Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Religiosity And Successful Aging, Jessica L. York

ETD Archive

There has been an increasing amount of elderly individuals who have avoided the crippling health and physical problems that appear to vex so much of the older adult population. These successful agers have also learned to cope more effectively with both the normative and traumatic stressors they encounter over time. Successful aging has been defined in numerous ways and studied in a variety of contexts. This study set to define successful aging in terms of anxiety, depression, and subjective well-being, while also examining the relationship of successful aging with religiosity. The fundamental goal of this study was to examine the …

Examining The Social And Emotional Impact Of Substance Use On The Users' Family Members, Steven Phillip Beyer

ETD Archive

Alcohol use is a multibillion dollar problem in the United States that has been linked to higher rates of anxiety, depression and maladjustment within families. Most studies examining the impact of alcohol use in these areas focus on individuals within treatment facilities. This study extended that research to examine the effects of social and emotional effects of alcohol use on a greater sample of the population, the family members of alcohol users. This study examined the relationships between family alcohol use and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and maladjustment. The data was expected to follow one of two general patterns. …

The Influence Of Humor On Approach And Avoidance Motivation, Stuart Jenkins Daman

ETD Archive

Approach and avoidance motivation have been used to study many phenomena, but no research has yet investigated the influence of humor on approach and avoidance motivation. The feelings associated with humor are also associated with situations high in safety and low in threat. These sorts of situations are likely to result in decreases in avoidance motivation. Participants viewed either a humorous video clip or a mundane video clip and then completed a series of self-report measures to assess levels of approach and avoidance motivation. Contrary to expectations, composites of measures of approach and avoidance motivation were not influenced by the …

A Contextual Examination Of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument, Amanda C. Hammill

ETD Archive

Messages are more effective when framed to be congruent with individuals' approach/avoidance motivation (Sherman, Mann, & Updegraff, 2006). Two experiments explored whether congruency might also effect consumer reactions by examining whether person-message fit enhances enjoyment of taste of a product, increases how fluid an advertisement is perceived to be, and heightens one's willingness to buy a product and the overall product value. Study 1 demonstrated a congruency effect, where avoidance motivation scores positively predicted perceptions of taste/enjoyment of a sugar-free food, but only when the product advertisement was loss-framed. In the loss-frame condition, higher avoidance scores also related to increased …

Catching The Video Virus, Trupti Guha

ETD Archive

In the process of computer-mediated exchange, some online videos travel from one person to another resulting in the process of diffusion of the video. However, there are very few empirical investigations of the audience involved in the process. This exploratory research employs Rogers' diffusion of innovations as a theoretical framework to study online video users. Theories from social networks on tie strength and homophily are applied to create an integrated diffusion model. Based on survey data from college students, online video audience was profiled in two ways: one based on individual characteristics and another on activities with video content. Participants …

Validation Of The Pns-Q-Self And The Pns-Q-Informant For The Assessment Of Insight In Schizophrenia, Jaime Lauren Deyling

ETD Archive

The use of self-report measures in the assessment of schizophrenic patients has yielded mixed results because many patients lack insight. The Positive and Negative Symptoms Questionnaire (PNS-Q-Self) is a self-report measure for the assessment of insight in schizophrenia symptoms. The present study extended this measure by assessing an informant version of this scale, the PNS-Q-Informant. This was achieved by administering the PNS-Q-Self and the PNS-Q-Informant together with the McEvoy Vignettes (McEvoy, 1989). The results show that both the PNS-Q-Self and the PNS-Q-Informant exhibit high internal consistency for both positive and negative subscales. The correlations between the two scales were mixed, …

Employing Strategy In Measures Of Executive Functioning, Amanda A. Yocum

ETD Archive

Although various dementia-related executive deficits have been identified, the functional state of the frontal lobe during healthy aging remains unclear (Raz et al., 2005). The proposed study examines the use of strategy in measures of executive functioning in younger and older adults. Specifically, the strategy types of a nonverbal fluency task are shown to differentially correlate with the actual output generated by participants. The strategies employed here are compared between the two age groups, illustrating that older adults use the best strategy significantly less than younger adults, even when controlling for output differences, which may support the frontal lobe hypothesis …

Worship Styles, Music And Social Identity, Terri Lynne Johnson

ETD Archive

This study explored worship style, music and social identity from a communication perspective. Specifically, this study was interested in understanding the variables that influence worship music preference. Results indicated that Missouri Synod Lutherans who prefer traditional worship components identify more strongly with the larger organization, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). Moreover, music preference strongly predicts worship style preference. In addition, parishioners perception of self-disclosure in hymns and praise songs was also examined. Results indicated that certain dimensions of self-disclosure are more prevalent in hymns and praise songs than others and perceived self-disclosure is stronger with those who attend a …

Minority Student Perceptions Of The Veterinary Profession: Factors Influencing Choices Of Health Careers, Evan M. Morse

ETD Archive

The lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the profession of veterinary medicine is widely recognized. Despite this recognition, minority representation in veterinary colleges remains very low. No demographic data shows exactly how many minority veterinarians exist however, Elmore (2003) extrapolated numbers from recent graduates and suggested that about 91 of all veterinarians in the United States were white, 5 were Hispanic, 2 were African American, 1 were Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1 were American Indian/Alaskan Native. For minority groups, these percentages are significantly lower than the racial distribution in the population of the United States. Limited progress has …

Neural Correlates Of Déjà Vu And Dissociation: The Roles Of The Amygdala And Hippocampus In The Prevalence Of Deja Vu Used As An Indicator For The Severity Of Dissociation And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, James R. Pontau

ETD Archive

The phenomenon of déjà vu is one that is poorly understood while posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex diagnosis and presentation of symptoms. Both of these presentations are influenced by amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain. As such, this study demonstrated through correlational analyses that there are significant relationships between components of each that can be utilized to aid in determining the likely-hood of PTSD and dissociative symptoms. A unique negative relationship was also presented between deǰa vu and PTSD and dissociative assessment scores. Discussion of these relationships and future investigations are also discussed

Relationship Between Believed Causes Of Depression And Social Distance, Samantha Jean Tomsick

ETD Archive

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between causal explanations for depression and the social distance individuals would desire from a depressed person in order to clarify whether changes to existing public awareness campaigns concerning depression might be warranted. The sample used consisted of 223 students attending a university in a large mid-western city. Each participant received a vignette that described an individual suffering from depressive symptoms and also included information regarding whether these symptoms were caused by psychosocial or biological factors. The subjects then completed a survey incorporating questions from the modified version of the …

Working From Afar: A New Trend For Librarianship, Jennifer Duncan

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Telecommuting, which once seemed impractical for librarians, is swiftly becoming a viable option for employees in both technical services and public services. Societal changes such as increased commuting time, rising numbers of dual working-parents, and an explosion of technology that facilitates remote work have fueled both the desirability and the feasibility of alternative work arrangements. Traditionally, librarians have been tethered to a facility either because their public service role demands face-to-face interaction or because they work with materials housed in the building. As collection formats and service mechanisms change, however, librarians may be poised to take advantage of more flexible …

Vital Business Educators Perceptions About The Usefulness Of Business Education Periodicals, James C. Scott, Carol Blaszczynski, Diana J. Green, Britt A. Fagerheim

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Problem: The business education literature isn’t accessible.

Research Questions: Which business education periodicals do vital business educators perceive to be more useful? In which databases and/or indices are they found? How much literature is fugitive? What strategies might increase literature accessibility?

Research Method: Delphi technique.

Data Collection Procedures:A survey was distributed to 25 vital business educators.

Results: The Delta Pi Epsilon Journal and the NABTE Review were rated as essential to the profession; nine periodicals were rated as very useful; and six periodicals were rated as useful. Eleven databases and indices were identified as potentially useful.

Conclusions: Approximately 37% of …

Discovery: The Student Journal Of Dale Bumpers College Of Agricultural, Food And Life Sciences - Volume 9 2008, Several Authors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Interior Optima And The Inada Conditions, C. D. Aliprantis, Gabriele Camera, F. Ruscitti

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

We present a new proof of the interiority of the policy function based on the Inada conditions. It is based on supporting properties of concave functions.

Life Domain Research Report Series: Family, Gary Cameron, Lirondel Hazineh, Karen Frensch, Michele Preyde

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

The Life Domain Series describes the community adaptation of children and youth graduating from residential and intensive family service children’s mental health programs in multiple life domains (education and work, social involvements, family and health). This full length report presents evidence from the first and second phases of longitudinal research about how children who were involved with residential and intensive family service mental health programs are doing in school and at work.

No. 49: Gender, Migration And Remittances In Southern Africa, Belinda Dodson, Hamilton Simelane, Daniel Tevera, Thuso Green, Abel Chikanda, Fion De Vletter

Southern African Migration Programme

Migrant remittances have become an important source of income for many developing countries, exceeding official development assistance. As a result, migration and remittance behaviour are becoming a growing focus of international attention. Understanding the processes and patterns of remittance behaviour can help shed light on their usage and impact, both on recipient households and on wider socio-economic development in migrant-origin countries. One key aspect of such an understanding is the gender dynamics of migration and remittance practices. Globally, there is evidence of the feminization of migrant flows, with women increasingly migrating as independent migrants in their own right. Female migrants …

No. 50: The Perfect Storm: The Realities Of Xenophobia In Contemporary South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

The world recently watched with dismay as South African citi­zens violently attacked foreign nationals in communities across the country. Tens of thousands of migrants were displaced, amid mass looting and destruction of foreign-owned homes, property and businesses. Senior officials and politicians seemed bemused and perplexed by the xenophobic violence. The media was quick to advance several theories about the mayhem. One focused on historical factors, particularly South Africa’s divisive and alienating apartheid past. Another blamed poverty and the daily struggle for existence in many of South Africa’s poorer communities. A third criticized the ANC govern­ment for poor service delivery and …

Street Outreach Workers: Best Practices And Lessons Learned, Scott H. Decker, Tim S. Bynum, Jack Mcdevitt, Amy Farrell, Sean P. Varano

Justice Studies Faculty Publications

Street outreach workers are an important part of the Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative (CSI) comprehensive gang and youth violence reduction strategy in Massachusetts1. Street outreach involves the use of individuals to “work the streets,” making contact with youth in neighborhoods with high levels of gang activity. These individuals are generally not employed by the criminal justice system agencies but rather are based in community service organizations or other non- governmental agencies. Street outreach workers provide an important bridge between the community, gang-involved youth, and the agencies (whether social service or law enforcement) that respond to the …

Police Criminal Charging Decisions: An Examination Of Post-Arrest Decision-Making, Scott W. Phillips, Sean P. Varano

Justice Studies Faculty Publications

Scholars have encouraged studies of police decision-making to move beyond the arrest decision into research that broadens the understanding of police behavior. The criminal charge placed by officers against offenders is largely an untouched area of study. Examining criminal charging decisions goes beyond simple dichotomous decisions, such as arrest, but instead explores the area of police leniency or punitiveness. Randomly constructed vignettes describing a domestic violence incident were given to officers from four agencies. Officers indicated the criminal charges they would likely list against an offender if they were to make an arrest. Serious criminal charges were often supported by …

Measuring Knowledge Of Natural Selection: A Comparison Of The C.I.N.S., An Open-Response Instrument, And An Oral Interview, Ross Nehm, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Growing recognition of the central importance of fostering an in-depth understanding of natural selection has, surprisingly, failed to stimulate work on the development and rigorous evaluation of instruments that measure knowledge of it. We used three different methodological tools, the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), a modified version of Bishop and Anderson's (Bishop and Anderson [1990] Journal of Research in Science Teaching 27: 415-427) open-response test that we call the Open Response Instrument (ORI), and an oral interview derived from both instruments, to measure biology majors' understanding of and alternative conceptions about natural selection. We explored how these instruments …

Information Literacy For Teaching And Learning: A Course For Teacher Practitioners., Sara Bushong, Colleen T. Boff

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Teachers are faced not only with standards-based instructional design daily, but with the shortage of certified school library media specialists within their districts. Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning, a graduate level course, was created, in part, to empower teachers with the knowledge, skills and abilities to embed information literacy within classroom learning experiences. In addition, the skills mastered and activities explored in this course logically transfer to research projects assigned in future graduate courses. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Likelihood Of Developing An Alcohol And Cannabis Use Disorder During Youth: Association With Recent Use And Age, Ken C. Winters, Chih-Yuan Lee

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

Aim: We extend the literature on the association of early onset of drug use and estimated risk for developing a substance use disorder (SUD) by investigating the risk that recent onset of alcohol and cannabis use confers for developing a substance use disorder at each chronological age of adolescence and young adulthood (12-21-years-old). Design: Using 2003 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health [Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), 2004. Overview of Findings from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-24, DHHS Publication No. SMA-04-3963, Rockville, MD], …

User-Generated Descriptions Of Individual Images Versus Labels Of Groups 3 Of Images: A Comparison Using Basic Level Theory, Abebe Rorissa

Information Science Faculty Scholarship

Although images are visual information sources with little or no text associated with them, users still tend to use text to describe images and formulate queries. This is because digital libraries and search engines provide mostly text query options and rely on text annotations for representation and retrieval of the semantic content of images. While the main focus of image research is on indexing and retrieval of individual images, the general topic of image browsing and indexing, and retrieval of groups of images has not been adequately investigated. Comparisons of descriptions of individual images as well as labels of groups …

Research In Academic Library Collection Management, Mary F. Casserly

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

This chapter describes the empirical quantitative and qualitative research and case studies pertaining to collection management practice in academic libraries published between 1990 and 2007. The topics covered include collection size and growth, material cost, library expenditures, budgets and budgeting, collection development policies, collection composition, organization and staffing for collection management, selection, and the evaluation of the collection development process and the collection itself. The chapter identifies the most influential and useful studies and the most active areas of research. The collection management research literature was limited in the methodologies employed (surveys and case studies), statistical analyses applied (basic and …

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Revamping A Freshman Seminar Information Literacy Program, Amanda Izenstark, Mary C. Macdonald

Public Services Faculty Publications

Describes the process of redesigning the information literacy component of the University of Rhode Island's first year experience program, URI 101, using a library-based scavenger hunt, student worksheets, hands-on exploration of the Library's web site, and in-class discussion.

Derail The Federal Gravy Train: A Normative Audit Of America's Economic Policy Debate, Don P. Diffine Ph.D.

Belden Center Monographs

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Basketry In Early Holocene Small Seed Exploitation: Implications Of A Ca. 9,000 Year-Old Basket From Cowboy Cave, Utah, Phil R. Geib, Edward A. Jolie

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Despite ranking at the low end of the continuum in net caloric benefit relative to other foods, small seeds assumed great dietary importance in many parts of the world, including western North America. In a series of publications, Adovasio (1970a, 1974, 1980, 1986) argued that coiled basketry technology was invented in the eastern Great Basin during the early Holocene as a specialized food-processing technique. Coiled baskets are indeed useful for collecting and processing seeds, but it does not necessarily follow that they were originally designed for this purpose. A whole basket recently discovered at Cowboy Cave in southeastern Utah returned …

Perspectives And Progress In Contemporary Cross-Cultural Psychology, Gang Zheng, Kwok Leung, John G. Adair

IACCP Proceedings of the Biennial International Conferences

Selected Papers from the XVIIth International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2004, Xi’an, Sha’anxi Province, China

Culture, Personal Autonomy And Individualism: Their Relationships And Implications For Personal Growth And Well-Being, Valery I. Chirkov

Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences

The recent research and theorizing in cross-cultural social psychology have raised several interesting and conceptually important issues about the role of autonomy, selfdetermination and freedom of choice in different cultures and regarding the role of these factors in human functioning within various cultural contexts (Ahuvia, 2001; Inghilleri, 1999; Iyengar & DeVoe, 2003; Kagitcibasi, 2003, 2005; Markus & Kitayama, 2003; Miller, 2003; Rychlak, 2003; Schwartz, 2000). The following are among the key questions that have been raised: What is the nature and role of autonomy in the behavior of people from different cultures? Is autonomy’s positive influence only a prerogative of …