INTRODUCTION: Orthodontic treatment can include physical and/or psychosocial elements in addition to straightening teeth. OBJECTIVE: Of importance to this study was to explore the correlation between malocclusion and psychosocial well-being from the perspective of younger patients, their caregivers, through the inclusion of normative criteria. MATERIALS & METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Data was collected at a single point in time from a sample of prospective patients. Eighty-six patients and their caregivers met the inclusion criteria and were asked to complete the questionnaires. The mean age of patients included in the study was 13.57 +/- 1.57 years (55 females and 31 males). Data was collected through clinical exams. Patients were assessed using the dental and aesthetic component grades of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). RESULTS: Caregivers’ satisfaction with the patient’s body image correlated with the patients’ satisfaction with their body image (p<0.05). Caregivers' satisfaction with tooth appearance correlated with the IOTN aesthetic component grade (p<0.05). As the satisfaction score increases (reflecting overall dissatisfaction with body image), the more likely that the patient actually needs treatment. There is no significant correlation between patients’ satisfaction with their teeth and IOTN dental and aesthetic component grades (p>0.05). Caregivers' motivation, in comparison to the patients’ motivations to seek orthodontic treatment was significant (p<0.05). No significant gender differences were found with regards to being bullied about dental appearance (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Malocclusion does impact perceptions of psychosocial well-being. / May 2016

Thesis advisor: Penny Hauser-Cram / This dissertation involved secondary analysis of data from the Early Intervention Collaborative Study (EICS), a longitudinal study of children with developmental disabilities (DD) and their families (Hauser-Cram, Warfield, Shonkoff, & Krauss, 2001). The sample for this dissertation was comprised of 133 adolescents with DD and their parents. When the target adolescent was ages 15 and 18, mothers and fathers completed measures assessing their own functioning and that of their child, as well as aspects of the home and family environment. Regression analyses were utilized to examine factors that relate to and predict functioning and well-being of adolescents with DD and that of their parents. The following research questions were addressed: (1) What parental and child factors are related to the well-being of parents of adolescents with DD? (2) How is partner satisfaction related to the parent-child relationship and family cohesion for parents of adolescents with DD? (3) How are work characteristics related to parental satisfaction with the parent-child relationship and with parental well-being? (4) What factors predict and relate to adolescent autonomy in teens with DD? Results indicated that parenting efficacy predicted parental well-being and various types of parenting stress above and beyond adolescent behavior problems. Counter to hypotheses, parent social support and adolescent autonomy did not relate to parental well-being. Additionally, the total number of adolescent behavior problems was related to greater well-being among mothers but not fathers, though externalizing behavior problems in particular related to greater total parenting stress for fathers only. Dyadic adjustment was only related to greater satisfaction with family cohesion for fathers, as was difficulty of care. For both mothers and fathers, work flexibility and job satisfaction contributed to greater parental well-being above and beyond satisfaction with the parent-child relationship. Finally, social acceptance predicted later adolescent autonomy, and adolescent self-efficacy related to autonomy above and beyond previous social acceptance. Collectively, the findings demonstrated the influence of adolescent functioning in relation to parents’ well-being, the importance of parenting efficacy for parents and peer support and self-efficacy for adolescents with disabilities, and the potential benefits of employment for this parenting group. Implications and areas for future study are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: James Najarian / This investigation outlines and applies what I have termed Aesthetic Phenomenology – a method of interdisciplinary criticism founded on the intersections of Martin Heidegger’s existential phenomenology, Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics, and Wolfgang Iser’s literary anthropology. This study traces the articulation of Dasein’s fundamental ontological structures outlined in Heidegger’s philosophy. A concern with Dasein and the issue of its Being, specifically in relation to the aesthetic, are prominently foregrounded in many works of eighteenth-century and Romantic period English literature. Hence conceptions and investigations of the imagination become central during this period. Yet the idea of the imagination itself as a faculty is amended and supplemented when it is brought into play with what Iser terms “the imaginary,” which is conceived as the domain of possible worlds and modes of Being. In the first chapter, “Aesthetic Phenomenology: A Critical Encounter,” I outline how a phenomenologically grounded aesthetic must account for the interplay of the domains of the artist, artwork, and recipient in what I call an “aesthetic equation.” The second chapter, “Between Fundamental Ontology and the Imaginary: A Genealogy of Aesthetic Phenomenology,” traces the principle landmarks defining the topography of our investigation. “The Aesthetics of Insein” deals with how Being is projected and articulated in regards to Heidegger’s conceptions of “understanding,” “interpretation,” and “worlding,” as well as his distinction between the “real” and “reality.” “The Aesthetics of Attunement” is concerned with the opposition between everyday and authentic Being and the quality of aesthetic experience as both Erlebnis and Erfahrung. The aesthetic functions as an analogue to Heidegger’s conception of “conscience” as a “call” which leads to Being becoming “resolute” and taking up the path to its “authentic,” ownmost self and returning to its “there.” In “The Undiscovered Country and the Mortal Bourne: There Be Monsters,” I delve into the potentially negative side of the imaginary and discuss the implications of, and dangers inherent in, the transgressive qualities of the aesthetic. The writings of Samuel Johnson are explicitly guided by the ontological and moral issue of the choice of life. The first part of the chapter measures Johnson’s “ontological surveys,” which address Dasein’s range of possible attunements, specifically as conducted in the poems “London” (1738), “The Vanity of Human Wishes” (1749), and “On the Death of Doctor Robert Levet” (1782). In “The Temporality of Idleness: Aesthetic Ramblers, Adventurers, and Idlers and the Issue of Authenticity,” I consider both the negative and positive aspects of idleness as attunement, which recurs in Johnson’s periodical essays. The next section, “The Domain of the Aesthetic in Johnson’s Criticism,” posits that for Johnson the aesthetic provides a realm wherein a range of possible projections of Being are disclosed. The final section, “The Devouring Imaginary and the Struggle of Resolution,” investigates the obverse side of Johnson’s relationship to the imagination and the imaginary. As the leading philosopher of the imagination in England during this period, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry and prose is directly engaged with the issue of Dasein’s ontological projection and the disclosure of horizons of Being. “The Imagination vs. the Imaginary,” deals first with what I term the “voluntary imagination” as it is revealed in Coleridge’s so-called “conversation poems” as a form of Erlebnis. The obverse side of the voluntary imagination is the “compulsory imaginary,” which in a form of experience conceived as Erfahrung, the contours and consequences of which are drawn out through a readings of “Fears in Solitude” (1798), The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798 / 1834), and “Kubla Khan” (1797-1799?). The awareness of the failure of the imagination to order experience and life becomes evident in Coleridge’s “Black Period” poems: Dejection: An Ode (1802), Constancy to an Ideal Object (1804-7), Ne Plus Ultra (1811), and Limbo (1811). Here the imagination as creator and site of joy is replaced by the abyss of the imaginary. Coleridge’s imaginative failure eventuates his pursuit of what I call the “Philosophic Imaginary” – a process initiated in the Biographia Literaria (1817). The Coleridge section concludes with a consideration of the philosophic imaginary’s legacy as revealed in essays about Coleridge by Algernon Charles Swinburne, Walter Pater, and Arthur Symons. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English.

Hedonism is not terribly popular as a theory of well-being. And there are good reasons to question whether hedonism even supplies the best account of happiness. Yet hedonism captures something important, and it will be the goal of this essay to articulate just what that is. I suggest that hedonism provides the best account of phenomenal wellbeing (PWB). PWB is a restricted form of well-being that relates to the quality of the experience of a life—or, in other words, the quality of one’s phenomenal life. If wellbeing is characterized as “how well one’s life goes,” then PWB is “how well one’s life goes for her, from the inside.” In rating a life’s PWB, the life is judged solely on the basis of the contents of the experience of that life rated against the experience of the individual’s other possible lives. Unlike well-being, PWB is guaranteed to track more robust experiential benefits that a person gets out of living a life. In this work, I discuss the concept of well-being, including the feature of subjectrelativity that is sometimes ascribed to it; then, after introducing the concept of a phenomenal life, I develop the concept of phenomenal well-being. I propose what I take to be the best available account of PWB, which involves the hedonistic concept of satisfaction. An epistemic model of life-comparison (inspired by Peter Railton’s full information account of well-being) on which phenomenal lives are judged on the criterion of satisfaction is presented, followed by some objections, and replies, to PWB as satisfaction. Finally, some rival accounts of PWB are discussed and critiqued—notably, an account of cognitive life-satisfaction that resembles theories of “life-satisfaction” in happiness theory. The claim is that hedonism supplies the best answer to what makes the experience of our lives go best for us. In the closing chapter, I make some suggestions concerning the significance of this fact.

The primary goal of this thesis is to show that Martin Heidegger's philosophy of technology stems directly from his ontology. Specifically that his notion of technology, as the enframing destining spirit of this age, is a revelation of being itself as technology in this age. The thesis begins with an introduction that sets up the major points and briefly summarizes each of the chapters. Chapter I primarily deals with the question of what motivates Heidegger to reflect philosophically on technology. This idea is also broadened to include the basic experiences and concepts that might cause anyone to reflect on technology. The historical, scientific, metaphysical, practical, personal, and spiritual are the motivational forces that drive someone to philosophize about technology. This is shown through an analysis of selected works from Iain Thomson, Don Ihde, W.P.S. Dias, and Hubert Dreyfus. The chapter ends with a return to the notion of being. Chapter II mainly deals with a textual analysis of the introduction to Being and Time, and The Question Concerning Technology. The idea of being is examined in detail, and a workable notion of being is extracted from the text. Then Heidegger's philosophy of technology is explained using the QCT. These ideas are put together and it is shown that technology is being as the destining of this present age. Yet technology poses a danger to being, and indeed to humanity. The third chapter examines the alternatives to this danger in the form of Heidegger's saving power, as discussed in his essay The Turning. The lesser dangers of technology are also reconsidered, as the truth of Heidegger's answer comes to light. The truth of the saving power is that releasement towards a new destining will surmount the danger of technology. Yet this reveals that being takes a care for humanity, and this opens up the path for the unconcealing of God's active power in the world of technology. Ultimately, only God can save humanity from the danger of technology, but He will only be revealed through the new destining revealing of being.

The aim of this study is to better understand age differences in well-being using Ryan, Huta, and Deci’s (2008) theory. According to this theory, four constructs are responsible for living a full and deeply satisfying life (i.e., eudaimonia) and experiencing pleasure and an absence of psychological pain (i.e., subjective well-being): (1) pursuing intrinsic goals and values, (2) behaving in autonomous ways, (3) living mindfully, and (4) behaving to satisfy the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Results indicate that aging was positively associated with the pursuit of intrinsic goals and values, autonomous behaviour, mindfulness, and mental health. Although age had a positive effect on the basic psychological need for autonomy, it had no effect on relatedness, and a negative effect on competence. The mixed influence of age on basic psychological needs may explain why older adults experienced greater levels of hedonic well-being but lower levels of eudaimonic well-being.

The Saskatchewan River Delta (SRD) is the largest freshwater inland delta in North America, covering over 950 000 hectares in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The wetlands in the SRD provide valuable ecosystem services and support considerable biodiversity. The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) has expressed concerns regarding the loss of wildlife in the SRD, among other ecological concerns, due to anthropogenic development. Using an ethnoecological approach, the indigenous knowledge of the OCN was documented through an analysis of wetland-based practices. A variety of methods were employed in the research including participant observation, interviews, document review and verification workshops. Interviews held with community Elders also focused on the connections between a life on the land, well-being and cultural identity. The research revealed the need for a more holistic approach to management of the sensitive wetland ecosystems located with OCN traditional territory that reflects the changing values of the community.

Using data from the National Survey for Families and Households, ordinary least squares regression is performed to assess to what degree the quality and quantity of sibling relationships affect men and women. Well-being is measured by a twelve item scale, Cronbach 's Alpha = .928. Sibling relationships are measured in two facets: quality and quantity. A positive evaluation of sibling quality correlates with higher levels of well-being for men, but not women. A negative evaluation of sibling quality correlates with lower levels of well-being for both men and women. Men and women do differ in the strength of this effect. No significant relationship is found between the number of times an individual sees his or her siblings and an individual's well-being. However, the number of times siblings talk to each other does have a significant effect on well-being for both men and women. / Department of Sociology

The aim of this study is to better understand age differences in well-being using Ryan, Huta, and Deci’s (2008) theory. According to this theory, four constructs are responsible for living a full and deeply satisfying life (i.e., eudaimonia) and experiencing pleasure and an absence of psychological pain (i.e., subjective well-being): (1) pursuing intrinsic goals and values, (2) behaving in autonomous ways, (3) living mindfully, and (4) behaving to satisfy the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Results indicate that aging was positively associated with the pursuit of intrinsic goals and values, autonomous behaviour, mindfulness, and mental health. Although age had a positive effect on the basic psychological need for autonomy, it had no effect on relatedness, and a negative effect on competence. The mixed influence of age on basic psychological needs may explain why older adults experienced greater levels of hedonic well-being but lower levels of eudaimonic well-being.

The Saskatchewan River Delta (SRD) is the largest freshwater inland delta in North America, covering over 950 000 hectares in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The wetlands in the SRD provide valuable ecosystem services and support considerable biodiversity. The Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) has expressed concerns regarding the loss of wildlife in the SRD, among other ecological concerns, due to anthropogenic development. Using an ethnoecological approach, the indigenous knowledge of the OCN was documented through an analysis of wetland-based practices. A variety of methods were employed in the research including participant observation, interviews, document review and verification workshops. Interviews held with community Elders also focused on the connections between a life on the land, well-being and cultural identity. The research revealed the need for a more holistic approach to management of the sensitive wetland ecosystems located with OCN traditional territory that reflects the changing values of the community.