Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"It's A Very Silent Pain": A Phenomenological Study Of Women Who Are In A Relationship With A Sexually Addicted Spouse, Jacqueline S. Thibodeau

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Being in a relationship with someone who is sexually addicted has been recognized as disorienting and painful. What is lacking in the literature is inclusion of the voices of those individuals who have been affected by his behaviour. This study attempts to capture the phenomenon experienced by those individuals who are in a relationship with a person who is sexually addicted. Twelve women, who identified being in a current or past relationship with a person who is sexually addicted, participated in qualitative interviews where they were encouraged to share their experiences. The interviews were analyzed within the transcendental phenomenological framework. …

Tentative Securities: 26/11, Israel And The Politics Of Mobility, Rhys A. Machold

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the global mobility of security knowhow in relation to the management of terrorism in megacities. Specifically, it offers three insights. First, it shows how historical events are performed as sites in need of transnational policy intervention. Second, it enables an understanding of how and why the sourcing of policy ‘models’ actually takes place. Third, it sheds light on how mobile policy schemes travel geographically and are put to work in particular contexts. In doing so, it elaborates on the conditions under which policies move geographically but also addresses the kinds of constraints and contradictions they face.

The …

Promoting Fairness In The Workplace: Identifying And Overcoming The Barriers To Managerial Fairness In Organizations, David B. Whiteside

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research examining “justice as a dependent variable” has largely focused on examining the factors that can promote fairness in the workplace whereas significantly less attention has been devoted to understanding the barriers and obstacles that can exist throughout the fairness process. This is an important gap in the literature because the absence of fairness can also have considerable implications for organizations. In this dissertation, I argue that it is important to adopt a “barriers to fairness” approach that sheds more light on how these obstacles can affect managers’ fair behavior. Specifically, I present a typology of the different barriers to …

Pushing The Limits: International Land Acquisitions In Comparative Perspective, Ariane Goetz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The role of investor countries in large-scale land acquisitions is poorly understood in the contemporary “land grab” literature. Orthodox explanations largely build on deductive analyses that deviate from the emerging empirical evidence, and/or face analytical difficulties when trying to capture why large-scale land acquisitions happen. This thesis investigates the global phenomenon of “land grabbing” from the comparative perspective of two major investor countries: the UK and China. The regional focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, a major target of land-consuming investments since 2000.

The dissertation advances three arguments: Firstly, the specific details of the home country’s industrial set-up, development challenges, ideological …

Youth Athlete Leaders' Use Of Transformational Behaviours And Relations To Trust In The Leader And Sport Outcomes, Amy M. Cubitt, Mark Eys

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Leadership is one of the most crucial factors determining whether a group succeeds or fails (Bass, 1990). Furthermore, leaders displaying transformational behaviours are thought to lift followers to higher levels of motivation to get them to perform beyond expectations (Bass, 1985), and they tend to have followers who are more committed and satisfied (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Another outcome of transformational leadership in organizations is that followers are more willing to trust leaders who show care and concern for the follower (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). The purpose of the present study was to determine if the use of full range …

Security Of The Central Asian Energy System Through Regional-Level Energy Governance Innovations, Farkhod Aminjonov

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Central Asian energy system (CAES) was built during the Soviet period and designed without concern for what are today national borders. The resource sharing mechanism ensured the security of the CAES—reliable and stable energy supplies to meet the needs of both the people and the economy. However, following the breakup of the Soviet Union this mechanism came under pressure from emergent geopolitical and economic challenges such as the monetization of energy trade (oil products, gas and electricity) and tensions between domestic water and energy needs. Since the Central Asian energy sectors were initially designed to operate within a unified …

The Team Approach To The Psychological Rehabilitation Of Injured Athletes: What Is The Coach’S Role Anyway?, Leanne Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of the role of the coach in the recovery of injured youth athletes. Using qualitative methods, the experiences of 11 male coaches of male youth athletes (14-18 years) in competitive football, basketball, and hockey teams, in five Ontario communities were examined. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, interviews, and researcher field notes. Three themes emerged through analysis (communication, support and structure, and knowledge of the individual athlete) that suggested coaches contributed to both the physical and psychological recovery of their athletes, as part of a team that also …

Critical Champions Or Careless Condemners? Exploring News Media Constructions In Cases Of Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Rozad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Countless incidences occur throughout the world each and every day. However, only a few of these occurrences are deemed newsworthy by the media. One area of information quite often categorized as “newsworthy” is that surrounding crime. Within crime-related news coverage are occasionally cases of wrongful conviction – miscarriages of justice in which the innocent are labeled “guilty” and wrongly punished. Despite decades of research in both the areas of crime and media, as well as wrongful conviction studies, no research to date has examined the way that cases of wrongful conviction are constructed in the media from the beginnings of …

When Does Sacrificing The Present For The Future Or Sacrificing The Future For The Present Enhance Satisfaction With Life? Implicit Theories Of Change And Stability Moderate The Effects Of Temporal Focus On Life Satisfaction., Cindy L. Ward

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Western society we encounter contrasting prescriptions for how to live a happy life. Some argue the key to life satisfaction is living in the moment (e.g., seize the day), while others herald the importance of focusing on the future (e.g., pursuing goals, following one’s dreams). We suspect, however, that these prescriptions do not work the same for everyone. The goal of the present research is to examine whether the relation between temporal focus (focusing on a present versus future goal) and life satisfaction (LS) might be moderated by participants’ implicit theories of change and stability (Dweck, 1999). Incremental theorists …

Once A Thief, Always A Thief? How Time, Implicit Theories, And Race Affect Moral Judgments, Sarah L. Williams

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

How can a person judge another individual’s moral character? One way may be to look to their moral and immoral actions. However, should all actions be weighed equally, whether they occurred in the near or distant past? Moral actions do not occur in a temporal vacuum, yet relatively little research has examined the role of time in moral judgment. We expected that people would weigh a previous immoral act differently depending on when it occurred and on their beliefs about personal malleability. Individuals differ in their implicit theories about the degree to which human characteristics, such as moral character or …

Social Factors Influencing Early Reading Development From Kindergarten To Grade One In English-Speaking Public Schools In Ontario And Quebec, Katherine Wood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research study examines the influence of providing parents with early literacy or socio-emotional instruction on their children’s performance in reading and social skill development. Parents were offered four interactive workshops designed to assist them in identifying everyday opportunities to reinforce either early reading skills or early social skills development. Two reading skills approaches were explored, traditional text reading and traditional text reading with computer-assisted learning opportunities. These two reading approaches were contrasted with a set of social development workshops derived from social-emotional learning models. Children’s performance was measured at three time intervals from early kindergarten to early in grade …

Positive Parenting In Adolescence And Its Association With Future Hopes And Fears In Adulthood: A Longitudinal Analysis, Harmanpreet Chauhan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

During young adulthood (ages 20-39), individuals begin to develop a future orientation by thinking about their possible selves. In this longitudinal study, young adults’ future hopes and fears were examined in relation to their perceptions of the parenting style they experienced in adolescence. An interview was conducted with participants at age 26 and 32 to assess their future possible selves. Participants discussed both hoped-for and feared selves. The long-term impact of parenting on future hopes and fears was examined by exploring the possible impact of perceived parenting styles experienced in adolescence. Interviews were conducted in 2005 and 2011 with 26 …

Enhancing Canadian Girls’ Resilience Through Girls-Only Programming, Ayesha Umme-Jihad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Canadian girls face a number of complex issues as they transition through girlhood and into adolescence. Despite the barriers they face, girls can be resilient with the development of internal and external assets. Presently, we know that protective factors developed in girls-only programs between the critical ages of 9 and 13 enhance girls’ resilience in the short-term (Alcade, Hayward, Loomis, & Hodgson, 2012). This thesis project operationalizes protective factors as confidence, critical thinking skills, connectedness, and parental relationships. Risk factors are operationalized as adversity within environments, depression, negative behaviours, and substance use. A mixed methods approach is used to investigate …

An Exploration Of Employment Services For Survivors Of Domestic Violence In The Region Of Waterloo, Alishau Diebold Mrs.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The ability of survivors of domestic violence to secure employment once they leave their vulnerable situations has been identified in the existing knowledge base as a significant issue, and one that urgently needed to be addressed. This qualitative applied social policy research study was undertaken to derive recommendations that could improve the current state of employment services available to women who had survived domestic violence residing in the Region of Waterloo. This was accomplished by determining which employment services align with the needs of a survivor as they began to seek employment. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect information from …

The Christian Farmers Federation Of Ontario: Integrating Christian Principles With The Practicality Of Farming, Suzanne M. Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the Christian identity and characteristics of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), a general farm organization active in the diverse agricultural sector of Ontario, Canada. It highlights the intersection of religion and farming that emerged from interviews and participant observation within this group. The thesis probes what it means for them to be responsible Christian farmers in contemporary agriculture. Christian and secular scholars from three key areas of scholarship—Dutch immigration to Canada, agriculture of the middle or family farming, and Christian stewardship—help to contextualize their responses.

The CFFO was founded as a Dutch neo-Calvinist organization within …

An Investigation Of The Increased Reliance On Familiarity In Associative Recognition Of Unitized Compound Word Pairs, Fahad Naveed Ahmad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Unitization refers to when two components are integrated or combined into a single unit. So the whole is more familiar than the parts (Graf & Schacter, 1989). Previous researchers have shown unitization of unrelated word pairs can occur by the use of compound definition. As support, they have found unitization to increase reliance on familiarity in associative recognition. The purpose of this PhD dissertation was to examine the effects of unitization of preexperimental associations on associative recognition. The effects of associative recognition of unitized compound word (CW) pairs can serve as a useful benchmark to compare to that of other …

"It's Not Written In Stone": A Narrative Analysis Of The Mothering Experiences Of Women Who Experienced Childhood Sexual Abuse By A Family Member, Eva L.P. Burrill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Within the existing body of literature on women survivors of intrafamilial childhood sexual abuse (CSA), there is extant literature that indicates that survivors will experience mothering challenges later in life. However, little research has focused on the possibility that mothering might also function as a site of healing. Addressing this gap, this thesis explores the mothering experiences of six women who experienced childhood sexual abuse by a family member. Working within a narrative methodology, data was gathered through semi-structured, in-depth interviews, and analyzed using a combination of categorical-content and holistic-content analysis. Three overarching themes were identified: 1) The Impact of …

Affective Migration: The Role Of Food Preparation And Visceral Experience For Egyptian Migrant Women Settling In The Region Of Waterloo, Mary Neil

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examining Egyptian migrants settling in Canada is exploratory in nature and is intended to initiate a conversation about the personal experience of transnationalism and the value of the body as an instrument of research. A semi-structured interview approach was designed to prompt the evocation of deep personal thoughts, experiences, and sensations in response to questions surrounding migration to Canada through the shared performative act of cooking and the visceral experience of eating in the private space of the migrant kitchen. Using a grounded theory approach, several adaptive mechanisms were identified such as the creation of manageable daily routines, …

"Where's The Support?": An Exploratory Study Of Supports For Primary Caregivers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Toronto Region, Nicole H. Siron

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The experience of being a caregiver of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is complicated and fraught with obstacles. Presently, we do not know how to support caregivers adequately. In this thesis, I explore the supports that exist for primary caregivers of children with ASD in the Toronto region, with the goal of examining caregiver experience when accessing supports. The literature that I reviewed highlighted the importance of examining the caregiver experience by acknowledging that caregivers of children with ASD experience elevated levels of stress. This review made it clear that by not addressing how to support caregivers, the …

Reproductive (In)Justice: Exploring Young Women’S Experiences Of Reproductive Saliency In An Oppressive Environment, Angele D. Desroches

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Young North American women are currently coming of age in a sociopolitical context governed by neoliberal ideology, post-feminist assumptions, agentic femininities, and demographic trends that have lengthened pathways to adulthood. Consequently, the avoidance of early reproductive experiences has become a key requisite governing the success of the young female subject. This project explores the diverse reproductive experiences of eleven young (≤ 24 years of age) women residing in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Prince Edward Island’s conservative community culture, anti-choice policies, and limited youth focused sexual-reproductive health services produces a unique experiential setting for young women who encounter reproductive events. Through …

Changing Theories Of Change: Strategic Shifting In Implicit Theory Endorsement, Scott Leith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

People differ in their implicit theories about the malleability of characteristics such as intelligence and personality. These relatively chronic theories can be experimentally altered, and can be affected by parent or teacher feedback. Little is known about whether people might selectively shift their implicit beliefs in response to salient situational goals. We predicted that, when motivated to reach a desired conclusion, people might subtly shift their implicit theories of change and stability to garner supporting evidence for their desired position. Any motivated context in which a particular lay theory would help people to reach a preferred directional conclusion could elicit …

Canadian Christian Nationalism?: The Religiosity And Politics Of The Christian Heritage Party Of Canada, Leah A D Mckeen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this dissertation I examines the worldview and concerns held by members of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) as a means of understanding Canada’s Christian Right. I present a perspective of Canada’s Christian Right that challenges assumptions made about this religio-political ideology by showing how the political choices made by members of the CHP make sense within the members’ context. The CHP is a federal political party, first registered in 1986, that markets itself as “Canada’s only pro-life party.” Although the party was initially developed by a group of conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics, the majority of its …

Plans As Emotion Regulation Tools? Examining The Consequences Of Planning On Affect, Rebecca Friesdorf

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Psychologists have studied extensively the consequences of planning for motivation and task performance, but little work has examined whether plan-making serves another function, that of helping us feel better about the yet-to-be completed task. In the present research, we examined whether making plans for completing a future task positively impacts feelings related to that task. In three studies, we tested the possibility that planning decreases negative emotions about the task planned for, and whether some types of planning are more beneficial for this than others. In Studies 1 and 2, participants were asked to nominate an important task they had …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Suicide Stigma, Amanda L. Demmer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Suicide is a stigmatized phenomenon within our society, and the stigma felt by individuals who struggle with suicide (suicide stigma) must be reduced if society aims at lowering suicide rates. Research on mental health stigma indicates that stigma can reduce help-seeking, lead to low self efficacy or negative self-talk, and can be detrimental to the recovery process. Suicide stigma research has focused on the perpetrators of the stigma, but research on those who are stigmatized has not been conducted. Research objectives for the current study are to explore public stigma, self stigma, and recommendations for reducing stigma giving voice to …

The Reinvention Of The Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy And The Limits Of Religious Pluralism, Michael T. Peterson Rev. Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Reinvention of the Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy offers an analysis of how an historically Christian religious organization, one prominently sited within an important Canadian institution, adapted to pluralism. This research is the first to examine Canada’s military chaplaincy since Benham Rennick’s (2011) more broadly focused study of the role of religion in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). My study is the first to focus specifically on the chaplaincy and on the ways in which it has sought to develop and maintain a pluralist identity. I trace the process by which a legacy Christian institution developed a self-image as a …

Maps Of Marginalization: Exploring The Healthcare Experiences Of Men And Women With Fibromyalgia, Michelle J. Skop

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative study explored the retrospective and ongoing healthcare experiences of men and women who have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia (FM), a contested, chronic, and gendered condition of unknown origin. The research question was: "How do men and women who have a diagnosis of FM experience interactions with healthcare providers?" The study, which was epistemologically rooted in the critical theories of feminist poststructuralism and intersectionality, blended constructivist grounded theory with a participatory component, an arts-based research methodology called body-map storytelling. Thirty-five participants were recruited from the Greater Toronto Area and Kitchener-Waterloo. Ten participants completed in-depth interviews while 25 participants completed …

Connecting To Others: Studying The Relationship Between Social Exclusion And Imitation, Sarah K. Blyth

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Automatic imitation (AI) refers to the subconscious tendency we have to imitate an observed action, even when that action is irrelevant to or interferes with an action we are attempting to execute (Heyes, 2011; Brass et al., 2000). Human beings display a fundamental need to stay meaningfully connected to others, also known as the need to belong. Previous research shows that an experience of rejection can reduce one’s feelings of connectedness to others (Legate et al., 2013), and that behaviours such as non-conscious mimicry (NCM) increase after being excluded as a possible means of re-affiliation (Lakin et al., 2008). It …

Police On Camera: The Impact Of Watching User-Generated Police Videos On Students’ Attitudes Towards The Police, Daniel N. Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research investigated the impact of user-generated videos on students’ attitudes towards the police. A survey was conducted at Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford and was administered to 200 students consisting of a number of control variables such as age, race, police contact, and neighbourhood context, along with measurements of attitudes towards the police. It measured online video viewing habits along with familiarity of three online videos. Multivariate analysis showed that watching user generated videos had little to no impact on students attitudes towards the police. The analysis showed that police contact was the most influential factor in impacting attitudes …

Neither War, Nor Peace: Everyday Politics, Peacebuilding And The Liminal Condition Of Bosnia-Herzegovina And Northern Ireland, Branka Marijan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis focuses on cultural and everyday practices of local populations in post-conflict peacebuilding. It builds on the “everyday” turn in critical peacebuilding literature by recognizing the everyday as political. Rather than examining the practices of political elites this thesis is concerned with the ordinary citizens of these societies. In other words, I show that it is through practices and cultural forms of expression that local populations enact their agency, at times supporting and at times contesting the broader peacebuilding project. Moreover, rather than viewing the everyday acts as hidden or as evidence of resistance to the dominant peacebuilding approaches …

From Lending In The Andes To Thriving In Latin America: Caf’S Continuity, Growth And Long-Term Financing In The Region, Veronica Rubio Vega

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

What explains the Development Bank of Latin America’s (CAF, in Spanish) continuity and expansion since the 1990s? This thesis explores how an initially small Andean development bank crafted a successful strategy to survive in a troubled region and eventually thrive as an important lending source. This thesis argues that CAF’s expansion can be attributed to four main factors: 1) leadership, 2) institutional design, 3) member governments’ preferences and 4) Brazil’s push for regional cooperation beyond trade.

Theoretically, this thesis draws upon two sets of interrelated academic debates to explain CAF’s growth: 1) International Political Economy (IPE) and International Organization (IO) …