Social Work Commons^™

The Impact Of Kin And Fictive Kin Relationships On The Mental Of Black Adult Children Of Alcoholics, J. Camille Hall

Social Work Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how kin and fictive kinship relationships help to ameliorate or buffer responses to parental alcoholism and the breakdown in parenting. This qualitative study investigated coping responses developed by college students, who selfidentified as adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) who lived with an alcoholic parent or caregiver. In-depth interviews and follow-up participant checks were used. A descriptive model was developed describing conditions that affected the development of positive self-esteem, the phenomena that arose from those conditions, the context that influenced strategy development, the intervening conditions that influenced strategy development, and the consequences …

Measuring The Effects Of Intergroup Dialogue On Teachers’ Attitudes, Feelings And Behaviors Regarding Lesbian, Gay And Bisexual Students And Parents, Adrienne Brodsky Dessel

Doctoral Dissertations

Prejudice, discrimination and hate crimes against lesbians and gay men are prevalent throughout the United States. Prejudice in public school settings, as manifested in teacher attitudes and behavior, is particularly problematic for lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning or queer (LGBQ) students and LGBQ parents. Efforts to reduce prejudice for sexual minority groups have met with limited success. Creating safer and more inclusive school environments is essential for the wellbeing and learning of all students. Furthermore, the field of social work is guided by principles that necessitate intervention research that addresses harassment and violence based on sexual orientation prejudice.

This dissertation …

Paternal Involvement With Special Needs Children, Emily Lauren Furst

Masters Theses

The focus of this study is paternal involvement of fathers with special needs children. Role salience, parental satisfaction, reflected appraisals, and contextual variables were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between empowerment and paternal involvement. It was also hypothesized that financial strain would moderate the relationship between empowerment and paternal involvement, as mediated by the identity theory variables and contextual variables. The researcher additionally hypothesized that empowerment would be more important to men facing higher levels of financial strain. These hypotheses were investigated using data from the Pathways Research Project, which evaluated Tennessee’s Early Intervention System (TEIS). TEIS provides services to …

Domestic Violence: Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Its Causes And Intervention, Hannah Katherine Mccreery

Masters Theses

Community organizations work with and provide services for perpetrators and victims of domestic violence on a daily basis. The individuals who work for these agencies have a direct impact on perpetrators and victims. This study investigated the attitudes and perceptions of domestic violence professionals to assess the differentiating effect of gender, occupation within the field, age, education level, and years of experience in the field. Findings revealed significant differences between genders and occupation groups, particularly in attitudes toward interventions and treatment practices and beliefs about the causes of domestic violence. Implications for future research and policy are reviewed.

Examining The Relationship Between Toddler Self-Regulation And Maternal Self-Efficacy, Yu-Chuen Huang

Masters Theses

The present study examined the relationship between maternal self-efficacy and child self-regulation during the toddler years. Using a local database, the current study focused on specific dimensions of maternal self-efficacy in an effort to move beyond global descriptions of the construct. The results showed that maternal self-efficacy was negatively associated with child dysregulation ratings. In addition, the instrumental care dimension of maternal self-efficacy was the most influential predictor of child dysregulation ratings. Moreover, negative emotionality and sensory sensitivity have stronger associations with maternal self-efficacy than the other aspects of child dysregulation. However, this study found no gender or socioeconomic differences …

The Role Of Touch In The Care Of Toddlers Among Bofi Foragers In Central Africa, Min-Jung Jung

Masters Theses

The current study examined three types of touch (caregiving, social-affectionate, and passive) and toddlers‟ daily experience of physical interaction with caregivers among Bofi foragers, a semi-nomadic group of hunter-gatherers in Central Africa. With the purpose of describing a more holistic view of touch interactions and childhood experience in toddlers, rather than the extant Western, single-caregiver, mother-centric view, this study described the stylistic touch patterns that Bofi forager children experience and the influence of child characteristic factors (age, gender, and birth order) and social ecological factors (four types of caregivers: mother, father, adult relatives, and juvenile relatives). Based on cultural characteristics …

Relationships Among Parenting Styles, Ethnicity, Gender, And Adolescents Internalized Distress In Impoverished Families, Tao Liu

Masters Theses

The principal objectives of the study were to examine the concurrent and long-term effect of parenting style and its interaction with the ethnicity and gender on adolescent internalized distress in low income families. The data were from the first two waves of the Three City Study. Nine hundred and fifteen mothers from Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio reported their parenting behaviors on authoritative, harsh, permissive, and disengaged parenting; and their adolescent children responded to the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 to indicate their internalized distress. The results of the study indicated that disengaged and harsh parenting were significantly associated with adolescent …

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Lexington Attachment To Pets Scale, Tracy Leigh Zaparanick

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the word “pet” provided valid results in the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) (Johnson, Garrity, & Stallones, 1992). A multiple-groups confirmatory factor analysis, using maximum likelihood (ML) estimation, was conducted to test the hypothesized factor structures in the specified measurement model. Respondents to the Original version (i.e. used the word pet) and the Personalized version (i.e. embedded the canine’s name as typed by participants) made up the two groups. Features of an electronic survey were necessary for this personalization and systematic alternative assignment to the two LAPS …