Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Have Sexual Abuse And Physicalabuse Declined Since The 1990s?, David Finkelhor, Lisa M. Jones

Crimes Against Children Research Center

This bulletin summarizes statistics on trends for sexual and physical abuse. A decline in sexual abuse since the early 1990s is a conclusion supported by 3 independent sources of agency data and 4 separate large victim surveys. The trend for physical abuse is less clear, since several of the data sources show conflicting patterns.

The Beauty Industry's Influence On Women In Society, Ann Marie Britton

Honors Theses and Capstones

There has been a significant amount of research done on the effect that advertising in the fashion and beauty industry has on women. By creating advertisements with unrealistic images of beauty, it has resulted in anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence in many women. Most of these negative emotions stems from unhappiness among body and appearance. Less research has been performed relating to cosmetics and how this can have an influence on women, and how women can use cosmetics to manipulate their appearance. This paper first discusses the existing research that focuses on the cosmetic industry’s influence on women. From …

Trends In Law Enforcement Responses Totechnology‐Facilitated Child Sexual Exploitation Crimes: Thethird National Juvenile Onlinevictimization Study (Njov‐3), Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Abstract

Overall arrests for technology‐facilitated child sexual exploita‐ tion crimes did not continue to increase from 2006 to 2009 as they had earlier in the decade. However, arrests for child por‐ nography possession increased by about 50% from 2006 to 2009. In addition, arrests for technology‐facilitated sex crimes with identified victims doubled, but the increase was in cases where offenders knew their victims in person, not cases in which they met online. Arrests of offenders who solicited undercover police posing as minors declined between 2006 and 2009, after rising earlier in the decade. The decline may be because of shifts …

Trends In Arrests For Child Pornography Possession: Thethird National Juvenile Onlinevictimization Study (Njov‐3), Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Abstract

Arrests for the possession of child pornography (CP) increased between 2006 and 2009 by one‐third, continuing an increase that also occurred between 2000 and 2006. In 2009, a substantial proportion of arrested CP offenders used peer‐to‐peer (P2P) file sharing technology to access contraband images. These arrests may reflect the enhanced ability of law enforcement to monitor file sharing sites. CP possessors who used P2P technology tended to have more extreme images than other CP possessors, which may reflect police investigative methods. However, compared to 2006 arrests, those in 2009 turned up a somewhat smaller pro‐ portion of “dual offenders,” …

Trends In Arrests For Child Pornography Production: The Third National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (Njov‐3), Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Arrests for child pornography (CP) production more than dou‐ bled between 2006 and 2009. This rise was driven largely by a dramatic increase in cases involving “youth‐produced” sexual images – pictures taken by minors, usually of themselves, which met legal definitions of child pornography. In most of these cases, an adult offender who solicited images from a minor was the person arrested. Reflecting this trend, there were also in‐ creases in the proportion of adolescent victims and of cases in which victims and offenders were face‐to‐face acquaintances.

Religiosity, Identity, And Depression In Late Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study, Erin Sandler

Honors Theses and Capstones

In this study, longitudinal associations among religiosity, identity style, identity commitment, and depression were examined in a sample of late adolescents. Online survey data were collected in two waves with an approximate six-week interval. Correlations demonstrated that high levels of negative aspects of religiosity, such as negative religious coping, predicted high levels of depression. Other aspects of religiosity, such as positive religious coping, did not predict depression. In addition, high levels of diffuse-avoidant identity style predicted high levels of depression, and high levels of identity commitment predicted low levels of depression. However, when a regression was performed with all the …

Do You Really Love Me?: An Experimental Investigation Of Reassurance Seeking And Interpersonal Rejection, Kevin T. Cannon

Honors Theses and Capstones

The authors conducted an experiment to test the interpersonal model of depression (Coyne, 1976), and specifically the link between excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) and rejection. The present study involved college-aged romantic couples. Some participants were then manipulated into perceiving that their partner was seeking reassurance from them. Results support the main tenets of Coyne’s (1976) theory. Participants reported increased frustration and reduced felt closeness to dysphoric partners when they were led to believe that their partners were engaging in ERS. Effects on frustration were moderated by partners’ depression, while effects on felt closeness were partially mediated by frustration, yielding a …

The Psychological Benefits Of Participation In Leisure Pursuits For Adolescents, Caitlyn Mckay

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper looks to better understand the effects leisure has on adolescents. Leisure is an important past time for adolescents since they have so much free time to pursue activities. The adolescents, their parents, recreation programmers, and school officials should be aware of the benefits and risks associated with different leisure pursuits so they can better help the adolescents’ transition into an adult who has a high level of psychologically well-being. After the different effects are analyzed, this paper offers recommendations to recreation programmers. These recommendations account for the different factors of leisure. Overall, this paper is an analysis of …

Creative Careers And Self-Actualization, Kaitlyn T. Cameron

Honors Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to address differences in self-actualization, satisfaction with life, and motivation that exist between individuals in careers of varying levels of creativity. Roughly 330 participants mainly from the United States and India took part in the study. Participants completed a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk in which they rated their career as not at all creative, somewhat creative, or highly creative. The survey included questions from the Brief Index of Self-Actualization by Sumerlin and Budrick and the Satisfaction with Life scale by Emmons et al. The findings showed that individuals who rated their careers as …