Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of The Associations Between Childhood Obesity And Three Forms Of Social Capital, Cynthia Bala-Brusilow

Wayne State University Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to expand the understanding of childhood obesity in American children by examining the associations between obesity in children and measures of social capital.

Context: Persons between 2 and 20 years of age are categorized as "obese" if their BMI is in 95th percentile or above for their age and sex using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) BMI-for-age growth charts. Obesity prevalence has more than quadrupled in the last 40 years in the United States for children. Social capital, in the study of health, can be defined as resources accrued and/or …

The Impact Of Self-Efficacy, Locus Of Control, And Perceived Parental Influence On The Academic Performance Of Low And High Achieving African-American High School Students, Frances Ernestine Curtis-Fields

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of self-efficacy, locus of control, and perceived parental influence on the academic achievement of African-American high school students from low socioeconomic levels. A nonexperimental, descriptive research study was used to collect the data needed to address the research questions posed for this study. High school students enrolled in one high school in a large urban school district were asked to participate in the study. These students completed three instruments, Self in School, Importance of Parent Involvement, and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility questionnaire (IAR), along with a short demographic survey developed …

The Effects Of Gestalt And Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Group Interventions On The Assertiveness And Self-Esteem Of Women With Physical Disabilities Facing Abuse, Cilene Susan Adam Rita

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the differential effects of Gestalt and Cognitive-Behavioral group therapy interventions on assertiveness and self-esteem among women with physical disabilities facing abuse. The eleven women, who met the study criteria, were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions, Gestalt Therapy (GT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group interventions. The Demographic Questionnaire (Adam Rita, 2009) documented personal characteristics of the participants. The criterion instruments were: a) RAS (Rathus, 1973), and b) CFSEI-2 (Form AD, Battle, 1992) measuring assertiveness and self-esteem respectively and were administered pre-and-post treatment. The research was conducted over a period of …

Distributed Cinema: Interactive, Networked Spectatorship In The Age Of Digital Media, Erik Wayne Marshall

Wayne State University Dissertations

Digital media has changed much of how people watch, consume and interact with digital media. The loss of indexicality, or the potential infidelity between an image and its source, contributes to a distrust of images. The ubiquity of interactive media changes aesthetics of images, as viewers begin to expect interactivity. Networked media changes not only the ways in which viewers access media, but also how they communicate with each other about this media. The Tulse Luper Suitcases encapsulates all of these phenomena.

The Effects Of Web-Based Interactive Emotional Disclosure On Stress And Health: A Randomized, Controlled Study, Jonathan Beyer

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the relative effectiveness of two novel alternatives to standard written emotional disclosure for coping with stressful traumatic experiences. In addition to standard emotional disclosure and time management writing control conditions, two guided feedback conditions were created with a goal of enhancing the disclosure paradigm by eliciting the most effective components of disclosure writing. All of the writing conditions in the study utilized the internet for both completion of the writing and receipt of feedback in the indicated conditions. The guided conditions included a feedback writing condition in which guidance was …

Evaluating Outcomes And Response Profiles Of A Psychological Treatment For People With Chronic Pain, Amanda J. Burger

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chronic pain is a leading cause of suffering, disability, and high health care costs. Traditional treatment approaches such as medical or cognitive-behavioral interventions have produced variable and often limited results. Research has suggested

that increased rates of stressful life events, emotional disorders, and emotion regulation deficits contribute to the development and maintenance of chronic pain problems that lack clear, peripheral, biological causes. This study examined the effectiveness of an

innovative, emotion-focused treatment that directly targets patients' unresolved stress and emotional avoidance and sought to identify predictors of treatment outcome. Additionally, this study explored the effects of a novel, emotional assessment …

A Comparison Of Parental Self-Efficacy, Parenting Satisfaction, And Other Factors Between Single Mothers With And Without Children With Developmental Disabilities, Raymond Phillip Small

Wayne State University Dissertations

Depression and stress occur among single mothers and raising a child with a developmental disability can be a difficult burden. The purpose of this study was to determine if having a child with a developmental disability was a source of stress and depression among single mothers, and if this impinged on parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. The moderating potential of having a child with a disability was examined on relationships between stress, depression, parental self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and social support. Understanding these relationships could be useful in the service delivery system to single mothers and families of children …

The Civic Engagement Of Latino Immigrants In The United States, Cristina Michele Tucker

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study employs acculturation and civic engagement theories to explain the incorporation and engagement of Latino immigrants in American society by examining how demographic characteristics, socioeconomic factors, and characteristics of the immigrant experience, as moderated by acculturation and trust in government influence their civic engagement.

The core component of the study is a secondary data analysis of the 2006 Latino National Survey (Fraga et al., 2008). The study shows that some of the strongest predictors of civic engagement in the Latino immigrant community are citizenship, length of residence in the United States, level of education, household income, age, country of …

The Effect Of Word Sociality On Word Recognition, Sean Seaman

Wayne State University Dissertations

While research into the role of semantic structure in the recognition of written and spoken words has grown, it has not looked specifically at the role of conversational context on the recognition of isolated words. This study was a corpus-based and behavioral exploration of a new semantic variable - sociality - and used on-line behavioral testing to obtain new word recognition data using the visual and auditory lexical decision tasks. The results consistently demonstrated that sociality is one of the most robust predictors of lexical decision performance. Overall, it appears that the visual lexical decision task is quite sensitive to …

Children's Adaptive Psychological Functioning In The Face Of Adversity, Rebecca Wiersma

Wayne State University Dissertations

This explanatory research study is a secondary data analysis of the restricted release version of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) data. Only children from the CPS sample were used and included only children who were 48 months or younger at the time of the initial survey (N=1,582). At the time of the initial survey, only the caregivers of 406 children were able to complete the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)/2-3 because of age restrictions for that particular measure. Therefore, a subsample of 406 children with CBCL scores at Wave 1 and Wave 4 was extracted from the …

Guy Time: The Effects Of Men's Male Friends On Their Heavy Drinking, Consensual Sexual Behaviors, And Sexual Assault Perpetration, Angela Judith Jacques-Tiura

Wayne State University Dissertations

Risky, reckless, and potentially harmful behaviors reach their peak during the adolescent and emerging adulthood years. Past research demonstrates that a variety of social influences, including descriptive and injunctive norms, overt pressure, and modeling affect adolescents' and college students' heavy drinking, consensual sexual experiences, and sexual assaults. The construct of peer influence has been measured in many different ways, and little research has simultaneously considered peer influence on even two of the three outcomes in the current study. Further, much of the research with emerging adults is conducted with college students. To address these gaps in the literature, this study …

A Social Ecological Perspective On Diabetes Care: Supporting Adolescents And Caregivers, April Marie Idalski Carcone

Wayne State University Dissertations

The diabetes illness management regimen is complex and demanding, requiring daily motivation and self-control. Adolescents with diabetes face unique risks for which social support may be one protective factor. The importance of social support from family and friends is well documented in the literature. Support for the caregiver and support from the health care provider, conversely, are understudied. These four sources of social support, considered together, span the adolescent's micro-, meso-, and exosystems constituting a social ecological model of social support for diabetes. The primary aim of this study was to test this model. The hypotheses were that each source …

The Intersection Of Image, Rhetoric, And Witnessing: A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse Scandal, Elizabeth Jane Durham Smith

Wayne State University Dissertations

This project looks at the Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse Scandal and the ways those figured in the notorious images were named as "bad apples" to explain the shocking scenes to a mainstream American collective as well as expands more traditional understandings of witnessing through the examination of this complex moment. Beyond the narrowly legal and political issues, the photographs from Abu Ghraib also raise questions about how images of atrocities are received, interpreted, and contested with this project rephrasing the question "what do we see when we look at the images from Abu Ghraib?" to that of "what did we …

C-Reactive Protein, Homocysteine, And Cognitive Performance In Healthy Adults, Cheryl Dahle

Wayne State University Dissertations

Elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and homocysteine (Hcy) have received a great deal of attention as biomarkers for the development of cardiovascular disease. Their utility in predicting cognitive function has also been assessed, though the findings are equivocal. The current study examined the relationship between elevated blood levels of CRP and Hcy and their effect on cognition across several cognitive domains. As baseline blood levels of CRP and Hcy and cognition are in part regulated by genetic factors, the impact of T carrier status for variants in the CRP -286 C>T>A and the MTHFR 677C>T …

Bridging Social Capital Formation In A Faith-Based Organization, Angela Kaiser

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research on faith-based organizations suggest that these organizations are highly effective at forging relationships between individuals from different racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, known as bridging social capital. This study examines the process of bridging social capital formation within MOSES, a faith-based organization located in Detroit, Michigan. Through the use of in-depth interviews, participant observation, archival research, and a member survey, I documented the forms of social capital present within the organization. I also explored whether bridging relationships were forming within the organization and the strategies that facilitated their formation. Diversity within the organization, recognition of member differences, and …

Values And Problem Behaviors In Hong Kong Adolescents, Phebe Karen Lam

Wayne State University Dissertations

The present study examined sensation seeking, psychological problem behaviors, values orientation, and problem behaviors of smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency among Hong Kong adolescents studying in high school of two different ability levels. Adolescents (N = 1385) from a band one and band three level high school in Hong Kong were assessed using the Sensation Seeking Scale Form-V (SSS-V), Youth Self Report (YSR), Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), and the Adolescent Health and Development Questionnaire (AHDQ), along with several demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, grade level, employment).

Regression analyses were employed to determine the contribution of the significantly correlated variables in …

Effect Of Goal-Setting And Self-Generated Feedback On Student Speechmaking, Luke Lefebvre

Wayne State University Dissertations

This investigation examined how goal setting strategies and self-generated feedback from video affects student grade improvement on subsequent speaking occasions. Students (N =140) across ten course sections were conveniently assigned to experimental conditions manipulating video use and goal setting strategies. Significant and meaningful main effects of anticipatory goal setting combined with self-generated feedback from video were obtained when compared to unstructured video replay, only goal setting, and self-reactive goal setting with self-generated feedback from video. Implications for these findings are examined along with the potential of video as an instructional technological tool for student learning in the introductory course.

Parental Attachment And Sexual Risk Behavior Among Adolescents, Amy Ruedisueli

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study sought to uncover parental attachment variables that are associated with risky adolescent sexual behavior. The study employed secondary data analysis and used a data set compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Survey of Children and Youth 1997 (NLSY 1997). Variables measuring parental monitoring and emotional closeness were used in logistic and linear regression models to predict whether a respondent reported having sex, whether multiple partners were reported and the reported number of sexual partners in the past year. The study finds that maternal and paternal variables were significant in the prediction of having …

Psychometric And Experimental Investigation Of Impulsivity, Rumination, Revenge, And Forgiveness, Jason David Young

Wayne State University Dissertations

Revenge and forgiveness are commonplace aspects of social interaction. Past research has emphasized that rumination is an important cognitive correlate of both revenge and forgiveness. In the present research, we examined whether revenge attitudes and motivations, as well as forgiveness attitudes and tendencies might also be predicted by impulsivity. Two studies were conducted to investigate these possibilities. In Study 1 participants (N = 200) completed individual differences measures of impulsivity, rumination, procedural and distributive just world beliefs, and measures of revenge, forgiveness and avoidance. Structural equation modeling revealed that rumination predicted forgiveness tendencies, revenge motivations and avoidance. Additionally, revenge attitudes …

The Determinants Of Student Achievement And High School Completion In Michigan, Cleo Michele Moody

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

By

Cleo M. Moody

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Michael Addonizio

Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Degree: Doctor of Education

Policy and practice regarding in-grade level retention and their effects on high school graduation rates and successful student academic outcomes have currently assumed great importance in the education reform debate. Further, the effectiveness of our public schools and the achievement of our students have implications that can affect individuals and the communities in which they live. Now, more than ever, individual economic success and economic growth depend crucially on academic achievement and human capital. The purpose of this research …

Mesauring The Effect Of Technological Change In Health Care Cost And Expenditure, Krishna P. Sharma

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives:

Technological change has a major role in driving up health care cost and expenditure. Yet we are not fully able to know the extent to which technological change affects cost and expenditure and the way new technologies enter the cost or expenditure functions. This paper uses historical data of US elderly males to see how health care spending associated with prostate cancer treatment behaves over time. Understanding the extent and mechanism by which a new technology actually translates into higher cost are main objectives of this study.

Study design, data and organization of the report:

This …

Manufacturing Menopause: An Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Menopause And Information Content On Pharmaceutical Web Sites, Deborah H. Charbonneau

Wayne State University Dissertations

Consumer-targeted prescription drug advertising serves as an interesting lens through which we can examine the portrayal of menopause in online drug advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the portrayal of menopause on web sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies for hormone therapies (HT). To unravel this question, a qualitative content analysis of web sites for FDA-approved hormone therapies was employed. A total number of 608 printed pages of web site content from eight web sites (N=8) were analyzed. Key findings elucidated how menopause was portrayed on the pharmaceutical web sites. First, descriptions of menopause articulated a biomedical perspective …

The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts: The Social Support Exchange Process, Rifky Tkatch

Wayne State University Dissertations

Social support is a dyadic exchange process that yields many psychological and physiological health benefits. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of the support exchange process from a dyadic perspective on health outcomes and to investigate the extent that gender and relationship characteristics influence the support process and health outcomes. It was hypothesized that female patients would report seeking more support and male patients would report receiving more support. In addition, it was expected that patient seeking support would be associated with both partner provision and patient receipt of support. It was also hypothesized that patients' …

Economic Analysis Of Multidimensional Measures Of Obesity, Li Li

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study develops multidimensional measures of obesity based on six body measures, namely, weight, maximal calf circumference, thigh circumference, subscapular skinfold, waist circumference and percent body fat. Previous studies have used body mass index (BMI) as the measure of obesity. BMI does not fully consider body composition and is even more limited when applied to a population of subjects that are heterogeneous in muscularity, age, or bodyweight. Moreover, the use of BMI to classify people as obese and non-obese may result in misclassification problems. More recent studies have chosen some alternative measures of obesity, but there is no consensus on …

The Role Of Employment Status, Work Disruption, Leisure, And Resources In The Mental Health Of Demenita Caregiving Daughters, Lisa Jones Ficker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Employment has been consistently identified as a role strain among dementia caregivers. This study sought to examine the patterns and context of employment and work disruption among dementia caregiving daughters and learn the extent to which work disruption influences mental health through hypothesized reductions in financial resources and leisure activities. This study was a cross-sectional design that extracted data of 486 daughter caregivers from a dataset that gathered information from Caucasian, African American, and Latina dementia caregivers at six research sites across the nation.

Results indicated that caregiving daughters who were employed reported the lowest number of depressive symptoms and …

The Utilization Of Performance Appraisal In Local Governments: Extent And Challenges, Sandra Hindo

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study examines the utilization of employee performance appraisal in a sample of 59 Detroit-area suburban communities. Despite the emphasis placed on employee performance appraisal in the literature, over half of the communities do not possess formal systems of employee appraisal. Also two variables help explain performance appraisal usage: form of government and extent of unionization.

Importantly, respondents in non-utilizing communities often acknowledge the benefits of systems of performance appraisal but they cite various reasons for not having such systems in place, with the opposition of municipal unions being cited most often. This was true even though many jurisdictions with …

Doing Ethnography In An Urban Hospital Emergency Department Setting: Understanding How Culture Was Related To Emergency Physician Habitus, Renady Hightower

Wayne State University Dissertations

This hospital ethnography focused on the relationship between culture and emergency physician habitus. The habitus of these physicians was defined as those routine, patterned forms of behaviors and practices performed by the physicians while in the emergency department and while interacting with the patient during the physician-patient interaction. Pierre Bourdieu's practice theory was used to address how culture was related to the habitus of the emergency physician. The researcher found that culture was not only related to the habitus of these physicians, but it reproduced, and at times created, aspects of the habitus through the practices performed while in the …

The Social Perceptions And Attitudes Held By African American Males Who Participated In A Self-Contained Special Education Middle School Program For Three Years And Dropped Out Of High School After The Ninth Grade, Sherrell Linnette Hobbs

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE SOCIAL PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES HELD BY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES WHO PARTICIPATED IN A SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR THREE YEARS AND DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL AFTER THE NINTH GRADE

by

SHERRELL HOBBS

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Marshall Zumberg

Major: Special Education

Degree: Doctor of philosophy

There are two parts to socialization, informal and formal. In the United States, informal lessons of socialization come from a child's primary caretaker(s). Imagine a child growing up in this informal setting only to see the world from one perspective through that unique experience. Later the child goes into a …

The Contribution Of Nmda Receptors Within The Central Nucleus Of The Amygdala To The Suppression Of Pain Affect, Catherine Ann Spuz

Wayne State University Dissertations

The amygdala processes stimuli that threaten an individual and organizes the execution of affective behaviors designed to cope with the threat. The prototypical threat to an individual is exposure to a noxious stimulus. The central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) receives nociceptive afferents and exhibits neuronal activation in response to noxious peripheral stimulation. NMDA receptors within CeA mediate this noxious-evoked neural excitation, and previous studies in the laboratory have shown that blockade of CeA NMDA receptors via the antagonist APV elevates the threshold for noxious tail-shock-induced vocalization afterdischarges (VADs), a validated measure of pain affect in the rat. The present …

Transnational Political Participation Among Diasporic Migrants, Amanda Hanlin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Contemporary migrants participate in a variety of dual social, political, and economic processes. Sending and receiving states overtly encourage transnational practices when they allow migrants to maintain homeland citizenship regardless of their citizenship status in their receiving communities. Yet, we know little about migrants' ability to enact their citizenship and their propensity to participate in sending and receiving state networks and structures. We know also that diasporas experience and shape transnational spaces differently than other migrants, but we have much to learn about what influences a diaspora's desire and ability to maintain a political affiliation with their homeland and to …