Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Two Exercise Programs On Children's Self-Concept, Locus Of Control, And Mood, Lynne Blanken Einhaus

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of two physical fitness programs on children's self-concept, locus of control and mood were investigated in this study. It was expected that children who participated in a vigorous running program would demonstrate reduced depression and anxiety but a more internal locus of control and an increase in self-concept than children in a routine exercise group.

Participants in the Running Group were three fifth grade classes of a public elementary school in Richmond, Virginia (N = 60). Participants in the Routine Exercise Group were three fifth grade classes from a comparable public elementary school in the same district (N …

Social Support Systems Of A Selected Sample Of Older Women, Carol Thorpe Tully

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to examine social organizational structures and support systems in the social world of the older lesbian woman, 73 self-identified lesbian women fifty years of age or older provided data on their personal interactions with the economic, political, educational, religious, social welfare and familial social systems of the heterosexual culture and the homosexual subculture. Results from this cross-sectional survey depict the sample as well educated, professional, financially secure, politically liberal women in good health who are selective with whom they reveal their sexual orientation. The knowledge of their lesbianism is shared more with female friends than with family …

Some Developmental Components Of The Career Decision Making Process Among College Students, Glenn Thomas Gould

Theses and Dissertations

Current research suggests that there is some relationship between developmental variables, levels of career maturity and career decisions. In this study, the relationships between certain developmental factors and the degree of certainty expressed by college students about their decision to major in a field of study were explored. The variables included the student's decision making stage, decision making styles, levels of autonomy and interpersonal relationships, and degree of career maturity. The relationships between students' status as decided or undecided about a choice of major and the variables were also investigated. The participants of this study were 104 men (n=47) and …

Person-Environment Interaction In Nursing Homes For The Elderly, Stan J. Orchowsky

Theses and Dissertations

There has been a growing interest in recent years in the study of person-environment interaction in the elderly. Several theoretical models have been proposed in the gerontological literature. Each of these models suffers from one or more limitations, including the restriction of requiring that the person and the environment be measured in the same terms, and the difficulty posed by attempting to empirically test the model.

A new model of person-environment interaction in the elderly is proposed here. The model views life satisfaction as the ultimate outcome variable. Feelings of personal control and choice are seen as intervening between life …

Components Of State Anxiety For Varying Levels And Dimensions Of Trait Anxiety, Dennis C. Donat

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has provided support for a multidimensional view of trait anxiety to supplant the former unidimensional approach. Unidimensional measures of general trait anxiety have been found to be inadequate as predictors of state anxiety reactions across a wide variety of situations. As such, they are poor measures of general trait anxiety. The present investigation was conducted to examine the possible utility of a single anxiety trait score, summed from the subscales of the Stimulus - Response Inventory of General Trait Anxiety (S-R GTA), a multidimensional measure of trait anxiety, in supplementing the ability of individual subscale scores to predict …

An Investigation Of Identity And Self-Esteem In Traditional Married Women During Their Middle Years, And The Impact Of The Life Planning Seminar, Susan E. Ellett

Theses and Dissertations

There is contradictory evidence as to whether the middle years are problematic for women. The research indicates that the middle years, particularly the empty nest period, are traumatic for some women, but for others a time of relief. More recent research suggests that for women who do find the middle years problematic, certain types of group experiences may be helpful. The purpose of this study was to investigate this time of life for a specific population of women, traditional married women who have devoted their time primarily to raising a family. This study examined identity and self-esteem in these women …

Effects Of Cognitive Set On The Physiological, Subjective, And Behavioral Responses To Fearful Stimuli, Jerome D. Gilmore

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the effects of cognitive set on the physiological, subjective, and motoric responses of fearful and non-fearful subjects exposed to specific fear stimuli. High, moderate, and low mutilation fear subjects were given instructions designed to persuade them that they were or were not afraid of mutilation stimuli. The extent to which instructions differentially affected subjects in the three fear groups and produced differential effects on responses in the three modalities was examined. The degree to which the physiological, self-report, and behavioral channels responded concordantly was also investigated.

A series of hypotheses were derived which generally indicated that high-fear …

Interactionist Strategies For Assessing Personality And Behavior Differences Among Female Intercollegiate Athletes And Nonathletes, Frances Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Thirty six female intercollegiate team athletes and 40 female non-athlete control subjects were studied in a two-experiment investigation designed to explore the personality patterns of female athletes; to measure any differences in performances of the experimental and control groups attributable to changing conditions, i.e., solo, coaction and competitive; and to explore the interactions of personality variables and performance. The previous research on personality, with Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Inventory and female athletes, is not plentiful and frequently in conflict. No previous research could be located that employed controlled competitive conditions with athletes—male or female. In Study 1, the team athletes …

The Effects Of Religious Beliefs On Preferences Among Four Types Of Christian Counseling, Suzanne Ruth Gascoyne

Theses and Dissertations

Forty-five participants from Protestant denominations completed surveys designed to investigate the effects of religious beliefs on preferences among four types of Christian counseling. The proponents of the counseling theories were Clyde M. Narramore, Jay E. Adams, Lawrence J. Crabb, and Andre Bustanoby. Participants read a case history of a fictitious client, and four short treatment plans which represented each Christian counselor's approach. Then, they completed questionnaires designed to assess their preferences for the counseling approaches, as well as completing other measures, including a religious fundamentalism scale, the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS), and the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). It was found …

Relationship Between Personality And Value Structure, William B. Pettus

Theses and Dissertations

Humankind has been interested in the study of individual differences throughout recorded history. Plato discussed the issue of individual variations in aptitudes and suggested having tests for selecting those persons most suited for the military, artisans and rulers (Tyler, 1965). Hippocrates proposed a two-fold classification system of body builds which he called ”habitus apoplecticus” and ”habitus phthisicus” (Tyler, 1965). The nineteenth century German astronomer, Bessel, discovered discrepancies among individuals in recording the time of the passage of stars across the meridian at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This source of error, due to individual differences, became known as the ”personal …

Stages Of Adult Development For Women Religious And Married Women, Ellen Rufft

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the stages in the adult development of single women living in religious communities and compare these stages with those of married women. Specific research questions about each five year period from age 21 to 50 were answered by this study.

Questionnaires were sent to 200 women religious and 200 married women between the ages of 36 and 50 who live in the Pittsburgh area and are white, middle-class, and Catholic. In addition to requesting biographical information, these questionnaires asked participants to specify which five year period in their lives they experienced certain …

Motivational Differences Between Depressed And Nondepressed Students In Detecting Noncontingency, Gerald D. Oster

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of learned helplessness assigns a mediating role to the recognition that events may be unrelated. However, current representation of individuals as "intuitive statisticians" unveils a lack of these information-processing abilities. This is particuIarIy apparent in the skill required to recognize noncontingent events. Similarly, in a series of experiments on the detection of contingent and noncontingent events, Allo and Abramson (1979) demonstrated that this “illusion of controI” couId discriminate between depressed and nondepressed students.

In extending their research, the concept of "contrast effects," on animal Iearning phenomenon, was introduced as a competing motivational framework to account for differences between …

Personality Correlates Of Musical Talent, Walter W. Tunstall

Theses and Dissertations

Existing commentary and research on the nature of musical talent was reviewed and found lacking in conception, primarily because previous researchers had failed to identify the unique creative element a musician contributes to a musical performance. The personality structures of 60 subjects, 32 males and 28 females, were analyzed via the 16PF. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation, an ANOVA, and a second order factor analysis were used to assess the relationship between personality and musical talent for 1) persons with little or no musical ability, 2) highly talented university music majors, and 3) professional performing musicians. Significant relationships were found …

Autonomic Responses Of Normals And Depressives To Stress Inducing Stimuli, Dennis Donat

Theses and Dissertations

A group of depressed (N=10) and a group of normal (N=10) were presented a series of stressor stimuli to assess several parameters of their physiological responses to these stimuli. The results indicated that the groups did not differ in their relative tendency to show maximal response specificity (consistently responding to stress with a maximum response in the same channel) or pattern stereotypy (the tendency to respond consistently in all physiological channels relative to each other). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), of the levels of the physiological channels under conditions of rest, anticipation, and stress revealed a significant group effect. …

Age Differences In Attributions Of Causality: Implications For Intellectual Assessment, Thomas R. Prohaska

Theses and Dissertations

The present investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that failure experienced by the individual in a testing situation is moderated by causal attributions and these attributions influence subsequent test measures. The effect of manipulating cause (lack of effort or Lack of ability) to response-independent failure and its relationship to scores on the Reasoning, Hidden Patterns, and Paper Folding Test, in younger an older person's was investigated. The same measures were assessed in a group that experienced the same response-independent-failure but with no explanation offered as to the cause for the failure, a group that was not given any information …

An Examination Of Intellectual Functioning, School Achievement, And Personality Characteristics Of Male Juvenile Delinquents, Robert A. Rymer

Theses and Dissertations

Research in the area of juvenile delinquency has reported personality and background differences between delinquents who have committed certain types of offenses (Randolph, l96l; Mizushima and DeVos, 1967). The major purpose of this study was to examine the academic characteristics of certain classifications of delinquent offenders. Specifically, the incidences of three school-related problems and absence of any of these problems were compared for certain classifications of offenders. The comparisons that were made were group versus individual offenses, person versus property offenses, and actual aggressors versus threatened aggressors. A second aspect of the study involved a comparative investigation of the personality …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Maternal Employment History And A Woman's Sex Role Orientation And Career Development, Susan Elizabeth Ellett

Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research reviewed suggests that there is some relationship between a woman's mother's employment history, a woman's sex role orientation, and a woman's commitment to a career. In this study, the sex role orientation, career commitment, and career decision making of college women were examined in relation to length of maternal employment history. It was found that the longer a mother worked during the daughter's lifetime, the greater was the daughter's own desire to work. The length of maternal employment history was not found to significantly influence the daughter's sex role orientation or career decision making process. It …

The Measurement Of Anger In Children: A Multi-Modal Approach, Edward Shirrell Eastman Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to utilize self-report, peer-report and teacher-report techniques in measuring (reporting) anger in children; and to determine the intercorrelation between these three approaches in order to determine their relationship to one another and in turn, to assess these reporting tools. Subjects were 38 male and female emotionally disturbed children from the Virginia Treatment Center for Children, a short-term residential psychiatric facility in Richmond, Virginia. There were 28 boys and 10 girls, with a mean age of approximately 11 years.

Each student was given the Children's Inventory of Anger (CIA) and the Peer-Report of Anger (PR). …

The Ascription Of Mental Illness: Inside Societal Reaction, Kevin H. Ferguson

Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness is examined as a classification of deviance and as a social process. The labeling perspective provides preliminary concepts and problems for research. The goal of research is the examination of the process of ascribing the label "mental illness" to individuals and their behavior by significant others prior to their contact with official and organizational agents of treatment and control.

An exploratory interview research design thin the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia was executed. Fifty residents were interviewed. Preliminary data suggest that the primarily white, female, well-educated, professional sample was unwilling to stereotype the mentally ill, and revealed typifications …

Critical Expression And Subsequent Physiological Response As A Function Of Selected Situational Variables, Thomas M. Beall

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the influence of two social situational factors, anonymity and expected audience, on the expression of criticism and subsequent physiological and psychological response. The expression of criticism towards a disagreeable stranger was studied under the provision of either anonymity or no anonymity to the critic factorially combined with an expected audience for the criticism of either the person criticized (criticism-relevant expected audience), or someone who knew neither the critic or the person criticized (criticism-irrelevant expected audience).

A series of hypotheses were derived from Zillman's (1972) two factor theory of aggressive responding concerning the expression of criticism and subsequent …

The Influence Of Population Knowledge And Concern On Acceptable Family Sizes And Expected Family Size, Nancy Ross Hugo

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on the influence of population knowledge and population concern on acceptable family sizes and expected family size. Analysis of the responses of 212 students in Introductory Sociology classes to a questionnaire survey revealed that the greater the student's population knowledge, the greater the degree of concern over population growth. Furthermore, the study revealed a stronger relationship between general knowledge of population processes and population concern than between specific knowledge of population sizes and growth rates and population concern.

Analysis of the relationship between population concern and acceptable family sizes revealed that the greater the degree of concern …

Effect Of D-Amphetamine, Guanethidine, Disulfiram, And Stress On Gastric Ulceration In The Rat, Thomas M. Beall

Theses and Dissertations

Albino rats were injected with various doses of d-amphetamine (.02 mg/kg- 9 mg/kg) and subjected to 4 hours restraint in a cold (+5 degrees C) environment. Differential effects on ulceration were observed as a function ot the d-amphetamine dose level. Pretreatment with a .50 mg/kg injection of d-amphetamine significantly inhibited ulceration over that of saline injected, control animals, while a 9 mg/kg dose injection of the drug significantly facilitated it. Such results were explained in terms of a model interaction between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity, and the effect that such activity has on gastric conditions conducive to ulceration. …

Differential Effects Of Reward And Punishment On Subsequent Altruistic Behavior, Sharon Browning

Theses and Dissertations

In today's complex society, no one can be independent and survive; people must help others. There appear to be limits on help giving or at least some conditions under which help is not given. For example, why did thirty-eight people stand silently and watch Kitty Genovese being murdered without one person calling the police or offering any assistance? In addition to making people more interdependent, our rapidly expanding technological society may also account for increased im-personalization and accompanying apathy and alienation. However, the research which has been done in the area of altruism or helping behavior seems to indicate that …

The Measurement Of The Instructor Variable In The Instructional Process By A Rank Order, Forced Choice Procedure Along Five Basic Dimensions, Martha Louise Green

Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, a rating of professors as a variable in the learning process through a dimension rank order technique was made by 316 undergraduate students. An instructor evaluation instrument was used. This instrument was administered to students who were asked to rank order their professors on five basic dimensions of instruction.

The rank ordering demonstrated meaning in standard scores among instructors by a paired comparison transformation, and since parameters (a complete department) were used, absolute values were obtained. There was clear evidence to indicate that students could reliably and significantly discriminate between instructors on five basic dimensions of …

A Follow-Up Study Of Fifty-Two Richmond Public School Pupils Given Psychiatric Staffing During The 1966-1967 School Year, David F. Hopkins, James A. Ryan, Sandra Laverne Wright

Theses and Dissertations

This research study is a descriptive study of the effectiveness of the psychiatric staffing as determined by a follow-up study of fifty-two Richmond Public School Pupils given such staffing during the l966-67 school year. The review of pertinent literature reveals what others have contributed to the knowledge of the nature and function of the school helping team. The teamwork approach, which involves the efforts of several professions and disciplines working closely together, is seen as the best present method to meet the complex, overlapping needs which have been found to affect students' learning.

As a means of establishing guidelines and …

Implementation Of The Economic Opportunity Act Of 1964 As Evidenced By A Community Action Program In Baltimore, Maryland, Maria M. Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

This research is directed to a rough and beginning evaluation of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as evidenced through one Community Action Program, the Neighborhood Development Program, in Baltimore, Maryland during the late fall of 1966. In this study the implementation of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is evaluated according to the perceptions of the Neighborhood Development Assistants who are the indigenous workers in the program. The purposes of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and each Community Action Program were taken directly from the Act itself, and then various phrases were operationally defined.

The data was collected …