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Theses and Dissertations

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Articles 5701 - 5730 of 8860

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Revisiting The Spiral Of Silence In A Social Media Environment: Egypt’S 2014 Presidential Election As A Case Study, Heba T. Saleh Elshahed Jul 2014

Revisiting The Spiral Of Silence In A Social Media Environment: Egypt’S 2014 Presidential Election As A Case Study, Heba T. Saleh Elshahed

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of the Internet and anonymous features of online media, users have established novel platforms to voice their opinion freely without fear of negative feedback. This thesis explores the application of a long-standing public opinion theory– the spiral of silence by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann–within the prevalent Social Networking Sites (SNS), particularly Facebook. When applying spiral of silence to online mediated environment, it seems intuitive that the lack of verbal cues and anonymity offered would serve to undermine the fear of isolation and restlessness that results in unwillingness to express minority views. This research contributes to understanding how the spiral …

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How We Feel About How We Talk: A Language Attitude Survey Of Utah English, David Matthew Savage Jul 2014

How We Feel About How We Talk: A Language Attitude Survey Of Utah English, David Matthew Savage

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that Utah English is a distinct variety of English, particularly as spoken in the Wasatch front region (Lillie 1998). It is characterized by particular linguistic features, including tense/lax vowel mergers before tautosyllabic /l/ (Di Paolo and Farber 1990) and the oral release of glottal stops in certain environments (Eddington and Savage 2012). The features of this variety have been studied; however, not much research has been done about the positive or negative attitudes people hold toward it. Casual observation indicates that Utahans themselves may judge speakers of this variety more harshly than do people from other regions. …

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Barriers To Native American Women Veterans’ Health Care Access On Tworeservations: Northern Cheyenne And Flathead, Luma Issa Al Masarweh Jul 2014

Barriers To Native American Women Veterans’ Health Care Access On Tworeservations: Northern Cheyenne And Flathead, Luma Issa Al Masarweh

Theses and Dissertations

Little research has addressed the needs of Native American veterans. This study aims to provide a better understanding of Native American women veterans’ experiences using data from the Veteran Administration and Indian Health Services. Fifteen interviews were conducted with special attention to quality and quantity of health and mental health care services available to veterans, the barriers and local contextual factors in accessing and utilizing services, and potential solutions to service gaps for women veterans from two Montana reservations, the Northern Cheyenne and Flathead Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. American Indians and Alaska Natives serve at a higher rate in …

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Unexpected Dramatic Change In Psychotherapy: Comparing Three Methods, Joseph Richard Horner Jul 2014

Unexpected Dramatic Change In Psychotherapy: Comparing Three Methods, Joseph Richard Horner

Theses and Dissertations

Unexpected dramatic changes in psychotherapy have been observed historically and tied to high recovery rates. Many different methodologies that identify these changes are assumed to be capturing similar or identical phenomena. This study compared three methods – Sudden Gains (SG), Percentage Increase – 50% (PI-50%), and Rapid Response (RR) - in a large database looking for similarities and differences. Results suggest that there are significant differences between SG, RR, and PI-50 as methods for operationally defining unexpected dramatic treatment response, and caution should be used when referring to SG, PI-50, and RR as the same phenomenon or interchangeable terms for …

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“One More Drinkin’ Song”: A Longitudinal Content Analysis Of Country Music Lyrics Between The Years 1994 And 2013, Keith Mckay Evans Jul 2014

“One More Drinkin’ Song”: A Longitudinal Content Analysis Of Country Music Lyrics Between The Years 1994 And 2013, Keith Mckay Evans

Theses and Dissertations

The lyrical content of pop music has rarely been studied, particularly for country music. The lyrics of the top 50 country songs for each year between 1994 and 2013 were coded for violent, sexual and substance use-related content. Violence had increased, as had sexual references, substance use, and substance use associated with sexual activity. Of particular note is the frequency of references to alcohol; 21% of the 1,000-song sampling frame contained alcoholic references, and the average for the final five-year period (2009-2013) was 1.01 references per song. This research should serve as a springboard into further studies about the lyrical …

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The Effectiveness Of Using Manipulatives To Teach Fractions, Jaime Gaetano Jun 2014

The Effectiveness Of Using Manipulatives To Teach Fractions, Jaime Gaetano

Theses and Dissertations

The current study will focus on the effectiveness of using manipulatives when teaching fractions to elementary school students. Learning the concepts of fractions can be one of the most difficult skills to master for elementary level students. With so many different ways to expose students to manipulatives and enhance their fraction learning experience, it is important to examine how effective these teaching tools can be with respect to student achievement. The current study will discuss the effectiveness on student achievement when manipulatives are used during the teaching process. The main focus will be on student growth after being taught concepts …

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Examining The Social Affordances Of Communication Technology On Human Relations: A Critique Of Networked Individualism From The Perspective Of The Ethical Phenomenology Of Emmanuel Levinas, Michael Lee Wood Jun 2014

Examining The Social Affordances Of Communication Technology On Human Relations: A Critique Of Networked Individualism From The Perspective Of The Ethical Phenomenology Of Emmanuel Levinas, Michael Lee Wood

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I ask how our understanding of human relations carries implications for the way we understand the affordances of communication technology on human relations. To this end, I examine and compare two opposed perspectives of human relations and social life. The first perspective, networked individualism, is a version of network theory that begins with a foundation of agentic individuals who actively construct and manage their social worlds. Levinasian relationalism, the second perspective, offers a contrasting view that sees human relations as constitutive of human subjectivity. In comparing these two perspectives, I argue that networked individualism is an inadequate …

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Where Did You Come From? The Effects Of Culture, Hometown Region, And Gender On The Perception, Endorsement, And Justification Of Aggression, Lindsay Hendricks Jun 2014

Where Did You Come From? The Effects Of Culture, Hometown Region, And Gender On The Perception, Endorsement, And Justification Of Aggression, Lindsay Hendricks

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine whether individual factors, including culture, hometown region, and gender, would affect the likelihood of a person perceiving and justifying an aggressive act. Previous literature explored the differences between distinctive cultural subtypes, hometown regions, and gender on the acceptance of expressing aggression. Hypotheses were established to examine the perception, justification, and endorsement of aggression in a northern setting with college-aged participants. Participants were asked to watch clips from six modern American movies. After each clip, participants answered seven questions based on their perceptions. Six univariate Analysis of Variances (ANOVAs) were conducted to …

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Objective Science Of Biased Philosophy: Does Naturalism Play A Dogmatic Role In Psychology?, Shannon Starks Jun 2014

Objective Science Of Biased Philosophy: Does Naturalism Play A Dogmatic Role In Psychology?, Shannon Starks

Theses and Dissertations

Students and consumers of psychological science are routinely taught that the scientific approach used in psychological research facilitates its providing the most accurate information about human behavior. Because this approach to knowledge acquisition is supposed to be based on objective evidence and systematic reasoning rather than the biased interpretation of other approaches, these other approaches are often marginalized as being inferior. Critics of these claims assert that psychological science is subject to biases just as other approaches are and that the philosophy of naturalism not only pervades, but is also hidden and largely unquestioned in mainstream psychology. This study examines …

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Youth Motivation As A Predictor Of Treatment Outcomes In A Community Mental Health System, Brett M. Merrill Jun 2014

Youth Motivation As A Predictor Of Treatment Outcomes In A Community Mental Health System, Brett M. Merrill

Theses and Dissertations

The role of motivation in relation to youth symptoms and psychotherapy outcomes is not well understood. Some cross-sectional research suggests that motivation predicts youth treatment outcome in low-motivation populations. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of change in youth motivation over the course of treatment and to elucidate the relation between motivation, youth symptoms, and psychotherapy outcomes in a routine community mental health setting. Participants and their caregivers were from three community mental health outpatient clinics and completed youth or parent forms of the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y-OQ) and Treatment Support Measure (TSM) at frequent intervals throughout …

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Religious Institutions And Entrepreneurship Among Marginalized Groups, Ryan Scott Coles Jun 2014

Religious Institutions And Entrepreneurship Among Marginalized Groups, Ryan Scott Coles

Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship has become increasingly important to civic and private leaders all over the world. In response to calls by scholars to develop theory on entrepreneurship by conducting systematic analyses of how specific institutions shape the entrepreneurial process, the current study explores how Muslim and Mormon religious institutions shape entrepreneurship for their adherents. Through observation and in-depth interviews with Muslim and Mormon entrepreneurs, the study found that religious institutions from both faiths shaped several important entrepreneurial phenomena: decision making, confidence and support, opportunity creation, and opportunity recognition, as well as management and other entrepreneurial skills. The study shows …

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Outcome Variables Of Childhood Sexual Abuse As Potential Risk Factors For Sexual Revictimization In Adulthood, Christine Renee Bowles Jun 2014

Outcome Variables Of Childhood Sexual Abuse As Potential Risk Factors For Sexual Revictimization In Adulthood, Christine Renee Bowles

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood sexual abuse is a large problem, with research estimates indicating that between 16-25% of women have experienced sexual abuse at some point during their childhood (Dube et al., 2005; Gorey & Leslie, 1997). Even more alarming is the data that suggests that women who have experienced childhood sexual abuse are between 2 to 11 times more likely to experience sexual assault as an adult than individuals with no past history of abuse (Messman-Moore & Long, 2003). To help understand the complex and varied outcomes associated with childhood sexual abuse, Finkelhor and Browne (1985) developed a model conceptualizing the four …

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The Status Of Csr In Corporate America: A Content Analysis Of The Organizations With The Top-Performing Csr Programs Within The Fortune 500, Laura C. Thomas Jun 2014

The Status Of Csr In Corporate America: A Content Analysis Of The Organizations With The Top-Performing Csr Programs Within The Fortune 500, Laura C. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate social responsibility has become an accepted part of business for organizations of any size. Organizations are not only expected to be profitable and successful, but they are also expected to be responsible global citizens. However, though this has become an accepted part of business, there remain many areas of CSR research that are under researched. This study examined the top 16 CSR programs of organizations headquartered in the United States to better understand what they communicate about their programs, their relationship with both the news media and government entities, which issues they address the most, and where they implement …

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Predicting Alcohol Consumption In Adolescent Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Andrea Nichole Sorenson Jun 2014

Predicting Alcohol Consumption In Adolescent Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta), Andrea Nichole Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies show that a low level of response to the intoxicating effects of alcohol is considered a risk factor for future alcoholism. However, assessing this sensitivity usually requires administering a controlled dose of alcohol, which has a number of inherent problems. Early observations in our lab suggest that the response to anesthetics that show cross tolerance with alcohol, like ketamine, are blunted in nonhuman primates at risk for high alcohol intake, and may be a viable measure of future alcohol consumption. This study was designed to test potential predictors of future alcohol consumption using the change in ketamine across …

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For Peat's Sake: The Influence Of Student-Led Evaluations On Small Nonprofits, Rilee A. Buttars Jun 2014

For Peat's Sake: The Influence Of Student-Led Evaluations On Small Nonprofits, Rilee A. Buttars

Theses and Dissertations

Development evaluation is a booming business often seen as a development activity in its own right. Yet, not every actor in the field engages with evaluation. This is primarily due to inadequacies in time, data, resources and expertise. These challenges are prevalent among small nonprofits that arguably stand most in need to appraise their extensive efforts. In an accountability-focused environment, these organizations not only fail to assess adequately the impact of their work but also to evaluate reflectively their structure and implementation process. In response, the sociology and international studies departments at Brigham Young University set up an internship that …

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The Effects Of Cultural Orientation Change On Metabolic Health In A Sample Of Mexican Immigrants To The United States, Jillian L. Walker Jun 2014

The Effects Of Cultural Orientation Change On Metabolic Health In A Sample Of Mexican Immigrants To The United States, Jillian L. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Studies have identified metabolic health factors to be a major concern in Mexican-Americans, including Mexican immigrants to the United States (U.S.). Acculturation stress has been hypothesized to be a factor in the development of many health-related concerns in this population. Specifically, previous studies have shown that acculturation stress contributes to health concerns, including metabolic health concerns (e.g., diabetes, metabolic syndrome). The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between cultural orientation, a measure of acculturation designed to provide more information than traditional acculturation measures, and metabolic health outcomes. Specific acculturation-related stressors (social support, job-related stress, and depression) …

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Coming Home Hybrid: Returned Sojourner Identity In Everyday Life, Jon Benjamin Mcnair Jun 2014

Coming Home Hybrid: Returned Sojourner Identity In Everyday Life, Jon Benjamin Mcnair

Theses and Dissertations

Sojourns, or extended periods of time during which people travel and live abroad with the intention of returning to their home countries, are becoming ever more normal parts of the human experience around the globe. In the US, sojourners who travel as foreign aid workers, corporate employees, missionaries, educators, and military personnel and dependents, among others, make up an increasingly broad spectrum of the population. The experience of living abroad is often necessarily accompanied by some sort of identity change that affects how well one integrates into one's host culture (and, conversely, rejecting local customs and norms affects one's potential …

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Speaking From Experience: How Do Entrepreneurs Evaluate The Merits Of Practicing As A Non-Profit Or For-Profit Form?, Robert E. M. Spencer Jun 2014

Speaking From Experience: How Do Entrepreneurs Evaluate The Merits Of Practicing As A Non-Profit Or For-Profit Form?, Robert E. M. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

In an era when nonprofit and for-profit characteristics are blurring, to what extent do sector boundaries matter? Some research suggest that sector boundaries no longer matter. By exploring the perceptual differences of entrepreneurs practicing in each sector, this paper proposes that, in fact, there are important perceptual and symbolic differences between nonprofit and for-profit organizations. This paper makes four contributions to the field of social enterprise studies: first, it lends empirical support for the idea that issues have not blurred in the minds of practitioners; second, it identifies four areas entrepreneurs are likely to concentrate on when asked to evaluate …

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Realvictory And Recidivism: An Examination Of The Realvictory Program, Ronald L. Hubbard Jr. Jun 2014

Realvictory And Recidivism: An Examination Of The Realvictory Program, Ronald L. Hubbard Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I investigate the effectiveness of the RealVictory Program, a juvenile aftercare program combined with a phone coach system, in the state of Utah. Using treatment and control groups, I examine both time to re-arrest as well as number of post-participation arrests to determine how effectively RealVictory reduces recidivism among juvenile participants released from secure care, in foster homes, or while on probation. I found the treatment group was at a 21.7 percent higher risk of being rearrested, but this result was not statistically significant. These results suggest that the program as a whole is not effective at …

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Ontosoar: Using Language To Find Genealogy Facts, Peter Lindes Jun 2014

Ontosoar: Using Language To Find Genealogy Facts, Peter Lindes

Theses and Dissertations

There is a need to have an automated system that can read family history books or other historical texts and extract as many genealogy facts as possible from them. Embley and others have applied traditional information extraction techniques to this problem in a system called OntoES with a reasonable amount of success. In parallel much linguistic theory has been developed in the past decades, and Lonsdale and others have built computational embodiments of some of these theories using Soar. In this thesis we introduce a system called OntoSoar which combines the Link Grammar Parser using a grammar customized for family …

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Investigating Children's Intuitive And Analytical Thinking About Path Length As A Developmental Phenomenon, Cheryl Lynn Eames Jun 2014

Investigating Children's Intuitive And Analytical Thinking About Path Length As A Developmental Phenomenon, Cheryl Lynn Eames

Theses and Dissertations

Children's conceptions of length measurement has been the focus of research that has built on the work of Piaget and his colleagues to produce developmental accounts for the acquisition of conceptual and procedural knowledge. Prior research focused on children's developing conceptions of length measurement for straight or rectilinear paths; however, little is known about how these conceptions grow beyond the elementary grades. The present study increased the scope of this research beyond elementary grades to include middle and secondary level students, exploring the development of students' intuitive and analytical thinking for determining the length of a curved path across a …

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Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback: Achieving Manageability, Angela Shelley Jun 2014

Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback: Achieving Manageability, Angela Shelley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides reflections on a practice of corrective feedback known as dynamic Written Corrective Feedback (dynamic WCF). First addressing 20 years of concerns regarding the highly-debated topic of feedback in second language (L2) writing and then outlining dynamic WCF as a pedagogical practice founded on four principles, the thesis finally introduces a recently developed handbook for instructors. This handbook presents the four foundational principles of dynamic WCF (timeliness, manageability, meaningfulness, and constancy) to first-time instructors and supports the implementation of dynamic WCF to optimize benefit and enhance manageability in written corrective feedback.

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Pre -Service School Psychologists' Racial And Weight-Related Biases And The Relationship That Taking Diversity Courses Has On These Biases, Shaerica Jackson Jun 2014

Pre -Service School Psychologists' Racial And Weight-Related Biases And The Relationship That Taking Diversity Courses Has On These Biases, Shaerica Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that racial and weight-related biases are present in school settings and can have a negative impact on students. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of racial and weight-related biases upon judgments that school psychology graduate students make about Black and overweight students who were having problems in school. The problematic behaviors exhibited by the student in the case study were based on symptoms often seen in children with Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We also examined the extent to which implicit and/or explicit attitudes moderated the degree of school psychology graduate students' attributions of …

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Working Class Women, Body Image Resiliency, And Media Depictions Of The Female Body, Emily K. Healy Jun 2014

Working Class Women, Body Image Resiliency, And Media Depictions Of The Female Body, Emily K. Healy

Theses and Dissertations

This study qualitatively examines the body image experiences of nine working class women. It explores the intersections of social class, body image resiliency, and media depictions of the female body.

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Determining Dictionary And Usage Guide Agreement With Real-World Usage: A Diachronic Corpus Study Of American English, Amanda Kae Fronk Jun 2014

Determining Dictionary And Usage Guide Agreement With Real-World Usage: A Diachronic Corpus Study Of American English, Amanda Kae Fronk

Theses and Dissertations

Dictionaries and, to a lesser extent, usage guides provide writers, editors, and users of American English information on how to use the language appropriately. Dictionaries, in particular, hold authority over correct usage of words. However, historically, usage guides and dictionaries were created using the knowledge of a small group of people. Lexicographers like Noah Webster set out to prescribe a proper way of using American English. To make these judgments, they often relied on a combination of study and idiosyncratic intuitions. A similar process took place in creating usage guides. Though these manuals profess to explain how the language is …

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Changing Attitudes Toward Homosexuality In The United States From 1977 To 2012, Ellen Decoo Jun 2014

Changing Attitudes Toward Homosexuality In The United States From 1977 To 2012, Ellen Decoo

Theses and Dissertations

Support for civil rights for gays and lesbians has been increasing nationally. Changes in attitudes may be due not only to the influence of younger, more progressive cohorts, but also to the influence of other factors such as education, religious attendance, political identity, and attitudes toward women's roles. This thesis utilized General Social Survey data from 1977 to 2012 and examined changes in response to attitudinal questions regarding civil rights for gays and lesbians, as well as demographic factors predictive of changing attitudes. Between 1977 and 2012, attitudes became more accepting of civil rights for homosexuals in the United States. …

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Lessons Learned: The Process Of Creating And Evaluating An Adult Literacy Curriculum For College Transition, Meredith Leigh Packard Gravett Jun 2014

Lessons Learned: The Process Of Creating And Evaluating An Adult Literacy Curriculum For College Transition, Meredith Leigh Packard Gravett

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents the process of developing and evaluating a curriculum written for adult literacy students transitioning from their current literacy goals to academic and occupational pursuits. The curriculum, titled the Basic College Skills Transition Curriculum (BCS Transition Curriculum), was written for students at Project Read, a non-profit adult literacy program located at the Provo Library in Provo, Utah. The model used to design this curriculum is a variation on the ADDIE model (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation), including the reiterative steps of research and evaluation. The lesson plans and materials in the BCS Transition Curriculum include the topics …

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Paraeducators: Gatekeepers To Youth Suicide Prevention, Danielle Ann Cannon Jun 2014

Paraeducators: Gatekeepers To Youth Suicide Prevention, Danielle Ann Cannon

Theses and Dissertations

For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. School-aged youth that struggle with suicidal thoughts often express their feelings to peers and some trusted adults. Generally, these trusted adults work in school settings. Potentially, teachers and staff can serve as vital gatekeepers to identify and support students who struggle with suicide ideation. In particular, paraeducators, who are often seen as less of an authority figure, become easier to approach due to the personal relationships created in small groups and one-on-one interactions with students. If trained in suicide prevention, paraeducators, who work …

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Aggression In Popular Children's Picture Books: A Content Analysis, Karen Dupree Leach Jun 2014

Aggression In Popular Children's Picture Books: A Content Analysis, Karen Dupree Leach

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to assess children's exposure to aggression through popular children's picture books. Little research has been performed regarding aggression in such books. By analyzing 301 picture books, this study found that the average picture book contained 1.36 aggressive acts, and that aggressive acts were more likely to be included in picture books meant for older children. Verbal aggression was the most widely used type of aggression in children's picture books. There was no significant relationship between the type of character (human or nonhuman) and whether the character acted aggressively. Male characters were more likely to …

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Factors Influencing The Major Satisfaction And Leadership Aspirations Of Men And Women In Traditional And Nontraditional Fields, Jennifer Yeoward Jun 2014

Factors Influencing The Major Satisfaction And Leadership Aspirations Of Men And Women In Traditional And Nontraditional Fields, Jennifer Yeoward

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reports the results of an online survey study that examined the associations of role model influences, support/guidance, and socioeconomic status (SES) with college students' major satisfaction and leadership aspirations. Of the 558 students who responded to the survey invitation, data from 494 students who had provided responses on the main variables were included in the major analyses. Contrary to hypotheses, SES and the nontraditionality of students' majors were not significantly related to leadership aspirations or major satisfaction. The results did support the hypotheses that support/guidance and inspiration/modeling would be associated with students' leadership aspirations and major satisfaction, but …

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