Date
5-20-2026
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Matthew Ozolnieks
Keywords
military-dependent children, enlisted, officer, enlisted and officer families, ecological systems theory, hermeneutic phenomenology, parental perceptions
Disciplines
Education
Recommended Citation
Miller, Nortia M., "Parental Understanding of the Influence of Ecological Systems on the Educational Experiences of the Dependent Children of Enlisted and Officer Families Stationed in Japan: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8533.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8533
Abstract
The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore how enlisted and officer parents stationed in Japan understand and described how different ecological systems influence the educational experience and academic performance of their dependent children. The theory that guided this study is Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory as it provided a comprehensive framework for understanding the inter-influential relationship between the children and the different ecological systems in their environment. The central research question provided a conduit for further exploration by asking how do enlisted and officer parents understand and describe how different ecological factors from Bronfenbrenner’s systems theory shape the educational experiences and academic performance of their dependent school-age children? The methodology used a qualitative phenomenological design to explore the complex educational experiences of dependent children and emphasized the subjectivity of the parent’s understanding and description in the researcher’s interpretation. The study took place on a military installation in Japan, and employed purposeful sampling to recruit 10 participants, consisting of enlisted and officer parents of dependent school-age children who met the sampling criteria. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and an examination of personal artifacts. Thematic analysis from In Vivo coding was used to identify recurring patterns directly from parents’ language in their descriptions. The findings suggest that experiences were often understood as shared across enlisted and officer families, rather than distinctly divided by rank. While structural differences exist, parents emphasized perceived support and navigating systems over rank-based distinctions as major factors influencing their children’s educational experiences.
