Community Psychology Commons^™

Latino Family Variables And Sexual Activity In Latino Adolescents, Brittany Nicole Barber

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Researchers’ focused examination of Latino adolescents’ cultural values and sexual activity has yielded questions regarding the cultural- and gender-specific attitudes and practices of these youth (Deardorff, Tschann, & Flores, 2008). Cultural values include family-related variables such as different aspects of familism, parent-adolescent communication, and parental monitoring, which have been found to decrease adolescents’ engagement in other negative activities such as aggressive behavior, (Dishion & McMahon, 1998), substance use (Estrada, Rabow, & Watts, 1982), and delinquency (Clark & Shields, 1997). Research investigating these risk behaviors has often implicated Latino adolescents’ level of assimilation to White, mainstream society as a potential risk …

Cultural Influences On Sexual Activity Among Latina Adolescents, Keyona M. Jarrett

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Early sexual activity among Latina adolescents has serious consequences (Chesson, Blandford, Gift, Tao, & Irwin, 2004; Mokdad, Marks, Stroup, & Gerberding, 2004; Schuster, 2003). Researchers have examined the influence of cultural variables such as assimilation, enculturation, gender roles, and ethnic identity on the sexual attitudes and behaviors of Latina adolescents (Benson & Torpy, 1995; Gómez & Marín, 1996; Jacobs, 2008; Kirby, 2002). Although there are some inconsistencies, the majority of the research in this area suggests that assimilation functions as a risk factor for engaging in sexual activity. Enculturation, gender roles (e.g., marianismo), and ethnic identity function as protective factors …

Late-Adolescents’ Perceptions Of The Affects Of Alcohol Use On Level Of Functioning, Rose Lucey, Ramona M. Bitanga, Annette M. Wilson

Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology Research Exchange Conference

Late adolescence is a developmental transition period in which social/cultural factors, interpersonal factors and psycho-behavioral factors may lead to the establishment and continuity of problematic alcohol use behavior from late adolescence to early adulthood. The longitudinal research suggests that problematic alcohol use during late adolescence has a negative impact on an adolescent’s level of functioning and potentially later functioning in adulthood. However, the research is limited, in part due to a limited understanding of how an adolescent’s alcohol use affects their level of functioning. The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the affect of alcohol use …

Campus Safety: Assessing And Managing Threats, Mario Scalora, Andre Simons, Shawn Vanslyke

Mario Scalora Publications

Since the shootings at Virginia Tech, academic institutions and police departments have dedicated substantial resources to alleviating concerns regarding campus safety. The incident in Blacksburg and the similar tragedy at Northern Illinois University have brought renewed attention to the prevention of violence at colleges and universities.

Campus professionals must assess the risk posed by known individuals, as well as by anonymous writers of threatening communications. The authors offer threat assessment and management strategies to address the increased demands faced by campus law enforcement, mental health, and administration officials who assess and manage threats, perhaps several simultaneously.

Poverty Among Adults With Disabilities: Barriers To Promoting Asset Accumulation In Individual Development Accounts, Katherine Mcdonald, Michal Soffer, Peter Blanck

Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition

Adults with disabilities disproportionally experience poverty. We examine one novel strategy to promote economic well-being among adults with disabilities living in or near poverty, namely Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are designed to help individuals save money and subsequently accumulate assets. Although adults with disabilities account for the majority of IDA participants, scant attention has been paid to their IDA saving performance. We describe the significance of accumulating assets, particularly as it relates to adults with disabilities. We then map the nature of IDA programs and analyze barriers to participation in IDAs and asset accumulation related to conflicting federal policies …

Risk Mitigation And Culture: An Examination Of The Utility Of Cultural Cognition Theory In Determining Operational Security Cultures In A Healthcare Environment, Melvyn Griffiths

Theses : Honours

People tend to see danger and risk in different ways depending on their experiences, attitudes and beliefs (Douglas, 1992; Kahan, 2008; Slovic, 1992). In order to develop effective risk mitigation strategies, an approach that can successfully manage competing worldviews is needed. Hospitals provide a challenging setting for security due to the contrast between the open nature of the environment and the need for appropriate entry and access control measures. This study assessed the utility of the Cultural Cognition methodology in a security risk context by measuring competing worldviews and risk perceptions between various cohorts in a healthcare environment. Cultural Cognition …

Differing Attitudes Towards The Cannabis Infringement Notice Scheme As A Function Of Career Aspirations And Dispositional Variables, Mark Thomas Wallace

Theses : Honours

This paper investigated the predictive relationship between individuals' career aspirations, dispositional variables such as temperance mentality and need for closure, and recent cannabis use, and attitudes towards the Cannabis Infringement Notice (CIN) scheme in Western Australia; and also examined if differences in attitudes towards CIN scheme existed between different career aspiration groups. The CIN scheme, a harm reduction strategy, came into effect on 22 March 2004 (Lenton, 2004). Harm reduction is one of three strategies encompassed by the policy of harm minimisation, which underpins Australia's approach to drugs and drug related harm (Ryder, Walker, & Salmon, 2006). Studies investigating attitudes …

Peer Mentoring In Higher Education: Mentees' Perceptions And Experiences, Jaye Barclay

Theses : Honours

Due to Federal Government policy reforms in the 1990's, equity and access to higher education (McKenzie & Schweitzer, 2001), has resulted in a major shift from elite to mass education (McKenzie & Schweitzer, 2001). Increased participation in higher education has subsequently led to increased attrition rates, especially among first year, first semester undergraduate students (Krause, Hartley, James, & Mcinnis, 2005). Over the past 15 years, the introduction of peer mentoring programs in Australian universities, have been recognised as an important step in addressing transitional issues (McLean, 2004), improving academic performance (Jacobi, 1991), and decreasing attrition rates (Drew, Pike, Pooley, Young, …

We Call Ourselves By Many Names: Storytelling And Inter-Minority Coalition-Building, Celina Su

Publications and Research

Scholars debate whether new immigrants will join minority native-born groups, especially African-Americans, in battling racial disparities, income inequalities, and discrimination in the United States. Although scholars have investigated inter-minority coalition-building in the context of electoral politics, a substantial share of newer immigrant social and political action has not been formalized. Social change organizations play an integral role in less formalized politics. The article draws upon ethnographic data on two case study organizations to investigate how they built coalitions between immigrants and non-immigrants. It pinpoints the ways in which they engaged in storytelling to emphasize multiple identity – namely, how any …

The Role Of Social Support Systems In Reducing Loneliness And Social Isolation For Parents Whose Partner Work Fly-In/Fly-Out, Nicole Fresle

Theses : Honours

Fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) practices in the mining and contracting industries are currently prominent and expanding throughout Western Australia. There is a strong need for effective social support systems for families during the worker's deployment due to long periods of time apart, reappraisal of family roles and social isolation. This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of parents whose partners are employed on a fly-in/fly-out basis and their views of social support systems in addressing the issues of loneliness and isolation. Family resilience was also utilised to investigate how female home-based partners deal with the stress involved …

The Theories Of Deindividuation, Brian Li

CMC Senior Theses

Has it ever occurred to you to wonder why a soldier would sacrifice his life by jumping on a bomb to save the rest of his brigade? Or why an individual in a gang might display respectable behavior when alone but swear and vandalize when in the group? The phenomenon of people getting pulled into crowds and adopting the group’s mentalities and behaviors has been recognized but not fully researched. However, it has been recorded in early literature and research that it is human nature to want to fit into a group, for example in Abraham Maslow’s (1943) paper, A …

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, And Physiology Better Than Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Belinda Campos, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses …

Young, Working And Black: A Study Of Empowerment, Oppression, Race And Gender In Community Settings, Julian Hasford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between race, gender, and power in community settings. Taking the experiences of young Black Canadians within the workplace as an exemplar, the study sought to answer three main research questions: (a) How does oppression influence the psychological empowerment of Black youth and young adults in the workplace? (b) How do workplace characteristics promote Black youths’ and young adults’ psychological empowerment?, and (c) How does gender influence Black youths’ and young adults’ experiences of oppression and empowerment in the workplace? To answer these questions I conducted narrative interviews with 24 Black …

Urban Neighbourhood Associations: People, Organizations, And Place, Brian Michael Hoessler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In a world increasingly “globalized” through advances in transportation and communication, place still matters. Our urban communities, dense and mixed in character, are homes for important social, economic, and political institutions and relationships (DeFilippis, Fisher, & Shragge, 2006), with volunteer-run neighbourhood associations bringing the voices of community residents into the conversation. My research with two such groups in Kitchener, Ontario, originally focused on organizational characteristics that aided their work in addressing neighbourhood issues such as crime, but later expanded to include considerations of the urban context within which both groups belong. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with association members and external actors …