Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pretesting A Questionnaire At The Solo Center On The Impact Of Divorce On Children And Parents, Shirley Anne Paetzhold

Dissertations and Theses

This study was concerned with the impact of divorce on parents and children. The writer spent a minimum of sixteen hours per week from September, 1974 to May, 1975 in field work at the Solo Center, as part of the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Social Work at Portland State University. Multiple areas of interest for research at the Center narrowed to a focus on the closely interwoven problems of child custody, child support, and visitation.

Indian Alcoholism On Reservations, Cleora E. Jackson

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this practicum is to describe the destructive use of alcohol among Southeastern Idaho Indians. This practicum is based on John and Irma Honigmann's (1) theory of· "loss of stake. " It is John and Irma Honigmann' s contention that whatever may be the social functions of drinking, and whatever the personal reasons, having a stake in society tends to induce people to conform to the norms of society with regard to drinking behavior. The three case histories in this practicum will illustrate more of what is meant by the theory of stake in society.

The Use And Evaluation Of Gestalt Techniques In A Program For The Parents Of Handicapped Children, Richard Roy Hammond, Robert E. Phillips

Dissertations and Theses

The goal of this paper will be to further explore the use of Gestalt therapy in the Parent-Education Program and to find a way in which its effectiveness in freeing parents of emotional barriers to growth can be evaluated. Our specific objectives will, therefore be to (1) review the literature and present our own assumptions on parental responses to having a handicapped child, (2) explore the basis of Gestalt therapy and relate it to the needs of parents who have handicapped children. (3) describe the setting in which the Parent-Education Program and its Gestalt component takes place, and (4) suggest …

Assessment Of Short Term Behavioral Changes In Emotionally Handicapped Children Enrolled In A Special Education Program, James S. Johnston, Karen Shilling

Dissertations and Theses

This study attempts to assess short term behavioral changes, as measured by the Hewett Behavioral Checklist in emotionally handicapped children enrolled in three of the special education classrooms.

Managing Human Services, Betsy W. Romain

Dissertations and Theses

Professional schools have realized for some time that there is an uncomfortable gap between the requirements of their academic curriculum and the realities of a professional job. The skills required, performance level and final product, are noticeably different in the academic world than in the work world. This void between what is required in school and what is required on the job, has become of increasing concern as larger numbers of academically qualified students compete for a decreasingly smaller number of jobs. Additionally, institutes of higher education, caught in current day fiscal realities, are under pressure from both students and …

Criteria And Outcome Of C. S. D. Foster Home And Residential Placements Of Court-Referred Adolescents, Joan Dickey

Dissertations and Theses

This study is concerned with a set of cases referred to Children's .Services Division, Marion County, by the Marion County Juvenile Court for placement. Placements include foster homes and residential treatment facilities, including group homes.

The goal of this study is to uncover criteria to determine the appropriateness and the efficacy of foster and residential placements for adolescents in order to provide feedback necessary for the development of practice theory.

An Analysis Of Professional Roles & Career Patterns Of Portland State University School Of Social Work Graduates, 1964-1973, B. Michael Des Camp, Howard H. Marshack

Dissertations and Theses

This was a follow-up study of graduates of Portland State University's School of Social Work from 1964 to 1973. The study gathered information in four areas: (1) graduates' career patterns, (2) tasks graduates presently perform in their jobs, (3) tasks graduates felt are necessary for students to learn in a school of Social Work, and (4) graduates' continuing education needs and experiences. It was hoped that this information would prove valuable in curriculum design, both in the School of Social Work and in the Division of Continuing Education.

A stratified random sample of sixty-one graduates, totaling 15.4% of the ten-year …

A Study Of The Career Education Program At Mountain View Intermediate School, Beaverton School District #48, Beaverton, Oregon, William Calvin Greene

Dissertations and Theses

The following report deals with the career education program at Mountain View, one of six intermediate schools in the Beaverton school District #48.

During the summer of 1974, four Mountain View faculty members developed what they titled the Mountain View Intermediate School Career Educational Resource Guide (CERG).

The faculty members developed this guide keeping in mind the requirements of the Master Plan but also adding specific references relating to what direction they felt the career education program at Mountain View should take.

The CERG was designed in such a way that career related activities for each grade level were broken …

Structure Vs. Meaning In Subliminal Perception, Margaret Anne Callan Hoisington

Dissertations and Theses

Subliminal perception is defined as a process whereby a subject reports no awareness of a visual stimulus, and yet his/her verbal behavior, subjectively experienced as “guesses”, is influenced by the stimulation. Various studies have found evidence for and against subliminal perception using discrimination tasks and subjective judgments. Explanations of subliminal perception include the partial cue hypothesis, the theory of perception of structural differences, and the theory that responses to subliminal stimuli are of a semantic nature.

This study was conducted to determine whether subliminal perception involves a discrimination of structural characteristics or a discrimination of the semantic quality of words …

Recent Role Changes Made By Women And The Effect These Changes Have Had On Marital Adjustment, Nancy L. Scolar

Dissertations and Theses

Sex Roles, A History. From Insects to humans, gender is associated with specific behavior. Below the mammals there are sex differences in dominance that are correlated with androgen function on the inside, and with certain types of stimulation on the outside. In higher forms, the increasing complexity of brain development means increasing capacity for modification through experience and learned modes of adaptation to the environment.

By the time the primate level is reached, social influences have become so intricate and compelling as to clearly foreshadow culture.

According to Elizabeth Janeway in her article Reflections on the History of Women, in …

An Identification Of Important Management, Administrative, And Planning Skills And Knowledge Essential To Middle-Managers Present Positions In A Variety Of Urban And Rural Social Welfare Settings In Oregon, Patricia Victoria Leonard

Dissertations and Theses

In July, 1974 the Social Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, awarded a grant to the School of Social Work at Portland State University to "identify and examine the skills and abilities that are utilized by middle-management personnel in the human services field." The project sought to (1) identify and prioritize the management, administrative and planning skills utilized by practitioners in a variety of urban and rural social welfare setting throughout Oregon, (2) develop a list of middle-management skills deemed important for graduate and undergraduate students in the School of Social Work, and (3) provide data …

Problem Oriented Case Planning, Jack A. Morgan

Dissertations and Theses

This practicum report discusses the adaptability of problem oriented case planning to casework which is practiced in the Northeast Multnomah County District Office of the Children’s Services Division. Problem oriented case planning is an approach designed to make casework more explicit by specifying the target problem(s), goals(s), tasks and an evaluation scheme which are agreed to and stated in a written contract developed by the participants. Such explicitness is essential to permit agency collection of useful information about its casework and casework programs needed to respond to today’s accountability demands, i.e., demonstration that the agency operates at a reasonable level …

An Exploration Of The Feelings And Attitudes Of Women Separated From Their Children Due To Incarceration, Dorothy Lundberg, Ann Sheekley, Therese Voelker

Dissertations and Theses

Although significant research has shed light on what happens to children when they are removed from their parents, few studies have explored the effects on parents undergoing separation from their children. Discussions tend to be confined to separate dimensions exploring child's needs on one side and parental obligations on the other. Much of the planning and prolonged care provided for children in placement reflects a traditional child-centered focus. This has led to a lack of attention to parental needs, and a gross ignorance about their lives, feelings and aspirations.

When women are involuntarily separated from their children through incarceration, a …

A Descriptive Study Regarding Perceptions Of Sex Roles In Cooperative Households, Emily Fultz, Billie Huntwork

Dissertations and Theses

The roles of men and women are among the many elements of contemporary American society which are in a process of rapid and sometimes disruptive change. The more or less traditional ways in which men and women have viewed themselves and each other are being openly challenged by a number of significant factors. Although there have always been those exceptional persons who questioned the inevitability of seemingly given role differentiation, today's social climate makes such questioning more common and acceptable.

A few specific factors may be mentioned as being particular interest. With modern communication and mobility, the options for varied …

A Methodology For Evaluating The Efficacy Of The Placement Procedures Of The Dalles Community Attention Home, Marion Elliott

Dissertations and Theses

The Community Attention Home, The Dalles, Oregon, provides services to those children, who, due to dependency, delinquent behavior, or family disruption, cannot remain within their present environment. The Home provides short-term shelter care with staff emphasis on proper diagnostic assessment for subsequent placement. Placement of children in the Home provides social service agencies time to plan for further care and/or treatment.

The project presents itself in essentially four major areas. They are: a descriptive presentation of data already available at the Home; a determination of what additional data needs to be gathered for further evaluation of the Home’s effectiveness; development …

A Study Of Battered Children In Santa Barbara, California, Carol Lynne Beastrom

Dissertations and Theses

Current newspaper articles, professional journals and legislation reflect increased concern and attention in the area of child abuse. The frequency of reports of children physically and mentally abused, some fatally, makes abundantly clear the need to identify the children in jeopardy.

As an outgrowth of experience as a caseworker in Protective Services in Santa Barbara, California, the author developed a personal interest in learning more about characteristics of families with identified abused children. Associated with this personal interest is the possibility of identifying common elements of characteristics which might prove predictive and therefore potentially preventative in the area of child …

Recovery From Stuttering In A Sample Of Elementary School Children, Carol Deno Kimball

Dissertations and Theses

Several studies have been undertaken to determine the incidence of recovery from stuttering; however, the results of these investigations are not reliable due to methodological limitations. For the most part, ex-post-facto recall judgements on the parts of adults or parents of young children were relied upon in gathering data for the research. It would appear that a requisite factor in determining incidence of recovery from stuttering should be the use of a formal instrument which would quantify the auditory and visual aspects of speaking behavior to determine the presence or absence of stuttering.

The primary purpose of this study was …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Overt Behavior And: I) Tat Fantasy Aggression And The Stimulus Properties Of Selected Tat Cards, Ii) Self-Report Measures Of Aggression And Guilt, Iii) Tat Fantasy Aggression, Self-Report Measures And Personal Data, Christine Ruth Bauman, David James Leitner

Dissertations and Theses

Past research has shown that there are many factors that influence projective test responses. This is especially true of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Certain variables that have been found to influence the TAT response were studied in this experiment. These variables included the subjects’ scores on purported measures of the personality trait of aggression, and various parameters of the TAT cards themselves.

This experiment included three studies which investigated the relationship between test measures of aggression and aggressive behavior. The three studies were conducted concurrently using the same subject population: forty-two male inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. They …

The Effect Of Attending Behavior Training Upon Learning, Martha Sue Peden

Dissertations and Theses

Various studies have been implemented concerning the physiological and psychological components of attending behavior, particularly in the area of the exceptional child. Little has been done, however, to develop specific behavioral definitions of attending behavior and to incorporate these into treatment-based research programs involving normal children attending a regular public school.

The purpose of this investigation was to discover if children from a regular public elementary school who are deficient in attending behavior skills can be taught these skills in a short-term behavior modification program and to determine if the skills thus learned facilitate learning within the regular classroom setting.

Maturity Of Adolescent Unwed Mothers, Sarah L. Claiborne

Dissertations and Theses

Adolescence traditionally has been recognized and accepted as a period of exploration of an occasional rebellion against the adult world. Explorations are viewed by behavioral scientists as a quest for identity expansion, and as such, a necessary phase for attaining maturity. Several tasks have been identified which each adolescent must complete if he is to reach maturity. For the present these tasks can be summarized as character formation, attainment of sexual identity, establishment of mature relationships and emancipation from parental control.

Society's attitude towards the rebellion and exploitation of youth is mixed. This confusion seems related to a general breakdown …

Siblings And Sex Roles: A Comparison Between Male And Female Graduate Students With Regard To Sibling Sex And Ordinal Position, Anita Witt

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the present study was to find out whether there is a relationship between sex role perception, ordinal position, and sex of sibling.

Measuring sex role perception presents a complex problem by itself, since at a time when sex role expectations are changing rapidly, there is little consensus on precisely what constitutes male or female behavior. We were concerned, therefore, to avoid as far as possible subjective interpretations of behavior.

We decided to look for a sample of women who had already reached a measure of achievement in a competitive field traditionally dominated by men, and who were …

An Investigation Of Possible Relationships Between Sex-Role Orientation, The Motive To Avoid Success And The Inhibition Of Aggression In Women, Joan Dayger Behn, Barbara Mcduffee Mecca

Dissertations and Theses

In this study, it was proposed that the extent to which an individual accepts the collection of attitudes, mannerisms, and abilities the culture endorses as being feminine or masculine (which we are referring to as sex-role orientation) is related to the appearance of inhibiting fears of social rejection and uneasiness about one’s femininity (which we refer to as the need or motive to avoid success). We further hypothesized that women interested in achievement, being less strongly sex-typed, would feel deviant and exposed as women and would be likely to place a premium on the maintenance of other feminine attributes.

Ever …

The Correlation Between Specific Curiosity And Intelligence In Adults, Charles R. Schwenk

Dissertations and Theses

Previous studies done on the correlation between specific curiosity and intelligence have been inconclusive. In the present study, a test of state specific curiosity and a test of intelligence were administered to 76 Ss from two introductory psychology courses. Three hypotheses were tested. These were, (a) that a significant specific curiosity-intelligence correlation would exist, (b) that the specific curiosity-verbal subscale correlation would be higher than the specific curiosity-abstraction sub-scale correlation, and (c) that there would be a sex difference in the specific curiosity-intelligence correlations. The data did not support hypothesis (a) or (b). However, they did support hypothesis (c). …

A Comparison Between Sources Of Student Anti-Hunting Sentiment And Wildlife Information Sources Of A Sample Of Oregon Adults, Ronald E. Shay

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the various sources of information utilized by a sample of the Oregon adult population to gain information and ideas about the wildlife resource. The results were compared to those of a study of college and university students and their sources of information that gave them anti-hunting attitudes.

The basic question posed was: What sources of information are most commonly utilized by a sample of Oregon’s population in obtaining ideas and information concerning the wildlife resource and do the proportions of various sources utilized compare with those indicated by college students as sources of anti-hunting sentiments?

Additional questions …

A Follow-Up Study Of Community Organization Concentrators, Hedy-Jo Huss Powell

Dissertations and Theses

This follow-up study of 1970-73 graduates of the Portland State University School of Social Work was aimed at identifying the community organization and social welfare planning skills that M.S.W.s are using in their current practice. The study sought information from graduates that could be useful in evaluating the current Social Welfare Planning concentration and planning future curriculum.

Two groups of graduates were surveyed utilizing a mailed questionnaire. The first group consisted of the universal sample of former students identified as community organization concentrators; the comparison group was a sample of graduates who had majored in direct services.

The study explored …

Partisan Voting In The Oregon Legislature, Tom Lee Mason

Dissertations and Theses

The thesis examines the role of partisanship in two sessions of the Oregon Legislature. Both the Oregon Senate and the Oregon House of Representatives were examined for the 56th (1971) and the 57th (1973) session. Indicies of partisanship, or party cohesion were developed for both parties in both houses during both sessions. Each legislator was also assigned an index of partisanship. The indicies of partisanship for the parties were the average percentage of the members of the two parties voting together on those issues which underwent "party votes." A party vote was defined as any vote on which the majority …

Differential Measurement Of A Language Concept Presented Via Video Tape Playback To First Grade Students, Richard Warren Trullinger

Dissertations and Theses

Educational television began in 1932 at the State University of Iowa. Until 1952, the potential of its contributions to education were not fully recognized. In 1952, however, the Federal Communication Commission created non-commercial television station. From that point in time, educational television has mushroomed.

This study tested the hypothesis: At least 80 percent of a given first grade population will respond accurately to the post-testing of a language concept, after the concept has been presented to them via a video tape playback using puppetry as the teaching method. In essence, the study was designed to determine whether or not an …

Survey Of Parental Attitudes Towards Health Services In The Beaverton Schools, Nancy M. King

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to collect and evaluate information on health services provided to children enrolled in the Beaverton School District. The primary areas of inquiry in the study were (1) parents attitudes concerning how existing programs have affected their children, (2) parents perceptions of needed and/or additional health services which could be provided by the school system, (3) parents attitudes toward budgetary decisions concerning possible changes and improvements in health services.

Development Of A Teacher Rating Instrument: Methodological Implications, Carole Gygi

Dissertations and Theses

In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complexities which constitute an effective teacher and promote a positive learning climate, a field study methodology was employed to develop an evaluative instrument and to gain descriptive data.

For the purpose of developing an instrument to describe and measure effective teachers, 24 actual learning sessions (classes) were observed, extensive notes taken, and tape recordings were made in order to isolate and describe the behaviors which seemed critical to the situation being studied. This was done by observing the teacher as he taught and the learners while they learned. The teacher …

The Rate Of Return On The Investment In Registered Nurse Education As Related To The Supply Of Registered Nurses, Barbara Zuern

Dissertations and Theses

The focus of this research is the relationship between the supply of registered nurses and the rate of return on the educational investment to become a registered nurse. Is this rate of return a determining factor in the supply, past, present, and future? Since 98. 8 percent of all registered nurses are women, an integral part of this study is a survey of the data on women in the labor force.

The empirical data, statistical, was obtained from government sources and non-government associations, The American Nurses Association, The American Hospital Association, and the educational institutions. The data indicates the following: …