Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Test Of A Sociological Causal Model Of Alcohol And Deviant Drinking Patterns, Ruby E. Ivens

Dissertations

There is no widely accepted comprehensive sociological theory of the etiology of alcohol use or misuse. More generally, there are frames of reference in which are found statements about the nature of the relationship between societies or groups of people and specific drinking behaviors. This study will present a theoretical model which is derived from available descriptive literature and empirical research.

The review of pertinent literature reveals two general social factors that seem to be associated with drinking patterns. First, members of a society are socialized from an early age to drinking norms and behavior. In a simple society socialization …

A Discrete Trial Choice Procedure For Assessing The Periodic Equivalent Of Aperiodic Ratio Schedules, Michael Joseph Boivin

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Differential Implementation Of A Performance Objective Directed At The Reduction Of Suspensions At Five Desegregated Junior High Schools, Walden A. Baskerville Jr.

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the efforts of a desegregated urban public school district to reduce the incidence of student suspension over a three-year period. More specifically, it examined the efforts and results five middle school staffs achieved in reducing the incidence of student suspension from school as a method of dealing with disruptive behavior.

Category I suspensions, i.e., suspensions resulting from disruptive behavior not requiring legal action, constituted the data base for the study. These data were obtained from central office files maintained by schools for the three-year period 1972-75 following a directive issued by the superintendent of …

A Study Of Four Year State University Related Foundations, Timothy Arthur Reilley

Dissertations

The Purpose. The purpose of this study was to define the organizational and operational structures of four year state university related foundations. An additional purpose was to compile a listing of all four year state university related foundations in the United States.

Methodology. Data were obtained through the use of a questionnaire mailed to all four year state universities in the United States. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part one included a series of three demographic questions which identified the respondent at a certain level in each of three categories, number of students, kinds of degrees and number …

Developing A Verbal Repertoire Using Sign Language And Skinner's Analysis Of Verbal Behavior, Mark L. Sundberg

Dissertations

A series of experiments on the use of sign language with hearing, non-vocal, mentally impaired individuals was conducted. Several researchers have shown that such persons can acquire signs; but in a recent review of the literature (Pulton & Algozzine, 1980), the authors conclude that there was no evidence that a "functional communication system" was acquired and in only one case had manual signing become a primary mode of communication. The problem may be related to the issue that most of the previous work on sign training has been based on traditional programs of language instruction. Such programs often place an …

The Effects Of Progressive Cigarette Smoke Dilution Upon Smoking Pattern And Stress Responses In Humans, David M. Keenan

Dissertations

Nine chronic cigarette smokers were exposed to one of three schedules of cigarette smoke dilution. The rate of smoke dilution was held constant, but the time interval for achieving maximum dilution varied from one, two and four weeks.

The Effects Of Sex-Role Attitudes On Womens' Self-Actualization And Life Satisfaction, Mary Ann Vigilanti

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sex-role attitudes on levels on self-actualization and satisfaction with life among a group of randomly selected women. This study also explored the relationships between occupational primacy as defined through paid employment and homemaker on overall life satisfaction, and employment commensurate with education/training and its relationship to self-actualization. This relationship between overall life satisfaction and measures of self-actualization was also investigated.

Data was collected from 264 women of which 236 responses were included for final hypotheses testing. All subjects were women 18 years and older who lived within the City …

Creating Deviance: The Collective Stigmatization Of Cigarette Smoking, Ronald Jay Troyer

Dissertations

This study focused on the changing norms regarding cigarette smoking. Banned by a number of states in the early 1930s, the behavior was socially and legally accepted during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s only to once again become the object of public approbation and official sanctions in the 1970s. Examining events in both time periods, this research attempted to determine how and why this behavior came to be defined as deviant.

In explaining the negative public attitudes toward and official restrictions of the habit some commentators had cited the medical evidence that smoking has deleterious health consequences while others had …

The Effects Of Hypnosis And Mastery Imagery On Task Performance, Robert J. Russell

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of combining mastery imagery with hypnosis to facilitate performance on a motor task, and to identify the variables which are responsible for such an effect. Ninety-nine students were pretested on the Pursuit Rotor Task and screened for hypnotic susceptibility. From this screening, 40 high susceptible subjects were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) hypnosis and mastery imagery, (2) hypnosis, (3) mastery imagery (H), and (4) no-treatment control. Ten low susceptible subjects were directly assigned to a second mastery imagery (L) condition which served as a special comparison group. …

Status Inconsistency And Attitudes Toward Collective Bargaining At Western Michigan University, Thomas R. Radecki

Dissertations

Status inconsistency has been extensively investigated as an explanatory variable since the pioneering research of Lenski (1954). A wide range of substantive outcomes have been examined as dependent variables. The findings have been disparate. While a number of studies have found support for the concept, a substantial body of negative results have been reported.

Recently, a controversy has developed in the literature. On one side of the controversy are those who feel the concept has little value as an explanatory variable--adding nothing beyond status alone. Supporters of the concept see it as an important explanatory variable and a determinant of …

Jungian Typology And Marriage Compatibility, Peter C. K. Graham-Mist

Dissertations

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was chosen to measure four bipolar personality types: introversion-extroversion, intuition-sensation, feeling-thinking, and perception-judgment. A marital compatibility self-reporting instrument developed by Whipple and Whittle, the Marriage Compatibility Inventory (MCI), was used to gauge the strength of each of six compatibility factors: sociability, emotional stability, dominance, intellectual and educational level, heterosexual level, and the drive level.

The present study was organized to explore the following hypotheses stated in the null form: (1) There are no significant differences among the four bipolar personality types as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator across the groups of married, dating, or …

Professionals, Bureaucrats, And Radicals: A Study In The Sociology Of Social Workers, David Russell Joslyn

Dissertations

This study seeks to initiate a much needed reassessment of social work practice. Recognizing the criticisms and contributions of recent radical critics of social work, a theoretical model is constructed. This model incorporates aspects of both the professional and the radical perspectives. Specifically, the model focuses upon social work treatment planning as the dependent variable. Ideological, organizational structure, and perceptual variables are assessed as potential determinants of treatment planning.

A questionnaire was mailed to a sample drawn randomly from a list of certified social workers in Michigan. This selected sample received three mailings which resulted in a response rate of …

An Investigation Of "Spirituotherapy": An Approach To Christian Counseling, Robert Q. Hendershott

Dissertations

The Christian counseling field as known today is a relatively new professional practice. Little evaluative research has been undertaken on the various counseling approaches which corporately make up the Christian counseling movement. This research studied one of these new Christian approaches, "Spirituotherapy" (Christ-centered counseling).

Spirituotherapy's thrust and teachings are directed towards individuals who are seeking biblical answers for the problems for which they are seeking psychological help. This study sought to identify what effect Spirituotherapy had on past clients of Grace Fellowship International (GFI), the organization pioneering Spirituotherapy. The clients' perceptions of the effect of counseling at GFI was the …

The Structured Meeting System: A Procedure For Supervising The Completion Of Nonrecurring Tasks, Barbara J. Fulton

Dissertations

Supervision of delegated tasks is often a source of organizational problems, because workers do not complete tasks as efficiently as managers expect. Analysis of the work setting suggests that behaviors of both supervisors and supervisees are governed by overlapping contingencies; different supervisor behaviors probably result in different contingencies for supervisee behavior. The analysis also reveals two categories of tasks: recurring tasks and nonrecurring tasks, with the latter type requiring frequent supervisor attention to assign new tasks and monitor previous ones. Contingencies for nonrecurring tasks were targeted for study in the present research, because of indications by managers that productivity and …

Accountability And University Teaching: Toward The Systematic Mediation Of Professional Power, Paul Alan Dorsey

Dissertations

Between 1965 and 1980 American higher education has witnessed the emergence of several related developments which challenge traditional conceptions of the autonomy of higher education: affirmative action, the managerial revolution in higher education, the student consumer movement, the strengthening of statewide coordination of higher education, the accelerated movement to collective bargaining, and the increasing involvement of the courts in college and university affairs. This study identifies and articulates the nature and significance of emergent qualitative dimensions of structural change, for which these developments are structural indicators, and argues that they constitute a new, emergent form of occupational control over university …

Effects Of Thioridazine (Mellaril) On Titrating Delayed Matching To Sample Performance In Mentally Retarded Adults, Timothy Theodore Wysocki

Dissertations

Four mentally retarded adults participated twice daily in assessments of their performance of a titrating delayed matching to sample discrimination. Trials began with the center of three response panels illuminated by one of three colors. Depression of the center panel terminated the light on the center panel and, following a delay, resulted in the presentation of two comparison colors on the side panels. Pressing the side panel illuminated by the same color which had been presented on the center panel yielded a reinforcer, while incorrect responses produced a brief timeout. The delay between depression of the center response panel and …

A Descriptive Study Of The Leadership Styles Of Michigan Juvenile Court Administrators Utilizing The Application Of The Managerial Grid Theory, Zigmund S. Kryszak Jr.

Dissertations

This descriptive study investigated the 83 juvenile court administrators in the state of Michigan. Specifically, the study attempted to (a) collect biographical and professional data regarding the administrators, (b) establish a preferred leadership style utilizing the Managerial Grid Theory postulated by Blake and Mouton, and (c) test the relationship between key variables and the leadership styles demonstrated by the administrators as a group.

The instruments utilized to collect the data were the Style of Management Inventory copyrighted by Teleometrics International of Woodland, Texas, and a self-designed Personal Data Questionnaire. These instruments were mailed to all 83 juvenile court administrators. The …

A Comparison Of Computer-Generated Advising And One-To-One Advising For Community College Students, Chris G. Zichterman

Dissertations

This study investigated the effectiveness of a counselor-made computer advising system. Ninety-one (91) community college students who had declared career choices were randomly assigned to either ADVISOR (N = 46) or to traditional one-to-one advising (N - 45). The effectiveness of both advising processes was measured along four variables: satisfaction with the process indicated by student response to a survey after the completion of the first semester, compliance with the process as indicated by the students' actual registration for courses identified during advising, performance indicated by students' grade point average during the first semester, and completion indicated by the completion …

Teaching Health-Related Behaviors To Young Children Through Social Skills Training, Mary Louise Stevens

Dissertations

Part I consisted of training four kindergarten subjects to make eye contact, assertive comments and assertive actions in reference to social and health-related situations. Training occurred on a one-to-one basis with an adult female and results were assessed with a multiple baseline design. Skill acquisition and maintenance were assessed by measuring ratio of eye contact to speech duration, assertive content and assertive actions on training scenes. Generalization of social skills was assessed by means of: (1) similar, but untrained scenes, (2) choice tests between products with and without sugar, (3) in vivo tests in the school and home environment, (4) …

The Repeated Acquisition Procedure As A Means Of Analyzing Rule-Governed Behavior, Margaret E. Peterson

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Participation In Cooperative Education On Level Of Career Maturity Attitudes Of Senior Students In Selected Muskegon County High Schools, William Howard Pendell

Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the effect of participation in a cooperative education work-experience program on the level of vocational maturity attitudes of senior high school students. The post-test only, control group design was utilized. A sample of randomly selected senior students from 11 Muskegon County, Michigan, high schools volunteered to be participants for the study. This sample population consisted of one control group of 98 students with no previous cooperative education experience, one experimental group of 100 students with 1 year of cooperative education experience, and a second experimental group of 100 students with 2 years of experience …

The Effects Of Two Training Procedures On The Acquisition And Retention Of A Sight-Word Vocabulary In Remedial Readers, Marilyn Monteiro

Dissertations

A Trial and Error and an Errorless procedure were used to teach phonically-irregular words to remedial readers. Subjects were six elementary-school students enrolled in a tutorial program. The Errorless procedure consisted of the use of an echoic prime, prompting and cumulative review over words mastered while the Trial and Error procedure consisted of the use of corrections for errors. Five subjects both mastered and retained more words with the Errorless procedure. The average percent of words mastered across all subjects was greater for the Errorless procedure (73% versus 43%), as was the average percent of words mastered on the six-week …

Preference Reversal: Effects Of Ratio And Reinforcement Parameters, Kenneth Ray Stephens

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Underutilization Of Temporary Employees As A Determinant Of Turnover, Elizabeth De La Ossa

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Selected Demographic Characteristics And Mental Health Board Members' Endorsement Of Community Mental Health Ideology, Kathryn S. Thiel

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Discrete-Trial Procedure To Measure Preference For Variable-Interval Over Fixed-Interval Schedules Of Food Reinforcement In Pigeons, Robert I. Cobez

Dissertations

A discrete-trial choice procedure was conducted in which pigeons were sequentially exposed to four constant variable-interval schedules against each of which five different fixed-interval schedules were compared. The five fixed-interval comparison values were presented in a descending then ascending sequence for the first three variableinterval standard conditions. The fixed-interval sequence was reversed for the last variable-interval standard condition. The variableinterval standard conditions were 10, 20, 40, and 40 seconds, respectively, and the five fixed-interval comparison steps for each variable-interval standard condition ranged from a maximum of twice the variable-interval standard to continuous reinforcement in five equal steps. There were 50 …

The Affects Of Parent Death, Long Term Illness And Divorce On Children Running Away From Home, Robert J. Ackerman

Dissertations

There is considerable variation in the estimation of youth, ages 12-17, who run away from home in America. This study using national self-report data estimates the proportion of youth who run away between the ages of 12-17 and the extent to which the loss of a parent contributes to running away by youth. Different types of parent role loss are examined as well as the effects of which parent is absent on running away.

Information on running away is assessed in a National Center for Health Statistics survey of approximately 6,768 youth ages 12-17. The proportion of youth who reported …