Search Results

open access

Intrinsic Religious Orientation and Mental Health in Later Life

Description: This dissertation research project was conducted to investigate religion as a coping resource in later life. The major proposition of the study was that intrinsic religious orientation is positively associated with mental health in late life. A forty three-item questionnaire was distributed to residents of four independent retirement communities resulting in a sixty-six percent return rate. The convenience sample of 214 individuals, with a mean age of 81.94 years, consisted of 156 female and 58… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Pruett, Charlie D., Jr.
open access

Children of Incarcerated Parents: An Application of the Stress Process Model.

Description: The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to examine the lives and experiences children of incarcerated parents from a theoretical perspective through an application of the social stress process. Previous research on children of incarcerated parents has neglected to add a theoretical component to their research, which is the intention of this research. The results will be organized around the theoretical domains of the stress process applied to findings from the analysis of eleven qual… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Jarvis, Ashley
open access

The Role of Social Capital in Organizations: The Precursors and Effects of Social Capital among Certified Nurse Aides in Nursing Homes

Description: The role of social capital in forming organizational commitment is the focus of this research. Organizational social capital is the idea that social relationships have value in the organization. The theoretical framework is based on Kanter's (1993) structure of organizational commitment. This research views the structure within organizations based on global empowerment, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and social capital. In addition, the role that race, income, and education affect… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Potts, Helen
open access

Ethnic Identity of Mexican American Children in the Post Industrial Age

Description: Ethnic identity of Mexican American children under the current socio-political climate was studied. Mexican American children were expected to display symptoms of ethnic ambivalence and self-rejection. Using the Kenneth and Mamie Clark (1947) Brown doll/White doll experiment as a model, data were gathered using a mixed model. This approach combed features of experimental designs, survey research, and qualitative methods. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from a purposive samp… more
Date: May 2007
Creator: Tan, Adrian James
open access

Use of Preventive Screening for Cervical Cancer among Low-income Patients in a Safety-net Healthcare Network

Description: This study is a secondary analysis of survey data collected in fall 2000 from patients of a safety-net hospital and its eight community health outreach clinics in Fort Worth, Texas. The study examined three objectives. These include explaining the utilization of Pap smear tests among the sample who were low-income women, by ascertaining the determinants of using these services. Using binary logistic regressions analyses primarily, the study tested 10 hypotheses. The main hypothesis tested the r… more
Date: May 2003
Creator: Owusu, Gertrude Adobea

Caregiving in Later Life: A Contextual Approach to the Provision of Care

Description: Guided by the life course perspective, this study examined the frequency of caregiving provided by older adults to kin and non-kin. A telephone survey produced a random sample of adults 60 years of age and older, which was predominantly White, with higher income and education levels (n = 278). Bivariate and multivariate analyses tested the impact of demographic characteristics and other variables, conceptualized as physical, human, and social capital, on the frequency of caregiving. Gender, age… more
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Date: August 2003
Creator: Worthen, Laura T.
open access

Understanding How Jurors Award Civil Damages: A Test of Affect Control Theory

Description: This dissertation examines predictors of juror-determined damage awards among 377 juror eligible mock jurors. Citizens reporting for jury duty in a large metropolitan county on five days when the study was conducted were invited to participate. Scenarios were created that varied both case facts and witness emotion during trial testimony. Results indicate that Affect Control Theory can be applied to the situation of juror-determined damage awards and is helpful in scientifically explaining some … more
Date: August 2004
Creator: McDonald, Emily
open access

Uninsured Adult Working-Age Population in Tarrant County: Access, Cost of Care, and Health--Hispanic Immigrants

Description: This study uses secondary survey data collected from a sample population of clients from JPS Health Network in Tarrant County, Texas from July-August, 2000. Respondents for this study represents a group of working-age Hispanic immigrant adults, N=379. Andersen's "Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations" is used to as the theoretical framework. Bivariate crosstabulation revealed significant relationships for dependent variables: problems getting needed healthcare, doctor visits, emergency ro… more
Date: August 2004
Creator: Queen, Courtney M.
open access

Work and Family Conflict: Expectations and Planning Among Female College Students

Description: Young women today are anticipating involvement in both career and family. The competing demands of family and work often result in work-family conflict. A survey was administered to 124 female college students exploring the importance they place on work and family roles, the expectations they have for combining these roles, and their attitudes toward planning for multiple roles. Identity theory provides a foundation for understanding the choices women make regarding their anticipated participat… more
Date: August 2004
Creator: Markle, Gail
open access

Reduction of Anomie through the Use of Say It Straight™ Training

Description: This study evaluated the Say It Straight™ (SIS) Training Program for its ability to improve straightforward communication, increase self-esteem, increase an individual's overall perception of group and family belonging or cohesiveness within a residential treatment setting and decrease an individual's perceived level of anomie. Effectiveness of SIS training was evaluated with paired sample t-tests (2-tailed) on six objective questionnaires given before and after training. Participation in the… more
Date: December 2004
Creator: Wood, Thomas Erin
open access

Relationship between the amount of parental supervision time and child delinquency.

Description: This study assesses the relationship between parental supervision and children's delinquency. Data used in this study came from interviews with 99 parents from the Denton city area of Texas in 2003. A probability sample of 53 was contacted by way of randomly selected residential telephone numbers. In addition, 46 parents were non-randomly selected. Parents were asked about how much time they spent supervising and engaging in activities with their children and whether or not the oldest child exh… more
Date: May 2005
Creator: Bessa, Yawo Agbessi
open access

"God will get me through": African American women coping with breast cancer and implications for support groups.

Description: This research examines the coping processes of African American women with breast cancer and how those processes relate to low usage of cancer support groups by these women. Prior coping research has utilized predominantly White samples. The limited research on African American coping responses is conflicting and characterized by small samples and non-probability sampling techniques. In this study, 26 respondents from Central and North Texas metropolitan areas were interviewed, including 9 key … more
Date: May 2005
Creator: McCoy, Brenda G.
open access

Parental Portrayals in Children's Literature: 1900-2000

Description: The portrayals of mothers and fathers in children's literature as companions, disciplinarians, caregivers, nurturers, and providers were documented in this research. The impact of time of publication, sex of author, award-winning status of book, best-selling status of book, race of characters, and sex of characters upon each of the five parental roles was assessed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and multinomial logistic regression techniques. A survey instrument developed for th… more
Date: August 2005
Creator: DeWitt, Amy L.
open access

Vision Impairment and Depression in the Older Adult

Description: The older adult population in the United States is rapidly expanding both because of longer life expectancies as well as the aging of the baby boomers. While vision impairment is a growing concern among older adults, there have been few, mostly small studies, of the impact of vision impairment on this population. The present study uses a national data set, the Second Supplement on Aging (1994 -1996) from the National Health Interview Survey, in a cross-sectional study of 9,447 civilian non-… more
Date: August 2005
Creator: Otters, Rosalie V.

Conspicuous Consumption and American Political Behavior

Description: The following premise is based on the ideas of social theorists who have contributed to understanding the importance of image in society. This proposal argues that political participation is susceptible to exploitation in the form of conspicuous consumption as defined by Thorstein Veblen. The analyses that follow will test the degree to which Americans who demonstrate more traditional forms of conspicuous consumption also tend to show more activity in political venues. While the correlation … more
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Date: August 2005
Creator: Bouressa, Andrea Kelly
open access

Medication adherence among the elderly: A test of the effects of the Liberty 6000 technology.

Description: Medication adherence is a formidable challenge for the elderly who may have several prescribed medications while dealing with limited incomes and declining health. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the Liberty 6000, an automated capsule and tablet dispenser that provides proper medication dosages and is intended to encourage and track medication adherence. Seven focus groups were assembled; these comprised 49 men and women ages 65 to 98 years of Black, Anglo, and Hispanic desc… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: August, Suzanne M.
open access

Unity through diversity? Assimilation, multiculturalism and the debate over what it means to be an American.

Description: In late 20th century America, multiculturalism emerged as a doctrine of equal respect and a popular ideological framework for resolving intergroup relations. Despite its dramatic presence, many sociologists conclude that the rather vigorous and often contentious academic inquiries into multiculturalism left us without a solid understanding of its significance. In this dissertation I examine survey and personal interview data to more clearly identify patterns of ideological support for multicult… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: George, Douglas F.
open access

The Social Construction of Huntington's Disease Caregivers in Colombia, South America

Description: This study is a multi-method, two-city, intensive, in-depth qualitative study of Huntington's disease (HD) caregivers (HDCs) in Colombia. I explored the Colombia HDCs' experience through the Hispanic culture of caring. I develop the theory of the subrogate agency based on 5 functional stages of HD from Shoulson and Fanh (1979). This study was conducted in two different regions of Colombia, Medellin and Juan de Acosta, in which high rates of HD cases have been identified. The data were collecte… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Giraldo, Clara
open access

Hierarchy Attenuating/Enhancing Organizational Environments and Intergroup Attitudes: Relationship of Racism, Classism, and Sexism in Multiracial and Monoracial Churches of the United States

Description: As Yancey (2003) has pointed out, the intentional character of racially integrated churches tends to lessen the social distance between Whites and minorities. The purpose of this study is to examine how racially hierarchy-attenuating and hierarchy-enhancing environments affect classism and sexism attitudes among congregations. The finding shows that multiracial churches promote H-A environment for class and race diversity, but not for gender equality. The class and race diversity is affected by… more
Date: December 2005
Creator: Kim, Ye Jung

Perceptions of Postpartum Depression among Adolescent Mothers and the Social Construction of Related Stigma

Description: Six serial focus groups were used to explore the perceptions of postpartum depression among nine adolescent mothers. The discussions were tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed using symbolic interaction theory, specifically Goffman's concept of stigma. Participants identified major stigma themes in relation to postpartum depression, teenage pregnancy and motherhood, all of which were portrayed negatively in the media. Several key causes of adolescent postpartum depression were also found incl… more
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Date: December 2005
Creator: Gosdin, Melissa M.
open access

Topical content in sexuality education and sexual health outcomes.

Description: Secondary analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health is used to examine possible explanatory variables for sexual health outcomes. Linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between sexual health outcomes and topical content in sexuality education, controlling for race, biological sex, low socioeconomic status, and religiosity. Results indicated increasing topical content in sexuality education had a positive effect on know… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Cudhea, Maia Christine
open access

The Impact of the Media on Biracial Identity Formation

Description: Biracial individuals undergo a developmental process that is different than monoracial individuals. Not only do they have to develop a strong and cohesive self-esteem, but also develop a strong and cohesive racial identity to have a healthy self-concept. The media is a social structure that has infiltrated into many aspects of American lives, including their racial identity. The media perpetuates current beliefs concerning race and racial identity. This research investigates how biracial identi… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Edison, Alicia
open access

Social emanations: Toward a sociology of human olfaction.

Description: Within the discipline of sociology human olfaction is rich with social significance yet remains a poorly charted frontier. Therefore, the following discourse is aimed toward the development of a foundation for the sociological study of olfaction. It is formed by the dual goals of unearthing the social history of olfaction and of providing a viable sociological account of the manner in which smells affect human ontology. From these goals arise the following research questions: (1) Have the meani… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Harris, Regina Gray
open access

Socioeconomic variables associated with the reports of controlling behaviors in current relationships among abused and non-abused females.

Description: This study examined the relationship between reports of controlling behaviors and education/income in a sample of 297 abused women and 2951 non-abused women in married or cohabitating relationships. This study confirmed that women who reported abuse were more likely to report all five of the controlling behaviors than women who did not report abuse. However, the abuse and non-abuse samples did show similar relationships between the controlling/isolating behaviors and the SES variables. This stu… more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Hunt, Megan Elaine
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