In the nascent field of human-nature relational values, there is a growing body of literature suggesting their transformative potential in sustainability education. The ability to analytically distinguish relational values from other valuations can both inform pedagogical approaches and help to identify how people understand and value their…

Throughout the history of higher education in the United States, parents and family members of college students have often found themselves as obsolete to the postsecondary experience. Minimal research has been dedicated to understanding the experience of parents and family members of college students until the millennial generation began their…

This study investigated the reliability and validity of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS; Hopko, Bare, & Hunt, 2003) and the Math Anxiety Scale -- Revised (MAS-R; Bai, 2009) across race and gender as well as the extent to which race and gender predict learning math anxiety and math evaluation anxiety at both the secondary level, which…

Experienced discrimination based on identity and appearance (or discrimination experience) is critical to assess among the college student population given its relationship to six key components of the college student experience. Investigating this variable requires the use of a psychometrically sound scale that demonstrates adequate validity and…

The Resident Assistant (RA) position is the foundational role in the student affairs staffing structure. RA job description has expanded exponentially since the earliest iterations (Boone et al., 2016). The selection of RAs presents unique challenges because it is costly, requires a lot of staff, typically draws a large candidate pool, and…

This study aims to explore the validity of measuring joint attention through gaze coordination in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) research. Gaze coordination, aligning visual attention in social contexts, aids comprehension and communication. Many CSCL researchers use gaze coordination to gauge joint attention quantitatively.…

The purpose of this study was to develop a multidimensional College Mental Health Assessment Inventory (CMHAI) specifically for the college student population. In the first phase, a conceptual and theoretical review of general existing scales was performed, followed by conducting exploratory semi-structured interviews with twelve participants.…

Evidence suggests that differentiation of self, a construct from Bowen's family system's theory, is predictive of college students' vocational identity and career indecision (Johnson, Schamuhn, Nelson, & Buboltz, 2014). However, the specific mechanisms within the relationships among differentiation of self and vocational identity as well as…

Asian American college student success has traditionally been framed from a perspective of successful academic performance and degree completion that perpetuates the model minority stereotype and overlooks the actual challenges they may experience in college. Many bicultural Asian American students manage the individual and family acculturation…

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for higher education administrators to assess their social media practices during the admissions cycle. The instrument collects data from students on their perceptions about the quality of the institution's social media activities. A review of relevant literature was completed, and experts…

In this study, I investigated the effectiveness of a creativity-support system that I developed in the level editor of a learning game called "Physics Playground" on improving college students' creativity. Moreover, I investigated the validity and reliability of an in-game assessment of creativity to measure students' creativity.…

Given recent calls for advancing valid instrumentation in the field of cyberaggression, the present study evaluated construct validity and measurement invariance for the Cyberbullying Experiences Survey (CES) in a high school and college student sample. A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), reliability analyses, and a nomological net…

This dissertation includes two independent research projects, one in astronomy education research and the other in planetary science/astrophysics research. In the first research effort, we investigate college students' conceptual and reasoning difficulties on the topic of planet formation pre-instruction. Through an analysis of over 1,000…

This dissertation bridges the literatures on race, migration, and health to highlight the acculturation experiences and related health implications among Chinese immigrants, particularly sojourning Chinese international students in the US. Due to their temporary stay in the recipient society, Chinese students usually demonstrate a sojourning…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) offer substantial benefits to middle school, high school, and post-secondary students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, with no valid and reliable measure to capture the ways in which the peers without disabilities are impacted, far less is known about the outcomes for these…