Digital Commons Network^™

Breast Cancer Trends Among Kentucky Women, 2004-2007, Kara Ann Hagan

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

The purpose of this study is to investigate the discrepancies of female breast cancer mortality between the Appalachian and Non-Appalachian regions of Kentucky using data from the Kentucky Cancer Registry. This study identified subtype, reproductive, and regional differences in women with breast cancer in Kentucky. Among women with breast cancer living in Kentucky from 2004 to 2007, one and three live births significantly increased a woman’s risk of breast cancer mortality by 91% and 58% respectively, compared to a woman with zero live births. Progesterone receptornegative tumor status significantly increased a woman’s risk of breast cancer mortality by 64% compared …

General Strain Theory And Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study, Wen-Hsu Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

General strain theory (GST) (Agnew, 1992, 2001, 2006a) is an established criminological theory. Although the theory has been examined by many and enjoys empirical support, some limitations of previous studies need to be addressed. First, previous studies have not incorporated all major types of strain in their models; hence, the effects of these strains on delinquency are unclear. Second, many previous studies did not include negative emotions and even negative emotions other than anger. Finally, and the most serious limitation, many previous studies rely heavily on samples from Western countries, mostly the U.S.; thus, possible cultural influences are ignored. Although …

The Causes Of Risky Sexual Behavior Over The Adolescent-Young Adult Life Course And Its Consequences For Partner Relationships In Adulthood, Nicole Marie Schmidt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation uses data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) to examine the causes and consequences of risky sexual behavior from adolescence through young adulthood using a developmental perspective. Developmental theories suggest that antisocial behavior, especially persistent antisocial behavior, during adolescence can amplify the effects of early family, school, and peer factors by setting in motion a chain of cumulative disadvantages that increase the likelihood that one will experience negative outcomes in adulthood. Drawing on developmental theories of antisocial behavior, the causes and consequences of risky sexual behavior are examined. First, wave-specific measures of risky sexual behavior spanning six …

Puerto Rican Intermarriages : The Intersectionality Of Race, Gender, Class And Space, Gabriel Aquino

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Puerto Ricans have an intermarriage rate of 38.5 percent, the highest among Mexican, Cubans, Dominicans, European Americans, and African Americans in the United States. What govern the process of Puerto Rican intermarriage? Who do Puerto Rican intermarry with? And, do these intermarriages affect Puerto Rican ethnic identity? Traditional theories of intermarriage use a one dimensional explanation for intermarriages and for many posit an eventual ethnic identity transition. I propose the use of an intersectionality paradigm that incorporates a multidimensional approach, specifically race, gender, class, and space to explain Puerto Rican intermarriage and to test Puerto Rican ethnic identity transformation through …

Adolescent Dating Experience And Delinquency, Ryang Hui Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The research literature on adolescent development has discussed adolescent dating in relation to behavioral changes. However, very little discussion has been devoted to theoretical explanations of the intricacies involved in the relationship between the adolescent dating experience and the development of delinquent behavior. Consequently, there seems to be a lack of understanding as to how dating activities in adolescence influence delinquency, aside from a general consensus that adolescent dating tends to be related to deviant behavior.

The Impact Of Exposure To Domestic Violence On Developmental Trajectories Of Depressive Symptoms And Antisocial Behavior Across The Transition To Adulthood, Aely Park

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Principal Aims:

Darwin's Other Idea : Sexual Selection, Gender And Violence, Robert Samuel Moschgat

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation provides an empirical exploration of Darwin's theory of sexual selection, which views the male propensity to engage in short term mating strategies--sexual promiscuity and violence--as the result of sexual selection. Within an environmental context, biological father and mother household presence are expected to inhibit the initiation of short-term mating strategies and increase parental investment--paternal and maternal attachments, supervision, and protection. Whereas, structural disadvantage--living in poverty and in dangerous neighborhoods--is predicted to increase the initiation of a short-term mating strategies and compromise the parents' ability to protect their children and by weakening paternal and maternal attachments, thereby increasing the …

Unstoppable? : A Closer Look At Terrorism Displacement, Henda Yao Hsu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Since T.A Repetto first introduced crime displacement in 1976, situational crime prevention researchers have long been challenged by the assumption that displacement is an unavoidable consequence of focused crime prevention measures. Despite evidence that criminals do not inevitably shift their offending behavior in response to crime prevention initiatives, recent efforts to extend situational prevention to terrorism have been met with criticisms of displacement. This study examines whether terrorists displace their attacks by changing their methods once the opportunities to carry out acts of terrorism are blocked. To accomplish this, the author examines, through the use of the newly synthesized Global …

The Value Of Human Life : An Individual-Level Determinant Of Violence, Maria Tcherni

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

My contribution to the study of causes of violence in criminology is introducing a theoretical concept of the Value of Life (VL) and developing an empirical solution to measuring it. The value that an individual implicitly assigns to the human life - both his/her own life and other people's lives - is a theoretical concept that synthesizes information about precursors, correlates, and determinates of violence. The VL concept provides a meaningful way to explain some phenomena not commonly associated with violent behavior (for example, reckless behavior with regard to one's health), while also illuminating some puzzling associations consistently found in …

Fp-11-07 Children In Cohabiting Unions, J. A. Cohen

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

High-Risk Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Screening And Detection In Normal, Healthy Patient Saliva Samples: A Pilot Cluster Randomized Study, Deirdre O. Turner, Shelley J. Williams-Cocks, Ryan Bullen, Jeremy Catmull, Jesse Falk, Daniel Martin, Jerom Mauer, Annabel E. Barber, Robert C. Wang, Shawn Gerstenberger, Karl Kingsley

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: The human papillomaviruses (HPV) are a large family of non-enveloped DNA viruses, mainly associated with cervical cancers. Recent epidemiologic evidence has suggested that HPV may be an independent risk factor for oropharyngeal cancers. Evidence now suggests HPV may modulate the malignancy process in some tobacco- and alcohol-induced oropharynx tumors, but might also be the primary oncogenic factor for inducing carcinogenesis among some non-smokers. More evidence, however, is needed regarding oral HPV prevalence among healthy adults to estimate risk. The goal of this study was to perform an HPV screening of normal healthy adults to assess oral HPV prevalence.

Methods: …

Using Data To Identify And Reach The Most Vulnerable Young People, Adam Weiner

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 10 describes how the Population Council, through workshops and conferences with partners around the world, seeks to promote a better understanding of the adolescent experience and advocates for the development of programs based on evidence. To facilitate fact-based planning, the Council uses valuable sources of data, such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), to generate evidence to support policy analysis and program design. In 2001, the Council produced a series of reports using DHS called “Facts about Adolescents from the Demographic and Health Survey: Statistical Tables for Program Planning” …

Addressing Sexual Violence And Hiv Risk Among Married Adolescent Girls In Rural Nyanza, Kenya, Chi-Chi Undie

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Married adolescent girls form a large segment of Kenyan youth, yet they are largely overlooked by researchers and program managers concerned with the lives of adolescents. In settings such as Nyanza Province, Kenya, rates of HIV infection are extremely high, and evidence is increasing in some settings that girls who are married are much more likely to be infected, compared with their unmarried sexually active counterparts. Research indicates that the risk of HIV infection following forced sex is likely higher than following consensual sex. Finding ways to tackle sexual violence and HIV infection simultaneously has therefore become a major public …

Calling Attention To Young Adolescents: Building The Evidence Base To Inform Policies And Programs, Martha Brady

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Young adolescence is a critical life-cycle stage marked by a dynamic combination of opportunity and risk. During this time, children undergo tremendous physical, emotional, social, and cognitive changes as well as socialization into prevailing sexual and gender norms. For the majority, young adolescence is characterized by relatively good health and stable family circumstances, but it can also be a period of vulnerability due to a number of rapid transitions that force some young people into adult roles. Most young adolescents experience the onset of puberty (girls earlier than boys), which typically marks an abrupt life change. Some young adolescents will …

The Egg, Sperm, And Beyond: Gendered Assumptions In Gynecology Textbooks, Andrea Bertotti, Regina Rust

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Pedagogical Catalysts Of Civic Competence: The Development Of A Critical Epistemological Model For Community-Based Learning, Stephanie Taylor Stokamer

Dissertations and Theses

Civic competence is critical to the successful functioning of pluralistic democracies. Developing the knowledge, skills, and motivations for effective democratic participation is a national and global imperative that many higher education institutions have embraced through the teaching strategies of community-based learning and service-learning. Yet, scant research literature has focused on the relationship between pedagogical approaches and civic competence outcomes. This five-year longitudinal study of 11,000 students in 700 senior-level capstone courses at an urban research university empirically tested a new theoretically constructed model of civic competence development in order to identify epistemological and pedagogical elements that enhance civic competence. Eight …

Transitions How Individuals In The Transgender Community Use Impression Management, Candice S. Campanaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There exists an extensive body of literature focusing on impression management, with numerous studies addressing the effects of gender performance on members of the GLBT community. Despite a growing body of literature that centers on the differences between the genders, there exists a lack of research regarding the transgender community‟s ability to use impression management. This exploratory study addresses subjective experiences regarding transgender identity, and concentrates on self-definition and impression management in everyday life. It was found through interviews that “transition” is a temporary state that relies heavily on “passing” through impression management to create a new gender status. Once …

Framing Racial Inequality Reassessing The Effect Of Religion On Racial Attitudes, Jerrold C. Kaufman Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Building on previous work on racial attitudes among the religious, this study reassesses the effects of religion on individuals’ beliefs about racial inequality. This study relies on recent developments in the sociology of culture, which conceives of culture as a frame through which individuals interpret the world in which they inhabit (Benford and Snow 2000; Harding 2007; Small 2002, 2004). Religion is held to be an important social institution that provides substance to the frames that individuals employ for interpreting racial inequality. Two particular developments from this literature inform this study: first, that individuals can employ different, even contradictory, frames …

Whitewash: Nationhood, Empire, And The Formation Of Portuguese Racial Identity, Manuela Mourao

English Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the origins and development of Portuguese racial identity as reflected in chronicles of the Portuguese first contacts with Africa and the East and in the context of the nation's cultural history. Starting in the late 1400s with the arrival of Vasco da Gama's ships in India, and continuing well into the sixteenth century with the establishment of commercial outposts along a number of coastal areas in the Indian Ocean, the interaction between the Portuguese and the non-Western world had a significant impact on the cultures of all nations involved and, this article contends, on the formation of …

Brain Drain Out Of Hungary And Its Inhibitors, Eliza Plous

Capstone Collection

In many Central and Eastern European countries, a poor economic climate at home forces young people to make their careers in the West. Hungary is no exception. After spending time both studying and working in Hungary, the author chose to investigate the phenomenon known as “brain drain”: the large-scale emigration of young, educated individuals from Hungary as they seek higher salaries and more promising career prospects in neighboring Western European countries. This paper offers a comprehensive report on the economics of the brain drain problem, and on the opinions of young Hungarians who are currently seeking employment abroad; it also …

The Role Of Youth In Post-Conflict Reconstruction (The Case Of Liberia), Marit Woods

Capstone Collection

African youth today no longer want to view themselves as future leaders; instead they want to be viewed as leaders of today who have the ability to shape their own future. Despite the limited opportunities available to youth in the developing world, they strive to become contributors to their communities. Once the world realizes the importance of empowering youth, young Africans will have more opportunities to excel. The purpose of this inquiry is to answer “What opportunities are available for Liberian youth (15-35 years old), and how can these opportunities enhance youth participation in the National Reconstruction Process?” Utilizing qualitative …

Do Immigrant Students Consume Less Energy Than Native-Born American Students?, Lei Lei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper uses a sociological model to compare the residential energy consumption between immigrant students and native-born American students and to explain the difference by demographic characteristics, values, and specific attitudes. Further, it tries to explore whether the relationship between immigration status and residential energy consumption is mediated by value orientation towards frugality and specific attitudes towards energy conservation. The data of an online survey among native-born and foreign-born students at the University of Central Florida are used. The results suggest that immigrants consume less energy at home than native-born Americans, but the time stayed in the US doesn’t have …

Forgotten Foods: The Impact Of Western Development On Eating Habits Among Women In Dehradun, India, Stephanie L. Leite

Capstone Collection

This paper investigates the impact that Western development has had on eating habits among women living in the greater Dehradun area of India over the last century. Research was undertaken while working at Bija Vidyapeeth, an organic farm and educational center operated by the Indian-based Non-Governmental Organization, Navdanya. Primary data was collected by interviewing twelve women from four families, spanning three generations and ranging in age from 106 to 20. Two of the four families live in the urban center of Dehradun, while the other two families practice farming outside the city limits. Interviews revealed a generational change in eating …

Family Structure As A Social Context For Family Conflict: Unjust Strain And Serious Delinquency, Ryan E. Spohn, Don L. Kurtz

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Two major themes in the delinquency literature are the roles of family structure and childhood victimization. Combining these two lines of research, the current project examines the unique contribution of family structure and victimization on the serious delinquency of a nationally representative sample of adolescents. In addition, we examine whether the form of families serves to condition the relationship between victimization and delinquency. Past research indicates that abuse is more likely to occur in two-parent families of a ‘‘mixed’’ form, specifically in the presence of a live-in boyfriend or stepfather. However, little is known regarding the impact of victimization on …

Securing The Homeland: A Risk-Cost-Benefit Analysis Of U.S. Anti-Terrorism Expenditures, Anne-Elise Martin

CMC Senior Theses

An analysis of risk, cost and benefit associated with U.S. domestic anti-terrorism expenditures.

A Q Methodology Analysis Of Individual Perspectives Of Public Decision Making Influences Of Collaborative Processes, Perry D. Gross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Suboptimal public policy formulation and implementation often result from traditional representative democratic practices. Increasing government fragmentation, eroding trust among policy actors, and an increasingly complex policy making environment contribute to this problem. Collaborative decision making is considered to be a pragmatic alternative by its advocates. The purpose of this research was to explore the claim that process dynamics lead participants to prefer collaborative approaches to decision making among local and regional transportation plans in a western state. The conceptual framework was the diversity, interdependence, and authentic dialogue (DIAD) theory-based model of collaboration in decision making. The research questions focused on …

The Perspectives Of African American Nonprofit Female Executives From The Northeastern Region Of The United States About The Work-Family Balance, Tammy Evans-Colquitt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although many studies have been conducted on the increased pressure and stress facing women who are trying to fulfill work and family demands, little is known about African American women in executive positions and their perspectives about work-life balance. A particular gap in the research literature exists on the lived experience of African American nonprofit executive women in maintaining work-life balance. The conceptual framework of this phenomenological study was the bidirectional frame of both work interfering with family and family interfering with work. Data were collected through semistructured telephone interviews of 12 African American women ages 30 to 45 and …

Contextual Influences On Faith Development In Adolescents And Emerging Adults, Katheryn A. Barker

LSU Master's Theses

Recent research has revealed that high religiosity is associated with positive life outcomes in adolescents and emerging adults. However, the mechanisms and processes that underscore faith development, which is crucial to experiencing these outcomes, are not well understood. Furthermore, most research on faith development in adolescents and emerging adults is based on quantitative data and fails to examine the influence of developmental contexts on faith development. To address this, a racially diverse New England sample of 30 highly religious Christian, Jewish, New World faiths, and Muslim families were interviewed regarding their faith and family life. Focusing specifically on the faith …

"Don't Let The Job Change You; You Change The Job": The Lived Experiences Of Women In Policing, Carrie Buist

Dissertations

In the last decade, the percentage of women working as police officer has not seen any significant increase. This dissertation, "Don't Let the Job Change You; You Change the Job:" The Lived Experiences of Women in Policing uses in-depth, participant guided interviews with current women police officers to gain a better understanding of their experiences. The goal of this project was to allow the women to speak for themselves, and in sharing the narratives of their lived experiences as officers, both add to and build on the existing research on women working in policing. In addition to the interviews, observations …

The Impact Of Structured Group Counseling On Resiliency, Self-Efficacy, And Racialidentity Among African American Female Teenagers, Lashonda B. Fuller

Dissertations

African American female teenagers are at-risk for low academic achievement as well as personal and social problems. These concerns have the potential to impact their psychological development including resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. This is an issue that needs focused attention. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine if a structured group counseling model effectively impacts African American female teenagers‟ resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. The researcher conducted four structured counseling groups over a period of 20 weeks; however, the teenagers participated in consecutive 10 week sessions. The treatment was applied to two groups simultaneously, and the groups …