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Black men have the highest burden of prostate cancer (PCa) compared to all other races. Early detection of PCa is controversial, thus preference based PCa testing is recommended. PCa testing intention can be used as a proxy for testing preferences. Intention is known to predict behavior; however there is a gap between testing intention and testing behavior. The aims of this study were to examine the PCa testing intention-prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing gap and identify social cognitive variables that moderate the gap. Two hundred and sixteen black men participated in this longitudinal study. Results indicated PCa testing intention was a positive but moderate predictor of three PSA testing outcomes, p<.05. Men who tested in accordance with their PCa testing intention (positive or negative) ranged from 52% to 58%. Men who intended to test but did not, were the group most responsible for the PCa intention-PSA testing gap. History of PCa testing had an independent main effect on medical claim of a PSA test between time one interview and one year after time one interview, p<.05. A significant knowledge of PCa testing controversy by PCa testing intention interaction effect on medical claim of a PSA test between time one and time two interview was found, p<.05. Men who do not know about the testing controversy are more likely to have a positive intention and fulfill their testing intention. Conversely, men who are aware and appreciate the controversy surrounding testing are more ambivalent about testing. Social cognitive variables were associated with PCa testing intention-PSA testing outcomes. These variables should be considered when designing interventions to help black men to manage their risk for PCa in a manner that is consistent with their testing preferences. / Public Health

Approximately 75% of children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are significantly language impaired. While many learn a reasonably-sized set of object words, few master the relational terms (verbs and prepositions) that are the architectural centerpiece of the sentence. Though learning relational terms poses difficulty even for typically developing children, these words are differentially harder for children with ASD. This research is the first to ask why. Three studies examine the abilities necessary to learn verbs and prepositions. Studies 1 and 2 ask whether children with ASD have greater problems dissecting events into the foundational units and categories that underlie relational term learning (i.e., the path or where the object moves, and the manner or how the object moves through space) than do typically developing children. Study 3 focuses on tools known to assist in mapping from these basic categories onto words. Are children with ASD able to use information about a speaker's social intent to discover which event components are labeled by a particular word? Finally, this dissertation offers an exploratory correlational analysis designed to assess the joint impact of conceptual abilities and mapping (social understanding) as predictors for relational term learning in the two populations. Thirty-four 3- to 6-year-old children (17 with ASD) participated in the studies. Despite some methodological difficulties with the conceptual tasks, results suggest that the strongest correlate of relational vocabulary size in typical children was conceptual, while the strongest for children with ASD was social understanding. These findings extend prior research by noting the strong relationship between the ability to read social intent and relational term learning. They also suggest that for children with ASD, difficulty understanding the intentions of others is a primary problem that blocks the road to full language competence. / Psychology

After looking in the vault copies, the Digitization Centre has determined that page vi is a missing page and may be a printing error. -Digitization Centre / This study aimed to improve understanding of walking exercise among individuals with intermittent claudication. Using a prospective design, Ajzen's (1985, 1991) theory of planned behaviour was applied to examine psychosocial determinants of walking exercise. In addition, measures of barrier self-efficacy were explored as determinants of behaviour and perceived pain intensity was examined as a moderator of the intention-behaviour relationship. Ninety-four participants (n = 33 female) completed baseline measures of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intentions to engage in walking exercise. Additional measures of pain-related barrier self-efficacy and barrier self-efficacy regarding walking exercise were obtained and the Borg CR1 0 Pain Scale (Borg, 1998) was used to assess perceived pain intensity during walking. Participants were contacted weekly by telephone over four consecutive weeks and asked to recall their walking exercise and associated perceived pain intensity for the preceding seven-day period. Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control contributed significantly to a multiple regression model predicting 67% of the variance in walking intentions. Intentions and perceived behavioural control explained 34% of the variance in walking exercise; however, pain-related barrier self-efficacy and barrier self-efficacy did not explain additional variance in behaviour and perceived pain intensity failed to moderate the intention-behaviour relationship. Findings support the theory of planned behaviour for predicting walking intentions and exercise among individuals with intermittent claudication, and suggest that pain cognitions as measured in this study do not play a role in determining walking. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

Background: The transition into emerging adulthood is a major developmental period in one’s life in which rapid declines in physical activity (PA) are documented. While many emerging adults possess intentions to engage in regular PA, evidence suggests acting on these intentions represents a significant challenge. Obtaining a deeper understanding of the factors associated with the process of translating emerging adult’s PA intentions into action may be integral in building a healthier adult population. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of two potential moderators of the PA intention-behaviour relationship: goal conflict and trait self-control, in a sample of emerging adults. Methods: The study sample was comprised of 132 participants (Mage = 17.80 ± 0.46; 64% female) drawn from a larger prospective cohort study (ADAPT Study). All participants completed two online questionnaires, approximately four weeks apart. Measures of PA intention strength, goal conflict and trait self-control were assessed at time 1. At time 2, participants completed a measure of self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) engagement. Four moderation analyses were performed to assess the independent and combined effects of goal conflict and trait self-control on the PA intention-behaviour relationship. Results: Across all moderation analyses, the main effect of intention strength was significant (p < 0.001), providing support for the necessary role it plays in PA behaviour. However, the main effects of goal-conflict and trait self-control were not found to be significant, along with all interaction effects tested. Correlational analyses revealed intention strength (r = 0.346, p < .001) and goal-conflict (r = -0.236, p < 0.05) were significantly correlated with MVPA, however trait self-control (r = 0.048) was not. Conclusion: Although results showed a modest intention-PA relationship, the hypothesized moderating effects of goal conflict and self-control were not supported. While the subjective perception of one’s self-control ability did not moderate the intention-behaviour relationship, future research should explore the interaction between goal conflict and self-control further using more objective measures, or in combination with self-regulation strategies such as action and coping planning. Additionally, goal prioritization may be an important factor to consider when investigating the effect of goal conflict on PA and the intention-PA relationship. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Though 48% of all privately-held firms are at least 50% owned by a woman or women, women-owned enterprises received only 9% of the institutional investment deals and 2% of the dollars in 1999 in 2006. In the corporate supplier market, women-owned enterprises obtained only 4% of the market share. These figures indicate that women or women-owned enterprises face some level of hurdles in the marketplace. Drawing on Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior, the study explored the impact of corporate supplier diversity programs on corporate purchasers' intention to purchase from women-owned enterprises. Two hundred seventy two corporate purchasers across a diverse range of industries and geographical regions in the U.S. participated in a scenario-based mail survey. The findings suggest that corporate supplier diversity programs did influence the purchasers' intention to purchase, and the influence was more direct than indirect, contrary to some of the hypotheses proposed in the study. The findings contribute to both the corporate social responsibility literature and the women's entrepreneurship studies. With regard to the corporate social responsibility literature, the findings demonstrate that it is possible for business to incorporate positive duty into its core economic activities without compromising its financial gains and that the economic-aligned and duty-aligned orientations can be integrated. With reference to the women's entrepreneurship studies, the findings point to a way to overcome the hurdles that women-owned enterprises face. Given that 40% of the corporations do not have a supplier diversity program, the findings have practical implications as well; corporations are urged to implement a supplier diversity program if they do not have one, and to be committed to implementing their programs if they already have established one, for doing so is simply another case of doing well by doing good. / Ph. D.

The youth market has been characterized as one of the most coveted market segments because of its spending power and tremendous potential for becoming lifetime customers (Bush, Martin, & Bush, 2004). The product market for adolescents is expected to grow to more than $208 billion by 2011, according to a report from market research firm Packaged Facts (Sass, 2007). Apparel, jewelry, and cosmetics are top product categories for adolescent girls and are important products used by adolescents to portray personal identity (Ossorio, 1995). Because of adolescents' buying power and the important role apparel plays in adolescents' lives, it is important for apparel marketers to understand the adolescent consumer market. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between each of three independent variables (i.e., reference groups, clothing symbolism, and clothing involvement) and adolescents' clothing purchase intentions and clothing behavior, and whether the three variables are predictors of adolescents' clothing purchase intentions and clothing behavior. Reference groups are a source of instrumental and emotional support, offering adolescents a sense of belonging during their physical, emotional, and cognitive adjustment (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2001). Adolescents may have many different types of reference groups. The reference groups included in the currents study were friends, popular girls, and parents. Specifically in the current study, ninth grade girls' perceptions of friends' clothing behavior, popular girls' clothing behavior, and parents' opinions concerning clothing behavior were examined for their relationship to the ninth grade girls' clothing purchase intentions and behavior. The second independent variable was clothing symbolism. Adolescents may use clothing as a symbol (i.e., clothing symbolism) to express their actual self-concepts or to attain their ideal self-concepts (Erickson, 1983; Solomon & Rabolt, 2004). Two types of clothing symbolism were included in the study: the degree of congruity between actual self-concept and the perceived images of four outfits (i.e., actual self and clothing image congruity) and the degree of congruity between ideal self-concept and the perceived images of four outfits (i.e., ideal self and clothing image congruity). The third independent variable was clothing involvement. Viera (2009) found that young consumers are highly involved with clothing. The degree of clothing involvement may be closely related to adolescent girls' clothing purchase intentions and their clothing behavior. A conceptual model that formed the framework for this study was developed by integrating several theories, propositions, and research findings in the literature. Based on the framework, 16 research questions were formulated. Focus groups provided input for questionnaire development, and four outfit images, one each considered sexy, conservative, springy, or sporty, were identified and included in the questionnaire. Before the main data collection, the questionnaire was pilot tested and revised. Data collection was conducted at three high schools in central Virginia, and 353 female students in the ninth grade participated. Standard and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to address the research questions. Among the four outfit images, that with a sexy image was found to have the highest mean score for ideal self-concept, indicating that participants would most like to view themselves sexy. Results of a factor analysis for clothing involvement revealed three factors: clothing importance, clothing expressions, and clothing brand perceptions. Participants had fairly high mean scores for all three clothing involvement factors. Among those three factors, clothing importance had the highest mean. In addition, results showed that participants perceived that their friends and popular girls would most often wear the outfit with a sporty image, and they also perceived that their parents would most like them to wear an outfit with a sporty image. The sporty outfit image also had the highest mean for participants' clothing purchase intentions and clothing behavior among the four outfit images. Results of one of the stepwise regressions, for the sexy outfit image showed that perceptions of reference groups' clothing behavior or opinions (i.e., friends' clothing behavior, parents' opinions concerning clothing behavior, popular girls' clothing behavior), one type of clothing symbolism (i.e., ideal self and clothing image congruity), and one clothing involvement factor (i.e., clothing importance) predicted adolescent girls' purchase intentions for the outfit with a sexy image. The results for wearing clothing with a sexy image when hanging out with friends were slightly different from those for purchase intentions. For the behavior of wearing an outfit with a sexy image, the variable "perceptions of popular girls' clothing behavior" was not a predictor, but actual self and clothing image congruity was. For the springy outfit image, all the perceptions of reference groups' clothing behavior or opinions and actual self and clothing image congruity were the best predictors of participants' clothing behavior; however only friends' clothing behavior and popular girls' clothing behavior were significant predictors of adolescent girls' purchase intentions for this outfit image. For the conservative and sporty outfit images, only the perceptions of reference groups' clothing behavior or opinions predicted adolescent girls' clothing purchase intentions and clothing behavior. In conclusion, the research findings suggest a powerful relationship between adolescent girls' perceptions of reference groups' clothing behavior or opinions about clothing behavior and the girls' own clothing behavior and purchase intentions. Participants' perceptions of reference groups' clothing behavior or opinions were the best predictors of the participants' clothing behavior and purchase intentions for all four outfits. Furthermore, clothing symbolism (e.g., using a sexy outfit to express or attain a sexy image) appears to motivate ninth grade girls to wear clothing with a sexy or springy image. The girls would wear a sexy outfit to portray their actual self-concepts and attain their ideal self-concepts. They also would wear outfits with a springy image to portray themselves. Additionally, the more the participants in this study considered clothing to be important, the more likely they were to purchase and wear a sexy image outfit; however the participants indicated that, of the four outfit images in the study, they most purchase and wear clothing like the sporty image outfit the most for hanging out with friends in comparison to the other three outfit images. Based on the findings, suggestions and implications for parents, educators, and marketers were provided. / Ph. D.

Krav- och resursmodellen centreras kring antagandet att olika krav och resurser inom arbetet påverkar medarbetare och dess mående, prestation och agerande. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur utvalda krav och resurser korrelerar med de arbetsrelaterade utfallen arbetstrivsel, arbetsprestation och intention till uppsägning samt om resurserna mildrar kravens samband med dessa tre utfall. Studien baserades på en enkätundersökning inom handel- och besöksnäringen (N=207), en bransch som är känd för sin höga personalomsättning och som under de senaste åren rapporterat utmaningar med sin kompetensförsörjning. Resultatet från den hierarkiska multipla regressionsanalysen visade ett positivt samband mellan autonomi och arbetstrivsel, autonomi och arbetsprestation, feedback och arbetstrivsel samt rollkonflikt och intention till uppsägning. Ett negativt samband kunde ses mellan rollkonflikt och arbetstrivsel. Vidare fann studien att feedback har en mildrande effekt på det negativa sambandet mellan rollkonflikt och arbetstrivsel. Ytterligare interaktionseffekt sågs mellan autonomi och arbetsbelastning på utfallsvariabeln intention till uppsägning. Studien belyser i sin helhet att handel- och besökningsnäringen med fördel bör arbeta för arbetstagares självstyre samt en god feedbackkultur för att proaktivt kunna arbeta med rådande kompetensbrist. Fler studier bör dock utföras inom området för att kunna dra ytterligare slutsatser. / Legitimitet i lönebildningen: Psykologiska perspektiv på verksamhetsnära lönebildning och medarbetarnära lönesättning

Youth intention to pursue a career in agriculture and entrepreneurship is influenced by the knowledge they acquire through formal, informal, and nonformal settings. Changing youth perception of agriculture is essential for agriculture and youth development. The purpose of the study was to examine current youth perceptions of agriculture, solicit Tanzanian leaders' views of agriculture, and youth entrepreneurship. Understand youth intention and aspirations to choose a career in agriculture and agricultural-related fields, and the influence of the education system in shaping youth career decisions and entrepreneurship in agriculture. This study utilized a multi-method approach to examine youth and leaders perception of agriculture and the role of education systems on youth decisions on a career. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Social Cognitive Career Choice (SCCC) were used as the theories involve the human intention and motivation to create knowledge, which may result in changing behavior. Self-efficacy, environment, culture, and critical reflection are essential when constructing knowledge, contribute to youth decision making process and meaning-making. The Theory of Planned Behavior Constructs was used to develop a survey to understand youth intentions to choose a career in agriculture and career the influence of education pathways in youth development. Through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Career Choice, unstructured interviews were used to understand (i) the influence of previous background, and the need to teach agriculture to youth at a younger age for agriculture development and (ii) the community perception (leaders, teachers, youth, etc.), on youth career in agriculture and agricultural-related fields, teaching agriculture in schools, perception of agriculture and agricultural entrepreneurship. From the stepwise linear regression analysis, the model predicts 48% of the variance in student intention to choose an agricultural career. The results show that the three predictors' attitudes, perceived behavior control, and subjective norms have an influence on youth pursuing a career in agriculture. From the interviews, participants tabled their concerns about the existence of community negative perception of agriculture, very few have the idea of the agricultural curriculum in schools. Many believed that the education system does not prepare youth in decision making or facing the world challenges when they graduate. For the country's development, Tanzania needs more youth to engage in all kinds of agricultural practices for food security and poverty reduction, such as a career in agriculture and entrepreneurship. Youth can easily adopt new and improved agricultural knowledge due to their aggressiveness, eagerness, creativity, and ability to learn innovations. Motivation, creativity, critical thinking, and taking risks is essential in changing youth perception of agriculture. People they trust will influence their perception, intention, and attitude towards agriculture. Through youth programs, formal education, educators' knowledge, experience, effectiveness, preparation, encouragement, and interaction training youth on new or improved agriculture innovations can influence youth high level of achievement and success in agricultural practices. / Doctor of Philosophy / Very few primary and secondary schools teach agriculture subjects; therefore, many youths lack agricultural knowledge at a younger age. The formal education system in Tanzania allows students to choose Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) after the completion of their primary and secondary education. However, in most cases, students who are selected to attend TVET, especially agricultural training institutions, are those primary and ordinary level-secondary school students who did not get good grades to go for further studies. Such as advanced level- secondary school or university. Hence it makes agriculture viewed as the last option for students and works well for those who failed. Non Formal education has the potential to contribute to youth intention to career decisions and aspirations in agriculture. Youth programs and apprenticeship can provide skills needed for youth development and entrepreneurship in agriculture. It is essential for agriculture to be treated as a respectable profession and not for failures, retirees, or as a last result. It is my desire, in collaboration with others, to keep working with communities such as schools, youth programs, extension agents, and others in Tanzania to change people's perceptions about agriculture. The sustainability of social change requires leaders to involve diverse stakeholders that can contribute to the success of a common goal. Kuenkel (2016) Posit that "stakeholder collaboration is a form of co-creation" (p. 2). Engage youth in development programs to learn more about agriculture, youth engage in decision-making and participate in trade unions. Also, to attract more youth to become entrepreneurs and invest in agriculture. I desire to see more youth engage in agriculture and pursue a career in agriculture and agricultural-related fields. To see more youth are employed in the agricultural sector and well paid like other professionals. To see a change in policies and programs that will attract youth, especially girls, to study STEM at a younger age. To see leaders pioneer in building a positive perception of agriculture to the community, but also the education policy to change and give prestige agriculture profession by putting requirements like Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering professions.