Digital Commons Network^™

"I Know I Can't Be The Only Lesbian Out There:" An Inductive Thematic Analysis Of A Virtual Community Of Lesbian Breast Cancer Survivors, Rachael Lynn Wandrey

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority women are at a significantly greater risk for developing breast cancer (BC) than heterosexual women. Little is known about the unique BC experiences of lesbian women. The present thesis describes the findings of an inductive thematic analysis of messages posted to a large lesbian-specific discussion forum found on breastcancer.org. Fifteen themes were identified, including privileging sensation over appearance, experiencing heterosexism in medical contexts, believing others perceive a lack of distress over breast loss because of patient’s lesbian sexual orientation, feeling pressure from surgeons to get reconstructive surgery, and viewing the BC journey as a sexual-identity disclosure crisis. In …

Gender, Personality, And Self Esteem As Predictors Of Social Media Presentation, Heng Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an age when people make and maintain relationships in online environments, creating and sustaining impressions online becomes equally important. For a better understanding of social networking sites usage, the present study examines the influence of gender, personality, and selfesteem on social media presentation. The goal of this study is to investigate individuals‘ expressions through social media in order to determine if they reflect the author‘s gender, personality, and levels of self-esteem. Quantitative analysis was used in this study through survey and SPSS content analysis. The researcher found that neuroticism was related to selfpresentation, and agreeableness is related to Facebook …

Sardanapalus And Gender: Examining Gender In The Works Of Byron And Delacroix, Stacey Schmiesing

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the gender standards as portrayed in Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus (1824) and Eugène Delacroix's painting Death of Sardanapalus (1828). These Romantic artists were part of a movement that changed gender rules forever. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought about a culture that was more visual than ever and symbols of gender identity were everywhere. Rules of masculinity evolved from valuing raw power to including middle class virtues like moderation. Women continued to be objects of male desire but also began to represent the nation and its history. To explore the specific gender relationships within Byron's play and …

Looking Back At The Media's Future: A Mixed Method Analysis Of Race And Gender Bias During The 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary Season, Tim Vance

Dissertations

Political knowledge has been defined as the individual’s ability to recall candidate names, personal characteristics, and qualifications. Furthermore, it is the ability to identify election issues, current campaign developments, and recognize connections between candidates and issue positions (C. Atkin & Heald, 1976). I posit that political knowledge has become much more…and much less.

I have introduced, in this paper, a number of sources for political learning: ads, newspapers, YouTube, and television news. All hold some interest for investigation as political knowledge sources, but methodology cannot be standardized across all sources. As such, the focus of the qualitative part of this …

Jesus In Man’S Image: Influence Of Gender Role Identity On Identification With Warmer Images Of Jesus, Melinda A. Reed

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Gender, Employment Status, And Unpaid Household Labor: A Test Of The Time Availability Perspective On Housework, Child Care, And Emotion Work Before, During, And After The 2007 U.S. Economic Recession, Allison Sahl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Using the American Time Use Survey (2003-2011), I examine gender differences in time spent performing housework, child care, and emotion work before, during, and after the 2007 U.S. economic recession. This study draws on three primary theoretical perspectives; time availability theory, gender socialization theories, and relative resources theory, to explain differences in unpaid household labor tasks. I examine these differences across three time periods to explain the recessionary impact on the division of household labor. With a sample of 22,507 respondents, I employ ordinary least squares regression models to predict the total number of minutes per day that respondents spend …

Online Mormon Self-Presentation: Content Analysis Of Mormon.Org And Ldssingles.Com Profiles, Megan Marie Fereday

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine online Mormon self-presentation, specifically in the context of Mormon.org and LDSSingles.com (LDSSO). To examine the different styles of self-presentation used in Mormon.org and LDSSO profiles, this study drew upon self-presentation theory (Goffman, 1959; Jones, 1990; Jones & Pittman, 1982) and analyzed profiles according to Dominick's (1990) definitions of Jones and Pittman's (1982) five self-presentation strategies. In addition, this study examined the relationship between a profile poster's sex and the self-presentation strategies exhibited in his or her Mormon.org or LDSSO profile. Content analysis of 100 (50 male and 50 female) Mormon.org and 100 (50 male and …

Siren Song: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender And Intimate Partner Violence In Gotham City Sirens, Katlin Schmidt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project investigates comic book discourse. Specifically, I investigate how comic narratives provide readers with an interpretation for how they should discern and assess “appropriate” behaviors for women. The artifact of analysis included in this project is DC Comics Gotham City Sirens (2009). This text features popular female superheroes, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. Because comic books utilize both textual and visual means to disseminate a message, this project evaluates the visual rhetoric of these characters within the narrative. Walter Fisher’s narrative paradigm is used to provide an understanding to how these visual means contribute to the meanings assigned …

Students Talk About Gender And Race Within The Classroom, Amanda Lucock

Media and Communication Studies Honors Papers

This study attempts to gain a better understanding of students’ experiences and perceptions of conversations about gender and race in the classroom. Specifically, this study focuses on issues and concerns that arise in the course of talking about gender and race. There were over 20 hours of classes observed, eight one-on-one in-depth interviews, and over three hours of recorded classroom conversations. Through my analysis, I found that students used several devices, including storytelling and attacking, to speak about these taboo issues within the classroom.

Gender And Age Considerations In The Relationship Of Frequency Of Nssi And Emotion Regulation In Comparison To Ssi, Kathryn Harrison

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a pervasive problem within our society and has been increasing since the late 1980s. NSSI is the deliberate destruction of body tissue without the intention of suicide. In comparison, suicidal self-injury involves the intention of suicide. A sample of 8-18 year olds (N=519) were studied to explore how differences in age, gender and emotion regulation impacted their engagement in NSSI and SSI. Participants were grouped into NSSI, SSI and control groups. Findings indicated that emotion regulation abilities did not significantly differ between groups, the SSI group were significantly older than both NSSI and control groups, the …

Protective Factors And The Role Of Gender In Childhood Mental Health: Application Of The Interrai Assessment Protocol, Alexandria Lynch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present study examined how a child’s mental health is impacted by protective factors and his/her gender. Resiliency research has been growing in recent years as researchers recognize the value of focusing on strengths in individuals. Previous research has shown that certain protective factors help buffer against the negative effects of mental health disorders differently for males and females. The present study sought to explore this further. The participants were children and youth with severe mental health and behavioural challenges and were drawn from a tertiary care facility and other mental health organizations. The results revealed that the children and …

The Relationship Between Violent Media, Pornography, And Cyber Dating Abuse Among Adolescents, Jessica Sciaraffa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current study examined the relationship between exposure to violent media and pornography, and the perpetration and experience of sexual cyber dating abuse among adolescents. The study also assessed the relationship between violence-tolerant attitudes with dating abuse outcomes, and examined the mediating role of attitudes in the relationship between violent media and pornography consumption and dating abuse perpetration and victimization. Participants were 113 adolescent boys and girls who reported currently being in a romantic relationship or having been in one during the past year. Participants completed an anonymous paper-pencil survey. Results highlighted pornography and gender as risk factors for the …

Resilience Factors In School Youth: Looking Through Gender And Cultural Lenses, Diana Chanthury Saverimuthu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigated resiliency in school youth undergoing the transition to high school. Using the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (Ungar & Liebenberg, 2011), gender and cultural differences in resiliency were examined in senior level elementary school students. Gender differences were not found in global and community resilience scores. Cultural differences could not be investigated in this study because of low statistical power. High school concerns revealed three themes: a) academic concerns; b) social concerns; c) violence concerns. Similarly, high school aspirations revealed three themes: a) academic aspirations; b) social aspirations; c) expansion of world experience. Implications for developing appropriate …

Investigating Sex Positivity: Does Education And Socialization Increase Sexual Satisfaction In Young Adults, Kendall Coffman

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate a proposed association between exposure to sexual education, positive information, and materials, and an individual’s level of comfort, sexual satisfaction, and willingness to discuss sexual topics. This study also looked at the influence of various other variables such as gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status. Undergraduates at a small, private Midwestern college were surveyed with questions regarding the context in which they were exposed to various sexual topics as well as their current levels of sexual satisfaction and willingness to discuss sexual material with a friend, family member, intimate partner, or a stranger. …

Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet

Educational Studies Dissertations

There has been longstanding concern over the seemingly intractable problem of boys’ academic achievement. Despite extensive research, there is little consensus among researchers and educators regarding best practices and approaches in mitigating and remediating the problem. This mixed-methods study sought to illuminate the issue further by focusing on the meaningful lived experiences of six young men aged 18 to 24 who attended and graduated from a central Massachusetts public high school. The study asked participants to reflect through prompted writing upon the stresses and pressures as well as the factors and conditions that affected their abilities to manage their performativities …

The Effect Of Message Framing And Gender On The Likelihood Of Donating Money To The John Carroll University 'Carroll Fund', John P. Fissinger

Senior Honors Projects

Message framing is a strategy many campaign marketers use to make their donating recruitment more effective, and there is a growing interest in research regarding their effectiveness (Buda & Zhang, 2000; Chang 2007; Chang & Lee, 2009, 2010; Das et al., 2008). Several different types of message framing have been investigated in prior research on charitable giving including positive versus negative message-framing and egotistic versus altruistic message-framing. Prior research on applying Kahneman and Tversky‘s Prospect Theory (1981) on positive and negative message framing to charitable donations has indicated negative message-framing is more effective than positive message-framing for securing donations (Chang …

A Good Girl, A Graduate, A Gynecologist, And A Gladiator: A Qualitative Analysis Of Representations Of Women In Four Television Shows, Laura M. Figueroa

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Ironic Masculinity And Femininity: Do Contextual Factors Reverse Attributions Based On Gender Stereotyped Behaviors?, Kenneth S. Michniewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging research highlights the social penalties for men and women who commit cross-gendered behaviors. Here, I examine how and when two contextual mechanisms (competence and credentials) alter people's perceptions of cross-gendered behavior and render actors as less gender-atypical and more gender-typical. In Study 1, I tested the hypothesis that incompetence in cross-gendered behaviors would communicate same-gendered qualities by contrast. In Study 2, I tested the hypothesis that an actor who commits a cross-gendered behavior will receive less gender-inconsistent evaluations if they first demonstrate gender-typical traits. Moreover, Study 2 examines whether or not these credentialed actors change the perception of the …

Racial And Gender Differences In College Completion Among Minority Students: A Social Network Approach, Daneka Natlay Souberbielle

Theses and Dissertations

College enrollment has improved among Black and Latino students during the last several decades due partly to the influence of formal and informal mentors and increasing parental support of higher education. However, college completion for these underrepresented minority groups continues to lag behind graduation rates for White students. This research sought to examine whether pre-college relationships influence college completion. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Freshmen, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of social capital from pre-college networks, including parental capital and mentor capital, race and gender on college completion utilizing logistic regression. The results indicated …

The Ties That Bind: Gender, Race, And Empire In Caribbean Indenture Narratives, Alison Joan Klein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces the ways that oppressive gender roles and racial tensions in the Caribbean today developed out of the British imperial system of indentured labor. Between 1837 and 1920, after slavery was abolished in the British colonies and before most colonies achieved independence, approximately 750,000 laborers, primarily from India and China, traveled to the Caribbean under indenture. This is a critical but under-explored aspect of colonial history, as this immigration dramatically altered the ethnic make up of the Caribbean, the cultural norms and traditions of those who migrated, and the structure of British imperialism. I focus on depictions of …

Sexual Assault And Academic Achievement: Creating More Ideal College Campuses For Sexual Assault Survivors By Taking Into Account Intersectionality And Multiracial Feminism, Kelly Pinter

Dissertations

In this dissertation, the reader will learn about 28 sexual assault survivors' perceptions about educational and criminal justice responses to them after a sexual assault and how these sexual assault survivors perceived how race and ethnicity, income, and gender affect cases differently. Additionally, I explore sexual assault policies that survivors think are working, and those they feel need improvement. I also assess in depth recommendations concerning what education administrators, staff, and advocates can do to assist sexual assault survivors.

Backlash Against Working Mothers, Kala Jean Melchiori

Dissertations

Research by Rudman and colleagues (2012) has detailed how people who defy social stereotypes (called vanguards) experience discriminatory backlash for acting counter-stereotypically. In the present research, I took Rudman's Backlash and Stereotype Maintenance Model (BSMM) and applied it to working women and working mothers. Due to the different content of the stereotypes of working women versus working mothers, I predicted that the process through which perceivers engage in backlash against the two groups is different. I used the theory of Ambivalent Sexism to shape my predictions for how working mothers are vulnerable to different forms of backlash than working women …

Women, Cycling, And The Public Sphere: How Discursive And Community Practices Affect Engagement, Elsa L. Roberts

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This thesis considers the impact that discursive and community practices have on women’s access to the public sphere by examining female cyclists and a cycling community in Miami, Florida via interviews and observation. In the interviews, female cyclists frequently reported fears for their safety, including concern over harassment, when riding in public space. I interviewed participants of the cycling community and observed Emerge Miami’s meetings and events, where publicly organized cycling excursions were a major component. Using the theoretical and methodological lenses of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis and Communities of Practice, I examined the interviews to understand how participants discursively …

Queering The Production Of Sexual Knowledge: Narrative Strategies, Gender Politics And The Promise Of Feminist Focus Groups, Madeline J. Hunsicker

Honors Theses

Dominant public discourses structure our interpretations of sexual acts in decidedly gendered ways, shaping our understandings of sexual experiences and embodiment. As a result, current understandings of term such as “virginity” evoke cultural standards of womanhood, whiteness, monogamy, and tradition that both reflect and reinforce contemporary society’s hetero-patriarchal relations of power. The narratives available for girls and women to make sense of the first sexual experiences are policed by dominant sexual discourses that privilege male pleasure (Kozma, 56-59), which can limit the narratives of actual sexual experiences and subjugate gynogentiric discourses of sexual knowing (Medley-Rath 26). In the absence of …

Growing Up Tween: Femininity, Masculinity, And Coming Of Age, Victoria Velding

Wayne State University Dissertations

The construction and performance of gender reveal conceptions of femininity and masculinity that are exclusive to individuals and groups of individuals. As research suggests, societal gender norms are rooted in heteronormative ideologies suggesting that heterosexuality is ideal, and therefore to appropriately perform dominant femininity and masculinity is to perform heterosexuality. In this dissertation, I expand gender and sexuality knowledge by bridging the two in a population where sexuality studies are sparse: children, and more specifically, tweens. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 tweens (10 female and 10 male) between the ages of 8 and 12 and 15 mothers of tweens. …

Women And Time: Food Work Politics Of Self Defined Healthy Men, Juan Barredo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the way gender operates in relation to time within the food work spectrum discussed in 19 narratives. The 19 narratives came from individual open ended face-to-face interviews with self-defined healthy men who shop at healthy food stores. This study's examination of how gender operates in the narratives was based on how the men constructed their experiences with women and work in relation to time through the food work spectrum. Women mentioned in the sampled narratives taught the men how to shop and eat in a healthy manner but women still did the cooking. Work wise the findings …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

Gender, Instructional Method, And Graduate Social Science Students' Motivation And Learning Strategies, Mae Lynn Spahr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of the current study was to learn how gender and learning method affect motivation and learning strategies in psychology, counseling, and social work graduate students. The variables of gender, learning method, motivation, and learning strategies are used by the self-regulation model to learning and the theory of independent learning to measure a student's academic success. Increasing the knowledge of these variables will be of interest to academic institutions and to the field of educational psychology because little is known about their interaction. The study's design was factorial quasi-experimental; it used a cross sectional survey consisting of a 2 …

Susceptibility To Peer Influence For Engagement In Relational Aggression And Prosocial Behavior: The Roles Of Popular Peers, Stress Physiology, And Gender, Nicole Lin Lafko

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The overall goal of the current study was to determine if perceptions of popular peers' relationally aggressive (PPSRA) and prosocial behaviors (PPSP) were related to engagement in these behaviors in a sample of emerging adults. This study also investigated if these associations were moderated by sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity to peer stress and gender. Although a significant amount of research suggests that aggressive behaviors can be socialized by peers (e.g., Molano, Jones, Brown, & Aber, 2013), there is a dearth of work that has examined relational forms of aggression that tend to be more …

Gender Differences In Risk Factors And Mechanisms For Adolescent Offending, Emma Venell Espel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From 1985 to 2009, the juvenile justice system processed 86% more offending cases for females, with only a 17% rise in male cases (Puzzanchera et al., 2012), highlighting the urgent need for understanding of gender differences in etiological factors of offending. Specifically, there is an essential need to understand mechanisms of the relationship between risk factors and offending behavior. The current work combines two studies with a gender-sensitive approach and an aim to investigate gender differences in a subset of modifiable mechanisms, such as anxiety and impulse control, which link interpersonal risk and offending. The first study tests gender differences …