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TINKERING WITH EMERGING ADULTHOOD: BONDING FACULTY BEHAVIORS CULTIVATING LIFE PROJECTS FOR AT-RISK EMERGING ADULT STUDENTS

Heddleson, Lucia
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1919-0743
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1559751731605712

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
Identity development is a key part of flourishing, but how an at-risk emerging adult student shapes a life project meant for a flourishing life has been understudied. There is a notable gap in current literature examining the effects of capital negotiation (social capital and identity capital) on life project design, and informal educator behaviors on emerging adult student employability and identity capital, which we argue are critical, missing elements of a flourishing life project. Previous research on informal student-faculty interactions has addressed academic/educational outcomes of those interactions, leaving void the potential identity capital development and negotiation also resulting from those same interactions. In the same vein, much research has addressed counseling life designing, some even for vulnerable youth, but little attention has been devoted to informal edu-mentor behaviors regarding the planning of a life project for at-risk emerging adult students across educational settings. This work borrows from othering and literature on under-resourced students to begin to define at-risk, but we concentrate its definition by specifying Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). This dissertation’s intensive interviews and structural equation modeling investigated behaviors of faculty that foster bonding with students, the consequences of which resulted in student identity capital development. The research offered herein developed from a three-part exploratory sequential mixed methods project addressing how an at-risk emerging adult student negotiates capital in shaping a life project across educational settings. The initial phase leveraged a grounded theory approach to examine the student-teacher relationship from the secondary school teacher’s perspective. I investigated the particular behaviors, social and emotional intelligence competencies, and practices that made a teacher good at the facilitation of a relationship with othered students, specifically in relation to a student’s core identity formation. The results revealed a clear ranking of behaviors that distinguished experiences from outstanding, principal-nominated teachers with other teachers, the strongest distinguishing behaviors being: 1) Taking an initiative in helping; 2) Varying pedagogy; 3) Feeling and displaying empathy; 4) Caring; 5) Providing student comfort; 6) Showing vulnerability and humanness; 7) Learning about a student’s Adverse Childhood Experience(s). Based on the findings from Phase I, a new “Bonding Faculty Behaviors” construct was created to investigate its effects on an at-risk emerging adult student’s commitment to learning within an educational transition phase, the community college. Findings showed that Bonding Faculty Behaviors (empathy, caring, and humanness) predict student commitment to learning. These same faculty behaviors significantly predict a student’s identity capital and a student’s perception of the student-faculty relational climate. Additionally, student identity capital does significantly and directly influence a student’s commitment to learning, also noting the significant finding of identity capital’s mediating effect between bonding faculty behaviors and a student’s commitment to learning. The third phase of this work determined that a student’s private and public values and goals and frequent bonding interactions with faculty result in an overall positive college experience and identity capital development. Phase III further established the relationship between the frequency of student-faculty bonding interactions and identity capital, allowing for the generation of awareness concerning the social integration dimension of identity capital. A set of “Tools for Teachership” and a “Schema of Studentship” are presented to assist educational leaders, edu-mentors, and at-risk emerging adult students prepare for flourishing life projects vis-a-vis identity capital development. Bonding Edu-Mentor Behaviors within informal contexts is important to an at-risk emerging adult student’s identity capital development, but also for the negotiation of student capital, in general. These findings extend concepts in identity capital, bonding social capital, network theory, and scholarship on student-teacher relationships.
Paul Salipante (Committee Chair)
Diana Bilimoria (Committee Member)
James Gaskin (Committee Member)
Kalle Lyytinen (Committee Member)
253 p.
Adult Education; Community Colleges; Continuing Education; Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Management; Organizational Behavior; School Administration; Secondary Education; Social Psychology; Social Research; Systems Design; Teacher Education; Teaching
at-risk students; bonding behaviors; community college; emerging adulthood; employability; faculty; flourishing; identity capital; informal relationships; life project; mentoring; secondary schools; student-teacher relationship; studentship; teachership

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Heddleson, L. (2019). TINKERING WITH EMERGING ADULTHOOD: BONDING FACULTY BEHAVIORS CULTIVATING LIFE PROJECTS FOR AT-RISK EMERGING ADULT STUDENTS [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1559751731605712

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Heddleson, Lucia. TINKERING WITH EMERGING ADULTHOOD: BONDING FACULTY BEHAVIORS CULTIVATING LIFE PROJECTS FOR AT-RISK EMERGING ADULT STUDENTS. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1559751731605712.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Heddleson, Lucia. "TINKERING WITH EMERGING ADULTHOOD: BONDING FACULTY BEHAVIORS CULTIVATING LIFE PROJECTS FOR AT-RISK EMERGING ADULT STUDENTS." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=casedm1559751731605712

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.