Over the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases of criminal charges laid against those who do not disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners. The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure has generated an intense debate which is the object of this analysis. Using a social constructionist framework, particularly the work of Donileen Loseke, a leading social problems theorist, and documentary data drawn primarily from the internet, my goal is to shed light on the debate. More specifically, I am concerned with definitional contests or competing constructions inherent in the debate. The dissertation is organized around three papers. The first paper explores how the condition of HIV itself is socially constructed in the debate. Claims-makers who support criminal sanctions construct the disease as deadly and devastating, while claims-makers who oppose criminalization construct HIV as chronic and manageable. The second paper explores the rhetorical strategies used by those who support criminalization to construct non-disclosers as villains. I coined the term techniques of vilification to capture these strategies. The third paper examines the rhetorical strategies used by those who oppose criminalization to neutralize the label of victim for partners of non-disclosers. As a whole, the dissertation contributes to a better understanding of social problems claims-making processes, particularly around the construction of conditions and people. The dissertation also makes contributions to ongoing discussions in the sociology of health and illness, and victimology. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis investigates the debate around the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure with an emphasis on the Canadian context. Adopting a social constructionist approach, particularly as it has been used in the sociological study of social problems, and building on the work of social problems theorist Donileen Loseke, the thesis explores three themes: 1) how claims-makers understand HIV as a condition based on whether they support or oppose criminalization, 2) how claims-makers who support criminalization vilify those who do not disclose their HIV-positive status, and 3) how claims-makers who oppose criminalization work to downplay claims to victimhood by partners of non-disclosers. This work contributes to our understanding of the definitional contests underlying the debate. More broadly, it contributes to our understanding of social problems claims-making processes.

Yes / This study explored the perspectives of Black men, originally from East Africa, living in the United Kingdom and their partners on what it means to live with diagnosed HIV. This article reports on concealment of HIVpositive status as a strategy adopted by the affected participants to manage the flow of information about their HIV-positive status. Analysis of the data, collected using in-depth interviews involving 23 participants, found widespread selective concealment of HIV-positive status. However, a few respondents had ‘come out’ publicly about their condition. HIV prevention initiatives should recognise concealment as a vital strategy in managing communication about one’s HIV-positive status.

This study uses the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) comment letters to investigate the SEC's role as a monitor of financial reporting. I examine whether the SEC effectively comments on firms with poor disclosure quality. I utilize forward earnings response coefficients (FERC) as a measure of the market's perception of disclosure quality. I expect comment letter firms to have lower disclosure quality and thus lower FERCs. Secondly, within the firms selected for comment, I investigate whether the Division allocates a greater amount of resources towards firms with more severe disclosure deficiencies. Results indicate that comment letter recipients have significantly lower forward earnings response coefficients than non- recipients. Results also document that comment letter recipients have lower contemporaneous earnings response coefficients than non-recipients. These findings are consistent with the DCF being effective in selecting firms that are perceived by the market as having low disclosure and earnings quality. However, within comment letter firms, I am unable to provide any evidence that the DCF allocates more resources to firms with lower forward earnings response coefficients. / Ph. D.

Effects of attitudinal similarity and permissiveness on patterns of self-disclosure willingness were evaluated within the framework of a 2 x 3 x 3 factorial design with two levels of similarity and three levels of permissiveness as. between-subjects variables and three topics as a within-subjects variable. Subjects were administered a sexual attitude questionnaire and classified as to permissiveness level. In the second session subjects received bogus partner sexual attitude profiles constructed to be either similar or dissimilar to attitudes they had expressed. On the basis of these profiles, subjects rated their attraction toward bogus partners and indicated topic-items they would be willing to discuss with their partners. Topic-items comprised separate Sex, Family, and Feeling disclosure scales. It was hypothesized that similarity would be positively related to attraction and disclosure willingness. It was specifically hypothesized that attraction would be more highly correlated with disclosure willingness in the face of disagreement than agreement and at high intimacy levels than at low levels. Attraction was found to be positively related to attitudinal similarity but not to disclosure willingness. There was no significant similarity effect on disclosure willingness. In the overall analysis of variance for disclosure willingness there were no main effects or interactions involving similarity, permissiveness or topic. A review of the literature relating attitudinal similarity and attraction to disclosure is included as is a discussion of the mixed evidence for topical reciprocity of disclosure. Variables to include in further research concerning patterns of self-disclosure are suggested. / M.S.

Experiences of sexual assault remain prevalent worldwide, with one in five women in the United States experiencing attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. Open and supportive communication can facilitate the reconstruction of shame narratives and subsequent identity formation that may protect victims from the detrimental effects of sexual assault victimization. However, self-disclosure involves the risk of receiving negative or unsupportive reactions, leading to clinically significant symptoms of trauma. The risks of and vulnerability to such interpersonal communication warrant investigation and understanding of psychological and physiological processes that lead to emerging behaviors of resilience communication in response to another’s self-disclosure. Utilizing Communication Theory of Resilience and the Theory of Resilience and Relational Load as theoretical frameworks, this study examines relational proximity, communal orientation, emotional reserve, and empathy as predictors of intentions to engage in resilience communication. A posttest-only control group experimental design tested the effects of relational identity salience on participants’ physiological response as well as intentions to engage in communicative acts that nurture resilience upon listening to a self-disclosure of sexual assault. Survey responses (N = 39) indicated that individuals with high levels of empathy and emotional reserve were more likely to reciprocate the self-disclosure and share their own experiences. Analysis of psychophysiological measures of skin conductance (N = 39) and heart rate (N = 37) demonstrated that individuals displayed more emotional arousal and cognitive resource allocation when the relational identity as a friend is made salient. Implications and directions for future research are discussed in relation to a growing line of communication research that studies the dynamic co-construction of resilience through storytelling and everyday conversations among individuals within families, communities, and organizations. / Media & Communication

No / Our aim is to increase understanding of the potential effects of culture and corporate governance on social disclosures. The ethnic background of directors and shareholders is used as a proxy for culture. Corporate governance characteristics include board composition, multiple directorships and type of shareholders. The dependent variable, disclosure in annual reports of Malaysian corporations, is measured by an index score as well as in terms of number of words. Our results indicate a significant relationship between corporate social disclosure and boards dominated by Malay directors, boards dominated by executive directors, chair with multiple directorships and foreign share ownership. Four of the control variables (size, profitability, multiple listing and type of industry) were significantly related to corporate social disclosure with the exception of gearing. This study has public policy implications for Malaysia as well as a number of other countries in the Asia¿Pacific region.

No / This paper contributes to our understanding of compliance with non-mandatory statements of best practice. Specifically, we examine the efficacy of agency-related mechanisms on the degree of disclosure compliance with the ASB Statement on interim reports. Using data drawn from a sample of 259 UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, we show that although overall disclosure compliance is high (74.5% of the items of information being disclosed), companies do not fully comply with the ASB Statement on interim reports. We employ an ordinary least square (OLS) regression model to establish whether selected company-specific and corporate governance characteristics (proxying for agency-related mechanisms) are related to the degree of disclosure compliance. Our results indicate that multiple listing, company size, interim dividend and new share issuance are positively associated with the degree of compliance. We also find that the degree of disclosure compliance is positively associated with auditor involvement, audit committee independence and audit committee financial expertise. These results have important implications for policy because they suggest that whilst agency-related mechanisms may motivate compliance with best practice non-mandatory statements, full compliance may be unattainable without regulations.

No / Islamic Banks (IBs) are considered as having ethical identity, since the foundation of their business philosophy is closely tied to religion. In this article, we explore whether any discrepancy exists between the communicated (based on information disclosed in the annual reports) and ideal (disclosure of information deemed vital based on the Islamic ethical business framework) ethical identities and we measure this by what we have termed the Ethical Identity Index (EII). Our longitudinal survey results over a 3-year period indicate the overall mean EII of only one IB out of seven surveyed to be above average. The remaining six IBs suffer from disparity between the communicated and ideal ethical identities. We further found the largest incongruence to be related to four dimensions: commitments to society; disclosure of corporate vision and mission; contribution to and management of zakah, charity and benevolent loans; and information regarding top management. The results have important implications for communication management if IBs are to enhance their image and reputation in society as well as to remain competitive.

Yes / The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and The Scottish Accountancy Trust for Education and Research (SATER)

Yes / The extent of intellectual capital (IC) disclosures in corporate annual reports has received increasing attention in recent years. This paper is an exploratory study that considers the efficacy of various IC disclosure measures. It draws on annual reports of leading firms within the financial services sector in nine Western European countries. Content analysis was employed to produce measures based on disclosure indexes and word count to assess the variety, volume and focus of IC in annual reports. Disclosure scores were computed using three forms of presentation - any form, numerical form (reflecting more ‘objective’ disclosure), and all forms. Generally, we found that the form of disclosure index did not significantly affect IC sample rankings and were broadly in line with the IC word count rankings. However, very different rankings emerged when using the focus measure (IC word count as a percentage of total word count in Annual Report). We argue that this measure of relative importance is an important measure, particularly because firm size is typically positively associated with disclosure. Variation in the form of IC (human, structural, relational) is also explored. The paper then reports the findings of a time series analysis of the IC disclosure practices within a UK bank over a 10-year period. Significant variation in IC disclosure was found, with a strong movement in IC content from human capital to relational capital. These findings are discussed.