Autistic people experience a higher prevalence of self-harming behaviours than do the general population. Self-harm remains a stigmatised topic, and until recently, self-harming behaviours in autism were considered to be limited to self-injurious behaviours experienced by intellectually impaired autistic children and not to be experienced by…

This qualitative meta-synthesis studied what makes first-generation college students stronger for success in the United States. The study adopted Tinto (1975) as the theoretical framework in the synthesis of research findings from seventeen peer-reviewed empirical qualitative studies. The research is centered around three research questions: (1)…

International student mobility has been increasingly driven by economic rationales. However, the mere presence of international students in US higher education is inadequate to realize the non-economic values of internationalization, such as enhancing intercultural understanding. This dissertation, grounded in a humanistic perspective, examined…

Background: Schools are responsible for promoting LGBTQ+ students' academic success, yet many LGBTQ+ students contend with unsupportive learning environments. Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs)--clubs that affirm students' sexual orientation and gender diversity--could promote academic engagement and protect against disaffection. Aims: We aimed to…

Female doctoral students often experience several challenges in the program while balancing their personal and family roles. This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of international student mothers (N = 6) while pursuing full-time doctoral degrees, providing insights into how they navigate a research university. The study has one…

Given the social and emotional tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic on college and university students, many students have become academically disengaged during the pandemic. Although some colleges and universities have the capacity to promote social support for their students, research has yet to comprehensively demonstrate the relationship between…

Although robots' social behaviors are known for their capacity to facilitate learner-robot interaction for language learning, their application and effect have not been adequately explored. This study reviewed 59 empirical articles to examine the contexts and application of various social behaviors of robots for language learning, and conducted a…

In the globalized higher education landscape, international students are integral to the academic community. International students often face unique challenges, including language and cultural barriers, adjusting to American classroom expectations, and feelings of isolation. This qualitative study explores impostor feelings among nontraditional…

The Supports Intensity Scale--Children's Version (SIS-C) was translated into Italian using a committee approach to translation. Latent modeling approaches enabled the leveraging of the large standardization sample from the U.S. (n = 4,015) to generate translation-specific norms from data collected in Italy (n = 435) for children and youth ranging…

The purpose of this study was to explore how female Somali students of refugee backgrounds describe the lived experience and the perceived influence of academic and social supports in their successful transition through college. Schlossberg's transition theory provided the theoretical framework. A snowball sampling method yielded 12 female…

Executive function (EF) is critical to students' academic behaviors and well-being. Environmental influences, particularly teacher-student interaction (TSI), play a key role in enhancing EF development. Previous studies have linked TSI quality to children's EF, yet the relationships between subdimensions of TSI--such as closeness, conflict,…

This chapter explores how a refugee support organization in the Midwestern United States supports the educational experiences of refugee-background learners from various countries in Africa and Asia. Researchers spent over a year as both observers and volunteers in a refugee support organization that directly interacted with students who were…

This study examines the wellness experiences of Arab women international graduate students in the U.S., emphasizing social, mental, physical, and financial dimensions. Based on interviews with seven participants at a Midwestern institution, the research highlights challenges such as mental health, financial stress, social stress, and difficulties…

This review provides a synthesis of research from the past decade on beginning principals and the professional supports they access to cope with role-related demands. The synthesis is based on empirical research studies conducted from the perspectives of beginning principals and contributes to the knowledge base on principal wellbeing and…

This online ethnographic study illuminates how Korean immigrant mothers of children with disabilities use their capitals to communicate, build community, and share resources in an online space. Employing the construct of community cultural wealth (CCW), we analyzed posts and comments by the mothers in an online forum on a transnational website.…