This study’s focus was on individuals who are currently in romantic relationships or who were in one within the past six months. The goal of the study was to learn more about the relationship between the perceived difficulty of renewing a recently terminated relationship or terminating a current romantic relationship and social network closeness, integration, and levels of perceived support for the relationship from network members. The findings for this study support the prediction that an individual’s perceived difficulty of terminating an intact relationship was positively related to their levels of closeness with their partner’s social network members, the individual’s partner’s closeness with the individual’s social network members, and the perceived support for the relationship from network members. / text

The overall goal of this study was to develop a comprehensive model of moral development to explicate the complexities of everyday morality. Based on a holistic and complementary perspective, the model relates the constructs of “worldview” and “self-view” to represent the influence of cultural individualism-collectivism and personality on moral development. It posits that worldview shapes self-view and moral inclusiveness [what is included in one’s moral consideration (Carter, 1980)] and then worldview, self-view, and moral inclusiveness jointly influence moral orientation (the main hypothesis). Interacting with situational factors, moral orientation would further influence moral judgment and behavior, thus connecting habitual morality with reflective morality. The specific objectives were: (a) to examine the relational structures among worldview, self-view, moral inclusiveness, and moral orientation; and (b) to construct a moral orientation index that measures various moral orientations, including egocentric, family, care, norm, justice, biocentric, and religious orientations, reflecting the corresponding worldviews, self-views, and levels of moral inclusiveness. Moral inclusiveness was operationalized as relationship closeness to different social groups at expanding levels of moral inclusiveness: (1) self only, (2) family, (3) peers, (4) society, (5) humanity, (6) nature, and (7) God. Survey data were gathered from 640 Grades 8-12 students and 472 adults. Structural equation models (SEM) were developed using the student data while making some comparative references to the adult data. Results of SEMs generally supported the main hypothesis. For example, individuals scoring higher on vertical individualism, social Darwinism, and independent self scored higher on egocentric orientation; individuals scoring higher on vertical collectivism and closeness to family scored higher on family orientation; and individuals scoring higher on horizontal collectivism and interdependent self scored higher on care orientation, at Levels 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Individuals scoring higher on collectivism, horizontal worldview, and moral self scored higher on justice orientation, but individuals scoring higher on closeness to nation scored lower on justice orientation at Level 5. The primacy of worldview, particularly collectivism, over self-view and moral inclusiveness in moral orientation development has implications for education. Exploring the roots of habitual morality, this study advances theory by integrating different schools of moral psychology with cultural psychology.

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This study examined advice interactions following infidelity. Participants (N = 213) completed a survey concerning an instance on infidelity and a subsequent advice interaction. Injured party perceptions of advice interactions were measured by examining advice messages, perceived face threat, and perceived face support, in addition to perceived effectiveness of the advice message. Results from this study showed no significant differences in perceived face threat, perceived face support, or advice effectiveness between different advice messages. Results also indicated both positive and negative face threat as negative predictors of advice effectiveness. While negative face support was a positive predictor of advice effectiveness, positive face support was a negative predictor. When controlling for relational closeness, negative face support was the only significant predictor of advice effectiveness.

Darbo tikslas buvo: sukurti grindžiamąją teoriją, kuri atskleistų pagrindinį gyvenimo konsteksto rūpestį ir kokią reikšmę jis turi vertybių kaitai vėžio ligos patyrimo metu. Tikslui pasiekti iškelti darbo uždaviniai: 1. Atskleisti pagrindinį gyvenimo konteksto rūpestį, išryškėjantį onkologinės ligos patyrimo metu; 2. Įvardinti esminę kategoriją, pagrindines subkategorijas ir kategorijas, paaiškinančias išryškėjusio pagrindinio gyvenimo konteksto rūpesčio reikšmę vertybių kaitai onkologinės ligos patyrimo metu; 3. Palyginti žmonių, kurių artimasis sirgo/serga onkologine liga, ir žmonių, kurie patys sirgo/serga onkologine liga, gautus rezultatus; 4. Išnagrinėti onkologine liga sirgusių/sergančių žmonių galimas vertybių ir Havighurst asmenybės raidos teorijos akcentuojamų raidos užduočių sąsajas. Tyrimo duomenims surinkti buvo naudotas pusiau struktūruotas interviu su šešiais žmonėmis, kurių artimasis serga/sirgo onkologine liga, kalbėta apie artimųjų patirtį, ir su keturiais žmonėmis, kurie patys serga/sirgo onkologine liga. Analizuojant tyrimo duomenis, buvo remiamasi autorių Straus ir Corbin grindžiamiosios teorijos duomenų analizės principais. Tyrime išryškėjo pagrindinis gyvenimo konteksto rūpestis – artumas. Individualių interviu metu su šešiais respondentais, kurie pasakojo apie savo artimo žmogaus onkologinės ligos patirtį, išryškėjo su artumu susijusios pagrindinės penkios gyvenimo konteksto sritys: santykis su šeima, socialiniai santykiai, laisvalaikis, asmeninės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this thesis: to develop a grounded theory to reveal the main concern in life context and the role it plays in the changing values suffering from oncological disease. The following tasks were identified: 1. To reveal the main concern in life context which elucidates in suffering from oncological disease; 2. To name the fundamental category, main sub-categories and categories explaining the significance of the main concern in life context for the changing values in suffering from oncological disease; 3. To compare the results of people who have / had relatives with oncological disease and people who themselves had an oncological disease; 4. To analyse potential links between the values of people who have / had an oncological disease and developmental tasks emphasised in the Havighurst‘s theory of personality development. The data for the research was collected by a partially structured interview with six people who are relatives of current or former cancer patients by speaking about the experience of their close ones and with four people who themselves had an oncological disease. The principles of Strauss and Corbin ground theory analysis were used to analyse the research data. The main concern in life that is closeness became apparent whilst suffering from oncological disease. The individual interviews with six respondents who shared the experience of an oncological disease of their close ones revealed five main categories in life context related with closeness:... [to full text]

Study 1 examined the role closeness to father plays in the developmental-like process associating family form (divorced/non-divorced) with later young adulthood attachment style in a sample of 525 men and women. Participants reported their closeness to father while growing up and current comfort with closeness. As expected, closeness to father fully mediated the association between family form and comfort with closeness for both men and women, but more strongly for women. The association between family form and comfort with closeness was only evident for women; women who experienced parental divorce reported feeling less comfortable with closeness in relationships. Contrary to expectation, the mediating role of closeness to father in the association between family and form and comfort with closeness was not moderated by gender. The key role fathers may play in fostering their male and female children’s later attachment style in divorced and nondivorced families, as well as the attenuated role of gender in explaining young adults’ attachment style, are discussed. Study 2 examined the role of dyadic and family environment factors which are implicated in young adults’ insecure attachment in predicting relational resilience. Relationally resilient women were defined as women who experienced parental divorce yet experience comfort with closeness. Ninety-three women reported on the level of overt and subtle conflict in their families-of- origin, the effectiveness of their parents’ coparenting, and their closeness to father. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses predicted membership in the relationally resilient group based on these dyadic and family environment predictors. As expected, results demonstrate that lower pre-divorce subtle and overt conflict; higher levels of coparenting before separation, during separation, and after separation; and closeness to father while growing up all predicted membership in the relationally resilient group. However, no one variable uniquely predicted membership in the relationally resilient group. Study 2’s results are translated to preventative implications at the family, parental, dyadic and individual levels. Final remarks integrating the results of both studies follow. / Graduate

The overall goal of this study was to develop a comprehensive model of moral development to explicate the complexities of everyday morality. Based on a holistic and complementary perspective, the model relates the constructs of “worldview” and “self-view” to represent the influence of cultural individualism-collectivism and personality on moral development. It posits that worldview shapes self-view and moral inclusiveness [what is included in one’s moral consideration (Carter, 1980)] and then worldview, self-view, and moral inclusiveness jointly influence moral orientation (the main hypothesis). Interacting with situational factors, moral orientation would further influence moral judgment and behavior, thus connecting habitual morality with reflective morality. The specific objectives were: (a) to examine the relational structures among worldview, self-view, moral inclusiveness, and moral orientation; and (b) to construct a moral orientation index that measures various moral orientations, including egocentric, family, care, norm, justice, biocentric, and religious orientations, reflecting the corresponding worldviews, self-views, and levels of moral inclusiveness. Moral inclusiveness was operationalized as relationship closeness to different social groups at expanding levels of moral inclusiveness: (1) self only, (2) family, (3) peers, (4) society, (5) humanity, (6) nature, and (7) God. Survey data were gathered from 640 Grades 8-12 students and 472 adults. Structural equation models (SEM) were developed using the student data while making some comparative references to the adult data. Results of SEMs generally supported the main hypothesis. For example, individuals scoring higher on vertical individualism, social Darwinism, and independent self scored higher on egocentric orientation; individuals scoring higher on vertical collectivism and closeness to family scored higher on family orientation; and individuals scoring higher on horizontal collectivism and interdependent self scored higher on care orientation, at Levels 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Individuals scoring higher on collectivism, horizontal worldview, and moral self scored higher on justice orientation, but individuals scoring higher on closeness to nation scored lower on justice orientation at Level 5. The primacy of worldview, particularly collectivism, over self-view and moral inclusiveness in moral orientation development has implications for education. Exploring the roots of habitual morality, this study advances theory by integrating different schools of moral psychology with cultural psychology.

The increasing popularity of cycling activities and events, and the need to encourage cycling to reduce tourism greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, require a better understanding of the motivations of cycle tourists. Cycle tourism is one kind of green sustainable tourism. While numbers of aspects of cycle tourism have been identified in previous studies, environmental values might be one of the factors to determine cycle tourism choice. Most findings show that personal factors are the main reason of cycling activity while environmental values play merely little role in the cycle tourism. This thesis project is aimed to study the motivations of non-club recreational cycle tourists in Kalmar, Sweden and the role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism behavior. Qualitative exploration method has been adopted and 13 local cycle tourists have been interviewed for the project. By applying the environmental values framework, this thesis links two main factors of environmental values to the cycle tourism behavior, that is closeness to nature and environmental concern. The findings show that environmental values are good predictor of cycle tourism behavior. The role of environmental values as a motivation of cycle tourism is improving though still not the main motivation. More explicit attention to environmental related knowledge education may inform the operationalization and promotion of local cycle tourism development. As modern people may attach importance to hedonic experience for their cycle tourism activities, further researches are needed to understand the relationship of hedonic consumption values and cycle tourism behaviors. Keywords: cycling tourism; motivation; qualitative; environmental values; closeness to nature; environmental concern

abstract: Previous studies about well-being have examined either gratitude’s or social connectedness’ relationship to subjective well-being. The aim of this randomized control trial was to examine the efficacy of a gratitude-based writing micro-intervention in enhancing felt social connectedness and well-being between young adults and their parents. The trial tested the impact of engaging in gratitude-based writing about family members or enhanced caretakers on measures of social connectedness and well-being between grown children and their parents. Data from a pool of social work students in the Southwest (N=148) were used. Results revealed within-subject effects and between subject effects for psychological well-being from pretest to one month follow-up, with the intervention group reporting significantly higher psychological well-being than the control group. Results also revealed slight mean differences from pretest to posttest for perceptions of family relationships, with the intervention group reporting approaching significant better perceptions of family relationships than the control group at posttest. Findings from the study indicate that engaging in gratitude-based writing about family can improve perceptions of psychological well-being and may improve social connectedness to family. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social Work 2018

The video game industry in Sweden has experienced tremendous growth since 2009 with its revenue generation being compared to iron ore, an important revenue generator for the country. The ability of these firms to record recurrent increases in revenue is due to the innovativeness of the industry. External sources of knowledge affect firms’ innovative performance. However, the complexity of the knowledge acquired is influenced by the strength of ties between the firm and its counterparts. This study investigates how Swedish video game firms develop new products to stay competitive through their relationship with their strong ties counterparts, level of cooperation and firms’ absorptive capacity. We model strong ties relationship with latent constructs including closeness, commitment and trust. A nationally representative survey was conducted among selected video game firms across Sweden. Structural equation modelling was then utilized to assess the effect of strong ties on new product innovativeness. The results show that strong ties with external counterparts have a positive and statistically significant effect on new product innovation through the mediating channel of cooperation and absorptive capacity. Closeness, commitment and trust show a direct effect on cooperation, cooperation on absorptive capacity and absorptive capacity on new product innovativeness. The implications of these findings have been discussed.