The study of place has been a component of the recreation literature for about three decades. Most researchers have sought to either describe the cognitive and evaluative beliefs (place meaning) recreational visitors ascribe to a setting or identify the intensity of the human-place bond (place attachment). Few have attempted to qualitatively investigate the meanings visitors ascribe to a setting and quantitatively measure the intensity of their attachment to that setting within the same study design. Nor has there been much work aimed at understanding these concepts in marine environments. In this dissertation, I began to fill these gaps in the literature through the use of a three- phase multiple-method research design. In the first phase, I conducted 20 interviews to identify the meanings that recreational visitors ascribe to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and to further explore how the symbolic interactionist framework can be used to understand place meanings. Ten place meaning themes emerged from the informants' statements. The second phase used 34 items developed from the 10 meaning themes that emerged from the previous interviews and a place attachment scale to explore how recreational visitors' attachment to a marine resource was reflected in their depictions of why the resource is meaningful. Three hundred and twenty-four individuals, living in Queensland, Australia, responded to a postal/email survey conducted during January and February of 2009. The results indicated that all the meanings recreational visitors ascribe to the GBRMP provide context for the attachment they hold for the setting, however particular sets of meanings are important in differentiating between attachment intensity levels. The final phase, which also used the postal/email survey described, identified how place attachment affected the relationship, identified by Stern et al. (1995), between the recreational visitors' environmental world view (EWV) and attitudes toward negative impacts on the reef ecosystem. I found that place attachment partially mediated the relationship between EWV and attitudes toward impacts. The conclusions presented in this dissertation filled in gaps in the recreation literature's understanding of place while providing further insight into how place meaning influences other constructs important to natural resource management.

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The aim of this study is to examine the effects of attachment, personality traits, humor (humor styles and coping humor), intimacy, psychological problems on anger, on relationship and life satisfaction of individuals who are involved in romantic relationship. Attachment and personality traits are expected to be associated with each other and humor, intimacy and psychological problems, which are also expected to influence anger experience and expression. Anger is expected to effect life and relationship satisfaction. At the first phase Sternberg&rsquo / s Love Scale was translated to Turkish by using Relationship Happiness Scale. Data was gathered from 240 participants from different ages, cities, and soscio-economic status. Reliability and validity assessments were conducted for the whole scale and the subscales: intimacy, passion and commitment. At the second phase 519 subjects (married or dating) participated in the study. The participants were given Humor Styles Questionnaire, Coping Humor Questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Version, Sternberg Triangular Love v Scale, State-Trait Anger Scale, Basic Personality Traits Inventory, Relationship Happiness Scale, Brief Symptoms Inventory and Life Satisfaction Scale. The results indicated that the proposed model had satisfactory fit expect effect of personality on humor and effect of attachment on anger. Positive personality traits did not have an effect on adaptive humor styles used whereas negative personlity traits affected maladaptive humor styles and attachment had a direct effect on anger. The results showed the importance of intimacy and maladaptive humor styles on relationship and life satisfaction. These results, the importance and effects of humor and intimacy in romantic relationships and therapeutic applications were discussed in the frame of relevant literature.

The aggregation-attachment-pheromone (AAP) of two geographic strains of the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum Koch, was investigated to evaluate practicality of using solid-phase-microextraction (SPME) in an AAP study of Gulf Coast tick. Solid-phase microextraction was used to compare the AAP production in two strains of fed male Gulf Coast tick and demonstrate and confirm the presence of AAP in bioassays. A solid-phase-microextraction (SPME) headspace collection technique was sufficient to capture volatile organic compounds produced by fed and unfed male Gulf Coast ticks. Gas chromatography analysis revealed three major volatile organic compounds were produced in significantly greater amounts (p < 0.05) by fed males than those produced by unfed males. These volatile compounds were produced in significantly higher amount by the third day of feeding by male ticks. However, two of these volatiles remained relatively constant in their production while the primary volatile compound increased in its production until the eighth day of feeding by male Gulf Coast ticks. Also, the relative abundances of these three volatile organic compounds were different between Oklahoma and Texas strains of Gulf Coast ticks. The activity of AAP from fed male Gulf Coast ticks was confirmed using two bioassay techniques. A petri dish bioassay revealed significantly higher numbers of female Gulf Coast ticks attracted to fed-males which also produced significantly greater amounts (p < 0.001) of volatile organic compounds detected by GC analysis. The Ytube olfactometer bioassay revealed that significantly higher numbers of females responded to fed-males or to CO2 when compared to purified air (p < 0.001), but the differences in female response to fed-males and CO2 were not significant (p < 0.391 in Oklahoma strain and p < 0.458 in Texas strain). However, female responses to stimuli containing both fed-males and CO2 were significantly higher when compared to either stimulus alone (p < 0.001).

The main purpose of this study is to investigate if bloggers¡¦ attachment style would affect their self-disclosure. In addition, the study also examines if bloggers¡¦ social support would affect blogger¡¦s self-efficacy to self-disclose, if self-disclosure would affect Internet interpersonal satisfaction. The results show that social support has positive effect on blogger¡¦s self-efficacy to self-disclosure, and blogger¡¦s self-efficacy to self-disclose has positive effect on self-disclosure and Internet interpersonal satisfaction. The results also show that bloggers of the secure attachment style have higher score than avoidant and anxious attachment styles on self-efficacy, self-disclosure, and Internet interpersonal satisfaction.

Behind ¡§e-mail¡§, ¡§BBS¡¨, ¡§Instant Messenger¡¨, weblog is regarded as the fourth kind of ¡§killer application¡¨ of the Internet. Therefore, ¡§weblog usage behavior¡¨ becomes a popular issue to study in not only industry but also academia. However, there is still not a complete framework to explain the motivation of blog usage and the influence factors. This research extends the ¡¥Attitudinal Belief Structure¡¦ of ¡¥Theory of Planned Behavior¡¦ and discusses which personal values among social value, utilitarian value, hedonic value and psychological value are the main motivations to use blog. In addition, we look into ¡¥past use¡¦, ¡¥attachment styles¡¦, ¡¥information recipients¡¦ and ¡¥blog type¡¦ deeply to find out which influence factors moderate the research model. This study used survey method to collect data from the Internet users and use PLS to analyze it. The result found the social value and psychological value are significant motivations among four personal values, and the influence of hedonic value is comparatively week. Then, the influence of personal value on blog usage intention is generally weaker among heavier users than among lighter users. Otherwise, psychological value influence people with preoccupied attachment style less. However, when the information recipients of blog trend to intimate friends, psychological value becomes more important. Finally, as types of blog are different, the influence of user¡¦s psychological value on future usage intention will be different. In sum, we extend the ¡¥Attitudinal Belief Structure¡¦ and renew it with social psychological theories to build a complete model. The research model can offer future study a framework to refer, and give weblog .com several marketing suggestions.

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-73).

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-68).

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [114]-129). Also available on the Internet.