Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pastor Self-Perceived Preparedness And Training To Model And Lead Sensitivity In Their Congregations And Spiritually Lead Lgbtq Individuals: A Qualitative Study Of Pastors Of The Potomac Ministry Network Of The Assemblies Of God, Tina L. Boswell-Stickley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Pastors are responsible for creating welcoming atmospheres within their church buildings and congregations. Societal changes have raised questions about pastors’ preparedness to do so, particularly regarding the LGBTQ community. This qualitative study interviewed lead pastors from the Potomac Ministry Network (PMN) of the Assemblies of God regarding their self-perceived preparedness to model sensitivity and minister to the LGBTQ community. It explored pastor training, experiences, perceptions, and needs to serve this population better. Interviews were transcribed, indexed, coded, and analyzed to identify themes and better understand the dynamics regarding this issue. Results are reported, including limitations, discussions, recommendations, and identified needed …

American Mythology: How Storytelling Shapes Modern Cultural Perceptions, Kristin Maynard

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis will examine the American storytelling tradition, paying particular attention to American folktales and legends that arose as the nation expanded westward, such as the stories of Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Billy the Kid, etc. This text will utilize a lens of European narrative tradition (especially those which lent themselves to the written records of oral fairy tales and folktales) and trace the cultural significance and social purpose of these formative American stories. I will discuss the reasons why we so readily recognize the echoes of outside narrative traditions in American storytelling and the ethical implications of these narratives …

Slasher Films And Self-Harm: A Relationship Of Self-Hatred And Trauma, Stevie Lee Steers

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This paper’s purpose is to look at slasher films and the potential relationship of trauma and self-hatred that these films hold to adolescents aged 14-20 who commit self-harm. The type of self-harm examined in this paper is cutting and the films that will be studied will have to be from 1979 to 1989, which is the “golden age” for slasher films. The films that will be studied are The Nightmare on Elm Street series, Hellraiser series, and Friday the 13th series. This paper will be using multiple literary lenses to discuss how slasher films convey trauma and self-hatred and how …

Performing Arts And Performance Anxiety, Jacklyn Sue Bascomb

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Background: Performing arts are a broad view of a range of human activities that occur in front of an audience with the attempt to express human experience and emotion. Performing artists consist of dancers, instrumental musicians, vocal musicians, and drama/comedy or theater/actors. Actors and instrumental musicians participate in tremendous training to provide the emotional story they deliver. Multiple factors contribute to mental and physical stress experienced by a performer. Performance anxiety results from a performer’s fear of an adverse reaction or evaluation of their performance. Performance anxiety can be debilitating with negative effects on a performer’s performance, career, and health. …

Re-Vision And Re-Representation : An Exploration Of Awarness And Voice In Marxism, Postcolonialism, Postmodernism And Psychoanalytic Theory, Stacy Sexton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Awareness and voice are explored through case studies of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. Karl Marx’s unaware and voiceless lumpenproletariat, Gayatri Spivak’s possibly aware but voiceless subaltern, and Saul Williams’ losers are compared. Williams’ loser may or may not have access to and engage in re-vision and re-representation, since the loser may exist at any point along the continuum of awareness and voice. Capitalism and the superstructure make everyone a loser. Thus, there is an inherent solidarity among losers, and it is this solidarity that may bring re-vision and re-representation to those who are unaware and voiceless. Unlike the …

Weathered Mountains: A Qualitative Study Of West Virginia Women And Their Perceptions Of Strength, Land, And Womanhood, Danielle Renee Mullins

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Appalachia and those living within the region have been discussed, examined, critiqued, and defined primarily by those living outside of the area, particularly following the 2016 Election. The main narratives of Appalachia form a dichotomous view of the land and its people: beautiful landscapes threatened by resource extraction and a people wrecked by the symptoms of longterm poverty and economic stagnation. Simultaneously, the Appalachian identity has been constructed around a rugged or blue-collar male identity that excludes and makes invisible the female experience. This study seeks to break through the landscape and poverty binary, as well as the male-archetype, to …

The Relationship Between Religiosity And Mental Illness Stigma In The Abrahamic Religions, Emma C. Bushong

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Numerous studies have established and examined the critical interplay between religion and mental health. A systematic review of existing literature found that the endorsement of religious beliefs and frequent attendance at religious services were routinely associated with greater physical and psychological well-being (Koenig, 2012; Tsaousis, Karademas, Kalatzi, 2013). Yet, history has shown that religion can be a source of conflict and prejudice and that individuals fostering negative religious perceptions can exhibit poorer mental health (Lee & Newberg, 2005; Pargament, 1997). Because religious and spiritual beliefs often guide perceptions and affect behavior toward others, the present study examines such influence as …

Creating A Female Athlete: The Power Of Societal Reimaging And Advertising In The All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Kaitlyn M. Haines

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The All American Girls Professional Baseball League introduced an acceptable form of female sport to the United States during World War II. The All American Girls Professional Baseball League’s feminine image and high standards of the league provided a new quality team sport that the ever popular softball diamonds of industrial recreation had failed to reach. One of the reasons for their success was the attention to detail in the visual representation of the baseball league. Appearing in a time of heightened advertising and branding, a visual representation of the League was created to fit within the societal norms of …

Formal And Functional Linguistic Properties Of Esl Textbooks, Jessica Shea Lewis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Based on the formal and functional perspectives espoused in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the main purpose of this thesis was to investigate the extent to which such lexico-grammatical features as lexical density, choice of nominal groups, and grammatical metaphor are used in ESL texts to scaffold target language proficiency levels. Of the number of lexico-grammatical metafunctions and their functional constituents, interpersonal metafunctional categories were analyzed from these three functional features in this thesis in order to reveal the ways in which interpersonal categories and the lexico-grammatical features are correlated as the level of difficulty of each text increases.

The analysis …

Using Reading Cbm To Predict Performance On Smarter Balanced Assessment, Jonathan Wesley Shank

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examined the relationship between AIMSweb oral reading fluency (R-CBM) and reading comprehension (MAZE) curriculum-based measures and performance on the English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) component of the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) using a sample of students in third through fifth grade (N = 499). Pearson correlations between R-CBM, MAZE, and SBA were moderate to high, with R-CBM generally demonstrating the strongest relationships with coefficients ranging from .73 to .75. Results from hierarchical multiple regression models indicated that R-CBM provided strong predictive validity for SBA performance among third grade students (63.4% variance explained, p<.001), while the addition of MAZE to the equation was negligible (1.4% additional variance explained, p<.001). Similar findings resulted from the fourth and fifth grade multiple regression models. The predictive value of R-CBM and MAZE each decreased as grade level increased. Results support continued use of CBM to predict success on the Smarter Balanced Assessment, although CBM using cloze passages explained little variance in high-stakes test scores beyond that of oral reading fluency alone.

Media Narratives And Drug Prohibition: A Content Analysis Of Themes And Strategies Promoted In Network News Coverage, 2000-2013, Maria M. Orsini

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Illicit drugs and drug users have been criminalized and stigmatized in social life and in mass media for more than a century in the United States. Researchers have reasoned that media accounts have contributed to the social construction of drug use as deviant behavior. Depictions of drugs and drug users which utilize alarmist rhetoric have been prevalent in media discourse and have targeted allegedly disreputable populations. The ideology which underpins drug prohibition, punitive public attitudes, and media sensationalism has contributed to the tendency of American society to disallow alternative approaches. This study examines the contribution of televised news broadcasts in …

Esl Students' Language Anxiety In In-Class Oral Presentations, Yusi Chen

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This case study aims to explore connections between ESL students’ speaking-in-class anxiety and their presentation performance, factors causing oral anxiety during presentations, and strategies to regulate L2 students’ speaking anxiety in presentations. Findings of this research contribute to the investigation of speaking-in-class anxiety from non-English major L2 students. Three Chinese ESL students enrolled in the INTO program at Marshall University individually gave two presentations in speaking classes. Triangulated data sources were collected to delve into three research questions. The results suggest that L2 students’ anxiety forms mental blocks during presentations, but it has less influence on their presentation performance. Based …

Cultural Language Variations: An Examination Of Appalachian Discourse, Katherine Ward

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Examinations of discourse are essential for documenting the linguistic variations of a particular culture. In turn, linguistic variations across cultures may suggest similar variations in global discourse measures. It is imperative for clinicians to first understand the framework and cultural norms of a particular dialect or language to properly identify deficits in disordered language. By first looking closely at specific aspects of discourse such as story grammar within a normative or non-brain injured population, clinicians can improve treatment protocols for working with aphasic or brain-injured clients. With Appalachia being the heart of the “stroke belt,” research in intervention strategies for …

Examining The Theoretical Consequences Of A Post-Feminist Media Culture, Jedidiah N. Bailey

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Since the early 1990s, feminist scholars have declared that a post-feminist media culture has arisen throughout the Westernized world to attack the ideas and values promoted by feminists and the second-wave feminist movement that became established in the late 1960s and 70s. Consequently, this study is designed to gauge the influence that these media have in shaping the attitudes of young college women (in the 18-25 year old demographic) toward feminism and key women‟s rights issues. In order to better understand whether post-feminist media are able to detract support from the feminist movement, this study attempts to quantify the relationship …

Marriage Vows And Economic Discrimination: The Married Teacher Problem, Sabrina Thomas

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study analyzes the rapid increase of economic discrimination against married women teachers in the early twentieth century, particularly during the Depression. It challenges the notion that economic discrimination against married women teachers was simple, easy, and largely was unchallenged. I argue that the creation and proliferation of marriage bars in the early twentieth century involved a compounded and multifaceted set of economic and social concerns. Support for this argument is accomplished by examination of the national debate on marriage bars as well as careful investigation of the local debate illustrated in Huntington, West Virginia.

A Comparative Analysis Of The New York Times [U.S.A.] And The Nation Media Group [Kenya] Presidential Opinion Polls Coverage 90 Days Prior To Election Day, David Okoth

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study seeks to find out whether there exists a relationship between the New York Times (U.S.) and the Nation Media Group (Kenya) coverage of presidential opinion poll results 90 days prior to Election Day. One research hypothesis was identified; (_H1) that there is a relationship – of difference – in how the two publications cover presidential opinion poll stories. The study identified 440 presidential opinion poll stories over a 90- day period prior to Election Day. It analyzed election coverage from October-December 2007 for the Nation and August-November 2008 for the Times. The study established that …

Grant Writing Handbook For Our Lady Of Fatima Parish School, Tracy Severson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This manual is an applied thesis written for Our Lady of Fatima Parish School, a small Catholic school located in Huntington, West Virginia. Its purpose is to introduce novice grant writers to the terms and processes associated with grant writing for this particular parochial school. The manual guides the fledgling writer through church and school history, ideas and strategies to develop the grant, grant writing and the post-submission process. Only examples from submitted church grants are referenced and all address Our Lady of Fatima needs and mission statement. The handbook is intended as a springboard for grant writing in the …

Portraits Of Resiliency : A Qualitative Study Of Appalachian Christian Women, Joy A. Butcher-Winfree

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate how some women in Appalachia create meaning and purpose when faced with challenges, problems, and crises and how they make it through these difficult events. The following research questions informed this research: 1) What role does spirituality play in the process of resiliency; 2) How does a relationship with a higher power enhance a woman’s ability to bounce back from difficult situations; and 3) How do some Appalachian Christian women find meaning and purpose when faced with challenges, problems and crisis and how do they make it through? The study involved collection, …

Balancing Belief : The Resolution Of Belief Dilemmas, Andrew J. Borders Iii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Societies create their own worlds and, once created, these worlds have to be maintained. In particular, the plausibility of these worlds has to be legitimized for each new generation. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an instrument that will measure how Christians maintain the plausibility of their religious world. I have constructed a survey that will explore the social matrix encompassing a person’s religious beliefs, the actual beliefs themselves, and the extent to which they are certain of these beliefs. To determine how Christians maintain the plausibility of their religious beliefs in an increasingly secularized world, I have …

Marketplace Plants Used In Ceremonial Cleansing Among Andean Qechuans Of Ecuador, Sushma Shrestha

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Ceremonial cleansing plays a vital role in indigenous societies where ‘folk illnesses’ such as susto (fright) are common. Indigenous Andean Qechuans commonly use cleansing plants to treat susto, and related ‘folk illnesses’.The purpose of this study was to characterize and compare market plants and to define methods and knowledge used in ceremonial cleansing among Ecuadorian Qechuans. Interviews were conducted with 22 vendors at 13 marketplaces. Regression Analysis (RA) determined preferentially selected plant families and residual value of RA determined the highest and lowest preferentially selected plant families.Hierarchical cluster analysis and coefficient of similarity demonstrated the relationship between marketplaces and cleansing …

A Wolf Amongst The Sheep: A Sociological Approach To Understanding The German Church Struggle, Kevin L. Dingess

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Researchers pursuing the Kirchenkampf, Church Struggle, have persistently concentrated on anti-Semitism to explicate why the Protestant Churches failed at stopping the Holocaust. Former studies indicate that the Protestant Churches were ineffective at limiting the Nazi regime Essentially, this failure was accredited to the following: anti-Semitism (both past and modern), post-war resentment, common enemies or shared values between the regime and the Protestant Churches (including, Communists, Bolsheviks, Jews, and the secularism/liberalism of the Weimar Republic), and a strongly ingrained nationalism. Despite the facts that the validity of this past research has been supported numerous times over, this research observes features of …

Roosevelt’S Monetary Policy, Steven Napier

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This qualitative analysis of the monetary policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration covers his entire presidency. Through scholarly research based on arguments presented in major scholarly publications, great questions are raised as to the primary causes of the economic successes of the Roosevelt administration. Some of the most conservative and reputable scholars in history, while disagreeing with most of the measures taken by Roosevelt to regulate the economy, agree that the goals by the administration to raise the prices of basic commodities was generally achieved. The thesis demonstrates that almost all of FDR’s economic successes were the direct …

Accent, Linguistic Discrimination, Stereotyping, And West Virginia In Film, Teresa L. O’Cassidy

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examines connections between accent, linguistic discrimination, and stereotyping in portrayals of West Virginia film characters. Ten films featuring West Virginia characters were examined for accent and stereotyping: The Right Stuff (Kaufman, 1983), Matewan (Sayles, 1987), Blaze (Shelton, 1989), The Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991), October Sky (Johnston, 1999), Hannibal (Scott, 2001), A Beautiful Mind (Howard, 2001), The Mothman Prophecies (Pellington, 2002), Wrong Turn (Schmidt, 2003), and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Luketic, 2004). Coders were employed to score character accents. Stereotyping data was gathered by comparing portrayals with stereotypical traits associated with Appalachian and/or hillbilly characters. …

The Segregated Distribution Of Middle Class African American Households In The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, Jay L. Newberry

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This research analyzes the residential distribution of middle-class African American households in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area to determine if the "middle class" status affords them greater integration with the dominant white group. Using 1990 and 2000 census income data for white and black households in the Pittsburgh MSA, lower, middle, and upper class categories were created in both groups for comparison against the black middle class category via five segregation indices. This research found that, although the African American households experience varying degrees of segregation by class, all are highly segregated from the white group with middle class African American …

The Samuel Smith Land Grants: A Historical Study Of Land Ownership And Use In Southern West Virginia, Stephen M. Porter

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study intends to illustrate the history of several tracts of land granted to General Samuel Smith, of Baltimore, Maryland by the state of Virginia in the years 1796 and 1797 containing, in totality, 300,000 acres (more or less). This research attempts to untangle some of the tangled web of ownership (both surface and mineral) that has affected this tract in particular and reflects the general trend of corporate land ownership in southern West Virginia.

John F. Kennedy And West Virginia, 1960-1963, Anthony W. Ponton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In 1960, John F. Kennedy, a wealthy New England Catholic, traveled to a rural, Protestant state to contend in an election that few thought he could win. While many scholars have examined the impact of Kennedy’s victory in the West Virginia primary, few have analyzed the importance that his visit to the state in 1960 and his ensuing administration had on West Virginia. Kennedy enacted a number of policies directed specifically toward relieving the poverty that had plagued West Virginia since statehood. The Kennedy administration funded highway construction, worker training programs, and area development at levels the state had never …

Final Frontier: The Methodist Church Involvement With The Recolonization Of Blacks To Liberia, Sharletta Michelle Green

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Missionary work over the course of one hundred years has changed the face of Liberia as a country. The work has affected the culture, economic structure, ethnic relationships within the country and surrounding areas and the political climate. The missionary movement into Africa did not start until the early eighteen hundreds.

In my thesis, I will focus on the ways the major stakeholders socially constructed the issues involved. I will focus on the ways in which the ideologies of racism in this period reflected American perceptions of the “dark continent.” This analysis will include the social constructions of church leaders, …

Dancing With The Bag Lady, Mora Lee Finnerty

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Predominantly explores the author's decade-long struggle with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, from pre-onset to present day. Other universal themes include dysfunctional family life, discrimination, materialism, adolescence, alcohol and drug abuse, music, religion, academia, married life, hypochondria, disease, and death.

Black Or White: A Content Analysis Of Newspaper Coverage Dealing With Nba Players & Race, Daniel Eric Newman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

A content analysis of The New York Times and The Washington Post was conducted to determine if there were differences in the coverage devoted to African-American and Caucasian players in the National Basketball Association from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000.

The study examined 96 randomly chosen articles, 48 from each publication, to determine trends with regard to coverage of each race.

While the hypotheses predicted African-American players would receive more negative coverage than their Caucasian counterparts, the results showed that Caucasian players actually receive slightly more negative coverage.

The results also showed The New York Times is more …

Does The Black Church In West Virginia Speak With A Prophetic Voice?: A Sociological Analysis Of The Black Church As An Agent For Social Change, James Lewis Patterson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This research examines the function of the black church in African American Society in general, and its function in the African American community in West Virginia in particular. Determining what the black church sees as its overall mission is my primary concern. Specifically, the research examines the relationship between themes that emerge from black pastor’s personal ministry philosophies, and themes that appear in priestly ministry and prophetic ministry. Determining whether the black church views its primary mission as (priestly) caring for the spiritual needs of its congregation, or (prophetic) calling for changes in societal structures that foster oppression and racism …