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A Comparison Of Service Delivery Options In The State Of Illinois For Students With Behavior Disorders, 1987 To 1995, Shelli K. Jennings

Masters Theses

This study was a replication (Hipple, 1987) designed to ascertain the utilization of a service delivery continuum in the State of Illinois for students with behavior disorders. Responses were randomly solicited from teachers in various-sized community unit school districts throughout the state and compared according to the size of the teachers' school district. The findings were then compared to those from the original study. The results from this study revealed nine significant variables when statistically comparing the grouped responses of teachers according to the size of the district: (a) the teachers' levels of education, (b) the teachers' employer (school district …

A Survey Of At-Risk Students Enrolled In Beck Area Vocational Center's Optional Education Program, Robert D. Knutson

Masters Theses

The main purpose of this field experience was to survey students who participated in Beck Area Vocational Center's Optional Education Program (OEP) in Red Bud, Illinois, to data needed to construct a profile of the typical at-risk youth within a 50-mile radius of Beck. This, in turn, would set the stage for the construction and implementation of an instrument that might be used to identify other potential at-risk youth at the high school level in the area.

The 71 students in the survey were asked to respond to survey questions that had been deemed successful in distinguishing dropouts from non-dropouts. …

Religiosity, Fears Of Personal Death, And The Acceptability Of Suicide Within Reformed, Conservative, And Orthodox Jews, Lawrence B. Stein

Masters Theses

One hundred and fifty adults completed the Gladding, Lewis, and Adkins Scale of Religiosity (GLASR), Fears of Personal Death Scale (FPDS), and the Suicide Acceptability Scale (SAS) to investigate the relationships between religiosity, fears of personal death, and suicide acceptability within the Reformed, Conservative, and Orthodox Jewish denominations. Differences between the Jewish denominations were detected such that Orthodox Jews were less fearful of transpersonal death than Conservative individuals. However, no differences existed between Jewish denominations for interpersonal or intrapersonal fears of death. Results also indicate that Reformed Jews were less religious and more accepting of suicide than Orthodox individuals with …

Can We Talk?: Gender And Age Differences In Self-Disclosure Among Close Friends, Nancy Curtin Alwardt

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of The Process Of Transition To Middle School Concepts In Illinois Lead Middle Schools, Janice L. Alka

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study was to analyze the implementation process of middle level practices in selected Illinois middle schools. The result of the study will be of assistance to middle school staff members attempting to make the transition to middle level practices.

The researcher found theorists have agreed that middle level schools, regardless of their location, should consist of grades 6-8. The schools needed to open as middle schools or change slowly to middle school practices. The first steps in the transition process should include teachers attending conferences, workshops, or inservices on middle school practices. The research showed that …

Middle School Tutoring Practices In Illinois, Kim Lin Johnston

Masters Theses

Districts must provide successful cost-effective programs for students who are failing. One method that has proven both cost effective and successful is tutoring by staff, community volunteers, and students. The study investigated the tutoring practices in 45 schools and large unit districts in Illinois. As implemented, neither peer nor cross-age tutoring followed a predictable pattern. Results indicated that the most comon type of tutoring was after-school with remedial activities focusing on math and reading and taught by certified staff. The study described some of the design and administrative features that shape the programs, discussed possible implications for minority constituencies, and …

Gratification Changes Among Country Music Radio Listeners, Larry E. Oathout

Masters Theses

Several past studies explore the gratifications received by mass media users. However, no former research focuses on radio as a single medium and investigates how gratifications change over a person's lifespan. This study utilized an altered version of Elliott and Quattlebaum's (1979) ten media gratification list and questioned a 14 to 60 year old sample group about the gratifications they receive from country music radio. The researcher selected country music because it is the most popular radio format today and because it provided the wide age parameters needed for the study. Two hundred and thirty-nine users of an Internet country …

Effects Of Labeling Bias On Prognostic Outlook For Children With Behavior Problems, Julie D. Fox

Masters Theses

Labeling bias refers to biases that might occur toward a person who has a particular label. This study investigated the effects of labeling bias on prognostic outlook for children as a function of diagnostic labels. School psychologists, regular and special education teachers, and introductory psychology students read a vignette that described a child with behavior problems. The vignette was held constant for all participants, but one of four labels (conduct disordered, socially maladjusted, serious emotionally disturbed, no exceptionality) was varied at the end of the vignette. Respondents then estimated the child's likelihood of future success in interpersonal relationships, the likelihood …

A New Sense Of Time In Female Development: Linearity And Cyclicity In Atwood's Surfacing And Cat's Eye, Diana L. Unes

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Achievement Assessment Techniques: Their Frequency Of Use, Perceived Importance, And Relation To Job Satisfaction, Robin L. Chesnut

Masters Theses

A random sample of Nationally Certified School psychologists was surveyed to determine the current academic achievement assessment practices of school psychologists. Frequency of administration and importance of standardized achievement tests, interviews, observations and work sample collection was determined. Further, knowledge of, experience with, and future plans to develop skills in alternative achievement assessment areas was examined. Job satisfaction was investigated and its relationship to involvement with alternative assessment measures. Results indicate that assessment activities still consume about half (45%) of school psychologists' time followed by consultation (22%), and treatment (18%). Informal assessment techniques such as child, teacher, and parent interviews; …

Treatment Acceptability By Label And Role, Larry D. Fairbanks

Masters Theses

This study examined differences in ratings of treatment acceptability among groups of individuals who are often involved in the recommendation, selection, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral interventions in the educational setting; teachers, school psychologists, and school social workers. An analogue-type study was conducted, utilizing a written case description of a 3rd grader exhibiting a problem behavior, a written case description of an intervention applied to that problem behavior, and a 15-item instrument utilized in rating treatment acceptability (IRP-15) . Also varied in the study was a label (LD, BD, ADD) placed on the student in the vignette, and intervention type …

A Preliminary Study In The Design Of A Stress Inventory For Gifted Students: A Factor Analysis Of Potential Items, David Kinkade

Masters Theses

Items were designed for potential utilization in a stress inventory for gifted students. Two types of items were written; the first assessing stressful life events and situations, the second assessing coping ability. Both sets of items were administered to gifted students (N = 162) currently enrolled in the seventh and eighth grades. A principle components factor analysis with a varimax rotation was performed on both sets of items separately. The first set produced a four factor solution. The factors which emerged were identified as self-concept of giftedness, positive gifted programming, negative aspects of the gifted label, and performance pressure. The …

Assessment Of Attitudes Towards The Elderly Using The Senior Apperception Technique And The Aging Semantic Differential, Richard D. Yao

Masters Theses

Responses to the Senior Apperception Technique, SAT, a projective technique featuring drawings of elderly people, have been little investigated. In this study a subset of SAT cards were administered to college undergraduates in a group setting and responses were scored on the dimensions of general emotional tone and outcome. The Aging Semantic Differential was also administered. Two hypotheses were generated based on the literature: 1) that males would tend to have a more negative attitude towards the elderly than do females and 2) responses to the SAT would generally have a negative emotional tone as well as negative outcomes. Neither …

Burnout Among Master's Level Mental Health Practitioners, Brenda K. Greeson

Masters Theses

Seventy-eight master's level mental health practitioners completed survey materials including the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Psychologist's Burnout Inventory (PBI), and a demographic and job satisfaction questionnaire modified for this study from a 1994 study of school psychologists (Niebrugge, 1994). The random sample of community mental health centers selected to receive survey materials came from a list obtained from the Illinois Department of Mental Health (DMH). Results suggested that symptoms of burnout frequently occur among this group of clinicians, regardless of their disciplinary training. A relationship between burnout and job-related stressors (e.g., feeling a lack of control in the work …

The Effect Of Depression On A Lexical Decision Task, Elizabeth A. Richtfort

Masters Theses

Sixteen depressed and sixteen non-depressed college aged participants completed a lexical decision task containing cognitive triad word - negative word pairs, cognitive triad word - positive word pairs, cognitive triad word - nonword pairs, categorically related pairs, neutral word - neutral word pairs, and neutral word - nonword pairs. Following the lexical decision task, the participants performed a surprise recall task. The depressed participants were expected to recognize the negative words as words more quickly than the positive words and recall a higher percentage of negative words than positive words. These results were not found. All participants responded to the …

Behind The Smokescreen: Perceptions Of R. J. Reynolds And Their Advocacy Ads, Jean M. Tripp

Masters Theses

This study sought to gauge whether advocacy advertisements produced by R. J. Reynolds would affect people's perception of the company, and whether these perceptions would differ between males and females. Subjects were 29 male and 41 female professionals and businesspersons, all members of a professional business organization. Subjects completed a two part survey after reading an advocacy ad produced by R. J. Reynolds. Quantitative information was gathered through the use of a Likert-type scale in Part 1 of the survey; in Part 2 respondents answered open-ended questions. Results indicated that respondents viewed the ads negatively, believing they were biased and …

The Relationship Between Internship Training And Perceived Preparedness To Practice In School Psychology, Mary Patricia Krones

Masters Theses

The relationship between school psychologist internship training and perceived preparedness to practice was investigated. Ninety-two school psychologists who completed their internship in Illinois completed a survey asking them to rate their internship experience and indicate how well these experiences prepared them to be a school psychologist. Overall, participants reported they were moderately to well prepared to be school psychologists, although variability was noted among individual items. Intellectual assessment, report writing, academic achievement assessment and psychoeducational diagnosis received the highest mean ratings for exposure and adequacy. Psychologists felt most prepared for working with the kindergarten through high school age population, those …

The Influence Of Gender And Sex Role Orientation On The Perceived Effectiveness Of Therapist Self-Disclosure, Dena Fennell

Masters Theses

The present study examined the influence of therapist gender and subject sex role orientation on theperceived effectiveness of therapist self-disclosure. Subjects were 207 female college students who read written vignettes of a mock therapist discussing interpersonal issues in an initial therapy session. Therapist gender and disclosure level (negative versus no disclosure) were manipulated; ratings of perceived attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness were measured by the Counselor Rating Form (Barak & Lacrosse, 1975), and subject sex role orientation was measured by the Bern Sex Role Inventory (Bern, 1974). Results indicate that male therapists who negatively self-disclose are perceived as more trustworthy than …

Investigation Of The Relationship Between Language & Mathematics In Regards To Problem Solving, Heather A. Grant

Masters Theses

While previous research has established language as a component of mathematical performance (Kintsch, 1988; Simon, 1985), none have identified a relationship between language and mathematics. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between language and mathematical abilities, specifically problem solving abilities and concept knowledge.

The subjects consisted of 29 fifth-grade students selected from an elementary school in central Illinois. These students were not receiving special education services. Each subject was administered the Test of Problem Solving (Zachman, et al., 1984) to assess the subjects' ability to utilize reasoning skills and expressive language to solve situational problems; and The WORD …

Gender Differences In Cognitive Ability Of Children With Hearing Impairment On The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children-3rd Edition, Damian D. Jones

Masters Theses

This research thesis investigates possible gender differences of deaf children on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.). The Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD) in Jacksonville, Illinois collated the standard scores of the five standard WISC-III Performance scale subtests and the Performance IQ of 25 students attending ISD. To examine gender differences on the Performance scale subtests and the Performance IQ's, a series of oneway-analyses of variance was calculated. No significant differences were noted on any comparison. A hypothesis that gender differences would occur was not confirmed. The results are discussed with respect to the intellectual assessment of …

An Analysis Of Personal Pronouns In Middle English Literary Texts, Melissa Jill Bennett

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the evolution of personal pronouns from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries, with a particular focus upon the southern literary dialects of that era. The baseline text for this analysis is the Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood, although Bright's paradigm of Anglo-Saxon pronouns is also employed. The Owl and the Nightingale (circa 1200), The Fox and the Wolf (circa 1275), Piers Plowman (circa 1375), and Parliament of Fowls (circa 1375) are used to illustrate the changes in the forms of the pronouns over four centuries, Chaucer's Parliament serving to represent the emerging London standard. …

Factors Associated With Underachievement In Eighth-Grade Children, Barbara A. Moore

Masters Theses

This study investigated characteristics of underachieving adolescents. The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS; Hieronymous, et al., 1990) and grade point averages provided the basis for selection of 83 eighth grade students into achiever and underachiever groups. Results indicated that underachievement was significantly related to males, number of absences, and number of discipline referrals, but not to race and notice of special education records. Overall self-esteem, as measured by the Self-Esteem Index (SEI; Brown & Alexander, 1991), and the subscale measure of perceptions of weak academic competence were positively related to level of underachievement/overachievement. Composite measure of behavioral/emotional problems, as …

The Relationship Between Codependency, Alcoholism, And The Family Of Origin, William Ansara

Masters Theses

This study examined the relationship between the construct of codependency, family alcohol consumption patterns, degree of family dysfunction, and gender. It was proposed that codependent behaviors, feelings, and attitudes would be present in persons regardless of the reported degree of family alcohol abuse if dysfunctional patterns of relating exsisted in the family of origin. It was further hypothesised that women would evidence higher codependency scores than males in all groups. The Spann-Fischer codependency assessment instrument was use to measure subjects feelings and attitudes. Subjects were divided into four groups based on their report of family dysfunction and family alcohol consumption …

Personality Variables Of Adult Children Of Alcoholics In A Treatment Sample As Measured By The Personality Research Form-E, Tamara K. Young

Masters Theses

There has been much personality research in the area of Adult Children of Alcoholics with varying results. This study examines personality variables in archival data of alcoholic clients in a residential treatment center with the use of the Personality Research Form-E (Jackson, 1984). A comparison was made between groups of non-ACOA clients and those with alcoholic parents in the areas of aggression, defendence, dominance and desirability. No significant differences were found between groups. Two other hypotheses were generated concerning male participants only. No significant differences were found for the trait of autonomy; however, male ACOA alcoholic participants were found to …

Gender, Waking Personality, And Sexual Behavior In Dreams, Jeffery W. Willis

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.