Digital Commons Network^™

The Deconstruction Of Ambition: Campus Climate, Stereotype Threat, And The Motivational Goals Of African American Students At A Selective Small Liberal Arts College, Roland S. Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

African American students face many challenges when they attend highly selective, predominantly White institutions. Lack of support for or belief in their academic success on the part of White faculty and peers may contribute to a climate in which it becomes increasingly difficult for African American students to be motivated and believe in their ability to excel academically. Studies suggest that an unsupportive racial climate on campus perpetuates "stereotype threat"---the conception that task performance can be affected by a fear of being evaluated on the basis of, or inadvertently perpetuating a stereotype about one's racial group, and a decade of …

Examining The Relationship Between Social Capital And The Built Environment: A Case Study In Measuring Community Sustainability, Shannon H. Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations

The concepts of sustainability and sustainable development are frequently described as having three main components, sometimes referred to as the three pillars or the triple bottom line: environmental, economic, and social. Because the origins of sustainability come from a desire to right environmental wrongs much consideration has been given to the environmental issues, especially how they interface with economic ones. Frequently mentioned but rarely examined, the social aspects of sustainability have been considered the weakest and least described pillar. This work explores the utility of social capital, the value of one's networks and connections, as a measure of sustainability. As …

Decoding Minority Student Retention: An Investigation Of Student Experiences And Institutional Characteristics, Stephanie S. Bramlett

Doctoral Dissertations

This study seeks to explain factors that contribute to the retention of black and Hispanic students from their first year through graduation at colleges and universities in the United States. Other studies have investigated the experiences of minority college students (Massey et al. 2006, Steele 1999, and Bowen and Bok 1998) and have focused primarily on student experiences. Using Bourdieu's (1973) conceptualization of capital as the theoretical backdrop, this study is a preliminary investigation of how student experiences and institutional characteristics influence college student graduation.

The study uses data from both the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen and the 2008 …

The Implications Of Socioeconomic Status And A Usual Source Of Care For The Health And Health Care Experiences Of Elders With Chronic Illnesses, Michelle L. Stransky

Doctoral Dissertations

Recently developed models of health care provision have promoted the relationship between providers and patient for improving care continuity and coordination. This may be especially important for the growing population of elders, who often have fragmented care because of multiple chronic illnesses. Previous research shows that elders who have a usual source of care (USC) have better health and health care experiences than other elders. However, research has rarely considered whether the benefits of USCs may be affected by the elder's socioeconomic status (SES), their levels of chronic illness, or various provider characteristics.

This dissertation utilizes the 2007 Medicare Current …

An Exploratory Approach To Social Impact Assessment Of Public Policy Decisions: Multiple Stakeholders Perspectives On The Social Impact Of Overfishing In New England Groundfisheries In The 1990s, Fabienne Lord

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis seeks to understand how stakeholders' perspectives and understanding of social impacts influence decision processes. Understanding stakeholders' comprehension of social impacts provides insight as to how they weigh these impacts against others when making decisions. Moreover, the way stakeholders influence, or are influenced by, management decisions provides information on the use and development of methodologies successful in assessing social impacts and communicating the results. Built on this information, the main objective is to explore and develop a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) approach that could capture and integrate multiple stakeholders' perspectives in predicting impacts from ongoing, renewable resource management actions. …

Net Resiliency: A Study Of Risk And Protective Factors In Single And Two-Parent Familes, Chad E. Depasquale

Master's Theses and Capstones

The main goal of this study was to discover how family makeup affects net resiliency scores of children. This quantitative study uses Two-Tailed t-tests, and Pearson correlation to uncover any relationships between net resiliency and living in a single or two-parent household. A sample of 91 children ranging from eleven to eighteen years old was utilized for the study's data collection. Their net resiliency scores, risk factors, protective factors, and family makeup were analyzed to discover any potential relationships between them. The analysis of these factors showed children living in single-parent families have: lower net resiliency scores, fewer protective factors, …

How Age And Religiosity Affect Forgiving Others, Andrew Schaefer

Master's Theses and Capstones

Using data from the General Social Survey (1998), Robert Wuthnow's Forgiveness Survey (1999), and ten in-depth interviews of members of an evangelical church (2010--11), I investigate three research questions: (1) How are age and religiosity related to people's attitudes toward forgiving others? (2) Do age and religiosity have the same effect on people's forgiving behaviors? (3) How do respondents' accounts of their own experiences forgiving others help explain and contribute to answers of the first two questions? I found that those with the highest levels of religiosity were most likely to have positive attitudes toward forgiving and to have engaged …

Consequences Of A Separatist Platform? The Rise And Fall Of The Bloc Quebecois, Zachary Azem

Master's Theses and Capstones

This thesis analyzes the contributing factors to the Bloc Quebecois' overwhelming loss in the 2011 Canadian Federal Election. Using both qualitative evidence and statistical analysis, it will investigate the extent in which five potential causes affected this outcome: a shift in support of the New Democratic Party, the distribution of Francophone protest party votes, campaign strategies of the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois, changing views on separatism, and the single member district plurality system.

New Media Use And Rural Youth Substance Use, William Meub

Master's Theses and Capstones

Data from the Coos county youth survey is used to examine new media use habits and explore the relationship between new media use and substance use among two cohorts of rural youth (N = 657). Specifically, I present descriptive information on new media usage, examine whether new media use is related to substance use and explore a possible moderation relationship between substance use and negative substance-use-related behavioral outcomes. Older adolescents reported more new media use than younger adolescents but there was no evidence of sex differences in usage. Greater new media use was found to be related to greater substance …

First And Second Majors In Baccalaureate Programs (Spring Semester Counts) Durham And Manchester Degree Candidates Ten Years, 2002-2011, University Of New Hampshire. Institutional Research And Assessment

UNH Factbooks

University of New Hampshire factbook data from the 2010-2011 academic year

Graduate Degree Completions, 2001-2010, University Of New Hampshire. Institutional Research And Assessment

UNH Factbooks

University of New Hampshire factbook data from the 2010-2011 academic year

The Needs Of Rural Homeless Families In Grafton County, New Hampshire: A Qualitative Inquiry, Pamela B. Thyng

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study explored the experiences of homeless families in the rural area of Grafton County in New Hampshire. In the literature review there is evidence that the needs of homeless people in rural areas are unique. Because of the unique needs of this population the service providers face different obstacles than their counterparts in urban areas. The researcher interviewed (N=7) homeless family members living in, or previously living in, a shelter as well as county government officials in the region. Through the use of a semi-structured interview and a grounded theory approach to the analysis of the data several themes …

A Mentor Training Module Designed To Build Resiliency For Homeless Emerging Adults, Courtney J. Edwards

Master's Theses and Capstones

Homelessness in emerging adulthood is a problem that potentially creates a lifetime of extreme poverty and limits the ability to thrive in adulthood. The literature demonstrates a need for programs specific to the homeless emerging adult population. A mentoring program is beneficial because the relationship between the mentor and mentee can offset developmental and psychosocial shortfalls that impede the individual's transition to adulthood. The homeless emerging adult needs a sense of belonging and positive role models. The theories of Maslow and Bandura therefore become the foundation of the mentoring training manual. The Walk with Me mentoring program manual and training …

Rape In Prison: A Hidden Epidemic, Mark L. Wefers

Master's Theses and Capstones

America's prisons are filled. The war on crime has created a bulging prison system. Inside the jails and prisons, crime -- especially rape -- occurs every day. Traditionally, the rape of prisoners in the American prison system was either ignored or the subject of bad jokes. Recently, serious inquiry has begun into the incidence of sexual assault behind prison walls. This study examines prison rape. Using data generated as a result of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, along with statistics from national databases and testimony from victims of prison rape and their advocates, this study suggests that the incidence of …

How Does A Battleground Become Common Ground? Lessons From Post-Conflict Countries, Mary Fran T. Malone

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

The Color Of Labor: The Changing Racial And Spatial Distribution Of Middle-Skill Employment, Justin R. Young

Master's Theses and Capstones

Research regarding the growing gap between rich and poor has not wholly considered the dissolution of America's middle-skill jobs (occupations that require training/education beyond the high-school level, but less than a four-year degree). I draw on data from the CPS (1990 to 2009) to uncover the extent to which low, middle, and high-skill employment are distributed among white and nonwhite workers in rural, suburban and urban regions, and how this distribution has changed since 1990. Blacks and Hispanics remain overrepresented in low-skill employment and underrepresented in high-skill labor, although blacks made the most significant percentage gains in high-skill employment since …

Outreach And Citizen Engagement In The Winnicut River Watershed: A Participatory Action Study, Jillan Scahill Farrell

Master's Theses and Capstones

Recently, citizen initiated watershed management has seen a rise in popularity. Citizen watershed groups have been created across the country especially in New England. These groups advocate for protections and responsible watershed-wide management. Each watershed contains a certain set of unique ecological, social, regulatory and problem situations and therefore each watershed organization requires a full mapping process of the policy and social process as well as the ecological and problem situation before engaging the citizens. This research explores the Winnicut River watershed in southeastern New Hampshire. Covering three communities and representing a subwatershed of the Great Bay coastal watershed this …

Can We All Agree That Consensus Is Over-Rated? From Righteousness To Relations Across Differences, Sheila Mcnamee

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Moving Into Citizenship: Teaching Toward Common Ground, Bruce L. Mallory

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

“At Night, I Cross Behind The Enemy Lines”: Reaching The Negotiating Table In The Age Of Fast Communication, Cesar Rebellon

The University Dialogue

No abstract provided.

Dispersants And Risk Communication, Ed Levine, J. Steven Picou

Coastal Response Research Center

Risk communications is a research area of the social sciences which is closely associated with human dimensions and external communications. External communications, traditionally in the purview of public affairs, may have multiple purposes including influencing public beliefs, opinions, and judgments about the incident.

There are many approaches toward risk communications. Some of them focus on improving the way external communications about risks are conducted, e.g., developing better messages, and some focus on the content of risk communications, that is, sharing technical information to support the assessment of the potential for risks.

Strafford County 2010 Annual Report Of The Commissioners, Treasurer, Other County Officers And The Strafford County Delegation Strafford County, New Hampshire For The Year Ending December 31, 2010., Stafford County Representatives

Strafford County, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a county in the state of New Hampshire.

The Foster Parent Experience Of Attachment, Taylor Cohen

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study explores the attachment experience of foster parents. The researcher used a qualitative research framework to explore what 10 foster parents experienced in regards to attachment with their foster children. Based on the data and content analysis, a foster parent ecology emerged showing that the foster parent/child attachment relationship is affected by doctors, therapists, social workers, case workers, other foster parents, and the biological parents. The temporary nature of foster care and the goal of reunification of child to biological parent also affected the attachment relationship between foster parent and foster child.

Dominance In A Dating Relationship And Violence Approval As Partial Mediating Factors Between Violent Socialization And Perpetrating Dating Partner Violence, Thomas Lopez

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study investigated the possible mediating relationships between experiencing corporal punishment and partner violence perpetration and witnessing parental violence and partner violence perpetration. The sample used was 14,252 university students in 32 nations who participated in the International Dating Violence Study. For both men and women, self-dominance partly mediated the relationships between corporal punishment and perpetrating minor assault and corporal punishment and perpetrating severe assault. For men and women self-dominance mediated the relationships between witnessing parental violence and perpetrating minor assault and witnessing parental violence and perpetrating both types of assault for males and females. Violence approval did not partly …

Sex, Infection, And Trust: Condom Use Among Gay Men And Their Perceptions Of Hiv, Michael Jeffrey Staley

Master's Theses and Capstones

Unprotected anal intercourse among gay men remains high, despite the well-known fact that HIV/AIDS still disproportionately affects men who have sex with men (MSM). This qualitative, exploratory study seeks to understand the meanings and motivations of gay men's condom use and non-use. I observed three organizations that center on gay identities in the spring and fall of 2010 and in the spring of 2011. Additionally, using a semi-structured format, I interviewed 19 gay or bisexual men between the ages of 19 and 39. Condom non-use was high; 16 men reported not using a condom in their sexually active lifetime. Three …

The Granite, 2011, University Of New Hampshire

The Granite – Yearbook

The yearbook of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 1909-1922, the University of New Hampshire, 1923-

Unh Demographer: 2010 Census Shows Slow Growth In New England; New Hampshire Posts Greatest Regional Gains, Lori Wright

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Unh Experts Available To Discuss Demographic Trends And Political Implications Of 2010 U.S. Census, Lori Wright

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Education, Politics And Opinions About Climate Change: Evidence For Interaction Effects, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

U.S. public opinion regarding climate change has become increasingly polarized in recent years, as partisan think tanks and others worked to recast an originally scientific topic into a political wedge issue. Nominally “scientific” arguments against taking anthropogenic climate change seriously have been publicized to reach informed but ideologically receptive audiences. Reflecting the success of such arguments, polls have noted that concern about climate change increased with education among Democrats, but decreased with education among Republicans. These observations lead to the hypothesis that there exist interaction (non-additive) effects between education or knowledge and political orientation, net of other background factors, in …

More Than One In Ten American Households Relies On Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits, Jessica A. Bean, Marybeth J. Mattingly

Carsey Publications

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of the most responsive federal programs to economic downturns, as evidence by the increases in SNAP use between 2007 and 2009. Nationally, more than one in ten households relies on SNAP benefits, and the rate is even higher in rural areas, with more than 13 percent of households reporting use. This brief examines the trends in SNAP use across the United States since the recession began in 2007 and considers the impact of legislation in the Congress on those who rely on SNAP to make ends meet.