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The issue of reentry has become an important topic to criminal justice scholars and to law makers due to the sheer number of incarcerated individuals being released and the rate in which they cycle back to incarceration. Despite the attention reentry issues have received recently in the areas of policy and criminal justice and recommendations offered to ameliorate problems associated with reentry, the landscape of reentry remains largely unchanged in that many prisoners are released from prison and significant numbers of them return (Austin, 2001). Approximately 700,000 inmates were released from prisons and jails to their families and communities in 2005 (Harrison & Beck, 2006). Of those inmates, roughly 1/3rd were young adults aged 24 or younger (Mears & Travis, 2004). The outcomes for young adults (age 18-24) incarcerated at such young ages put them at overwhelming risk of a life course trajectory that includes cycles of future imprisonment and poor life outcomes such as economic hardship, poor mental and physical well being and lower life expectancy (Mears & Travis, 2004; Uggen, 2000; Western, 2002) . This study examined the meanings of formerly incarcerated young adult men and their caregivers made in regard to reentry, caregivers' ability to meet reentry needs, perceptions about reliance on family and the implications of a young adult child "returning home" within the context of release from incarcerative sentencing. This goal was achieved through conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated men between the ages of 18 and 24 and their caregivers for a total of 18 individual interviews that reflect nine young men-caregiver dyads defined as families for this study. This qualitative study was informed using an integration of family life course perspective, symbolic interactionism and ecological theory. The theoretical amalgam provided the ability to examine the life course transitions of families impacted by incarceration, the perceptions and meanings made based upon the experience with incarceration while being imbedded within a socially stigmatized context of having a felony. The findings from this study suggest that upon reentry young adult men and their caregivers experienced ambivalence, happiness yet anxiety in moving forward after incarceration. This ambivalence was a major theme that was found not only in reunification, but in relying on family and in fostering independence. Caregivers were emotionally distressed as they juggled their feelings of wanting to help the young men with meeting the multiple demands placed on the family system with their concerns that he might return to his "old ways." Young men were particularly distressed as they negotiated transitioning from a state of independence (prior to incarceration) to dependence as a prisoner in the criminal justice system, to depending on caregivers upon reentry. The young men in this study reported achieving financial independence from their families prior to incarceration as adolescents through illegal means which gave them adult status in their families. These "off-time" transitions before and after incarceration fueled the ambivalence and ambiguity in the young men-caregiver dyads, specifically in terms of the meanings these families made when thinking about reunification, relying on family and in fostering independence. / Ph. D.

The term "young adults" is often used loosely without a clear definition of who this demographic is. This study defines young adults by examining generational differences, their beliefs, uses and nonuses of media, news interests, wants, values for following the news, and expectations and reading experiences of news stories. The uses and gratifications approach and expectancy-value theory provided a framework for this study. Three methodological approaches were used: a secondary data analysis of three national surveys, focus groups and an experiment. The secondary data analysis findings showed the youngest age group (18-24) is leading the new news routine online with news aggregator sites, major and local news sites. The two youngest age groups (18-24 and 25-29) differ from each other and older age groups in their worries, goals, perspectives, beliefs, news interests, media uses, nonuses and political knowledge, and should be studied separately. Stances on social issues and technology are not as clearly defined by age. The findings suggest one's life stage is behind some of the differences. Since no published study to date has conducted focus groups exclusively with nonreaders of print newspapers ages 18-29 to examine their news consumption and nonuses of print newspapers, the present study broke new ground. The findings showed these young adults want searchable, effortless, shorter, more local, accessible anytime news. Both groups (18-24 and 25-29) wanted less negative news, but the younger group justified crime coverage. A few younger group participants expressed a difficult time reading the news and a bias in coverage, especially politics. The experiment used storytelling devices in an attempt to make news writing more digestible, interesting, relevant to young adults' lives, and informative. The findings showed "chunking" text improved perceived comprehension. The device of adding background information, context and a definition improved text recall. The experiment also examined expectations that young adults have prior to reading hard news. For a politics story, experimental group participants expected to understand the story less and have less of an interest than they did. Using these findings, this study suggests ways to get more of this audience (18-29) to tune into the news. / text

To explore the influence that variations in projective stimuli might have on the respondent's ability to identify with pictorial representations of hands derived from the Hand Test (Wagner, 1961, 1983), 61 young adults (M age = 23) and 60 older adults (M age = 73) were presented with four alternate versions of hand stimuli (young male, young female, old male, and old female) in addition to the original Hand Test. Results indicated main effects for age and gender of respondent, which were primarily consistent with previous Hand Test research. Main effects for gender and age of hand stimuli (p < .05) were also found. Significant interaction effects were revealed for age of respondent by age of hand stimuli and for age of respondent by gender of hand stimuli (p < .05). These interactions resulted in the elicitation of a variety of responses to a differentiated manner than a standard set of Hand Test stimuli. A gender of respondent by gender of hand stimuli interaction effect was also found (p &lt; .05), suggesting that gender alterations of the card may also be beneficial for increasing respondent identification for some individuals. Overall, the results of variations in Hand Test stimuli, as they interact with respondent personal characteristics, indicate the utility of alternate versions of the Hand Test. This is based on the assumption that the respondent will identify with the hand that best resembles his/her hands, resulting in the stimulus performing its projective function to a greater extent.

186 Ghanaian and 199 Liberian young adult students living in Ghana completed surveys regarding their sexual risk taking behaviors, as well as their knowledge about HIV, their current level of hopelessness, and their subjective quality of life. Results indicated that although knowledge levels were adequate, there was no connection between knowledge about HIV and past risk taking behaviors, including multiple sexual partners, and lack of safe sex practices. Results did indicate a connection between quality of life and the number of sexual partners, and a connection between hopelessness and lack of safe sex behaviors. The author concluded that HIV/STD prevention campaigns located in Ghana should include behavioral skills training in current preventative campaigns. / Department of Psychological Science

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-228).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-50).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-116). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 23, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-19).

Project/Thesis (D. Min.)--Abilene Christian University, 2000. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91).