study investigated connections among two areas of research. In particular, this study examined the correlations among relationship maintenance behaviors, democratic decision making, and decision agreement. Both hypotheses in the study were supported, which suggests relationship maintenance promotes democratic decision making, which in turn promotes decision agreement

A survey of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas: 1870-1900

The late nineteenth century was a time of great political, economic, and social change in the state of Arkansas. The population of Little Rock, the state capital, nearly tripled in the last thirty years of the century. As more people settled in Little Rock, the demand for entertainment grew. Poor transportation was an initial obstacle; but as railroads gradually linked Little Rock to larger cities, traveling professional theatrical troupes began to include Little Rock on their itineraries. The purpose of this project is to document the history of professional operatic entertainment in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1870—when the first professional opera troupe visited the city—until the end of the century. The first chapter is a brief historical sketch of the state of Arkansas, the city of Little Rock, and the early professional theatrical performances in Little Rock. Chapters two through four present a chronology of Little Rock’s operatic stage from February 1870 through December 1899. These chapters record the performers that visited the city, the operas they presented, and the reception that was tendered them by Little Rock theatre-goers

Family-School Relationships: Three Papers Addressing Limitations in Parent Involvement Theory and Research

Parent involvement in education is believed by many to be an important determinant of academic achievement. Although the literature on the topic has grown a great deal over the past several decades, it continues to suffer from several limitations. First, the research tends to focus on educator expectations for parent involvement, rather than parent perspectives on their own involvement. A related issue is the fact that much parent involvement research treats parent involvement as discrete activities for which parents are wholly responsible, while ignoring the influence of school variables, particularly family-school relationships. Second, the majority of parent involvement research uses elementary school samples, so that much less is known about parent involvement in education during adolescence. This dissertation addresses these limitations with a series of three papers. The first paper is a review of parent involvement literature. In particular, the review calls attention to the small body of research that addresses parent perspectives on involvement and provides recommendations for integrating findings from this literature into future research. The second paper describes a qualitative study of a sample of African American and Hispanic parents, which found that parents of color had specific goals when engaging in parent involvement and that family-school relationships suffered when schools were not responsive to these goals. The studies also illustrate how social exchange theory might be applied to address these questions. The final study used hierarchical linear modeling to explore home-based parent involvement among a sample of students at 11 middle schools students. Among the types of parent involvement studied, only parents' academic expectations had significant and positive effects on student school engagement. A supportive school climate was also significantly positively related to student school engagement. The two variables (academic expectations and school climate) had roughly equal effect sizes. Taken together, the studies demonstrate the importance of considering parent perspectives and family-school relationships in parent involvement research and interventions. The papers also call attention to the limited information about what forms of parent involvement are relevant for middle school samples.Doctor of Philosoph

Parental Involvement\u27s Effects on Academic Performance: Evidence From the YouthSave Ghana Experiment

Research in developed countries suggests that parental involvement is associated with youth academic success, but little is known about this relationship in developing countries. Further, it is unclear which type of parental involvement may impact the academic performance of youth from developing countries. This study examines whether (a) parental involvement at home and in school are meaningfully different constructs in a population of Ghanaian youth and their parents and (b) parental involvement predicts academic performance. Results suggest that parental involvement is a bidimensional construct consists of home and school involvement. The effect of parental involvement on youth academic performance appears to be a function of the type of involvement. Home-based parental involvement is associated positively with academic performance, while school-based parental involvement has a negative association. Parents can model positive attitudes and behaviors toward school and convey the importance of school

Rural Vocational and Transition Assessment Practices for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: What Do Educators Really Know?

Transition planning requires quality vocational and transition assessment tailored to the student\u27s needs, strengths, preferences and interests. Limited research is currently available that addresses assessment types and use of results that rural practitioners utilize to aid in transition planning for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). A group of 71 rural educators were surveyed to determine their transition assessment understanding and practices in the rural setting. This descriptive study examined rural educators’ understanding of vocational and transition assessment methods used in their rural settings, the transition assessment instruments they use with students with ID, and the impact that transition assessment has in determining the needs of students with ID. The results indicate the majority of the rural educators in the study reported limited understanding in the use of assessment results for student vocational and transition planning and expressed the need for training in this area to improve outcomes for students with ID

Saving Behavior in Response to Motivational Prompts: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experiment

Saving Behavior in Response to Motivational Prompts: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experimen

Account Use and Demand for Tax-Refund Savings Vehicles: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experiment

Account Use and Demand for Tax-Refund Savings Vehicles: Evidence From the Refund to Savings Experimen

The Roth Project - Music and Memory: A Community Agency Initiated Individualized Music Intervention for People with Dementia

Introduction “The Roth Project - Music and Memory” is a music based intervention program, implemented by the Alzheimer’s Association of Central and Western Kansas, which provides a nonpharmacologicalmeans for addressing neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals with dementia. Methods Participants were individuals with dementia who were enrolled in The Roth Project - Music and Memory. Post-intervention surveys were distributed to caregivers of participants which assessed caregiver satisfaction with the program as well as caregiver perception of the impact of individualized music on mood and behavioralsymptoms. Results Of returned surveys (n = 79), 99% of caregivers indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with the program and 94% of caregivers perceived participants to like or very much like listening to the music. While a substantial number of participants required assistance with iPod use (95%), the majority of participants were observed to listen to the music with stable or increased frequency over time. Personalized music was observed to improve mood in 78% of cases, with the most frequent benefits being improved overall happiness, decreased anxiety, increased positive emotional expression, and decreased depression. Conclusions The Roth Project - Music and Memory was well received by caregivers and was perceived to benefit mood of individuals with dementia. These results provided ongoing support for individualized music-based interventions and demonstrated that such interventions, when implemented by community agencies, can be well received by those who use them