Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Attitudes Of Therapists Surrounding Sand Tray Therapy With Adults, Madalyn Cooke

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Sand tray therapy provides a unique experience for adults and children to interact with their experiences and feelings from a distance. However, it is not used as frequently as talk therapy techniques in adult therapeutic treatment. The following thesis explores therapists’ attitudes about using sand trays with adults. A qualitative thematic analysis suggests that while some therapists deem sand trays as helpful with treatment, especially for clients who have a history of trauma, there are barriers for therapists to overcome in order to incorporate sand trays more frequently into practice with adult clientele.

Conceptualizing Asexual Identities, Miranda L. Bejda

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

In current literature, there is little congruence on an inclusive definition of human asexuality. This study explored individuals’ self-identification with asexuality as well as their conceptualization of that identity via thematic analysis. Using a Qualtrics XM survey, 374 individuals (18+ years old) answer questions regarding their experience as a person identifying themselves as asexual. Identity label authenticity, perceived impact of compulsory heterosexuality and heteronormativity on participants' current identity within the asexual spectrum, and prescribed heteronormative ideals were correlated. Thematic analysis revealed themes such as confusion about identity membership, feeling abnormal, the burden of living in a heteronormative society, and identity …

Exploring The Distinction Between Support And Enabling In Families With Substance Use Disorder, Krystal N. King

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Substance use disorders (SUD) are a pervasive public health problem facing families in the United States. Although families are frequently urged to support loved ones who have SUD and cautioned against enabling them, there is a dearth of literature that distinguishes between supporting and enabling. Through qualitative interviews, this phenomenological study examined the experiences of eight parents with adult children with SUD who were currently in recovery. Five themes emerged from the data including: (a) living in despair, (b) addiction and recovery knowledge, (c) support group philosophy, (d) coping with addiction, and (e) differentiation. The results from this study suggest …

Assessing 4-H And Its Circle Of Courage In A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility: A Case Study, Elizabeth Steering

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This 4-H case study takes place in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) in Kentucky. The PRTF provides clinical services to youth that are not able to be safely maintained in their homes due to having demonstrated unsafe or harmful behaviors. Youth admitted to the PRTF stay for an average of three to six months while they receive intensive therapeutic and psychiatric care as well as medical treatment and public schooling. The current case study incorporates programming from 4-H, which is the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), …

Portrayals Of Family Resilience In Webcomics During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Thematic Analysis, Claire Catherine Heaney

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Families and couples were challenged with stresses unlike any other as individuals faced adversities from lockdowns, as well as fears derived from the coronavirus. During the pandemic, trends of webcomics became more popular, particularly comics that depicted characters in romantic relationships dealing with “the new normal.” In this project, I suggest that social media webcomics incorporated topics of coping. The purpose of this study was to examine webcomics that documented daily life situations during lockdowns and stress-buffering skills found in couples’ interactions when dealing with concerns. Utilizing Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis, 585 romantic relationship webcomics posted from March …

Your Problem Or Our Problem: How Clients' Evaluation Of The Problem Affects Therapeutic Progress In Therapy, Claire Elizabeth Nickell

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

As systems theory has become the foundation of interpreting family interactions in therapy, it has become apparent that taking a systemic approach correlates with improved client growth and satisfaction outcomes. Clients’ systemic orientation to their problems may be influential in determining these outcomes in therapy. Thus, this study focused on how client’s systemic agreement can impact the outcomes of therapy and problem progress. We had 968 partnered individuals with differing economic backgrounds, education levels, and religious backgrounds participated in the study, as well as couples from age 18-72 with the mean age of 31.3. The couples’ SES ranged from below …

Personality And Coping In Response To Traumatic Experiences In Emerging Adult Women, Julia J. Beier

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Intimate dating violence is a common occurrence, especially among women (CDC, 2019). Because this type of trauma is so prevalent, it is important to explore how experiences of it impact women and how they cope with its effects. This study explored how individual differences impact the ways in which young women cope with trauma, as well as whether the type of trauma moderate the link between individual differences and coping strategies. Participants were 304 college-age women from a large university in the southeastern United States. Trauma was select items from the Trauma History Questionnaire, while coping was measured using the …

Longitudinal Dynamics Between Parenting And Adolescent Deviance: Direct Links And Underlying Mechanisms, Dan Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The current dissertation, based on three separate and yet closely related studies, tested the longitudinal dynamic relationships of maternal and paternal parenting factors with adolescent deviance, the direct links as well as underlying mechanisms. Study 1, based on longitudinal data collected from 570 early adolescents, part of the Brno Longitudinal Study of Youth (BLSY), used latent growth modeling and tested the development of three parenting measures, including parental solicitation, knowledge, and peer approval, and deviance during early adolescence, as well as the developmental (i.e., growth to growth) links of these three parenting measures with adolescent deviance over time. Results indicated …

Associations Of Sexual Satisfaction, Relationship Quality, And Cognitive Functioning Within Intimate Relationships In Older Adulthood, Allison G. Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The roles of sexual satisfaction, relationship quality, and cognitive functioning within older adults (N = 538) intimate relationships are assessed at two timepoints over an 11-year timeframe. Longitudinal data from 63 older adults are assessed through a path modeling approach to examine how sexual satisfaction and relationship quality change throughout older adulthood. Cross-sectional data for 538 older adults are utilized to examine the association between cognitive health and sexual satisfaction/relationship quality. Qualitative data from 125 older adults are utilized to understand how older adults describe their intimate relationships. Results from path models demonstrate that one’s degree of sexual satisfaction …

Non-Normative Critical Life Events: Where Dyadic Coping And Attachment Meet, Talley Mortara

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The aim of the current study was to examine both dyadic coping and anxious attachment following the experience of a critical non-normative life event. Pairfam, a nationally representative German sample, was used as a secondary data set for this quantitative study. Paired samples t-tests were used to analyze the data from 559 German couples to track statistically significant increases or decreases in the perception of dyadic coping responses and anxious attachment levels when a non-normative critical life event happened at some point in the previous two years. Results found that the partner of the anchor showed a statistically significant increase …

The Influence Of Sociopolitical Factors On Adolescents’ And Youths’ Development, Banafsheh Aghayeeabianeh

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Youths and adolescents are one of the major perpetrators of antisocial and deviant behaviors, which have deleterious consequences for both the perpetrators and society. Although there is extensive literature on youth and adolescent antisocial behavior, some correlates of youth antisociality are not known yet. As such, the present study is devoted to understanding the micro- and macro-level predictors of youth and adolescents’ antisociality in three contexts. Three empirical studies applying bioecological systems theory and analyzing data from the International Dating Violence database using Mixed Effects Models were conducted to investigate the ecology of the development of antisocial behaviors among youth. …

Spiritual Mentoring During Emerging Adulthood: A Dyadic Perspective, Jeffrey L. Reed

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Mentoring relationships have long been identified as a valuable means for supporting identity development in young adults and assisting these individuals in navigating life transitions. The guidance and stability afforded by mentoring relationships can be particularly beneficial to individuals undergoing transitions in their personal or professional lives, or both, and are thus well-suited to play a meaningful role in the lives of emerging adults. Emerging adults are also in a unique developmental stage in which they experience increased freedom and opportunity for exploration away from parents and guardians. While this freedom often results in increased risky behavior, it also allows …

Financial Literacy And Retirement Preparedness In Sri Lanka: Evidence From The Private Sector Employees, Tiyani Lakshmi Rodrigo

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The South Asian country of Sri Lanka has a rapidly aging population, but little attention has been paid to individuals and families' financial preparedness for retirement. This study aims to overview the current system of retirement preparedness in Sri Lanka, and to examine financial and pension literacy's role on the retirement preparedness. Specifically, this study evaluated three domains of retirement preparedness: planning for retirement and perceived retirement income adequacy (subjective measures, n = 142), and wealth accumulation (objective measure, n = 115). Results show that (1) financial literacy had a positive and statistically significant association with retirement preparedness (only with …

Psychological Distress And Relationship Satisfaction Among Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Alyssa Campbell

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The World Health Organization (WHO; 2002) has indicated that sexual violence is a serious public health concern, and both the WHO and the United Nations (UN) have declared that violence against women, in particular, is a profound violation of human rights (UN General Assembly, 1993; WHO, 2017). Although the systemic and negative impact of trauma on family and intimate relationships have been well documented, the empirical literature regarding the effects of adult sexual trauma on relationship satisfaction is less robust. These studies are designed to address this gap and will do so with analyses centered on an understudied population: the …

A Comparative Study Of Stress, Trauma, Well-Being, And Future Orientation Among Community College Students, Melinda A. Lemaster

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This study measured perceived stress, past trauma, well-being, and future orientation in a sample of community college students located in the Southeast United States. The sample included 412 participants (78%) female; 59% of student participants reported living in a rural community and 41% in a non-rural community. The mean age was 22 for 70% of participants, while 30% were over age 30. Framed by Family Stress Theory and Human Ecological Systems Theory, the study tested whether rural college students would report higher levels of stress, more past trauma, lower well-being and future orientation when compared with non-rural students. In addition, …

Exploring The Effects Of Colorism On Relationship Quality, Kara Burns

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Many scholars have suggested that the division of enslaved Black people based on skin tone was one of the biggest factors that influence current intraracial tension and biases, referred to as colorism. The present study examined how colorism can affect romantic relationships through aspects of colorism, skin tone satisfaction, social comparison, racial awareness, and couples satisfaction. The present study used individual data from 46 middle income Black individuals residing in the South, who self-reported on colorism, racial identity, and relationship quality via online survey. Correlations between the key variables were examined. Correlations between colorism and skin tone satisfaction, a negative …

Birth Mothers’ Experiences Of Support Before, During, And After Adoptive Placement, Ciara Watkins

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The current study explores the perceptions and experiences of support in a sample of birth mothers who relinquished parental rights though open or closed private adoption (e.g., religiously, and non-religiously affiliated private adoption agencies, adoption attorneys). Participants (N = 51) were birth mothers who placed a child for adoption at birth or within several months and who relinquished parenting rights 8 months to 50 years ago, with (M = 15.39) years since placement. A thematic analysis uncovered six overarching themes throughout the relinquishment process. Further, prevalence of themes in certain phases (i.e., pre-placement, during placement, post-placement) were shared among all …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Agency Of Women In Their 30s And 40s Who Use Dating Applications, Tera Buerkle

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The use of dating applications (apps) to find romantic and sexual partners is widespread across age groups, however, there is a paucity of research on dating apps with those in middle adulthood. Sexual script theory suggests that women’s agency (i.e. the ability to act in one’s own best interest) may be impacted by expectations from an inherently sexualized context, such as dating apps. Feminist theory contends that women’s agency is complicated by gender socialization due to the imbalance of power in society that greatly favors men. In this study seventeen women aged 30 to 49 completed in-depth semi-structured interviews, and …

Emotional Closeness Within Romantic Relationships: Is There Transmission Between Generations?, Mckenna Diane Fey

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This study tested the existence of intergenerational transmission of romantic emotional closeness using Galovan and Schramm’s (2018) model of relationship flourishing as a theoretical backbone. Romantic emotional closeness in the present study included intimacy (i.e., self-disclosure), admiration (i.e., appreciation expression), and dyadic coping. Couples among three generations from the Panel of Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (Brüderl et al., 2013) were examined to test whether romantic emotional closeness in the first generation predicted romantic emotional closeness in the second generation, and whether that of the second generation predicted that of the third. Regressions within a partial latent model …

Parenting From Prison: Perceptions Of Incarcerated Parents' Ability And Influence, Gabrielle Hadorn

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Incarcerated parents are at a substantially higher risk for losing their legal right to parent than the general public. This study assessed implicit perceptions and biases that may play a role in these legal decisions, specifically the perceptions of incarcerated parents’ ability to parent and influence their children’s lives. Court appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteers’ (N = 242) perceptions of incarcerated parents based on the parents’ personal characteristics, characteristics of their children, and characteristics of their criminal activity were assessed through a true-experiment design. Ordinal regression analyses revealed that age of child, level of violence in the crime committed, and …

Didactic Marital Mediation: An Alternative Model Of Helping Couples Stay Married, Djidjoho C. Y. Akloubou Gnonhossou

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Mediation is one of the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods in which a third party with no decision-making power often facilitates informal talks and listening to address conflicts between concerned parties for possible mutually beneficial solutions (Bush & Folger, 2005; Haynes, 1994; Irving & Benjamin, 1995). When used in helping couples in conflict to reconcile or to strengthen marriages, mediation takes the form of marriage mediation (Boardman, Fiske, Israel, & Neumann, 2009, May; Boardman, 2013). Also known as mediation to stay married, marriage mediation is an approach to helping couples at all stages of marital relationships such as newlywed couples, …

Does Parental Stress Influence Parent-Child Sexual Communication?, Kirstie Otto

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This study shined a light on the impact of parent’s sexual attitudes and parental stress has on parent-child sexual communication. A sample of 203 parents between the ages of 30 and 60 were recruited to complete an online survey about their levels of parental stress, their sexual attitudes, and how often they discuss sexual communication with their adolescents. Beliefs that the responsibility of birth control should be shared between all parties involved, set the foundation that there will be higher levels of parent-child sexual communication. These findings inform therapists about the importance of creating a safe place where families can …

Voices Of Hope: A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Peer-Delivered Telephone Recovery Support Program, Alex Elswick

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Substance use disorder (SUD) is one of the most pervasive public health problems in the United States (US Surgeon General, 2016). Addiction (used synonymously with SUDs here) is associated with an abundance of negative outcomes including reduced quality of life, increased criminal activity, spread of infectious diseases, child neglect, job loss, loss of productivity and much more (US Surgeon General, 2016). Despite the detriment that addiction poses to virtually all facets of society, the addiction treatment paradigm in the United States lags significantly behind the research (Kelly & White, 2011; Laudet & Humphreys, 2013). This current system focuses on intensive, …

The Development Of A Couple Observational Coding System For Computer-Mediated Communication, Martha S. Rackets

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Many romantic couples integrate text and computer-mediated communication (CMC) into their relationship dynamics, both for general relationship maintenance and for complex dynamics such as problem solving and conflict. Romantic couple dynamics are interactional, dynamic, and sequenced in nature, and a common method for studying interactions of this nature is observational analyses. However, no behavioral or observational coding systems exist that are able to capture text-based transactional couple communication. The main purpose of this dissertation was to develop an observational coding system that can be used to assess sequenced computer- mediated, text-based communication that takes place between romantic partners. This process …

Race-Related Stress, Resiliency, And Relationship Quality In Black Couples, Melinda Murdock

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Scholars have historically explained Black marriage patterns of instability and dissolution based on White middle-class models that ignore cultural factors and maintain a narrative of dysfunction. The current study examines resilience in Black couples by exploring mediation effects of attribution and dyadic coping processes on race-related stress and relationship quality. The present study used individual data from 131 middle-income Black couples residing in the South, who self-reported on stress, coping, and relationship quality via online survey. Dyadic Coping was predicted to mediate the relationship between Race-related Stress, Attribution, and Relationship quality. Results indicated that individuals who experienced greater stress from …

The Relationship Of Self-Esteem On Pornography Viewership And Relationship Satisfaction In German Couples, Trenton Mcclure

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The Relationship of Self-Esteem on Pornography Viewership and Relationship Satisfaction in German Couples. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between husbands’ and wives’ perceptions of self-esteem and relationship satisfaction as mediated through the frequency of pornography viewership at the individual and dyadic level. Using the VSA model, this study utilized the pairfam dataset, which is a nationally representative German sample. Data from 369 participants were analyzed using three structural equation models; a combined male and female anchor model, a male only anchor model, and a female only anchor model. This current study found that males’ and females’ self-esteem …

Mortgage Loans And Financial Security Among Middle-Aged And Older Americans, Qun Zhang

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Mortgage loan debt is prevalent among middle-aged and older Americans. With higher average outstanding balances, many people are unlikely to pay off their mortgage debt by retirement. Meanwhile, as people age, health shocks are more likely to occur. Medical expenses may compete with mortgage payments and relate to financial insecurity in later years. In order to alleviate financial strain during times of financial hardship, senior homeowners may find reverse mortgage the solution they are looking for. Targeting American adults age 50 and older, this dissertation investigates mortgage loan debt and financial security using panel data from the Health and Retirement …

Defining Infidelity And Identifying Offending Spouses, Yabin Tang

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Research on infidelity has suffered from inconsistency in how infidelity has been operationalized across studies. This study was designed to advance methodological considerations for defining infidelity and identifying offending spouses. A subjective definition of infidelity was obtained from each respondent via both closed- and open-ended items. The open-ended responses were applied to explore the definition of infidelity. Additionally, an indirect questioning method was adopted to identify offending spouses according to their own subjective definitions of cheating and test the effectiveness of this approach relative to direct questioning for identifying offending spouses. Furthermore, gender differences in acknowledging infidelity through both direct …

How Does He Do It?: A Phenomenological Study Of Men’S Experience As Teaching-Family Model Providers, Dallin Douglas Parkinson

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

About half a million children live in out-of-home care, generally due to state intervention (Children’s Bureau, 2016). The outcomes of youth in treatment are improved when they have stable relationships with caregiving adults. Group homes based on the Teaching-Family Model utilize a married couple who live in the home and are the primary care treatment providers. The present study employed a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experience of eight men who have worked in this role for at least a year. Intrapersonal and interpersonal processes and motivations were identified as common themes among respondents for how and why they …

Developmental Sequelae In Language, Empathy, Self-Control, And Psychopathy From Infancy To Middle Adolescence, Magda Javakhishvili

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The present empirical work aims to discern the underlying mechanisms of purported developmental links among several key human characteristics including language skills, self-control, empathy, and psychopathic traits. Accordingly, three interrelated studies are carried out testing the longitudinal associations of various kinds (e.g., direct, indirect, bidirectional) among these constructs. All three studies are conceptually framed in consideration of the extant research and relevant theories. They employ the data set provided by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of Early Child Care and Youth Development Study of N = 1,364 children followed from infancy through middle adolescence.

Study 1 …