Community Psychology Commons^™

Ideal Dating And Sexual Partners For Low-Income Heterosexual African American Adolescents, Darnell Nathaniel Motley

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Dating and sexual relationships among adolescents have been identified as both normative and beneficial. However, the research examining the dating and sexual relationships of African American adolescents has been narrow in scope, focusing primarily on risks of intimate partner violence, pregnancy, and STI/HIV transmission. This myopic focus has left a gap in the literature as it relates to the normative aspects of dating and sexual relationships for these youth.

The present study sought to better understand the dating and sexual partner preferences of 51 African American adolescents (male = 32, female = 19) recruited from Chicago and San Francisco. The …

School-Level Predictors Of Student Office Disciplinary Referrals, Andrew Martinez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Student misbehavior has become a problem gaining much warranted national attention. To monitor student behavior problems schools are increasingly relying on student office disciplinary referral (ODR) data to identify and monitor students who may be at-risk for future behavioral problems. While research has examined individual-level predictors of student disciplinary referrals, few studies have examined multilevel models, which take into account the nested nature of these data (e.g., students within schools). The current study draws upon Social Disorganization Theory to guide an investigation of student office disciplinary referrals. This study examines office disciplinary referrals among 1,501 students across 13 schools in …

An Exploratory Investigation Of The Alcoholics Anonymous Sponsor: Qualities, Characteristics, And Their Perceived Importance, Ed Stevens

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Sponsorship is considered a critical element of the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) recovery paradigm. Adult individuals (Mean age = 41.0 years) participated in a study to investigate the qualities and characteristics that make for an effective sponsor. These individuals (N = 231) had either experience as a sponsee or had been sponsors (n = 109). The study included three major analytical tasks: a qualitative open ended question on characteristics, a choice and ranking exercise of 20 attributes, and a conjoint analysis of hypothetical sponsors differing on five attributes across three levels. Results suggest current engagement in AA is the most critical …

Exploring Community Psychology Value Congruence In Academic Setting, Olya Glantsman

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Value congruence between employees and their workplace is an important dimension of an individual’s fit with a work environment. The level of congruence between the values of employees and their employing organization and the relation of value congruence to satisfaction, commitment, and willingness to recommend the organization were examined. This study focused on the relationship of value congruence between the individuals who belong to the field of community psychology and their workplace in relation to the aforementioned work-related outcomes in an academic setting. Results show that departments rated higher on community psychology values had a greater number of faculty possessing …

Identification And Integration Within Campus Life Among First-Generation U.S. Citizens: An Exploration Of Campus Climate Perception, Shannon Marie Williams

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The current study explored the relationships within a higher education institution between innovative and inclusive mission-identity perceptions and school sense of community among first-generation U.S. citizens and first-generation college students, with varying racial backgrounds. During Fall 2012, a total of 4,492 participants at a large, urban, and Catholic university completed the Innovative and Inclusive (I/I) subscale from the DePaul Mission and Values Inventory as well as the School Sense of Community (SSOC) scale. Two 2 x 2 x 5 ANCOVAS were run to determine whether there were any differences across generation statuses and racial background for both measures. Additionally, regression …

Examining Attitudes And Exposure To Poverty Among Undergraduate Students: Contextual Factors, Kathleen Elizabeth Mcauliff

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In light of the recent economic downturn, poverty is an issue of increasing concerns. Attitudes towards individuals living in poverty, as well as explanations for poverty, vary and may be influenced by contextual factors, such as media portrayals, culture, and exposure. Attitudes and explanations for poverty among undergraduate students were compared among undergraduates (n = 268) who had varying amount of exposure (volunteering and socioeconomic status) to poverty. Three 2x3x3 ANOVAs demonstrated no significant three-way interactions between campus ministry engagement, volunteer hours, and self-identified socioeconomic status on three subscales of the Undergraduate Perceptions of Poverty Tracking Attitudes Survey ( …

The First Year College Experience: Predictors Of Natural Mentoring Relationships & Students' Academic Outcomes, Luciano Berardi

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Literature on college mentoring suggests that mentoring relationships has a positive effect on college students’ outcomes (Crisp & Cruz, 2009; Jacobi, 1991). The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of parental attachment and help-seeking strategies in the number of mentoring relationships reported by college students and the role of mentoring in students’ adjustment to the first year transition to college. Moos’ (2002) theoretical framework is used to root the study on an ecological viewpoint of college transition, because it proposes that individual characteristics and the environment thought which a person transitions affect one another and influence individual …

The Role Of The Black Church In Addressing Ipv At The Community Level, Monika Black

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a signific.ant concern within the Black community and, in particular, for Black women. However, IPV is not always identified as a critical issue for the Black community to collectively respond to and/ or adequately address. Without an appropriate support system, many survivors dealing with IPV are left without sufficient resources. The purpose of this study was to conduct an organizational level analysis of the role the urban Black church can play in providing a continuum of supportive services for primarily heterosexual female survivors of IPV in the Black: community. For this study.twenty-five church leaders completed …

Advancing Social Change Goals Through Partnership: Community Partner Perspectives, Liezl Alcantara

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Within recent years, researchers have turned their attention to assessing community impact of community-university partnerships. The sustainability of successful partnerships hinges upon evaluating partnership outcomes and integrating community feedback into practice. Successful partnerships between universities and community-based organizations (CBOs) have the potential to critically address social issues and attain social change goals, but to what extent do existing partnerships actualize this potential? The present Dissertation research yields important insights that address this question.

Marullo et al. (2003) described four types of goals associated with social change initiatives: Enhancing capacity, increasing efficiency, empowering constituents, and altering policies or …