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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Initial Testing Of The Continuous Employee Development Model: Outcome Expectations And Work-Related Implicit Theory, Christina Garofano Jan 2006

Initial Testing Of The Continuous Employee Development Model: Outcome Expectations And Work-Related Implicit Theory, Christina Garofano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding and promoting lifelong learning in employees is important for employees' future marketability (Robinson & Rousseau, 1994) and for creating learning organizations (Senge, 1990). To further this understanding, components of a model of the motivation to engage in continuous employee development (Garofano & Salas, 2005) were tested. New scales were created for work-related implicit theory and outcome expectations and the validity of these scales and these variables in the model were investigated. Alternate models were also contrasted with the Garofano and Salas model (2005). The study used self-report surveys administered to staff and faculty recruited from training classes in higher …

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An Investigation Of Altruism And Personality Variables Amongbeginning Counseling Students, Laura Schmuldt Jan 2006

An Investigation Of Altruism And Personality Variables Amongbeginning Counseling Students, Laura Schmuldt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Altruism is loosely defined as a desire to help others as well as acts and behaviors towards that end, particularly when no expectation of personal gain or reward exists (Batson, Fultz, Schoenrade & Paduano, 1987). It seems likely that individuals who choose to pursue acareer in counseling might be doing so out of some altruistic interest; in other words a desire to come to the aid of others in distress. It has been noted as well that some individuals may enter the counseling profession based more on self-interest; for example, as "wounded healers" hoping to work on personal issues (Wheeler, …

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Relationship Violence Among College Students: The Predictive Power Of Sociodemographic Characteristicsand Domestic Violence Beli, Erin Nabors Jan 2006

Relationship Violence Among College Students: The Predictive Power Of Sociodemographic Characteristicsand Domestic Violence Beli, Erin Nabors

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines relationship violence among college students, focusing on the predictive roles of their sociodemographic characteristics and domestic violence beliefs. College students experience an extremely high level of abuse among intimate partners, with prevalence rates ranging between 20 and 50%. Since relationship violence among college students is such a widespread problem, it is important to understand what lies at the foundation of this type of abuse. Findings from previous studies demonstrate correlations between sociodemographic characteristics and perpetration of relationship violence as well as correlations between beliefs supportive of abuse among intimate partners and perpetration of relationship violence. However, research …

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A Comparison Of Ordinary Least Squares, Weighted Least Squares, And Other Procedures When Testing For The Equality Of Regression, Patrick J. Rosopa Jan 2006

A Comparison Of Ordinary Least Squares, Weighted Least Squares, And Other Procedures When Testing For The Equality Of Regression, Patrick J. Rosopa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When testing for the equality of regression slopes based on ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation, extant research has shown that the standard F performs poorly when the critical assumption of homoscedasticity is violated, resulting in increased Type I error rates and reduced statistical power (Box, 1954; DeShon & Alexander, 1996; Wilcox, 1997). Overton (2001) recommended weighted least squares estimation, demonstrating that it outperformed OLS and performed comparably to various statistical approximations. However, Overton's method was limited to two groups. In this study, a generalization of Overton's method is described. Then, using a Monte Carlo simulation, its performance was compared to …

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The Kiosk Culture: Reconciling The Performance Support Paradox In The Postmodern Age Of Machines, Thomas Cavanagh Jan 2006

The Kiosk Culture: Reconciling The Performance Support Paradox In The Postmodern Age Of Machines, Thomas Cavanagh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do you remember the first time you used an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)? Or a pay-at-the-pump gas station? Or an airline e-ticket kiosk? How did you know what to do? Although you never received any formal instruction in how to interact with the self-service technology, you were likely able to accomplish your task (e.g., withdrawing or depositing money) as successfully as an experienced user. However, not so long ago, to accomplish that same task, you needed the direct mediation of a service professional who had been trained how to use the required complex technology. What has changed? In short, the …

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Police Organizational Performance In The State Of Florida:Confirmatory Analysis Of The Relationship Of The Environment And Design Structure To Performance, Jeffrey Goltz Jan 2006

Police Organizational Performance In The State Of Florida:Confirmatory Analysis Of The Relationship Of The Environment And Design Structure To Performance, Jeffrey Goltz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To date, police organizations have not been rigorously analyzed by organizational scholars and most analysis of these organizations has been captured through a single construct. The purpose of this study is to develop confirmatory police organizational analysis by validating a multi-dimensional conceptual framework that explains the relationships among three constructs: environmental constraints, the design structures of police organizations, and organizational performance indicators. The modeling is deeply rooted in contingency theory, and the influence of isomorphism and institutional theory on the covariance structure model are investigated. One hundred and thirteen local police organizations from the State of Florida are included in …

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General Social Trust And Political Trust Within Social And Political Groups: A Case Study, Weylan Craig Jan 2006

General Social Trust And Political Trust Within Social And Political Groups: A Case Study, Weylan Craig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People in society with high levels of generalized social trust and political trust are more likely to engage in civic activism and participation. Therefore, people involved in social and political groups will likely have higher levels of generalized social and political trust than the general public. What lacks in this realm of scholarship is a solid comparison of trust among people involved in social and political groups. This case-study analysis of generalized social trust and political trust among social and political groups shows the trust that is not only generated within each group, but also which types of groups are …

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The Construct Validity Of A Situational Judgment Test In A Maximum Performance Context, Kevin Stagl Jan 2006

The Construct Validity Of A Situational Judgment Test In A Maximum Performance Context, Kevin Stagl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Predictor Response Process model (see Ployhart, 2006) and research findings were leveraged to formulate research questions about, and generate construct validity evidence for, a new situational judgment test (SJT) designed to measure declarative and strategic knowledge. The first question asked if SJT response instructions (i.e., 'Should Do', 'Would Do') moderated the validity of an SJT in a maximum performance context. The second question asked what the upper-bound criterion-related validity coefficient is for SJTs in talent selection contexts in which typical performance is the criterion of interest. The third question asked whether the SJT used in the present study was …

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Engagement, Trust, And Reciprocity: Exploring The Relationship Between Social Captial And Participation In Nonprofit Organizations, Rebecca Feiler Jan 2006

Engagement, Trust, And Reciprocity: Exploring The Relationship Between Social Captial And Participation In Nonprofit Organizations, Rebecca Feiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the extent to which various forms of social capital impact participation in nonprofit organizations. Previous research has focused on the importance of trust and engagement among social and political networks to form strong community ties that can cultivate the growth of social capital and promote participation in nonprofit organizations. The data analyzed in this study were derived from the Central Florida Social Capital Benchmark survey, collected at the University of Central Florida's Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences. To represent social capital, related variables from the survey are combined to create indices that represent civic engagement and …

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Benchmarking Community Health Centers; Efficiency: Multivariate Analysis, Shriram Marathe Jan 2006

Benchmarking Community Health Centers; Efficiency: Multivariate Analysis, Shriram Marathe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Community Health Centers (CHCs), designed to provide accessible and affordable health care services to low-income families, were first funded by the Federal Government as part of the War on Poverty in the mid-1960s. Improving healthcare organizational performance efficiency is paramount. It is an especially pressing need for CHCs' because they carry a disproportionate burden of caring for the uninsured within limited budgets. Prior studies suffer from conceptual and methodological limitations. A longitudinal multivariate analysis of factors influencing the performance of CHCs is needed. The purpose of this study is to benchmark CHC performance in terms of technical and cost efficiency, …

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Does Hope Vi Deep-Six The Poor? Analyzing The Effects Of Displacement Former Residents Of Distressed Public Housing In A Mid-Sized Southern City, David Zeller Jan 2006

Does Hope Vi Deep-Six The Poor? Analyzing The Effects Of Displacement Former Residents Of Distressed Public Housing In A Mid-Sized Southern City, David Zeller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do downtown revitalization efforts detrimentally affect people who are displaced? HUD's HOPE VI grant program provides local housing authorities with funds to leverage private investment to demolish blighted, severely distressed public housing units and replace them with mixed-use, mixed-income units. In 2002, the OHA secured an $18 million grant to redevelop a public housing project then known as Carver Court. 212 units of public housing were razed and former public housing residents were displaced to make way for redevelopment. Interviews with 55 former residents of Carver Court are analyzed to determine the self-reported effects of the local implementation of federal …

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Development And Evaluation Of A Single-Session Expectancy Challenge Intervention To Reduce Alcohol Use Among Heavy Drinking College Students, Hoyee Lau Jan 2006

Development And Evaluation Of A Single-Session Expectancy Challenge Intervention To Reduce Alcohol Use Among Heavy Drinking College Students, Hoyee Lau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While overall rates of college student drinking have declined slightly since 1980, extreme forms of drinking are escalating. A comprehensive review of all aspects of alcohol use among college students completed by a panel of scientists and college presidents concluded that very few approaches for dealing with student drinking can be considered empirically validated, and they strongly encouraged additional efforts to develop and validate effective strategies. Expectancy challenge approaches designed to reduce risky drinking through changing key expectancies have been identified as one of the few validated strategies, but this approach has not been developed into a format that is …

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The Impact Of Mental Transformation Training Across Levels Of Automation On Spatial Awareness In Human-Robot Interaction, Sherri Rehfeld Jan 2006

The Impact Of Mental Transformation Training Across Levels Of Automation On Spatial Awareness In Human-Robot Interaction, Sherri Rehfeld

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the problems affecting robot operators' spatial awareness involves their ability to infer a robot's location based on the views from on-board cameras and other electro-optic systems. To understand the vehicle's location, operators typically need to translate images from a vehicle's camera into some other coordinates, such as a location on a map. This translation requires operators to relate the view by mentally rotating it along a number of axes, a task that is both attention-demanding and workload-intensive, and one that is likely affected by individual differences in operator spatial abilities. Because building and maintaining spatial awareness is attention-demanding …

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Decreasing Alcohol Use Among High School Students By Challenging Alcohol Expectancies, Iris Cruz Jan 2006

Decreasing Alcohol Use Among High School Students By Challenging Alcohol Expectancies, Iris Cruz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Altering alcohol expectancies has reduced alcohol use among college students and may lead to successful prevention of alcohol use among high school students. We randomly assigned 379 12th-grade students to an expectancy challenge, traditional alcohol information, or control condition, and used Individual Differences Scaling to map expectancies into memory network format with Preference Mapping to model likely paths of association. After expectancy and traditional alcohol interventions, higher drinking male participants exhibited a greater likelihood to associate alcohol use with negative and sedating consequences and a decreased likelihood to associate alcohol with positive and arousing consequences. Drinking decreases paralleled the magnitude …

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Role Identity Formation Of Occupational Therapy Students, Denise A. Rotert Jan 2006

Role Identity Formation Of Occupational Therapy Students, Denise A. Rotert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an examination of the professional socialization process of occupational therapy students from a role identity theoretical perspective. First-year students, second-year students, fieldwork students, and faculty at an occupational therapy educational program at a Midwestern institution volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected through focus group interviews and surveys. The focus of the study was to determine factors associated with occupational therapy students’ identity salience, commitment, and role-person merger. Interviews and surveys were used to determine what factors, over and above didactic education, influence the socialization of students into the profession of occupational therapy and what …

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Predicting Alcohol And Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes Among Hispanic And African American Substance Abusers, Dawna-Cricket-Martita Meehan Jan 2006

Predicting Alcohol And Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes Among Hispanic And African American Substance Abusers, Dawna-Cricket-Martita Meehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol and drug use and abuse are significant concerns in the United States, yet few studies have investigated how cultural factors, such as acculturative type and acculturative stress, impact substance abuse treatment outcomes. In this study, African American (n = 171) and Hispanic (n = 101) substance abusers' acculturative type and acculturative stress levels were compared to substance abuse treatment outcome. Although the results indicated that acculturative type did not predict substance abuse treatment outcome, a positive correlation between acculturative stress and alcohol and substance abuse problems emerged among the combined and Hispanic samples. In the combined and Hispanic groups, …

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The Relationship Among Wellness, Severity Of Disturbance, And Social Desirability Of Entering Master's-Level Counseling Students, Heather Smith Jan 2006

The Relationship Among Wellness, Severity Of Disturbance, And Social Desirability Of Entering Master's-Level Counseling Students, Heather Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A wellness paradigm may hold promise for unifying and strengthening the identity of the counseling profession. The construct of wellness may also hold implications for assessment of entering master's-level counseling students, as a tool for continuous evaluation of students, or for overall program evaluation. In this study, the only counseling-based wellness assessment measure, the Five Factor Wellness Evaluation of Lifestyle, was tested for its relationship to two other constructs: psychological disturbance and social desirability. In order to test the research hypotheses, a total of nine programs (in five states) and 204 entering master's-level counseling students completed instrumentation packets comprised of …

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Falling Down: The Influence Of Traffic Patterns And Availability Of Emergency Medical Service Personnel On The Lethality Of Violent Encounters, Nicholas Libby Jan 2006

Falling Down: The Influence Of Traffic Patterns And Availability Of Emergency Medical Service Personnel On The Lethality Of Violent Encounters, Nicholas Libby

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the impact of traffic patterns and the availability of emergency medical services on the lethality of violent interpersonal encounters. Key situational and contextual factors are controlled using the criminal events perspective. Data were taken from the 2002 National Incident-Based Reporting System of the FBI, as well as from fire/rescue and EMS services of Memphis, TN, Cincinnati, OH, and Richmond, VA. Additive models of logistic regression analysis revealed that fire/rescue availability, firearm use, incidents arising out of arguments, outdoor locations, and victim gender are the most consistent predictors of whether or not a violent incident will result in …

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Orienting Of Visual-Spatial Attention With Augmented Reality: Effects Of Spatial And Non-Spatial Multi-Modal Cues, Christian Jerome Jan 2006

Orienting Of Visual-Spatial Attention With Augmented Reality: Effects Of Spatial And Non-Spatial Multi-Modal Cues, Christian Jerome

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advances in simulation technology have brought about many improvements to the way we train tasks, as well as how we perform tasks in the operational field. Augmented reality (AR) is an example of how to enhance the user's experience in the real world with computer generated information and graphics. Visual search tasks are known to be capacity demanding and therefore may be improved by training in an AR environment. During the experimental task, participants searched for enemies (while cued from visual, auditory, tactile, combinations of two, or all three modality cues) and tried to shoot them while avoiding shooting the …

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Minority Physician Job Satisfaction: A Content Analysis Of Written Responses To Open-Ended Survey Questions About Professional A, Devorah Daniels-Kranz Jan 2006

Minority Physician Job Satisfaction: A Content Analysis Of Written Responses To Open-Ended Survey Questions About Professional A, Devorah Daniels-Kranz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few interpersonal and organizational communication studies examine the professional and organizational aspects of career satisfaction among minority physicians. Due to the underrepresenation of minority physicians, most studies resort to comparing aggregate groups of minority physicians in juxtaposition to non-minority physicians. These studies fail to uncover possible communication differences, which originate from cultural dissimilarities between disaggregate racial/ethnic groups. Even fewer studies examine physicians' written communication to open-ended survey questions about career satisfaction/dissatisfaction between disaggregate racial/ethnic minority groups and non-minorities. This study specifically examines written responses to two open-ended survey questions about professional and organizational dissatisfaction and compares responses from disaggregate minority …

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Examining Employee Use Of Family-Friendly Benefits With The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Heather Seiser Jan 2006

Examining Employee Use Of Family-Friendly Benefits With The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Heather Seiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the factors that may be related to employees' decisions to use the family-friendly benefits (e.g., maternity/paternity leave, flexible work schedule) that are offered to them by their employers. Research has shown that both employees and organizations benefit when employees use family-friendly benefits. However, research has also shown that many employees do not take advantage of such benefits. Studies examining this issue are limited, and much of the research that has been conducted is anecdotal and atheoretical. The present study overcame this problem by empirically examining the use of family-friendly benefits within …

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Gender Stereotypes And The Governor's Mansion, Adrienne Mathews Jan 2006

Gender Stereotypes And The Governor's Mansion, Adrienne Mathews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the effects of gender stereotypes on women gubernatorial candidates in the post "Year of the Woman" era to determine whether or not the electoral gains made by women running for legislative office in 1992 also extended to women contesting executive elections in subsequent years. This study proceeds in two parts. The first part of this study provides an empirical analysis of contextual and candidate specific factors thought to affect the way in which gender stereotypes surface during gubernatorial campaigns and how they affect women candidates accordingly. The contextual factors include state culture, party dominance, and tradition of …

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Comparison Of The Stress Levels And Gpa Of African American College Students At Historically Black And Predominantly White Institutions., Yashica Dearcie Woods Dec 2005

Comparison Of The Stress Levels And Gpa Of African American College Students At Historically Black And Predominantly White Institutions., Yashica Dearcie Woods

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stress levels of African American college students attending Historically Black and Predominantly White Institutions were compared. The GPAs of the students were correlated with their stress levels. Racism and social support were explored as factors contributing to stress. Results indicated that African American students attending the Predominantly White institution had higher stress than African American students attending the Historically Black institution and White students attending the Predominantly White institution. The results also indicated that GPA and stress were negatively correlated; as stress levels decreased, GPA increased. A negative correlation was found to be significant with social support and stress; as …

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Parenting Style And Its Relationship To Interpretation Of The Bible And Worship Style In College Students., Geoffrey R. Mabe Dec 2005

Parenting Style And Its Relationship To Interpretation Of The Bible And Worship Style In College Students., Geoffrey R. Mabe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To extend research on Baumrind’s parenting styles, a scenario study was conducted to determine if the gender of a stimulus child and the parenting style employed by stimulus parents would relate significantly to biblical interpretation style and preferred worship style. A 2x3 independent groups factorial design was employed for analysis in two different procedures. Respondents (152 undergraduate students) were provided with one of six scenarios, each of which varied by gender of stimulus child and by one of three parenting styles employed by the stimulus parent. Respondents were then directed to complete the Scriptural Literalism Scale (Hogge & Friedman, 1967) …

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Eating Disorder Symptoms, Body Image Attitudes, And Risk Factors In Non-Traditional And Traditional Age Female College Students., Jennifer E. Caldwell Dec 2005

Eating Disorder Symptoms, Body Image Attitudes, And Risk Factors In Non-Traditional And Traditional Age Female College Students., Jennifer E. Caldwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates whether there are certain age groups in college that are more susceptible to eating problems and the contributing factors for eating disorders. The participants were 144 college women divided into traditional and non-traditional age groups. The EDI-2, BSI, RSE, and additional items were administered. The results show that non-traditional age college women were as likely to have eating disorder symptoms and more likely to possess body dissatisfaction than traditional age college students. The data support body dissatisfaction, aging concerns, perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and having children as potential risk factors for eating disturbances. This study suggests that there …

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The Impact Of Participation In The Johnson City, Tn Citizen's Police Academy., Angela Elkins Dec 2005

The Impact Of Participation In The Johnson City, Tn Citizen's Police Academy., Angela Elkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Citizen's Police Academy allows citizens to attend the police academy to learn more about police departments and police work. While increasing in popularity, very little research has focused on participant impact. This study examines the impact of the Johnson City CPA on participants' attitudes and beliefs about police work. Surveys were analyzed to discover differences in age, education levels, gender and prior interest in police work concerning satisfaction, importance of training, and behavior change. Older respondents reported the most benefit from participation, while younger respondents were more likely to change their behaviors. Those with mid level educations gained the …

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And Now A Punch, Kick, And Slap From Our Sponsors: A Content Analysis Of Aggression In Network Television Commercials., Robert C. Carpenter Aug 2005

And Now A Punch, Kick, And Slap From Our Sponsors: A Content Analysis Of Aggression In Network Television Commercials., Robert C. Carpenter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the violent content of television news and entertainment programs has been widely documented, commercials have been rarely scrutinized for aggressive traits. This study sought to improve on this situation and gather additional data about television commercial violence. Because commercials make up 25 percent of each network hour of programming, the potential for exposure to violent content may be even greater than previously believed. To explore this issue, a content analysis was conducted of 2,162 prime-time television commercials on three major networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. The sample was coded with a scheme developed by Anu Mustonen and Lea Pulkkinen …

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Gender Differences In Working Memory In Humans Tested On A Virtual Morris Water Maze., Ivy A. Click Aug 2005

Gender Differences In Working Memory In Humans Tested On A Virtual Morris Water Maze., Ivy A. Click

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A computerized virtual version of the Morris water maze (vMWM) was used to assess human gender differences in spatial working memory. In Experiment 1, the release point and platform location was changed on every other trial for 20 trials. Men had significantly reduced acquisition latencies and more accurate heading errors on the first daily trial compared to women. In Experiment 2, the release point and platform location was changed every fourth trial for 20 trials. Men had significantly shorter acquisition latencies and path lengths than women. Experiment 3 was identical to Experiment 2, except that environmental cues were changed throughout …

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Aggression: Relationships With Sex, Gender Role Identity, And Gender Role Stress., Robin L. Leonard Aug 2005

Aggression: Relationships With Sex, Gender Role Identity, And Gender Role Stress., Robin L. Leonard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex, gender-role identity, and gender-role stress were assessed in terms of their relationship to observed gender differences in self-reported aggression. Physical and verbal aggression were explored, as well as the affective component of anger and cognitive component of hostility. The role of emotional intelligence in these relationships was also evaluated, as a possible correlate to the gender-related variables. The results indicated that both gender-role stress and gender-role identification were significantly associated with all components of aggression; however, only physical aggression was related to sex. Emotional intelligence was linked to sex and gender-role identity but not with gender-role stress. The results …

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Teachers Or "Real" Police Officers?: A Study Of Dare Officers In Northeast Tennessee., Jennifer Lynne Commons May 2005

Teachers Or "Real" Police Officers?: A Study Of Dare Officers In Northeast Tennessee., Jennifer Lynne Commons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most studies of the Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program evaluate the program’s effectiveness; this thesis instead examines the police officers who implement the program. Based on interviews with 12 DARE officers in the Northeast region of Tennessee, the thesis explores how members of this special category of police officers identify themselves. The DARE officer interviews were compared with published literature on conventional police officers. All DARE officers interviewed defined themselves as police officers but did little to no actual police work, nor were they viewed by patrol officers as “real” police officers. Instead, DARE officers functioned primarily as educators. …

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