Brock University Digital Repository
Brock University's Digital Repository is an online archive showcasing and preserving the Brock community's scholarly output as well as items from the Library's Archives & Special Collections. Researchers can disseminate their work by depositing it in this Open Access repository, which provides free, immediate access to users while also allowing Brock scholars to track downloads and views of their scholarship. The Digital Repository is also the home of the Brock University E-Thesis Portal.
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Exploring the relationship between academic administrators and teaching-related professional development activities and policies for new teaching faculty
(Brock University) Soluk, Lauren; Owen, Michael; Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education
Teaching is a central focus for most Canadian postsecondary institutions. This study is focused on teaching-related professional development practices for new postsecondary faculty in Ontario colleges and universities. Using Bourdieu’s field theory, intersections of space, power, and people are discussed in relation to professional development practices and activities. Field theory is used to analyze the social relations within the field of postsecondary education as it recognizes that certain individuals, such as administrators, are afforded the ability to influence change (i.e., power) based on their positionality within the field. This study examines the role of senior postsecondary academic administrators (vice-presidents academic and provosts, centre for teaching and learning senior leaders) and their perceived influence on teaching-related professional development activities and policies for new teaching faculty. Using a mixed-methods approach, quantitative data were collected from 23 college (n = 10) and university academic administrators (n = 13), followed by individual semi-structured interviews with eight of the questionnaire respondents (college administrators n = 4 and university administrators n = 4). Findings indicate that current postsecondary teaching-related policies and practices are limited and while there is appetite to require upskilling, it is difficult to impose. Administrators speak to the value of teaching and learning within the postsecondary sector, their institutions, and the role of policy in advancing teaching practices. Recommendations are identified for the field of postsecondary education as well as at the institutional level. Recommendations relate to practices and policies and include normalizing faculty as teachers, teaching-related upskilling requirements, and the implementation of required professional development upskilling policy.
How Justice System Contact, Race, and Gender Intersect: Examining Their Short- and Long-Term Associations with Mental Health, Educational, and Occupational Outcomes
(Brock University) Xia, Xiaoyang; Shulman, Elizabeth; Department of Psychology
This study utilizes intersectionality, life-course perspective, and cumulative disadvantage theory to examine the association between criminal justice system contact (JSC) on short- and long-term mental health, educational, and occupational outcomes, exploring how these associations vary by race (Black, Hispanic, White) and gender (Women, Men).
Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 were analyzed using multilevel modeling techniques, controlling for socio-economic status, family background, and youth issues. Short-term associations were examined through lagged regression models, predicting outcomes one year later based on the status of JSC and race in a given year. Long-term associations were explored via growth curve models, tracing age-related trajectories of outcomes from early adulthood and analyzing differences by justice system involvement during adolescence, race, and gender.
The findings reveal long-term disparities, particularly for Black males and females who experienced correctional interventions during adolescence, who faced significant disadvantages in young adulthood. These individuals exhibited markedly slower progress in educational and salary outcomes compared to White males without JSC, who showed faster salary growth and higher educational achievements. Surprisingly, justice system involvement during adolescence did not consistently predict changes in mental health, education, or occupational outcomes a year later. Caution is advised against prematurely concluding that justice system involvement has no short-term impact.
The discussion section includes both model-based analyses and contextualization of findings in relation to broader systemic forces. The former addresses the interpretations, implications, and limitations of the results based on the models. The latter extends the discussion to broader systemic and societal factors—such as classism, racism, ableism, and gender oppression—that intersect to perpetuate the disadvantages faced by justice-involved individuals. These dual approaches provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges encountered by these individuals.
The Heterogeneity of Adolescent Factors: Investigating Individual, Interpersonal, and Contextual Factors
(Brock University) Al-Jbouri, Elizabeth; Volk, Anthony; Department of Child and Youth Studies
Friendship is an essential relationship, and its importance is particularly pronounced in adolescence. While it is known to be an important peer relationship, it is both dynamic and complex, meaning there are many aspects of adolescent friendship that remain to be understood. With my dissertation, I explore the heterogeneity of adolescent friendships utilizing a combination of self- and peer-reported variables at the level of the individual, the interpersonal, and the contextual. In Study 1, I explored the relationship between individual differences and friendship change over time. Specifically, I considered the role of different HEXACO personality traits in relation to reciprocal friendship quantity, formation, maintenance, and dissolution over a one-year period. My findings suggest that while specific personality traits are not associated with friendship formation in my sample, some traits (e.g., Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience) are associated with friendship quantity and friendship maintenance. In Study 2, I investigated the potentially overlapping interpersonal contexts of friendship and aggression, comparing the concurrent outcomes of victimization and perpetration between friends to those found between non-friends. Results indicated that for both victimization and perpetration, the context of friendship alters the concurrent outcomes associated with aggression. In Study 3, I considered broad, contextual factors that may influence adolescent friendship. With a two-part study, I explored the role of a variety of social media platforms on in-person and online friendships. In the first part of the study, I employed social network analysis, with results suggesting that there is considerable, but not complete, overlap between adolescents’ in-person and online friendship networks. With the second part of Study 3, I found evidence for positive direct and indirect associations between use of specific social media platforms, the importance of technology for social connection, and levels of friendship closeness. Altogether, the three studies of my dissertation further our understandings of the heterogenous nature of adolescent friendships at different levels of analysis. These findings suggest that future research should be undertaken with this heterogeneity in mind, to help inform and promote healthy relationships in adolescence.
An Examination of Perfectionism and its Relationships With the Gambler’s Fallacy, Small World Propensity, Sleep Deprivation and the P300 Waveform
(Brock University) Armstrong, Andrew; Murphy, Tim; Department of Psychology
Perfectionism has historically been linked to superior performance, but in reality, it is also often
associated with multiple negative outcomes. Research on how perfectionistic facets relate to
performance monitoring and brain function under sleep deprivation has been limited. Cognitive
biases have been shown to be exacerbated when experiencing a sleep-deprived state. One such
bias is the Gambler’s Fallacy, a cognitive bias where people believe that previous outcomes will
have an effect on future independent events (the odds of an event occurring). Two self- report
measures of perfectionism, self-oriented perfectionism (SOP) and socially prescribed
perfectionism (SPP), were investigated through two electrophysiological measures (P300 and
Small World Propensity) collected from 15 participants (10 females, 5 males, Mage = 22 years,
age range: 18-44 years) during a gambling task in both alert and sleepy conditions. The P300
component is a positive deflection event-related potential component thought to represent an
aspect of performance monitoring, the attention or evaluation allocated to a stimulus. No
significant correlations were observed between either type of perfectionism and the P300
amplitudes in either the alert or sleepy state; however, P300 amplitudes were reduced in the
sleepy condition overall. No other interactions or main effects were observed for P300
amplitudes. If a person were susceptible to the Gambler’s Fallacy, then the P300 amplitude
should increase with each consecutive win or loss because these increasingly unexpected events
should result in increased performance monitoring (attention/evaluation). The measure of
susceptibility to the Gambler’s Fallacy was taken as the magnitude of the residual when the
second consecutive win or loss was regressed from the fourth consecutive win or loss. Multiple
regressions revealed a diminished susceptibility to the Gambler’s Fallacy for those higher in SOP
measures but only in the sleepy condition. The results indicate that those higher in SOP were
associated with lower P300 residual amplitudes, which may indicate reduced susceptibility to the
Gambler's Fallacy when sleep deprived. The Small World Propensity (SWP) model is a measure
of the connectivity of the brain. There were also no significant differences in the SWP model
between alert and sleepy states nor with respect to the two facets of perfectionism. Future
research should consider using alternate paradigms that do not involve gambling to improve the
generalizability of the findings.
The Press, Volume 26, Issue 20, February 28, 1990
(1990-02-28) Shaw, John (Co-Editor); Trus, Rick (Co-Editor); Woodward, Paula (Advertising Manager); Malton, Kelly (Advertising Assistant); Chan, Frewin (Production Manager); Noll, Paul (Photo Editor); Gardner, Catharine (Assistant Photo Editor); Paterson, Paul (Sports Editor); Kelly, Brian (Entertainment Editor); Everts, Tammy (News Editor)
The Press, Volume 26, Issue 20 includes: Newly released federal budget freezes transfer payments of over $3 billion to the provinces meant for post-secondary education; BUSU is taking legal action to cancel a contract with Toll Enterprises Limited, which was signed without consultation and against the Policies and Procedures of the Union by former president Scott Sauder;
Allegations from The Brock Press about Scott Sauder’s abuse of pay advances have been verified by The Committee to Investigate Allegations of Press Complaint.