Family, Life Course, and Society Commons^™

Dreaming Big And Living Small: Examining Motivations And Satisfaction In Tiny House Living, Lauren Michelle Boeckermann

Senior Theses

The tiny house movement advocates for downsizing and a moving into smaller

residences.1 While living in smaller homes is in no way novel, the roots of the current trend is

somewhat contested as some attribute it to the “Back-to-the-Land” movement of the 1970’s or

Thoreau’s plea to live simply and deliberately.1 In 2002, the first company dedicated to solely

building tiny houses was founded and called Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.2 Jay Shafer,

the owner of Tumbleweed, and several tiny house advocates joined together to create the Small

House Society to serve as a community of like-minded individuals with information sharing …

Biography As A “Tree Of Choices”: Discovering The Life Trajectories Of Young Entrepreneurs In Russia, Anastasia Poylova, Elizaveta Polukhina

The Qualitative Report

The article reveals the life trajectories of Russian entrepreneurs in the context of four modern institutions of socialization which determine individual career paths—family, education, social environment and professional experience. Our empirical data were 20 semi-structured narrative interviews with entrepreneurs analyzed based on grounded theory (open and axial coding). We analyzed individual life trajectories as “trees of choices,” where the main branches are institutions of socialization, and the subsequent branches—individual life features. Finally, we showed the meanings of each institution and found out the determining role of gender and the city of socialization. The empirical output is a model of life …

Reconciliation In Religious Families, Betsy Hughes Barrow, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

How do religious families resolve conflict and heal relationships? Through an in-depth study of interviews with 198 highly religious families, we explored motivations, processes, and outcomes of reconciliation. Through this analysis we have identified spiritual, relational, personal and practical processes, in the context of everyday family life, that help families strengthen relationships and resolve differences.

Sex And Money: Exploring How Sexual And Financial Stressors, Perceptions And Resources Influence Marital Instability For Men And Women, David B. Allsop, E. Jeffrey Hill, Ashley B. Lebaron, Roy A. Bean

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

This project explores how finances and sex relate to each other and to marital in-stability for men and women. Data come from the Flourishing Families Project (N = 301 couples) and are organized using the ABC-X model of family stress. Financial stress predicted sexual dissatisfaction for men but not for women. Parenting stress predicted sexual dissatisfaction for women but not for men. Financial dissatisfaction and sexual dissatisfaction predicated marital instability for both men and women. Financial and relational communication fully mediated all significant relationships with marital instability except in the mediational model, couple income still predicted marital instability for men.

The Gift Of Hindsight: A Parent Learns About Educating Trans Youth, Denise Snyder

Occasional Paper Series

Describes one family's journey with their transgendered daughter.

Primetimes Newsletter, Spring 2017, Office Of Lifespan Studies

PrimeTimes Newsletter

PrimeTimes is the newsletter of the Office of Lifespan Studies in the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

Umass Memorial Healthcare Information System Job Ladder, Matthew Simoncini, Vamsi Kavuru, Antariksh Nanda, Tahaseen Mahaboob Basha, Vikram Patil

School of Professional Studies

The capstone project report emphasizes the importance of a job ladder and the need of an hour to implement it at UMASS Memorial health care. The scope of this project is to create a well-established job ladder at UMASS with pre-defined standards on job levels related to Information Technology department that would facilitate in hiring, developing and promoting employees at various stages.

A Learning Framework For The Ywca Central Massachusetts, Dayna Ankermann, Manjushree Burdekar, Priyanka Joshi, Ying Song, Yumeng Chen, Xing Xie

School of Professional Studies

After meeting with the Director of Wellness and Health Equity at the YWCA Central Massachusetts (which will be referred to as the YWCA from here on out), we learned that as a non-profit gym and health center, it is heavily underfunded. The main focus of the project was to determine how to upkeep the facility while bringing in new customers with limited resources and budget. Due to the needs of the YWCA, our group focused on six aspects: revenue stream, donor retention, increasing membership, customer experience, social media marketing, and membership fee structure. After completing extensive research, we were able …

Human Services Management (Hsm) Certificate Program Expansion To Western Massachusetts Feasibility Study, Paul Campbell, Patrick Deschenes, Maria Pacheco, Bradley Paul, Elizabeth Vittum, Jing Zhang

School of Professional Studies

One of the most popular cost-savings programs that the Providers’ Council currently offers its members is a Certificate in Nonprofit Human Service Management (HSM) provided in partnership with Clark University and Suffolk University. As human services providers are struggling to hire and retain qualified staff, the need to provide professional development opportunities to help grow and expand a skilled health and human services workforce is a critical issue facing nonprofit organizations and communities in Massachusetts. This feasibility study examines the viability of Providers’ Council and Clark University expanding its HSM Certificate Program to organizations and staff located in western Massachusetts. …

Somali National University, Sharmarke Abdulla, Nikala Pieroni, Jenna Caskie, Sergii Odnodvorets, Tanyue Gong, Lahari Dasari

School of Professional Studies

The executive summary presents an overview of the principal conclusions and recommendations for Somali National University Faculty of Education (FoEd) regarding the following concerns: Difficulty with recruiting high quality prospects to the FoEd; Ineffective and counterintuitive use of social media as a tool to improve brand equity, as well as as a tool to attract and communicate with prospective and current students; Unbalanced gender ratio of current student body; Absence of student services and student supports; Low student retention rate; Limited resources for academic advising; This document is the result of a Clark University School of Professional Studies Capstone Project.

Literacy Revolution: How The New Tools Of Communication Change The Stories We Tell, Molly Gamble

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The transmission of culture depends upon every generation reconsidering what it means to be literate. The way we consider ourselves to be a literate species is changing, which puts us at a unique turning point in human history. Verbal literacy, or the ability to read and write, is slowly being replaced by visual literacy as a primary tool for human communication. As a culture, we tend to underestimate the creative ferment of our increasingly visual world. The linear, structured pathways of traditional literacy are shifting towards a creative and participatory pursuit of unstructured information that emphasize dimensional thinking. The acceleration …

Substance Use Among Urban Adolescents Of Color : Exploring The Effects Of Ethnic Identity, Psychological Empowerment, And Race, David T. Lardier Jr.

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Advances in the substance use literature have occurred over the last three decades. However, the research examining drug and alcohol prevention-interventions among urban youth has occurred from a deficit lens, and practitioners have not fully considered how race or ethnicity impact interventions. There is a need in the research to understand the processes and outcomes of substance use among urban youth, particularly those processes that focus on strengths and empowerment among racial-ethnic minority groups. This study investigates the mediating relationship of ethnic identity between community-based perceptions and psychological empowerment and substance use; the mediating impact of psychological empowerment; and the …

Reflections Of Young Adults On The Loss Of A Parent In Childhood, Eva Apelian

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this qualitative study is to provide an early exploration of the reflections of young adults on the experiences of parental loss in adolescence. This study aims to understand what the impact of relationships with immediate family, extended family, and peers have on bereaved young adults, and how these relationships changed after the death of their parent. Qualitative methods were used to explore this area of research. Eleven participants were recruited through snowball sampling and personal connections, from Montreal and New Jersey. Using a phenomenological design, the participants were asked 14 in-depth questions using prompts and follow up …

Taking On The Immigration Paradox : Hispanic Parental Involvement, Ailiceth Espinal

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to assess Hispanic/Latino parental involvement techniques and their predictors. Further, the study examined whether a relationship between the immigration paradox and parental involvement exists. Parental involvement was defined in both traditional forms (home- and school- based) and in additional four culturally specific forms. The survey participants consisted of 114 mothers and 19 fathers with school-aged children (ages 5-18 and grades pre-kindergarten to 12th). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which variables affected each of six parental involvement techniques. Results reflected many of the previous findings in Hispanic/Latino education literature. For example, when parents …

Parental Perceptions Of Including Children In Family Member's End Of Life Care And At The Funeral Services, Yuki Takahashi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Guided by social cognitive behavioral theory, this study aimed to explore the parental perceptions of including children in family members’ end of life care and at the funeral services by examining the potential predicting factors such as anxiety, depressive symptoms, stress, self-efficacy, self-esteem, attitude toward death, children’s age, social support, and personal relationships. A total of 120 (58 non-Japanese and 62 Japanese) parents participated in the study by completing either hard copy or online surveys. Data were analyzed by performing t-tests, correlations, and multiple regression. Results indicated that the majority of participants would definitely include their children in the partners’ …

"It Was Just Ugly And Uncomfortable" : A Phenomenological Study Of Intergenerational Transmission Among Adult Children Of Divorce, Carly A. Nacer

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Grounded in the intergenerational transmission of divorce theory, this qualitative phenomenological study explored how lived experiences of relational communication among female Adult Children of Divorce (ACOD) might reflect those of their parents who divorced during the adult child’s adolescence years. Ten in-depth Skype interviews were conducted with female ACOD at a large northeastern university. All participants shared negative communication behaviors that they perceived their parents used before the divorce. They described their experiences as “ugly and uncomfortable.” The findings suggested that ACOD’s exposure to conflict influenced the communication behaviors of their romantic relationships. Specifically, ACOD have had limited positive communication …

Work-Family Dynamics Among Working Mothers In The United States, M. Hassan Raza

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The current research consists of three studies evaluating the body of work–family conflict literature and examining work–family balance and work–family conflict experiences of working mothers in the United States. The first study addressed the research question: To what extent are voices of marginalized individuals and families recognized in work– family conflict studies? Content analysis was conducted of sixty-seven empirical articles containing 245 hypotheses/research questions in work–family conflict studies (1980– 2016). A conceptual framework, “The Ecology of Justice,” was developed to analyze data. Results indicated work–family conflict studies were less inclusive and less representative of underprivileged working individuals and families, but …

A Guide For Assessing Older Adults’ Needs On Maine Islands, Beatrice Byrne

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

This template may help Maine island communities identify older adults’ needs and island resources, in order to allow older adults to age in the island communities.

Three interviews with island health leaders, one community conversation with older islanders, and one pilot test provided information about what to include in the template.

The template includes a demographic survey, guides for conducting semi-structured interviews and group conversations with older adults and caregivers, a guide and worksheet for analyzing the data, a guide for assessing community resources, a guide for dissemination, and a list of additional resources.

Not Infertile, Can’T Have Children: Non-Reproductive Health Barriers To A Wanted Child, Jennifer A. Andersen

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Non-reproductive health barriers to a wanted baby are an understudied population in the field of infertility research. This is a concern for fertility, public health, and family scholars as the lack of information can have affects the attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors of couples with non-reproductive health barriers. Using the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB) and Survey Driven Narrative Construction, I was able to identify thirty-two women and their partners who have confronted a non-reproductive health barrier. These women did not self-identify and were grouped as such by the author. I found that the majority of the couples do not …

Relative Effects Of Sleep Hygiene Behavior And Physical Exercise On Sleep Quality, Austin Dopp

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Numerous studies have shown the relationship between sleep and overall health. A common measure of sleep is sleep quality which has been shown to be influenced by a variety of factors such as physical activity, diet, stress, social engagement, cognitive stimulating, and sleep hygiene behaviors. Data was analyzed from a previous study to determine whether trying to change one’s sleep would improve sleep quality and if this was more effective than physical exercise. A group of 104 individuals, randomized to the treatment group, were asked to log their daily activities, via smartphone app, within these six behavioral domains for six …