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Using Agnewís General Strain Theory To Explain The Relationship Between Early Victimization And Deviant Behavior, Dena C. Carson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used Agnew's General Strain Theory to examine the relationship between early victimization and deviant behavior, as well as the mediating effects through negative emotions and social bonds. This study draws on developmental psychology literature and general strain literature to develop its hypotheses. Also, it expands the current research in developmental psychology and general strain theory by operationalizing strain as early victimization and using (a) dichotomous measures of alcohol use, drug use, and delinquency, (b) measures of frequency of binge drinking, drug use, and delinquency, (c) and measures of age of first binge drinking and drug use. Data from …

Prevalence Of Language Disorders Among Children With Severe Behavioral Problems Referred For A Psychiatric Evaluation By A Large Urban School District, Brenda J. Curtwright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the language skills and behavior characteristic of 63 students with severe behavior disorders who were referred by a large, mostly urban school district for a neuropsychiatric evaluation between 2001 and 2005. Archival data were retrieved by chart review for this study and was used to answer the following questions: 1) What is the prevalence of language disorders in children referred for a psychiatric evaluation? 2) Do behavioral symptoms vary among children with and without a language disorder? and 3) What is the initial area of concern identified by the parents of children with language and behavior disorders? …

The Role Of Ethnic Compatibility In Attitude Formation: Marketing To America’S Diverse Consumers, Cynthia Rodriguez Cano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the meaning of advertising through the eyes of the Hispanic consumer and how that meaning is apparent in attitudes and purchase intention. Specifically, the study investigates how ethnic minorities judge print advertisement that feature ethnically diverse models as communication cues. For the first time, data of how minorities evaluate the compatibility of models from different ethnic groups featured together in an advertisement was collected. Qualitative data was collected from Hispanics and typologies of cultural pointers for Hispanics and African-Americans developed. Experimental design, 3x2 within-group analysis, was conducted to test the 14 hypothesized relationships. Finding clearly support the …

Baker Act Examination Referrals Among Children And Adolescents: An Analysis Of School Related Variables, Bradley Scott Beam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Baker Act is legislation that provides civil rights for individuals suspected of having a mental illness and may be in need of involuntary psychiatric evaluation. Its intent is to prevent the indiscriminate placement of individuals in residential treatment facilities and other restrictive placements. Referrals for involuntary psychiatric evaluation under Baker Act statutes have increased among children and adolescents in recent years, raising concerns related its use with this population. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between school based factors and the use of the Baker Act among children and adolescents. Results indicate that the use …

Factors Associated With School-Based Mental Health Services Delivered By School Psychologists, Emily Luis Cimino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that relate to the delivery of mental health services by school psychologists using a national database. The relationship between school psychologists' demographic, preparation, and professional context factors (e.g., gender, ethnicity, educational level, percentage of minority students served, years of experience, and students to school psychologist ratio), and the types of mental health services delivered, amount of time invested in such services, and the desirability of school psychologists to provide or not to provide mental health services was addressed. In addition, the percentages of school psychologists who deliver mental health services and …

Relation Between Weight Status, Gender, Ethnicity And The Food And Activity Choices Of 6th And 9th Graders, Heather Leanne Curtiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between the variables weight status (expected weight, at-risk for overweight, and overweight), ethnicity, and gender and the dependent variables dietary intake and physical activity behaviors among adolescents. Data presented in this study were collected using the Nutrition and Exercise Survey for Students, which was completed by 535 6th grade and 9th grade students across 3 middle and 2 high-schools in southwest Florida. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to identify differences in dietary intake and physical activity behaviors between groups.

The primary questions related to interactions and main effects between the variables weight …

Falling In Love As A Heuristic For Mate Choice Decisions, Monica D. Burke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Selecting a mate is one of the most important and complex decisions that we make in our lives. Research on human decision making has found that we often use simple rules of thumb or heuristics to facilitate complex decision-making tasks (e.g., Gigerenzer & Todd, 1999; Kahneman & Tversky, 1972, 1973; Tversky & Kahneman, 1974, 1983). Recent research has focused on the use of affect or emotion as heuristics that have a strong influence on a variety of decision making contexts (Damasio, 1994; Finucane, Peters, & Slovic, 2003; Loewenstein, Weber, Hsee, & Welch, 2001; Mellers, 2000). The emotion we most closely …

Good Girl, Bad Girl: The Role Of Abigail And Jessica In The Jew Of Malta And The Merchant Of Venice, Anna Beskin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In The Jew of Malta and The Merchant of Venice, both Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare question anti-Semitism, Christian presumption, and socially constructed gender roles. Often compared, the two plays have obvious similarities: both plots center on rich, Jewish protagonists---Barabas in The Jew of Malta and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice---who are vilified and then destroyed by a merciless Gentile society. On the surface, the protagonists' daughters---Abigail in The Jew of Malta and Jessica in The Merchant of Venice---also share many similarities. Both are the young, beautiful daughters of rich and much maligned Jews; both love …

The Relationship Between Young Adults' Retrospective Perceptions Of Differential Parental Treatment, Quality Of The Childhood And Current Sibling Relationship And Current Psychological Adjustment, Tangela R. Clark Culpepper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relations among young adults' perceptions of differential parental treatment, temperamental style, attitudes toward their childhood and current sibling relationships, and psychological adjustment. Participants included 87 college students and their siblings between the ages of 18 and 25 years. Students completed measures in small groups, and siblings completed the surveys via mail. The data were analyzed using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM; Kashy & Kenny, 1999). Results revealed that participants' perceptions of their sibling relationship during childhood were related to their current attitudes toward the relationship. In addition, siblings were in agreement regarding their overall attitudes toward …

Expansion And Validation Of The Political Skill Inventory (Psi): An Examination Of The Link Between Charisma, Political Skill, And Performance, David R. Coole

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present research was developed to reexamine the factor structure of the Political Skill Inventory (PSI), expand upon the political skill behavioral taxonomy to include charisma, and provide validity evidence for both the PSI and our new measure of charisma. In study one, using a large undergraduate student sample, confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for a three factor structure of political skill. Charisma and networking ability were identified as unique factors of the political skill construct domain while PSI dimensions of social astuteness, interpersonal influence, and apparent sincerity collapsed to form a single dimension. Study One results also indicated a …

An Investigation Of Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Elements Necessary For Success In Online Study, Jenette Flow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies by professionals in education have investigated the elements that are typical of the successful online student. Studies of the elements required for academic success online from the students' point of view, however, are infrequent.

This study investigated student perceptions of those elements necessary for success in online study; whether students believed differences exist between those elements necessary for success in online study and those necessary for success in traditional classes; and what factors students identify as barriers to successful completion of online courses. A comparison was made of the viewpoints of students who had and who had not …

Psychopathy, Attitudinal Beliefs, And White Collar Crime, James V. Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Psychopathy has become a highly researched personality disorder in order to better understand criminal and violent behavior (Hare, 1993). Measures of psychopathy have proven to be useful tools in predicting outcomes of institutionalized populations by predicting future dangerousness (Hare, 1999). While several experts in the field of psychopathy allude to the idea of the successful psychopath and their presence in the corporate world (Hare, 1993; Babiak & Hare, 2006), very little research has been done in this area. The current study builds upon the small amount of empirical research by testing hypotheses regarding the relationship between psychopathic personality traits and …

Palabra Inédita Género, Raza, E Identidad: Estrategias De La Memoria Cultural En La Poesía De Georgina Herrera, Nancy Morejón, Y Excilia Saldaña, Lissette Corsa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

En esta tesis analizaré en la poesía de Georgina Herrera, Nancy Morejón y Excilia

Saldaña

1 los conceptos de género y raza y cómo han sido apropiados del esquema

patriarcal y redefinidos en la elaboración de identidad y nación a través de lo que Flora

González Mandri y Catherine Davies han llamado la memoria cultural.

Mi propósito es demostrar como dichas poetas han subvertido, a través de la

palabra, un discurso historicamente maniqueísta que ha servido para reafirmar la doble

subyugación de raza y género, como también exploro los resortes de auto-inscripción y el

imaginario mítico-cultural que cada poeta emplea …

Highbrow: A Context Enabled Highlighting Browser, Ronald J. Zucker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the World Wide Web continues to grow, more and more information is retrieved online. A person visiting a Web site has a choice of whether to skip, skim, deep read, bookmark for later revisiting, print a document, or any combination of these options. Recently, several tools have been developed to allow users to digitally annotate Web documents. These tools allow users to highlight, make text notes, and scrape information (a form of copy and paste). This dissertation introduces a new form of annotating, called context highlighting. Context highlighting is the ability to mark the text that surrounds keywords or …

Community Context And Health Disparities Among Older Adults, Helen M. Zayac

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities in the U.S. continue to face conditions of residential and educational segregation, lower socioeconomic status, and higher rates of mortality than whites. Better theory-based research that uses community and individual level factors to explain how health disparities are created and perpetuated is needed. The Community Context and Health Disparities Model, which extends the work of Schulz and Northridge (2004) with elements described by Williams and Collins (2001), is described. This framework identifies the pathways by which characteristics of the physical, built, social, economic, and healthcare environments impact health and are mediated by individual traits. …

Measurement Equivalence Of The Center For Epidemiological Depression Scale In Racially/Ethnically Diverse Older Adults, Giyeon Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was designed to examine measurement equivalence of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale across White, African American, and Mexican American elders. Specific aims were to identify race/ethnicity-, sociodemographic-, and acculturation and instrument language-related measurement bias in the CES-D. Three studies were conducted in this dissertation to accomplish these aims. Two existing national datasets were used: the New Haven Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) for the White and African American samples and the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (H-EPESE) for the Mexican-American sample. Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses …

Breaking The Typecast: Revising Roles For Coordinating Mixed Teams, Matthew T. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heterogeneous multi-agent systems are currently used in a wide variety of situations, including search and rescue, military applications, and off-world exploration, however it is difficult to understand the actions of these systems or naturalistically assign these mixed teams to tasks. These agents, which may be human, robot or software, have different capabilities but will need to coordinate effectively with humans in order to operate. The first and largest contributing factor to this challenge is the processing, understanding and representing of elements of the natural world in a manner that can be utilized by artificial agents. A second contributing factor is …

The Conditional Influence Of Criminological Constructs On Juvenile Delinquency: An Examination Of The Moderating Effects Of Self-Control, Angela Yarbrough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-control and various elements comprising this construct have received much credit over the years as it has been able to account for a large amount of variance in delinquency rates. Some research has suggested that individual difference factors (e.g., self-control) can overwhelm external factors (e.g., neighborhoods; see Loeber & Wikström, 2000). Others have found that social influences (e.g., employment; see Wright, et al, 2001) have more pronounced effects for those most at-risk. Because of the equivocal nature of the empirical findings, this study seeks to replicate and extend previous efforts. Specifically, the influence of constructs derived from social learning, control, …

The Appeal Of The Underdog: Definition Of The Construct And Implications For The Self, Nadav Goldschmied

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From politics to sports to business, people are quick to categorize those at a considerable competitive disadvantage as "underdogs." Moreover, there is ample support that most unattached observers do not hesitate to align themselves with underdogs, a phenomenon termed "the underdog effect." While most dictionary definitions state that underdogs are "especially expected to lose," the present investigation argues that people often attribute optimistic qualities to underdogs and the exceeding of expectations. A series of studies was conducted to examine the lay-person definition of what an underdog means, as well as what motivations may play a role in the underdog effect. …

The Relationships Between Students’ Perceptions Of School Climate, Attitudes Towards School, And Substance Use Among Early Adolescents, Jason D. Hangauer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationships between early adolescent substance use and perceptions of school climate and attitudes towards school using self-report data from a sample of 443 middle school students. The present study examined school climate and attitudes towards school comprehensively in order to identify important relationships between these classes of variables and multiple types of substance use in early adolescents. The results of the study include that the model of school climate consisting of six factors (fairness, order and discipline, parental involvement, sharing or resources, student interpersonal relations, and student-teacher relations) accurately predicted 11% of the variance in middle …

A Paradox Of Diversity: Billions Invested, But Women Still Leave, Rebekah S. Heppner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2005, women made up 46.4 percent of the United States labor force but only 1.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs (Catalyst 2006). Although gains have been made since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, there is clearly something stopping women from equal representation at the top. Since the late 1980s, businesses have spent billions of dollars on initiatives designed to assist them in dealing with the anticipated increase in the "diversity" of their workplaces (Lubove 1997; Stodghill II 1996; Johnston and Packer 1987). Is there potential for diversity initiatives to help women conquer the "glass ceiling?" …

The Pedagogy And Politics Of Online Education In Anthropology, Linda J. Hose

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports on the key findings of an exploratory study of online education in anthropology. The study was designed to collect information on the extent and types of online offerings at four-year and above degree-granting public institutions in the US. It was also designed to report on the teaching strategies and methods that anthropologists employ online, and to inquire into the conditions and institutional structures that encourage or discourage the development of online education in anthropology. Recent growth in online education has been explosive in many disciplines, but little is known about anthropology's participation in the trend, or lack …

What Are The Socio-Emotional Experiences And Perceptions Of Third Grade Students With High-Stakes Testing?, Anne Marie Juola-Rushton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of third grade students with high-stakes testing. The study was designed to address this issue from the perspective of the third grade student's experience and offer a venue for them to share their stories. The following research question guides this study: What are the socio-emotional experiences and perceptions of third grade students with high-stakes testing? Data analysis employed here falls under the rubric of qualitative approaches of symbolic interaction and phenomenology written in a narrative format with the provisions of portraiture. This study uses the analytical procedures set …

The Effects Of Organizational Structure On Faculty Job Performance, Job Satisfaction, And Counterproductive Work Behavior, Stacey R. Kessler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizational researchers focus on group level variables such as organizational climate and organizational structure. The purpose of the current meso-level study is to examine the effects of the structure of an academic department on faculty members' job performance, job satisfaction, and prevalence of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), or harmful behaviors while at work. The sample consisted of 1135 full time faculty members working in 229 academic departments throughout the United States and Canada. Results of the study suggested that faculty members working in a more organically structured department report higher levels of job satisfaction. Additionally, productive faculty members working in …

The Gothic As Counter-Discourse: Mark Twain, Charles Chesnutt And Toni Morrison, Hyejin, Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Revisiting the American Gothic via Julia Kristeva's theory of "the abject" demonstrates how Gothic strategies expose the historical contradictions of race in works by Mark Twain, Charles W. Chesnutt, and Toni Morrison. As theorized by Kristeva in Powers of Horror, the archaic process in which the subject attempts to constitute itself as homogeneous by casting off or "abjecting" all that cannot be assimilated to the self-same necessarily opens the way to repeated returns of the abject(ed) and the "horror" it provokes. Because the Gothic enacts the return of the abject, it was itself abjected from the literary canon until recently. …

The “Dark Side” Of Ocb: Examining The Relationship Between Citizenship Behavior And Work-To-Family Conflict, Rebecca H. Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) has focused on the positive aspects of the construct, neglecting the possibility that individuals who engage in OCB may suffer negative consequences. Thus, the present study expands the literature by examining the possibility that OCB is also related to negative individual-level factors, such as work-to-family conflict (WIF). In a replication and extension of Bolino and Turnley's (2005) research, the present study offers an in-depth analysis of the relationship between OCB and WIF, examining two potential mediators (work time and role overload) and two potential moderators (gender and perceptions of OCB as discretionary). Two hundred …

The Effects Of Alcohol And Nicotine Pretreatment During Adolescence On Adulthood Responsivity To Alcohol, Antoniette M. Maldonado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is a period of development that is associated with increased risk taking behaviors and experimenting with drugs of abuse, including alcohol and nicotine. Early onset of use of these agents may be associated with long-term changes in behavior and enhanced sensitivity to the subsequent effects of alcohol in adulthood. The present experiment was designed to assess the long-term behavioral alterations that occur due to adolescent exposure to ethanol and nicotine, either alone or in combination, on adulthood responsivity to the rewarding properties of environmental cues paired with ethanol. It was hypothesized that adolescent rats exposed to the combination of …

Real Challenges, Virtual Challengers: The Democracy For America Movement, Noah Porter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The project examines the effects of Internet use by the social movement organization (SMO) Dean for America/Democracy for America (DFA). This study describes the relationship between Internet usage and SMO beliefs, organization, causes, reasons for joining, strategies, reactions, and effects. Dean for America started out with few resources or supporters, and was seen as an unlikely contender for the 2004 presidential campaign. From its humble beginnings, it skyrocketed from being virtually unknown to frontrunner status in the span of a year. After Howard Dean withdrew from the race in February 2004, Dean for America transformed itself into Democracy for America, …

Factors Perceived To Contribute To Mathematics Avoidance Or Mathematics Confidence In Non-Traditional Age Women Attending A Community College, Jo Ann K Rawley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, the number of students entering postsecondary institutions immediately after high school has been decreasing, while the number of non-traditional aged students, defined as adults over 25, has substantially increased, with women making up the majority of this adult student group. Mathematics education is an area where non-traditional age women tend to have difficulty. Fifteen individual interviews were conducted with non-traditional age women enrolled in a community college, 10 identifying mathematics as the subject they would least enjoy and 5 identifying mathematics as the subject they would most enjoy. Data were analyzed by comparing the women's stories …

Examining The Issues Surrounding Violating The Assumption Of Independent Observations In Reliability Generalization Studies: A Simulation Study, Jeanine L. Romano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because both validity and reliability indices are a function of the scores on a given administration of a measure, their values can often vary across samples. It is a common mistake to say that a test is reliable when in fact it is not the test that is reliable but the scores on the test that are reliable. In 1998, vacha-haase proposed a fixed-effects meta-analytic method for evaluating reliability that is similar to validity generalization studies called reliability generalization (rg). This study was conducted to evaluate alternative analysis strategies for the meta-analysis method of reliability generalization when the reliability estimates …