Browsing by Subject "Autonomy (Psychology)"
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Item Career maturity and familial independence among college freshmen(Texas Tech University, 1987-08) Thomason, Sharon LOne life stage which merits a great deal of attention from both family and individual theorists is that of late adolescence, when the adolescent begins to leave the home. Family theorists have written extensively about the familial developmental stage in which adolescents begin to leave the home and the effects of poor adjustment to this normal developmental event. Career theorists have also addressed the late adolescent's developmental process. Career development has been addressed as one aspect of general personality development and has empirically been found to be positively related to measures of psychosocial stages of general development and measures of adjustment. Although both independence from the family and career maturity have been described as aspects of general development and both have been related to adjustment, the research has not explored a relationship between them. Therefore, the purpose of the present investigation is to explore the relationship of family development and career development. Based upon the reviewed literature, it was hypothesized that greater career maturity is related to (i.e., significantly and positively correlated with) greater independence from the family of the late adolescent. The Career Development Inventory (CDI) was used to measure career maturity and the Psychological Separation Inventory (PSI) was used to measure independence from parents. The results of t tests indicated that there were gender differences in that females scored higher than males on the CDI subscale "Career Orientation Total," and males scored higher than females on the PSI subscales "Emotional Independence" and "Mother Emotional Independence." Data were, therefore, analyzed separately by gender. The results of multiple regression analyses did not support the hypothesis that independence from parents is positively and significantly correlated with career maturity. For the samples of men and women reported here, neither "Career Development Attitudes" nor "Career Orientation Total" scores are predicted by scores on subtests of the Psychological Separation Inventory. Results are discussed in relation to previous research, theoretical applications, and measurement considerations.Item An interaction of teacher and school variables: assessing influences on secondary teacher motivation, retention, school participation, and professional development(2005) Vaughan, Angela Lynn; Svinicki, Marilla D., 1946-Item The ruler and the ruled : complicating a theory of teaching autonomy(2007-12) Lepine, Sherry Ann, 1961-; Reifel, Robert StuartThis study was designed to compare teachers' perceptions of teaching autonomy at two economically diverse elementary school campuses to determine factors that influence teachers' perceptions of their ability and authority to make important decisions regarding their classrooms and students. Using a quantitative measure developed by Pearson & Hall (1993), the Teaching Autonomy Scale (TAS), fifty teachers, twenty-five from each campus, rated their teaching autonomy. The TAS served as a sorting and selecting tool to place teachers in two cohorts: low and high teaching autonomy. From these cohorts, ten teachers were selected to participate in an interview and discussed factors that influence their individual authority in making important classroom decisions. Teachers also discussed actions of resistance and conformity to mandates, reform initiatives and policies, which influence their ability to exercise teaching autonomy. Previous research has defined teaching autonomy as a measurable and quantifiable construct (Pearson & Hall; Pearson & Moomaw, 2005), as well as a professionally conferred characteristic awarded the teaching professional upon completion of the degree and meeting the licensing requirements for public school educator. Findings of this study point to teaching autonomy as a state of being that is best understood through a theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1966; Mead, 1934) and role-identity theory (McCall & Simons, 1966). The findings indicated a need for a different conceptualization of teaching autonomy. An original grounded theory is proposed that describes teaching autonomy as a series of identities, which are by nature transitory and shifting, rather than as a fixed score on a set of indicators. Further complicating this theory are the varying governance structures in schools that contribute to teachers taking both active and passive roles when exercising authority over the decisions important to the classroom. Schools that operate democratically, as learning organizations, cultivate teaching autonomy and value the professional input of teachers concerning decisions that impact the classroom and student achievement. Schools that operate bureaucratically do not necessarily value a teacher's input into decision-making. Additionally, teachers in the study acted autocratically regarding their teaching autonomy and made decisions in isolation, even in a tightly coupled policy environment. Governance structures influenced the teachers' selection of two roles, ruler or ruled and eight identities were described by teachers in the study they used when exerting or deferring individual authority over the top-down decisions imposed by external authorities. The role identity theory presented by the author offers a better explanation of how teachers enacted and described the phenomenon of teaching autonomy at their campuses than does previous research. Implications for future research, for school leaders and for policy are based on the conclusion that teaching autonomy is state of being that must be understood from an interactionist perspective alongside the characteristics of the teachers' workplace.Item Self-determination and postsecondary transition planning for culturally and linguistically diverse students with learning disabilities(2003) Trainor, Audrey Ann; Ortiz, Alba A.