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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Anthony Jurich / This study used a qualitative approach as a means of exploring the decision-making process of women's participation in marital infidelity. Due to the growing prevalence and negative effects of marital infidelity, it is important for both clinicians and researchers to understand its occurrence. Although there has been a significant amount of research on marital infidelity in recent years, there is not any significant research that looks at the process occurring in both the marital and extramarital relationships. This study focused on examining the process an individual goes through when making the decision to have an affair, particularly, how they were able to give themselves permission to have an affair. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four female participants who had participated in marital infidelity. The interviews were audio taped, transcribed, and analyzed using the transcendental phenomenological model (Moustakas, 1994). Four categories and 14 themes emerged, regarding the decision-making and permission-giving processes of women’s participation in marital infidelity. The women reported a lack of quality time spent with their husbands, as well as a lack of attention they received from their husbands. The women also discussed an inability to solve conflict within their marriage. The women reported developing relationships, outside of their marriage, either with ex-flames, old friends, or new friends, all of whom became their affair partner. The women reported the support of family and/or friends for the extramarital relationship, along with receiving positive attention from their affair partner. The women discussed the moral values as being a deterrent to marital infidelity, but did not perceive enough barriers or protective factors as preventing them from moving forward with the affair. Finally, the women described ways in which they were able to limit cognitive dissonance as a means of giving themselves permission to move forward with the affair. Clinical and research implications were discussed, as well as, the limitations of the current study.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Karen S. Myers-Bowman / Is there a positive relationship between doing good and feeling well? Does demonstrating behavior that is charitable in nature lead to a greater sense of well-being? While much of the literature regarding charitable behavior is focused on the motivation for giving, relatively little is understood about the outcomes of giving behavior. Using a model developed from social exchange theory and data from the 2004 General Social Survey, structural equation modeling was employed to explore this relationship. Testing the Charitable Activity – Perceived Wellness Relationship model led to acceptance of the finding that participation in charitable activity is positively related to an individual’s self-perception of well-being. Furthermore, income, education, and having a religious orientation were found to be positively related to self-reported well-being. These effects were enhanced by participation in charitable activity. The results of this study have potential uses for financial planning practitioners, policy makers, and others with interests in family resource management issues and well-being. The possible avenues for further study include refinement of the model, development of a conceptual framework for teaching and research in family resource management, and the integration of other theories related to charitable giving such as the Identification Theory of Care and the Aquinian concept of caritas.

In light of a scant, fragmentary geographical literature attending specifically to charity and charitable giving (cf. Bryson et al, 2002), this research presents an in-depth exploration of one particular (and highly popular) ‘charity’ mechanism- child sponsorship –by way of delineating a more coherent set of geographical understandings and sensibilities towards the topic. Using research carried out in the UK between 2011 and 2012 with both child sponsorship charities and ‘sponsors’, and drawing together an array of theoretical and conceptual resources from within geography and beyond, I seek to engage particularly with the ways in which charity is organised, promoted and practised; the spatial, relational ways in which charitable action is configured and performed, and the flows of ethical concern, embodied praxis and power which co-constitute it. As such, and mobilising ‘relational’ geographical work on networks and assemblages, I present an alternative reading of ‘charitable space’ which allows for its dynamic complexities to be more fully appreciated. Given my focus on child sponsorship, I set these interests within broader debates on the UK’s Third Sector, international development and humanitarian aid, particularly debates regarding neoliberalism and (post)colonialism. As such, the research also contributes to an emerging literature on Global North ‘development constituencies’ and their mobilisation (Baillie Smith, 2008; see also Smith, 2004; Desforges, 2004), as well as to well-established geographical literatures on voluntarism. I also foreground a focus on the dynamics of ‘faith-based’ giving, since the empirical landscape of child sponsorship displays a distinct orientation towards Christian modes of charitable organisation and action, though in complex, often blurry ways. In all, the work seeks to critically appraise and (where appropriate) disturb common narratives and assumptions used to apprehend charity in both popular and academic discourse, and offer instead a more critically attuned set of understandings which re-imagine charity in more enlivened ways.

Narcissists are not generally thought of as altruistic individuals. There are certain conditions, however, that may meet the needs of narcissistic individuals and thus elicit altruistic behavior. These conditions include recognition for the act, or adding to narcissists’ already high opinion of themselves through executing the act. Because narcissists also demonstrate impulsivity, it is also possible that a time pressure may induce narcissists as well as impulsive individuals to act altruistically. The aim of this study is to determine in what context, if any, narcissistic and impulsive individuals may display acts of altruism, specifically charitable giving. This study uses a 2 (recognized vs. unrecognized) x 2 (time limited vs. time unlimited) between groups design. Participants will complete a Stop Signal task, a charitable giving task in which recognition and time limit are manipulated, demographic questions, and two measures of narcissism. The expected results are that higher scores on overt narcissism will lead participants to donate in conditions in which they receive recognition for their donation. Higher scores on covert narcissism will lead participants to donate in conditions where they are not recognized. Individuals with higher impulsivity scores as determined by the Stop Signal task will donate in time pressured conditions over time unlimited. And furthermore, impulsivity will act as a mediator between narcissism and charitable giving in time-limited conditions. Finally, implications of these results and future directions for research are discussed.

Community college students are being forced to delay future educational goals, due to the lack of financial support. Grants, student loans and financial aid support from government sources are in short supply. While past resources from state legislative bodies are being restricted and have been reduced to historic levels; educational organizations –community college foundations - have had to associate themselves with numerous outside sources. Collaborative partnerships with business, government, and industry have helped to relieve financial short- falls and student scholarship pressures while building long term and sustaining relationships. The purpose of this study was to investigate the process of annual giving within Texas Gulf Coast Community Colleges. A framework for the study was structured inside of five different institutions in the Gulf Coast region. Additionally, this study set out to examine the overall context of annual giving and whether college foundations were utilizing annual giving as a relationship tool for development and fundraising purposes. The research design followed an interview, case study format utilizing qualitative data. The study had several major findings. First, all colleges adhere to inputs, processes, and outputs. Second, by analyzing each of the inputs and processes, a set of output relationships- were discovered. Third, all institutions have a set of functions – financial, organizational, operational, and structural – which are in alignment with inputs, process and outputs. Fourth, brand identity helps to integrate donors and thereby, builds sustained and long-term support. Annual giving within Texas Gulf Coast community colleges has become a major fixture as a fundraising practice. Foundations are making the most of this tool by positioning themselves with their community and thus, reaping the benefits of donor relationships. / text

When choosing a gift, the gift-giver has three distinct but interdependent goals: the item must 1) satisfy the recipient 2) be self-reflective for the gift-giver, and 3) indicate the nature of the relationship between the giver and the recipient. However, these goals are often mutually exclusive, making it infeasible for the giver to meet both his/her own and the recipient’s needs with his/her gift choices. In both essays we look at how the important moderator of social closeness between the giver and recipient influences givers’ prioritization of these goals. In Essay 1, we constrain givers to choose from a gift registry and posit that purchasing an identity-incongruent product can threaten an individual’s identity, particularly when purchasing for a close (vs. distant) friend who is an integral part of the self. Five experiments in the context of gift registry show that givers choosing identity-incongruent gifts for a close (vs. distant) friend experience an identity threat and seek to re-establish their shaken identities by endorsing the threatened identity and choosing identity-expressive products in subsequent decisions. In Essay 2 we loosen the constraints of the gift choice and allow givers to choose or reject the gift registry. Our main hypothesis is that when choosing for a close (vs. distant) friend, the giver will discount the recipient’s explicit preferences in favor of a gift that signals the giver’s identity or the relationship between them. However, prior research indicates that close friends choose inaccurately for one another as they conflate their own preferences with those of the recipients’. Thus we suggest that since givers are more likely to make a free choice (vs. registry choice) for a close (vs. distant) friend, they face an increased likelihood of choosing a less desirable gift for their close friends. / text

The bonding power of the gift has been the subject of much social scientific research. My dissertation adds to this by examining the relationship between gift giving and commitment to a social network or an employing organization. Ideas and concepts from social exchange and identity theories provide the theoretical underpinnings for this investigation. Social exchange theory views human interaction as a series of resource exchanges, and I contend that how people exchange resources may have ramifications for the bonds that develop between them and for their commitment to particular social relations. This study has two parts. In the first half of the dissertation, I ask whether the greater relational solidarity that results from direct reciprocal exchange, as opposed to negotiated exchange, differentially affects whether actors choose to leave their existing exchange networks for new ones and if so, why? Direct reciprocal exchange involves actors directly and independently giving resources to others without knowing whether the recipients of those resources will reciprocate in kind. Negotiated exchange involves actors jointly bargaining over the terms of an agreement. Differences between these two forms of exchange inform my causal argument about why actors are more like to stay in social networks if they participate in direct reciprocal exchange. I test this argument using an experiment. The second half of the dissertation continues this investigation into reciprocal exchange by examining the factors that affect gift giving in the workplace as well as the effects of gift giving on organizational commitment. Here, gift giving is defined broadly to include any act that involves people freely and independently volunteering to provide either tangible or intangible benefits to others without knowing if others will reciprocate. Data from a survey distributed to registered nurses working for a large healthcare organization provides the empirical basis for this investigation. Together the experiment and survey allow for an in-depth investigation into how exchange processes affect commitments to social networks and organizations. As such, the findings reported herein advance sociological understanding about how micro-level processes shape macro-level structures. They also speak to the practical issue of organizational retention.

This thesis used fifty hours of naturally occurring video and audio taped data from the ‘weigh-in' section of four commercial weight management groups in the East Midlands of England. This thesis is a discursive psychological and conversation analytic investigation of the turn-taking organization of the talk, examining what the group leaders and members make relevant in their talk about food and dieting. The data was transcribed using the Jeffersonian method. Group members attend the group weekly, and are weighed - their weight gain, loss or maintenance is recorded on a membership card. The analytic chapters follow the format of the ‘weigh-in' section of the meeting exploring firstly how the group leaders and members manage the practices of getting ready to be weighed; then how the ‘news' of weight gain, loss or maintenance is told and receipted; before exploring how ‘advice-giving' is constructed and the final analytic chapter deals with the issues of morality and accountability in the leaders' and members' talk. Analysis shows that the ‘pre-weigh in practices' involved before the group members are weighed consists of two robust patterns, 1) the practice of getting undressed is not oriented to by either the group members or group leaders and the group leaders avoided direct eye contact and concerned themselves with other business or 2) when no undressing practices took place, the group leaders were much more comfortable with direct eye contact. These sequences show how the body and its practices are constructed in particular ways within, and as part of the practices of getting ready to be weighed. Analysis showed the telling and receipting of weight news gets done differently depending on whether the group members have gained, lost or maintained weight. When the news concerned weight gain, the sequence included a ‘pre-announcement' and the news TCU was punctuated with marked trouble. When the news concerned weight loss, only the group members produced a pre-account and the news TCU contained no marked trouble. Finally, when the group members had maintained weight, the news TCU was delivered bluntly, and there was no evidence of trouble. In relation to advice-giving, analysis showed that group members repeatedly worked to assert their epistemic priority to avoid having to acknowledge the advice and the advice was receipted minimally. Finally, analysis showed that group members produced accounts with reference to a moral evaluation, such as blame or culpability. Sometimes an account was produced to circumvent being held publicly accountable for the event or action. It became apparent that both the group leaders and group members could not orient to themselves, their behaviour or food without it being constructed within a moral or accountable framework. Therefore, the thesis is an exploration of how group leaders and members manage the ‘dieting-practices' involved in getting weighed in a commercial weight management group and how using DP and CA can show the intricate turn by turn organization of such practices.

Introduction: Following lateral ankle sprain, many individuals experience recurrent injury and symptoms of giving-way, known as Functional Ankle Instability (FAI). It has been proposed that altered joint kinematics during activity may contribute to instability in these individuals, however research findings have been inconsistent. Objective: To capture foot and ankle kinematic data during two common tasks (walking gait and jump landing) among three groups: individuals with FAI, healthy controls and copers. Design: 3-group observational cross-sectional study. Participants: Participants included 23 individuals with a history of ≥ 1 ankle sprain and at least 2 episodes of giving-way in the past year (FAI: M±SD; age=23.30±3.84years; height=1.71±0.11m, weight=68.66±14.60kg; Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool [CAIT]=20.52±2.94, episodes of giving-way=5.81±8.42 per month), 23 subjects with no history of ankle sprain or instability in their lifetime (Controls: age=23.17±4.01years, height=1.72±0.08m, weight=68.78± 13.26kg, CAIT: 28.78±1.78), and 23 individuals with a history of a single ankle sprain and no subsequent episodes of instability (Copers: age=23.52±3.68years, height=1.72±0.07m, weight=69.57±13.94kg; CAIT: 27.74 ± 1.69). Interventions: Ten trials of natural walking gait and 10 single leg drop jumps were recorded using a ViconMX motion monitoring system (OMG, Oxford, UK) and two imbedded force plates (Bertec, Columbus, Ohio, USA). Main Outcome Measures: Forefoot and hindfoot sagittal and frontal plane angles were calculated at initial contact (IC) and toe-off (TO) of walking gait, and IC and maximal vertical ground reaction force of jump landing. Results: At walking IC, there was a significant group difference in forefoot inversion (F2,66=4.68, p=0.013). Post hoc testing revealed that individuals with FAI were significantly more inverted than controls, but copers were not significantly different from the FAI or control groups. At jump landing IC, there were significant group differences in hindfoot motion (F2,66=6.12, p=0.004). Specifically, individuals with FAI were significantly more dorsiflexed than the control or coper groups. There were no other significant group differences (all p>0.05). Conclusions: Kinematic differences exist between healthy controls, copers and individuals with FAI. Copers and individuals with FAI have both experienced ankle sprain injury, yet copers do not experience subsequent instability. Analysis of coper movement patterns compared to control and FAI groups may provide insight into coping mechanisms.