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Articles 61 - 90 of 322

Full-Text Articles in Mormon Studies

Religiosity And Life Satisfaction Among Lds College Students, Po Nien Chou Jan 1999

Religiosity And Life Satisfaction Among Lds College Students, Po Nien Chou

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction among Latter-day Saints (LDS) college students. The scales used were the religiosity scale by Chadwick and Top (1993), and the life satisfaction scale by Neugarten, Havighurst and Tobin (1961). The analysis was based on data obtained from 222 students (55.5%) who responded. A prediction model was used to develop a regression equation. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between religiosity and life satisfaction. The regression equation is as follows: life satisfaction = 1.436815592 + 0.045915152 (spiritual experiences) + 0.042888274 (integration in congregation). …

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Family-Of-Origin Distress And Intimacy In Later-Life Couples, Paul James Birch Jan 1999

Family-Of-Origin Distress And Intimacy In Later-Life Couples, Paul James Birch

Theses and Dissertations

Married couples aged 55-98 were surveyed regarding their perceptions of family-of-origin distress, their affective communication and problem solving communication skills, and their emotional intimacy. Two 2-way ANOVAs were performed with husbands' (model 1) and wives' (model 2) emotional intimacy scores as dependent measures and family-of-origin distress scores as the independent measures. Then both models were re-analyzed with affective communication and problem solving communication entered as co-variates. Results suggested that for both husbands and wives, emotional intimacy was affected by family-of-origin distress. Additionally, intimacy was affected by the distress in their spouses' family-of-origin in both models. Post-hoc analyses suggested that as …

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The Mormon Influence On The Political Geography Of The West, Michael Madsen Jan 1999

The Mormon Influence On The Political Geography Of The West, Michael Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

The vast colonization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, in the nineteenth century had a profund impact on the populating, culture, economy, and environment of much of the American West. This thesis examines the political geographic influence of the Mormons in the West and, more specifically, in the lands ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848. This land comprises all or portions of the following states: California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The original organization of the Mexican Cession at the hands of Congress in 1850 was drastically influenced by …

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The Meaning Of Religious Belief, Practice, And Community For Latter-Day Saint Fathers Of Children With Special Needs, Loren Dean Marks Jan 1999

The Meaning Of Religious Belief, Practice, And Community For Latter-Day Saint Fathers Of Children With Special Needs, Loren Dean Marks

Theses and Dissertations

While the tragedy of American fatherlessness has evoked a growing body of research, religious beliefs, practices, and communities have not been a significant part of the scholarly discussion. This article discusses possible reasons for this and reviews the religion and family literature with a focus on fathers. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 19 Latter-day Saint (LDS) fathers of children with special needs and analyzed to examine the meaning of religious experience for these fathers and their families. Analysis indicated three dimensions of religious experience: spiritual belief, religious practice, and faith community. The spiritual belief in an eternal perspective, including the …

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The Influence Of Religiosity In The Construction Of Meaning From Advertising Messages Intended To Promote Lifestyle Values, Lillian Billing Jan 1999

The Influence Of Religiosity In The Construction Of Meaning From Advertising Messages Intended To Promote Lifestyle Values, Lillian Billing

Theses and Dissertations

Religiosity has largely been ignored by consumer research as a factor in the negotiation of meaning from magazine advertisements containing lifestyle messages. A meaning based study was undertaken to seek to identify its presence and emergence within a religious audience. A qualitative methodology employing in-depth, phenomenological interviewing was designed. Six members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, three men and three women, were invited to give their interpretations, thoughts, and feelings towards four magazine advertisements. A second in-depth phenomenological interview was conducted with each participant to provide individual lifeworld contexts. Analysis employed a previously tested conceptual construct, …

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Latter-Day Saint Fathers Of Children With Special Needs: A Phenomenological Study, Michael M. Olson Jan 1999

Latter-Day Saint Fathers Of Children With Special Needs: A Phenomenological Study, Michael M. Olson

Theses and Dissertations

This research, presents a qualitative study of six Latter-day Saint fathers of children with special needs. In-depth interviews were used to examine the demands and resources fathers draw upon in meeting the needs of their child(ren), the application of the conceptual ethic of fathering as generative work and crisis/stress theory, as well as an analysis of how fathers incorporated their religious beliefs, faith, and practices into fathering their special needs children. Narrative accounts are used to illustrate the results. These results are then applied to an integrated conceptual framework and clinical applications are made.

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Creating High-Quality Marriages: A Qualitative Study Of Religious Couples, Jerry Lyman Redd Jan 1999

Creating High-Quality Marriages: A Qualitative Study Of Religious Couples, Jerry Lyman Redd

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with thirty-two couples who have been married for eight years. Although the couples in this sample have similar religious, economic, and cultural backgrounds, the quality of each marriage is quite different. Ten couples have exceptionally high-quality marriages, eighteen have average-quality marriages, three are struggling, and one couple has been divorced. The purpose of this study was to better understand what the ten couples with high-quality marriages are doing to create successful relationships. I conclude that high-quality marriages are created by a couple's participation in a particular process with a specific paradigm …

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The Impact Of Religiosity On Coping Among Lds Adolescents, Matthew P. Roper Jan 1999

The Impact Of Religiosity On Coping Among Lds Adolescents, Matthew P. Roper

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of religiosity on coping in a group of Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) youth. Longitudinal data were gathered from detailed questionnaires administered to 2852 male and female adolescents in 1990 and 1993. Coping was conceptualized as four general dimensions (self-concept, public activities and service, deviance and future plans). Religiosity was also conceptualized multi-dimensionally (religious belief, public religiosity, private religious behavior, and religious experiences). Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the unique effects of each of the dimensions of religiosity on each dimension of coping. It was hypothesized that religiosity was positively …

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Religious Couples' Reported Effects Of Prayer In Conflict Situations, Julie Ann Stout Jan 1999

Religious Couples' Reported Effects Of Prayer In Conflict Situations, Julie Ann Stout

Theses and Dissertations

For religious couples, the spiritual domain stands alongside the biological, psychological, and systemic domains as an influence upon interaction and mechanism for change. This study is a quantitative expansion of Butler, Gardner, and Bird's (1998) qualitative study, of the change dynamics of prayer. This study attempted to improve the generalizability of the Butler et al. (1998) study through its use of a larger, and religiously and geographically more diverse sample. This study investigated the effects of prayer during times of marital conflict through a quantitative methodology with a survey design. The researchers developed a survey based on the findings of …

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Reconsidering Solidarity In The Mormon Village, Todd L. Goodsell Dec 1998

Reconsidering Solidarity In The Mormon Village, Todd L. Goodsell

Theses and Dissertations

In what became a classic rural community study, Lowry Nelson concluded in his first Mormon village series in the 1920's that the Mormon village is characterized by an extraordinary sense of solidarity. He claimed that this strong solidarity can be primarily explained by four factors of the social group: leadership, conflict, cooperation, and ideology. After resurveying the Mormon village in 1950, he concluded that solidarity had declined. However, a few problems become apparent to the present researcher looking back upon Nelson's findings. One of them is that Nelson never had a clear definition of solidarity to begin with. Another is …

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Since Joseph Smith's Time: Lexical Semantic Shifts In The Book Of Mormon, Renee Bangerter Aug 1998

Since Joseph Smith's Time: Lexical Semantic Shifts In The Book Of Mormon, Renee Bangerter

Theses and Dissertations

In the years since Joseph Smith completed the translation of the Book of Mormon, the English language has changed; some common phraseologies and word meanings are dissimilar to today's. Often, in reading the Book of Mormon, we impose our current definitions onto terms that in 1830 had a different meaning. Our interpretation of these words, as well as the passages in which they are found, is skewed by our modern definitions. These words, when they occur in the Book of Mormon, demonstrate dialectal and obsolete senses. In the case of some words, the dialectal or obsolete sense is so far …

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Oral Performances As Ritual: Animating The Invisible In Mormon Women's Miscarriage Stories, Kristin Leifson Ballif Jan 1998

Oral Performances As Ritual: Animating The Invisible In Mormon Women's Miscarriage Stories, Kristin Leifson Ballif

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is comprised of ten Mormon women's miscarriage stories and it is their stories that are used as the text for my analysis. The purpose of the study is to provide a space for these women to share their experiences and to reveal their cultural values and beliefs. Because the women are all Mormon, there are some distinctive cultural and religious values that are shared within their stories and it is these aspects that are analyzed and discussed within the text.

Women need to be able to share their miscarriage stories so as to alleviate feelings of isolation and …

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Learning To Learn: The Training Of Missionaries In Language Learning Strategies At The Missionary Training Center, D. Brian Kohler Jan 1998

Learning To Learn: The Training Of Missionaries In Language Learning Strategies At The Missionary Training Center, D. Brian Kohler

Theses and Dissertations

Language learning strategies (LLS) are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques that learners use to improve their rate and level of L2 development. This thesis details the development and validation of a LLS training program designed to measure if training in LLS increases LDS missionaries' awareness of LLS as potential language learning tools. Specifically, it explores the question as to whether missionaries trained in LLS use and intend to use LLS more frequently, more appropriately, and with a greater range than those not trained in LLS.

The development of the LLS training program involved selecting a set of 48 specific …

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The Impact Of The Physical And Cultural Geography Of Southeastern Utah On Latter-Day Settlement, Sally Timmins Mandurino Jan 1998

The Impact Of The Physical And Cultural Geography Of Southeastern Utah On Latter-Day Settlement, Sally Timmins Mandurino

Theses and Dissertations

The Latter-day Saint settlements in southeastern Utah, namely Bluff, Monticello and Blanding, were impacted by the physical and cultural geography of the area. These geographic elements hindered, and in some cases prevented, the Latter-day Saint colonizers from fulfilling the seven basic principles of Latter-day Saint expansion and colonization in the Great Basin. The impacts of physical geography were the geology, the climate, the soil and the rivers and streams. The impacts of cultural geography were the Navajo Indian Tribe, the Paiute Indian Tribe, and the criminal element. This thesis discusses the geographic elements of the area, how they impacted the …

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President Mrs. Kimball: A Rhetoric Of Words And Works, Janelle M. Higbee Jan 1998

President Mrs. Kimball: A Rhetoric Of Words And Works, Janelle M. Higbee

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars of rhetoric and speech communications have suggested that the study of a women's rhetoric should focus on the "distinctly female modes of leadership" that may be found among women in "out-groups" that challenge established political authority. Such leaders must be especially inventive to be effective, and are thus likely to be talented rhetoricians. In looking for such leaders, the religious and political rhetoric of early Latter-day Saint women provides a noteworthy, unique study. Nineteenth-century Mormon women not only battled discriminatory political norms—arguing fervently for both universal woman's suffrage and for the freedom to practice polygamy—they did so from their …

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Mormon Mortuary Patterns At The Block 49 And Seccombe Lake Cemeteries, Howard S. Irvine Jan 1998

Mormon Mortuary Patterns At The Block 49 And Seccombe Lake Cemeteries, Howard S. Irvine

Theses and Dissertations

Death customs perform a socially restorative function among cultures and are a meaningful expression of the value system of any particular culture. Death studies allow the examination of the values considered most significant by the studied culture. This thesis will examine and interpret the material culture recovered at two small cemeteries: Block 49, Utah, and Seccombe Lake, California. One result will show the material manifestation of Mormon religious beliefs in their mortuary practices. The final goal is to suggest that a more thorough examination of a religious sect's beliefs can create a general model of mortuary practices for that religious …

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Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds Aug 1997

Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

This paper extends and updates previous efforts to understand the political dynamic of the Book of Mormon by looking at four themes or issues that can be developed from the text itself. The first is an expansion of earlier treatments of the contradictory political ideologies of the Nephites and Lamanites, which informed relations between these two groups across their thousand-year history. The second is an exploration of the historical possibility that Nephi may never, in fact, have been anointed as king of the Nephite people, which raises in turn a possible need to reassess the character of Nephite kingship. The …

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The Influence Of Out-Group Network Ties On The Television Usage And Attitudes Of Mormon Women, Lois D. Brown Jan 1997

The Influence Of Out-Group Network Ties On The Television Usage And Attitudes Of Mormon Women, Lois D. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of survey data collected from more than 400 LDS women (n=429) indicates that as the number of non-LDS or inactive LDS network associates increases, so does the women's identification with modern female TV characters. The frequency of network conversations about television also correlates to several television behaviors and attitudes such as watching entertainment and informational TV programming, identifying with modern characters, and regarding TV as useful. Mirroring the national trend, LDS women who are more educated use television less. A model is presented which details the flow and impact of personal network influence on the television habits and attitudes …

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Prophets, Planning, And Politics: Utah's Planning Heritage And Its Significance Today And Tomorrow, Janna K. Bushman Jan 1997

Prophets, Planning, And Politics: Utah's Planning Heritage And Its Significance Today And Tomorrow, Janna K. Bushman

Theses and Dissertations

Utah's planning heritage includes both physical and social elements. In 1833 Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, designed the Plat for the City of Zion. Associated with his plan were the principles of communitarianism and a demo-theocratic form of government. As the Mormons journeyed across the Midwest to the Great Basin, they applied these planning beliefs in various ways. Throughout Utah today, large city blocks, wide roads, and grid iron layouts remain as testaments to the state's early physical planning tenets. Other factors, though, have led Mormons to abandon the social aspects of the plan and to embrace the …

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A Mormon Cultural Study Of Musical Preference, Alden L. Weight Jan 1997

A Mormon Cultural Study Of Musical Preference, Alden L. Weight

Theses and Dissertations

Music is an important yet relatively unnoticed part of the everyday world almost all of us take for granted. Whether in the car, watching television, shopping, at work or at home, even waking up in the morning or going to sleep at night, and so forth, music surrounds us, soothes us, disturbs us, and occasionally goes so far as to persuade us. Although music plays a significant role in many areas of life, its relationship to society is especially evident in the religious sphere. Therefore, the religious sphere is an ideal place to examine what music does and what it …

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A Model Of Delinquency Among Lds Adolescents: The Effect Of Peer Influences, Religiosity, Personality Traits, School Experiences, And Family Characteristics, Janice Garrett Jan 1997

A Model Of Delinquency Among Lds Adolescents: The Effect Of Peer Influences, Religiosity, Personality Traits, School Experiences, And Family Characteristics, Janice Garrett

Theses and Dissertations

This study tested a multivariate model, which included peer influences, religiosity, personality traits, school experiences, and family characteristics, in predicting juvenile delinquency. The model compared two samples of youth belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (L.D.S.). A mail questionnaire and three follow-up mailings were sent to 1,078 youth living in the Pacific Northwest and 1,849 youth living in Utah county. The overall response rate for the sample was 63 percent. Extensive measures were used in assessing the variables included in the model. Structural equation modeling (LISREL) was used in the analysis because of its capacity to …

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Mormon Women's Sense Of Empowerment, Stace Hucks Christianson Jan 1997

Mormon Women's Sense Of Empowerment, Stace Hucks Christianson

Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the empowering experiences of LDS women within the patriarchal structure as organized by the LDS church. Women in the LDS church empower themselves by drawing both external and internal resources. The degree of flexibility that leaders and member of the LDS church adopt externally influences the degree of empowerment that LDS women. The more internal factors an LDS woman adopts the greater her internal sense of empowerment.

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The Effect Of The Book Of Mormon Diglot Reader: A Study Of The Vocabulary Acquisition, Reading Comprehension, And The Reduction Of Negative Affective Variables In Missionaries, Melinda Silver Jan 1997

The Effect Of The Book Of Mormon Diglot Reader: A Study Of The Vocabulary Acquisition, Reading Comprehension, And The Reduction Of Negative Affective Variables In Missionaries, Melinda Silver

Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the following questions;
1) How does reading The Book of Mormon Diglot Reader compare with reading the Spanish translation of The Book of Mormon in terms of degree of anxiety, frustration, and discouragement experienced by the reader?
2) Will the missionaries using the Diglot Reader experience a greater increase in the amount of Book of Mormon vocabulary acquired as compared with the vocabulary increase experienced by the missionaries who only read from the standard Spanish translation of The Book of Mormon?
3) Does the use of the Diglot Reader increase the missionaries' ability to understand sentences …

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A Study Of Haitian Mormon Converts Dwelling In New York City: A Cross-Cultural Perspective In Understanding, Interpreting, And Experiencing The Mormon Subculture, Yvon Milien Jan 1997

A Study Of Haitian Mormon Converts Dwelling In New York City: A Cross-Cultural Perspective In Understanding, Interpreting, And Experiencing The Mormon Subculture, Yvon Milien

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the roles played by understanding, interpretation of practices, and experience in Mormon culture when Haitians convert to Mormonism. In relationship to their previous cultural practices, this thesis explores whether Haitian converts develop one of three types of behaviors: discard old practices, retain elements of old practices, or seek to establish a balance between former and new religious practices. In-depth interviews with twelve subjects living in New York City suggest that most active converts discarded their old cultural traditions. This study suggests that only interpretation influences developing types of behavior. However, it was not expected that most converts …

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The Brigham Young University Folklore Of Hugh Winder Nibley: Gifted Scholar, Eccentric Professor And Latter-Day Saint Spiritual Guide, Jane D. Brady Jan 1996

The Brigham Young University Folklore Of Hugh Winder Nibley: Gifted Scholar, Eccentric Professor And Latter-Day Saint Spiritual Guide, Jane D. Brady

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the stories which revolve around folk legend Hugh Winder Nibley and what those stories mean to the people of Brigham Young University. Folklore reveals who we are and what is important to us. But, interestingly, folklore tends to reveal more about the person telling the story than about the subject of the story itself. People can't remember every story they hear. The ones they do remember are important to them. The stories are important because they fulfill basic needs of the teller. Such needs are a desire to look up to a hero, a need to fit …

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Journey: Connections To A Pioneer Past, Judy Shell Busk Jan 1996

Journey: Connections To A Pioneer Past, Judy Shell Busk

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a record of a journey into the pioneer past both literally and metaphorically. The physical journey retracing the Oregon and Mormon trails was made in September of 1993, the year I was a National Endowment for the Humanities/Reader's Digest Teacher-Scholar; however, my intellectual and emotional journey into the lives of pioneer women covers several years of study. I compare my life experiences with those of pioneer women whom I studied, using geographical settings on the trail trip as memory triggers. My husband, as my traveling companion, plays an important role in this journey of discovery. Major themes …

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Christian Feminist Publications And Structures Of Constraint: A Comparison Of Daughters Of Sarah And Exponent Ii Within The Contexts Of Neo-Evangelicalism And Mormonism, Sasha S. Cluff Jan 1996

Christian Feminist Publications And Structures Of Constraint: A Comparison Of Daughters Of Sarah And Exponent Ii Within The Contexts Of Neo-Evangelicalism And Mormonism, Sasha S. Cluff

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses content analysis to compare two conservative Christian feminist publications: Daughters of Sarah, produced by neo-evangelical feminists, and Exponent II, produced by Mormon feminists. Findings are based on insights from three main theories: Debra Minkoff's organization-environment perspective, Nancy Folbre's model of collective action based on structures of constraint, and the church-sect typology from the sociology of religion literature. Although both organizations similarly endeavor to integrate feminist and religious identities, the loose boundaries of evangelicalism allow Daughters of Sarah to explore a more liberal feminist agenda and interact with broader feminist sources while still remaining within the …

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Adolescents' Use Of Discretionary Time: A Time Use Study Of The Central Utah Area, Rebecca Hirschi Jan 1995

Adolescents' Use Of Discretionary Time: A Time Use Study Of The Central Utah Area, Rebecca Hirschi

Theses and Dissertations

This study provides Central Utah school and recreation leaders with local data on which to base their program development by collecting and analyzing data on adolescents' use of time, and to compare local statistics with national data. The research included participants from Nephi, Spanish Fork, and Provo schools. Each participant completed 7 days of a leisure time diary, which detailed daily activities. Single sample t-tests on the data revealed that Central Utah adolescents' time use is significantly different from national statistics. The differences in the statistics indicate that school and recreation leaders need local data on which to base adolescent …

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A Qualitative Analysis Of The Non-Lds Experience In Utah, Jesse Smith Bushman Jan 1995

A Qualitative Analysis Of The Non-Lds Experience In Utah, Jesse Smith Bushman

Theses and Dissertations

Utah's foundation under the influence of the LDS church, and the continued influence of the majority LDS population in the state make this area unique in the United States. This situation makes life for the non-LDS in Utah somewhat different than in other areas. Through a series of interviews with members of the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist (National Baptist Convention), Buddhist, and Jewish faiths, this thesis produced a large body of qualitative data concerning the non-LDS experience in Utah.

The experience of non-LDS people in Utah can by typified, with a few exceptions, as a traditional majority/minority interaction. Elements of …

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A Qualitative Study Of Interpretive Communities Among Lds Women, Oleah Clegg Jan 1995

A Qualitative Study Of Interpretive Communities Among Lds Women, Oleah Clegg

Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown that a number of researchers have turned to the concept of the interpretive community to explain how audiences interpret the media within the context of their everyday experiences (Biocca, 1989; Gunter, 1989; Lindlof, 1989, 1992; Radway, 1984; Schrøder, 1994). D. A. Stout (1993) conducted a study that discovered three interpretive communities among LDS women who watch television, establishing that interpretive communities do exist among religious media audiences.

In 1994, K. Schrøder showed that the interpretive community can be further understood by taking a "social semiotic" approach to analyzing interpretive community members' social interaction with other communities. …

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