Psychology Commons^™

Illness Perceptions Of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Elizabeth Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a chronic illness that affects approximately five million premenopausal women in the United States and is associated with significant cosmetic, reproductive, metabolic, and psychological consequences. Despite its prevalence, few studies have explored the lived experiences and illness perceptions of women living with PCOS. Identifying illness perceptions of women living with (WLW) PCOS is important, because mounting research suggests that a person's perceptions of their chronic illness and its management determine that person's coping behaviors (e.g., adherence, self-management) and, consequently, illness outcomes.

In this dissertation, the Common Sense Model (CSM) is used as a framework to …

Reconceptualizing The Role Of Essentialism In Attitudes Toward Gays And Lesbians: The Intersection Of Gender And Sexual Orientation, Vanessa Hettinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social psychology researchers have become increasingly interested in the role of essentialist beliefs in predicting attitudes toward social groups. However, there is little agreement about what the term actually means, whether it means different things for different groups, what endorsement of essentialism (or its sub-components) means for attitudes, and how much this varies depending on the relevant social context. This underlying lack of clarity helps to explain some of the difficulty in understanding the relationships between essentialist beliefs about sexual orientation and attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. In the current project, I suggest a fundamental shift in the approach …