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Articles 31 - 41 of 41

Full-Text Articles in Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

Killing Martin County : Resiliency In A Central Appalachian Community., David Adam Sizemore May 2018

Killing Martin County : Resiliency In A Central Appalachian Community., David Adam Sizemore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental stressors, anything that poses a threat to human and environmental health, are disproportionately located in marginalized communities. Coal extraction companies produce and concentrate environmental stressors in Central Appalachia, a sub-region of Appalachia with high poverty rates and economic hardship. Through destructive coal extraction methods, the coal industry has jeopardized Central Appalachian health and environmental quality. The coal industry’s power to cause destruction in Central Appalachia is a product of historical strategic initiatives. Since the late 1800s, the coal industry has forcefully altered the culture and ideology of Central Appalachians and developed relationships with local, state, and federal policymakers to …


The Talk: Christian Right And Liberal Left Rhetoric About Sex Education, True Neal May 2018

The Talk: Christian Right And Liberal Left Rhetoric About Sex Education, True Neal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the rhetoric surrounding sex education crafted by two major types of advocacy groups: the Christian Right and the Liberal Left. I conducted a qualitative analysis of content on sex education produced by six high-profile organizations: The Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Civil Liberties Union, the Guttmacher Institute, and Planned Parenthood. I found that these polarized organizations do not debate each other; instead, they focus on parents whose political leanings match their own. Sex education is at the center of other issues that also divide the Christian Right and the Liberal Left: healthcare, …


A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Household Financial Reactions And Homebuyer Awareness Of Registered Sex Offenders In A Rural, Suburban, And Urban County., John Charles Navarro Aug 2017

A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Household Financial Reactions And Homebuyer Awareness Of Registered Sex Offenders In A Rural, Suburban, And Urban County., John Charles Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As stigmatized persons, registered sex offenders betoken instability in communities. Depressed home sale values are associated with the presence of registered sex offenders even though the public is largely unaware of the presence of registered sex offenders. Using a spatial multilevel approach, the current study examines the role registered sex offenders influence sale values of homes sold in 2015 for three U.S. counties (rural, suburban, and urban) located in Illinois and Kentucky within the social disorganization framework. Homebuyers were surveyed to examine whether awareness of local registered sex offenders and the homebuyer’s community type operate as moderators between home selling …


Breaking The Cycle Of Silence : The Significance Of Anya Seton's Historical Fiction., Lindsey Marie Okoroafo (Jesnek) May 2017

Breaking The Cycle Of Silence : The Significance Of Anya Seton's Historical Fiction., Lindsey Marie Okoroafo (Jesnek)

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the feminist significance of Anya Seton’s historical novels, My Theodosia (1941), Katherine (1954), and The Winthrop Woman (1958). The two main goals of this project are to 1.) identify and explain the reasons why Seton’s historical novels have not received the scholarly attention they are due, and 2.) to call attention to the ways in which My Theodosia, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman offer important feminist interventions to patriarchal social order. Ultimately, I argue that My Theodosia, Katherine, and The Winthrop Woman deserve more scholarly attention because they are significant contributions to women’s …


Standing In The Intersection : Using Photovoice To Understand The Lived Experience Of Black Gay College Students Attending Predominantly White Postsecondary Institutions., Erica Caton Dec 2015

Standing In The Intersection : Using Photovoice To Understand The Lived Experience Of Black Gay College Students Attending Predominantly White Postsecondary Institutions., Erica Caton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intersection of multiple oppressed identities is characterized by the compounded effects of victimization, intimidation and continued marginalization by dominant culture groups in society. Despite a growing body of knowledge about the individual experiences of racial and sexual minorities, there remains a lack of understanding of the unique life experiences of individuals with intersecting oppressed identities, specifically Black gay youth. Failure or inability to recognize, understand and take action in response to the needs of Black gay youth in college, perpetuates a culture of oppression that compromises the physical and mental well-being, and the academic success of these students. Engaging …


O Brother, Where Art Thou? Understanding Culturally-Produced Limitations On Gay Male Community Formation In South Central Appalachia, Michael Brandon Brewer May 2015

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Understanding Culturally-Produced Limitations On Gay Male Community Formation In South Central Appalachia, Michael Brandon Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines limitations presented to gay men living in south central Appalachia that are produced by Appalachian culture itself, in regard to community formation. This qualitative study intersects existing scholarship on rural sexualities, gay communities and Appalachian culture in order to gain insight into the complexities that effect men in the region. The data is synthesized through a contextual dialectics framework in order to position both the Appalachian culture in its entirety, and gay men residing in the region, as agentic actors that are simultaneously informed by and produce tensions between the two. This study explores ways in which …


From Quackery To Control: Perceptions Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine From Users With Mental Health Disorders, Rachael Welsh Allen May 2014

From Quackery To Control: Perceptions Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine From Users With Mental Health Disorders, Rachael Welsh Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is an investigation into why people with depression and anxiety use complementary and alternative medicines at higher rates than the general population. The study examines perceptions of mental illness and meanings assigned to depression and anxiety, others’ perceptions of mental illness, and experiences with conventional medicine. All participants were using complementary and alternative medicine at the time of the study; their reasons for CAM use as well as how CAM affected perceptions of their illness were main research questions. I conducted three focus groups with individuals diagnosed with depression who were using complementary and alternative medicine as forms …


A Content Analysis Of A&E'S Hoarders, Samantha J. Redwine Aug 2013

A Content Analysis Of A&E'S Hoarders, Samantha J. Redwine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The interest in hoarding has peaked since its first clinical definition in 1996 and is evident by six television shows centered on the topic. This thesis reports the results a content analysis of two seasons (21 episodes) of the popular T.V. series A&E’s Hoarders. People rationalize hoarding in ways that both differ and overlap. Doctors, professional organizers, hoarders and their loved ones collectively frame hoarding as a medical and mental health problem. The results suggest that Americans’ perceptions of hoarding behavior has shifted from one that is deviant behavior to one that is medicalized.


Modeling Social Participation As Predictive Of Life Satisfaction And Social Support: Scale Or Index?, Anne T. Zelenka Jan 2011

Modeling Social Participation As Predictive Of Life Satisfaction And Social Support: Scale Or Index?, Anne T. Zelenka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social participation in late adulthood through activities such as volunteering with charities, playing sports, and joining clubs can increase life satisfaction, directly by providing enjoyable engagement and indirectly by increasing a person's sense of social connectedness. When reported levels of different types of activities are used to measure social participation, conventional measure development procedures based on classical test theory lead to a proliferation of small participation subscales that don't show good reliability, don't have theoretical power, and don't match researchers' conceptions of the dimensions of participation. Based on the poor performance of conventional approaches, some researchers have suggested that social …


Peter L. Berger's Early Conception Of Agency: Exposition And Evaluation., James Greene May 2010

Peter L. Berger's Early Conception Of Agency: Exposition And Evaluation., James Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peter L. Berger's conception of agency in his earliest writings (c.1954-1960) is logically and empirically inadequate. At the root of this inadequacy is an idealism that prevents him from providing a compelling account of actual empirical agency. Chapter 1 asserts that Berger's earlier works warrant analysis. Chapter 2 discusses Berger's earliest influences, particularly Max Weber and The Swedish Lund School of motif research. Chapter 3 identifies a unique commitment to Christian Humanism at the base of Berger's conception of agency. Chapter 4 clarifies how Berger's Christian humanism interacts with his Weberian, and Parsonian-inspired functional analysis of the American religious establishment. …


Item Order Effects On Attitude Measures, Pei-Hua Chen Jan 2010

Item Order Effects On Attitude Measures, Pei-Hua Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effects of altered item order on attitude measures for both computerized adaptive and conventional survey formats. Based on items modified from a dissertation/thesis completion survey (Green & Kluever, 1997) with three scales, three survey versions were generated with items ordered by difficulty as hard-to-easy (H-E), easy-to-hard (E-H), and five medium trait level items presented first followed by randomly ordered items (M-R) for conventional survey format. Significant differences in item difficulty and item discrimination were found for two of the three scales. Differences in scale reliability were detected for the procrastination and …