Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Courting Toyota, Selling Kentucky: Conflict And Relationship Building In The Establishment Of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Of Kentucky, 1984-1989, Eric Shea Bailey

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study is an examination of the social, economic, and governmental factors that surrounded the establishment of Toyota Motor Corporation's first wholly owned automobile plant in the United States. After a lengthy negotiation with several states, the plant was built in Scott County, Kentucky, near the city of Georgetown. The collected and archived correspondence of Governor Martha Layne Collins as well as contemporary media accounts and interviews with Governor Collins, Larry Hayes, Jiro Hashimoto, and Bill Londrigan served as the evidentiary basis for the research for this thesis. Previous interpretations have regarded the establishment of the factory as both a …

Sexting As Moral Panic: An Exploratory Study Into The Media's Construction Of Sexting, Brandon Scott Marker

Online Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a study of sexting as a socially constructed moral panic. Central to a social construction of moral panic perspective is the role the media plays in creating the panic. The purpose of this exploratory study was to make sense of the phenomenon of sexting by analyzing media reports for indication that sexting was constructed by the media as a moral panic. A content analysis was conducted on media reports for three concepts: Theme Setting, Sensational Stories, and Policy Changes. I conclude that sexting is constructed as a moral panic by the media.

Examining Construct Stability Across Career Stage Cohorts, Deborah L. Kinney

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to evaluate construct stability of the same certification test taken at different points in a test taker's career, taking into account changes is experience over time. A single medical certification exam administration was used to analyze the construct stability of the certification exam across testing cohorts at varied stages in their medical careers. The Rasch model was used for item analysis to calibrate the difficulty hierarchy of the exam items for each cohort. Correlations between the item difficulty hierarchies for each cohort supported the overall construct stability of the certification exam. Individual item function …

Nursing Home Administrators' Personality And Nursing Home Quality: Correlations Between The Predictive Index And Cms Ratings, Kelly Anne Osbaldiston

Online Theses and Dissertations

The approximately two million residents in nursing homes are nearly totally dependent on the care they receive from the nursing homes' staff. The quality of care ranges from excellent to substandard, and the goal of this project is to understand how the top administrators' personality is related to the quality of the facility. Very little research has been done from an organizational psychology perspective on how to improve the care that residents receive in nursing homes. To help address this problem, I examined the relationship between administrator personality factors (measured by Predictive Index) and nursing home quality (measured by the …

Gender Differences In Seeking Help, Jeff Jackson

Online Theses and Dissertations

Gender differences in willingness to seek help were examined in this study. Males often appear to not seek help from others, especially from a professional, like a psychologist. The current study will look at several factors that may prevent males from seeking help. First, males may be unaware of their problems as whole, specifically emotional and relational problems. Next, males often are afraid or unable to open up because they do not think in "emotions." Lastly, males are afraid to appear weak in order to keep their masculine appearance. In this study, participants read several scenarios and determined whether they …

Postwar Media Manifestations And Don Delillo, Joshua Adam Boldt

Online Theses and Dissertations

Media's influence on postwar American culture is undeniable. Don DeLillo's fiction is often a commentary on that influence. Hyperreality, Simulacra, Consumerism, and News Addiction are all regular themes in DeLillo's novels; this paper explores all of these concepts through the lens of media theory. Special attention is given to the novels White Noise, Americana, and Mao II, as well as to the media theorists Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, and Antonio Gramsci. The paper is both a history and a critique of postwar consumer culture and the role that media plays in the construction of that culture.

Little Brother Is Watching And Recording You: Social Control In A Deviant Group, Joshua Wayne Roberts

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1950s social control has mostly been explained from the counteraction of deviance perspective. In this research I examine social control in a broader context, what I call social control as the furtherance of action perspective. In order to accomplish this, I conducted a digital ethnography with a group engaged in deviant behavior. The group has no formal name, but individuals are known by the deviant act they engage in. The act is referred to as "capping", but is best explained as individuals or a group of individuals making screen recordings of live web cam feeds from websites designed …

Zapped: A Typology Of Use And Misuse Of The Taser, Lindsey L. Upton

Online Theses and Dissertations

Police use of TASER force is currently a hot topic of controversy in the intersections of society and the criminal justice system. Proponents, including manufacturers and law enforcement, value the TASER as a less than lethal alternative to deadly force; providing increased safety for officers as an aid to maintain distance between potentially threatening suspect(s) and officer(s) while preserving the life and well being of suspects in such encounters. Civil and human rights advocacies argue the TASER to be associated with many deaths, serious injury and abuse of power by law enforcement. Those who lean more toward the opposition of …

The Phenomenon Of Identity Theft, Hollie Reni Freeman

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research is a descriptive study of the prevalence of Identity Theft in the Commonwealth of Kentucky from 2004 to 2009 and the procedures used by the Kentucky State Police to deal with this crime. The data for this study is a combination of violation code use retrieved from Kentucky's Open Portal Solution (KYOPS) and complaint and case data retrieved from Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD). By gathering data from each of the 16 posts across the state of Kentucky, an evaluation of the prevalence of the crime of Identity Theft yields conclusive results. KYOPS Violation Code data showed a progressive …

Psychosocial Effects On Academic Performance, Aria Zhalet Higgins

Online Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that academic performance can be affected by many variables, such as parental involvement, family rules, family resources and homework. The present study focuses on these variables and their association with academic performance using 3,932 participants from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS). Results showed positive associations between Parental Involvement and Family Resources on Homework, which also had a positive association with Academic Performance; Family Rules had a negative association with Homework, which resulted in a negative association with Academic Performance.

Factors In Juvenile Court Dispositions: Case Study Of A Rural Juvenile Court, Kevin Lee Kirk

Online Theses and Dissertations

The primary question of importance in this current study is what factors affect judges' dispositional rulings in a small rural Central Kentucky county. In order to evaluate these factors, this study involved a two stage process. The quantitative data were gathered from 120 Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) files dating back to 1999 that were processed through the study site small county court. The qualitative data were gathered through a series of structured interviews with court personnel. This current study provides descriptive statistics of the study cases that have been adjudicated delinquent with respect to their legal and extralegal characteristics, …

An Exploration Of The Calls Received By The Kentucky Council On Problem Gambling Help Hotline, Carleigh Jones

Online Theses and Dissertations

Studies that focus on crisis hotlines are abundant, however very few deal with the subject of gambling. The literature reviewed examines gambling as an addiction and the general existence of hotlines. This study examines the use of the hotline provided by the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling (KYCPG) in a dichotomous breakdown of gender. There are some significant differences between males and females, particularly regarding criminal behavior in the effort to recoup gambling losses or to continue gambling. An additional breakdown of seasonal and regional call logs further analyzes the use of the KYCPG hotline.

Transnational Crime In A Global Community: The Case Of West Africa, Holly Joanna Sims

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research project is an examination of the organization and behavior of criminal group activity in the region of West Africa. An assessment of the size, structure, and type of criminal enterprises crime groups are involved in are investigated. It is also uncovered if and how groups make use of corruption, the legit economy, and influence politicians. The environment in which transnational crime is able to thrive is also of great interest as the social, political, economic, and technological changes that occurred alongside the sudden trend in transnational crime activity are considered. The information is used to generate a discussion …

The Prevalence Of Evidence-Based Practice By The Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist In The Intervention Planning Process For Client Treatment, Linda Mrkic

Online Theses and Dissertations

Currently, there is a paucity of research examining the extent to which Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is being used by the Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS). The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of EBP used by the CTRS in the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) southern district of the United States. This observational study investigated the use of EBP in the intervention planning process for client treatment. A sample of five hundred randomly selected CTRS from the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification (NCTRC) were surveyed, and 102 completed the survey, yielding a 20.4% response rate. …

Identity, Reality, And Truth In Memoirs From The Iraq And Afghanistan Wars, Travis L. Martin

Online Theses and Dissertations

This research uses trauma theory, memoir theory, narratology, and recent scientific research into the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) to explore developments in the memoir coming from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically, the author examines the works of Shoshana Johnson, Colby Buzzell, and Anthony Shaffer to uncover the ways in which identity, reality and truth present themselves in the destabilized narratives of traumatized subjects.

Travis Martin is himself a veteran of the Iraq War, using his first-hand knowledge as a compass to guide him through intricate memoirs written by his contemporaries. Beginning …

Factors That Contribute To Student Graduation And Dropout Rates: An In-Depth Study Of A Rural Appalachian School District, Ann Lyttle-Burns

Online Theses and Dissertations

There has been a wealth of research conducted on the national epidemic of high school dropouts spanning several decades. It is estimated that the class of 2009 cost the nation $335 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2009). The citizenry of the country suffers not only because of the loss in revenue but also as a result of the education level of the population. Individuals who choose to drop out of high school are not prepared for the most basic minimum wage jobs available, much less well paying jobs that sustain livelihoods. …

Mental Health Services In Appalachia, Miranda Renee Waters

Online Theses and Dissertations

People from rural areas of the country, such as the Appalachian region of Kentucky, continue to struggle with inadequate mental health services. Past research has identified several barriers for mental health services in rural communities such as lack of mental health providers, lack of transportation, and lack of education. The purpose of this study was to examine the severity of a psychological problem and how it could influence Appalachian and non-Appalachians' preference for type of help. It was hypothesized that people from the Appalachian region would recommend seeing a mental health professional when a problem had reached its highest severity. …

A Multi-Method Assessment Approach To The Detection Of Malingered Pain: Association With The Mmpi-2 Restructured Form, Jaime L. Anderson

Online Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the utility of the MMPI-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) over-reporting scales (F-r, Fp-r, Fs, and FBS-r) and the Response Bias Scale (RBS) to detect symptom exaggeration among litigants claiming chronic pain. Utilizing the Bianchini et al. (2005) multi-method criteria for Malingered Pain Related Disability (MPRD), patients were classified along a continuum ranging from incentive only to definite malingering. Malingering classification was found to have a significant effect on MMPI-2-RF over-reporting scales, particularly the RBS, Infrequent Symptoms Scale (F-r), and Infrequent Somatic Responses scale (Fs), which supports the use of the MMPI-2-RF in forensic disability evaluations.

A Call To Arms: The Militarization Of Natural Disasters In The United States, Ashley Katherine Farmer

Online Theses and Dissertations

Natural disasters are an expected and uncontrolled part of history, and will continue and possibly worsen in the future. The humanitarian focus that has characterized disaster response throughout the years is changing, as is the way the federal government responds to large-scale natural disasters. In recent years, the primary concern in responding to these catastrophes has shifted from the well-being of citizens to the security and safety of the area impacted. Security and crime have become a main focus, with the military increasingly gaining a more prominent role in relief efforts. This thesis will provide evidence that the militarization of …

Supermax Confinement: A Descriptive And Theoretical Inquiry, Marisa M. Baumgardner

Online Theses and Dissertations

In the past few decades, there has been a proliferation of supermax prisons and units across the nation, reflecting the increased use of administrative, isolated segregation. This proliferation is embedded within a broader shift in society towards more punitive measures of disciplining those people convicted of criminal offenses. The primary purpose of this thesis is to examine the proliferation of supermax confinement as a major component of the punitive shift. This is done primarily through the application of contemporary literature that focuses on the sociology of punishment theory. Another purpose of this thesis was to examine and describe the history …

Commitment Beyond Morality: American Complicity In The Massacre At El Mozote, El Salvador, 1981, Dustin Hill

Online Theses and Dissertations

In order to highlight the complicity of the American government, this thesis will discuss in depth the most important massacre perpetrated by the Salvadoran military. While the American government maintained publicly that respect for human rights was one of the main goals of its mission in El Salvador, the six billion dollars of aid and American actions in the region belied another reality. This examination argues that it is clear that the massacre at El Mozote in late 1981 was the direct result of U.S. foreign policy initiatives. Although the Americans kept themselves insulated to provide for plausible deniability, the …

Reality Television And Its Impact On Women's Body Image, Ayarza Manwaring

Online Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found that both print media and television may affect the body image of young women. Tiggerman and Pickering (1996) found that it was not just the amount of television viewed, but the viewing of appearance focused shows that affected body image. Schooler, Ward, Merriwether and Caruthers (2004) came to the conclusion that women's viewing of shows with predominantly white casts lead to greater body dissatisfaction. To date, no investigations have looked at a new and popular genre, categorized as, `reality television'. The purpose of this study was examine the effects of viewing this new genre and its …