A Typology Of Homegrown Terrorists, Cynthia Estella Quintero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Since the 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda members against the United States, counterterrorism has become a top priority for policymakers and academic researchers. A critical aspect of this mandate is the prevention and intervention of future terrorist attacks by U.S.-based jihadist and Salafist extremists. This study aims to generate a typology of homegrown terrorists who have been prosecuted by the United States federal government for terrorism offenses within the United States since the 9/11 attacks. The current study uses a sample of 115 cases, involving 194 offenders.

Three clusters of offenders who share a set of demographic, social, and behavioral …

Impact Of Birth Order On Autism Spectrum Disorder Children’S Typically-Developing Siblings, Teresa Orozco

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Having a child with autism not only has devastating consequences for the individual child, but it also profoundly influences the entire family, including siblings. Researchers have explored the impact of having an ASD sibling on the typically-developing brother/sister; these studies have yielded inconsistent results, with some children benefitting from the experience while others encounter negative outcomes. The present study examined the role of birth order on ASD children’s typically-developing siblings’ outcome. It was predicted that typically-developing siblings born prior to their ASD sibling would have fewer behavioral difficulties and would do better academically compared to typically-developing siblings born after their …

The Relationship Between Early Attachment And Marital Satisfaction In Early Adulthood, Seyed Hadi Hosseini Yassin

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between early attachment and marital satisfaction. Whereas partner attachment has been found to be related to marital satisfaction, little research has examined the relationship of early attachment to marital satisfaction. It was hypothesized that early attachment would impact the three components of marital satisfaction, i.e., communication, sexual satisfaction, and love/partner attachment in early adulthood. Participants were 35 male and 119 female college students ages 18 to 40 years (M = 27 yrs), who completed a questionnaire comprised of Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) (Spanier, 1976), the sexual satisfaction subscale from the …

Women As Victims Or Survivors, Shelby N. Swanson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Research shows that women who have been sexually assaulted once are more likely to be sexually assaulted again (revictimized). Several factors contribute to the likelihood of a woman being revictimized, including social support, personal behavior, and psychological health. This research proposes that a combination of these factors contributes to a woman’s self-perception as a victim or survivor of sexual assault. It is this self-perception that determines revictimization. Twenty women were interviewed to explore the victim or survivor mentality and its relation to revictimization. All women had negative consequences of the assault. Negative consequences lead some women to develop a victim …

Relationship Between Mentorship And Child Welfare Workers’ Job Satisfaction, And Intention To Remain Employed In Child Welfare, Aleida A. Murcia, Jovanni L. Holloway

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between mentoring and social workers’ job satisfaction and social workers’ intention to remain employed in child welfare. This study was conducted in Children Family Services (CFS), San Bernardino. Ninety six child welfare workers completed the survey using the JSS‑CW and the IRE‑CW instruments. A quantitative research design was utilized to analyze the data. Specifically, an Independent Sample T‑Test was used to analyze differences between the social workers who had a mentor and those who did not. Additionally, a Pearson R Correlation Test was conducted to analyze the relationship between mentoring and the different factors influencing …

Art Therapy For Adult Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse, Cherie Ferguson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The current study sought to determine the utilization and effectiveness of art therapy with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, as perceived by mental health professionals. A total of 33 participants consisting of marriage and family therapists, masters of social work level clinicians and one doctorate level were surveyed. A self-constructed survey, created by the researcher was distributed to the participants. Results demonstrate that about one third of participants perceived art therapy to be moderately effective in reducing male and female issues surrounding childhood sexual abuse. No significant results were found when comparing the effectiveness of art therapy on males …

Beliefs About Substance Abusing Clients Among Social Work Students, Seidy Jhosselyn Soto, Marry Jean Stuart

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study was a quantitative survey and explored beliefs about substance abusing clients among sixty-three social work students. The study focused on the extent to which social work students display bias toward clients with a substance abuse disorder. The study also explored the attitudinal domains of permissiveness, treatment intervention, non-stereotypes, treatment optimism, and non-moralism. The study found that social work students who have taken a substance abuse education class are less like to attribute substance abuse addiction to a weak will in the client. The study recommends that future studies on beliefs about substance abusing clients among social work students …

Life Challenges Among Ex-Offenders:A Needs Assessment, Ashley Williams-Queen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This study explored the perceived needs of ex-offenders. Empirical research reports that individuals who have been incarcerated are at risk of recidivism. This study used a qualitative research design and the data was collected from in-depth interviews with ten participants. The study found that lack of income and education has impacted the number of individuals who are failing to successfully reintegrate into society. This study also revealed that the lack of employment, housing, community resources, correctional rehabilitation, and vocational training have the ability to challenge successful reintegration. This study recommends that an increase in transitional services be rendered to …

The Examination Of Confidentiality In A School Based Setting, Hannan M. Dababneh, Kalisha -Koran Ayisha Vault

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research study explored the policies and procedures that

education systems abide by, as well as how these policies are enforced to protect the confidentiality of dependent children’s private information from being exposed in their schools to non-relatives and uninvolved parties to their case. Elementary, middle school, and high school faculty’s perception of confidentiality was explored to identify individual competence when working with social workers during their direct contact visit with dependent children on school premises. Data collection included anonymous online surveys of 30-school faculty of various schools in the Southern California. There were no significant findings to support school …

Attitudes Toward Antisocial Personality Disorder Among Clinicians, Theresa Matich

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to explore the attitudes toward antisocial personality disorder among clinicians. The researcher created a 15 question survey to interview clinicians in hopes of eliciting information about their attitudes toward this population. The survey consisted of seven open ended questions and eight Likert scale questions. The researcher analyzed the data by transcribing the interviews and looking for common themes among the responses. Likert scale questions were tallied and compared in SPSS to determine the spread of the answers. The results of the study showed there are negative attitudes among clinicians currently in direct treatment settings; …

Experiences Of Successful Young Adults In Extended Foster Care In San Bernardino County, Nicole M. Chavarria, Denise M. Johnson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This is a qualitative study that was conducted in conjunction with San Bernardino County to explore the experiences of you adults in Extended Foster Care. Extended Foster Care is an extension of foster care services offered from age 18 to 21 as a result of the passing of Assembly Bill 12. This study focuses specifically on the experiences of young adults deemed “successful” based upon their enrollment in school, work status, and overall plans for their future. The data was collected through telephone and face-to-face interviews with young adults currently involved with Extended Foster Care in San Bernardino County. …

Improving Data Quality With Four Short Sentences: How An Honor Code Can Make The Difference During Data Collection, Alexander Scott Mckay

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Careless responders have a large impact on a study by causing issues such as Type II errors (failing to reject a false null hypothesis), which then waste researchers’ time and money. Research on careless responding has focused primarily on detecting and removing careless responders rather than on reducing careless responding before data collection begins. The purpose of the present study was to test the use of honor codes with or without the presentation of a picture of watchful eyes to increase self-awareness thereby reducing careless responding. Participants (N = 305) were randomly assigned to one of five honor code …

A Social Construction Of Affordable Housing And Nimby In A Southern California County, Stefany K. Nelson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The constructivist paradigm was used in the research study to focus on the challenges with affordable housing and concentrations of Housing Choice Voucher recipients in a county in Southern California. Viewed through the lens of Social Stratification posed by Max Weber, ones opportunities in life are based on his/her position of class, status and power, where by those with lower positions are excluded from opportunities. The literature discusses the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to deconcentrate poverty and provide opportunities to move to higher income areas in order to provide opportunities for social upward mobility. Residential socioeconomic …

Perfectionism, Anxiety, And Academic Procrastination: The Role Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation In College Students, Henry K. Chang

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The adaptive-maladaptive debate in perfectionism research often centers on the issue of whether perfectionism affords the individual an advantage in academic performance. This study is an extension of a previous study by the authors that found maladaptive forms of perfectionism were positively associated with academic procrastination. Conversely, adaptive forms of perfectionism were negatively associated with academic procrastination. Additionally, although trait anxiety was positively associated with academic procrastination in general, this relationship was reversed for those scoring high in adaptive perfectionism but not maladaptive perfectionism. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether the relationships between perfectionism and procrastination …

Informed: The Impact On Decesion Making During An Unplanned Pregnancy, Jamie M. Stallings

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was to determine if there was a significant difference between women who had unplanned pregnancies and the amount of information those women received about their pregnancy options regarding parenting, adoption, and abortion, and those who were not. Additionally, the level of information about pregnancy options, and whether it would reduce termination of pregnancies was examined. The aspects explored included the information available to clients and the decision making process for women who have experienced an unplanned pregnancy. The methods for this study involved using an anonymous survey via Survey Monkey. Additionally, this study examined …

Single Women's Views Toward The Institution Of Marriage, Natalie M. Yorba-Perez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore single women’s views towards the institution of marriage. This study utilized a qualitative design. In-depth face-to-face interviews with ten unmarried women living in San Bernardino County were conducted to collect the data. Participants were asked in a structured interview to provide their views towards premarital sex, cohabitation, non-marital childbearing, divorce, and same sex marriage.This study found that women’s liberal and conservative views towards premarital sex, cohabitation, non-marital childbearing, divorce, and same sex marriage did not affect a women’s desire to enter the institution of marriage. Furthermore, the study indicated that women exhibited …

Are Non-Profit Immigration Organizations Ready For A Comprehensive Immigration Reform?, Sandra Lizeth Molina, Deserae Leanna Quezada

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore whether non-profit immigration organizations are ready for a comprehensive immigration reform. Social workers need to recognize that a lack of readiness among non-profit immigration organizations for a comprehensive immigration reform will lead to a lack of required services for undocumented populations. The sample consisted of twelve religious and non-religiously affiliated non-profit immigration organizations. A qualitative research method was used to analyze the data.

The results of the study concluded that non-profit immigration organizations are not ready for a CIR. Although the organizations are not ready, several factors were found to affect their …

Experiences Of Young Adults In Extended Foster Care: An Explortive Study, Elaine Marie Contreras

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Currently, there are thousands of foster youth in the child welfare system. When they reach the age of 18, some of these youth emancipate from the system, while some of them participate in extended foster care. The extended foster care system was implemented to support and provide services to young adults passed the age of 18, to provide them a couple more years to obtain stability in their lives. In order to participate in extended foster care, they have to meet a few requirements, and sometimes this is the minimum level of commitment and effort they contribute. These requirements include: …

A Study On The Recovery Process For Women Who Have Exited The Sex Industry, Sonia Guilfoos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There are different reasons why women enter the sex industry; many of them were sexually abused as children and have been psychologically deceived, which is indicative of their vulnerable state and complex needs. Today, many studies show that the amount of women involved in sex work continues to rise. As a result more strip clubs have surfaced in the United States, and more and more females continue to obtain employment from these adult establishments. The purpose of this study is to get more information about the recovery process for women who have exited the sex industry. The methods used for …

The Relationship Between School-Based Mental Health Services And Academic Achievement, Jessica Ramirez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant relationship between school-based mental health services and academic achievement. The study focused on (N=38) students in elementary and middle school, who participated in services from the 2012-2013 school year. The test scores before and after they received services were gathered from an existing database to determine how effective school-based mental health services were. The results indicated there was not a significant difference in measures of academic achievement before and after school-based mental health services. However, results demonstrated a positive relationship between test scores before and after school-based …

Coal, Global Warming, And The Clean Air Act, Terry L. Stewart

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In the early 1990s many scientists claimed that there was a scientific consensus that the anthropogenic production of greenhouse gases was causing global warming. Carbon dioxide is produced in far greater quantities than other greenhouse gases. Over 80 percent of the carbon dioxide produced in the United States comes from coal-fired power plants. If global warming is a threat to the welfare and survival of future generations, the United States, as one of the greatest producers of greenhouse gases,has an obligation to reduce its production of these gases.

In order to determine the most effective way to reduce the production …

Student Employment In Organizations And The Relationships Among Commitment Levels, Turnover Intentions, And Absenteeism, Brittany J. Roy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

To date, research that examines individuals who work and go to school generally aims to examine the effects of doing so on their academic performance. Little literature is available that examines the effects that these dual roles can have on the organization (e.g., lower levels of commitment and higher rates of absenteeism and turnover). Understanding such effects can assist organizations in managing their employees and developing programs tailored to them, such as career counseling. A literature review is presented which examines both the constructs of the multiple forms of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover, and the research currently available on student …

Mental Health Services For Military Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Crystal Lynn Toscano, Kanika Aisha Roberts

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has affected millions of veterans who have served in the United States Military. PTSD causes severe impairments in one's mental health, and is correlated with homelessness, substance abuse, and unemployment. Recently, the United States Department Veterans Affairs has been funded more to improve services of mental health and other health care services. Specifically, this study was interested in exploring the perceptions that veterans have of the quality of services that have been provided for PTSD.

Results indicated that the participants who utilized services felt individual and family therapy services were most helpful in reducing PTSD symptoms. …

Beliefs About Self-Care Among Oncology Providers, Dimitri Shabree Ashford

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The research question in this project explores self-care practices that oncology providers utilize to manage stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue in their work environment. As an exploratory study, this research project examines self-care practices among the oncology providers and how self-care relates to the quality of patient care. The survey provided to the participants focused on the individual well-being such as spiritual, social support, physical, and emotional support. Findings from this study indicated that oncologist utilize spiritual self-care more than any other medical professional. The older adults utilize their social support systems more than the younger adults. Individuals with three …

Cultural Sensitivity And Elder Abuse: Considerations For Social Work Practice, Katherine R. Bernardo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how social workers identify elder abuse, factors they find contribute to or protect from elder abuse, and cultural considerations they identify as important. The qualitative research approach was utilized, and an interview instrument was created to explore participants’ perceptions and generate recommendations for developing cultural sensitivity in practice. The study sample consisted of 10 social workers with experience working with the elderly population recruited by snowball sampling. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, and transcribed for analysis. This study found that social workers are particularly knowledgeable about risk factors for elder abuse and …

Development Of An Employee Green Behavior Descriptive Norms Scale, Jacqueline Christine Mcconnaughy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With a growing interest in sustainability, organizations and researchers have begun to examine pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace (i.e. employee green behaviors). However, general understanding of employee green behaviors is currently limited due to a lack of measurement tools. In this study, a new scale was developed to measure employee green behavior descriptive norms, which are a source of influence on employee green behaviors that develops from observing others’ behaviors. Initial items and expected scale structure for the Employee Green Behavior Descriptive Norms Scale were developed based on the Green Five Taxonomy of employee green behaviors. Items were refined through …

The Role Of Working Memory Resources In Mind Wandering: The Difference Between Working Memory Capacity And Working Memory Load, Jason Seiichi Tsukahara

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

There is no consensus on the relationship between working memory resources and mind wandering. The purpose of the current study is to investigate whether mind wandering requires working memory resources to be sustained. The resource-demanding view is that mind wandering requires working memory resources to sustain an internal train of thought (Smallwood, 2010). The resource-free view is that mind wandering is a result of executive control failures and this internal train of thought proceeds in a resource-free manner (McVay & Kane, 2010). Participants were presented with thought probes while they performed a Simon task in single and dual task conditions. …

A Spanish Version Of The Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (Cshq), Duvia Lara Ledesma

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study was done to validate a widely used parent questionnaire that assesses sleep problems in children ages 4‑10. To date, no Spanish‑language sleep questionnaire is available for the Spanish‑speaking population. Research has found that sleep problems affect both typically developing children and children with developmental disabilities, potentially detracting from their quality of life. Spanish is the second most frequently spoken language in the United States, so it is of high importance to make available a Spanish‑language sleep questionnaire. The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was chosen to be translated. The norming data for validation of the CSHQ‑S included 151 …

Healthy And Maladaptive Coping Strategies Among Master Of Social Work Students, Jody D. Lopez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore healthy and maladaptive coping strategies among MSW students. The data was collected using self‑reported questionnaires. A total of 47 students participated in this study. Using the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping as a theoretical framework, this study assessed stress levels using the Perceived Stress Scale. The Brief COPE instrument measured coping strategies. The study found relationships between stressors and maladaptive coping and perceived stress. The study recommends that future research on coping strategies among MSW students include greater attention to training MSW students how to deal with stress during their MSW …

Incarceration And Reintegration: How It Impacts Mental Health, April M. Marier, Alex Alfredo Reyes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background: Previous criminal justice policies have been non-effective leading to overpopulated prisons and unsuccessful reintegration. There is a lack of effective supportive and/or rehabilitative services resulting in high rates of recidivism and mental health implications. Objective: This study investigated the perceived impact that incarceration and reintegration with little to no supportive and/or rehabilitative services has on the mental health status of an individual. The emphasis was on participant perception and not on professional reports because of underreporting and lack of attention to mental health in the criminal justice system. Methods: Focus groups in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley …