Psychology Commons^™

Cognitive Inhibition And Impulsivity In Adult Children Of Alcoholics And Controls, Louise A. Weller

Theses and Dissertations

The genetic transmission of a pattern of impairments associated with alcoholism has been supported by research literature (Dawson, Harford, & Grant, 1992; Schuckit, 1986). No single factor appears to cause the development of a substance abuse problem, but a family history of alcoholism may be one predictive factor (Goodwin, 1985). The offspring of alcoholics are more likely to display disinhibited behavior and impulsivity (Pihl, Peterson, & Finn, 1990) and are more likely to develop drinking problems than the general population (Goodwin, 1971). Researchers have found patterns of cognitive deficits (Tartar, Jacob, Bremer, 1989) and neuropsychological differences (Gabriella & Mednick, 1983) …

The Academic Achievement And Psychological Functioning Of College Students With A Family History Of Alcoholism, Rachel M. Dodd

Theses and Dissertations

Fifty adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) and 50 non-ACAs in an undergraduate college student sample were compared on standardized measures of emotional functioning, alcohol consumption, academic achievement, and cognitive ability. A 2 (parental alcoholism status) X 2 (gender) multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed on each of the four categories of dependent variables. The MANOVAs were followed by univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to determine which variables contributed to the multivariate effect.

With respect to emotional functioning, differences between ACAs and non-ACAs were found for males but not females. Male ACAs reported significantly more current anxiety and long-standing anxiety …

An Interview Study Of Educational Success Among American Indian Doctoral Recipients, Linda L. Neuerburg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to better understand the successful educational experiences among Native American doctoral recipients and why they succeeded where so many others have failed to reach that level of education. The participants' individual experiences were recorded during the in-depth interviews. Their own voices have indicated their path to success.

Qualitative research methods were used in the study including interviews, participant observation, and follow-up telephone interviews. Data were analyzed for themes and results were discussed in reference to the literature. Recommendations for parents, teachers, school administrators, mentors, faculty, and college administrators were provided.

The study allowed the …

Eating Disorders: Prevention, Identification And Treatment In Elementary And Secondary Schools, Marcella I. Stickney

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the responses of elementary and secondary school counselors to students with symptoms of eating disorders. A survey was sent to 1000 school counselors in the upper Midwest (Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin) during the spring of 2000. The survey contained 1 of 4 vignettes which describe either a male or female student presenting with/without symptoms suggestive of disordered eating patterns. The gender of the student in the vignette was randomly assigned. School counselors were asked to report the classification they would designate, assessment procedures they would utilize, and interventions that they …

Y2000 Alcohol And Drug Survey: An Examination Of University Of North Dakota Students, Michael A. Seredycz

Theses and Dissertations

National and regional substance use studies suggest that college students are frequent users of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. This study examines substance use at UND, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, examining the predictive power of Hirschi’s social control theory in response to collegiate substance use. This research will provide a profile of student activities and beliefs associated with use or non-use, as well as the prevalence of use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

Three focus groups were used to increase reliability and validity of the sample before a quantitative self-administered survey was administered to a convenient sample of students. …

Getting Out: A Feminist Psychoanalytical Analysis Of Intimate Violence, Aili Marie Smith

Theses and Dissertations

In my thesis I examined various forms of physical and psychological violence within the text Getting Out by Marsha Norman. Getting Out is filled with disturbing visual images of intimate violence. Utilizing various feminist psychoanalytical theorists and critics, I explored the realm of intimate violence. This included paying particular attention to the feminists Rhoda Unger & Mary Crawford in Women in Gender: A Feminist Psychology and Tony Martens in The Spirit Weeps: Characteristics and Dynamics of Incest and Child Sexual Abuse. My exploration focused specifically on the act of violence found in the drama. Not only did I relate these …

Seismic Adjustments: The Influence Of Inconvenience And Efficacy Perceptions, State Of Residence, And Demographic Factors, Nicole Elise Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that peoples' perceptions of household seismic adjustments, in addition to their perceptions of earthquakes themselves, should predict the likelihood that seismic adjustments are performed. However, little research has been done to address this issue. While recent research has found peoples' perceptions of the effectiveness of household adjustments to influence adjustment levels, people's perceptions of inconvenience of household seismic adjustments - namely the cost, time effort, required cooperation and required knowledge involved in making these adjustments - have been found to not influence seismic adjustment. However, this study did find that the higher the perceived inconveniences …

The Impact Of A College Wellness Course On Wellness Knowledge, Attitude, And Behavior, Marion L. Askegaard

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a college wellness course resulted in an improvement in knowledge, attitude, and behavior relating to physical activity, nutrition, and stress management.

Three hundred forty-eight students enrolled in the Wellness course at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, took The Wellness Knowledge. Attitude, and Behavior Instrument during the first class period (pretest) and last week (posttest) of the course.

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), with repeated measures on one factor, was conducted to determine whether there would be statistically significant differences between the pretest and posttest wellness knowledge, attitude, and behavior scores. Three-way …

Adults With Autism Speak Out: Perceptions Of Their Life Experiences, Karen S. Hurlbutt

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate and describe the perceptions of three high functioning adults with autism about their life experiences. After a review of the literature, I determined that there is a lack of information regarding adults with autism, especially those at the high end of the spectrum. There is a great deal of information regarding the educational needs of individuals with autism; however, there are few studies available which address the unique needs of the adults. I wondered “What can we learn about adults with autism that we did not know before? What can they tell …

Changes In Counselor Intentions After Empathy Training, Dominic J. Barraclough

Theses and Dissertations

Using Hill and O'Grady's (1985) model of assessing counseling intentions, this study examined the effects of a two-hour empathy training component in an introductory counseling methods course, as well as the relationship between intentions categories and the intention of being empathic. Participants also completed the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI) as a pretest measure, again immediately preceding the empathy training, and finally as a posttest measure. Due to unequal distribution within the control and treatment groups, gender was also examined. The results indicated that men responded more than women during role-play sessions as well as had more intentions. There was also …

Faculty Interests - Faculty Needs: Creating Meaningful Critical Thinking Training, Patricia Wilber

Theses and Dissertations

Helping students improve their critical thinking and writing abilities is a challenge for university instructors. Although they are experts in their specific disciplines, most of them struggle when it comes to developing appropriate and successful critical thinking activities for their students. They have limited knowledge of instructional methods that improve student thinking, and often rely on professional development programs on their campuses to assist them. The Writing Across the Curriculum Program at a mid-western university offered assistance to faculty and provided a place to examine this process.

A qualitative study employing workshop observations and follow-up interviews was used to determine …

A Resident Teacher Program: Perceptions Of Those Involved, Sara Beth Vinje Triggs

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the experience of master's students in an elementary education resident teacher program The experience of the resident teachers was generally defined as how resident teachers made meaning of a resident teacher program through the perceptions of the resident teachers themselves. The resident teachers' perceptions and experiences were studied from January 1999 through the completion of their teaching experience in May 1999.

Qualitative research methods were used in this phenomenological study, including a brief period of observation, analysis of mentor/resident teacher communications journals, and interviews with participants in the Resident Teacher …

Occupational Therapy Treatments And Upper Extremity Motor And Self-Care Outcomes Of Patients Post-Cva, Jan E. Stube

Theses and Dissertations

Cerebrovascular accident (or stroke) afflicts approximately 550,000 Americans per year. It is estimated that three million U.S. citizens live with the disabling effects of strokes, which can limit function in one or more of the following areas: mobility, basic activities of daily living, bowel or bladder control, cognition, emotional functioning, among other disabling conditions (Gresham et al., 1995). Occupational therapists, as rehabilitation professionals, provide sensorimotor and basic activities of daily living assessment and intervention to promote recovery of function post-stroke. Upper extremity neuromuscular electrical stimulation is one strategy that may be used to promote motor recovery.

This study's purpose was …

The Effects Of Rumination And Distraction Tasks On Psychophysiological Responses And Self-Reported Mood In Dysphoric And Nondysphoric Individuals, Kristin S. Vickers Douglas

Theses and Dissertations

According to the response style theory of depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987), the way in which individuals respond to depressed mood affects the severity and duration of that mood. Prior laboratory studies of response style have not included psychophysiological measures or investigated the relationship between ruminative response style and the conceptually-related constructs of worry and neuroticism. Dysphoric (n = 84) and nondysphoric participants (n = 86) were randomly assigned to either a rumination task (i.e., self-focused attention) or a distraction task (i.e., other-focused attention). In addition to the pre-task and post-task mood ratings used in prior response style studies, the present study …

Taking Writing On-Line: The Intersections Of Rhetoric, Technology, And Community In The Composition Classroom, William C. Archibald

Theses and Dissertations

Discourse constructs individuals in community and by analogy constructs students (and teachers) in the networked-writing classroom. This work of constructing subjects moves us alternately toward the group (centripetal) and away toward becoming more individual (centrifugal). In order to understand this coordinate but opposite movement within on-line communication, the dissertation brings together the two strands (within the social) of technology and rhetoric. This rhetoric of technology is defined as the invention, arrangement, and delivery of computer-mediated language for the purpose of evoking action upon the part of an audience. The dissertation presents—among others—the discourse theory of Patricia Bizzell, Joseph Harris's ideas …

The Effect Of Biculturalism On Depression In Northern Plains Native American College Students, Alan H. Storey Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effect of biculturalism on depression in a propsed sample of 52 Northern Plains Native American College students (32 female, 20 male). This study tested the applicability of the Orthogonal Theory of Biculturalism (Oetting and Beauvais, 1992). Subjects completed the Northern Plains Biculturalism scale (NPBI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-Second edition (BDI-II). A descriptive analysis, Pearson product moment correlational analysis, independent t-tests, and multiple regression analysis were performed. The multiple regression utilized the two-culture orientation subscales of the NPBI as predictor variables and the total score of the BDI-II as outcome …

The Influence Of Media Type On Sexually Impositional Behavior, Sheila A. Mulligan Rauch

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual aggression and rape are pervasive and serious problems in the United States. One factor which has been associated with sexual aggression and rape is the perpetrator's use of sexually explicit material, especially sexually violent pornography. The current study examined the effect of exposure to different types of media depictions, including sexually violent, violent, sexual, and general arousing conditions on men's expression of sexually impositional behavior toward women using a laboratory analogue. Participants viewed one of four, 45 minute clips from the above categories. Then, they chose one of four short clips (negatively arousing, sexual clip; a negatively arousing, nonsexual …

Assessment And Grading Practices Among High School Band Teachers In The United States: A Descriptive Study, Edward G. Simanton

Theses and Dissertations

The recent movement in academic reform and accountability has brought assessment and grading to the forefront in most academic disciplines. While assessment and grading appear to be important topics in music education professional journals, little is known about actual practice or local satisfaction with current practices. Findings from a few small regional assessment and grading studies indicated that assessment practices tended to diverge from currently understood best practices; for example, attendance was the primary source of grading information.

The purposes of this study were to (a) examine current assessment and grading practices in American high school bands, (b) gauge local …

Time Of Day Effects On The Performance On The Screening Test Of Auditory Processing, Christine Anne Mackenzie

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if any significant relationships existed between time of day and central auditory processing using a screening test of central auditory performance. The study specifically addressed the following research questions: 1. Is there a difference in the scores of morning and evening type individuals on the Filtered Word subtest, the. Auditory Figure-Ground subtest, or the Competing Words subtest of the SCAN? 2. Is there a difference between morning and evening test time for differing types of individuals on the Filtered Word subtest, the Auditory Figure-Ground subvest, or the Competing Words subtest of the …

Application Of Research To Practice Settings: Music Therapy, Desiree Gagner-Tjellesen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical use of music therapy as an independent therapeutic nursing intervention in acute care settings. This study identified its frequency, rationale, and perceived effectiveness as an independent nursing intervention. This research also identified barriers and facilitators to nurses’ utilization of music therapy. Frequency and reasons for use of other independent nursing interventions was also investigated.

An author designed structured questionnaire was utilized in this descriptive study. The census sample (N=321) consisted of registered nurses at a Midwestern acute care facility of greater than fifty beds. Forty-two percent (n=135) participated in the …

Certified Athletic Trainers' Perceptions Of Gender Equity And Barriers To Advancement In Selected Practice Settings, Cynthia L. Booth

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if gender and/or practice setting were related to certified athletic trainers' perceptions of gender equity and specifically to barriers to professional advancement by women. This study was used to examine the perceptions of gender equity as viewed by NATA-certified athletic trainers of both genders working in three different practice settings: the secondary school setting, the college/university setting, and the clinical/hospital setting. A total of 600 individuals were selected for the sample, 100 each of men and women from each of the three settings.

The findings of this study revealed that perceptions of …

Codependency Among Nurses: A Rural Urban Comparison, Nancy Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study was undertaken to examine the role of environmental work stressors and family-of-origin dysfunction in the gensis of professional codependency and compare rural and urban samples of nurses using those parameters. The nursing literature presents us with two contradictory explanations of the relation between codependency and nursing. Some see it emerge when a nurse’s wish to care for others is motivated by attempts to fulfill her or his own unmet needs from dysfuctional family experience. Others see the medical institutional expectation of devotion and self-sacrifice by nurses as a causal factor in codependency. Both interpretations are based on …

The Way We Were (Are): Directing Memory, Gender And Identity In Emma Donghue's Ladies And Gentlemen, Kathryn J. O'Donnell

Theses and Dissertations

This paper summarizes my research, my script analysis, and the rehearsal process for my production of Ladies and Gentlemen by Emma Donaghue at the University of North Dakota during the fall term of 1999 - 2000. My aim is to explore the particular tensions at play in Donaghue's use of postmodern techniques and traditional narrative style from a director's point of view. The focus of the paper is on the themes of gender, memory, and identity as the site of these tensions. Jeanette R. Malkin's Memory-Theatre and Postmodern Drama offered a methodology in which to examine these themes, while Harold …

Drama In The High School English Classroom: Pedagogical Theory And Practical Application, Ann Siegle Drege

Theses and Dissertations

Drama in education is not limited to elementary skits or junior/senior class plays. It can be used in the high school English classroom to engage students in active learning. Drama in the classroom is a pedagogical method, which focuses on the learning process of the participants rather than a polished performance for an audience. The purpose of this dissertation is to address the limited use of drama in the classroom by providing a pedagogical rationale for its use and concrete drama activities for the high school English classroom.

There are multiple pedagogical advantages for using drama as a method. Drama …

Phonological Awareness Of Stress And Syllable, Joshua N. Long

Theses and Dissertations

For a number of years, researches have studied children's intuitive knowledge of sounds and syllables because of contributions of these linguistic units to language learning, and more specifically literacy. Children learn to interpret streams of speech through the development of segmentation skills. This study investigated the abilites of preschool and school age children through measurement of their performance on two-syllable, three-syllable, and four-syllable pseudo-word forms with varying stress patterns. The present study examined the participants' ability to identify targeted syllables and targeted stressed elements. That is, in one group (syllable group), participants were required to identify the location of a …

Activated Carbon Injection For Mercury Control In Coal-Fired Boilers, Randy Ray Brintnell

Theses and Dissertations

Mercury is a toxic compound causing numerous health problems in humans. One of the ways that mercury is released into the atmosphere is through the burning of coal. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the United States consumes i billion tons of coal per year and coal-fired utilities emit 73 tons of mercury per year. Though there arc currently no regulations on mercury emissions, it will remain an environmental concern.

Activated carbon (AC) injection is a proposed technology for mercury control in coal-fired boilers. We are interested in determining whether the diffusion rate or the absorptive capacity of the sorbent …

The Nonpartisan League Leader's Role In The Development Of The Nonpartisan League, Kim E. Higgs

Theses and Dissertations

This study of the Nonpartisan Leagues (NPL) newspaper, Nonpartisan League Leader, examined the interaction between the social, economic, and political environment of North Dakota at the turn of the century and the founding and growth of the NPL Leader. The impact of mass media, specifically newspapers, on farming communities is a forceful tool in shaping social, economic and political processes of those communities. This impact provides a perspective that news is embedded with values, beliefs, and customs of a specific political, economic and cultural system. The evidence presented in the Letter to the Editor column provided the view that news …

Facing The Monster: Responses Of North Dakota Higher Education Leaders To The Potential Impact Of Declining Public School Enrollment On The State's University System, Jane L. Schulz

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the perceptions of leaders of higher education in North Dakota regarding declining public school enrollment and its potential impact on higher education in the state. Educational leaders from three higher education institutions of differing types and other state policymakers were interviewed to determine their responses to the phenomenon of enrollment decline, the impact foreseen on higher education, and the planning activities used or being considered for use in preparation for the possible impact.

Data were gathered from open-ended interviews and through examination of planning documents of institutions and the North Dakota University System. A …

Increasing Self-Concept And Developmental Assets In Adolescents Using Behavioral And Psycho-Educational Interventions, Terriana Milne-Beatty

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent high-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use, susceptibility to peer pressure, violence, committing crimes and academic failure are often attributed to low self-concept, resiliency, minimal personal developmental assets, and deficient life skills. Thirty teens (7 males, 23 females) ages 12-15, from diverse cultures, volunteered for 3 groups, and were given a 4-month, 12-session interactive counseling program that incorporated the creative arts, behavioral, and psycho-educational therapy for the purpose of improving teens' self-concept, assets, and life skills. Pre and Posttest measures of The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale-2 showed mean raw scores being statistically significant for improvements within the entire teen …

Engaged Reading In Third Grade: A Magical Kingdom, Laurie Eva Berry

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate how children become engaged readers in a third grade classroom. The study focused on what a teacher did to encourage children to read and environmental factors in the classroom helped create readers. The study was holistic in nature, including profiles of three students (two females and one male) who were chosen because they read if given free time. Observations were used to find out how the children interacted, what reading opportunities they were given, and what a teacher does to cultivate engagement. Qualitative research methodology was used. The data were collected …