Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Investigation Of The Predictive Validity Of Broad And Narrow Personality Traits In Relation To Academic Achievement, Jessica A. Dunsmore

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the ability of broad and narrow personality traits to predict academic achievement over time in adolescence. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 1328 adolescents from an archival data set. Students were in grades 6, 9, and 12 at time one, and measures were assessed over three consecutive annual testing occasions. Results from correlational analyses showed that all Big Five traits predicted academic performance at Time One and Time Two. All Big Five traits except for Openness predicted academic performance at Time Three. Additional correlational analyses demonstrated that the narrow traits of …

Adolescent Sexual Behaviors: Analyses Of Context, Catherine Marie Grello

Doctoral Dissertations

The three studies presented in this paper together examined personal, psychological, and relational variables and their association to adolescent sexual behaviors. By examining adolescent sexual behaviors in the context in which they are embedded and adding to our questions, non-coital sexual behaviors, the two studies presented here provide evidence that the relationship context is an important consideration. For some adolescents engaging in sexual behaviors is likely symptomatic; however, for others engaging in sexual behaviors is less problematic.

The Other-Directed Adolescent: Associated Personality Processes As Measured By The Rorschach, Elisabeth D. Scherpenisse

Doctoral Dissertations

Other-Directedness examines the extent to which a person sees his or her contemporaries as a source or guide for how to behave in a given situation. It has been linked with both adjustment difficulties and difficulties in interpersonal functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine underlying personality processes using the Rorschach in the late adolescent, college population and the hypotheses were three-fold. It was hypothesized that highly Other-Directed adolescents would have fewer psychological resources for coping with stress as indicated by a low Adjusted D score. It was hypothesized that highly Other-Directed adolescents would have less effective attitudes …

Characteristics Of The Therapeutic Alliance In Couple Therapy: Perspectives From The Field, Nathan Daniel Tomcik

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate practicing mental health care professionals’ perceptions of the most important components of the therapeutic alliance in couple therapy. 151 therapists responded to requests posted to professional listservs and completed an online survey asking them to rate 18 aspects of the alliance on relative importance for couple therapy and individual therapy. Therapists also were given space to write narratives asking them to provide their definition of the therapeutic alliance in couple therapy as well as to describe unique ruptures in the alliance that may occur in the course of couple therapy.

Therapists who …

Psychopathic Traits In College Students: Electrodermal Reactivity, Anxiety, Disinhibition, Risk-Taking, And Executive Functioning, Robert L. Bare

Doctoral Dissertations

A robust finding is that psychopaths exhibit electrodermal hyporeactivity in the presence of stimuli that elicit anxiety in non-psychopathic samples. This finding has been associated with decreased anxiety, although recent research suggests the relationship between psychopathic traits and electrodermal hyporeactivity may be related to other correlates of psychopathy (i.e. decreased inhibitory control, risk-taking, and executive functioning deficits). The present study was a preliminary examination to assess electrodermal reactivity, disinhibition, risk-taking, and executive functioning in a sample of undergraduate students with varying degrees of psychopathic characteristics. Results generally did not support hypothesized relationships between psychopathic traits, physiological responsivity, and executive functioning …

Spatio-Temporal Patterns Of Geomorphic Adjustment In Channelized Tributary Streams Of The Lower Hatchie River Basin, West Tennessee, Mary A. Boulton

Doctoral Dissertations

The processes involved in fluvial geomorphic adjustment to human-induced change are not well understood, despite an increasing and global prevalence of human disturbance to rivers. This doctoral dissertation research examines spatial and temporal patterns of geomorphic adjustment processes in three tributary streams of the Lower Hatchie River Basin, in west Tennessee, which are adjusting to historic land clearance and channelization. This dissertation examines (1) the types and spatial pattern of geomorphic adjustment processes in a total of 34 tributary reaches located in Richland, Jeffers, and Dry Creeks, (2) the applicability of an existing model of geomorphic adjustment for use in …

A Watershed Classification System Based On Headwater Catchments In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee-North Carolina, Martin Dietrich Lafrenz

Doctoral Dissertations

Headwater areas in the southeastern U.S., as well as elsewhere, have received little attention from researchers, even though headwater catchments comprise over 70% of the land area in the southeastern highlands. The small, low-order streams that drain these catchments are greatly affected by hillslope processes within their watersheds. As such, there exists a strong link between upland landscape history and a headwater stream’s condition, including its channel morphology, habitat, and water quality. I employ this tight connection between landscape-scale attributes and reach-scale morphology in order to develop a headwater catchment classification system for Great Smoky Mountains National Park that describes …

Gender And Internet Advertising: Differences In The Ways Males And Females Engage With And Perceive Internet Advertising, Carolynn Anne Mcmahan

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper discusses an examination of the differences in the ways males’ and females’ engage with and perceive Internet advertising. Specifically, commercial Web sites were analyzed to better understand the role of gender within online consumer behavior, its effect on interactivity and advertising effectiveness and the implications for online marketing communications. Gender differences in Internet advertising are first explored by analyzing gender in relation to interactivity. This exploration will be based upon dimensions of consumers’ online behavior, referred to as user processes, and consumers’ beliefs about the interactive communication environment, or user perceptions, in relation to three types of features, …

Personnel Selection In The Transportation Sector: An Investigation Of Personality Traits In Relation To The Job Performance Of Delivery Drivers, Mark Andrew Tichon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of a pre-employment selection instrument for predicting occupational success of delivery drivers. A criterion-based concurrent validation study was performed on a customized version of the Personal Style Inventory , a work-based personality measurement system based on the Five Factor model of personality (Lounsbury & Gibson, 2000). Relationships between both broad and narrow bandwidth personality dimensions and important job performance criterion measures were examined. Four traits were found to be correlated with Overall Performance Rating of delivery drivers: Agreeableness, Comfort with Procedures, Attention to Detail, and Preference for Long Tenure. A …

The Effect Of Specific Versus Generalized Supervisory Feedback On Counseling Self-Efficacy Of Counselors-In-Training, Sheri Lyn Clark

Doctoral Dissertations

This study assessed the effects of general and specific supervisory feedback on counselors’-in-training ratings of counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Fifty-four students in counseling-related graduate programs from two universities in the southeast and one in the mid-west volunteered as participants. Thirty-seven participants were female (68.5%), 14 were male (25.9%), and three did not indicate their sex (5.6%). Forty out of 54 participants (74.1%) indicated they were Caucasian-American, five were African-American (9.3%), one was Hispanic-American (1.9%), one was Asian-American (1.9%), and three indicated that they were best described as “other” (5.6%). The median number of months of previous clinical supervision for the participants …

Variation In Life History And Behavioral Traits In The Colonial Spider Parawixia Bistriata (Araneidae): Some Adaptive Responses To Different Environments, María Florencia Fernández Campón

Doctoral Dissertations

Widely distributed species are exposed to different environmental forces throughout their range. As a response to differences in local environmental conditions, these species are expected to present geographic variation in phenotypic traits (e.g., behavioral, physiological, anatomical) in order to better adapt to these conditions. Parawixia bistriata (Araneidae) is a colonial spider distributed in a variety of habitats in South America. This species is unusual in two respects: contrary to most social species found in tropical wet forests, P. bistriata’s distribution extends from tropical to temperate latitudes; and it exhibits facultative group foraging, a behavioral pattern absent in territorial colonial …

A Zooarchaeological Analysis Of Change In Animal Utilization At Bethsaida From Iron Age Ii Through The Early Roman Period, Toni Gayle Fisher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines and compares the patterns of animal utilization by the peoples who inhabited et-Tell / Bethsaida during three historical periods: the Iron Age (specifically Iron Age IIA, IIB and IIC, 1000–740 BCE), the Early Hellenistic Period (332–142 BCE) and the Late Hellenistic / Early Roman Period (142 BCE–second century CE). The research presented here analyzes animal bones discovered during excavations from 1995 through 1998 at et-Tell, a site in present-day Israel. Zooarchaeological analysis of these remains in their archaeological contexts, in combination and comparison with data from neighboring sites, is used to identify the economic strategies and lifeways …

The Homicidal Narcissist, Tedra Elise Jamison

Doctoral Dissertations

Personality type and murder have been linked via several studies on Sadistic personality disorder, Antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy. The present study focused on the relationship between Narcissistic personality disorder and homicidal propensity. The relationship was examined using a sample of 490 inmates of the Colorado Department of Corrections. The subjects specific to this study were 215 inmates convicted of homicidal crimes including manslaughter, first degree murder, second degree murder, and second degree murder-crime of passion. A control group of approximately 275 inmates was included. The control group consisted of a random sample of crimes with the exception of homicide. …

Perspectives On Self-Immolation Experiences Among Uzbek Women, Elizabeth Ann Campbell

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the motivation of Uzbek women who committed acts of self-immolation and survived. The study examined the role of the religion and culture of Islam, whether the act of self-immolation was a suicide attempt or an act of protest, and whether the use of fire had some symbolic significance. Self-immolation, or deliberate self-burning, is increasingly becoming a cause of death and disability among young Muslim women in the Middle East andCentral Asia. However, little is known about this phenomenon.

This was a qualitative, bounded case study, which used a blended model of case …

An Investigation Of The Big Five And Narrow Personality Traits In Relation To Academic Performance, Craig Lancer Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study investigated the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, extroversion, and openness), as well as the relationship of more narrow personality traits, with academic performance. The issue of narrow traits adding incremental validity to the Big Five in predicting academic performance was investigated, using archival data collected from 552 university students.

Results from a correlation analysis indicated that openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability were all significantly related to GPA (college grade-point average), while extroversion was not related. Due to a significant gender difference in college GPA, gender interaction terms with …

Geographic Variation In Native American Anthropometrics: A Spatial Analysis Of The Boas And Gifford Datasets, Paul Christopher Dillingham

Doctoral Dissertations

In 1982, anthropometric data that had been lost for decades was rediscovered, and, with it, another chance was granted to add to our knowledge of the physical anthropology of the American Indian.

Because previous spatial analysis studies either utilized only a portion of the Boas data and either utilized no statistical analyses or were not published, a more comprehensive spatial analysis is still needed. The purpose of this study is to more comprehensively re-analyze the Boas and Gifford datasets using spatial analysis methods to discover the patterns of variation revealed by the data. The following questions using spatial autocorrelation analysis …

Encosto In A Brazilian Favela, Darrell William Lynch

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the folk illness of encosto in the favela, or slum, of Pirambu in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. Encosto is a term used primarily within the religious tradition of Umbanda. To be encostado literally means that someone is being "leaned on unduly" or "bothered by" another person. In the case of the folk illness, that "person" is believed to be a disincarnate spirit and the victim is said to be suffering from encosto. The spirit may be a deceased relative, an Exu or trickster spirit, or an entity sent to attack the victim by …

Understanding Child Narrative Development Through The Lens Of Lessons And Dialogue In Mother-Child Interactions, Mary Clare Champion

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study explored the role oflessons and dialogue in communication between mothers and their children in an effort to better understand the processes that influence and support healthy child narrative development. Volunteers were recruited from an elementary school, and pairs ofmothers and their children were observed. Observations were coded for the presence oflessons and dialogue, and mother and child narratives were gathered. It was predicted that dialogue would be an important component ofthe communication between mother and child, and that its presence would correlate with mother and child narrative measures. It was also predicted that mother and child would …

Information-Seeking Behavior Of Social Sciences And Humanities Researchers In The Internet Age, Xuemei Ge

Masters Theses

This study focuses on how Internet technology influences and contributes to the information-seeking process in the social sciences and humanities. The study examines the information-seeking behavior of faculty and doctoral students in these fields and observes and extends Ellis’s model of information-seeking behavior for social scientists, which includes six characteristics: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting.

The study was conducted at Tennessee State University. Thirty active social sciences and humanities faculty and doctoral students were interviewed about their use of Internet resources, their perception of electronic and print materials, and their opinions concerning the Ellis model and how it …

Television News Violence And Children’S Fear Reaction, Lin Wang

Masters Theses

Do parents perceive that exposure to violence on television news programs is a problem for their young children? Although considerable research has shown that media violence in other forms (cartoons, movies, television entertainment programs) has several negative effects on children, almost no research or policy attention has been given to children’s exposure to violent events in television news broadcasts. The purpose of this study was to examine the rates of 4-5 years old children’s exposure and fear reaction to television news violence as it relates to several ecological variables, including parental gender, race, education level, household income, family structure and …

Consumers’ Perceptions Of And Responses To Green Cause-Related Marketing, Betsy Suzanne Saylor

Masters Theses

In the last few decades, cause-related marketing has been increasingly refined as a method for companies to go beyond meeting the material needs of consumers (Marconi, p. xi). As cause-related marketing has developed, the variety of tactics, causes, and ethical issues has become more prevalent. The nature of cause-related marketing is conducive to a growing number of approaches, further narrowing and defining target markets through the selection of more specific causes. Competing alongside the marketing campaigns supporting cancer research is cause-related marketing geared toward restoring native species in the county of a company’s headquarters. The purpose of this study is …

A Comparison Of Human Decomposition In An Indoor And An Outdoor Environment, Genevieve T. Ritchie

Masters Theses

In the medicolegal context, forensic anthropologists assist investigators by gathering information from skeletal remains. While humans decompose in both indoor and outdoor environments, little research has been performed on the differences in the decomposition rate and process between subjects in an indoor environment and subjects in an outdoor environment. Limited accessibility to appropriate facilities for a comparison study between indoor and outdoor decomposition rates has prevented such research from being attempted. Documented through daily notes and photographs, six human subjects were observed from the fresh to the end of the bloat stages of decomposition. Three subjects were placed in an …

A Test Of The Transition Analysis Method For Estimation Of Age-At-Death In Adult Human Skeletal Remains, Jonathan D. Bethard

Masters Theses

Physical anthropologists and bioarchaeologists often seek to generate biological profiles of individuals represented by skeletal remains. One particularly informative component of the biological profile is skeletal age-at-death. Age-at-death estimation is vital to numerous contexts in both paleodemography and forensic anthropology. Throughout the history of the discipline, numerous authors have published methods for adult age-at-death estimation. These methods have proved invaluable, but they are not free from error. As a result, workers have continually worked to improve the methodological toolkit for estimating age-at-death.

In June of 1999, researchers gathered in Rostock, Germany for the sole purpose of evaluating and testing age-at-death …

Narrating Single Motherhood: What Does It Mean To Be A Single Mother?, Brandee Rutherford Mathews

Masters Theses

Status transitions such as divorce challenge those who undergo them to revise or reformulate identities lined to statuses no longer held. This study focuses on the identity work of recently divorced mothers of dependent children. Participants were solicited from those attending a “singles’ group” designed for adults with children sponsored by a large evangelical church located in the southeast. The women’s identity work occurred within a religious context that emphasized the desirability and sanctity of marriage. The researcher both participated in the group and conducted phone interviews with eleven of the mothers in the group. Identity ambiguity and identity limbo …

Framing, Athletics, And Gender: A Study Of Newspapers And The 2004 Olympics, Nathan Lee Kirkham

Masters Theses

This study serves as an extension of previous research focusing on media content and gender portrayal of female athletes, most notably Kinnick’s research of the 1996 Olympics (1998). In particular, this research analyzed newspaper content for the presence of common framing devices traditionally used to inject gender bias into coverage devoted to female Olympians. More specifically, a data set of 210 articles systematically drawn from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times

was manually coded to compare coverage of male and female Olympians during the 2004 Olympic Games.

While there were some notable exceptions, …

The Effect Of Stuttering And Fluency-Enhancing Conditions On A Manual Movement Task, Mary Rhodes Robbins

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the possibility of finding and quantifying correlates of stuttering behaviors outside of the speech production system. One female and six male adults who stutter (aged 22-49) drew continuous circles on a digital x-y pad under seven conditions: 1) while silent, 2) while reading alone, 3) while reading under choral speech, 4) while reading under frequency altered feedback (FAF) shifted up one-half octave, 5) while reading under FAF shifted down one-half octave, 6) while reading under delayed auditory feedback (DAF) of 100 milliseconds (ms), and 7) while reading under DAF of 200ms. Normalized jerk (NJ), a measure …

Exploring Behavior And Social Relationships Of A Captive Group Of Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes), Crystal E. Anderson

Masters Theses

An observational study was conducted on a captive group of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes to determine the overall behavior patterns, social organization, grooming relationships, and enclosure usage. Adolescence is a very dynamic time for young males and new group dynamics were expected to occur. The aim of the study was to investigate any shifting of social bonds among the group members and changes in the ranks of the two adolescent males. The two adolescent males (Lu and Mugsy) should have been demonstrating dominance behaviors towards the females, towards each other, and exhibiting sexual behaviors. Due to the unique group composition and …

Spatiotemporal Variations In The Fire Regimes Of Whitebark Pine (Pinus Albicaulis Engelm.) Forests, Western Montana, Usa, And Their Management Implications, Evan Reed Larson

Masters Theses

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is a long-lived tree species that exists throughout high elevation forest communities of western North America. It is the foundation of a diminishing ecosystem that supports Clark’s nutcrackers, red squirrels, grizzly bears, and black bears. The decline of this species is directly related to mortality from widespread mountain pine beetle outbreaks and infestation by the invasive white pine blister rust, and may be exacerbated by fire suppression. Prescribed fire will be a primary management tool in efforts to preserve whitebark pine on the landscape. My research used dendrochronology to investigate the fire history of …

Attachment Security: The Genesis Of Parenting Style?, Ian P. Haag

Masters Theses

There is a great deal of literature examining attachment security and parenting styles but little research has considered these topics in relation to each other. This paper examines the nature of this relationship with a particular focus on Baumrind’s (1978) categorical parenting styles and Bowlby’s (1969) attachment theory. Utilizing a clinic population of 20 parents, it was proposed that securely attached parents would evidence authoritative parenting styles, while insecurely attached parents would evidence no-authoritative parenting styles. The Adult Attachment Projective (AAP), the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), and the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) were utilized in assessing attachment security. The Parental Authority …

Biological, Linguistic, And Cultural Variation Among 19Th Century Plains Indians, Brad Jamison

Masters Theses

In this study I have examined relationships between biological, linguistic and cultural patterns of variability among 19^th Century Indian groups of the American Great Plains. Through this research I have sought to address Cavalli-Sforza et al.’s (1994) call for studies regarding cultural and biological correlation and also to partially assess their methodology of equating linguistic relationships with biologically influential, ethnic boundaries. I have constructed biological, linguistic, and cultural distance matrices, based on the Boas database of anthropometric measurements, Ruhlen’s (1976) and Campbell’s (1997) linguistic taxonomies, and Murdock’s (1967) Ethnographic Atlas, respectively. Furthermore, I constructed a geographic distance matrix …