Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Personal Narratives As Reflections Of Identity And Meaning: A Study Of Betrayal, Forgiveness, And Health, Laura G. Porter

Doctoral Dissertations

As evidence suggesting both emotional and physical benefits from forgiveness continues to mount, scientific interest focuses on the intra-psychic dynamics and interpersonal processes that distinguish forgiving individuals from their non-forgiving counterparts. By studying the transformation of hurt and resentment into understanding and compassion, researchers hope to clarify further the cognitive and affective changes that characterize forgiving hearts and minds. As the nuances of this potentially healthful expansion of perspective become known, clinicians hope to integrate their newfound insights into therapeutic formulations and interventions that target ever-widening populations for whom forgiveness might prove beneficial.

Analysis of the very personal and often …

Investigating The Impact Of Aggregate Household Wealth Changes: Permanent Versus Transitory Wealth Effects On Consumption And Taxable Income, Markland Howard Tuttle

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the permanent and transitory effects of aggregate wealth changes on aggregate consumption and the distribution of taxable income, while controlling for other important macroeconomic factors. In the three essays presented, the first investigates the relationship between consumption, wealth, and disposable income. In addition, the relationship between the disaggregated components of consumption (non-durable, durable, and services consumption), wealth, and disposable income is explored. Through the use of cointegration techniques and Vector Error-Correction Models, the permanent and transitory responses of all series are investigated. The findings suggest that aggregate consumption, wealth, and disposable income are endogenous in the long …

Big Five Personality Traits And Work Drive As Predictors Of Adolescent Academic Performance., Susan Rae Perry

Doctoral Dissertations

The Five Factors of Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness, or some combination thereof, are increasingly used as predictors of job performance in business settings. Personality factors are also related to academic performance in college. Further extending this research into academic realms would provide useful information about early individual attributes that not only affect performance in school, but may also predict future issues in later job performance. Additionally, the use of more work or school specific constructs and related instruments may provide more information about performance than the broader five- factor structure. The contribution of Work Drive to the …

Swat Team Composition And Effectiveness, Deanna Marie Putney

Doctoral Dissertations

A field study examined team effectiveness in relation to group composition in thirty-four (34) Specialized Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) Teams. Data collection during a five-day, work-focused, SWAT team competition and included judges’ ratings of team performance, a questionnaire among team members and leaders to assess individual personality traits conscientiousness and agreeableness, and perceptions of team performance, norms, and conflict. Hypotheses derived from current research and theory. Results showed that the team maximum conscientiousness score correlated positively with member-rated team performance, as predicted. Team average and minimum conscientiousness correlated with leader-rated team viability; whereas, only the maximum conscientiousness team score correlated …

An Empirical Examination Of Frontal Sinus Outline Variability Using Elliptic Fourier Analysis: Implications For Identification, Standardization, And Legal Admissibility, Angi M. Christensen

Doctoral Dissertations

The comparison of frontal sinus radiographs for positive identification has become an increasingly applied and accepted technique among forensic anthropologists, radiologists, and pathologists. However, the current method of outline comparison by visual assessment fails to meet evidence admissibility guidelines as set forth in the 1993 case of Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Specifically, no empirical testing of the uniqueness of frontal sinus outlines has ever been performed, there has been no evaluation of the probability of misidentification using the technique, there are no standards controlling the technique’s operation, and there are no subjective standards for confirming or rejecting a …

Group Discussion Of Power Among College Women, Tiffany Elizabeth Kelsey

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study addresses power in a discussion group format. The purpose of the study is to examine the experience of group discussion of power by college women and to test for an effect of that experience on measures of self-efficacy, attitudes about women, and depression. The study uses Foucault’s definition of power and a postmodern feminist approach to therapy and research. Sixteen participants joined one of three discussion groups about power. Each group met three times to discuss their understanding and experiences of power. Pre-, post-, and delayed post-test measures of depression, self-efficacy, and attitude towards women were administered …

Gender Roles And Society, Amy M. Blackstone

Sociology School Faculty Scholarship

Gender roles are based on the different expectations that individuals, groups, and societies have of individuals based on their sex and based on each society's values and beliefs about gender. Gender roles are the product of the interactions between individuals and their environments, and they give individuals cues about what sort of behavior is believed to be appropriate for what sex. Appropriate gender roles are defined according to a society's beliefs about differences between the sexes.

Child Placement And Mothering Ideologies: Images Of Mothers In Child Welfare, Nancy Colleen Freymond

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

No abstract provided.

Stories Of Mothers And Child Welfare (Full Report), Gary Cameron, S. Hoy

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The voices we hear describing the lives of mothers who come into contact with child welfare agencies are usually those of service providers and researchers. How do mothers make sense of their own lives and what happened to their families when they became involved with child welfare? This report provides an opportunity to listen to what 16 of these mothers had to say over conversations averaging 5 - 6 hours with each woman. Aspects of these stories will be familiar to some readers. Nonetheless, these stories challenge both popular and professional perceptions of who these mothers are and how they …

Invisible Lives: The Experiences Of Parents Receiving Child Protective Services (Full Report), Sarah Maiter, Sally Palmer, Shehenaz Manji

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Involvement with child protective services (CPS) may be expected to be a stressful experience for parents. Usually their involvement is involuntary, initiated because someone believes they are not caring adequately for their children: this tells them that the community, or someone in the community, does not approve of them as parents. As families who become involved with CPS tend to be economically deprived and socially marginalized, they may view agency intervention as one more sign that they are not accepted by their community. Moreover it brings the fear of losing their children, perhaps forever. In this context, it is especially …

Bridging Or Maintaining Distance: A Matched Comparison Of Parent And Service Provider Realities (Summary Report), Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

When service providers and parents engage with each other to improve family circumstances, do they have similar impressions of what is important and what is helpful? Our purpose in interviewing parents who have been involved in child protection services and their service providers was to understand how parents and service providers view each other, their interactions, and the services they are engaged in. We were also interested in the “official record”—the files that describe parents, children, their needs, and the services provided in response. A comparison of the perspectives of service providers, parents, and files highlights some of the barriers …

Bridging Or Maintaining Distance: A Matched Comparison Of Parent And Service Provider Realities (Full Report), Karen Frensch, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

When service providers and parents engage with each other to improve family circumstances, do they have similar impressions of what is important and what is helpful? Our purpose in interviewing parents who have been involved in child protection services and their service providers was to understand how parents and service providers view each other, their interactions, and the services they are engaged in. We were also interested in the “official record”—the files that describe parents, children, their needs, and the services provided in response. A comparison of the perspectives of service providers, parents, and files highlights some of the barriers …

Group Therapy For Incarcerated Women Who Experienced Interpersonal Violence: A Pilot Study, Rebekah G. Bradley, Diane R. Follingstad

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

This study evaluated effectiveness of group therapy for incarcerated women with histories of childhood sexual and/or physical abuse. The intervention was based on a two-stage model of trauma treatment and included Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills and writing assignments. We randomly assigned 24 participants to group treatment (13 completed) and 25 to a no-contact comparison condition (18 completed). We evaluated treatment effects, using the Beck Depression Inventory, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, and Trauma Symptom Inventory. The data demonstrate significant reductions in PTSD, mood, and interpersonal symptoms in the treatment group.

Nursing News: August 2003, St. Cloud Hospital

Patient Care News

Patient Satisfaction

River Oaks Hospitality House

Donor Designation A Change In Practice

Friendship Ventures

Proposed Licensure Change

Street Improvement Funding For Tennessee Cities, Ron Darden

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This report discusses street projects available for Tennessee cities, the transportation planning process for cities, transportation programs that may assist cities, and participation in a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Continuous Lexicographic Preferences, Vicki Knoblauch

Economics Working Papers

Under what conditions are lexicographically representable preferences continuously representable? This question is actually two questions, since there are two natural definitions of continuity for lexicographic representations. A complete answer is given for one of these questions, and the other is answered for two-dimensional lexicographic representations.

Draft Plan Of Management For The Proposed Point Quobba Fish Habitat Protection Area., Department Of Fisheries

Fisheries management papers

Point Quobba is a popular site for locals and tourists for beach activities, fishing and snorkelling, and as a place for children to learn to swim and gain an awareness of the marine environment. The marine life and habitats of the area are of considerable scientific and recreational interest and are highly valued in the local community. However, they are at risk from their high level of use and from conflict between users due to their proximity to popular tourism, boat ramp, camping and settlement areas on-shore.

Field Report: Preliminary Investigation Of Educational Opportunities For Refugee Children In Egypt, Wesal Afifi

Faculty Journal Articles

The intent of this report is to provide information about and raise awareness of current educational opportunities for refugee children in Cairo. This study focuses on the administrative procedure of obtaining access to and enrolment into both public and private schools in Cairo, examining what obstacles there are to this process and exploring possible means of overcoming these obstacles. The current dearth of information on the subject of educational opportunities for refugees hinders efforts at enhancing these opportunities because without an understanding of the process of and barriers to enrolment, interventions made will either be inappropriate or insufficient. This study …

The Latest Misfires In Support Of The ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ Hypothesis, John Donohue, Ian Ayres

John Donohue

No abstract provided.

Shooting Down The ‘More Guns, Less Crime’ Hypothesis, John Donohue, Ian Ayres

John Donohue

No abstract provided.

Use And Users Of Electronic Library Resources: An Overview And Analysis Of Recent Research Studies, Carol Tenopir

Carol Tenopir

No abstract provided.

West Virginia Libraries 2003 Vol.56 No.4&5, Jennifer Soule

West Virginia Libraries Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Battered Women Whose Cases Have Gone Through The System: The Role Of Social Support, Heather Melton, Joanne Belknap, Cris Sullivan, Ruth Fleury-Steiner, Amy Leisenring

Faculty Publications, Sociology

This paper explores the role of social support in the lives of battered women whose cases have gone through the criminal justice system. Using longitudinal data collected from almost 200 battered women whose cases went through the criminal justice system in three jurisdictions in the United States, explored are the types of support they received, variations in who receives support, differences between informal support and formal support, and the implications of social support in terms of violence and victims use of the criminal justice system.

All The News That’S Fat To Print: The American "Obesity Epidemic" And The Media, Natalie Boero

Faculty Publications, Sociology

Increasingly the term epidemic is being used to describe the current prevalence of fatness in the United States. Skyrocketing rates of obesity among all groups of Americans, particularly children, the poor, and minorities, have become a major public health concern. Indeed, it is difficult to open a newspaper or magazine without encountering a discussion of the expanding American waistline and the health problems associated therewith. In this paper I use 751 New York Times articles on obesity to examine the media construction of the obesity epidemic. I show that there is not one dominant discourse (i.e. medicine) constructing this epidemic, …

Doing Gramsci's Cultural Education: Antiracism And Gendered Sexuality In The Nabwmt, Peter Chua

Faculty Publications, Sociology

I examine the ways the National Association of Black and White Men Together (NABWMT), a U.S. gay male organization, and its multi-ethnic membership developed and conducted antiracism workshops in the 1980s and safer sex workshops (targeting gay men with White, Black, Chicano/Latino, Asian, and Two-Spirited/indigenous identities) in the 1990s to conduct cultural and counterhegemonic forms of education. I draw upon the works of Antonio Gramsci, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, and Paul Gilroy on culture, education, and social exclusion. Gramsci and Hall suggest that cultural education is a necessary component for any anti-capitalist struggle. However, hooks, Sandoval, and Gilroy …

Perceived Severity, Expected Improvement And Goal Of Change As Factors Of Appointment Keeping Behaviors In Outpatient Mental Health Treatment, Charlene P. Bruley

Doctoral Dissertations

A field study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the number of problems identified by clients, their expectancy of improvement, a client’s identified therapy goal, and the number of missed appointments. Information about the number of problems, expectancy of improvement and therapy goal were obtained prior to the client first meeting with his/her therapist. The case records of 90 clients (N=416) who attended a non-metropolitan county outpatient mental health agency were reviewed. Data was collected on the number of problems identified by clients, whether a client expected to reduce reported distress, and whether a client identified a therapy goal. …

Feasibility Of The New Public Management In Mexico, Yolanda Camacho-Zapata

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines New Public Management in the Mexican context and the reasons why the implementation of foreign public sector management practices may present difficulties in Mexico. The core themes of the approach are analyzed and applied to the country in order to determine their feasibility. The findings reveal that most of the techniques proposed by New Public Management would not be successful in Mexico because they are incompatible with the cultural values and practices in the country.

How Are We To Govern Ourselves?: The Engagement Of Citizens In The Local Government Policy Process, Ron Coristine

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines the effectiveness of citizen engagement as a complementary process to the representative nature of local democracy based on case studies of two policy issues that used different methods of citizen participation in Kincardine, Ontario. Interviews with the mayor and seven of eight councillors in the municipality were conducted. The findings reveal that the traditional method of top-down consultation processes is inferior to deliberative approaches and interactive forms of engagement can achieve more satisfactory outcomes.

A Grand Experiment In Municipal Governance: Toronto’S Board Of Management, 1996–1997, David Hutcheon

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper examines why the Toronto Board of Management was created and why it is unique based on the recollections and thoughts of the researcher and other significant players in the changes to governance that were made in the 1990s. The findings reveal that the Board of Management had rapid success in such a short amount of time because politicians and bureaucrats trusted each other, the areas of responsibility were clearly defined, and the governance system was designed to foster creative and thoughtful solutions.

"Paper Sack Brown" : Effects Of Age, Skin Tone, And Stereotype Threat On Cognitive Performance And Self-Efficacy Among African Americans, Breonte Stephan Guy

Master's Theses

Divergent African American skin tones have led to negative stereotypes and outcomes regarding darker-skinned African Americans in many domains, including educational and occupational (Hill, 2002). This study assessed the effects of skin tone and stereotype threat (Steele and Aronson, 1995; Steele, 1997) on cognition in younger and older African Americans. A 2(Skin Tone: light, dark) X 2(Age: young, old) X 2(Stereotype Threat: Threat, Non-Threat) between subjects design was used. Seventy-four African American adults ranging in age from 18 to 86 years completed a battery of cognitive measures. Darker-skinned adults performed more poorly on three tests of intelligence, a paired-associates memory …