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. …

Memory And Fragmentation In Dissociative Identity Disorder, Margaret Rose Barlow '96

Doctoral Dissertations

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly called multiple personalities, is a condition in which aspects of experience and memory are separated from each other and from awareness. The current study adds to the literature in this area by utilizing a broad conceptualization of memory functioning in DID, combining ecologically valid memory tests with experimental paradigms, and examining shareability, switching, and integration. Eleven women with DID participated in a two-session experiment that included a variety of memory measures. Participants were given no instructions regarding switching among alters, but were later asked how often they had switched. They reported significantly higher levels of …

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 …

Longitudinal Prediction Of Parenting Alliance Strength: The Roles Of Marital Satisfaction And Depression, Farrah Moore Hughes

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated associations among parenting alliance, marital satisfaction, and depressive symptoms over time. Participants were 84 married couples recruited from the community. They completed self-report measures of parenting alliance, marital satisfaction, and depressive symptoms at two points in time over a span of 16 months. Regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses separately for husbands and wives. Results suggested that initial marital quality alone can be an important predictor of improvements of decrements in husbands’ parenting alliance over time. Wives’ perceptions of the parenting alliance over time appeared to be primarily influenced by the present context of the …

The Self Cohesion Scale: A Measure Of The Kohutian Concept Of Self Cohesion, Debra K. Gleason

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is about the development of a measure of self cohesion a concept introduced by Heinz Kohut in his works about self psychology. A literature search revealed few assessment instruments grounded in self psychological theory. Silverstein (1999) has developed self psychological projective techniques. Robbins and Patton (1985) have developed the most widely used instruments, the Goal Instability and Superiority Scales (GIS and SS). Other means of measuring self psychological instruments were developed by Connor (1981), Hahn (1994), and Kowal (2000).

The items for the Self Cohesion Scale (SCS) were developed from the works of Kohut (1971; 1977; 1984) and …

Quality Of Life For Cancer Survivor Spouses, Meta Gustafson

Doctoral Dissertations

In spite of increased consideration for cancer patients and their quality of life (QOL}, very little attention has been given to their spouses. The intent of this study was to gain a greater understanding of what QOL means to spouses of cancer survivors. Within this framework, this study explored QOL domains and how QOL had changed since the cancer diagnosis.

A qualitative method using the grounded theory approach was used for this study. Five spouses were interviewed face-to-face about their QOL. Interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim. Responses were then analyzed by three psychology professionals using constant comparative analysis.

Results …

Reinventing The Plantation: Gated Communities As Spatial Segregation In The Gullah Sea Islands, Melissa Denise Hargrove

Doctoral Dissertations

Gated communities throughout the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida represent a postcolonial attempt at reinventing the plantation of the white imagination. Upon these contested landscapes, incompatible, historically transmitted epistemologies result in an ongoing power struggle between money and memory. Gullah/Geechee communities, descended from enslaved West and Central Africans whose exploited labor made world capitalism a social reality, inherited these islands at Emancipation and became self sufficient, isolated communities. A century later, the development of Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina would begin a trend of encroachment that has steadily gained momentum into the twenty …

Using Projective Measures To Examine The Relationship Between Adult Attachment Status And Object Relations, Betty Marie Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document an empirical link between attachment theory and object relations by using projective measures, while further defining John Bowlby’s concept of the internal working model. The internal working model is a set of unconscious cognitive and emotional guidelines for how an individual understands interpersonal interactions, and influences behavioral and emotional responses (Bowlby, 1973, 1988). The internal working model as described in Bowlby’s attachment theory, bears striking resemblance to object relations theories of internalized unconscious representations. For example, Donald Winnicott stressed the importance of early interactions with the primary caregiver as shaping the child’s …

The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Vocational Interest Themes, And College Major Satisfaction, Christen Tomlinson Logue

Doctoral Dissertations

Utilizing a sample of college students who completed the Personal Style Inventory for College Students (Lounsbury & Gibson, 2004), the Strong Interest Inventory (Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994), and a Quality of Life Scale, specific relations between Five Factor Model personality traits, a set of work based narrow personality traits, and Holland’s (1997) RIASEC model of vocational interest themes were hypothesized and examined. All but one of the hypothesized correlations were found to be significant at the .05 level. This study also investigated whether personality traits, vocational interest themes, or a combination of the two models were better predictors …

In The Shadow Of Greatness: The Archaeology Of Capitalism, Agriculture, And The Informal Economy At Marble Springs, Knox County, Tennessee, 1847-1932, Tanya Alexandra Faberson

Doctoral Dissertations

This archaeological study investigates a 19th- and early 20th-century farmstead in Knox County, Tennessee. Archaeological investigations at Marble Springs (40KN125) in 2002 and 2003 originally aimed to recover information on the lifeways of John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee. However, these investigations revealed a dense assemblage of artifacts from the Kirby family who resided on the site after Sevier from 1847 to 1932. Using a combination of archaeological data, oral history testimony, and archival documents, this dissertation focuses on the Kirby occupation of the site. In an attempt to view the changing lifeways of the Kirbys over four generations …

From Father To Child: An Application Of The Process-Person-Context-Time Model, Lauren Ella Renkert

Doctoral Dissertations

This study assumes several overarching goals. The first is to bring the social work profession firmly to the table in the discourse on fathering. A second goal of this study is to place the study of fathering in a theoretical framework that aptly acknowledges and accommodates the complexities of the subject. Applying Bronfenbrenner’s (1995) Process-Person-Context-Time model, a third major goal of this study is to examine more closely what fathers themselves say about fathers and fathering and the implications of their perceptions. This study utilizes a subsample of fathers from a large nationally representative data set to test and expand …

Student Reports Of Physical And Psychological Maltreatment In Schools: An Under Explored Aspect Of Student Victimization In Schools, Kathryn Suzanne Whitted

Doctoral Dissertations

Purpose

This study examined the extent to which students reported that adults in a school setting had mistreated them. Specifically, this study provides findings on the students’ perceptions of the extent to which they were the victims of physical maltreatment and psychological maltreatment during their school careers. The study investigated whether the types or frequency of maltreatment was related to demographic characteristics of the student (i.e., race and gender).

Methods

The sample (N = 50) was composed of students in alternative education schools in the southeastern U.S. during the 2004-2005 school year. Students reported the frequency and types of …

A Reevaluation Of The Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions Associated With Homo Erectus From Java, Indonesia, Based On The Functional Morphology Of Fossil Bovid Astragali, Daniel Charles Weinand

Doctoral Dissertations

The Middle Pleistocene sites of Trinil and Kedung Brubus, Java, Indonesia have provided extensive faunal remains that are classified as part of a larger biostratigraphic framework. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions, associated with early hominids on Java, have been constructed based on the composition and perceived shared habitat preference of fossil and modern animal taxa. Research of the African members of the family Bovidae has shown that a more effective way of examining past environments is through the study of morphological traits that are characteristic of functional adaptations to different environmental conditions. This research represents the successful extension of this method by testing …

Sexual Contacts And Advances Between Psychology Educators And Students: A National Survey Of Apa Student Affiliates, Robert Francis Zakrzewski

Doctoral Dissertations

The APA Code of Ethics explicitly prohibits psychology educators and students from engaging in sexual relationships with each other. Such relationships can cause emotional and physical turmoil for the participants involved, the department, the university, and the entire field of psychology. The purpose of the current study was to add to the existing knowledge of sexual contacts and advances between psychology students and educators. In contrast to previous studies, the current study involved a survey of a random sample of current APA Student Affiliates (N = 1053) rather than sampling a population who had already completed their education. A …