Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effectiveness Of Constant Versus Rotating Buddy Dyads On The Social Interactions Of Handicapped Preschoolers, Connie Faye Nelke

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to the passage of Public Law 94-142 (1975), widespread attempts have been made to integrate children who have handicaps into settings with their nonhandicapped peers. Although integrated settings may provide the opportunity for social interaction to occur between children with and without handicaps, often interaction does not occur. In order to address the issue of how to best facilitate appropriate interactions in integrated settings, specialized programs such as the FMS buddy system (Quintero, Phelps, Striefel, & Killoran, 1987) have been developed to promote positive social interactions between children with and without handicaps.

One important aspect programs such as the …

A Guide In Working With Elementary-Aged Navajo Children Of Alcoholic Parents, George Ray Henry

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Programs which provide intervention services for children of alcoholics are very new and in their developing stages nationwide. Despite this, the need for such programs exists, particularly on the Navajo Reservation. All available literature was reviewed that relates to the state-of-the-art in programming for intervention with children of alcoholic parents. Programs in use with children are described and the rationale for adapting such programs for use with Navajo children is discussed. A Navajo intervention pilot program for children of alcoholics is outlined.

Bilingual Education: What It Could Mean On The Navajo Reservation, Berniece A. Blackhorse

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

It provides the learner the advantage of participating and functioning in two cultures , socially and academically. Amid all the controversy, the educational system is attempting to provide meaningful education for the limited English proficient students. 'The primary recommendation of this paper is that bilingual programs focus on the needs of the second language learner, with cautions regarding the use of experimental programs.

Psychosis In A Developmental Psychopathology Context: A Factor Analytic Study Of Schizophrenia In Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients, Paul R. Adams

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Demographic, historical, psychometric, and clinical data were obtained from the psychiatric files of all patients manifesting schizophrenic symptomatology who were hospitalized in an adolescent psychiatric facility during a five year period (N= 71). Factor analysis of the usable data resulted in three interpretable factors, which included: (1) aggressive behavior; (2) disturbed family functioning; and, (3) thought disorder. Age of first hospitalization correlated positively with factor three.

The results provide support for concerns expressed by a number of scientists and clinicians that schizophrenia may not be a discrete, unitary disorder; and that uncritical downward extension of adult diagnoses to adolescents and …

The Reliability And Validity Of An Instrument Designed To Measure Attitudes Toward The Elderly, Jane Schultz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An attitude is a mental state that influences the way an individual responds to relevant objects and situations. Attitudes toward the elderly have a potential impact on all Americans, as the population is growing older. These attitudes constitute an important area of study because their nature is unclear and their impact extensive.

The Kogan Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (OP) was examined to establish reliability and validity estimates. A questionnaire, consisting of this scale and four others, was administered to a sample of adults. Factor analysis of the OP revealed two factors, which were somewhat ambiguous. Internal consistency estimates for …

A Method For Knowledge Engineering In Clinical Decision Making, Sheila S. Giere

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to validate the problem behavior evaluation section of an expert system computer program, Class.BD. Class.BD was developed to assist special education personnel in determining whether students qualify for special education services as behaviorally disordered/severely emotionally disturbed students.

The subjects were six Utah who regularly individuals from the state of 1) work with behaviorally disordered/severely emotionally disturbed students and 2) participate in multidisciplinary assessment teams. Three of the subjects were special educators, and three were school psychologists.

Specifically, this study investigated the impact of five behavioral factors on the subjects' ratings of the seriousness of …

The Development Of The Stress-Response Scale For Adolescents, Steven Curtis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adolescence is an important period in the life cycle for which to study stress, due to the many involved developmental changes that require adaptation. This adaptation can be very stressful and result in pathology. Stress is defined as a "process" involving a continual transaction between stressors in the environment, mediating variables, and stress responses.

The Stress-Response Scale for Adolescents (SRSA) was developed to measure self-perceived stress responses of those between the ages of 14 to 20. The SRSA's development involved three studies. Study 1 involved item selection, scale construction, item reduction, and estimations of internal consistency and validity. Truthfulness items …

Reaction Time In Elderly Subjects: The Effects Of Practice On Two Different Reaction Time Tasks, Dawn Marie Birk

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The reaction time of four groups of elderly human subjects were examined to determine the effects of stimulus presentation and task practice. Each group practiced different tasks, each requiring a response when more than one alternative was available. Two tasks involved making responses based on either visually or auditorily presented stimuli only. One task required decisions to be made on the basis of both auditory and visual stimuli. The fourth group acted as a comparison group and did not practice a reaction-time task; although they did perform a task on the computer and their reaction times were measured. Before and …

A Method For Knowledge Engineering In Clinical Decision Making, Sheila S. Giere

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to validate the problem behavior evaluation section of an expert system computer program, Class.BD. Class.BD was developed to assist special education personnel in determining whether students qualify for special education services as behaviorally disordered/severely emotionally disturbed students.

The subjects were six Utah who regularly individuals from 1) work with the state of behaviorally disordered/severely emotionally disturbed students and 2) participate in multidisciplinary assessment teams. Three of the subjects were special educators, and three were school psychologists.

Specifically, this study investigated the impact of five behavioral factors on the subjects' ratings of the seriousness of …

The Effect Of Notetaking And Review Among Eighth-Grade Students, Nancy Lindbergy Risch

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A study was conducted in which both notetaking and review were systematically varied in order to examine viii eighth-grade student's notetaking and performance behaviors. Three formats of notes (Matrix, skeletal, conventional) were examined in combination with three notetaking strategies (take notes/review own notes, take notes/review expert notes, listen/review expert notes) to form nine conditions. Subjects viewed a videotaped lecture, reviewed their respective set of notes, and were administered the following performance tests: structured recall, factual recognition, application, and synthesis. The number of ideas, number of words, and an efficiency calculation was obtained for each notetaking protocol. Results indicated that subjects …

Neuroanatomical Asymmetry, Handedness, And Family History Of Handedness: A Study Of The Markers Of Structural And Functional Lateralization, Steven A. Lifson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study investigated the associations between (1) handedness (demonstrated preference of one hand for the performance of most unimanual tasks) and neuroanatomical asymmetry (measurable differences in width between the cerebral hemispheres) and (2) familial history of handedness (the presence of a left-handed sibling or parent of a right-handed subject) as an intervening factor in the relation between handedness and neuroanatomical asymmetry. Width measurements of the brain were derived from computerized tomographic (CT) films and grouped in to categories by hand preference (measured by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory) and family history. The measurements of right (n=68), right with left-handed relatives (n=24), …

Assimilation And Accommodation In Family Discourse: A Longitudinal Analysis, Marcia Summers

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Assimilative behavioral strategies provide continuity through maintenance of similarities, traditions, and interactions, while accommodative strategies result in social innovation through the creation of new modes and interactive patterns (J. Block, 1982; J. H. Block, 1983). It was hypothesized that females would show assimilative discourse patterns through the maintenance of conversational topics, while males would show accommodative patterns through more frequent changes in conversational topic, and that the roots of this pattern lie in family conversation. Nineteen families were videotaped at one month, four months, and four years following the birth of their second child. Results showed that gender-differentiated use of …

Socio-Behavioral Correlates Of 6- To 11-Year-Old Offspring Of Alcohol Consuming Parents, Jan Garver Bacon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

There is a lack of simple random sample based research into whether there are social skill and behavior problem differences for six- to eleven-year-old boys and girls which correlate with rates of parental alcohol consumption, social sequelae of parental alcohol consumption, reported level of marital conflict, and extended family history of alcoholism.

This simple random sample study correlates the above variables with T scores on the behavior problem and social competence scales of the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist and Child Behavior Checklist - Teacher's Report Form for six- to eleven-year-old children (N=100). Behavior problem scales include disorders of affect, thought, …

Mental Status And Functional Behavior In Male Geriatric Patients, Gregory Lee Mayer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It was the goal of this study to examine the ecological validity of a number of measures of mental status for geriatric individuals. Subjects were 40 alert, ambulatory male VA patients. Mental status instruments included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and the Vocabulary subtest of the WAIS-R. Measures of functional behavior included the Woodcock-Johnson Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB) and the Parachek Geriatric Behavior Rating Scale (PGBRS). Significant relationships were found between the MMSE and the SIB, between the WMS and the SIB, and between the WMS and the PGBRS. It was found that estimation …

Obesity Management: A Meta-Analysis Of Key Factors, David E. Christian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Obesity is a prevalent and refractory disorder. This study consisted of a meta-analysis of research focusing on diet and exercise treatments and their impact on obesity related measures. Only studies that report data for periods of 6 months or more after treatment onset were included. Forty-four studies were analyzed. These were drawn from 16 previous reviews of the literature as well as several computer data bases.

Following are some of the tentative conclusions drawn: (a) diets consisting of improved nutritional quality yield superior results to restricted calorie diets; (b) flexible, self-directed exercise yields better results than more regimented exercise; (c) …

An Examination Of Open- And Closed-Economic Conditions In Operant Research, Craig R. Loftin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The effect of economic condition on the relation between responding and overall rate of reinforcement has been an area of recent interest in operant research. The present research was conducted to determine whether the manipulation of the economic condition, by the systematic manipulation of the provision of substitute food, has an effect on this relation and whether open- and closed-economies represent two opposing alternatives or two parametric extremes along a continuum. The results of two experiments conducted with pigeons using variable-interval and fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement suggest that the manipulation of economic condition has a controlling effect on the relation …

A Preschool-Age Neurodevelopmental Comparison Between Normal-Birthweight Infants And Low-Birthweight Infants With And Without Intraventricular Hemorrhage, William Frederick Corey

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Advances in medical technology have provided the mechanisms for sustaining life in premature and low-birthweight infants, resulting in the survival of more of these infants. Low-birthweight (LBW) and preterm infants are placed at risk by a number of medical complications, including intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH).

The outcome of low-birthweight infants with intraventricular hemorrhage has been the subject of a great deal of research and continues to be a much-discussed topic in the medical and psychological communities. As more data become available, it appears that more questions arise concerning the later neuodevelopmental and neuropsychological outcome of these infants.

For this reason, research …

Reducing Stress Of Inservice Teachers, Jeffrey R. Curley

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A prototype treatment developed to significantly reduce symptoms of stress among inservice teachers was tested in this experiment. Thirty participants selected for high stress levels were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. They were assessed on environmental, personality, and emotional variables, using self-report and expert-judge measures, both pre- and posttreatment. The experimental treatment was holistic, incorporating all processes previously found to be related to reducing teacher stress. At posttreatment, the treatment group averaged 1.02 standard deviations lower on the stress measures than the control group. Significant differences in the posttest means, favoring the experimental group, were found for 23 …

The Effects Of Diary Writing Support Groups On Women's Depression, Self-Acceptance And Well-Being, Linda Elaine Barnes

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was conducted to determine whether learning specific writing techniques and discussing them in a small group is more beneficial to women than writing a journal using self-taught techniques, or not writing at all.

Instruments used included the Beck Depression Inventory and the California Personality Inventory (Self-Acceptance and Well-Being scales).

The literature review covers four general areas: a brief discussion of the impact of contemporary feminism on traditional therapy; an examination of feminist therapy, specifically its advocacy of consciousness-raising groups as a therapy alternative; women's self-reports on diary or journal writing; and information on modern non-literary journal uses including …

Bilingual Education: What It Could Mean On The Navajo Reservation, Berniece A. Blackhorse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The educational system in the United States is meant for the native speakers of English. As a result, students who are limited English proficient do not succeed academically in this educational system.

Literature presents much evidence as to the effectiveness and successes of students' academic performance when their mother tongue or home language is used in the classroom.

Successful bilingual program models which could be used with Navajo students was sought through the literature.

Through the literature there was no one method that was appropriate for all bilingual programs. There were three distinct program models discussed in the literature: the …