Digital Commons Network^™

The Moderating Effect Of Role Quality On The Relationship Between Work-Family Conflict And Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study, Jenna Risa Lecomte-Hinely

Dissertations and Theses

Work-family conflict (WFC) is a stressor that can cause negative consequences, including deleterious effects on an individual's health and well-being. This study examined this relationship through the lens of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model. This study expanded on two recent applicable studies to examine role quality as a moderator of the WFC-well-being relationship. Well-being was operationalized by three constructs: overall health, depression, and life satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses that a negative relationship existed between WFC and the three well-being outcomes over time, and that this negative relationship between WFC and well-being could be reduced …

Do Parents Matter? Parental Attachment And Its Effect On Becoming Independent In Emerging Adulthood, Cara Joy Copeland

Dissertations and Theses

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Waves I and III are used to estimate the effect of parental attachment on independence in emerging adults ages 18 to 27. The nature of independence focused on living in a place of their own and not receiving financial support from parents, which described about half of the sample. The study finds that emerging adults who, in their youth, expressed high attachments to their parents, were slightly less likely to become independent as emerging adults. Rather, age and gender are greater positive predictors of independence.

Local Food And Land-Use In Washington County, Oregon, Joshua James Cousins

Dissertations and Theses

Local food networks are often defined as presenting a variety of alternative food production, consumption, and distribution practices to the conventional food system such as community-supported-agriculture, farmers markets, and community gardens. Local food initiatives are commonly proposed as a model for the future of sustainable agriculture, and in the region of Portland, Oregon the abundance of such alternative venues results from the area's natural surroundings and smart planning. The region is host to 39 farmers markets and Portland is often hailed as one of the country's most sustainable cities. This study examines the role of local food networks in preserving …

Confirmation Bias And Related Errors, Geoffrey Ludlow Borthwick

Dissertations and Theses

This study attempted to replicate and extend the study of Doherty, Mynatt, Tweney, and Schiavo (1979), which introduced what is here called the Bayesian conditionals selection paradigm. The present study used this paradigm (and a script similar to that used by Doherty et al.) to explore confirmation bias and related errors that can appear in both search and integration in probability revision. Despite selection differences and weak manipulations, this study provided information relevant to four important questions. First, by asking participants to estimate the values of the conditional probabilities they did not learn, this study was able to examine the …

Re-Engagement As A Process Of Everyday Resilience, Jennifer Rose Pitzer

Dissertations and Theses

Grounded in previous research on academic engagement and resilience, this study presents a clear conceptualization of re-engagement, defined as students' ability to bounce back from everyday academic challenges and setbacks, as a process of everyday resilience in school, and examines how teacher support can promote it. Data from 1018 third through sixth grade students and their 53 teachers were used to examine the extent to which teacher autonomy support and involvement (individually and in combination) predicted changes from fall to spring of the same school year in students' re-engagement (behavioral and emotional).

Overall, correlational results provided consistent support for study …

Identity, Nostalgia And Leisure: Technology Use In Second Homes, Françoise Bourdonnec

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis, based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in the US, Russia, France and Australia, focuses on technology use in second homes and its implications for technology design. I highlight the unexpectedly strong sense of nostalgia, for place as well as for richer relationships, felt in second homes around the world, and the ways in which second home residents use technology to shape space and behavior to reinforce this link to an imagined past. I show that the transition between main and second homes, with its rituals of preparation and transition between physical locations, allows residents to assume different …

The Effects Of Animals On Children's Development Of Perspective-Taking Abilities, Mika Maruyama

Dissertations and Theses

Although attention to the effects of child-animal interactions on children's development has increased in the last three decades, developmental psychology has not attended to the importance of the effects of animals on children's development. There is a need to consider the possible impacts of animals as significant social partners for children's socioemotional development. The current study, through survey questionnaires and interview methods, investigated whether interacting with animals, especially when children have responsibilities for the welfare of pets and perhaps have formed strong attachments with pets, will promote children's socio-emotional development, specifically their abilities to take the perspective of others. Sixty-five …

Family Relationship Quality And Acculturation: Examination Of Their Relationship Among Latino Adolescent Sexual Offenders, Lindsey B. Patterson

Dissertations and Theses

Research on child sexual abuse (CSA), from the perspective of the perpetrator, has been conducted to better inform intervention and prevention programs. Although information from perpetrators can be beneficial for these programs, much of the research is limited by the diversity of sample populations of sex offenders. Moreover, potentially distinct variables relevant to specific populations (e.g., Latinos) have not been thoroughly studied in relation to CSA. To better understand the perpetration of CSA on variables that may be of particular concern to Latinos (i.e., relationship quality in familial supervision and acculturation strategies), the purpose of the present study was to …

Predictors Of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors: Supervisor Job Stress And Work-Family Climate, Brittany E. Sale

Dissertations and Theses

Research indicates that supportive supervision, particularly work-family specific supervision, is key to reducing employees' work-family conflict (Allen, 2001; Eby et al., 2005; Thomas & Ganster, 1995). However, little research has examined the factors that contribute to supervisors' willingness or ability to provide this support. This study examined how supervisor job stress and perceptions of work-family climate influenced employee ratings of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB) using previously-collected data from a mid-western grocery chain. It was hypothesized that supervisor job stressors would impact FSSB, supervisor perception of work-family climate would impact FSSB, and the interaction of stressors and climate would impact FSSB. …

Evaluating The Deterrent Effect Of Capital Punishment On Crime, Permiterio Leocadio

Dissertations and Theses

Many researchers, academics or philosophers see capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. Several states in the United States apply the death penalty to try to reduce crime. Other states do not agree with the application of this repressive law arguing that a crime should not be solved with another crime. From a theoretical view, the principal point of analysis about capital punishment in this present work is to state that capital punishment can reduce crime. Here also it will be examined some of the collateral consequences of the application of capital punishment, and its implications for the Criminal Justice …

Child Welfare Workforce Turnover: Frontline Workers' Experiences With Organizational Culture And Climate, And Implications For Organizational Practice, Melanie Dawn Sage

Dissertations and Theses

Public child welfare agencies experience front line worker turnover rates as high as 25% a year. Worker turnover has significant financial costs to agencies, and has been linked to negative outcomes for children in care. Prior research has linked organizational factors, such as organizational climate, culture, and supervisor satisfaction, to turnover intent in child welfare populations. This research uses an empowerment framework to turn to workers directly to answer the question, "What are the organizational factors that lead frontline child welfare workers to stay or leave the agency, and what, then, are the implications for agency administrators?" This study relies …

Anatomy Of Mishima's Most Successful Play Rokumeikan, Mami Harano

Dissertations and Theses

Mishima Yukio premiered the play Rokumeikan in 1956 and published it in 1957. For more than half a century, this play has been praised as one of the finest Japanese plays in the Post-War period. Rokumeikan is a multi-act tragic melodrama, set in 1886 (Meiji Period) in the Rokumeikan building. The play intertwines complex political cabals, intense loves and hatreds, and multiple deceptions embodying the conflict between political power and love. This essay explores the reasons why Rokumeikan has maintained its popularity over its fifty year long performance history and examines the critical reception of the play. My analysis of …

Between Non-Intervention And Protection: A Study On The Case Of Darfur And The Responsibility To Protect, David Ryan Lucas

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores the obstacles in establishing a consistent and effective response framework for humanitarian catastrophe and the importance of maintaining a sustained dialogue to this end. It does so by recognizing the underlying conflict between two positions: the norm of non-intervention of states into the affairs of others, and the protection of individuals caught in the middle of violent conflict. The importance of working towards a resolution of this conflict is illustrated through the case study of Darfur, where a divided international community led an insufficient response to the crisis that can ultimately be judged as a failure. Lastly, …

Transformative Teacher Evaluation: Self Evaluation For High Performing Teachers, Carla Ann Sosanya-Tellez

Dissertations and Theses

Public schools are in crisis, as educators and legislators seek to provide high quality education to diverse students in a measurement-driven environment. The public educator's moral imperative is to assure that all children are literate when they leave school so they can thrive in our democracy (Dewey, 1944; Freire, 1998a; Giroux & Giroux, 2004). Yet, the achievement gap persists, as poor African-American and Latino students under-perform as compared to white middle-class students (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). Additionally, public school teachers are predominately middle-class and White, while they teach increasingly diverse children of poverty. In legislation, student assessment, teacher licensure, and …

War, Peace, And Principled Action: A Study Of Veterans And The Peace Movement, Laura Kay Wegener

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout the history of the United States (U.S.), there have been service members who, upon leaving the service, have spoken out against U.S. involvement in wars. The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their increasing unpopularity, have contributed to this trend. Recently veterans have begun to come forward in larger numbers to speak out against the current wars and have self-identified as members of peace movements. The purpose of this research project was to explore veterans' understandings of the peace movement and their involvement in veterans' peace movement organizations. This study hoped to answer the following questions: 1) How …

A Structural And Functional Analysis Of Codeswitching In Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life,' A Bilingual Play, Gustavo Javier Fernandez

Dissertations and Theses

The present study analyzed the language in the script of the bilingual play Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life' (Malán, 2006) in order to better understand issues relating to codeswitching (CS). The analysis was done from a structural and a functional perspective and utilized various models developed by renowned CS scholars.

For the structural analysis, I utilized concepts and ideas put forth in the three-tiered typology created by Muysken (2000) and the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton (1993). The results of this portion of the study showed that some form of CS, whether occurring between turns or within …

Globalization; But Under What Conditions? -- The Case Of The E.U., Michaelangelo Anastasiou

Dissertations and Theses

The present study explores the relationship between trust placed in national institutions and opinion of globalization. A secondary data analysis is conducted using data collected by the European Commission in a 2004 Eurobarometer survey of European Union (EU) citizens on various issues regarding the EU, globalization and national challenges. A prominent theme in the literature is that, in recent times, globalization has had the effect of compromising the sovereignty of nation-states. This has generated a backlash of nationalistic attitudes wherein globalization is posited in opposition to the nation-state. This surge in nationalism has reinforced a culture wherein any external force …

Teacher Evaluation Of Item Formats For An English Language Proficiency Assessment, Jose Luis Perea-Hernandez

Dissertations and Theses

An abstract of the thesis of José Luis Perea-Hernández for the Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages presented February 11, 2010. Title: Teacher Evaluation of Item Formats for an English Language Proficiency Assessment. Language testing plays a significant role in the collection of systematic information about English Language Learners' ability and progress in K-12 public schools in Oregon. Therefore, the following thesis reports on a process of the development of this assessment as I was at some point one of the members in the test development team and then drew upon teachers' opinions and judgments …

Music And Conflict Resolution: Exploring The Utilization Of Music In Community Engagement, Mindy Kay Johnston

Dissertations and Theses

This study is based on interviews conducted with twenty-two musician-activists in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States in 2009 to explore perspectives about the role of music in community engagement with the aim of considering how music might be used in the field of conflict resolution. The study followed the qualitative approach of constructivist grounded theory as designed by Charmaz (2000, 2002). Two themes, "Music for Self," and "Music for Society" emerged from interviews and comprise the internal and external meanings of music to the research informants. The results of the study indicate that the relationships people have …

Exploring School Engagement As A Protective Factor For Youth At Risk Of Joining Gangs, Lorraine M. Escribano

Dissertations and Theses

Research on gangs has traditionally focused on identifying the risk factors associated with youth gang membership in multiple developmental domains with limited attention on examining the protective factors that may buffer youth from joining gangs (Howell & Egley, 2005). Educational and psychological research have found robust evidence that school engagement protects youth from a host of risky activities and negative outcomes (e.g., substance use, dropping out of school) and may hold promise in also protecting youth from gang involvement. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is three-fold: (1) to identify students who are at risk for gangs; (2) to …

La Palabra Es Salud: A Comparative Study Of The Effectiveness Of Popular Education Vs. Traditional Education For Enhancing Health Knowledge And Skills And Increasing Empowerment Among Parish-Based Community Health Workers (Chws), Noelle Wiggins

Dissertations and Theses

Popular education is a mode of teaching and learning which seeks to bring about more equitable social conditions by creating settings in which people can identify and solve their own problems. While the public health literature offers evidence to suggest that popular education is an effective strategy for increasing empowerment and improving health, there have been no systematic attempts to compare the outcomes of popular education to those of traditional education. The goal of La Palabra es Salud was to conduct such a comparison among Latino, parish-based Community Health Workers (CHWs). The study employed a quasi-experimental design, mixed methods, and …

Somatization And Engagement In Mental Health Treatment, Teresa Chianello

Dissertations and Theses

Somatization, the presentation of physical symptoms without an identifiable cause, is among the most common problems in primary medical care. Treatment approaches are typically offered within the medical consultation interview once the medical provider distinguishes between physical and emotional etiology. This dualistic strategy is especially troublesome for patients whose physical complaints cannot be validated and who are recommended for only mental health therapy. The aim of this study was to examine how medical practitioners can instead motivate patients to consider both physical and emotional treatment. An analogue intervention consisting of an enhanced consultation interview was compared to a care as …

Who Am I? Well, It Depends: How Frame-Of-Reference Imposes Context In Non-Contextualized Personality Inventories, Elizabeth Anne Mccune

Dissertations and Theses

The frame-of-reference (FOR) effect refers to the finding that validities for personality measures can be improved by asking respondents to consider how they behave in a particular context (e.g., "at work"). Recently, Lievens, De Corte, and Schollaert (2008) demonstrated that a FOR serves to reduce within-person inconsistencies in responding, which then improves the reliability and validity of personality measures. Despite this important step forward in FOR research, Lievens et al. note that there is still very little known with regard to how respondents complete non-contextualized personality inventories (i.e., inventories where no FOR is provided). The present studies sought to fill …

A Beer Party And Watermelon: The Archaeology Of Community And Resistance At Ccc Camp Zigzag, Company 928, Zigzag, Oregon, 1933-1942, Janna Beth Tuck

Dissertations and Theses

In March 1933, the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a national relief program aimed at alleviating the disastrous effects ofthe Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) began as one of these programs designed to employ young men from all over the country and put them "back to work". The CCC provided these young men with training, a monthly stipend, and basic supplies such as food, clothing, and accommodations. After 1942, CCC camps were closed and many of these sites were abandoned or destroyed, leaving little historical documentation as to the experiences ofthe people involved. This …

The Creative Use Of Dance/Movement Therapy Processes To Transform Intrapersonal Conflicts Associated With Sexual Trauma In Women, Emily Fern Dayton

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract This qualitative research explores creative movement processes such as dance/movement therapy (DMT), authentic movement (AM), and creative dance (CD) as possible tools for transforming sexual trauma for women. Eleven movement professionals were interviewed in a semi-structured research format. My direct experience and knowledge of sexual abuse, sexual trauma, and creative movement processes are interwoven with the research question: do creative dance/movement therapy processes contribute to the dynamic of healing for women transforming sexual trauma? These findings are inconclusive for the greater population of survivors of sexual abuse and sexual trauma. However, there are indications that DMT, AM, and CD …

Performance Measures For Managerial Decision Making: Performance Measurement Synergies In Multi-Attribute Performance Measurement Systems, Robert Andrew Fowke

Dissertations and Theses

This research tests for correlation between corporate performance and use of financial measures, nonfinancial measures, and number of balanced scorecard categories used. Literature notes a preference for managing by nonfinancial measures because financial measures are lagging indicators, but little empirical evidence is available on the relationship between nonfinancial measures and financial performance, and few companies are found to realize the benefits of nonfinancial measurements. The balanced scorecard has been studied to find the impact of diversity of performance measures, and anecdotal improvements have been reported, but there is a paucity of empirical evidence regarding how the use of a balanced …

Community Development For A White City: Race Making, Improvementism, And The Cincinnati Race Riots And Anti-Abolition Riots Of 1829, 1836, And 1841, Silas Niobeh Crowfoot

Dissertations and Theses

This project is an historical ethnography and a cultural history of the anti-black race riots and anti-abolition riots in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829, 1836, and 1841. It is also a case history in an urban and commercial/early industrial context of the idea that violent social practices such as riots, as well as law and the customary practices of everyday living, are deployed as race making technologies, actually constructing racial categories. By extending this constructivist concept to the conversion of space to place through the human ascription of meaning, this study also examines racial violence as a strategy for place making …

Changes In Oregon Batterer Intervention Program Characteristics In Relation To State Standards, Ashley Lynn Boal

Dissertations and Theses

The social problem of intimate partner violence affects approximately one-half to two million individuals each year in the United States (Catalano, 2007; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). Commonly the criminal justice system mandates completion of a group-based intervention intended to prevent violent behavior (Dalton, 2007). These groups are typically referred to as a batterer intervention program (BIP). Despite the popularity of this intervention approach, research findings examining the efficacy of these programs remain inconsistent (Babcock, Green & Robie, 2004). Nonetheless, 45 U.S. states including the District of Columbia, have implemented standards that aim to proscribe and regulate elements of program functioning. …

The Effects Of Ageism Climates And Core Self-Evaluations On Nurses' Turnover Intentions, Organizational Commitment, And Work Engagement, David Michael Cadiz

Dissertations and Theses

It is estimated that by 2018, workers age 55 or older will compose nearly a quarter of the labor force (Tossi, 2009). The aging workforce is dramatically affecting the nursing workforce. Indeed, the nursing workforce is expected to face staffing shortages of epidemic proportions because of the impending retirement of nurses who are Baby Boomers (Buerhaus, et al., 2006). Moreover, the nursing shortage is exacerbated by younger nurses' greater willingness to turn over (Aiken et al., 2001). Consequently, investigating how the workplace context affects retention of nurses is important. The present study sought to address the nursing shortage concern through …

Designing Exhibits For Gender Equity, Toni Nicole Dancu

Dissertations and Theses

Gender equity has been a national and global aim for over half a century (Ceci & Williams, 2007; National Center for Education Statistics, 2003; National Science Board, 2008). While gains have been made, one area where inequity remains is spatial reasoning ability, where a large gender gap in favor of males has persisted over the years (Else-Quest, Linn, & Shibley Hyde, 2010; National Science Board, 2008; Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006). This gender gap in spatial reasoning has had substantial societal impact on the career interests of females in areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), contributing to the …