Digital Commons Network^™

An Ecological Examination Of Dropout Rates And Multiple Level Measures Of Social Integration In Mississippi School Districts 2005-2008: Does Career And Technical Education Play A Part?, Jacob Travis Walker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct an ecological examination of the relationship between social integration and dropout rates at the school and community level, and the role of career and technical education in this relationship. This paper also attempts to determine if this relationship changes depending on how urbanicity is operationalized. This study adds to the existing research concerning the ecological relationships between dropout rates, community social integration, school social integration, and urbanicity in Mississippi. Three-year averaged event dropout rates for 2005-2008, multiple community and school measures of social integration, and three different operationalizations of urbanicity were used. …

A Tri-Disciplinary Analysis Of Religion, Alicia Wallace

Social Sciences

This paper analyzes religion using a multi-disciplinary approach. Studying the Social Sciences exposes one to an opportunity not just to learn a single discipline, but three, and this unique learning experience can teach one to look at the world’s phenomena with a multi-perspective view. Using a tri-disciplinary approach when exploring topics can broaden ones outlook on how there are many ways to explore and investigate a topic in greater detail. By using Anthropological, Sociological and Geographical theoretical perspectives one can understand a topic more fully by using a multi-perspective approach when exploring this diverse world culturally, socially and physically.

Who Is My Neighbor?: Framing Atlanta's Movement To End Homelessness, 1900-2005, William Wyatt Holland

Sociology Dissertations

This study examines framing strategies employed by the social movement responding to homelessness in Atlanta, Georgia over the course of the 20th century. Drawing on archival records, media accounts and interviews with religious, business and government leaders, this longitudinal case study documents the varied casts of individuals and groups responding to the visible poor on the streets of the city. At the forefront of this project were religious groups serving variously as agents of social control or prophets calling for justice. Social movement framing theory, supplemented by resource mobilization and political opportunity theories, are applied to analyze movement processes. Framing …

A Family Home Evening Based Method For Improving Physical Activity Levels In Families, Megan Maughan Wyatt

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of physical inactivity has been recognized as a risk factor for multiple chronic disease conditions in both adults and children. Recently efforts to increase healthy behaviors have been promoted through religious groups (Ken Resnicow et al., 2002). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has a unique program called Family Home Evening (FHE) that could be used to teach and potentially improve physical activity. Six FHE lessons were designed to be taught in 6 consecutive weeks within a family environment. A total of 84 families (parents and children) were recruited for participation. Participating families were randomized …

The Search For The Sacred In Gabrielle Roy, Ann Elizabeth Sumsion

Theses and Dissertations

Many anthropological studies have shown the prevalence of the sacred in primitive societies, manifested primarily in significant gestures such as exchanges, rituals, festivals, and the use of time and space. Some studies, in particular those of Roger Caillois and Mircea Eliade, have demonstrated that traces of the sacred, though seemingly displaced, remain present in modern and secular societies. This thesis will examine and bring to light these remnants of sacred behavior in the contemporary settings of the stories of Gabrielle Roy, focusing primarily on food-sharing, gift-giving, and festivals. Each analysis presented will detail how different aspects of the sacred are …

The Effectiveness Of Religiously Tailored Couple Counseling, Joshua Hook

Theses and Dissertations

Large numbers of couples seek treatment from religious counselors who integrate religion and spirituality (R/S) into counseling. The present dissertation reviewed the literature examining the effectiveness of R/S counseling. Several R/S treatments were helpful in treating psychological problems. There was little evidence that R/S treatments outperformed secular treatments. In Study 1, a nationwide survey was conducted that examined the beliefs of Christian counselors about integrating R/S into couple counseling. Christian counselors (N = 630) completed measures of religious commitment, experience in couple counseling, attitudes toward using religious techniques in couple counseling, and the use of theory in couple counseling. Counselors …

Religion As A Protective Factor In The Severity Of Crimes Committed By Juveniles With Sexually Offending Behavior, Alex Laughrey

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Religion as a protective factor in the severity of crimes committee by juveniles with sexually offending behavior

General Religiosity And Use Of Religious Coping As Predictors Of Treatment Gains For Patients With Schizophrenia And Their Relatives, Eugenio A. Duarte

Open Access Dissertations

While research on religion and severe psychopathology is mixed, the majority of evidence suggests that greater religiosity and greater use of religious forms of coping relate to beneficial psychosocial outcomes for both patients with schizophrenia (Huguelet et al., 2006; Moss et al., 2006) and their family members (Pearce et al., 2006; Roff et al., 2004). However, this data is generally cross-sectional. To date, scant research has longitudinally examined how religious beliefs and practices relate to key indicators of psychosocial outcomes for patients with schizophrenia and their relatives. This study used a White and Hispanic sample of 41 patients with schizophrenia …

Religion, Spirituality And Clinical Practice : An Exploration Of Practical Applications, Julia E. Gallichio

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to elicit clinicians' perspectives and practices with religion and spirituality in clinical practice. Recent social work researchers note the roots of social work in spirituality and believe it can reinvigorate social work practice. Four focus groups were conducted in three different geographical locations with clinicians who included social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It was found that the clinicians believed that including spirituality in practice benefits the client either in secular or sectarian ways. The application of spiritual practices varied widely. The majority of participants in this study reported the use of mindfulness and meditation …

Juvenile Sex Offenders' Therapeutic Alliance : The Intricate Dynamics Of Alliance In Relation To Attachment, Trauma, And Religion, Rian Michelle Bovard-Johns

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Therapeutic alliance is the most influential predictor of successful treatment with trans-theoretical capacity. Alliance is directly influenced by client variables which are unique to clinical context. Initial research has evidenced the effectiveness of alliance with adult sex offenders and delinquent youth. The present study extends research, incorporating variables unique to juvenile sex offenders in corrections facilities. Predominant client variables of trauma symptoms and attachment patterns are measured for 332 adjudicated male sex offenders' alliance with staff. The results reveal a significant relationship (F =8.7, DF =171, p <.000) between youths' attachment to peers and communication with fathers that positively predicts alliance and that anxiety based on trauma negatively predicts alliance. Implications future research and treatment are provided.

Assessing The Benefits Of Practicing Spirituality Or Religion While Incarcerated : A Study Of Formerly Incarcerated Men In Texas, Jana Lynn Wu

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explored former prisoners' beliefs regarding the benefits of practicing spirituality or religion during their time of incarceration. The prison population is seldom included in mainstream research studies. Additionally, a personal relationship to religion and spirituality is a difficult phenomenon to quantify in a standardized and formulaic way. This research sought to explore if spirituality or religion can be considered a protective factor during a time of incarceration. This study was conducted with face-to-face interviews, using both demographic and narrative questions. A qualitative, flexible research method design was used to gather and analyze data from 13 former male …

The Tractarian Penny Post'S Early Years (1851–1852): An Upper-Class Effort "To Triumph In The Working Man's Home", Kellyanne Ure

Theses and Dissertations

The Penny Post (1851–1896), a religious working-class magazine, was published following a critical time for the Oxford Movement, a High Church movement in the Church of England. The Oxford Movement's ideas were leaving the academic atmosphere of Oxford and traveling throughout the local parishes, where the ideals of Tractarian teachings met the harsh realities of practice and the motivations and beliefs of the working-class parishioners. The upper-class paternalistic ideologies of the Oxford Movement were not reflected in the parishes, and the working-classes felt distanced from their place in religious worship. The Penny Post was published and written by Tractarian clergymen …

Interrelations Among Personality, Religious And Nonreligious Coping, And Mental Health, Jude Martin Henningsgaard

Dissertations

Religion's involvement in the coping process remains an underexplored area of coping research despite most psychologists agreeing that religion is integral to this process for many individuals. Interestingly, there is some disagreement among psychologists regarding whether religious coping can be "reduced" to nonreligious coping (Siegel, Anderman, & Schrimshaw, 2001). To better understand how religious and nonreligious coping contribute uniquely to the prediction of mental health outcomes, the study's first and second goals were to determine the incremental validity of each type of coping, above and beyond the other. The study's third goal was to determine whether select coping strategies mediated …

The Treatment Of The Monotheistic Religions In World History High School Textbooks: A Comparison Of Sample Editions 2001--2007, Jason Eugene Allen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This study examines the treatment of the three most practiced monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, within the pages of High School World History Textbooks. The results find that within World History textbooks Christianity and Islam receive more coverage than Judaism in narrative content, word usage, illustrations, and questions presented. Christianity receives the greatest amount of narrative content in all textbooks studied whereas Islam has portrayals that highlight the spiritual aspects of the religion to a greater extent than do Christianity and Judaism. Judaism received the least amount of coverage of the three religions. Very little is presented concerning the …

Overcoming The Challenges: Toward A Truly Theistic Psychology?, Brent S. Melling

Theses and Dissertations

Several psychologists have attempted to articulate a theistic psychology or one consonant with their religious beliefs. Unfortunately, confusion over the concept of theism and a persistent naturalism in the discipline create substantial obstacles towards achieving a serious theistic psychology. It is suggested that these challenges can be overcome through examining alternative philosophies and methodologies for scientific psychology, exploring seminal articulations of God's activity, and providing a practical example of a theistic psychological research program.

We're Friends, Let's Talk: Religion, Self-Disclosure And Managing The Openness And Closedness Dialectic In Friendships, Sonia Lisette Gomez

Communication ETDs

The present study investigates college students perceptions of the appropriate self-disclosure strategies endorsed when disclosing religiosity. Because self-disclosure patterns can be influenced by whom we are talking to and our estimation of the response, this project also examined friendship levels (i.e., close friend, friend, and acquaintance), the friend's view of religion (i.e., favorable or unfavorable), and the subject's own commitment to religion, to determine if they influenced a religious person's self-disclosure strategy. Based on Relational Dialectics theory, an original instrument, the Self-Disclosure Strategies Questionnaire (SDSQ) was used to measure participant's endorsement of five self-disclosure strategies. The five self-disclosure dimensions evaluated …

L‘Acceptation D'Un Compromis De Démocratie En France Pour La Promotion De Laïcité, Kaitlyn Elizabeth O’Connor

Honors Theses

It is common practice for democracies to institute a policy which separates church and state as a means of ensuring religious freedom for the general population yet it can be argued that France institutes their policy of secularism more militantly and forcefully than many other liberal democracies. Laïcité has affected many different aspects of French policy since its beginnings in 1880s. With the start of the new millennium there have been many discussions on a variety of issues relating to laïcité including religious symbols in public schools and the segregation of public housing. The French government claims that its policy …

Religiousness, Coping, And Locus Of Control As Predictors Of Anxiety., Rebecca Brooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In order to evaluate the cognitive appraisal and meaning-making components of the Transactional Model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and Meaning-making Model (Park & Folkman, 1997) of coping, several specific forms of appraisal and coping strategies were analyzed in the present study. It has been proposed that religiousness and time influence the meaning-making process (Park, 2005); therefore, an interaction of intrinsic religiousness and time were key variables in the study as well. A survey designed to address relationships among locus of control, type of situation, intrinsic religious orientation, specific coping styles, and maladaptive psychological symptoms was administered to 240 students of …

Congregation Activism In The Community: A Study Of Faith-Based Leadership, Jensen Harry Shirley Edd

Dissertations

Policymakers have acted as if the federal government was the prime mover in developing and supporting American communities with significant needs. That assumption is now being challenged not only by politicians who recommend funding faith-based initiatives, but also by scholars who make the case for giving the nation's churches a central role in tackling community problems, including problems associated with poverty (Boddie, 2003). These scholars point out that, with over 300,000 congregations in America, faith-based organizations are strategically located in the community to address community needs (Boddie, 2003). As government services devolve to the community level, these scholars argue, congregations …

In The Name Of God, Sharon Mccusker

Art and Design Theses

This exhibition is a direct response to my own religious upbringing. I chose to explore the oppression upon women, gays and people of color by religious intolerance. The Church dictates social and political mores that affect our society and culture and the way we are treated and governed. The use of the bible and conservative belief structures to defend the ill manner in which we are treated should not be ordained in today’s social construct. In the Name of god addresses issues from the Inquisition to the current war for control over women’s bodies and our reproductive systems. By revisiting …

Penn State: Symbol And Myth, Gary G. Desantis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on the popular culture iconography of the Pennsylvania State University: the Nittany Lion-as a symbol and apolitical mascot; Happy Valley, the geographic area in which the university is located, as a kind of sacred place and utopia in the Keystone State; football-its hallowed shrines, legendary coaches, and heroic players; regional foods and delicacies-from the unique offerings of the area's diners to the University Creamery (where patrons yearly consume more than 750,000 ice cream cones); and Lion Shrine and the adjacent Nittany Lion Inn-where the faithful have made pilgrimages since the early-twentieth century. The sum of these …

Religion, The Law And The Human Rights Of Women In The Middle East: A Quantitative Analysis, Tyra Murielle Bouhamdan

Political Science Theses

The human rights of women in The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been a subject of unresolved debate among sociologists, economists, and political scientists alike, as this region’s gender related human rights performance remains uniquely weaker compared to other geographic regions in the world. Most notably, the human rights of women in the region have been lagging in the area of family law. The following paper assesses gender inequity in the MENA region from a legal perspective, with a focus on family law and legal pluralism, and with the intent to shed light on domestic legal institutions as …

Theology, Spirituality, And The Academic Study Of Religion In Public Universities, Don Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether the secular institutions of American higher education should address students questions of meaning, purpose, wisdom, and human destiny. That is, it investigates the place of the normative analysis of religious experience and behavior within the public university. I use the work of Ninian Smart, Russell T. McCutcheon and Ivan Strenski to illustrate the case against the inclusion of theology and spirituality in the academic study of religion. In their view, theology is at best an artifact, like ritual or religious art and not an academic discipline. Conversely, I use the work of Paul Tillich, John Dunne, …

When Corporate Policies And Consumer Values Collide: Examining The Relationship Between Religion And Controversial Business Decisions, Krist R. G. Swimberghe

Doctoral Dissertations

Religion appears to play a very important role in people's lives in the United States. Some companies, however, continue to make business decisions which appear to be contrary to the value systems of a majority of consumers in the United States. Although past descriptive research has confirmed that religiousness influences consumers' and marketing managers' ethical judgments of their own behavior, this research has not explored the influence of religion in the buyer-seller dyad. To fill this gap in the consumer behavior literature, this study uses the Hunt-Vitell theory of ethics to help explain how consumers' religiosity influences their ethical judgments …

Broadening The Spectrum: The Religious Dimensions Of The Rainbow Gatherings, Seth M. Walker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to specifically address the religious dimensions of the Rainbow Gatherings. The fundamental question directing this analysis is: "Are the Rainbow Gatherings religious in character?" This thesis specifically asks whether or not the Rainbow Gatherings satisfy certain identifiable features of religion, and if doing so, do they qualify as a form of religion? I engage this question by analyzing the Rainbow Gatherings in terms of two particular definitions of religion: Clifford Geertz's "functional" definition and Bryan R. Wilson's "substantive" definition. This allows me to analyze the Rainbow Gatherings from the perspective of the two major …

French Laïcité And The Popularity Of The Pacs, Ashley Gaylene Trupp Mattson

Theses and Dissertations

Civil unions are currently a divisive issues in the United States. Religion has historically influenced these debates. The French version of civil union, the Pacte Civil de Solidarité (Pacs,) was created in 1999 after seven years of debate. Many have written about the Pacs in the last decade. However, few have explored the direct correlations with France's relationship with Catholicism, her dominant religion that is doctrinally opposed to any sexual relationships outside of marriage. Laïcité has influenced a steady decrease in religiosity among French Catholics. This thesis explores the impact of this religious decline on the creation and surprising popularity …

The Sewanee Football Narrative: Christianity, Southern Honor, And Intercollegiate Football At The University Of The South, 1890--1899, J W. Bozzi

Master's Theses and Capstones

By the turn of the twentieth century, intercollegiate football had developed a loyal following throughout the United States; however, since the game originated and rose to prominence in New England, national attention generally remained focused on the Northeast. As a consequence, historians of early collegiate sport have almost exclusively focused upon Yale, Harvard, and a handful of Northeastern colleges, and have promulgated the idea that football in the nineteenth century supported the ideals of northern industrialism. This limited view fails to recognize the fact that as a cultural text, football told a story that was interpreted by many different groups, …

John Robinson: The Man They Would Not Let Us Forget, Kathleen C. Beliveau

Master's Theses and Capstones

Very little is known of John Robinson. This paper endeavors to partially remedy this problem. In order to attempt such a significant project a variety of works were consulted.

While there is very little information about Robinson's first eighteen years, we can piece together insight from the times in which he lived. Further clues come from his own writings while the reminiscences of those who knew him offer additional insight.

Secondary writings include authors such as the late O.S. Davis, William Wallace Fenn, and Perry Miller. Contemporary authors encompass Stephen Brachlow, Timothy George, and Keith Sprunger. A few pictures have …

Prodigal Sons: Indigenous Missionaries In The British Atlantic World, 1640--1780, Edward E. Andrews

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the hundreds of black and Native American preachers who worked as Christian missionaries in the early modern British Atlantic world. While scholars have generally accepted the convention that most missionaries were white Europeans who knew little about the native peoples they were trying to convert, there were practical and theological explanations for why native preachers not only became ubiquitous, but often outnumbered their white counterparts in Protestant missions. The language barrier, the opportunity to tap into extensive kinship networks, and early modern interpretations of black and Indian bodies all catalyzed the formation of an indigenous evangelical corps …

Religio-Political Groups And The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, Catherine Ruth Orsborn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a quagmire of interests working against one another. In this paper, I explore the specific role of religio-political groups in the conflict. I particularly examine the ideological political and religious foundations of Gush Emunim and Hamas, paying much attention to the question of why they are attractive to people in our current era. I argue that these groups are continuously effective in opposing the current quest for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and that they continue to grow as the result of an identity crisis brought about by factors related to globalization and the failure …