Sociology Commons^™

On The Front Lines: Educating Teachers About Bullying And Prevention Methods, Aviva Twersky Glasner

MARC Publications

Problem statement: Bullying is a serious problem in American schools and is characterized by aggressive behavior distinguished by unequal power and the intention to cause physical, social, or emotional harm to others Bullying is evolving from the classic image of a big schoolyard bully picking on smaller kids to a more technologically, sophisticated model of kids using cyber technology to electronically tease, bully and harass their peers with texting, voicemails, emails and posts on public websites, like Facebook, that are popular with young students. While parents are and should be encouraged and trained to recognize understand the insidious nature of …

Girls And Cyberbullying, Elizabeth Englander, P. Snell

MARC Publications

No abstract provided.

Aggression To Gain Social Status: An Examination Of Middle And High School Females, Neely Snead Harvey

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The current study examined which type of aggression middle and high school females used most: indirect or direct aggression. Popularity (social standing) was also examined in order to help determine whether or not a female’s popularity was increased or decreased by which type of aggression, if any, she used the most. It was hypothesized that popular females used indirect aggression more than non-popular peers. Thirty participants were selected from grades seven through twelve at a rural combined middle/high school in Monongalia County, West Virginia. Participants were asked to nominate two popular and two unpopular females. Next, participants completed an aggression …

Ed/Bd Eligibility Related To Gender And Community Size In West Virginia|Ed/Bd Eligibility Related To Gender And Community Size In West Virginia, Matthew Joseph Smart

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Over-representation of males in special education is an area of concern. Research studies have confirmed West Virginia as one of the states having the highest male-to-female ratios for Emotionally Disturbed/Behavior Disorder (ED/BD) students. The current study compares the most and least populated areas in West Virginia with regard to ED/BD eligibility. Male/female student ratios of ED/BD were examined utilizing chi-square analysis. This study used the September 2009 regulations under West Virginia Policy 2419, and those regulations were in place when these data were collected. Results indicated that a statistically significant difference exists between the total number of ED/BD students made …

Rural Community Longevity: Capitalizing On Diversity For Immigrant Residential Stability, Rochelle L. Dalla, Tammy R. Stuhmer, Jennifer G. Deleón, Maria Isabel León Carreño

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The premise of this research is that rural immigrants comprise a significant source of untapped human and social capital necessary for community development. However, to capitalize on the growing ethnic diversity in rural America, immigrant newcomers must want to stay in their new rural communities. This investigation was designed to identify factors necessary to enhance rural Latino immigrants’ long-term residential stability. Thus, we sought to: (1) identify perceptions of rural residence, with particular attention to employment opportunities and challenges; (2) assess formal support availability and community issues of greatest concern to rural Latinas; and (3) identify strategies for creating bi-cultural …

Exiting Prostitution: An Integrated Model, Lynda M. Baker, Rochelle L. Dalla, Celia Williamson

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Exiting street-level prostitution is a complex, convoluted process. Few studies have described this process within any formal conceptual framework. This article reviews two general models and two prostitution-specific models and their applicability to the exiting process. Barriers encountered as women attempt to leave the streets are identified. Based on the four models, the barriers, the prostitution literature, and the authors’ experience with prostituted women, a new integrated six-stage model that is comprehensive in scope and sensitive to women’s attempts to exit prostitution is offered as a foundation for continued research on the process of women leaving the streets.

The Impact Of Adherence To Traditional Masculine Gender Role Norms On Anger And Depression, Matthew Charles Genuchi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Large scale studies of the incidence and prevalence of psychological disorders have consistently shown that women meet full DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder at twice the rate of men (Kessler et al., 1994; Kessler et al., 2003; NCS-R, 2007; Robins & Reiger, 1991). Some have proposed (Cochran & Rabinowitz, 2000; Kilmartin, 2005; Pollack, 1998) that the current DSM-IV diagnostic criteria do not adequately reflect the depressive symptoms of some men. Men tend to use more externalizing defenses and distracting coping styles to manage negative affect, and anger is hypothesized as an externalizing symptom of a masculine variation of major …

Men's Subjective Distress To A Partner's Imagined Indifelity: Testing Evolutionary And Social-Cogntive Hypotheses, Tanner Michael Carollo

Theses Digitization Project

Despite the ability of evolutionary psychology to account of sex differences in infidelity distress, it is challenged to explain the repeated finding that a large number of men do not select sexual infidelity as more distressing than emotional infidelity. The research goal of this thesis was to examine theoretically relevant individual difference variables in men that could possibly account for their reported distress to imagining a romantic partner's sexual and emotional infidelity.

The Effect Of Ethnic-Identity Salience And Negative Performance Feedback On African Americans' Explicit And Implicit Self-Evaluations, Delisa Nicole Young

Theses Digitization Project

The processes that underlie African Americans explicit versus implicit self-evaluations are examined by using the Associative Propositional Evaluative model (APE).

Updated Trends In Child Maltreatment, 2008., David Finkelhor, Lisa M. Jones, Anne M. Shattuck

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Recently released national child maltreatment data for 2008 show a generally encouraging situation during the first year of the serious recession that began in late 2007. Overall substantiated child maltreatment declined 3% from the previous year, including a 6% decline in sexual abuse. Child maltreatment fatalities stayed stable.

The Power Of Family Literacy. G1985, Janet S. Hanna, Kayla M. Hinrichs, Carla J. Mahar, John Defrain, Tonia Renee Durden

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

StoryQUEST’s Vision: High-quality early relationships and experiences throughout their daily routines provide each infant and toddler with the tools and skills to build a strong foundation for future school readiness. Families, caregivers, and communities as a whole collaborate to enable all children to become highly competent in language and literacy. This series was developed as part of a national research project — StoryQUEST — through the California Institute on Human Services, Sonoma State University.

Children exposed to reading and storytelling at home have greater success in school. Second in a series of nine, this NebGuide suggests language- and literacy-related activities. …

Family Involvement For Children With Disruptive Behaviors: The Role Of Parenting Stress And Motivational Beliefs, Carrie A. Semke, S. Andrew Garbacz, Kyongboon Kwon, Susan M. Sheridan, Kathryn Woods

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Children with disruptive behaviors are at risk for adverse outcomes. Family involvement is a significant predictor of positive child behavior outcomes; however, little research has investigated parent psychological variables that influence family involvement for children with disruptive behaviors. This study investigated the role of parental motivational beliefs (i.e., role construction and efficacy) as a potential mechanism by which parenting stress impacts family involvement for families of children with disruptive behaviors. Results indicated that parent role construction mediated the relation between parenting stress and all aspects of family involvement examined (i.e., home-based involvement, school-based involvement, and home–school communication). Parent efficacy mediated …

Parenting Self-Efficacy And Parenting Practices Over Time In Mexican American Families, Larry E. Dumka, Nancy A. Gonzales, Lorey A. Wheeler, Roger E. Millsap

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools: Faculty Publications

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study used a longitudinal cross-lagged panel design and a structural equation modeling approach to evaluate parenting self-efficacy's reciprocal and causal associations with parents' positive control practices over time to predict adolescents' conduct problems. Data were obtained from teachers, mothers, and adolescents in 189 Mexican American families living in the southwest U.S. After accounting for contemporaneous reciprocal relationships between parenting self-efficacy (PSE) and positive control, results indicated that parenting self-efficacy predicted future positive control practices rather than the reverse. PSE also showed direct effects on decreased adolescent conduct problems. PSE functioned in an antecedent causal …

Risk Factors For Poor Attendance In A Family-Based Pediatric Obesity Intervention Program For Young Children, Natalie A. Williams, Mace Coday, Grant Somes, Frances A. Tylavsky, Phyllis A. Richey, Marion E. Hare

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective—This study examined the role of demographic characteristics, psychological factors, and family functioning on attendance in a randomized controlled trial of a family-based pediatric obesity program.

Method—Participants included 155 children between the ages of 4 and 7 years (M age = 5.77, 57.4% female, 73.6% African-American, M BMI = 25.5) and their primary caregivers who were randomized to the treatment group. Three groups of participants were created based on their patterns of attendance during the program: 1) noncompleters, 2) partial completers, and 3) completers.

Results—Results indicated no differences among the attendance groups in child gender, child BMI, …

The Relationship Between Race And Suicide Ideation In Delinquent Females In The Texas Juvenile Justice System, Scott H. Belshaw, John Rodriquez

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002) reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 14 to 25 in the United States. This research examined the effect race has on suicidal ideation among a cohort of delinquent girls in Texas. This study examined 2004 data provided by the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission on referrals to the juvenile justice system in Texas (N = 6850). Other variables such as age, family structure, and sexual abuse were also examined to determine the strength and effect that sexual abuse has on a juvenile becoming suicidal. …

Analysis Of Gender Responsiveness And Cultural Responsiveness, Barbara Carson, Kimberly Greer

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

The theories of gender responsive programming in corrections have focused on the importance of relationships, gender roles, and structural barriers for women (Bloom, Owen, & Covington, 2003). They also included a strong recommendation for cultural responsiveness in recognizing cultural differences among female offenders and providing culturally relevant services (Bloom et al., 2003). However, there was little theoretical or empirical guidance on how to respond when the goals of gender responsive programming conflicted with the culture of female offenders. Findings from a program evaluation of a small, gang intervention program working with Hmong American girls, suggested that in such conflicts, cultural …

The Applicability Of Agnew’S General Theory Of Crime And Delinquency To Recent Juvenile Gang Membership In Houston, Marika Dawkins, Camille Gibson

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

This qualitative descriptive study used Agnew's general strain theory of crime and delinquency as lens through which to interpret the recent developments of juvenile gangs and gang-related activities in Houston, Texas. Agnew strain theory's main prepositions describe: 1) an inability to achieve goals that are valued positively, 2) an absence of positive goals, and 3) a presence of negativity or crime. These were assessed in terms of applicability to joining gangs in Houston. Data were collected by unstructured interviews of city employees who respond to Houston's gangs (e.g., Mayor' Anti-Gang Office staff and Houston Police Department officers), area observations, and …

Same Bang, Less Buck: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of South Carolina’S Youth Courts, Holly Miller, J Mitchell Miller

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

While youth courts experience tremendous growth nationwide, their utility is largely unproven, particularly in state-level contexts. This study conducted a cost-benefit analysis of South Carolina's youth courts. The study found that while youth courts and family courts produced comparable recidivism rates, youth courts were substantially less expensive for comparable adjudications. The relative efficiency of youth courts, however, was neither monolithic nor guaranteed. Individual youth courts displayed considerable variation and some youth courts were not as efficient as their traditional family court counterparts. Inefficient youth courts had low caseloads, typically resulting from inefficient or immature referral systems and a reliance on …

Africentrism And Africentric Rituals: Their Role In Jamaican Male Motivation To Pursue Higher Education, Totlyn A. Oliver

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

This academic research presents the case for Africentrism and its attendant rituals for the African Diaspora to aid in the motivation and inspiration factor in the male's choice to pursue higher education in Jamaica. The paper discussed Africentric rites of passage against the background of pre-emancipation and post-emancipation education in Jamaica. It also analyzed the current educational system for male nationals along with the implications for applying Africentrism to theories and practice of education for male stu-dents. The major concern precipitating this study was the low levels of male enrolment in institutions of higher learning, as the female population far …

The View Behind Rubber Bars: An Analysis And Examination Of Faith And Non-Faith Jail Reentry Programs In Central Florida, Gautam Nayer

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

This paper examined the usefulness of jail reentry programs as an alternative towards increased jail and prison costs. Policy issues for returning inmates could and often did include future employment prospects, housing and public safety. Prisoner reentry programs generally fell into two broad categories; faith and non-faith based. Generally, non-faith programs were conducted in jail or prison while the individual was incarcerated for an extended period of time.Non-faith type programs involved classes on anger management, G.E.D. attainment, college credits, or alcohol or drug abuse therapy. Faith based programs were generally Christian based, although they usually did not discriminate against other …

Para-Romantic Love And Para-Friendships: Development And Assessment Of A Multiple-Parasocial Relationships Scale, Riva Tukachinsky

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Parasocial-relationships (PSR) are viewers' imaginary relationships with media personae. Despite the growing body of research on PSR, the field is still lacking a clear conceptualization and precise measure of this phenomenon. The present study suggests a novel theorization of PSR as para-friendship and para-love. Study 1 demonstrates construct validity of a new Multiple-PSR scale using the logic of a multi-trait multi-method approach. Study 2 replicates the factorial solution using confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, Study 3 provides evidence for the criterion validity of the scales. Together, these findings suggest that PSR encompass several types of relationships that might mediate different media …

Dangerous Obscurity: A Study Of The Female Suicide Combatants Of Sri Lanka, Jessica Santala

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since 1991 the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have used female suicide operatives in their civil war with the Sri Lankan government. Gaps in research about these phenomena suggest that it’s not seen as a gender specific problem and that female suicide bombers can be compared toe to toe with their male counterparts. I contend that the situation surrounding female suicide terrorism is unique and that certain discernable socioeconomic indicators can explain the reasons behind why some women of Sri Lanka become more active in suicide terrorism. I have compiled a suicide terrorism dataset out of terrorist acts perpetrated by …

Therapeutic Discourse And The American Public Philosophy: On American Liberalism's Troubled Relationship With Psychology, Clifford D. Vickrey

Honors Theses

I explore the main currents of postwar American liberalism. One, sociological, emerged in response to the danger of mass movements. Articulated primarily by political sociologists and psychologists and ascendant from the mid-fifties till the mid-seventies, it heralded the "end of ideology." It emphasized stability, elitism, positive science and pluralism; it recast normatively sound politics as logrolling and hard bargaining. I argue that these normative features, attractive when considered in isolation, taken together led to a vicious ad hominem style in accounting for views outside the postwar consensus. It used pseudo-scientific literature in labeling populists, Progressives, Taft conservatives, Goldwaterites, the New …

Individualized Intimacy? : The Negotiation Of Self And Other In Heterosexual Relationships, Daniel Santore

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Sociologists working in various scholarly traditions posit an individualization of contemporary romantic relationships occurring in Western societies over the passed several decades. This dissertation uses North American and European theoretical perspectives on "individualized intimacy" as the basis for a qualitative interview study of 45 women and men involved in heterosexual relationships. In keeping with the theoretical perspectives that ground the study, the interviews focus on how concepts of self-development, communication, gender and social class collide with one another in, and serve to shape, respondents' narratives of self and other in intimacy. Findings demonstrate that: (a) regarding gender, women and men …

Understanding Alcohol-Related Sexual Assaults: Characteristics And Consequences, Sarah E. Ullman, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sexual assaults commonly involve alcohol use, but little is known about alcohol’s effects on many aspects of assaults and their aftermath. We investigated characteristics of victims, perpetrators, and assaults as a function of whether alcohol was involved in the assault, as well as differences in women’s post-assault experiences. Assaults prior to which only perpetrators were drinking differed not only from non-alcohol-related assaults, but also from those prior to which both perpetrators and victims were drinking. Understanding the effects of alcohol-related assaults is important for identifying victims who should be targeted for mental health and substance use interventions.

Alcohol-Related Help Seeking In Problem Drinking Women Sexual Assault Survivors, Sarah E. Ullman, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Correlates of alcohol-related help seeking were studied in women sexual assault survivors who were current problem drinkers (N = 526) in a large metropolitan area in 2002-2003. Volunteer participants completed several valid and reliable instruments, which assessed alcohol use and misuse and related help seeking (i.e., the TWEAK, GFM, and MAST). Data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Results suggest that correlates of women survivors’ alcohol-related help seeking vary depending on the specific source. Limitations and implications are noted and recommendations for future research are made. This study was funded by the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Preventing Security Breaches In Business, Pearl Jacobs, Linda Schain

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Technological advancements are constantly changing the world we live in. These advancements are not only changing how we work but also the security of our workplace. High level white collar crime is rapidly becoming a fact of corporate life. Businesses want to avoid becoming victims of these white collar criminals so they attempt to institute controls on all aspects of their operations. These controls are far from 100% effective. Businesses need to take a different approach to the prevention of white collar crime. Perhaps more effective prevention programs can be developed by exploring the various theories of crime causation and …

A Phenomenological Examination Of The Influence Of Culture On Treating And Caring For Hispanic Children With Autism, Lynette Estrada

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the influence culture has on the decisions Hispanic parents make to aid their children with autism. The research problems addressed are the influences culture may have on how professionals and external family members affect the choices parents make. Cultural and family systems theories formed the conceptual framework for the study. Researchers have found that cultural factors may lead to lower rates of diagnosis in Hispanic children with autism and parents' lack of knowledge of therapies and practices used to treat autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Five research questions guided this …

“All The Men Here Have The Peter Pan Syndrome— They Don’T Want To Grow Up”: Navajo Adolescent Mothers’ Intimate Partner Relationships—A 15-Year Perspective, Rochelle L. Dalla, Alexandria M. Marchetti, Elizabeth (Beth) A. Sechrest, Jennifer L. White

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

In 1992 and 1995, data were collected from 29 Navajo Native American adolescent mothers. In 2007 and 2008, data were collected from 21 of the original 29 (72%). Guided by feminist family theory, this investigation sought to (a) examine Navajo adolescent mothers’ intimate partner relationships during the transition to parenthood, (b) identify themes in the young mothers’ intimate partnerships across time, and (c) assess participants’ psychosocial well-being in adulthood. Four themes emerged in the women’s long-term intimate relationships: limited support, substance abuse, infidelity, and intimate partner violence. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Women And Math Performance: The Effects Of Stereotype Threat, Math Identity, And Gender Identity, Felicia W. Chu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

.