Digital Commons Network^™

Developmentally Appropriate Software: Its Effect On The Language Of Young Children, Janice A. Sherman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect that the use of computer software which has been designated as more or less developmentally appropriate had on the language of young children. The guiding questions for the study were: (1) what common and varied patterns exist in children's language in response to software that has been designated by the Haugland/Shade Developmental Scale as more or less developmentally appropriate, and (2) how do individual and pairs of children respond to software that has been designated as more or less developmentally appropriate for children in their age range? Four pieces of …

Lady, If You Go Into Politics: North Dakota's Women Legislators, 1923-1989, Ann M. Rathke

Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the seventy-two women who served in the North Dakota legislature between 1923, when women first took seats, and 1989, the state's Centennial year. Their collective story has been absent from major scholarly works about the history of North Dakota, a state which prizes its unique and colorful political heritage. The purpose of this study is to remedy this lack of information.

A variety of published and unpublished sources were consulted, including the records of proposed bills and resolutions. A survey was developed and used to obtain additional biographical and other information about current and former women …

Security And Involvement In The Parent-Adolescent Relationship, Susan J. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was the investigation of the dynamics which occur in relationships between parents and their adolescent children. Two hundred and eighty-four adolescents from local high schools were surveyed using the Acquaintance Description Form for Adolescents. They were also asked to take home the Parental Response Questionnaire for their parents to complete. Of these, responses were received from one hundred and seven parents.

Previous research has suggested that differences exist between relationships maintained by adolescent children and their mothers and fathers, particularly on the variables of security and involvement. Fathers have traditionally been described as less secure …

Perceptions Of Retired Public School Teachers Regarding Retirement: Implications For Preretirement Planning, Rollie Duane Morud

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions about retirement and suggestions regarding retirement planning from retired public school educators. The writer's primary interest was in developing a data base regarding the non-financial issues of retirement leading to the design of a preretirement preparation planning program.

A random sample of 393 retired North Dakota teachers from a population of 3930 was surveyed. Seventy percent (274) returned the eight-page survey. The sample had the following characteristics: average age--73 years, average length of retirement--10.65 years, 74 percent were female, 72 percent lived in their own home, 37 percent had moved since …

Gender Difference In Emotionally Disturbed Children, Jane M. Beaulieu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the consequences to emotionally disturbed elementary school girls of being in the minority in self-contained classes for emotionally disturbed children. This study was conducted in MISII (Modified Instructional Service II) classes, primarily for the emotionally disturbed, in the New York City Public Schools. The ratio of boys to girls was 6.5 to 1. A survey was distributed to teachers of such classes with at least one girl attending. Part 1 of the survey consisted of 36 statements on the following topics indicated by the literature as relevant to the situation of girls …

Drug Testing In The Public Sector, James R. Beal

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to assess the nature and extent of drug testing in the public sector. Drug testing of public employees as well as private employees has been on the rise since the later part of the 1980s. This trend may continue into the 1990s and beyond.

Though drug testing may appear to be means to end drug abuse among public employees, it may not be the best means. In order to fully understand the current controversies sur— rounding drug testing, a detailed examination of available literature was conducted. There are many issues that must be considered …

Gender Differences In Prose Memory After Acute Intoxication With Ethanol, Jennifer S. Haut

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of acute intoxication with ethanol on prose processing. Three groups of subjects were studied: males, females taking oral contraceptives, and females not taking oral contraceptives. Subjects were administered either 0.0 or 1.0 milliliter per kilogram of body weight of ethanol, and then read two long (400 words) and two short (200 words) expository prose passages from a computer screen. Immediately after reading each passage, subjects orally recalled the passages.

Overall, intoxicated subjects encoded prose passages significantly slower and recalled significantly less information from the passages than the sober subjects, and this difference could not …

A Survey In Hard Times: Work Attitudes Of North Dakota State Employees, Michael D. Dorsher

Theses and Dissertations

A telephone survey with a random sample of 317 is used to measure the work attitudes, experiences, and satisfaction levels of North Dakota state employees. These findings are compared to bureaucratic stereotypes and research. The data refute most negative stereotypes about bureaucrats, and support many previous research findings, such as the positive relationships between job satisfaction and income, status, and fulfilled expectations. The data also indicate state employees voted heavily for tax hikes in the Dec. 5, 1989, special election, and that support rose with the income, job status, and education level of employees. Lastly, the survey shows North Dakota …

Sexual Harassment: An Analysis Of North Dakota Personnel Policy, Sharon S. Kessler

Theses and Dissertations

A telephone survey was used to measure North Dakota state employees' experience with sexual harassment on the job. Survey respondents who reported being sexually harassed were asked an additional set of questions aimed at quantifying the experience, its effects and use of formal remedies. Expectations about survey results were generated from a review of the literature and other survey findings. While many expectations were not supported by the data, several important findings emerged. Specifically, 17.1 percent of all respondents, including 22.9 percent of women respondents and 10.7 percent of all male respondents reported being sexually harassed in state government during …

Gender Role Orientation In Same- And Cross-Gender Friendships, Mary Beth Scanlon

Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between individuals' gender-role orientations and the strength and rewardingness of their friendships. The study was guided by a series of questions centered around the assumption that androgynous individuals exhibit greater behavioral flexibility from one situation to another. Androgynous individuals were expected to provide a broader range of interpersonal rewards, forming stronger and more rewarding friendships than gender-typed individuals. In addition, androgynous individuals were expected to respond equally favorably to both same- and cross-gender friends, making gender-role orientation a factor attenuating gender differences in friendship.

A total of 105 women and 101 …

Effects Of Chronis Consumption Of Caffeine On Memory For Prose In Young And Elderly Adults, Malva Waters

Theses and Dissertations

Caffeine is one of society's most widely used central nervous system stimulants. Most studies involving caffeine and memory have tested the recall of young subjects following acute administration of caffeine. This study was designed to determine the effects of chronic use of caffeine on memory for prose in young and elderly adults. Forty-nine young and forty-nine elderly subjects read four expository prose passages from the computer screen and orally recalled each story Recalls were tape recorded and later scored for presence of idea units Chronic consumption of caffeine had no significant effect on recall of prose passages. It is speculated …

Individual Differences In Verbal And Spatial Memory: The Contribution Of Gender, Verbal Ability, Spatial Ability, And Sex-Role Orientation, Mary H. Sarafolean

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the degree to which reported sex differences in verbal and spatial memory performance are due to confounds between the sexes on the individual difference factors of verbal ability, spatial ability, and sex-role orientation. Specifically, college age males and females were administered psychometric tests of verbal ability, spatial ability, and sex-role orientation. The contribution of each of these factors to predicting subjects' scores on verbal and spatial memory tasks was analyzed using regression analysis procedures.

Results indicated a male advantage on spatial ability tasks, however, no sex differences in verbal ability were found. Gender of subject was …

Stress And Social Support Of Parents With An Adult Mentally Retarded Child, Nancy Patricia Kropf

Theses and Dissertations

Parent-child caregiving is the most basic caregiving situation. However, parents who continue to provide care to an adult mentally retarded child have been an unexamined group of caregivers. This study compared stress levels and social support constellations among these caregivers and two other groups of parents.

The study tested two major hypotheses. Parents who were caregivers for an adult child with mental retardation were predicted to report higher stress levels and smaller social support constellations than the other groups. Two comparison groups were included in the study. One group was parents of an mentally retarded child who did not live …

Expression Of An Expectation Of A Future Desire To Move By Older Community-Dwelling Adults, Brenda K. Goodman

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical evidence in the gerontological literature supports the commonly held belief that older adults, overwhelmingly, prefer to remain in their own homes. Despite this fact, older adults residing in the community often express an expectation that they will move in the future.

There is a paucity of empirical findings on those factors which are most influential on the expression of an expectation of a future desire to move. Logistic regression was used to analyze data from the third wave of a longitudinal study of elderly Massachusetts residents residing in the community to identify possible antecedents to the expression of an …

Adolescent Pregnancy And Loneliness, Estelle M. Brodeur

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study explored loneliness among pregnant adolescents in a southeastern metropolitan area. Numerous psychosocial variables of the special population of pregnant teens remain to be studied. One such variable is loneliness, a feeling often experienced by adolescents. The present study hypothesized that loneliness may occur during adolescent pregnancy. To date, one study exists (Diiorio & Riley, 1988) of loneliness and adolescent pregnancy.

The problem statement was: Does loneliness exist among pregnant adolescents? Three research questions were addressed:

Within this sample:

1. To what extent does loneliness exist?

2. Is loneliness more frequent during certain ages?

3. Do pregnant black …

Age, Gender, And Religious Differences In Moral Perspective, Samuel L. Clay

Theses and Dissertations

An investigation was conducted to see if age and gender are related to a preference for a caring versus a justice morality. The World View Questionnaire with 40 word pairs was used to measure a preference for a caring morality. It was found that there was a significant gender difference in the caring score, with the females scoring higher than the males. There also was a significant religious difference in the caring score with religious and especially Mormon subjects scoring higher than non-religious subjects. There was not, however, a significant age difference as was predicted.