Digital Commons Network^™

Gender Similarities And Differences In Experiences Of Public School Administrators, Marcia D. Fawver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of study was to examine similarities and differences in experiences between male and female high school principals and district administrators in addition to similarities and differences in leadership style and skills. This was an in-depth study with participants working in the same district and matched with descriptors such as age, similar position, and time served. Therefore the statement of the problem for the present study is what similarities and differences in experiences exist between male and female high school principals and district administrators in addition to similarities and differences in leadership style and skills.

Two male high school …

An Examination Of Successful Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Males In A Northeast Tennessee Middle School, Stephen E. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that contribute to positive educational outcomes as measured by the EXPLORE test for eighth grade males who qualify for free or reduced price lunch. In addition, this study was conducted for the purpose of improving the educational program at a Northeast Tennessee middle school. Archival EXPLORE data, as well as free and reduced price lunch data, were used to identify high school graduates, 6 males and 6 females, who had performed at or above expectation on the eighth grade EXPLORE test. Females were included …

"I Came To America, Crying": Rebuilding A Life, Redefining The Self—Ethiopian Women Refugees In Denver (Colorado) (2012–2013), Barbara Guglielminotti Valetta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges faced by Ethiopian women in the Denver community to reach harmony within their new social and cultural space and to examine what they feel they have lost and gained in their self-identity as a result of their immigration. Refugees face a multitude of dilemmas when they are compelled to relocate from their home countries to a new, foreign-host society. Ethiopian refugees have been arriving in the US since the 1970s and feel the uprootedness of being away from their homeland. Being uprooted is losing one’s culture and ways of life. …

Transmission: Premium Television Characters Outside Of The Gender Binary, Daniel L. Ketchum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Five fictional characters have emerged on the U.S. premium-pay-cable channels that blur the traditional male-or-female gender divide. The basics of queer theory (sex, gender, orientation, and transgender) and critical/cultural studies (encoding, decoding, and reading a text) are explained as a basis for the analysis of the characters, which seeks to answer the research question: does the premium-pay-cable television format offer truly empathetic non-binary transgender characters that challenge the dominant American ideologies about gender identity and expression? If so, how? If not, why not?

Shane McCutcheon from Showtime’s lesbian melodrama The L Word (2004- 2010), Lafayette Reynolds from HBO’s supernatural drama-comedy …

The Associations Between Adolescent Smoking Trajectories And Physician Tobacco Communications, Gender, And Ethnicity, Ashley Michelle Hum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The examination of smoking trajectories bridges the study of adolescent smoking initiation, escalation, persistance, quitting, and relapse through the conceptualization of smoking as a developmental process. An advantage of this approach is that it allows for the investigation of longitudinal patterns in tobacco uptake and the association of these patterns with predictor variables. For example, physician advice has been associated with reduced smoking among adolescents, but only cross-sectional research has been conducted. The present study examined the longitudinal impact of physician communication on adolescent smoking trajectories using growth mixture modeling (GMM). This study aimed to (1) identify trajectories for smoking; …

A Legacy Of Letters: The Construction Of An Aging Masculine Identity, K. Tiffani Baldwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the construction of a masculine identity through a qualitative analysis of personal letters written by an aging man over the last two decades of his life (age 68-89). Symbolic interaction and life-span communication are the guiding frameworks behind the development of the research questions and the subsequent analyses. Research question one asks: What themes emerge from the personal letters written by an aging man? The following two themes emerged: a) relationality, and b) age and aging. Research question two asks: What do the metaphors that emerge from personal letters reveal about the …

Butch, Femme, Or Neither? What Owning These Identities Means, Joey F. Cooter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite an increased awareness of the diversity of gender identities, butch and femme roles continue to be viewed as lesbian stereotypes that reinforce rather than challenge heteronormativity. This study explores how self-identified butch and femme lesbian women define themselves and how their identities influence their sexual/romantic relationships. Interviews were conducted with 20 lesbians who identified as butch, femme, or neither to learn what these identities meant to them. While the interviewees saw their identities as unique, a number of similarities emerged. This thesis analyzes the themes of conflict with a gender binary model, stereotypes of butch and femme, replication of …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Students’ Readiness For Kindergarten, Jennifer A. Simerly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increase in the number of parents who decide not to enroll their children into a formal kindergarten once they become of age has triggered questions of what impacts readiness. The act of redshirting has doubled since 1980. Redshirting is simply delaying a child’s entry into kindergarten by 1 year after they become age eligible to enroll. Parents want to make sure that with high stakes testing, a more demanding curriculum, and an increase in rigorous standards that their children are ready to start kindergarten with the best opportunity for success.

The purpose of this study was to examine how …

Gambling Outcome Expectancies And Gambling Behavior Among African American Adolescents: Gender As A Moderating Variable, Jessica L. Simmons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most high school adolescents have reported past year gambling and are significantly more likely to gamble and to gamble problematically than females. Ethnic minority adolescents appear to be gambling at a higher rate than Caucasian adolescents. Research has indicated that adolescent gambling outcome expectancies are correlated with gambling behavior, with limited evidence that this relation differs by gender. The present study investigated gender as a moderator in the relation between gambling outcome expectancies and gambling behaviors in an African American high school sample. Males gambled more frequently, gambled more problematically, and held more positive gambling outcome expectancies than females. Gender …

Why Should I Get Married: Implications Of Class And Gender Differences On Health Outcomes For Cohabitating And Married Black Couples, Korrie Dchonn Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Health problems that disproportionately affect blacks could be regarded as a result of African American's tendency towards non-normative family patterns. Cohabitation has become a popular non-normative family formation within the United States as well as with blacks. This has led many to study the role of cohabitation on health. Scholars have compiled a long list of negative consequences of such practices, while generating another list of positive outcomes of marriage, but these studies of cohabitation might be capturing the consequences of resources and income disparities rather than cohabitation in itself. Existing studies of cohabitation, as well as marriage, neglect the …

Gendered Role Performances In Patriarchal Nrms: An Ethnographic Analysis Of The Twelve Tribes, Amelia Blume

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on New Religious Movements (NRMs) has generally examined gender within two contexts: conversion into the movement and gender role variation across groups. Similarly, a robust body of literature has studied the ways women navigate traditional gender roles across a wide swath of settings from formal organizations (Hochschild 1979, 1983) to abusive relationships (Summers-Effler 2004), but the NRMs literature has largely disregarded this micro-level dynamic. This research draws on ethnographic data, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, to examine gendered role performances and impression and emotion management in one communal NRM, the Twelve Tribes, in order to examine the daily …

Creating Constructs Through Categorization: Gender And Race, Joshua Simpkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In U.S. society, the systems of gender and race operate to privilege and oppress individuals based on their location within these systems. All of the interactions an individual experiences as they go about their day-to-day lives are shaped by these interlocking systems. As a result, there is an extensive body of sociological literature addressing how individuals in U.S. society are privileged and oppressed on the basis of their perceived membership in gender and race categories; however, relatively little research exists examining how individuals come to be seen by others as members of gender and race categories in the first place. …

An Analysis Of Race And Gender In Select Choice Programs Within Brevard County Public Schools, Synthia Doaks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research was to compare the student membership population proportions, by race and gender, of Brevard County Public School students with the actual participation in select choice programs offered to Brevard County public high school students. This study was based on an analysis of the scores of 1,152 eighth-grade students who received a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mathematics and a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and their participation in high school advanced academic courses. The advanced academic choice programs …

Advertising Risk: A Comparative Content Analysis Of Contraceptive Advertisements Targeting Black And White Women, Tiffany Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research compared contraceptive advertisements in two top-circulated publications for white and African American female subscribers, Cosmopolitan and Essence. Data consisted of a sample of 172 contraceptive advertisements from the two magazines published between 1992 and 2012. Quantitative analysis focused on the model(s)' race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status; the type of contraceptive being advertised; and the reason stated in the ad for using the product. This analysis determined a disparity in the rate of advertisement of doctor-administered contraceptives for the publications of 25.4 percent in Essence magazine and 9.5 percent in Cosmopolitan magazine. Black women were targeted with …

War And Witness In The Poetry Of H.D., Denise Levertov, And Carolyn Forche, Katelyn Bienas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In my thesis, I focus on the role of the twentieth century female poet in writing about war, looking closely at three poets: H.D., Denise Levertov, and Carolyn Forche. By examining poets from three different points within the century, I question the ways in which the reactions towards these poets evolved alongside society's changing perceptions of women's public responsibilities. Poetry of war is important in documenting events that have a lasting impact upon nations and individuals. However, the role of women poets in writing of these political conflicts is worthy of study because of the questions that arise in terms …

Norm Articulation In International Organizations: Democracy, Governance, And Participation At The Undp And The World Bank, Roni Kay Marie O'Dell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Constructivist analyses of international norm articulation assume that norm articulation happens through the process of international discussion and agreement, yet such works lack a rigorous analysis of how international organizations articulate norms for the world internal to the organization. Further, analyses of international organization norm articulation almost completely ignore the important influence of leadership. This dissertation analyzes two distinct norms of gender equality and participation in two international organizations, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. The theory developed here argues that the leader's ability to influence norm articulation is dependent on the organizational culture which reflexively impacts …

Why Aren't More Heathens Eco-Pagan Vegetarians? The Intersection Of Gender, Politics, And Spiritual Environmentalism, Kristen An Horton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neo-Paganism, a nature-based new religious movement, provides a rich backdrop for the study of spiritual environmentalism. This ethnographic project analyzes the dynamic interconnectedness of neo-paganism and environmentalism, or "eco-paganism," and how Heathenry reframes the natural world using interpretations of Old Norse lore. A Heathen's connection to nature and how this connection is incorporated into his/her daily life supports the idea of environmentalism, yet their patriarchal and conservative political beliefs devalue environmentalism. My focus is on the feminization of the environment and vegetarianism to such a degree that Heathens view these movements as radicalized liberal tree hugging hobbies and how these …

Reconciling Order And Progress: Auguste Comte, Gustave Le Bon, Emile Durkheim, And The Development Of Positivism In France, 1820-1914, Khali Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the philosophy of positivism in nineteenth century France. Based on an empirical vision of society, positivism advocated values of rationality, progress, and secularization. In that way, it stood as one of the defining systems of thought of the modern era. I discuss, however, an undercurrent of anxiety about those same values. Positivism's founder, Auguste Comte, argued that all sciences would become unified and organized under universal principles and empirical standards. He viewed the human mind as becoming more rationalized throughout history. In his later career, however, he argued that rationalism was a destructive force and that a …

Performing On The Screen: An Exploration Of Gender Representation In Technology Video Advertisements, Subriena Persaud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the representation of gender in technology-related video advertisements. This thesis quantitatively and qualitatively examined 54 of the most recent commercials by the top nine Fortune 500 technology companies. A total of 407 characters were coded and quantitatively analyzed while the videos themselves were qualitatively assessed with particular attention given to the videos' themes and the interactions between the characters and the technology products and services. Results of the analyses showed that there were more male, Caucasian characters than any other character type based on gender and race/ethnicity. Females were mainly characterized according to traditional stereotypes, such as …

Examining Emotional Responses To Effective Versus Ineffective Virtual Buddies, Kathleen Ingraham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual buddy character with ineffective traits instead of effective or expert traits. The sample population for this study (n = 145) consisted of first year university students enrolled …

Reading Relationships In Jane Austen's Mansfield Park And Pride And Prejudice, Joanna Claire Bell Marzec

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This multi-disciplinary study of reading in Austen's Mansfield Park and Pride and Prejudice investigates the relationships of people, books, and ways of reading as represented in these books, placing them in the context of reading practices in Austen's time. The first chapter examines reading materials and reading spaces in Austen's period, showing how Austen's representation of books and libraries reveals character and social expectations. Chapter Two focuses on the reading practices of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, arguing that the way characters read sheds light on their social interactions. The performative aspect of reading, particularly reading aloud, is analyzed …

Gender, Class And Curriculum At W.D. Lowe Technical Secondary School, 1923-1973: A Study In Continuity And Change, Kael Rodrique Sharman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In June 1973, a series of contextual changes took their toll, ending the means by which W.D. Lowe Technical School (WDLTS, previously called Windsor-Walkerville Technical School) enriched Windsor's students for 50 years, marking the end of a unique kind of academic performance. Its story punctuated with external influences compounding to create a school culturally earmarked with the moniker `Lowe Tech'. However, while historical aspects of policy, attitudes, and pragmatic foci of technical schools have changed, the particular approach WDLTS had in building the technical and creative capacities of students have yet to be investigated. WDLTS offers compelling insights into the …

Not A Yes Or No Question: Critical Perspectives On Sex And Gender In Forensic Anthropology, Greyson Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the forensic anthropologist, the estimation of sex comprises the first step in the process of identification of human skeletal remains. This study employs the use of third-wave and post-structural feminist, and queer theories in order to analyze how processes of inequality interact with our understanding of human biolologies, specifically surrounding the notions of sex and gender, and to assess the impacts of these inequalities on the methodologies and discourses in the discipline. Through the use of critical discourse analysis, I demonstrate how forensic anthropology ideologically conceives of sexual difference in four ways: 1) as reducible to only biology; 2) …