Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Antecedents Of Fssb: Evaluating The Demographic Basis Of Support, Erika Ann Schemmel

Dissertations and Theses

The benefits of family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) have been well-documented in recent literature. However, less research has examined the antecedents of FSSB. The present study draws from two theoretical models of FSSB to investigate the demographic antecedents of FSSB in a military sample. Supervisor and employee gender, partnered status, parental status, and elder caregiving status were examined to determine by whom, and for whom, FSSB is provided, as measured by employee perceptions. It is hypothesized that supervisors and employees who are women, partnered, parents, and/or caregivers to elders would have higher employee-ratings of FSSB. Furthermore, the present study applied a …

The Experience Of Female Caregivers In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Nouf Albugami

Dissertations and Theses

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ("KSA"), a minimal amount of research concerning the availability and level of social support specifically targeting the female caregiver has been conducted. Moreover, the extent to which social support has helped alleviate both the physical and psychological stress of caregiving has been studied very little, if at all. In light of this limited amount of research, the goals of this study are to investigate the following two questions: (1) What is the experience of female caregivers with chronically ill children in KSA, and (2) What is the nature and availability of social support among …

Peers' Academic Coping As A Resource For Academic Engagement And Motivational Resilience In The First Year Of Middle School, Daniel Lee Grimes

Dissertations and Theses

Beginning middle school is a difficult transition for many young adolescents. Academic coping skills and the ability to exhibit motivational resilience in the face of potential academic adversity can contribute to the success with which students navigate this transition. Students' peer group affiliations are known to have the ability to contribute positively to students' academic engagement, motivation, and achievement at this time. The current study explores the potential of a student's peer group members' use of eleven ways of academic coping to affect the change in student academic engagement over the course of the first year of middle school. Data …

When You Aren't Who Your Friends Are: The Moderating Influence Of Racial Similarity On The Association Between Friendships And Mental Well-Being, Philip Tostado

Dissertations and Theses

Friendships are a mental health resource for adolescents. Their availability and strength have been shown to predict lower levels of depression, higher self-esteem, and higher life satisfaction. They can also alleviate the stress that often leads to negative mental health outcomes. However, studies examining the stress process rarely consider the fact that social networks like friendship groups are not a static resource that effects all people the same way. Rather, demographic characteristics of both the individual and their friends could change the role of friendship networks within the stress process.

In this thesis, I investigate the importance of one such …

The Importance Of Online Peer Relationships During The Transition To Motherhood: Do They Decrease Stress, Alleviate Depression And Increase Parenting Competence?, Bobbie Sue Arias

Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging …

Giving Process Its Due : Can Collaboration Help Environmental Markets Succeed?, John Robert Cochran

Dissertations and Theses

Emerging environmental markets assign economic value to ecosystem services and exchange them in market-like transactions. These markets are characterized by diverse stakeholder interests interacting with minimally defined transaction steps and high uncertainty. In this context, process plays an important role in shaping the institutions that make markets work or fail. If process matters, then market organizers need to intentionally craft processes just as they intentionally design institutions. This project explores a subset of four relatively established water quality trading programs that involved diverse stakeholders, and used differing forms of collaboration to design institutions. This research tests whether sometimes subtle changes …

Network Analysis Of A Shared Governance System, Debra Reifman Whitall

Dissertations and Theses

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the role of networks in creating efficacious systems of governance. In particular, this study considers if, in addition to network structure, two network characteristics, network social capital and network management, each have direct and indirect effects on network performance. Also considered are the combined effects of these three network characteristics on network performance. The findings of this study re-examine the relationship between network characteristics and performance, especially the influence of network structure on performance. Thus, this study has practical implications for policy makers regarding effective collaborative strategies.

This study used …

Self-Help Support Groups: Choices In Participation Among Women Facing Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Sle), Maria A. Pfeifer

Dissertations and Theses

This research study explored the experiences of 19 women who had been diagnosed with, or were still seeking the diagnosis of SLE (lupus) and their decisions regarding support group participation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the variety of factors influencing their choices in types and sources of support, their coping strategies and the reasons behind their decisions to either choose or not choose lupus support groups as a viable support resource. Those women identified as support groups attendees recalled a more emotion-focused response to their diagnosis and showed stronger reliance on seeking emotional forms of support. Conversely, …

Satisfaction With Social Support Among Recent Widows, Rachael Ann Silverman

Dissertations and Theses

One of the important issues in research on social support has been the relationship between received support and perceptions of support. While most research has been unable to discover a strong link between these two constructs, three theories have emerged in the literature to explain how such a link might be discovered. One theory states that it is important to study support in the context of a stressful life event. Another suggests that when studying social support it is important to make distinctions between positive and negative interactions. A third approach focuses on specificity issues, predicting that it is important …