Digital Commons Network^™

Change In Family And Peer Adverse Life Circumstances In Relation To Juvenile Firesetting, Patrick A. Roberts

Master's Theses and Capstones

Juvenile firesetting is a major problem causing millions of dollars worth of damage each year, and yet there is very little know about it. In order to address this lack of knowledge the present study examined the relationship between adverse life events and juvenile firesetting behavior. This relationship was examined using a sample of students from 17 public and 10 private schools in Southern Australia (2105 males, 1629 females). Data were collected from the students during grade 8 (mean age of 13) using the Youth Assessment Checklist, and again during grades 9 and 10.

Adverse life events were found to …

"My Parents Made Me Do It!" Parental Influences On Self-Handicapping: Athletes' Perceptions And Goal Orientation, Kristina L. Moore

Master's Theses and Capstones

As socializers, parents provide and interpret experiences which ultimately influence achievement beliefs and behaviors in their children. Eccles' Expectancy-Value model (Eccles & Harold, 1991), the model of parental influences on motivation and achievement (Eccles et. al., 1998) and Achievement Goal Theory (Nicholls, 1989) provide the theoretical framework for this study. The investigation explored the relationships between athlete goal orientations, perceptions of parental self-handicapping, perceptions of parental goal orientations and athlete tendency to employ self-handicapping. Adolescent soccer athletes (N=134) completed the 14-item Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS) and the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ), as well as adapted versions of …

Rural Low-Income Mothers' Experiences With Foster Care, Talia Jennie Glesner

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study explores the grief experiences, parental views, supports, and barriers of 22 rural low-income mothers with children in foster care. The family ecology perspective framed the research. T-tests were utilized in a quantitative analysis comparing depression and parental support and confidence between mothers with children in placement and children not in placement.

Results indicated that the differences in mean depression scores were statistically significant between the participants and the control group. Depressive symptoms were found to be much more prevalent in mothers with children in placement than mothers with children not in placement.

The differences in mean scores between …

Talking About Abortion: A Qualitative Examination Of Women's Abortion Experiences, Diana L. Dumais

Master's Theses and Capstones

The sociological literature on women's responses to the experience of abortion is remarkably sparse. This thesis seeks to contribute to redressing that research gap. I use semi-structured, in-depth interviews with twenty women from relatively diverse social backgrounds who have had abortions to explore the range of factors that they saw as being influential in their abortion decision and experience. Although the ages and the family circumstances of the women interviewed varied, and although some had more than one abortion, nevertheless, common themes emerged in their accounts of their abortion experiences. Among the most salient influences on my interviewees' experiences was …

Television Exposure, Feelings Of Fear And Confidence In The United States Government: Is The Government Using Media To Create A Culture Of Fear?, Janine Marie Soule

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study examines the relation between television media and fear as it pertains to the trust or confidence in the United States government. Using the fundamental hypothesis of cultivation theory (i.e., heavy viewers of television are more likely to believe that the world is a "mean and scary" place), the relation between the amount of television one watches, one's corresponding level of fear, and one's level of confidence in each branch of the United States federal government is examined. It is hypothesized that fear will have a mediating effect on the relation between heavy television consumption and respondents' confidence in …