Digital Commons Network^™

Religiousness, Spirituality, And Emotional Salience In Decision-Making Processes And Outcomes, Loriann Sonntag

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The associations of religiousness and spirituality in decision-making processes and outcomes were investigated. One hundred younger adults ( M age = 19.9, SD = 1.5) and seventy-eight older adults (M age = 71.1, SD = 7.9) completed self-administered surveys including vignettes varying in emotional salience. Responses were coded for problem-solving strategies and decisional outcomes. ANCOVA results indicate that the choice of strategies varies depending on the age and level of spirituality of the individual as well as the domain of the problem. Results from a multinomial logistic regression indicate that end-of-life decisions vary as a function of both age and …

Debiasing The Framing Effect In Younger And Older Adults' Medical Decision Making, Erin L. Woodhead

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The framing effect is a common decisional bias. In the current study, the framing effect and its avoidance via a debiasing questionnaire was studied with younger and older adults making decisions regarding lung cancer treatment. Participants received three cancer scenarios framed in either survival or mortality terms, with scenarios presented in cumulative probability, interval probability, and life expectancy format. There were two between-subjects factors and one within-subjects factor. Younger adults exhibited the framing effect with the cumulative and interval probability formats. No framing effect was found in the debias condition. Older adults exhibited the framing effect with the interval probability …

A Garrett College Learning Community Experience: A Case Study And The Birth Of A Program, Lonnie Calvin Brewster

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This study follows the progress of 19 students who enrolled in a course cluster learning community at Garrett College in the fall of 2002. The purposes of the study were to determine if participation in a learning community experience at Garrett College would have a positive impact on students' academic achievement, attitude toward education, and retention, with outcomes to determine whether Garrett College should launch a learning community initiative. Results were garnered from interviews with 15 of the 19 students and an examination of academic records of all 19 students. The study suggests that learning community participation at Garrett College …

College Adjustment Experiences Of First -Year Students: Retired Athletes, Non -Athletes, And Current Varsity Athletes, John R. Lubker

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Research investigating the disengagement experiences of high school athletes and their subsequent adjustment to the college environment has been limited at best. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the differences in college adjustment patterns and reported athletic identity of first-year college males and females (N=317). Three status groups were used in this study: retired high school senior athletes ( n=125), high school senior non-athletes (n=106), and current college varsity athletes (n=78). Significant differences were observed between the three athletic status groups where retired high senior athletes had significantly different athletic identity scores than both college athletes and high …

Development Of A Computer -Administered Analog Assessment To Evaluate Ptsd Symptoms In College Students Who Have Experienced A Motor Vehicle Crash (Mvc), Yi-Chuen Chen

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There has been a paucity of research investigating the characteristics of college students following a motor vehicle crash (MVC), a relatively common event in the lives of college students (e.g., an annual incidence rate of 1.37 per 10,000 resulting from dozing and driving between years 1984 to 1999). Moreover, typical PTSD assessment relies almost exclusively on indirect measures (e.g., interview, self report, rating by others). The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) investigation of the characteristics of college students who had been involved in an MVC versus a control group, (b) development of a computer-administered analog assessment, the adult …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Determinants Of State Medicaid Prescription Drug Expenditures, Sanjoy Roy

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Prescription drug payments are the fastest growing and most widely varying expenditures across state Medicaid programs. To aid health policy efforts, this study identified determinants of drug utilization and expenditures using Andersen's Behavior Model of Health Services Utilization. A Structure Equation Model was built using five-year data for 48 states, to test relationships among the latent constructs of policy, access, predisposing characteristics, enabling resources, and need for healthcare; and, their influence on drug utilization. Only predisposing characteristics and enabling resources showed significant effects on drug utilization. Cluster Analysis classified state Medicaid programs into eight groups that differ on federal matching, …

Workforce Competencies And Work -Based Learning In Maryland Community College Nursing Programs, Richard F. Ammon

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This study assessed whether Maryland community college students who participated in the first semester of a nursing work-based learning clinical experience during the fall 2004 semester perceived that they developed basic workplace competencies necessary to work effectively in the workplace. The total population of the study consisted of 264 nursing students from eight Maryland Community Colleges. The research questions guiding this study were answered using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and an analysis of variance (ANOVA).;Major findings indicated that contrary to the hypothesis of the study, instead of showing a gain in competency scores, eight of nine workplace competencies decreased and three …

Decision -Making In The Use Of Instructional Technology By Novice And Experienced Public School Teachers, Amy L. Kuhn

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The body of research on instructional technology (IT) reveals "what" influences teachers to use technologies and "which" technologies they use. Investigations into IT have not explored "how" and "why" teachers make decisions about teaching with technology. This study was not designed as yet another investigation into instructional technologies teachers use or to persuade teachers to use technology, but focused on teachers' decision-making to promote students' learning and the role of instructional technologies in this educational process.;Three novice (each with two years of teaching experience) and three experienced teachers (with an average of 26 years teaching experience) participated in this study. …

Instructors' Self -Perceived Pedagogical Principle Implementation In The Online Environment, Jinsong Zhang

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The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experience of undergraduate faculty members who participated in the practice of online distance instruction. This study explored instructor's perception of their implementation of pedagogical principles in the online environment, identified factors that influenced their implementation of the principles, and explored the relationship between the influencing factors and the online implementation of the Seven Principles.;Research shows that the implementation the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987) varied significantly from one principle to another. Overall the least endorsed of the Seven Principles were Encourage Cooperation …

Silent, No More: The 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy And The Rise Of Conservatism In America, Justin J. Mchenry

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Silent, No More explores the 1974 Kanawha County textbook controversy, and places it within the context of the rise of conservatism in America. This rise can be seen in the upsurge of grassroots, community activism in the seventies, the White Backlash associated with the campaigns of George Wallace, the New Right, and the New Christian Right. The thesis shows how the Kanawha County protestors' words and actions paralleled that of aforementioned conservative movements, creating, in the end, one of the first manifestations of a single-issue conservative uprising in the seventies.

Women's Body Image, Patriarchy, And Photography: A Pictorial Content Analysis Of National Geographic's Representation Of Women., Kathryn D. Newhouse

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Women have been depicted within media outlets such as magazines as domestic caretakers for generations. While history has at times been positive in its representation of women, especially during World War II and the government’s plea for women to work in industry, the vast majority of media outlets after the war again created the housewife image from the years before the war for women to follow. The popular governmental posters with “Rosie the Riveter” stating, “We Can Do It!” were replaced with images of a happy wife tending house for her husband fresh from the war. While the posters were …

An Examination Of Factors Contributing To Adolescents' Proportion Of Same-Sex Friends., Clare M. Mehta

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The present study considers how communication efficacy, activity preference, peer censure, femininity, masculinity, and gender identity relate to adolescents’ proportion of samesex friends. Participants were 149 adolescents aged between 15 and 17 years (63 males, 86 females, mean age 16.01). Participants completed a written questionnaire that asked questions about their friendships and about communication efficacy, activity preference, peer censure, femininity and masculinity, and gender identity. When both male and female data were analyzed together, results suggested that communication preference, a subscale of communication efficacy, and gender identity contributed to proportion of same-sex friends in adolescence. When female’s data were analyzed, …

The Effects Of Interactive Video (Ddr) On Heart Rate, Perceived Exertion, Step Count, Self -Efficacy, And Enjoyment In Elementary School Children, Barbara J. Olmsted

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Rising levels of obesity continue to challenge physical educators to engage their students in activities sufficiently vigorous to accrue health-related benefits. Physically active video games are now recognized as a way to enhance physical activity levels in children. A school-based intervention in fifth- and sixth-grade participants (N=33) compared six lessons each of Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), volleyball, and an exercise video (Tae-Bo) according to the following dependent variables: heart rate, step count, active time, rate of perceived exertion, enjoyment, and self-efficacy. Repeated measures within-subjects comparisons revealed significant main effects for activity type across five dependent variables, and significant interactions for …

Shoeprint Analysis: A Gis Application In Forensic Evidence, Michael Anthony Walnoha Jr.

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The overall intent of this study is to illustrate how GIS and crime mapping methods can be applied to forensic evidence to better understand and comprehend spatial patterns that exist in these data. This study bridges common crime mapping principles such as hot spot mapping, exploratory data analysis, and spatial statistics to spatial forensic evidence investigation. In particular, forensic shoeprint evidence is examined and spatial relationships are analyzed using both exploratory and confirmatory statistical analysis. It is found that crime mapping principles can be indirectly related to shoeprint evidence mapping. Exploratory spatial data analysis is extremely helpful in breaking up …

Examining Problem-Solving Interpretations: The Role Of Age, Sex, And Femininity, Jennifer A. Flinn

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The current study examined age and sex differences in communal interpretations (statements focusing on the needs of others), and whether participants' femininity mediated these differences. One hundred and ninety six participants, 121 younger adults (M=19.26, SD=131: 53 M, 68 F) and 75 older adults (M=73.74, SD=7.65: 36 M, 39 F), were given a vignette regarding a hypothetical job relocation problem that involved either a male or female protagonist. To assess interpretations, participants were asked to indicate all the issues to be considered. The degree to which interpretations reflected communal concerns was coded. Results showed that women had higher communal interpretation …

Transactional Distance And Student Motivation: Student Perception Of Teacher Immediacy, Solidarity Toward Peer Students And Student Motivation In Distance Education, Hye Yoon Jung

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Transactional Distance Theory is conceptually significant in that the core nature of distance in distance education is not a geographical or temporal distance but a psychological or communicational distance between students and their teacher(s), as well as among students. In spite of the conceptual significance of the transactional distance theory, the interrelationships among the construct variables and propositions of the theory are unclear. The majority of studies on transactional distance theory either used the theory solely as a conceptual framework, or proposed the refinement of the theory. Literature review indicated that the theory was found to be invalid and unreliable. …

Database Anonymization Services, Chad B. Meador

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The progress of technology and the development of powerful databases have made it possible to store and easily access continually increasing amounts of sensitive data about people. Since personal information is becoming common in many different databases, it is vital that this data be hidden to ensure privacy of the individuals whose records are stored in these repositories. Database anonymization is the key to securing these databases by ensuring that database users will be unable to reveal sensitive personal information by intelligently structuring their queries.

We analyzed the structure of the BiomData database which contains images and sound recordings of …

Student Beliefs And Self-Reported Juvenile Deliquency: A Test Of General Strain Theory, Jacqueline Nicole Canady

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The purpose of this study is to test Robert Agnew's General Strain Theory. The researcher applied the theory to secondary data of high school sophomores utilizing Educational Longitudinal Survey of 2002. The study sought to understand whether Agnew's strain theory is applicable to high school environments. The findings indicate some support for Agnew's Revised Strain Theory. Conversely, sex is substantially insignificant concerning self-reported juvenile delinquency within schools. Furthermore, without accounting for students' upbringing and socioeconomic background Agnew's General Strain Theory cannot explain differences in race and delinquency. In conclusion, the study suggests further research of Agnew's theory, concerning both race …

Honor, Patriarchy, And Disunion: Masculinity And The Coming Of The American Civil War, Kenneth A. Deitreich

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The dissertation explores the nature of antebellum masculinity and its role in bringing on the American Civil War. It focuses its attention on two crucial episodes of the sectional crisis: the attack on Senator Sumner and the Secession Crisis of 1861 and on the four individuals, Preston Brooks, Charles Sumner, Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln, who played prominent roles in those episodes.;Among the issues it explores are the degree to which Northern and Southern ideas of manhood differed and the degree to which Northerners and Southerners associated manhood with sectional identity. Did Southerners associate being a man with being a …

Does Physical Disability Truly Create Impairment In Adjustment To College Life?, Jennifer R. Hurst

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This research utilized a mixed methods design to explore the differences between students with and without disabilities in perceived social support, coping style, self efficacy, and college adjustment. In addition, the influence of athletic participation on the above variables was examined in the sub-sample of students with disabilities. Neither survey nor interview results supported any differences between students with disabilities and students without disabilities on the study variables. Results suggested that discrepancies in college outcome variables (i.e. matriculation and persistence) were not a result of differences in disability status, but are the result of differences in adjustment, perceived social support, …

Theory Of Mind And The Assessment Of Suggestibility In Preschoolers, Aryn C. Karpinski

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Researchers have been examining the relation between theory of mind and suggestibility with mixed results. Recently, researchers have suggested that theory of mind is not a dichotomous construct, but instead develops in a sequence (Wellman & Liu, 2004). This view, when combined with an examination suggestibility, may clarify the relation. The purpose of this study was to validate the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC; Scullin & Ceci, 2001) and a theory of mind scale as predictors of suggestibility in an interview about an experienced and a non-experienced event. Ninety-one preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, completed the 3-week …

The Transtheoretical Model And Psychological Skills Training: Application And Implications With Elite Female Athletes, Linda Ann Keeler

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There is abundant empirical evidence supporting the benefits of psychological skills training (PST) on performance (Vealey, 1994). Despite evidence of how PST can help athletic performance, some athletes still do not readily adopt its use (Gould, Tammen, Murphy, & May, 1989). Rather than ignoring individuals that are not interested (Weinberg & Williams, 2001), one possible method of approach would be to apply the transtheoretical model of behavior change (TTM) to the use of PST (Grove, Norton, Van Raalte, & Brewer, 1999). This model suggests that behavior change is a progression through a series of stages (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). There …

An Investigation Of Supports And Barriers Experienced By Students With Learning Disabilities As They Transition To And Persist In The Postsecondary Setting, Shawn Mahoney Kuba

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This inquiry investigated supports and barriers experienced by students with learning disabilities as they transitioned to, and persisted in, a four-year liberal arts college setting. The goal of the inquiry was twofold: first, to understand from the perspective of the students themselves, the experience of being in and working through the postsecondary environment, especially what facilitates and what obstructs continued participation; and second, to extrapolate from these data, recommendations to inform postsecondary programming for students with learning disabilities.;Over a 3 year period, two cohorts of students with learning disabilities, transition and persistence phase students, volunteered to participate in semi-structured face-to-face …

Revisiting Capital Punishment: Factors That Matter When Receiving The Death Penalty (A State By State Analysis), Bridget Ann Micka

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Although the death penalty is popular by most accounts, is it really a good social policy? The purpose of this study is to add to this discussion by examining the factors that directly impact death penalty cases. The data used in this study come from the state level database which contains information on all decisions of initial capital direct, state and federal habeas corpus cases between 1973 and 1995. What are the factors that lead some state compared to others to use the death penalty more often? Some have suggested that this could be the result of a minority-majority conflict. …

The Effects Of A Specifically Designed Pre-School Inclusion Course On The Attitudes Of Early Childhood Personnel, Kellie J. Morgan

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The intent of this study was to examine the attitudes of early childhood personnel on preschool inclusion before and after participating in a preschool inclusion class that was specifically designed for preschool teachers. The attitudes of teachers were measured using a 7 point Likert type pre and post-assessment scale. The items on the scale dealt with the inclusion of children with disabilities in a typically developing classroom. The participants in the study included 96 early childhood personnel working in West Virginia. In this pre-experimental design, the total scores of each item for the pre-test were compared to total scores on …

Field Perceptions Of The Vision Initiative For Children's Preschool Vision Screening Training Model, P. Kay Nottingham Chaplin

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Because lay vision screeners rarely receive formal training in how to screen vision and because older children were seen in clinic with vision disorders that should have been detected earlier through vision screening, a pediatric ophthalmologist and the researcher created the Vision Initiative for Children (VIC) in 2001 as a statewide program of the West Virginia University Eye Institute. VIC has trained, equipped, and provided ongoing support to lay individuals who are mandated or want to screen preschoolers' vision. This program evaluation study explored, from the perspective of Head Start personnel, whether VIC prepares Head Start personnel to screen preschoolers' …

Suggestibility In An Adolescent And Young Adult Sample: Age And Individual Differences, Rebecca G. Ryan

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The current study was an investigation of age differences in interrogative suggestibility and its components; Yield, Shift, and Total Suggestibility. Adolescents and young adults were compared on these measures and it was found that young adults Yield significantly less than adolescents and that Total Suggestibility was lower for the young adults compared to the adolescents. Young adults were also found to display significantly higher levels of both memory and source monitoring ability. Regressions were conducted with individual difference factors associated with Yield, Shift, and Total Suggestibility. For Yield, memory was found to be a unique contributor. For Shift and Total …

The Framing Effect And Breast Cancer Treatment Options: Do Individual Characteristics Play A Role?, Kelly L. Schuller

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The effect of frame, or the way in which options are worded, has been shown to influence decisions in many domains; however, the literature lacks studies that examine the effect of age and other individual characteristics on susceptibility to the framing effect. Sixty-eight college-aged women ( M age = 19.10 years, SD = 1.54) and sixty-six women over the age of 60 years (M age = 70.76 years, SD = 7.10) were presented with breast cancer vignettes that varied by frame (i.e., gains option worded in terms of number of women who would be cured and loss option worded in …

Effects Of Social Support And Heterosexism On The Psychological Well-Being Of Diverse Adults, S. Melinda Spencer

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During emerging adulthood, individuals struggle to form an identity and must develop personal resources to help them cope with life stressors. Lesbian and gay (LG) adults must do this from within a context of heterosexist discrimination, which can negatively influence multiple aspects of psychological well-being. The specific aims of this study were to examine: (1) differences by gender and sexual orientation in psychological well-being, (2) the role of individual characteristics (gender and sexual orientation) and personal resources (mastery and social support) in explaining psychological well-being, and (3) the influence of heterosexism and personal resources on psychological well-being of LGB individuals. …

College Dating And Social Anxiety: Using The Internet As A Means Of Connecting To Others, Sarah B. Stevens

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With the advent and widespread use of the Internet, various online media are being used to connect and maintain social relationships in individuals of all ages. Social relationships are vital to healthy development, and individuals with social and/or dating anxiety may have marked difficulty in establishing appropriate, supportive relationships due to fear of negative evaluation by others. For these individuals, the Internet may open up avenues of communication, and provide an outlet through which relationships can be formed and preserved. This study investigated the characteristics of computer and Internet use in young adults, to determine whether individuals who were high …