Digital Commons Network^™

Relationships Between Self-Esteem, Social Support And Adolescent Hopefulness, Cynthia D. Connelly

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate the relationships among the variables of self-esteem, social support and hopefulness in adolescent females, and (b) determine if significant differences exist between the hopefulness of pregnant and non-pregnant adolescent females

The framework for this study was derived from the literature and based on the concepts of self-esteem, social support, and hopefulness. Research suggests that social support and self-esteem are key constructs in predicting hopefulness towards the future and were selected as factors in constructing a theoretical framework for the explanation of adolescent hopefulness. The Symbolic Interactionist perspective provided the theoretical basis …

The Transtheoretical Model Of Change Applied To Psychotherapy: A Psychometric Assessment Of Related Instruments, Jeffrey Mark Bellis

Open Access Dissertations

A growing number of researchers are searching for ways of integrate existing knowledge of the psychotherapy process from disparate theoretical orientations. The Transtheoretical Model of Change has been proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente as a means of providing a conceptual integration of the theoretically fragmented field of psychotherapy. Primary goals of the current study were to investigate the psychometric properties and to refine the content of seven paper and pencil instruments designed to measure key constructs associated with the Transtheoretical Model, and to use data associated with the refined instruments to investigate theoretically proposed relationships between the measured constructs.

Analysis …

The Relationship Between Prior Abuse And Personality Functioning In Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients, Kimberly Shaunesey

Open Access Dissertations

Previous research has indicated that a history of abuse is related to later problems in personality functioning in adults. In addition, the literature has suggested that abused adolescents also experience more family dysfunction. In the present investigation, 541 subjects' records were drawn from consecutive admissions to the adolescent inpatient service of a private psychiatric hospital. Psychological records which contained copies of the scored Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Family Assessment Device (FAD) were reviewed. Corresponding medical charts were obtained, from which abuse histories, the Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status, and other demographic information were recorded. A …

Structural Integration Of The Transtheoretical Model Of Behavior Change: An Application To Smoking Cessation, Linelle Marie Blais

Open Access Dissertations

The Transtheoretical Model of behavior change posits that four major components interact in a predictable fashion in affecting change: the Stages of Change, the Processes of Change, Decisional Balance, and Self-Efficacy. Yet the various components explicated by the model have yet to be fully structurally integrated. To date, virtually all the research on the model has examined the separate components in isolation, as a function of the stages of change, or as predictors of progress across the stages of change. However, the sequencing, direction, and magnitude of those relationships have yet to be examined within a single analytical framework, or …

The Transtheoretical Model Applied To Safer Sex Behavior Among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Investigation, Colleen A. Redding

Open Access Dissertations

This study applied the transtheoretical model of behavior change to safer sex adoption in a cross-sectional sample of 352 college students. The transtheoretical model has received empirical support in other areas of health behavior change and has important implications for intervention development. Variables assessed include the stages of change, decisional balance, confidence, temptation, processes of change, perceived risk, perceived severity, social desirability, and behavioral variables. Where possible, the sample was split randomly to conduct exploratory and confirmatory analyses. The Pros and Cons of safer sex were best represented by a 4-factor model instead of the usual 2-factor model. The new …

Determinants Of Exercise Behavior After A Myocardial Infraction: Beliefs, Intention, Behavior, Elaine Amato-Vealey

Open Access Dissertations

Exercise is a critical component of cardiac rehabilitation associated with physical and psychological benefits; however, patients are often reluctant to participate in cardiac rehabilitation programs. Their reticence often grows out of their own attitudes towards exercise and the attitudes of people they value. Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of reasoned action suggest that personal attitudes and subjective norm influence behavioral intention which in tum predicts the likelihood of performing a specific behavior. Both attitude and subjective norm can be measured directly and indirectly. However, Ajzen and Fishbein report the direct measures of attitude and subjective norm result in better prediction …

Out Of The Shadows: A Structuralist Approach To Understanding The Fiction Of H. P. Lovecraft, James A. Anderson

Open Access Dissertations

Although Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) is generally regarded as one of the world's finest writers of horror and science fiction, his work has received little critical attention by mainstream critics. This study takes Lovecraft out of the shadows of literature by shedding light upon his work through a structural analysis of fifteen of his stories. This analysis shows that Lovecraft's fiction, while it may appear fantastic, expresses early twentieth century naturalism in a cosmic context.

Part One subjects four of Lovecraft's best known stories to a detailed structural analysis using the theories of Roland Barthes and Gerard Genette to isolate …

An Analysis Of Altering The Value Of A Classically Conditioned Predictive Cue, Paige A. Dibiasio

Open Access Dissertations

Theoretically, predictive cues have a major role in conditioning. Both conditional stimuli and operant responses function in a way which provide information to a subject about what is to occur under a particular set of circumstances. Any available cue will have a particular relationship with any given outcome stimulus (S^o) based on the probabilities of cooccurrences and non co-occurrences, whereby the resulting predictive value will impact on the behavioral consequences. A stimulus can produce behavioral effects it never caused prior to conditioning. Are those behavioral effects the result of the predictive value of the stimulus alone, or does …

A Measurement Model For Spectral Analyzed Eeg, Michael David Weiler

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether linear combinations of absolute-power beta waves were predictive of changes in vigilance. Spectral analyzed EEG data were collected across eight bipolar sites from 102, right-handed adults during a resting condition and during an auditory continuous performance test. The most normal distribution of absolute power (AP) scores was produced by a log₁₀ (AP) transformation and the most normal distribution of relative power (RP) scores was produced by a log₁₀(RP/l-RP) transformation. Absolute power had greater short-term reliability than relative power.

Components were derived from Principal Components Analysis performed on AP, …

The Clinical Psychologist Practitioner: Job Autonomy And Burnout, Ellen Lee Kenner

Open Access Dissertations

The survey study was conducted among psychologists licensed in the state of R.I. (N=79). This study takes a sympathetic look at the provider. The goal is not to learn how to better control or manage psychologists, but to assess their well-being in the face of system-wide changes. Regression analyses are used to increase understanding of the relationship between psychologists job autonomy and burnout. Findings suggest that the degree of job autonomy is predictive of two subscales of burnout as assessed by the Maslach Human Services Survey, namely Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization. Additional items, including qualitative responses, suggest that autonomy is …

Verbal Working Memory And Speech Production Abilities In Children With Differential Reading Skill: A Chronological- And Reading-Age Comparison, Brenda H. Stone

Open Access Dissertations

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between verbal working memory and speech production and to address a number of ongoing questions about the nature of the relationship between these two phonological processes and reading ability. In an effort to clarify these relationships, the following areas were explored. First, previous research has suggested that poor readers generally do not perform as well as their normal-reading peers on phonological processing tasks, but their performance is not consistently worse than younger children reading at the same level. In order to examine this issue, this study compared the performance …

School Psychologists' Diagnosis Of Learning Disabilities: A Study Of Illusory Correlations, Judith Alison Gnys

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Anne Anastasi And The Heredity Vs Environment Problem: A History In Psychology, Nancy Willard Jackson

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Structural Equation Modeling In Chemistry, Feng-Yin Hsieh

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Gender Roles And Drunken Behavior: A Cognitive Analysis Of Normative And Counternormative Social Expectations, Patricia Allison Minugh

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Family Functioning And Learning Disorders, Abigail A. Seibert

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Hedonic Price Model Of The Portland Fish Auction Market, Nida R. Ty

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of A Treatment Program For Male Batterers On Their Sex Role Attitudes And Abusive Behaviors, Donna Caldwell

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Forms Of Knowledge And The Use Of The Representativeness Heuristic In Clinical Inferencing Tasks Of Community Health Nurses, Eileen Sjoberg O'Neill

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Authorized Infidelity: A Confidant Rereading Of Charlotte Bronte's Villette, Marie C. Hennedy

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Retrospective Study Of Environmental, Intrapersonal, And Behavioral Predictors Of Alcohol-Associated Problems In College And Middle Adulthood, Robert Joseph Porter

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Dietary Fat And Low-Intensity Exercise In Treatment Of Obesity In Women, Un-Jae Chang

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Memo As Genre: A Paradigm Of Context And Community, Frances Marie Harrington

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Exercise Behavior After A Myocardial Infarction: Beliefs, Intention, Behavior, Elaine J. Amato-Vealey

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Aids Risk Reduction Training Among College Women, Patricia Lillian Gallagher

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cardiac Patients' Definition Of The Situation In The Emergency Room, Coronary Care Unit, And Progressive Coronary Care Unit, Mary Flynn

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Phonological Awareness In Four-And Five-Year-Old Children, Myra Green Gipstein

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Measure For The Assessment Of Dyadic Power Sources, Catherine Elizabeth Hansen

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Host-Related Variability In Feeding And Oviposition Behaviors Of Mexican Leptinotarsa Decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Wenhua Lu

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Interventions To Lessen Racist Prejudice And Discrimination Among College Students, Diane Maluso

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.