Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effect Of Gender, Socioeconomic Status And Family Structure On Depression In Adolescents In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lada Mujkic

Masters Theses

The relationship between self-reported depressive symptomatology among adolescents in Bosnia-Herzegovina, who experienced the chronic stress during four year war, and risk factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, and family structure were investigated in the current study. The present study tested the hypothesis that each one of above mentioned risk factors individually impact depressive mood. Also interactions between gender and socioeconomic status and gender and family structure were hypothesized. A nationally representative sample of high school teenagers was selected from two high schools in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo (N=559, 263 boys and 296 girls, mean age 15.34). Data from questionnaire …

Message Strategy And The Perception Of Self-Efficacy In Behavioral Intentions Resulting From Advocacy Advertising, Yoon-Joo Lee

Masters Theses

This thesis uses the Haley (1996) study as a conceptual framework for the study of advocacy advertising. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the role of message strategy in increasing the consumers' perception of self-efficacy, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) in behavioral intentions resulting from advocacy advertising. Additionally, the thesis explored the correlations and causal relationships between self-efficacy/ PCE, and behavioral intention and behavioral intention and the consumers' evaluation of the organization as good.

A quasi-experimental design was used. A questionnaire along with one of the two experimental stimuli (a print advertisement with the transformational-ego or the informational-ration message …

Technology And Communication: Emerging Family Communication Patterns Among Young Adults And The Influence Of Technology, Shilpa Venkateshwaran

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to understand the emerging family communication patterns among young adults and the influence of technology. This study of young adults tried to study the two family types: conversation-oriented and conformity-oriented and the influence of technology has on the family types. E-mail is fast becoming an important mode of communication and hence the study of the adaptation of this media in family communication is important during the transition phase. This study tried to find the predicted changes in communication.

A Comparison Of The Shopping Preferences Of College Age Apparel Shoppers In Turkey And The United States, William C. Perrine

Masters Theses

This study compared the store attribute preferences of college-age apparel shoppers in Turkey with those of their United States counterparts. The American respondents were selected from a convenience sample of students from a Midwestern university. The Turkish respondents consisted of a convenience sample of undergraduate and graduate students from two urban universities. Ninety-six surveys were given in Turkey and 113 were given in the United States to currently enrolled female and male undergraduate and graduate students between the ages of 17 and 51, yielding 204 usable surveys at a 97 percent response rate. Twenty-one shopping preferences were included in the …

Secrets In Common: Intellectual Foundations Of The Lodge That Found Billet In The Dens And Klaverns, Damien Borg

Masters Theses

Secrets in Common is an anthropological history that undertakes to explain the similarities of membership and ideology between the Freemasons and two formations of the Ku Klux Klan. The work is divided into seven sections. It was compiled from both extant, which was of principle significance, and secondary printed material. After many hours of reading and countless attempts at “understanding,” three short ethnographic narratives were compiled: they makeup the central axis of the material. The first narrative describes the Freemasons, while the second two are on the “Reconstruction Klan” and the “Klan of the ‘20’s,” henceforth referred to as Kuklux …

Scapegoating As An Organizational Escape From Crisis: A Case Study Of Merrill Lynch, Jennifer D. Brown

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the use of scapegoating as a communication strategy by Merrill Lynch during the 2000's. Using a rhetorical method, it explores the nature of crises and the image restoration attempt by corporations. Finally, it draws a number of conclusions about how organizations should respond to crises communicatively and ethically.

Dietary Exposure To Aroclor 1254 Impairs Radial Arm Maze Acquisition And Performance In Rats, Danielle M. Paris-Larson

Masters Theses

Exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is suspected to produce long lasting cognitive deficits in children and adults. This study assessed the effects of dietary exposure to a commercial mixture of PCBs on spatial learning and memory in Fisher 344 rats. Aroclor 1254 (0, 10, 50 ppm) was administered for 28 consecutive days in the daily diet. Seven days after the last dietary exposure, acquisition training began in an eight-arm radial maze. Following 28 days of acquisition training, "working" memory was assessed using a delayed win/shift procedure. Each delay (20 minutes, 2 hours, and 6 hours) was examined on three consecutive …

Effects Of Group Composition And Mating Season On The Agonisitic And Affiliative Behavior Of Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Lauren Dawn Cox

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, were the effects of group composition and mating season on grooming and aggression in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Three groups of rhesus macaques were observed during the summer of 2003. The behavior of these three groups was compared in order to determine if any group differences were present. The following January, two of these groups (one had been disbanded) were observed again to determine if behavior varied in the mating season.

The results suggest that the number of intergroup fights has an inverse relationship to intragroup …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular change in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

The Assessment Of Psychopathic Traits And Risk-Taking Using Balloon Analog Risk Task (Bart), Melissa Kathryn Hunt

Masters Theses

Continuing a program of research assessing the utility of the Behavioral Analog Risk Task (BART, Lejuez et al, 2002) as a measure of risk taking, the BART was administered to a non-forensic sample of individuals high and low in self-reported psychopathy. Inter-relations of BART performance with measures of psychopathy and impulsivity were examined, with an emphasis on exploring the predictive validity of self-report measures on overt risk-taking behavior. Following completion of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-II; Hare, 1991), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS; Barratt, 1985), and the Authority Problems subscale (Pd2) of the MMPI-2 (Harris & Lingoes, 1955), physiological data were …

A Comparison Of Knee Joint Size, Obesity, And Osteoarthritis Involving Two Recent Skeletal Samples, Jeffrey Reed Huber

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine secular changes in the size of the knee joint during the last century in White males and females, and to compare the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis over the same time frame. In addition, a specific effort was made to determine a relationship between the modern rise in obesity and knee osteoarthritis. The sample included 291 males and 140 females from both the Robert J. Terry Collection and the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection.

The results indicate no consistent secular change in direction or location between White males and females. Although …

Toward A Geography Of Hormones: The Human Sex Ratio At Birth In The United States 1970-1995, Michael C. Meyers

Masters Theses

It has been hypothesized that humans may exert facultative, adaptive control over their sex of their offspring through the action of the endocrine system. No conclusive evidence of this has been found, although varying hormonal levels in parents at the time of conception may partly influence the sex of the child (James 1986, 1987b, 1999). A decline in the human sex ratio at birth (SRB) observed in the U.S. and some other countries has been attributed by some investigators to widespread environmental exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals.

The many factors hypothesized to influence the SRB make testing this attribution difficult, …

Developing Habitat Suitability Models: An Example From Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee And North Carolina, Usa, Using The Land Snail Vitrinizonites Latissimus Lewis, Andrew Strom Dye

Masters Theses

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is one of the foremost areas of biological research in the United States. The spatial and temporal aspects of the data collected in biological research provide many opportunities for implementing Geographic Information System (GIS) models. Many biological studies in recent years have sought to describe the relationships between organism distribution and habitat variables.

This thesis analyzes the spatial distribution of the land snail Vitrinizonites latissimus Lewis as an example of how GIS-based habitat suitability models can be derived from data collected in GSMNP. Seven habitat variables including slope, aspect, elevation, soils, vegetation, geology, and …

The Haunted Hero: Mythology And Meaning In The Fathering Accounts Of Long-Haul Truckers, Jeremy P. Sayers

Masters Theses

Long-haul truckers face challenges of time and distance in their attempts to be what they consider good fathers. In their quest to define themselves as fathers and as men, they are also shadowed by the challenge of a pervasive macho mythology of the trucker as an American cultural hero – a high-flying, hard-driving, highway cowboy. As were the cowboys of the Old West, the mythological trucker is a loner, complete in his freedom from the worries and demand of more pedestrian lives. Through intensive interviews with 12 men who make their living as over-the-road (OTR) truckers, I explore the interwoven …

Validation And Comparison Of Two Ankle-Mounted And Two Waist-Mounted Electronic Pedometers, Murat Karabulut

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to validate and compare the accuracy of two ankle- mounted pedometers [StepWatch 3 (SW-3) and Activity Monitoring Pod 331 (AMP)] and two waist-mounted pedometers [New Lifestyles NL-2000 (NL) and Digiwalker SW-701 (DW-701)] under controlled and free-living conditions. The study had three parts: part I: walking on a treadmill at six different speeds, part II: a) evaluation of potential sources of error: leg swinging, heel tapping, and driving a car in city limits, and b) pedaling a stationary cycle ergometer, and part III: wearing pedometers for 24 hours. Ten males and 10 females walked on …

China’S Public Health Sector In Transition: Assessing Market Reform Impacts, Bo Li

Masters Theses

Many studies have been done to evaluate China’s transitional economy and its impacts on the public health sector. It is a widely accepted proposition that the market reform initiated in the late 1980s significantly changed the public health sector. While some scholars argue that the Chinese people’s overall health status has improved compared to that of the pre-reform era, others identify declining health expenditures and widening regional gaps, indicating quite a dim health situation. In this thesis, I argue that market reforms have not improved the people’s access to health services. In the reform era, the overall civil health status …

Application Of Progressive Gateway Community Strategies In Townsend And Tuckaleechee Cove, Leon Christion Jr.

Masters Theses

Gateway community and rural planning literature was examined to determine the essential elements of successful Gateway Communities and was combined with interviews with citizens, consultants and government agents to ascertain present conditions. Analysis of these elements was applied toward a case study of the Tuckaleechee Cove planning process.

Common problems experienced in rapidly developing gateway communities are environmental degradation, visual blight, low wages, seasonal unemployment, and loss of residential base.

Tuckaleechee Cove lacks sufficient landowner support to address issues on a Cove-wide basis. National Parks, local communities, county government, state agencies, federal agencies, citizens, landowners, and the business community must …

Psychometric Properties Of The Pswq-A In A Community Sample Of Older Adults, Julie A. Crittendon

Masters Theses

Among older adults, GAD is as prevalent as major depression (Blazer, George, & Hughes, 1991). As a result of scale development and norming that generally incorporates younger samples, psychometrically sound anxiety and worry instruments for older cohorts are limited. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ; Meyer, Miller, Metzger, & Brokovec, 1990) is one instrument that may be useful for assessing worry in older adults, although limitations of this scale recently were highlighted that resulted in the development of a revised version that more effectively might assess worry in older adults, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Abbreviated (PSWQ-A; Hopko et. al., 2003). …

Special Event Communication In The Age Of Terrorism, Judith Ann Flanagan

Masters Theses

Special events have come to take an increasingly viable role in the United States of America. This thesis examines special events communication in the wake of September 11, 2001 (9-11-01), terrorist attacks on the U.S. utilizing the assistance of the International Festivals and Event Association (IFEA). The project involved two phases. In the first phase, members of the IFEA were surveyed concerning their perceptions of communication prior to and following the 9-11-01, terrorist attacks. In the second phase, the convention program of the IFEA was content analyzed with a view toward examining the communication-related programs available to special event professionals. …

Stuck In Science: The Natural Scientist And Non-Objective Ways Of Knowing Nature, Marianne R. Chrystalbridge

Masters Theses

My research investigates whether and to what extent natural scientists utilize non-objective but personally meaningful ways of knowing, that is, different modes of perceiving, interpreting, judging, and comprehending, in addition to their objective stance as scientific researcher, in constructing their understanding of nature. I investigate whether or not the norms of science restrict discussion of non-objective ways of knowing to the margins of the discourse. I pursue this topic through a review of literature on ecological sustainability that emphasizes the importance of buttressing objective knowledge with non-objective ways of experiencing and talking about nature.

In interviews with fifty natural scientists, …

The Role Of Economic, Political, And Cultural Factors In Immigration Policy In France, The United Kingdom, And Germany, Sheri L. Rogers

Masters Theses

Immigration policy has been a crucial issue facing all Western European countries for decades; however, it has recently become an even greater concern. Much of the literature argues that shifts in immigration policy correspond with shifts in economic conditions or the power of far-right parties. Others argue that immigration policy is primarily a cultural issue, although very little research has been done to address the role of specific cultural factors in different countries.

This paper looks at the evolution of immigration policy in France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, and addresses the question of why immigration policies in each country …

A Drug Free America? A Web Page Discourse Analysis, Darrin Kowitz

Masters Theses

Using the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this research will seek to identify the ways in which social power is exercised through the creation and manipulation of linguistic categories within the text of the web page for the Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA). A preliminary examination of the web page identified three general mechanisms of power at work for the PDFA, the use of authority, fear inducement, and identity manipulation. The use of these mechanisms will be analyzed to explain ideological hegemony as the adoption of cognitive categories by individuals from social-structural, or institutional, sources.

“A Different Way To Portray It”: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Audiencing The [New] Newlywed Game, Christopher Reed Groscurth

Masters Theses

This study seeks to extend the body of literature which explores how culturally-situated audiences assign meaning to television texts. Specifically, this inquiry introduces and describes the audiencing behavior of several vintage television audiences. Drawing on existing cultural studies and feminist research, in-depth, semi-structured focus group interviews were used to gather viewer perceptions of the gendered discourse on two episodes of The [New] Newlywed Game (one from the '70s and one from the '90s). The focus group interviews were audio-taped then later transcribed verbatim. Six emergent themes: (1) Understanding the Discourse of Power Structures, (2) Gendered Questions: Form and Content …

Who Are "The Japanese"?: Negotiation Of Identity Among Nikkei In Brazil, Chihiro Nagasue

Masters Theses

When Japanese immigrants arrived in Brazil in the beginning of the 20th century, they recognized, for the first time, that they were "Japanese" and different from other ethnic people since it was rare for them to meet ethnically foreign people in Japan. In the ethnically and linguistically foreign country of Brazil, the Nikkei have had to constantly redefine their identity by resisting and accommodating dominant pressures and ideologies such as the Brazilian assimilation policies before and during the Second World War as well as the essentialist ideology of Nihonjinron (what it means to be Japanese). As a result of globalization, …

Eating Ethnicity: Examining 18th Century French Colonial Identity Through Selective Consumption Of Animal Resources In The North American Interior, Rory J. Becker

Masters Theses

Cultural identities can be created and maintained through daily practice and food consum.ption is one such practice. People need food in order to survive, but the types of food they eat are largely determined by the interaction of culture and their environment. By approaching the topic of subsistence practices as being culturally constituted, the study of foodways provides an avenue to examine issues of cultural identity through selective consumption. Eating certain foods to the exclusion of others is one method for establishing social distance between peoples and is simultaneously a reflection of this relationship and the types of interactions that …

A Comparison Of Human Femoral Neck Cortical Bone: Walkers Vs. Non-Walkers, Meghan M. Moran

Masters Theses

This empirical project examines human inferior femoral neck cortical bone and the response in this region to mechanical loading in association with bipedalism. It is suggested that habitual activity induces cortical bone hypertrophy. A radiographic analysis of femoral neck cortical bone was completed using two samples of individuals. One group following a normal developmental trajectory of walking was compared to another who has never walked as a result of cerebral palsy (CP) or spina bifida (SB). Two research questions were addressed: (1) Is the amount of femoral neck inferior cortical bone equal to or different from that seen in the …

Athletic Amenorrhea: Prevalence And Awareness Among Female Athletes At Western Michigan University, Michele R. Chupurdia

Masters Theses

Women who participate in competitive sports are under enormous pressure to maintain an extremely low body weight through diet and exercise. While exercise is viewed as widely beneficial to women of all ages, the pressure to succeed in sports by achieving or maintaining an unrealistically low body weight through food restriction and high intensity training may lead some women to develop eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.

The research conducted for this thesis and presented here investigates female college athletes (18-24 years) from Western Michigan University, a Division I school, who are undergoing strenuous training. The goal of this study is …

Nutrition Education For Persons With Disabilities, Jada A. Miller

Masters Theses

This study provides descriptive information about the dietary knowledge and intake of community-based young adults who have been diagnosed with a number of disabilities. A nutrition education curriculum was implemented for the Experimental group (N=9) and at a later date for the Delayed Intervention group (N=9). Results indicated that the three-week nutrition education curriculum produced moderate improvement in participants' nutritional knowledge and moderate improvement in nutritional value of foods chosen from a menu. However, the intervention proved to have a negligible effect on the nutritional value of foods consumed within this population of individuals.

Based on the results of this …

An Evaluation Of City Hall Departmental Complaints In Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1993 And 1994, Monique R. Moore

Masters Theses

My research will evaluate the citizen complaints made to various departments in the Kalamazoo, Michigan's City Hall for the years of 1993 and 1994. The complaints were compiled on a monthly basis by the Citizen Action Center for the various departments. The number and types of complaints received and significant differences in the frequency and content of complaints or patterns of change from one year to the other were analyzed.

There was a consistent pattern in the content or types of complaints concerning the Public Works department from 1993 to 1994, but no consistent pattern for any of the other …

Superimposition And Withdrawal Of Tangible Consequences As A Treatment For Automatically Reinforced Problem Behaviors, Tina M. Sidener

Masters Theses

Tangible superimposition and withdrawal is a reductive procedure in which a new stimulus is delivered following behavior already maintained by a different controlling stimulus. The new stimulus is then removed in an attempt to reduce behavior. The current investigation sought to extend previous research on this procedure by evaluating its efficacy and durability as a treatment for stereotypy in three children diagnosed with autism. First, automatic reinforcement functions for stereotypic behaviors were identified via functional analyses. Next, for two participants, tangible items were delivered contingent upon stereotypy and then subsequently withdrawn. When the superimposition procedure proved ineffective, environmental enrichment was …