Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of The Relationship Between The Type Of Parent Involvement And High School Student Engagement, Academic Achievement, Attendance, And Attitude Toward School, Carmen Philip Mombourquette

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Parents are being encouraged to be actively involved in the educational lives of their children, including the lives of their adolescent high school students. Governments in both Canada and the United States are even mandating parent involvement as a means to achieve increased student performance. Type of parent involvement in the lives of adolescent high school students and its relationship to student performance factors of student engagement, academic achievement, attendance, and attitude toward school was studied so as to provide high school administrators with the knowledge set necessary to offer advice to the parent community.

This study found that there …

An Assessment Of The Hiv Prevention Needs Of Injection Drug Users In Montana, Nancy Mae Cunningham

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to assess HIV prevention needs of individuals living in Montana who use injection drugs (IDUs). Gaps between prevention needs and services were identified and recommendations for overcoming the barriers to accessing and implementing treatment needs and services were offered.
A qualitative case study approach was used. Data collection methods included: 1) IDU interviews, 2) Key Informant interviews, and 3) Documentation collection and archival record retrieval.
IDUs represented a wide range of demographic variables. While people of both genders, a variety of sexual orientations, ethnicities, educational levels, incomes and employment statuses participated in the interviews, …

Bishopness, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The publication of "Edgar Allen Poe & the Juke-Box" modifies Elizabeth Bishop’s established oeuvre in ways that demonstrate the anxiety throughout her work regarding the concealment of sexual difference—a concealment she often takes part in. As the poems reveal, by putting emphasis on particular kinds of clothing, Bishop emphasizes the necessary—but flawed—methods for that concealment. Black stockings, gloves, sailors hats, and other garments of traditional gender representation work as useful metaphors, symbolically engaging the construction of the literary image accepted in the academy which has produced the unified notion of “Bishopness” some critics still wish to uphold. When themes of …

The Relationship Between Level Of Empathy And Stress Contagion, Heather Lynn Kirby

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Although potential benefits associated with social support are well documented, it is also the case that social networks expose an individual to the stressful life events of others. Studies have shown that the stressful life events of others are positively related to negative affect. It has been theorized by several researchers that relationships between, for example, stressful life events of others and negative affect are evidence of a stress contagion process that may occur through empathy. The current study addressed this idea by testing whether the positive relationship that exists between network stress and depressive symptoms varied dependent upon (ie. …

Jeg Gikk Meg Over Sjo Og Land: A Journey For The Future Into The Past, Stephanie Jeane White

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using Scandinavian immigrant culture as a backdrop, this project presents an integrated multiple intelligences approach to teaching Kindergarten and elementary school students about their music, history, and cultural inheritance. The paper describes eight themes that formed the framework of the eight-week music curriculum used in the project. Examples of the children’s artwork and creative writing are included in the work. The author concludes that raising children’s awareness of a single specific culture through their music, dance, art, and food preferences stimulates the children’s curiosity about their own heritage resulting in increased communication with their family members and greater self-knowledge. The …

Examining The Variability In The Long Term Adjustment Of Child Sexual Abuse Victims, Heather Marie Ulrich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Two meta-analyses (Rind, Tromovitch & Bauserman, 1998; Ulrich, Randolph, & Acheson, 2006) have suggested that the long held belief about the inevitable pervasive negative effects of child sexual abuse does not hold for college populations. The meta-analyses suggest that there is other factors in sexual abuse victims' lives that interact with their abuse experience to produce the sometimes-observed minimal long-term effects on psychological adjustment. This research attempted to examine a potential model for explaining the variability in the long-term effects of child sexual abuse by examining both moderator variables and abuse characteristics within the same population. The study examined three …

The Impact Of Peer Discussion Groups On The Recreational Reading Of Seventh Grade Students, Dana Haring

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Recreational reading is declining. The decline starts early in elementary school and rapidly accelerates during adolescence. Adolescent literacy is impacted on many fronts, including various factors in psychological, emotional, intellectual, academic, and social development. Because social factors and emotional factors are especially relevant in the study of adolescents and their recreational reading, these elements were integrated in this quasi-experimental research.
This study was designed to answer the following research question: if given the choice of what to read and time with peers to discuss their reading, will seventh grade students spend more time reading? The sample of 117 seventh grade …

Drug Use, Mental Health And Encounters With The Legal System In Missoula County, Samantha Renee Cumley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

It has been well documented in the criminological literature that drug use and crime co-occur (Eilliot, Huizinga and Ageton 1985, Goldstein 1985). Data from the Missoula Arrestee Drug Use Monitoring Study were used to investigate the relationships between drug use, treatment experiences, encounters with the legal system and amenability. It was hypothesized that substance use and dependence would predict encounters with the legal system. It was also hypothesized that treatment experiences would predict lower drug and alcohol dependency scores and fewer encounters with the legal system. Additionally, substance dependence and encounters with the legal system were expected to predict high …

Small Robe Band Of Blackfeet: Ethnogenesis By Social And Religious Transformation, Linda Matt Juneau

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

One of the most significant challenges facing Native Americans and their indigenous identity is a greater understanding of the historical complexity of relationships that interconnected ethnically diverse populations across geographic landscapes. This thesis examines the range of Blackfoot political, social, economic structures, spiritual beliefs, and practices that were in place at the time of Euro-American contact. I use historically documented evidence of transformations that took place from the beginning of the fur trade era through the reservation era. Through the theoretical lens of ethnogenesis I use a case study of the Small Robe (Inuck’siks) band of the South Piegan of …

Renewal, Clara Sharon Mclane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper documents the process of completing a Creative Project in Integrated Arts and Education. The project has two distinct arms: one, to develop a teaching unit on illustration, and two, to renew my artistic identity by producing and exhibiting artworks after a twenty-seven year hiatus. The third part of the paper lays a philosophical foundation for the rest. The Illustration Unit was successfully researched, developed, taught and revised, and is available as a PowerPoint presentation. Thirteen artworks were successfully completed and exhibited—the paper details my process and techniques. I realized my goal by taking my place as a professional …

The Diaspora Of Korean Children: A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Educational Crisis In Contemporary South Korea, Young-Ee Cho

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The diaspora of Korean children first started after the Korean War in the 1950s. Abandoned by their impoverished mothers and shunned by society, many orphan children were sent abroad for adoption, which was the best, if not the only, available solution at the time. Half a century later, South Korea today is no longer a desperately poor country, and yet an increasing number of young children are still being sent abroad. The exodus of children, termed as the diaspora of Korean children in this study, is an out-of-country solution chosen by both students and parents in response to an educational …

Disrupted Conventions: Gender Roles In Mildred Walker's The Curlew's Cry And Winter Wheat, Pandora Andre-Beatty

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis, I discuss the significance of gender in Mildred Walker’s novels The Curlew’s Cry and Winter Wheat. Walker wrote and situates both narratives in Montana, supporting my argument that literature of the American West remains a productive area for examining gender roles. The Curlew’s Cry is set at the closing of the American frontier in the early 20th century, while Winter Wheat is set during the settled agricultural era of the 1940s. I argue that instead of re-enforcing gender stereotypes commonly found in novels set in the American West during and after the white settlement of the plains, …

A Revision Of Family And Domesticity In Michael Cunningham's A Home At The End Of The World, Flesh And Blood, And The Hours, Tracy Joy Struck

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Primarily through the experiences of his gay protagonists, Michael Cunningham critiques the heteronormative nuclear family structure of the 1950s and depicts alternatives to it. Drawing on the work of feminist critics who focus on the political intent of American women authors during the nineteenth century, the findings of family historians who examine families of the 1950s, and the work of anthropologist Kath Weston, I argue that Michael Cunningham represents domesticity in ways that promote readers' appreciation of and support for alternative family models.

Developing And Communicating Better Sexual Harassment Policies Through Ethics And Human Rights, Thain Yates Hagan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

no abstract

Inequality And Civic Participation In The Rocky Mountain West: Missoula, Mt, Benjamin C. Harris

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study considers the impact of community-level inequality of income and education on the ways individuals participate in local government and community development activities. It adapts the standard identity-augmented utility model to demonstrate that, given the choice to participate or not to participate, increases in inequality can decrease overall group participation, and an individual's distance from the characteristics of an ideal community member can also decrease the benefits and likelihood of participation. The theory predicts, however, that increasing the responsiveness of civic bodies to input from citizens can mitigate the negative effects of inequality. Original survey data from a stratified …

Examining The Relationship Of Physical Activity With Inflammation And Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Coral Michelle Gubler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for 37.1 percent of all deaths in the United States. Physical activity is inversely related to both CV event risk and to many of the individual CVD risk factors. The inverse relationship between physical activity and CVD risk is well established. However, much dispute remains about the optimal physical activity intensity and duration related to health benefits and to lower CVD risk. The ability to objectively measure intensity and duration may clarify the inverse relationship between physical activity and CVD. The purpose of this collection of studies was to explore the association of physical activity with …

Feminist Theories Of Autonomy And Their Implications For Rape Law Reform, Beth Ann Headley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Liberal notions of autonomy have shaped our laws, and perhaps more importantly, the way we think about ourselves. In this paper, I discuss various theories of autonomy, and their problems—specifically their implications for understanding human subjects and their experiences. I am particularly concerned with the role of gender in these theories, and want to know whether women’s autonomy is meaningfully different than men’s autonomy—that is, if gender inequality significantly influences or determines women’s actual choices. In chapter one, I discuss Joel Feinberg’s liberal theory of autonomy, which describes an unhindered, self-governing agent, free to pursue his or her own goals. …

Distance From Family, Years Of Life On Reservation/Village, Level Of Acculturation, Gender, And Acculturation Stress Of American Indian/Alaska Native Students At The University Of Montana, Michael Brian Trahan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Acculturation is a construct that supposes that two or more cultures interact and are in conflict with one another, and an individual can determine which qualities to adhere to from each culture. Acculturation stress is a product of the acculturation process, in which an individual experiences stress as a result of the interaction of the multiple cultures upon the individual. This study examined the effects of acculturation stress on 41 (14 male and 27 female) American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) university students in an effort to determine whether this stress is related to level of acculturation, years lived on an Indian …

Managing Multiple Identities: A Qualitative Study Of Nurses And Implications For Work-Family Balance, Claire Marie Spanier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The ways in which people manage organizational, professional, and familial identities can have significant implications for work-family balance. This is particularly true for nurses, who have a strong sense of professional identity and may be likely to experience work-family tensions. By framing work-family tensions as related to identity, we can see the ways in which being a “good” employee, a “good” nurse, and a “good” family member are both complementary and contradictory. This study highlights ways in which being “good” employee facilitates and hinders an individual’s ability to be a “good” nurse. Furthermore, it demonstrates how being a “good” nurse …

Finding Meaning In The Aftermath Of Trauma: Resilience And Posttraumatic Growth In Female Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Melissa Dawn Young

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Despite recent interest in resiliency and growth in victims of trauma (Ryff, Singer, Love, & Essex, 1998; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), very few studies exist that document resilient responses to intimate partner violence, and none exist that explore posttraumatic growth in the aftermath of violent relationships. The purpose of this study was to explore resiliency and growth factors in women who were interviewed for the Domestic Violence Project at The University of Montana, which comprises an archival dataset. Participants were 127 women who had been out of a violent relationship for a year or more. As interview questions did not …

The Use Of Mathematics Dialogues To Support Student Learning In High School Prealgebra Classes, Susann Meachelle Bradford

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explored the use of mathematics dialogue activities as an intervention for low achieving mathematics students. These activities consisted of short scripts that portrayed mathematics students working together to solve problems like those in their lessons. These were accompanied by discussion questions and mathematics problems intended to facilitate student discourse in small groups. This intervention strategy was based on the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, which recommends the use of teaching methods that provide opportunities for student discourse. The purpose of the study was to help teachers and schools identify whether the use of discourse could provide an effective …

Variability Of Substrate Utilization During Exercise Relative To Vo2vt And Vo2max, Erika Marie Lieberg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Lieberg, Erika M., M.S., May 2007 Health and Human Performance Variability of substrate utilization during exercise relative to VO2vt and VO2max Chairperson: Steven E. Gaskill PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine to the stability of ventilatory threshold (VT) as a set point for prescription of exercise intensity. METHODS: Fifty-eight healthy adults (males n = 28, females n = 30) performed VO2max and steady state testing. The VO2max test used a treadmill ramp protocol to determine VO2max and VO2vt. The results were used to determine workload exercise relative to VO2vt and VO2max (70% VO2vt ? 40% VO2max, 90% …

The Experience Of Rural Battered Women: Overcoming Challenges, Joanna Legerski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of physical isolation in rural battered women. The relationships between physical isolation, level of traumatic symptoms and social support are assessed. By definition rural women are usually geographically isolated, which may contribute to the difficulty of leaving abusive relationships. Strong rural, socio-cultural norms such as traditional gender and marital roles, combined with a lack of access to beneficial services may prevent rural victims from fleeing to safety. As a result victims may be even more vulnerable to their batterers. To more fully understand difficulties faced by battered women, archival data …

Hiv/Aids And Conservation Agency Capacity In Southern Africa: Perceptions Of Critical Impacts, Barriers, And Intervention Strategies, Jennifer Ann Cash

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The HIV/AIDS pandemic permeates all aspects of southern African civil society including the ability of organizations to practice conservation. The purpose of this research is to understand how management perceives HIV/AIDS influencing southern African conservation agencies workforce capacity to meet their missions. Research goals include: (1) identifying perceptions of the impacts of HIV/AIDS on workforce capacity; (2) elucidating barriers to addressing these impacts; and (3) exploring mitigation strategies. Data collection involved two stages: (1) semi-structured interviews of managers and scientists (n=23) to better understand impacts and barriers; and (2) a panel of key experts (n=30) within southern African conservation agencies …

How The Environmental Movement Has Failed The American Public. Reviving Environmental Action As Part Of The Public Consciusness: Advertising Is The Missing Tool, Ross Rademacher

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The organizations that make up the environmental movement have a great opportunity and challenge before them. These organizations could lead our nation in a time of great change. They could challenge the public to align personal consumer habits with positive environmental beliefs. However, the environmental movement has failed to market and communicate effectively. Due to this failure, companies such as Chevron and Wal-Mart have taken the moral high ground away from environmental organizations. The movement as a whole, with a few exceptions, has not successfully promoted key themes that could motivate change. There are rare examples of successful marketing and …

Implementation And Assessment Of A Test Anxiety Reduction Program With 10th Graders And Their Subsequent Performance On The Montcas Criterion Referenced Test, Nilda Soto Bishop

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between performance on the MontCAS Criterion Referenced Test of 10th graders at Corvallis High School, Corvallis, Montana who participated in a systematic program for test anxiety reduction, and 10th graders who took the MontCAS but did not participate in the test anxiety reduction program. The population included all 10th graders at Corvallis High School who failed to achieve a score of proficient or higher, or who achieved in the low-proficient range on either the reading or math section on the last MontCAS administration, which was two years prior to this study. Fifteen students were …

Public Archaeology In Montana: A Sample Of University Of Montana Students' Perceptions Of Archaeology And Knowledge Of Local Sites, Helen Alexandra Keremedjiev

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Archaeologists have an obligation to disseminate publicly their research and theories. To do this effectively, they need to know how each public perceives archaeology. A voluntary Institutional Review Board certified questionnaire was given to 606 University of Montana undergraduates and graduates. It included topics on the basics of archaeology and sites in Montana. After the results were tabulated, a website was created to show the overall results. Its location is at www.umt.edu/publicarchaeology. This online resource includes the questionnaire, the total raw results of all classes’ responses, and a discussion section. (See Appendix E for screenshot images of the website.) This …

Resiliency And Risk In Native American Communities: A Culturally Informed Investigation, Annjeanette Elise Belcourt-Dittloff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper reviews recent research findings and empirically investigates resiliency and vulnerability factors within two Native American communities. The primary factors under consideration are related to American Indian psychosocial factors. This project is an exploratory investigation of pathology and wellness for understudied American Indians, and it examines the nature of resiliency and risk for American Indians. The factors under investigation include adversarial growth, spirituality, ethnic identity, communal identity, social support, historical trauma, stressors experienced, hope, quality of life, and general psychological status for American Indians sampled. Numerous statistically significant relationships emerged, providing empirical support for culturally embedded aspects of resiliency …

Role Of Sodium Arsenite In Atherogenesis, Flavia Elias Pereira

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Epidemiological studies as well as controlled animal studies have associated exposure to arsenic through drinking water with the development of atherosclerosis. In this study, we have shown for the first time that low and environmentally relevant concentrations of arsenic accelerate atherogenesis. The objective of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms of arsenic-induced atherosclerosis by (1) characterizing the time- and concentration-dependent effects of sodium arsenite [As(III)] on the development of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- /LDLr-/- mice, (2) determining whether As(III)-induced peroxynitrite activates protein kinase C (PKC) isotypes, α and β, in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) and (3) determining the effects …

Self-Control Choices Using Running Reinforcement, Jennifer Lynn Brinegar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rats were given a choice between two amounts of a run-reward after responding on one of two equidistant levers. Responding on one lever resulted in the delivery of a smaller, immediate access to a running wheel (Impulsive) while responding on the other lever resulted in the delivery of larger but delayed access to a running wheel (Self-control). A variable inter-trial-interval was used to control the session duration regardless of the distribution of choices made by the subject. The results demonstrate that the use of a wheel-running reinforcer results in a significant self-control choice bias. This suggests that the use of …