Digital Commons Network^™

The Roots Of Perspective In The American Context: News Media Discourse And Stakeholder Perspectives About The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Nicholas Younginer

Theses and Dissertations

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program serves 46 million people but is controversial. The media is positioned to influence political and public opinions about SNAP policy. This study identifies the SNAP media discourse and investigates perspectives of SNAP participants and frontline workers about the program.

I employed a mixed-methods design with two aims. Aim 1 gathered 295 articles across six news outlets, semi-inductively coding the articles for characters, assignment of responsibility, and framing of the article. I then ran chi-square tests for difference between employed frame and responsibility and employed frame and political ideology.

Aim 2 collected a sample of 20 …

Teachers’ Influence On Black/White Biracial Student Identity Development, Dawn M. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to report on what teachers and parents see as significant factors affecting Black-White biracial student identity development. Through a qualitative case study using individual interviews with parents and grandparents of a Black/White biracial child and the child’s teachers, various factors affecting Black/White biracial identity development emerged. Historical laws, court cases, U.S. Census reports, theoretical data, and identity models were examined and explored to provide a clear argument that Black/White biracial individuals have historically been marginalized and that this marginalization within society has carried over into our current curricular and instructional practices within schools. This …

Special Education Disproportionality Through A Social Lens: A Mixed Methods Approach, Marianne J. Fidishin

Dissertations

The disproportionate nature of special education, notably with African American students, is longstanding and most pronounced in judgmental eligibility categories such as intellectual disability and emotional disturbance. Numerous studies on disproportionality conclude there is not a single causative factor, but point to the multifactorial nature of the issue and the complex interplay among different factors. Research related to the role social factors exhibited in an institution have on special education referral and eligibility determination is more limited. This is important since practices employed during the eligibility process take place within the institution’s social environment and are underpinned by the beliefs …

Waiting On You: A Study Of Tipped Minimum Wages' Effects On Job Tenure Among White Restaurant Servers, John Henry Sienkiewicz

Master's Theses

Many restaurant servers do not make adequate earnings under the current tipped wage system in America. On top of this, restaurant servers largely lack benefits such as paid sick days and health insurance. Unsurprisingly, those in the food and accommodation industry exhibit among the highest rates of voluntary turnover. As research has shown that raising the non-tipped, standard minimum wage decreases employee turnover and increases overall job tenure, it follows that increases in the tipped minimum wage may increase job tenure for restaurant servers. Using survey data from nearly 1700 white restaurant servers from 2006, this multiple regression analysis shows …

Library News, Winter 2016, San Jose State University Library

Library News

No abstract provided.

Emature: Intergenerational Networks In Digital Media Spaces, Andras Lukacs

Dissertations

While the literature on adolescent usage of the Internet and mobile communication technology is burgeoning, the technological affordance of increased intergenerational contacts and intergenerational friendships received less attention. This project documents how intergenerational virtual networks operate in one particular massively multiplayer online game (World of Warcraft) from the standpoint of adolescent players. Online social worlds are similar to offline settings in a lot of ways. Users must obey certain behavioral standards and follow established rules and moral codes to participate. Despite accounts of online democracy and networked individualism, control and authority is central to the functioning of these environments. Power-relationships …

Dreamers And The College Dream: A Case Study Analysis Examining The Influences Of High Schools And High School Agents, Aliza Joy Gilbert

Dissertations

This dissertation study contributes to a nascent field of research on undocumented students and college access. Rooted in a conceptual framework of models of college choice, this study utilizes case study methodology to examine how a high school and its agents influence an undocumented student’s college choice process. The unit of analysis is a suburban public high school located in the Midwest.

Data collection included semi-structured interviews of students, teachers, counselors, and college counselors, observation of college counseling programs, and document review of college related materials. The constant comparative method was the primary system of data analysis. The coding process …

Community Violence Exposure Among Urban African American Males: Understanding The “Buffering Effect” Of Adaptive Social Support Coping On Psychosocial Outcomes, Cynthia L. Pierre

Dissertations

The current study explored the moderating roles of support coping and support

quality in the predictive relationship between community violence exposure (ECV) and a

variety of psychosocial outcomes. Participants were 119 African American males (9 th –

12 th grade; mean age at baseline = 15.33). Participants completed measures of exposure to

violence, support-seeking coping, quality of support from friends and family, and a range

of psychosocial outcomes, and completed these same measures approximately one year

after baseline. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between

ECV and psychosocial outcomes, as well as the relationships between support coping and …

Changing Medical Education: Early Efforts To Integrate Women's Health Into Education And Training, Mary Katherine Rojek

Dissertations

This is an historical study about the development of women’s health curricula in medical education across the U.S. between 1983 and 2004, a period of a great deal of innovation. At that time, some physicians, medical educators, policy makers, and government officials became aware that most U.S. medical school curricula did not address women’s health in a comprehensive manner and did not attend to many problems that were the primary causes of mortality and morbidity in women. In addition, medical research and medical education were based on a normative male model. Studies of medical education indicate that medical schools are …

Exploring The Relationships Between Spiritual Well-Being, Team Regard And Turnover Intention Of Hospice Social Workers: The Mediating Role Of Job Satisfaction, Kimberly Lynn Sangster

Dissertations

According to the US census bureau there are approximately 15,500,000 million Americans over the age of 65 years in 2015. As the population ages and prepares to die, people will need access to quality hospice and end-of-life care. Key to delivery of quality care is experienced hospice social workers. Multiple regression and mediation analysis were applied to explain the path relationships involving the variables of spiritual well-being, an innovative operationalization of the concept of team regard, job satisfaction and turnover intentions of hospice social workers in Medicare-certified hospice programs in the state of Illinois. Other variables in this study included …

Communication Asset Mapping: An Ecological Field Application Toward Building Healthy Communities, George Villanueva, Garrett M. Broad, Carmen Gonzalez, Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Sheila Murphy

School of Communication: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Guided by an integrated theoretical approach combining communication infrastructure theory with methods of assets-oriented community field mapping, this study reports the findings of an engaged scholarship project we term communication asset mapping (CAM). Ecological in orientation and participatory in practice, CAM represents a tool for analyzing urban spaces’ potential as mediums for building healthy communities. This article offers two case studies from different low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles, the first a researcher-directed CAM application and the second undertaken in collaboration with community health promotion workers. Both offer insights for researchers and practitioners interested in the intersecting roles of communication and …

Marital Investments And Community Involvement: A Test Of Coser’S Greedy Marriage Thesis, Young-Il Kim, Jeffrey Dew

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

It is customary to test Coser’s greedy marriage thesis by comparing marital status groups. We propose a new approach that uses the marital dyad as the unit of analysis and examine whether investments in the marital relationship discourage community involvement through formal volunteering. Data from a U.S. national sample of 1,368 married couples revealed mixed support for the proposed relationship. Consistent with the greedy marriage thesis, wives’ soulmate view of marriage was negatively associated with their own and their husbands’ reports of volunteering. Although these associations were attenuated by religious service attendance, wives’ soulmate view had a more dampening effect …

Exploring Patient-Provider Relationships In Preference-Based Health Care Choices, Linda Tuncay Zayer, Cele C. Otnes, Eileen M. Fischer

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Patient-physician relationship models previously identified in research do not always capture the full range of consumers’ experiences as they engage in difficult, preference-based decisions. Examining the context of individuals seeking infertility treatment, we identify a new Peripheral Model of patient-physician relationship, whereby the physician’s role is perceived as rather inconsequential.

Analysis Of Large Mega Millions Rollovers, Suk H. Lee, Ki C. Han, David Y. Suk, Hyun Mo Sung

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

From May 17, 2002 to December 30, 2014, there were 1,318 Mega Millions drawings and 153 were winning drawings. In 148 out of 153 winning drawings, there was no winner(s) in the first drawing and the jackpot prize was rolled over and added to the next drawing. Since the Mega Millions does not have a rollover limit, this process continues until there is an eventual winning ticket. As the jackpot prize approaches $100 million, significantly larger additional cash flows into the lottery. Based on the analysis of 29 large Mega Millions winning drawings (jackpot prize ≥ $100 million), we report …

Ecological Factors Promoting Academic Resilience Of Latina Students, Rebecca Testa-Ryan

Dissertations

To enhance the academic success of Latina students, researchers and educators must move away from focusing on deficits and risks and concentrate more on student potential and environmental support, which have been found to successfully open pathways to academic achievement. By shifting the focus, stakeholders can gain an understanding of the educational experiences of Latina students considered on a pathway of educational failure and the processes that can contribute instead to their academic resilience. In this qualitative study, I investigate the ecological factors that influence and impact the academic resiliency of Latina students. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory of Human …

The Impact Of Social Class Connectedness, School Belongingness, And Family Cohesion On Lower Class-Identified College Students, Kristen Eileen Adams

Dissertations

This study is one of the first to examine acculturative and enculturative factors as they relate to social class. Much of the extant literature surrounding acculturation and enculturation looks primarily at cultural factors such as race/ethnicity and/or immigration status. Due to the fact that social class is such a salient cultural identity in most individuals' lives and has a bearing on how one views and evaluates themselves in relation to others of differing social classes (Fouad & Brown, 2000), the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social class connectedness on subjective wellbeing (including positive and negative …

Self-Esteem And Critical Consciousness In The Relation Between Subjective Social Class And Subjective Well-Being Among College Students: Mediation And Moderated Mediation Models, Fatma Aydin

Dissertations

Subjective social class (SSC) and subjective well-being (SWB) are important indicators of mental health, and the scientific literature has indicated significant relationships between these variables. The purpose of this study is to examine the complex mechanisms by which SSC is related to SWB, using a sample of 275 college students. This study first explored whether SSC was indirectly related to SWB through the mediating effect of self-esteem. Three elements of SSC (economic resources, social power, and social prestige) and three elements of SWB (satisfaction with life, negative affect, and positive affect) were investigated. Using process analysis, the results showed that …

Defect Or Defend? Explaining Military Responses During The Arab Uprisings, Timothy Hazen

Dissertations

The Arab uprisings demonstrated that a military's response to the domestic unrest had a significant impact on whether the protests were successful and triggered regime change. In Egypt and Tunisia, the militaries defected from the incumbent regimes, and as a result the ruling leaders were removed, whereas in Bahrain, the military defended the regime and used violence against protesters, which led to the continuation of the government's rule. Scholars identify numerous factors to explain Middle East and North African (MENA) military behavior during the Arab uprising but overall these arguments tend to overemphasize individual case studies and fail to provide …

Badr Al-Dīn Ibn JamāʿAh And The Highest Good Of Islamic Education, Omar Qureshi

Dissertations

The secularization of the academy thesis refers to the phenomenon of Protestant colleges and universities starting out as identifiable religious institutions of education now being places hostile, not only to Christianity, but religion in general. This has raised much discussion among leaders, faculty members, and students of religious educational institutions as to what is and what constitutes the identity of their respective institutions. It is in this context that we witness the rise in the establishment of Islamic schools in the North America. This context has generated many questions from the various stakeholders on the question of what the term …

Jeremiad Or Weapon Of Words?: The Power Of Emotive Language In Supreme Court Dissents, Amanda C. Bryan, Eve M. Ringsmuth

Political Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Unable to directly control the policy articulated by the Supreme Court, dissenting justices are faced with the challenge of finding alternative ways to pursue their policy goals. We argue that one strategy available to them is to use their power over the language of a dissenting opinion to increase the media attention paid to a case. Our results show that cases with negative dissents attract more media coverage, which creates a variety of mechanisms through which a dissenter’s policy preferences could be realized, such as inducing Congress to take action, influencing public debate on the issue, and provoking further litigation. …

Beyond Group Work Camp: A Bridge To Symposia And Conference Participation Via Professional Presentations, Shirley Simon

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this paper is twofold - to describe a Group Work Camp workshop that facilitates continued professional involvement beyond the camp experience, and to share the information offered in this session. The workshop provides information about developing peer-reviewed presentations for professional association conferences and addresses the benefits of such presentations. It identifies different presentation formats and describes the abstract preparation, submission and review processes. It addresses the dissemination of supplemental material related to the presentation. Detailed recommendations for navigating the preparation and presentation processes are shared with the hope of easing anxieties for new presenters. By scheduling the …

Interpreters' Self-Perceptions Of Their Use Of Self When Interpreting In Health And Behavioural Health Settings, Nicole Dubus

Faculty Publications

This study examines interpreters' self-perception of their use of self when interpreting in health and behavior-health settings. Constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the individual, semi-structured interviews of thirty-six interpreters. Interpreters, who have developed the skills and techniques required to develop and improve the effectiveness of the intervention. Interpreters are vital members of care teams. Interpreters might be under-utilized if only seen as a language driven. Embracing interpreters as members of the inter professional team may hold great promise for addressing challenges in providing culturally effective services.Cette étude se penche sur l’auto-perception des interprètes de leur recours au soi …

The Utility Of Key Hate Crime Concepts, Katie Pratt

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

This paper seeks to ascertain what exactly are the most important or relevant aspects of hate crime that we need to understand in order to address this most pernicious of acts. Whilst the UK conceptualization of hate crime was borne out of mass media attention on some key violent events, the official responses that followed were heavily shaped by a populist punitive view of how to address the issue. This paper discusses the limitations of the understanding of this issue and instead suggests a broader view of the underlying issue and causal factors as representative of patterns of prejudice and …

The Absent Voice Of Male Domestic Abuse Victims: The Marginalisation Of Men In A System Originally Designed For Women, Coralie Wright

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

The problematic construction of domestic abuse as a 'gendered, heterosexual phenomenon that is predominantly physical in nature' has served to marginalise male victims of domestic abuse (Donovan and Hester, 2010:279), and impeded them from reaching victim status (Josolyne, 2011). As such, in comparison to women, men receive less recognition as victims within society, and support services are tailored towards the needs of female victims. Relatively little research has been undertaken on the experiences of male victims of domestic abuse, and thus it remains unclear how it is best to support them. This study adopts a qualitative approach to explore the …

Legal High Use Among Young Adults In The South-West Rave/Party Community: Implications For Uk Drug Policy, Patrick Allen

The Plymouth Law and Criminal Justice Review

The UK government has struggled with controlling the legal high problem since the emergence of mephedrone in 2009. Academic research has provided detailed knowledge on how people perceive these substances, mainly focusing on mephedrone, but has yet to identify a viable solution to escalating usage and availability. This research aimed to determine young adults' (18-26) current perceptions of legal highs and to assess how this might help government shape current proposed policy and futurelegislation more successfully. It also examined the under-researched moralistic interpretations of legal highs. Qualitative research was undertaken in the form of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 experienced …

Shattering The Glass Ceiling In International Adjudication, Nienke Grossman

All Faculty Scholarship

The Article shows that women are found in dramatically low numbers on the benches of the majority of the world’s most important international courts, analyzes the causes of this phenomenon and proposes and evaluates solutions. It establishes that the number of women in the pool of potential judges does not appear to dictate how many women become international judges. It shows, too, that when selection procedures are closed and opaque, and there is no quota or aspirational target for a sex-balanced bench, women obtain international judgeships in disproportionately low numbers. On the other hand, when a quota or aspirational target …

An Exploration Of Attachment Strategies Among Young People Who Engage In Harmful Sexual Behaviour, Bartosz Zaniewski

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: It is estimated that adolescent offenders account for 65% of contact child sexual abuse. A range of explanatory theories and models of intervention have been proposed. These are mainly based on cognitive theories with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and psycho-education remaining as the dominant models of treatment intervention. This research explored the issue of harmful sexual behaviour from the psychosocial perspective, drawing on attachment theory and social constructionism. Aim: The research explored attachment strategies among young people with harmful sexual behaviour. It examined young people’s understanding and explanations regarding their sexually abusive behaviour. This included an exploration of how …

Social Exclusion, Resort Decline And The English Seaside, Steven Jakes

Other Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business Theses

Traditionally seaside resorts have been one of the least understood of Britain’s ‘problem areas’. This thesis breaks new ground by reporting on an exploratory data analysis to probe the influence of resort decline on social exclusion in England’s seaside resorts. Drawing on a wide range of socio-economic datasets and quantitative methods of data analysis and GIS software, the study investigates the scale, nature and extent of multiple deprivation in English seaside resorts, differences in socio-economic structure between deprived and non-deprived resorts and the factors that may explain these differences, and the nature and incidence of localised problem complexes. A combination …

How Do We Communicate Who We Are? Examining How Organizational Identity Is Conveyed To Members, Beth S. Schinoff, Kristie M. Rogers, Kevin G. Corley

Management Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Perceived Impacts Of Woman-To-Woman Rape And Sexual Assault, And The Subsequent Experience Of Disclosure, Reaction, And Support On Victim/Survivors’ Subjective Experience Of Occupation, Rebecca Twinley

School of Health Professions Theses

The traditional and universal assumption that rape and sexual assault are gendered in nature - perpetrated by men upon women in order to control, oppress, or subordinate them - has implications for victim/survivors of every other form of unwanted sexual contact and non-contact. The historical focus upon male-to-female rape has overlooked the fact that – regardless of gender – children and adults are sexually victimised by people of all ages and genders. In my thesis, I explore the experiences of a group of victim/survivors who national and international research, and anti-sexual-victimisation efforts, have essentially ignored: women who have been sexually …