Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Organized Labor's Influence On Local Elections: A Case History Of Snohomish County, Washington, Jonathan Stuart Burr

Theses and Dissertations

Candidates seeking public office must build a strong political following to be successful. This applies at national, state, and even local levels. The support generated for a candidate's campaign can be attributed to factors such as personal characteristics, political following, political resources, and endorsements. This analysis focuses on union endorsements in relation to other political endorsements. The case study of the race for Snohomish County Council in District Five illuminates the connection between endorsements, monetary contributions, and voting behavior. Union political coordinators were interviewed and results from the primary and general election 2005 were compiled. The findings support previous studies …

Teen Mothers' Perceptions Of Medicalization And The Patient/Provider Relationship, Preston Martin-Lyon

Theses and Dissertations

Within the past twenty years, a great deal of research has addressed pregnancy and childbirth in the United States. Often, however, prior studies have focused on white middle-class women and have neglected the experiences of women of color and low-income women. Teen mothers have also been marginalized in past research. With few exceptions, the limited research that does exist on African American teen mothers is usually framed around the "teen pregnancy crisis" in the U.S; seldom are teens included in studies dealing with the overall issue of medicalization. In an effort to understand the extent to which the medical model …

The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In National Periodicals, 1982-1990, Matthew E. Morrison

Theses and Dissertations

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has continued to receive exposure in national periodicals. This thesis will explore that image from 1982 to 1990. During those years, the church continued to grow in membership and expand its existing programs.

National periodicals can assist in assessing the public image of the Church because they help "mould public attitudes by presenting facts and views on issues in exactly the same way at the same time throughout the entire country." In this manner, they help to form the public opinion about the Church. They also reflect existing opinions because magazine publishers …

Feed Conversion Index In Two Populations And Two Lines Of Guinea Pigs For Meat Production, Kathia Jordán Vargas

Theses and Dissertations

The guinea pig (Cavia aperea porcellus) is an alternative to improve human nutrition because its meat is of excellent taste and quality. Thus, it is an important nutritional source. The feed conversion index was determined under the basic (forage) and mixed (forage and concentrate) diets during the growth phase. This was done with both sexes located in the Tamborada and MEJOCUY populations, using the AUQUI, and San Luis lines. This was done in order to quantify how many kilograms of feed an animal must eat to gain one kilogram of live weight. The animals were randomly distributed into individual pools …

Fathers' Religious And Family Involvement At Home; And Work And Family Outcomes, Roxane O. Whyte

Theses and Dissertations

This study proposes and confirms two new predictors of work and family outcomes, thus far unexplored in existing work-family literature: fathers' religious involvement at home and fathers' family involvement at home. It is the first study to date to document that these produce a crossover effect to positively influence work-related outcomes including work-family conflict, work-family fit and job satisfaction.
Data come from employed married fathers and their spouses participating in the 2001 BYU Marriott School of Management Alumni Work and Family Survey (n = 210), all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Findings are that …

Sowing The Seeds Of War: The New York Times' Coverage Of Japanese-American Tensions, A Prelude To Conflict In The Pacific, 1920-1941, David Robrt Schreindl

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the New York Times' coverage of unique generational influences between Japan and the United States from 1920 through the start of hostilities at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The purpose of this project was to see if the Times gave Americans an accurate picture of the relationship between the two countries or to determine if there was a lapse in coverage exhibiting negligence on the part of this prominent paper.

This thesis concludes that the New York Times was not negligent in its coverage of the issues prior to World War II. However, it was the …

Information Structure In Narrative Texts In Byali (A Gur Language Of Benin), John J. Berthelette

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an application of Knud Lambrecht’s 1994 work, Information structure and sentence form, to Byali, a Gur language of northwestern Benin (West Africa). In particular, it concerns an analysis of how the different focus structures are marked in Byali, according to Lambrecht’s framework.

Given that this is an application of a theoretical framework in order to describe a language, the thesis has three purposes: (1) to provide an overview of Lambrecht’s framework; (2) to provide an analysis of Byali data using this framework; and (3) to evaluate the suitability of Lambrecht’s framework for analyzing Byali focus structure.

Marital Satisfaction And Depression In A Study Of Brazilian Women: A Cross-Cultural Test Of The Marital Discord Model Of Depression, Cody S. Hollist

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is a major societal health problem with individual, familial, social, and economic costs. Cross sectional research has linked depression and marital discord, with women frequently having a higher association between variables. Several longitudinal research studies have linked marital satisfaction to subsequent depression. The Marital Discord Model of Depression states that marital discord is an important antecedent in the development of depression. While some empirical evidence exists supporting this premise, no research has been done with Latinos. The purpose of this study was to test the longitudinal relationship between marital satisfaction and depression among Latina women.

The data was conducted …

September 11, 2001: An Individual Media Dependency Perspective, Tyrone Hamilton Glade

Theses and Dissertations

This study uses individual media dependency (IMD) to examine student dependency on the media before and during the attacks of September 11. A content analysis of media journals kept by a group of university students during the week of September 11 confirmed the existence of the IMD relationship, a finding that adds to the methodological breadth of IMD research. Goal scope, which is composed of the understanding, orientation, and play goals narrowed to the goal of social understanding on September 11 only to expand outwards to pre-September 11 levels by the end of that week. The theory postulates goal scope …

A Learner-Centered And Participtory Approach To Teaching Community Adult Esl, Haley Lynn Wiggins

Theses and Dissertations

This MA project examines the creation, implementation, and effectiveness of the guidebook, Moving Forward: A Learner-Centered and Participatory Approach to Teaching Community Adult ESL, designed to help adult English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers base their classes on the specific needs of community adult education students. This guidebook was created in response to the need for lesson plans and activities that help teachers focus on learner needs. The activities in the guidebook are based on the National Institute for Literacy's (NIFL) adult literacy initiative, Equipped for the Future (EFF) because it focuses on the tasks adults must perform …

A Case Study In The Treatment Approaches And Outcomes Of Adjustment Disorder, Tobiellen Care

Theses and Dissertations

This case study evaluated the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of an adolescent female in a community agency. The client was diagnosed with adjustment disorder mixed with anxiety and depression. A psychosocial history of the client was presented emphasizing the psychosocial stressors that contributed to the adjustment disorder. A review of empirically supported treatment approaches for adjustment disorders was conducted. The Beck Depression inventory and the Trait Anxiety scale were used as outcome measures. Pre and post comparisons of both measures indicated clinically significant decreases in both anxiety and depression. However, further treatment was needed to extend the …

Establishing A Cyber Warrior Force, Scott D. Tobin

Theses and Dissertations

Cyber Warfare is widely touted to be the next generation of warfare. As America's reliance on automated systems and information technology increases, so too does the potential vulnerability to cyber attack. Nation and non-nation states are developing the capability to wage cyber warfare. Historically, the Air Force and DoD have concentrated their efforts toward defensive network operations. However, a shift in doctrine has shown both the Air Force and DoD acknowledging the potential for Information Warfare. What appears to be lacking is the trained and educated cyber warrior force that will carry out the information operations if needed. This research …

Conjoint Marital Therapy: Proxy Voice Intervention And Softening In The Context Of Couple Enactments, Ryan B. Seedall

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the effectiveness of proxy voice intervention, embedded within couple enactments, on client-perceived softening. During enactments, direct couple interaction is the focus while the therapist coaches from the periphery. In the context of an enactment, the therapist may use proxy voice when partners appear to be distressed and expressing themselves in terms of secondary emotions by modeling appropriate attachment and self-concept expression. The primary research question was whether therapist use of proxy voice in an enactment would be more likely to bring about softening effects, or whether use of proxy voice was counter-intuitive to enactment conceptualization and would …

Marriage Moments: An Evaluation Of An Approach To Strengthen Couples' Relationships During The Transition To Parenthood, In The Context Of A Home Visitation Program, Kimberly Ann Rose Lovejoy

Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluates the efficacy of a self-guided, low-intensity curriculum, Marriage Moments, based on Fowers' (2000) virtues model of marital quality that emphasizes friendship, generosity, justice and loyalty. The Marriage Moments program consists of a guidebook and a video that were designed to strengthen marriages during the transition to parenthood and is used in the context of a home visitation program for first-time parents. Participants in the study included 119 married couples who had recently given birth to their first child. They were assigned to either a treatment, comparison or control group. The treatment group received the Marriage Moments curriculum …

Constructions Of Female Identities In Mary Gordon's The Other Side And Maureen Howard's Before My Time, Neli Gogovska

Theses and Dissertations

In Women's Time Kristeva designates three broad currents of feminist struggle: first, the suffragist movement declaring a universalist view of women's experience regardless of class, age, and cultures; second, the phase of difference, that she regards as "returning to an archaic (mythic) memory as well as cyclical or monumental temporality of marginal movements" (355); and third, a trend that she wholeheartedly supports for their concept that "the dichotomy of man and woman as an opposition of two rival entities is a problem of metaphysics" (366).

This thesis discusses Howard and Gordon as proponents of the second phase because they write …

The Effect Of Teachers' Error Feedback On International Students' Self-Correction Ability, Youngju Hong

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of teachers' error feedback on ESL students' self-correction ability. One hundred and nineteen international students enrolled in ESL composition classes at Brigham Young University's English Language Center participated in this research. The participants were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: (1) a coded feedback group, (2) a non-coded feedback group, and (3) a no-feedback control group. All participants were asked to write an in-class essay and to self-correct their grammatical errors during 20-minute time period. A grammar test and attitudinal survey were administered at the same time.

The Role Of Vocabulary Size In Assessing Second Language Vocabulary, Kevin John Zimmerman

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the role of vocabulary size in assessing learners from various L1 backgrounds and for institutional placement. Participants included native speakers of Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin, who took a test that estimated the size of their productive English vocabulary. First, the vocabulary size of students from each language group was compared and the relationship between vocabulary size and institutional placement level was examined. Then, scores were analyzed to determine how cognates and loan words influenced the participants' performance on the vocabulary test. Further, students' vocabulary size scores were correlated with their placement scores that evaluated reading, writing, …

Religion And Gender In Christian, Jewish, And Muslim Married Couples, Anna Mae Ridley

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the influence of religion on gender roles in marriage. Past research indicates that previous theories of marital power have ignored couples' own conceptualizations and have relied on taken for granted assumptions. Thirty-two religious couples (from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths) were interviewed regarding their gender roles. Grounded-theory qualitative analyses were conducted for couples' perceptions of religious influence on gender roles, the development of their gender practice, and their operationalization of marital power. Results are reported according to couples' discussion of role organization, role design, and outcomes. Valuing gender differences moderated religious impact on couples' role development and …

Melioration And The Behavioral Addiction Process: An Experimental Analysis, Jared Micah Dinehart

Theses and Dissertations

Melioration can be a factor contributing to behavioral addiction. In this study, 76 university undergraduates operated a "money machine" by selecting between choices that corresponded to maximization and melioration. Participants initially made choices consistent with a strategy of melioration and demonstrated significantly greater variability in choice behavior when visual cues were presented aimed at exposing the internality (or consequence) of the choice situation. Removal of the visual cues resulted in a return to lower responding. Visual cues may aid in interrupting the behavioral addiction pattern by limiting exclusive use of a melioration choice strategy. Methods of restructuring and experimentation with …

The Million-Dollar Question: Why Pre-Adolescents Watch Television, Emily A. Smurthwaite

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents qualitative research examining the relationship youth have with television. Information for this study was collected through media journals, personal essays, in-depth interviews, and focus groups held with eighteen sixth-graders who attended a charter elementary school in Lindon, Utah.

The question posed to the students multiple times during the data collection was: “Would you give up television for $1 million?” Through the students’ answers and ensuing dialogue, the researcher examined the social value the pre-adolescents attributed to watching television. The findings identify three main categories the students said were reasons they were attached to television, which also corresponded …

The Context Of Contact: White Attitudes Toward Interracial Marriage, Bryan R. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Using a year 2000 national racial poll conducted by the New York Times, I analyze Whites' approval of interracial marriage. I utilize the contact hypothesis, as originally formulated by Gordon Allport, to develop a conceptual model of White's attitudes toward interracial marriage. Specifically I propose and develop an additional dimension of the contact hypothesis, which accounts for the context in which interracial contacts occur. I do so by examining several specific social settings in which White respondents report experiencing contact with Blacks. The contexts examined are ordered in terms of the type of contact they likely provide, from close, personal …

Women's Response To Spousal Unemployment: Economic, Labor Force, And Family Constraints, Elizabeth Miklya Legerski

Theses and Dissertations

Using data collected from 29 interviews with the wives of steelworkers who were forced into unemployment, I explore the conditions and factors that shape women's choices in response to their husbands' job loss. Access to a unique and under-studied sample of women married to unemployed working-class men necessitates the use of grounded theory research techniques that allow me to "give voice" to working-class women.

Communities, Place, And Conservation On Mount Kilimanjaro, Marie Bradshaw Durrant

Theses and Dissertations

The Chagga people have lived and worked on Mount Kilimanjaro for more than 250 years. Through traditions and social practices within their communities and families, strong bonds are established between the Chagga and their home on the mountain. Kilimanjaro National Park and Forest Reserve (KINAPA) was established in the 1970s to protect and conserve the mountain, based on a long history of colonialism and western ideals. As KINAPA has attempted to preserve the flora and fauna on the uppermost portion of Mount Kilimanjaro, they have alienated local residents from the land through a conservation approach that relies on "fences and …

A Formal Semantic Analysis Of Autistic Language: The Quantification Hypothesis, Michael B. Manookin

Theses and Dissertations

Autism is characterized by language dysfunction ranging from mild and peculiar language usage to a total lack of expressive language function. These language oddities are manifest in the form of phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic/behavioral dysfunction. Research suggests that the autistic language deficit is focal—dealing with a specific area of language processing; however, previous research has failed to identify this language enigma. This thesis demonstrates a novel approach to the problem, showing that the autistic language deficit is tied to a particular aspect of language processing—quantification. Quantification is defined and explained in the context of autistic language and behavior.

A Two-Level Engine For Tagalog Morphology And A Structured Xml Output For Pc-Kimmo, Hans J. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a two-level morphological description of Tagalog for use in PC-Kimmo and a mechanism created for updating the results output from PC-Kimmo in order to meet the standards for current database and natural language processing applications.

There are two main research tasks presented in this paper which constituted this project. First, a complete morphological engine for Tagalog is presented. Next, a tool is introduced that takes the morphological engine output and stores it in XML format.

The Effects Of Debater Styles On Audiences During Televised Political Debates, Juliette J. Broglin

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of certain predetermined debate styles on television viewing audiences. The study used three separate gubernatorial debates with identical questionnaires attached to determine the behavioral traits viewers found most appealing in state level political candidates during organized, televised events. The author acknowledges that many studies of this nature are conducted on the national level. The author chose to analyze the same type of material on a lower level of government to determine what potential voters find appealing in state level potential elected officials. The study places the two selected candidates in …

Online Crisis Management, Mauru Rushwaya

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to learn if public relations practitioners are using the Internet to its fullest capacity, when responding to crisis situations. The study attempted to find out if public relations practitioners had the necessary tools in place to respond to a crisis online.

The sample originally selected consisted of 515 United States public relations practitioners, all members of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and listed under the State of Pennsylvania. A survey consisting of 13 multiple-choice questions was posted on surveymonkey.com with a link included in the body copy of the query letter emailed …

2004 Gender Study Of The New Jersey Public Relations Society Of America, Megan A. York

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine the climate of New Jersey Public Relations Society of America, 2004. The researcher sought to find logical alternatives to the much-touted theory of the "glass ceiling," that many researchers blame for salary differential between the genders. E-mail surveys were distributed to research salary, title, industry, experience, etc.

Although NJPRSA men and women have much in common, not everything is mutual. The average male is older and more experienced. Overall female dominance continues in the trade, including in two of the three highest-paying industries. Most respondents were in management positions; however, men occupy …

Revitalizing The Subaru Difference: A Communications Audit To Determine Effectiveness At Subaru Of America, Inc., Thomas Paolella

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was multifaceted. The first purpose was to examine the Subaru Difference Initiative campaign of several years ago and see what aspects succeeded and what areas needed change. The second purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Subaru Difference and the role it currently plays within the Subaru of America Corporation. The third purpose was to perform research to obtain a better understanding of how employees would like to be communicated with in the future regarding the Difference and also what future steps can be taken to improve the overall clarity and effectiveness of this …

The Impressions Of New Jersey High School Guidance Counselors On The Quality Of Education At Rowan University, Carolyn A. Krehel

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive examination of New Jersey guidance counselors' impressions of Rowan University. Rowan University, a state funded school, is a rapidly improving and growing institution in the state and its region. However, the University is met with much opposition from those who remember it as a small teachers' college in South Jersey.

This thesis focuses on the history of the university, old impressions of the school, current impressions of the school and recommendations on how to improve the overall awareness and perception of the University.

An email survey was mailed to 1,000 school counselors in the six …