Browsing by Subject "Beliefs"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Considering social cognitive processes in trajectories of adolescent self-esteem development : lay theories of self-diagnostic salience
(2019-12-09) O'Brien, Joseph Michael; Yeager, David S.; Brummelman, Eddie; Echols, Catharine H.; Woolley, Jacqueline D.
Adolescents experience varying trajectories of self-esteem development. While self-esteem grows rapidly and stabilizes for most adolescents, around 1 in 5 show continued self-esteem lability and decline—a pattern that predicts enduring problems with mental health and life-course success. Unfortunately, theories to explain or predict these diverging self-esteem trajectories are lacking. This dissertation proposes and tests a novel theoretical framework of self-esteem development. Differing trajectories may be in part explained by variation in adolescents’ lay theories of self-diagnostic salience, defined as a belief that experiencing more salient thoughts and feelings—those that are more intense, frequent, spontaneous, or persistent—serve as evidence that experiences contain self-diagnostic information about “who they really are.” Normative biological changes from puberty provide highly salient experiences in abundance, and negative experiences tend overall to be more salient than positive ones. Thus, adolescents who more strongly endorse a self-diagnostic theory of salience may tend to attribute greater personal importance to negative experiences, leading to increased self-esteem contingency on those experiences. Over time, this pattern of response may tend to undermine healthy self-esteem development compared to those adolescents holding more non-diagnostic theories. To test this proposed account, Chapter 2 describes the construction and initial validation of a novel measure of the lay theory of self-diagnostic salience, also demonstrating wide variation in endorsement among adolescents. Chapter 3 demonstrates that, when faced with particularly intense and therefore salient negative daily events, adolescents with strongly self-diagnostic theories also appraise those events as having increased levels of personal importance and likely stability. Chapter 4 uses a moderated random-intercept cross-lag design to show that theory endorsement predicts both lasting harm to state self-esteem and greater emotional inertia on days following more intense experiences of sadness. Finally, Chapter 5 incorporates 9-month follow-up data to show that theory endorsement at the start of 9th grade predicts more negative self-esteem change at 9th grade’s end, as well as increases in depression symptoms indirectly through self-esteem decline. Chapter 6 reviews the findings in support of this novel account of self-esteem development, describes potential future work, and considers broader implications.
Examining hookah use among U.S. college students
(2014-08) Chen, Yen Tzu; Loukas, Alexandra; Pasch, Keryn
Hookah smoking has become a popular form of tobacco use among college students. However, there is limited research exploring the risk factors associated with hookah use among this population. This study examined two risk factors, harm perceptions and beliefs about government evaluation of hookah, associated with current use of hookah among 18-24 year old college students, and looked at differences between current hookah users and non-users on cigarette smoking status, various demographic characteristics, and the two risk factors (harm perceptions and beliefs). Participants were 5,028 university students aged 18-24 (M age = 20.5 years; 59.6% female) from seven public universities within a larger university system. Students completed an online survey, which assessed their knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors related to hookah use. In this sample, 10.8% of participants reported current or past 30-day hookah use. There were differences between current hookah users and non-users on cigarette smoking status, gender, race/ethnicity, harm perceptions, as well as beliefs about government evaluation of hookah. Cigarette smokers, males, non-Hispanic White students, students reporting lower harm perceptions regarding hookah use, and those who believed the government evaluates hookah for safety were significantly more likely than their peers to be current hookah users. Results from a logistic regression analysis indicated that after controlling for cigarette smoking status, gender, and race/ethnicity, harm perceptions of hookah use, but not beliefs about government safety evaluation of hookah, was associated with an increased likelihood of current hookah use. Cigarette smoking was the strongest correlate of current hookah use; current cigarette smokers were seven times more likely than non-smokers to have used hookah in the past 30 days. Findings point to the necessity of educating college students, particularly cigarette smokers, about the dangers of hookah use. Additionally, tobacco prevention and cessation programs should be implemented in order to reduce initiation and continued use, and it is important to educate college student smokers about the dangers of dual use of this product with cigarettes.
How classroom learning experiences of young Latinx children from immigrant families shape their beliefs about learning
(2019-02-14) McManus, Molly Ellen; Suizzo, Marie-Anne; Adair, Jennifer Keys; Awad, Germine H.; Ainslie, Ricardo C.
This study uses Rogoff (2003) and Moje & Lewis’ (2007) interpretations and application of Sociocultural Learning Theory to consider the relationship between the classroom learning experiences offered to young Latinx children from immigrant families and their beliefs about learning. Using qualitative methods informed by multivocal video-cued ethnography (Tobin, Wu & Davidson, 1989) and grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), I conducted and analyzed three ethnographic classroom observations of children’s learning experiences and video-cued interviews with thirty first grade students and their teachers about their beliefs about learning. Findings characterize children’s beliefs about learning across six domains including processes of learning, environmental factors that influence learning, social aspects of learning, enjoyment and learning, the importance of learning, and behavior and learning, and consider the similarities and differences in learning beliefs across three classrooms that offer three different types of learning experiences. Finally, the relationship between Latinx children’s beliefs about learning and classroom learning experiences is discussed with a focus family and cultural influence, ideas of classroom management and control, and the role of schools.
Physical education teacher education (PETE) pre-service teachers' attitudes, values, and beliefs surrounding teaching physical education
(2013-12) Wallace, Janice Lynne; Castelli, Darla M., 1967-; Harrison, Louis; Lambdin, Dolly; Keating, Xiaofen; Franquiz, Maria
Teachers’ beliefs influence their perceptions and judgments about teaching and learning. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) often enter teacher preparation programs with preconceptions or beliefs that often affect their receptivity to teacher education. While there is widespread acceptance as to the importance of examining teacher belief structures, relatively few current studies have focused on the value orientations and self-efficacy beliefs of pre-service physical education teacher education (PETE) students. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine PSTs’ beliefs regarding teaching physical education on entry into to a PETE program and throughout various phases of the pedagogical sequence. Methods: The current study employed mixed-methodologies in an attempt to capture information from three different cohorts of PSTs at multiple time points within their PETE program. Data were collected during the semester using a demographic survey, the Value Orientation Inventory-2, the Physical Education Teaching Efficacy Scale (PETES), and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed inductively by data source and deductively when comparing all data sources. Profiles were created for each class cohort in an attempt to identify the value orientations, level of self-efficacy, change in value orientations and attitudes over a semester, and the change in self-efficacy over a semester. Results: Descriptive analysis of the VOI-2 survey showed cohort one and two were unsure of their value orientations while cohort three PSTs who were enrolled in the student teaching practicum exhibited a high priority for the Discipline Mastery value orientation. Repeated measures ANOVA of the PETES scale revealed significant differences over time for all cohorts but not between cohorts. Qualitative results revealed all three cohorts exhibited defined attitudes and perceptions of physical education and gained efficacy in teaching over the course of the semester. Discussion: This case study of PETE within a single program suggested that there are specific attractors and repellers for those who elect to major in physical education and these ideas affect their beliefs. Accordingly, targeted recruitment strategies should be employed to entice the most qualified individuals into this profession. Findings suggested that PSTs perceived secondary physical education as non-academic and therefore teacher educators need to question their effectiveness of altering PSTs’ apprenticeship of observation and associated subjective warrants, despite evidence of some evolution. Teacher educators also need to address the tensions between focusing on sport-oriented content or health-oriented content, as the teacher and coaching role conflict continues to plague future teachers.
Teachers, students, STEM beliefs and outcomes
(2018-05) Buontempo, Jenny; Riegle-Crumb, Catherine; Marshall, Jill; Petrosino, Anthony; Yeager, David
Theory suggests that beliefs are a critical component of student success in the STEM fields. This dissertation presents three analytic chapters that explore student and teacher beliefs and seeks to understand why some students are more successful in the STEM fields while others are not. First, this dissertation examines the relationship between student beliefs pertaining to math, including confidence, mindset, and anxiety with a large national sample of ninth grade students. Results show mindset can be broken up into two distinct factors, a more general belief referring to students’ mindset about their intelligence in general, and a more domain specific belief, math mindset, which is the students’ belief about their math intelligence as malleable or innate. Additionally, both general and math mindset are distinctly different than math confidence and math anxiety. Moreover, these findings contribute to our understanding of the relationship regarding gender and these beliefs, as girls endorse more fixed math mindset, have less math confidence, and more math anxiety than boys, with the biggest gender gap occurring in math anxiety, which has potential implications for women’s underrepresentation in STEM fields. Secondly, this dissertation examines teacher beliefs with a large nationally representative group of high school math teachers, as well as the relationship of these beliefs to their pedagogical practices. On average high school math teachers tend to agree slightly with deficit views and male teachers and teachers who have taught less than 16 years have stronger deficit views of students. Further, teachers who have stronger deficit beliefs are more likely to use reform practices in their classroom, which may have implications for students’ learning and ultimately their decision to enter into STEM. The last analytic chapter examines the relationship between math teachers’ beliefs and students’ academic outcomes in math. This chapter finds that net of control variables, being taught by a teacher with a higher level of endorsement of deficit beliefs is related to a decrease in students’ 9th grade math GPA. This effect applies equally to all students; surprisingly, teacher deficit views are not more harmful for students coming from underserved backgrounds