Digital Commons Network^™

Higher Education In Native American Communities: Who Graduates And Why?, Ramon Francisco Castillo Ii

Theses and Dissertations

In this case study, I examine the graduation patterns of students attending Chief Dull Knife College located on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. While comparing the characteristics of students attending this college with that of two-year colleges nationally and tribal schools throughout the nation, we begin to understand the unique situation that this community faces. With the use of logistic and linear regressions, I explored the characteristics of those who graduate and ask the question, who graduates and what makes them unique? This study found that the credits attempted per semester, the number of credits they earned …

Democracy Online: Immigration Discourse Over Time, Brian David Harris

Theses and Dissertations

The growth of internet communication has affected deliberative democracy by introducing new public spheres. One emerging public sphere is the discussion forum linked to online news sources. By analyzing 1,768 comments posted to a regional online news website, I discuss five key frameworks that commenters used to simplify the debate over immigration. I also find that extreme comments decreased in frequency over a two-year period while more moderate comments increased. In light of group polarization theory, this finding suggests that the forum is more like a single community with a fairly moderate average position to which people with differing opinions …

The Influence Of Religious Attendance And Gender In Accessing High-Status Social Ties, James William Phillips

Theses and Dissertations

Religious participation often influences the composition of one's social network, but less is known about the degree to which religious attendance increases access to highly-influential individuals who can offer potential advantages in terms of resource distribution. Using data from the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity (PS-ARE) I examine the influence of religious attendance and gender on accessing high-status social ties, which are defined as having conversations with the highly educated, elected public officials, and congregation leaders. I estimate ordered logistic regression models and find that increased religious attendance is associated with greater odds of accessing high-status social ties. …

Examining The Mediating Factors Between Religiosity And Pornography Use In Adolescents, Michael A. Steelman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between adolescent religiosity and pornography use, and the roles of self-regulation, attitudes towards pornography, and social control as mediators of these relations. It was hypothesized that religiosity would protect adolescents from exposure to pornography by increasing their self-regulation capacity, their conservative attitudes about pornography, and their perceived social norms regarding pornography. The sample consisted of 419 adolescents (ages 15 - 18 years; M age = 15.68, SD = .98; 56% male) recruited online from across the U.S. Participants completed an online survey. All variables were bivariately associated as expected. Path models …

Mormon Fertility In Latin America, Kiira Elizabeth Fox

Theses and Dissertations

While previous research has identified religion as an influence of fertility, how context changes the nature of that relationship remains little understood. Using census data from Brazil, Chile and Mexico, this study examines whether the high fertility pattern of one pronatalist, American-born religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) translates to the Latin American context. Results indicate that it does, but only inconsistently as the pronatalist pattern is masked by members' educational attainment and mixed religion marriages. When these attributes are accounted for LDS fertility is high in Latin America, especially among the more educated. This study highlights …

The Impact Of Marital Conflict On Parenting And Adolescent Prosocial Behavior, Adam M. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between marital conflict, parenting, and adolescent prosocial behavior. Parents and one target child from two-parent families (n = 330) responded to questionnaires regarding levels of marital conflict, parenting behaviors, and child prosocial behavior. Using structural equation modeling, results indicated that one dimension of parenting, warmth and connection, mediated the relationship between marital conflict and child prosocial behavior. Group comparisons did not find significant gender differences. The significance on parent-child connection is discussed along with clinical implications.

Dismissed With Prejudice: Gender Inequality In The Utah Legal Market, Collin Read Flake

Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing feminization of the legal profession in the United States over the last half century, past research has documented the prevalence and transformation of gender inequality in law firms. However, relatively little is known about gender inequality in small, conservative legal markets like Utah. This thesis examines data from the 2008-2009 Utah Attorney Advancement and Retention Survey. The analyses indicate that relative to their male colleagues, women earned less in 2007 and are less likely to procure higher quality job assignments than their peers. The most promising explanations for these disparities include employment sector, gender and motherhood statuses, …

Cohesion's Relationship To Outcome In Group Psychotherapy: A Meta-Analytic Review Of Empirical Research, Jennifer Tehani Alonso

Theses and Dissertations

Research has consistently shown group psychotherapy to be an effective form of treatment. Group cohesiveness, the quantity and magnitude of the strength of the bonds within the group, has received considerable attention. This study describes the integration of the cohesion literature using a random effects meta-analysis to ascertain the magnitude of the relationship between cohesion and outcome as well as explore the effect specific group variables have on this association. Studies were included which measured the relationship between groups comprised of at least three members, included both an outcome and cohesion measure convertible to an effect size, and were published …

Almost Christian: What The Faith Of Our Teenagers Is Telling The American Church, Cardell K. Jacobson, Linda C. Dean

BYU Studies

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were pleased about the results of a landmark study of the religiosity of the nation's youth, called the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Conducted from 2003 to 2005 by Christian Smith and others, the study was first reported in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, published by Oxford University Press in 2005. (To read the book review of Soul Searching, see BYU Studies 45, no. 2 [2006]: 167-172.)

The current book, Almost Christian, by Linda Creasy Dean, is a follow-up from the same study. …

Exploring Financial Knowledge, Behaviors, And Economic Socialization In An Incarcerated Population: A Mixed Methods Analysis, Lindsay Larson Call

Theses and Dissertations

Using a mixed method design, this study explored financial knowledge, behaviors, and economic socialization in a sample of men (N = 155) incarcerated in a Midwestern county jail. A financial knowledge assessment, adapted from the FLLIP assessment (Zhan, Anderson, & Scott, 2006), was administered as well as a survey of financial behaviors and criminal history characteristics. Based on responses to the quantitative survey, a theoretical sample of participants (n = 12) was selected to participate in in-depth, qualitative interviews regarding economic socialization to the formal economy, particularly banks. Quantitative analyses revealed that the mean financial knowledge score for the sample …

Perceived Racism And Mental Health: A Meta-Analytic Review, Hokulea D. Conklin

Theses and Dissertations

The present study provides a synthesis of extant research examining the association between perceived racism and mental health. The aims of this study were to identify the overall magnitude of this association and to elaborate on the possible influence of participant characteristics (acculturation level, age, gender, race, education, and socioeconomic status) and study characteristics (year of data collection, geographic region of the study, and research design) in moderating this association. A total of 130 studies were included in the final analysis. The omnibus effect size for this meta-analysis was r = -.188 (p < .001), which indicates that higher instances of perceived racism were associated with lower levels of mental health. The overall magnitude of this association suggests a moderately small relationship between these two constructs. None of the participant characteristics moderated the results. However, studies conducted in more recent years appeared to be associated with effect sizes of greater negative magnitude than studies conducted in previous years. The implications of these findings for multicultural psychology are discussed and suggestions regarding future research in this area are presented.

Division Of Labor And Marital Quality In Russia, Carol Synae Kim

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined whether investigation of the linkages between division of labor and marital quality would produce the same results in Russia that have been found in the U.S. Russian couples (n = 172) participated in the study by answering three packets of questionnaires. The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale was used to measure each partner's rating of their levels of satisfaction with their marital relationship and their spouse. The results from the structural equation models indicated that the more the wives perceived themselves doing more and expressed dissatisfaction of their spouse's contribution to child care tasks and apartment maintenance, the …

Investigating The Influence Of Computer Programs On Perception And Application Of Mathematical Skills, Neil M. Bly

Theses and Dissertations

Existing research suggests an intuitive relationship between mathematics and computer programming. These previous studies have focused primarily on the cognitive connection and have ignored the potential impact of programming on an individual's perception and application of mathematical skills. By surveying and interviewing a variety of participants, this study aims to provide a descriptive foundation for the experiential side of cognitive correlations and causalities. These phenomenological accounts, garnered from individual interviews of seven different programmers, indicate four specific areas of interest. First, learning to program provided context for many abstract concepts. Second, programming illustrated the important distinction between understanding the application …

The Influence Of Religion On Immigrant Structural Assimilation In The Greater Los Angeles Area, Jason D. Simons

Theses and Dissertations

By operationalizing Gordon's definition of structural assimilation, I examine occupational prestige, income, and educational attainment across four immigrant groups: 1.5 generation, 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and 4th generation. Additionally, I analyze the effect of religious affiliation, frequency of attendance, religious conversion, context of reception, and selective acculturation on each of the three measures of structural assimilation. Ethnic origin, gender, and age are implemented as control variables. Results provide evidence that religion does affect measures of structural assimilation. While impacts on occupational prestige and income seem minimal to non-existent, the effect of religion on educational attainment is more substantial. Religion indirectly …

Cry The Beloved Media: New Media And Student Perceptions In A World Literature Classroom, Timbre Janiece Newby Greenwood

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research project addressed the infusion of media literacy and new media into a standard secondary English language arts curriculum. In examining students' perceptions of South Africa as they interacted with new media texts in conjunction with the traditional literary text Cry, the Beloved Country, this study also explored the manner in which students' media interactions informed their reading of the novel. As a result of the research data, the author asserts that media literacy education can, in fact, play an effective role in teaching literature within the world literature classroom.

The Impact Of Depression And Health On Sexual Satisfaction For Older Couples, Victoria Celeste Scott

Theses and Dissertations

This study of 535 older married couples examined the relationship between depression and health and sexual satisfaction directly and when mediated by communication. The sample included 535 older couples who completed a survey questionnaire known as Project Couple Retire. Among the items in the questionnaire were measures of depression, health, perception of sexual intimacy, communication and other demographic information. Results from Structural Equation Modeling indicated that for women, health was a significant predictor of sexual satisfaction. For both genders, the results suggest that depression, when mediated by communication, is a predictor of sexual satisfaction among older couples.

American Grace: How Religion Divides And Unites Us, James W. Phillips, Robert D. Putnam, David E. Campbell, Shaylyn R. Garrett

BYU Studies

American Grace is the next pivotal work within the social scientific study of religion that LDS readers should find interesting on many levels, including the extensive attention it gives to Mormonism. In this work, Robert Putnam (author of the national bestseller Bowling Alone) teams up with David Campbell (editor of A Matter of Faith: Religion in the 2004 Presidential Election) and field researcher Shayln Romney Garrett to examine the many facets of contemporary American religious pluralism. The authors use data from the nationally representative 2006 and 2007 waves of the Faith Matters survey, in addition to other surveys, …

Social Capital In Online Communities, Matthew Scott Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Social capital is the value of the relationships we create and maintain within our social networks to gain access to and mobilize needed resources (e.g., jobs, moral support). Quantifying, and subsequently leveraging, social capital are challenging problems in the social sciences. Most work so far has focused on analyses from static surveys of limited numbers of participants. The explosion of online social media means that it is now possible to collect rich data about people's connections and interactions, in a completely ubiquitous, non-intrusive manner. Such dynamic social data opens the door to the more accurate measuring and tracking of social …

Are All Immigrants Criminals? Societal Perceptions Across Select Social Groups, Catherine F. Tindall

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the perceptions toward immigrant criminality in Utah of four distinct social groups: state legislators, immigrants, law enforcement personnel, and incarcerated immigrants. Each group was examined separately and found to have a variety of perceptions among their members. Themes emerged that provided insight into the overlap and complexity of these differences across social groups. Legislators appeared the most dichotomous: some believed immigration and crime to be positively correlated, especially for undocumented immigrants, while others perceived no such connection. Among immigrants, perceptions were extremely diverse, but generally represented by reference to an unsubstantiated stereotype that immigrants committed crime at …

The Influence Of Profession And Therapy Type For The Cost Effective Treatment Of Sexual Dysfunction, David Fawcett

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual dysfunctions are serious mental health issues that impact an estimated one in three Americans. Due to the complex, relational nature of most sexual dysfunctions, mental health professionals trained to work with couples and their relationship interactions are likely to have better outcomes when treating clients with sexual dysfunction. Data from CIGNA Health Solutions was analyzed to explore differences in therapy outcome for various types of mental health professions when treating clients with sexual dysfunctions. The current research is a retrospective analysis of administrative data that explores whether or not type of profession (i.e. psychologists, Masters of social work, marriage …

Mining The Meanings And Pulling Out The Processes From Psychology Of Religion’S Correlation Mountain, Loren D. Marks, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

The article illustrates how rigorous quantitative studies in three distinct and promising areas opened the door to additional related qualitative work. Using qualitative narratives from a landmark sample of 184 diverse religious families, the authors discuss and illustrate two research methods and that have been useful to them: triangulating data in the context of family, and seeking truth through progressive questioning. Next, consistent with the paper's primary purpose, the authors highlight three areas where the strong, correlation-based research foundation provided by quantitative social scientists of religion has created some prime, complementary opportunities for follow-up work by qualitative researchers. …

Alice Brill's Sao Paulo Photographs: A Cross-Cultural Reading, Danielle Jean Hurd

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider the influence of Alice Brill's transnational background on her photographs of 1950s São Paulo. Brill was born in 1920 to a Jewish-German family. In 1934 she immigrated to São Paulo where she involved herself in local artistic circles. From 1946-47 she received a grant to study at the University of New Mexico and with the Art Students League in New York. Brill learned photography during her time in the United States, hoping to create documentary photo-essays in Brazil which she could send to American illustrated magazines. None of Brillss works were published in the United …

Antecedents Of Parental Psychological Control: A Test Of Bowen's Theory, Spencer D. Bradshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externalized problems for youth and adolescents. Research contributing to an understanding of the possible antecedents of parental psychological control is both limited and of need; specifically regarding parents' psychological attributes. This study sample included 323 two-parent families and an identified target child from each family. Bowen's theory of family systems, [chronic] stress, and differentiation of self and its relation to parental psychological control was examined. Differentiation of self was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between chronic stress and parental psychological control. Differentiation was conceptualized and measured using …

Personality And Relationship Satisfaction: Evaluating The Direct Associations Between Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Extraversion, And Relationship Satisfaction In Romantic Couple Relationships, Sarah Lefevre Tackett

Theses and Dissertations

Specifically, using a sample of 2,848 couples from the RELATE dataset, a model was tested examining the direct associations between personality factors (neuroticism, agreeableness, and extraversion) and relationship satisfaction in romantic couple relationships. The results indicated that lower levels of neuroticism, higher levels of agreeableness, and lower levels of extraversion were associated with greater relationship satisfaction. In particular, ratings of agreeableness had the strongest associations with satisfaction for males and females, while neuroticism had the next strongest associations, followed by extraversion. Paths between male variables and female variables and satisfaction were not significantly different; however, slight gender differences were present …

Metabolic Control, Marital Conflict, Caregiver Burden And Psychological Control In Parents Of Children With Type 1 Diabetes, Ann P. Jubber

Theses and Dissertations

Using data from a purposive sample of 78 parents of children with type 1 diabetes, relationships were examined between the level of metabolic control of the child with diabetes (as measured by the HbA1c percentage), parents' marital conflict, caregiver burden, and use of psychological control. Also explored were family income and the education levels of mothers and fathers. Differences between mothers and fathers were also considered. Better metabolic control (lower HbA1c) was related to lower levels of fathers' caregiver burden. Marital conflict was also associated with mothers' and fathers' caregiver burden. Finally, mothers' caregiver burden predicted mothers' use of psychological …

Working Hard Or Hardly Working: Comparing Relationship Self-Regulation Levels Of Cohabiting, Married, And Remarried Individuals, Mallory Jane Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

The concept of relationship self-regulation (RSR) has been shown to be related to relationship satisfaction, yet the differences in RSR ability based on couple type have yet to be examined. This study compared first married, remarried, and cohabiting individuals on their self-reported ability to implement RSR in their relationship, along with their report of satisfaction, positive communication, and negative communication in their relationships. Data was derived from 6,591 participants who were part of the RELATionship Evaluation (RELATE) questionnaire data set. Multiple Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) statistics were used, and results showed that while mean differences in RSR were small across …

Signifyin' Black Power: Soul On Ice And The Subversion Of Normative Whiteness, James David Fife

Theses and Dissertations

This study emphasizes the methodology of linguistic resistance in Eldridge Cleaver's best-known work, Soul on Ice. Through a process of signification, Cleaver works to redefine key words and concepts that form a web of racialist and racist thinking called normative whiteness. By emptying key terms, like those of "life," "liberty," and "property," Cleaver's text attempts to offer a new, less biased foundation on which a more inclusive and pluralistic American narrative can be written, a move that both makes his rhetoric significantly different from that of many contemporary resistance writers and positions him as an important link in a …

Aligning Instructional Practices With Content Standards In Junior Secondary Schools In Indonesia, Rumtini Suwarno

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the degree of alignment between instructional practices and national curriculum standards, which may vary as a function of teacher characteristics. Using self-reports from teachers about their experiences teaching the national curriculum standards, the study explored three aspects of the alignments: (1) topic coverage, (2) level of difficulty for teachers to teach, and (3) level of difficulty for students to learn. While topic coverage is determined by the percentage of the national curriculum standards topics taught during the year of 2008-2009, the level of teacher difficulty to teach and the level of student difficulty to learn are assessed …

Poverty Attributions And Attitudes Toward Government Spending, Laurel George, Leila N. Kempf, Kristie Phillips

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

The U.S. has the greatest economic inequality of any industrialized nation, and does the least to reduce this inequality (Dreier 2007). This inequality may reflect attitudes about the causes of poverty that may diminish willingness to support policy designed to alleviate its effects. Prior research has examined differences in attitudes toward the poor and those receiving welfare and about poverty beliefs, but not whether a relationship exist between these beliefs and opinions on Political Science. In order to investigate this explanation, we analyze data from the 1992 American National Election Survey (N=674) for a possible link between whether people attribute …

Who Wants To Be In America? A Generalized Linear Mixed Model To Predict Satisfaction With Life In The United States Among The Children Of Immigrants, Brian D. Harris, Joe Olsen

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Stratification theory and various theories of immigrant integration suggest that it may be more important to measure integration outcomes among the children of immigrant than first-generation immigrants themselves. While many researchers use outcomes that can be measured directly such as income or educational attainment, more research is needed on the subjective interpretations of the children of immigrants. I use a multilevel generalized linear mixed model to predict satisfaction with the United States among the children of immigrants. Data come from the first two waves of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS). Parents' citizenship status, students' citizenship status, previous experiences …