In order to reach maximum psychological, social and vocational adjustment, spinal cord injured men and women must learn to overcome attitudinal and environmental barriers. Some research has been conducted to determine the demographic and disability related characteristics that influence acceptance of disability. However, these studies have been conducted almost exclusively with men or with a limited sample of women. Given the personal, social and vocational implications of acceptance of disability, this study was designed to determine whether gender and six other variables significantly affect acceptance of disability among spinal cord injured people. / Two questionnaires were mailed to the entire population of spinal cord injured clients of the Florida Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. The first questionnaire addressed demographic and disability related characteristics. The second instrument was the Acceptance of Disability (AD) Scale, developed by Linkowski (1969) and based on Dembo, Leviton, and Wright's (1956) theory of acceptance of loss. Data collection was considered complete at the end of six weeks; 266 clients (61.6%) responded. / Results indicated that women were significantly more accepting of their disability. A significant inverse relationship between acceptance of disability and age was present despite the duration of the disability, and a significant positive relationship was found between acceptance of disability and duration of the disability regardless of the person's age. Educational level was positively related to acceptance of disability and findings also suggested other relationships between demographic and disability related characteristics and acceptance of disability. The most notable implications of this study pertain to rehabilitation and counseling strategies for professionals working with people with spinal cord injuries, as well as the education and research programs addressing the rehabilitation process. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0409. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

This study was designed to determine whether there were differences in perception between professors of school psychology and school psychologists in Florida in regard to the importance of selected functions of school psychologists, and the adequacy of their performance by school psychologists. The study sample was 100 practicing school psychologists in Florida public school districts, and 15 professors of school psychology in the state's public universities. Study participants responded to a survey instrument containing 29 functions of school psychologists, rating these on their importance and how well they were performed by school psychologists. / Means for the responses were computed, and ranked for both respondent groups as to the importance and adequacy of performance of the functions. The Spearman Rank-Difference Correlation method was used to determine whether there was a significant correlation in these rankings. Chi-square tests were used (a) to determine the relationship between respondent groups in their ratings of the importance and the adequacy of performance for each of the 29 functions, and (b) to determine the relationship between importance and adequacy of performance for each function within respondent groups. All rankings, between and within groups were found to be significantly correlated. The chi-square tests indicated statistically significant differences on a number of items between and within respondent groups. Generally, the two groups were found to be in agreement, with both groups rating performance lower than importance of functions. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 3846. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This research was to determine empirically whether guided imagery could have a positive effect on actors when used as a mental pre-rehearsal in the process of developing a creative work--a play. This study tried to show that there is a relationship between the use of imagery, group dynamics, job satisfaction, and performance. / The focus of the study was to test whether the use of a guided imagery script would increase the actor's feeling of group cohesiveness, personal satisfaction, and performance. The study investigated whether this mental technique could facilitate the formation of that ideal state of the ensemble. / The experiment used a one-act play which was double-cast. Prior to eight of the rehearsals and one performance, the experimental group was led through a guided imagery session. At the same time the control group also underwent a pre-rehearsal session which consisted of a dramaturgical discussion that related to the play. This dramaturgical discussion was used as a placebo to even out the Hawthorne effect in the control group. / The results seem to indicate that there was not an increase in goal-setting, group goal achievement, interpersonal relationships, and satisfaction. The guided imagery sessions also did not have any effect on performance. The study did demonstrate that guided imagery could be a useful tool in theatre with more research. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-04, Section: A, page: 1154. / Major Professor: John Degen. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The study investigated the relationship between teacher efficacy, locus of control, and enthusiasm, and assessed their effect on student on-task behavior and in-class achievement in the middle school. / Teacher efficacy, as defined by Bandura, was assessed using the Gibson and Dembo Teacher Efficacy Scale. Locus of control, as defined by Rotter, was assessed using the Rose and Medway Teacher Locus of Control instrument. A significant correlation was found between the two, in that teachers with high efficacy also have a higher level of internal locus of control. Teacher enthusiasm was assessed using three instruments, and a significant correlation was found between enthusiasm and efficacy. / Student on-task behavior was assessed by observation, but the effect of the three teacher variables was not significant. Student achievement was assessed using teacher-assigned grades, and results suggested that teachers with high efficacy have students who have higher grades in class. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: A, page: 2516. / Major Professor: Bruce W. Tuckman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects more than 2 million children and their families. While studies of ADHD using children between the ages of 6 and 11 years are abundant in the literature, few researchers have chosen to study adolescents with the disorder. / Locus of control is a well-researched construct. While locus of control has been found to be related to various outcome measures, few studies are available which examine the relationship of locus of control and ADHD. / Family studies are numerous and employ a myriad of variables. This researcher, however, was unable to locate a study which integrated these variables--family functioning, ADHD, and locus of control--using adolescents and their families as participants. / The present study examined the relationship between the locus of control orientations of adolescent boys diagnosed with ADHD (and with associated learning disabilities) and family functioning. The three predictor variables were: adolescent locus of control, perceived level of support of each family member, and age of the adolescent. The criterion variable was family functioning. Null hypotheses were: (1) There is no relationship between adolescent locus of control and the level of family functioning as reported by the father, and the adolescent himself; (2) There is no relationship between the reported level of support of mothers, fathers, and sons and the level of family functioning; (3) There is no relationship between the age of the adolescent with ADHD and the level of family functioning. / Multiple regression data analyses led to the rejection of Hypothesis 1 for all members of the total sample (n = 38). Hypothesis 2 was rejected for mothers, but not for fathers and sons. Hypothesis 3 was not rejected for any member. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research were included. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: A, page: 0461. / Major Professor: E. Jane Burkhead. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Anxiety in sport is considered a crucial factor in determining the positive or negative outcome of a contest. Thus, many athletes have relied upon complex systems of mental or psychological training in an effort to increases their possibilities of success. / Competitive anxiety is currently conceptualized as having two components: somatic anxiety, and cognitive anxiety. Most of the techniques used to manage competitive anxiety are designed to modify the somatic, the cognitive, or both types of anxiety. As a consequence of this conceptualization, several "packaged interventions" have been developed, each which are comprised of different cognitive-behavioral techniques. One of the most employed packaged interventions is Meichenbaum's Stress Inoculation Training (SIT). However, all the research in the treatment of sport competitive anxiety has been conducted by helping professionals; no investigations directed to manage sport anxiety have employed a self-directed approach, in other words, without the presence of a therapist. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a self-directed stress inoculation training program on collegiate athletes. / Subjects in this study were members of the Florida State University women volleyball team (N = 10). The following instruments were used in order to gather data: the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). Which is a sport-specific self-reporting instrument constructed to independently measure the components of competitive state anxiety--somatic and cognitive state anxiety--in addition to a state self-confidence sub-scale. As a measure of state somatic anxiety the skin temperature and heart rate of each subject were recorded. Lastly, the subjects' performance was recorded following each game. / In this study the data were analyzed first, with a t-test between pretest groups which investigated the equivalency of the two groups. Secondly, a two way ANOVA with repeated measures (Pre vs Post). Additionally, paired t-tests within each group were applied, in order to discern whether there were significant differences between the pretest and posttest for each dependent variable. Lastly, due to the small sample size the Mann Whitney U test was conducted. / Results of the t-test provided evidence that both groups were equivalent at the baseline. The two way ANOVA with repeated measures yielded differences between the pretest and posttest data. / In in attempt to identify the direction and magnitude of the change provided by the two way ANOVA, paired t-tests within each group were computed. This last analysis provided support for two of the six initial hypothesis. Those hypotheses that yielded significant changes were state cognitive anxiety and performance. The Mann Whitney U test provided a statistically significant difference for only one variable, cognitive anxiety. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: A, page: 0467. / Major Professor: David Pargman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The effects of high order questions (HOQ) and low order questions (LOQ) on the following variables are described: student confidence in responding to these questions, self-reported attentiveness, and achievement and retention test performance. / One hundred and twenty-five undergraduate students signed up for one of six experimental sections, which were then randomly assigned to groups receiving HOQs, LOQs, or no questions (NQ). Vocabulary ability and gender differences were also assessed in this study to determine their relationship to the dependent variables. Analysis of the effects of questions on question confidence revealed that students felt more confident in their ability to respond to LOQs than HOQs. Moreover, self-reported attentiveness ratings were higher when no questions were asked than when HOQs were asked. A gender by treatment interaction indicated differences in mean achievement performance in which males had higher scores when HOQs were presented, but females had higher scores when LOQs or no questions were presented. As speculated, long term retention was related to prior academic achievement. In addition, vocabulary ability was significantly related to achievement and retention test performance. The findings were compared to other studies which together offer marginal support for the notion that attention mediates a question's effect on achievement. Implications for theory and research are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: A, page: 3635. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of timing and type of feedback on retention in an instructional task involving the learning of verbal information and defined concepts. Specifically, there were two levels of feedback timing under investigation, immediate and delayed, and two levels of feedback type, simple and elaborated. Eighty-one undergraduate college students participated in the study, and were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. Subjects were first administered a pretest, then worked through a systematically designed instructional module on the PLATO computer system, receiving either simple or elaborated feedback at the end of the lesson, or 24 hours later. All students took an immediate posttest upon completion of feedback, and received a similar delayed measure one week later. / Analyses of Covariance indicated that timing of feedback had no significant effect on retention of either verbal information or defined concepts. Similarily, there were no significant differences between groups with respect to type of feedback for either type of learning. Finally, no significant interaction between the variables was demonstrated on either the immediate or the delayed posttest. / Further research is necessary to determine the precise circumstances under which timing or type of informative feedback best facilitate retention. It is recommended that the learned capability called for in the experimental learning task be identified in future studies so that a more systematic body of knowledge will be developed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2100. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

This study attempted to determine the effect of dogmatism on levels of state anxiety during a stress-related condition of failure evaluation threat, using a pre-test, post-test experimental design. Rokeach's assumptions of dogmatism as a hypothetical cognitive state and Spielberger's distinction of state-trait anxiety provided the theoretical focus for the study. / The primary concern of the research was to determine the relationship between pre-stress measures of dogmatism. Trait anxiety served as the control variable; however, its relationship to dogmatism and state anxiety was also examined. / Subjects consisted of 60 undergraduate students enrolled in a departmental course during the Spring semester. The dogmatism scale was administered to each section of the course three weeks after classes began. Five weeks after this pre-test data was gathered, subjects were asked to participate in an experiment. Both scales of the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered followed by a problem-solving task. Immediately upon the completion of the task, subjects completed the State Scale of the STAI and the Dogmatism Scale. / Although the experimental stress condition increased subjects' overall level of state anxiety, the relationship between dogmatism and state anxiety was found to be nonsignificant. Furthermore, the difference between the group means for low, middle and high dogmatic subjects on state anxiety was nonsignificant. There was a significant relationship between pre-stress dogmatism and post-stress dogmatism, r = .83, p < .001, indicating the measure was highly stable. The relationship between trait and state anxiety was significant, r = .54, p < .001, however the relationship between trait anxiety and pre-stress dogmatism was low, r = .25, p < .05. Finally, multiple regression analysis indicated that pre-stress measures of state anxiety and measures of trait anxiety best predicted post-stress measures of state anxiety, accounting for 39.0% of the variability, while pre-stress measures of dogmatism best predicted post-stress measures of dogmatism, accounting for 68.3% of the variability in the equation. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, Section: A, page: 1739. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

Repeated reading has been reported as an effective supplementary tool for increasing reading fluency and comprehension in slow but accurate readers. The present study investigated whether improved fluency and comprehension across different stories in repeated reading depends on the degree of word overlap among passages and/or whether repeated reading is more effective than an equivalent amount of nonrepetitive reading. Twelve, nonfluent, learning disabled students read 100 word, grade 2 level passages presented and timed by a computer under three different conditions. In all conditions, students read four passages daily with comprehension questions given orally at the end of each presentation. In Condition 1 and 2 (repeated reading) the same passage was read four times before proceeding to a new story in the next session. Stories in Condition 2 contained three times as many overlapping words as Condition 1. In Condition 3 (nonrepetitive reading) each of the four passages in a session was different. Each condition ran seven days and order of conditions was varied for the six groups. Slopes for speed, errors and comprehension based on scores obtained on the first reading in each session were used as the dependent measure with the intercepts as the covariate. ANCOVA with repeated measures (group by condition) indicated no significant effects among conditions for errors or comprehension. Reading conditions did have a significant effect on improvements in speed across sessions. Mean speed gains were greater in Condition 2 than in Condition 1, although there were no speed differences between Condition 1 and 3. Results suggest that over short periods of time, increases in reading speed with the repeated reading method do depend on the amount of shared words among stories, and that if stories have few shared words, repeated reading is not more effective for improving speed than an equivalent amount of nonrepetitive reading. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-09, Section: A, page: 2717. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.