Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Qualitative Study Exploring The Perceptions Of Social Workers Concerning Independent Living Programs In Conjunction With Post-Secondary Education After New Jersey Foster Youth "Age-Out" Of The Foster Care System, Patrick L. Beatty

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this research study is to investigate the perceptions of New Jersey social workers regarding potential barriers that may exist with foster care youth maturity development, independent living programs emphasizing foster care alumni post-secondary education achievement, and social worker departmental training relating to their understanding of independent living programs.

The design of this qualitative study focused on New Jersey Division of Children & Family volunteer participants consisting of three district office manager interviews, and three social worker focus group discussions from specific geographic locations throughout New Jersey. The interview and focus group questions were developed after comprehensive research …

The Teacher Pay For Performance Phenomenon, Deborah Viscardi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this dissertation research was to explore the link between teacher motivation and performance-based compensation. This topic has been a controversial issue over the last decade across the country. There is a critical need for more research on teacher pay-for- performance systems, especially as it relates to motivation, student achievement, and the profession of teaching. Qualitative in design, the intent of this research study was to make meaning of teachers’ perceptions about the influence of performance-based compensation on the profession and practice of teaching. This study extends the current understanding and adds to the discussion of compensation policy …

School Shootings And Principals' Perception Of Armed Personnel In An Education Setting, Richard Reyes

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to explore the dilemma principals have in determining the best approach to provide safe environment for their students and faculty, while at the same time creating an environment that is conducive to education.

The study looked at an urban school district with a marginalized community with low socioeconomic status as identified by the District Factor Group A. Twelve school principals were interviewed to gather information of their perceptions in relation to having armed personnel in their schools.

The literature on school shootings and armed personnel in schools was reviewed. The literature consisted of peer-reviewed …

The Influence Of Community Demographics On Student Achievement On The Connecticut Mastery Test In Mathematics And English Language Arts In Grade 3 Through 8, Albert Nii Lartey Sackey Jr.

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Student achievement has been measured in the United States for decades through the use of standardized state assessments. The purpose of this study was to examine which combination of 15 out-of-school community demographic variables best predicted and accounted for the most variance in a Connecticut school district’s percentages of students scoring goal or above on the 2010 Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) for the third through eighth grade in Mathematics (Math) and English Language Arts (ELA). Analyses were conducted using both a simultaneous regression model and a hierarchical regression model. This study looked at the entire population of districts that were …

The Relationship Between Traumagenic Dynamic Responses Towards Childhood Sexual Abuse, Ethnic Identity, Social Support, Trauma Severity, And Attitudes Towards Interpersonal Relationships In Adolescent Females, Nita J. Makhija

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study used the theory of traumagenic dynamics (TD) to examine how symptomatology resulting childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are related to the attitudes adolescent females have towards interpersonal relationships. The ultimate goal being that this understanding can inform the creation and implementation of empirically based clinical interventions that specifically target CSA-related symptoms which are associated with the endorsement of unhealthy attitudes towards romantic relationships. In examining this relationship, family support and ethnic identity were examined as protective factors against the endorsement of unhealthy attitudes towards romantic relationships, and trauma severity and the presence of domestic violence in the home were …

Robber Barons And Humbuggers: The Rise Of Philanthropic Museums In Nineteenth-Century New York, Meaghan O'Connor

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

New York City's most recognizable museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History came to prominence in the second half of the nineteenth century thanks to the support of wealthy benefactors. At the same time, social reformers, mostly Protestant and middle or upper-class, were combating the vice and poverty that they saw in the diversifying city with a moralizing rhetoric of character building. This paper will show that these two movements, the rise of Philanthropic Museums and the Social Reform movement were connected and that the large temple-like museums that thrive to this day …

The Use Of Hemifield Eye-Patching For Modifying The Perceptual-Attentional Bias In Healthy Individuals, Randall L. Miller

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Healthy individuals do not perceive the left and right sides of space equally, showing a leftward spatial bias on visuospatial tasks. This bias may be more attributed to a perceptual-attentional (PA) component than a motor-intentional (MI) component. While monocular eye patching alters this spatial bias via modification of PA but not MI, hemifield eye patches that occluded the left or right half of the visual field have been shown to be more effective at modifying spatial bias, but only in patients with spatial neglect. Furthermore, it is unclear whether hemifield patching affects PA, MI, or both. The goal of the …

Psychologist Self-Care, Perceived Stress, Psychological Distress, And Coping Self-Efficacy Across The Career-Span, Krista L. Dettle

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Psychologists are expected to engage in self-care strategies aimed at promoting and maintaining well-functioning in themselves (Saakvitne & Pearlman, 1996) in order to effectively manage the demands of their profession and better ensure the provision of quality care. However, self-care is also a clinical competency of professional psychology that has historically been insufficiently addressed in training (Donovan & Ponce, 2009). According to the APA Board of Professional Affairs Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance, a better understanding of functioning in psychologists is necessary to properly promote self-care across the career-span (2005). There is a need for research in this area to …

Prism Adaptation Effects On The Attentional Window, Michelle C. Rosenthal

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Prism adaptation, a visuomotor adaptation procedure that employs a lateral shift of the visual field, has been widely shown to affect lateral biases in the distribution of spatial attention in healthy individuals. The effects of prism adaptation on the size of the attentional window, the limited area of the visual field we attend to and extract information from without moving our eyes, are not fully elucidated. In this study, I investigated the effects of prism adaptation on the size of the attentional window in healthy young adults. This was accomplished via a useful field of view task, which measures the …

The Fatherhood Factor: The Impact Of The Father-Child Relationship On The Social, Interpersonal, And Recidivism Risk Factors Of Previously Incarcerated Men, Larissa A. Maley

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Of the men who return home from prison, nearly 7 out of 10 will be re-arrested and sent back within 3 years of their release (Travis, Solomon, & Waul, 2001). This trend has large- scale implications, not just for individuals, but for their families and communities as well. Clearly, understanding the factors that contribute to a man’s success or failure in staying out of prison is extremely important in constructing policy and programs to assist these at-risk individuals and communities. Of the few studies that have explored the lives of previously incarcerated men, some have found fatherhood to be a …

The Impact Of Student Performance On Large-Scale Assessments: A View Of Long-Term Health, Career, And Societal Outcomes, Roman Usatin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined the predictive power of student growth for large-scale assessments on meaningful life outcomes, focusing on the three categories of health, career, and societal involvement. Analysis was conducted using the NELS:88/00 dataset–a longitudinal study that followed a nationally-representative sample of over 12,000 eighth grade students from 1988 to 2000, until the students were 26 years old and entered into the work force. The large-scale assessment variables included math and reading performance in the 1988 cognitive batteries administered by NELS. To gauge growth levels, I generated Student Growth Percentiles (SGP) from tests administered by NELS from 1988 to 1992. …

State-Seeking Nations: Critical Success Factors, Including Moderate Un Security Council Reform, David Jones, David Jones

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This thesis proposes realistic critical success factors of state-seeking nations (breakaway regions) in gaining full statehood. It also includes ramifications to the state-seeking nations with moderate UNSC (P5) reform. This argument proposes that without these critical successful factors, success for a state-seeking nation gaining full statehood is highly unlikely.

Juror Bias In A Mock Case Involving A Defendant With Kleptomania, Ally Reeves

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Jurors are instructed to only consider legal factors when making verdict and sentencing recommendations, but research has shown that biases can still affect these decisions. For instance, research has found that jurors can be influenced by both the type of defendant mental illness (Higgins, Heath, & Grannemann, 2007) and causal attributions regarding the mental illness (Rendell, Huss, & Jensen, 2010), even if jurors have not explicitly been told to consider this information. Although individuals with kleptomania often experience legal troubles (Grant, Odlaug, Davis, & Kim, 2009), this mental illness has not received attention in the mock juror literature. The current …

The Effects Of Tripartite Self-Construal On Prosocial Behavior, Nicole Ruser

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The current study examined the effects of both primed and unprimed tripartite self-construal on real helping behavior offered in a laboratory setting. Additional variables commonly associated with prosocial behavior, namely empathy (Eisenberg & Miller, 1987) and agreeableness (Graziano, Hasbashi, Sheese & Tobin, 2007; Caprara, Alessandri & Eisenberg, 2912), were also assessed. Undergraduate students (N = 119) completed self-report measures of empathy, agreeableness, and chronic self-construal, then completed a self-construal prime before the experimenter requested help with a simple task. It was predicted that the independence prime would increase helping among participants, as seen in the work of Finlay and …

Effects Of Practice Type And Task Difficulty On Visuospatial Performance, Soniya Assudani

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The importance of visuospatial skills for every day survival is highly evident. Practice is a mechanism by which visuospatial skills can be enhanced. The current study examined how general practice, different types of practice, and levels of task difficulty affect visuospatial performance. Seventy-eight undergraduate students participated in the Block Design Task (extracted from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) in which they had to construct a design with the blocks based on a printed image. Prior to completing 40 test trials, participants received opportunities for motor (physical), mental (visualization), or modeling (observational) practice. Half of the trials contained easy designs, and …

The Effects Of Repeated Ketamine Administration During Adolescence On Anxiety And Depressive-Like Behaviors Induced By A Predator Odor, Shannon L. Haas

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Disorders of anxiety and depression are major public health problems evident by their increasing prevalence and lack of effective treatments. These disorders are highly comorbid and share several debilitating symptoms. Previous research has implicated ketamine in the treatment of depression because of its rapid effects. Ketamine is a noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist that stimulates glutamate transmission. The efficacy of non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonists in anxiety treatment, however, lacks consistent findings. The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of repeated ketamine administration during rat adolescence on anxiety and depressive-like behaviors induced by a predator odor.

The use …

Selective Effects Of Selective Attention, Katherine Camille Moen

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Selective Attention is the process by which an individual attends to one stimulus while ignoring other distracting stimuli. Selective attention at encoding has been found to consistently impair memory performance. However, little research has found conclusive evidence as to the impact of selective attention during initial retrieval, and how that impacts retrieval on later tests, or the influence of the types of stimuli that participants are ignoring. The following series of experiments outline how selective attention impairs memory immediately and after a delay, during encoding and retrieval. Experiments 1-3 manipulated attention during retrieval. Experiment 1 found that selective attention during …

The Student Augustinian Values Institute: Assessing Its Impact Of Enhancing The Understanding And Experience Of The Augustinian Core Values Of Veritas, Unitas, And Caritas Upon Students In Augustinian Secondary Schools, Stephen M. Curry

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Educational leadership understands the importance of teaching values in its schools and incorporates this philosophy into the school’s symbolic and structural systems. Roman Catholic Church leaders have always endorsed the teaching of values in its schools and this position was sanctioned at its Second Vatican Council (Vatican Council II, 1962-65). One aspect of the Council emphasized the importance of Catholic education as an essential vehicle for proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. Catholic schools founded and sponsored by religious communities were challenged to reappropriate their founders’ charisms in their educational ministries. The Order of St. Augustine is an example …

The Impact Of Genetic Disease On The Family: Examining The Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being, Social Support, And Spirituality In Unaffected Carriers Of Leber’S Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, Jonathan W. Dator

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The current research was undertaken to explore the psychological well-being of mothers and siblings of an individual with vision loss symptoms due to Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy and whether perceived social support and spiritual involvement and beliefs served as protective factors as these family members coped with their child or sibling acquiring a disability. One hundred seventeen participants, 65 mothers and 52 siblings completed a Demographic Questionnaire, the Outcome Questionnaire-45, the Impact of Event Scale, the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support via an online internet survey. The data revealed that both mothers …