The author uses a dialogical autoethnographic approach informed by symbolic interactionist theory to examine the role of toys, play, and parenting decisions on his childhood development and adult opportunities and interests. He examines how self, others, social contexts, and objects, particularly toys and adult analogues for those toys, came…

Obsessive-compulsive disorder commonly co-occurs with autism. Research characterising the interplay between restricted, repetitive behaviours, activities and interests related to autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms has used theory-driven, bottom-up methodology. This study aimed to interview autistic adults about the subjective…

Research consistently demonstrates that the quality of student-staff interactions matters for positive student outcomes. Some research studies also suggest that identity similarities (homophily) often contribute to meaningful human connections. Yet, the influence of student and staff identities on teaching and learning in higher education is less…

This study was undertaken to investigate the use and motivations behind teachers' engagement in social networks, while exploring their self-presentations and attitudes within these digital communities. The aim was to shed light on the relationship between real-life and digital communities by focusing on teachers as a specific demographic group. To…

This study was designed to test how well a commercial intervention with a highly feminized role model (Barbie) worked to improve pre-adolescent girls' interest and performance in computer science. Concurrently, this study examined how overtly feminist texts and images of real women would impact girls compared to the traditional highly feminized…

The extent to which students identify with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (i.e. STEM identity) is crucial in influencing them to pursue STEM-related careers after compulsory education. Given the predictive power of this construct, this study explores Thai students' STEM identities by focussing on three components (i.e. interest,…

In a social cognitive framework, teacher feedback is a relational influence that is particularly significant in shaping learners' vocational self-concept during childhood--a critical stage for career development. This study examines the relationships among perceived teacher feedback, children's competence perceptions, interests, and achievement in…

As the largest youth development organization in the United States, 4-H may be uniquely positioned to meet the needs of rural LGBTQ youth. 4-H has undergone a significant shift towards increasing access, equity, and belonging for youth over the last ten years. However, there is a specific need for research that considers the unique experiences of…

This sequential mixed methods study applies a recently published model of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher identity to analyze teacher artifacts from a graduate STEM education course for in-service teachers (n = 23). This model captures the complexity of integrating STEM in elementary classrooms as an…

For some time now, the arts education community has designed for broader outcomes for youth. These programs intentionally foster not only youth achievements within the arts or academics, but also youth and community thriving--through outcomes such as youth civic engagement, occupational identities, and wellness. In this report, the authors seek to…

Current studies in innovation are often siloed to specific disciplines, precluding a generalizable understanding useful to understanding the factors that promote and hinder individual motivation to innovate. This study integrates analysis of 30 interviews and 500 surveys of Canadian innovators from a variety of disciplines as a means of…

This study examined self-descriptions of high-performing students and other students and compared the descriptions of these two groups. The concept map, with the open-ended question "Who am I?," was completed by 133 high-performing students and 160 other students. The self-descriptions of these students were subdivided into eleven…

Recent scholarship suggests that sense of calling may strongly correlate with a host of positive life outcomes. It follows that further investigation into the construct of calling may have promising applications for student affairs professionals, whose work is oriented toward helping students achieve such outcomes. To that end, this study drew…

Students' sense of belonging is known to be strongly associated with academic achievement and a successful life at university. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of belonging, this study collected data via the 10 Words Question. Responses from 426 participants were analysed using a sequence of analytic methods including In Vivo coding,…

It is believed that parental behaviours play a critical role in the development of self-concept. Recent research studies have shown that parents' romantic attachments affect both their parental behaviours and their children's behaviours. The purpose of this research is to examine predictive levels of parents' level of dimensions of attachment…