Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Do Actors And Actresses Age?: Self-Monitoring And Aging, Barbara A. Bowman

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the relationship between life events, self-monitoring, and aging. This relationship is explored in the following five areas: religious practices, social networks, intergenerational relationships, retirement, and leisure. It was hypothesized that, compared to low self-monitors, high self-monitors would (a) spend less time in private devotional activities as they age, (b) feel a heavier impact from the reduction in the quantity of social networks, (c) have more distant intergenerational ties, (d) adjust to forced retirement more quickly, and ( e) be less satisfied with leisure time as they age. The 120 volunteer participants ranged in age from 51 through …

Can Economic Development Programs Be Evaluated?, Timothy J. Bartik, Richard D. Bingham

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The question addressed in this paper seems simple: Can economic development programs be evaluated? But the answer is not simple because of the nature of evaluation. To determine a program's effectiveness requires a sophisticated evaluation because it requires the evaluator to distinguish changes due to the program from changes due to nonprogram factors. The evaluator must focus on the outcomes caused by the program rather than the program's procedures. Evaluations can be divided into two categories--process or formative evaluations and outcome, impact, or summative evaluations. Process evaluations focus on how a program is delivered. Impact evaluations focus on the program's …

Predicting Strategic Orientations Of Public Research Universities In Economic Development: A Test Of The Resource Dependence Model, Steven Rae Hoagland

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study is an original application of resource dependence theory to research administration at public universities. It examines the extent to which and under what conditions economic development orientations can be predicted by resource dependence theory. Data analyses concentrate on the combined effects of administrative structure and variations in federal financial support on the economic development orientations of public doctorate-granting universities nationwide.

Data were collected from three sources: (a) published data on the research dollar volume of public universities; (b) higher education personnel directories containing information about research offices; and (c) a mailed survey instrument containing four orientations in economic …

Social Consequences Of Delayed Childbearing And Infertility, Joan Liebmann-Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is a qualitative longitudinal study of delayed childbearing and infertility. The initial sample consisted of 35 women. Although they knew they might never have biological children, most did not regret postponing parenthood.

Because infertility is a socially defined illness, the doctor-patient relationship was fraught with conflict. It tended to follow a set pattern: from dependency to disappointment to discord to dissociation. The optimal doctor-patient relationship was mutual participation.

Infertility adversely affected marriages. The "medicalization of masturbation" and intercourse caused many marital problems. Couples also argued over how often and with whom to discuss infertility, when to stop treatment and …

Child Sexual Abuse, Moral Panic, And The Mass Media: A Case Study In The Social Construction Of Deviance, Steven M. Gorelick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is a case study of newswork in a moral panic. Specifically, Stanley Cohen's concept of "moral panic" is used to examine the practices of a group of reporters who covered a widely publicized case of alleged child sexual abuse in a day-care center. Moral panics occur when a perceived threat to the social order emerges with such force, and with such little overt warning, that routine discourse about right and wrong gives way to a flood of indignation about an extraordinary breach of normal moral boundaries. Suspending normal rules governing social control, officials rush to crack down on the …

Developmental Tasks And Learning Processes Which Influence Life-Satisfaction In Retirement, Robin F. Clarke

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study identified the developmental tasks undertaken by eight retired males during the retirement transition, described the processes of! earning and adjustment and discussed their influence on life-satisfaction. The study was an exploratory, descriptive case study, designed as an initial investigation into the phenomena of retirement in the 1990s. A qualitative design was appropriate to the study for it permitted the investigation of a wide range of inter related variables. The major instrument was a semi-structured but open-ended interview designed to gather comprehensive data relevant to understanding the retirement experience. An iterative process was used, which involved interviewing each participant …

The Effects On Memory And Self-Reported Behaviour Of Four Types Of Information About Water Conservation, Brigit A. Cosgrove

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Education campaigns conducted by water management agencies are intended to motivate people to conserve water. However, there has been little research to determine what kind of information best achieves this goal. Four types of information partly based on Stem, Dietz and Kalof's (1993) social-psychological model of environmental value orientations were examined in this study: action information about ways to conserve water; abstract factual information about water and its use; anthropocentric information about how people are affected by water use; and ecocentric information about how the environment is affected by water use. Using cluster sampling techniques 160 participants were selected from …

One People, One Nation, One Singapore: The Construction Of Multiculturalism In Singapore, Suvie Khong

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates the way in which an official multicultural identity has been constructed in Singapore at the expense of the cultural specificity that exists within the multiculturalism framework. The construction of the multicultural identity in Singapore has been engineered socially through heritage policies, heritage preservation projects and the media. However, the official multicultural policy in itself is problematic because of the existence of the four independent parent cultures, so that a Singaporean is constantly reminded of a cultural identity which is determined by race, history, language and class. This is further complicated by a dominant Chinese population so that …

The Social Construction Of Masculinity As It Relates To Sport: An Investigation Into The Lives Of Elite Level Athletes Competing In Individually-Oriented Masculinised Sports, Murray Drummond

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Sport has long been regarded as a masculine domain. In the past the literature has tended to focus on male athletes with respect to sensational or noteworthy performances, however little attention has been placed on the reasons why men participate in sport and the subsequent underpinning sociological implications of masculinity. This research investigated the lives of 12 elite level athletes competing in the three individually-oriented sports of triathlon, surf lifesaving and bodybuilding to attain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between male identity and sport, and the process of masculinisation experienced by men throughout the lifecourse. Further, it explored …