While a plethora of studies have examined the effects of divorce on children, fewer have looked at young adults who have experienced parental divorce after they were 18 years of age, and even fewer have examined the experiences of Black American adult children. Using concepts from Social Identity Theory, the goal of this study was to understand the experiences of Black adult children whose parents have divorced and the phenomenon of their self-perception based on family identity. This was a phenomenological study conducted through guided face-to-face interviews and utilizing Photovoice with four Black adult children of divorce, whose parents divorced after they were 18 years old. The data collected from narrative interviews and photographs through this study were analyzed using narrative and visual content analysis. Findings were that adult children who are emerging as adults with their identity struggle to reidentify themselves, their familial relations not only with their divorced parents, but even more so with their siblings; where relationships are also impacted. This study contributes to social change by identifying the needs of this population at an important time in their lives. Therapists, universities, and communities may use this study to better support Black adult children of divorce of American descent.

This thesis is an examination of Shakespeare's 1603 satire Troilus and Cressida that looks at illusion and the value given to it by means of war, Helen of Troy, and ultimately the two lovers themselves. Although it is depressingly obvious throughout the drama that life is an illusion, it is also obvious that there is a need for that illusion, and an equally profound necessity to have the illusion debunked. The first part of the thesis examines the impact of war on Troy. This part concentrates on the myth of the hero, who like Falstaff presents himself to the world as heroic but is actually a coward. The theme of a person who presents himself as one thing but is another recurs throughout the play. Shakespeare did not have a monopoly on this insight. The paper details how two of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Galileo and Cervantes, also addressed this problem. The paper continues with an examination of the convictions and distortions played out by the less than perfect military council and by the insidious politics of the major characters and their flawed commitment to unreliable leaders. The thesis examines the emotional traps the characters set for themselves as well as the bad advice they listen to in order to set themselves free. The paper keeps returning to the theme of illusions, their danger, and their usefulness. The end focuses on the title characters themselves, as well as the homoerotic relationship of Achilles and his live-in lover. The conclusion attempts to sort out the real from the fiction. The play ends, or so it appears, with the familiar story of two men fighting over a woman. It has come, like many other plays of the period, full circle. The characters seem at peace with themselves, or at least at peace with the haunting and perpetual idea that life is indeed an illusion with both a necessity for that illusion and an equally valid necessity to have that illusion debunked.

Dans quelle mesure les fondements et les concepts essentiels du personnalisme français (1930-1950) permettent-ils d’envisager la compassion comme une voie de connaissance de la personne ? Tel est le problème auquel ce travail se confronte. La première partie analyse l’expérience de la compassion, à travers plusieurs de ses figures et de ses formes. Après avoir exposé les axes fondateurs du personnalisme français, la partie II montre que la compassion fait difficulté pour ce courant de pensée car elle met au jour ses tensions internes. La partie III confirme et nuance ce diagnostic à l’aide de l’étude de la place de la compassion dans l’œuvre de M. Nédoncelle et dans celle d’E. Mounier. La partie IV s’appuie sur la pensée de S. Weil pour proposer un renouvellement de ce personnalisme afin de remédier à cette minoration de la compassion. Enfin, dans la perspective d’un tel renouvellement, la dernière partie interroge le rapport du personnalisme et du christianisme. / To what extent do the foundations and essential concepts of French personalism (1930-1950) make it possible to consider compassion as a way to know the person ? Here is the problem this work faces. The first part analyses the experience of compassion through several figures and forms. After explaining the fundamental axes of French personalism, the second part shows that compassion is problematic to this current of thought because it brings to light personalism inner tensions. The third part confirms and tempers this diagnostic studying the role of compassion in M. Nédoncelle’s and E. Mounier’s works. The fourth part builds on S. Weil’s thought to offer a renewal of this personalism so as to remedy this underestimation of compassion. Finally, in the perspective of such a renewal, the last part questions the relation between personalism and Christianism.

Online-gaming (OG) is a fast-growing phenomenon that could have a major impact in people's life. This study analyses the impact online-gaming has on cohabitational-love relationships and outsiders of the OG world. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with couples engaged in the world of internet-usage and OG. The interviews were performed both individually and together with their partner. There are many positive effects that comes with internet and OG, but there are also plenty of negative. Central questions for this study are therefore how OG are perceived within the relationships and how the potential consequences it leads to are dealt with. The study also discusses who the problem initiator is, and how the negotiation within the relationship looks like. Previous research shows conflict as a result of too much time spent with online-gaming. The result of this study therefore aspires to add a complementary layer to what may be the cause of these conflicts. The result shows that a lack of accountability and too much time spent involved with OG creates reasons for conflict. The presented solution included mutual agreement for what is to be seen as a fair amount of time spent with OG. If the time exceeds stated agreement, it seemed to be a reason for conflict. But if not, OG would mostly be seen as something positive for both parties when it comes to their individual well-being.

The purpose of the study was to qualitatively investigate love in religious family relationships. Participants were from the American Families of Faith Project, a qualitative study on religion and family life with participants from 198 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families (N = 478) across the United States. The primary research questions of present study were (a) what does love mean for families? (b) why do individuals and couples in families love? (c) how is love experienced? (d) what are the related processes of love? (e) how does religion influence love in religious families? and (f) what are the reported outcomes of love for individuals and families? Interview data was analyzed through a three-phase approach: feasibility study, codebook development, and grounded theory coding. The first phase conducted by two coders, excluding the author, concluded that there was sufficient data to conduct further analysis. The second phase was conducted by four coders, excluding the author and the two previous coders, who developed a codebook and organized data into four relational domains (marital, parental, children’s, and divine) and six categories, which were based on the research questions (meaning, motivation, process, experience, influence, and outcome). In the third phase, the author analyzed the intersections between domains and categories through matrix coding and numeric content analysis. Then, using modified grounded theory approaches, themes were developed and presented as findings with illustrative participant quotations. Finally, findings, limitations, future directions, and implications for therapists and educators were discussed.

Background:Brand gender is the set of human personality traits associated with masculinity and femininity applicable and relevant to brands. Brand gender perceptions can be affected through a range of different marketing techniques, to attract specific customers, and positively influence their consumer-brand relationships and their brand equity. Similar to past marketing techniques used by tobacco companies who targeted women with cigarettes using slogans such as “Torches of Freedom” and the message that smoking makes you slim, marketers are now trying to change consumer perceptions of snus, a tobacco product originating from Sweden, where a drastic increase in usage among women can be seen.  Problem: Previous literature on the topic of brand gender has mainly focused on products and product categories that are highly connected to consumers’ self-presentation. Current literature also expresses the need for future research to be done using specific brands and product categories. Researchers have also expressed the need for examination of brand gender in contexts of highly feminine cultures.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine if LYFT’s marketing portrays a clear brand gender positioning and to see how consumers perceive gendered branding. The aim is to expand existing knowledge on brand love, brand gender congruence and brand-gender positioning, using a product category that is less connected to consumers’ self-presentation. To fulfil the purpose of this research, a content analysis of LYFT’s Instagram was conducted, followed by an analysis of regular users of snus to identify their perceptions and relationships with LYFT. Method: This study has followed a mixed-method approach, where a quantitative content analysis of LYFT’s Instagram has been executed, followed by eight qualitative semi-structured interviews of regular users of snus in the age range of 22-28 years in Sweden who are highly familiar with LYFT. The interviews were analysed following interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).  Results: The interview participants perceived LYFT’s typical customer, their communication, as well as their product attributes and benefits to be feminine, which was consistent with the results of the content analysis. Congruent with previous research, this study found that the typical user of the brand had the most significant effect on brand gender perceptions and that a strong brand gender positioning can enhance brand love. However, the study also found that female individuals were less likely to consume masculine products or product categories than what previous studies have claimed. This study is useful for marketing practitioners wanting to enhance their customer-brand relationships through clear brand gendering and shows the importance of utilizing marketing techniques such as social media to affect consumer perceptions of brand gender.

Massacre tracks three intersecting narratives during and after a fictionalized recounting of the infamous Virginia Tech massacre. In each characters’ search of individual re-creation and autonomy, they encounter the failings of their person, their families, their institutions, and their country. Formed by the great and impossible trauma that bound them, massacre survivors Connor and Tara navigate the tricky and deceitful terrain of a marriage that should never have been.

Destruction Loops uses the guiding phenomenon of self-destruction to begin to develop an ontology that would not be ontosoteriological—that is, it would not cast being itself in a saving role for human being. Beginning with Martin Heidegger’s thought (both early and late), but also relinquishing his ontosoteriology, Destruction Loops seeks to explain how people can self-destruct because of their insight into the character of being, time, reality, and the world. A pre-theoretical understanding that one is self-destructing is often not sufficient for an affective resolve to stop oneself from self-destructing. It is not, because one’s pre-theoretical insight into the character of being can be existentially discouraging and result in an affective demeanor of resignation. In this sense, the correlation with being itself does not save, but rather exacerbates the existential conditions for self-destruction. The human being, understood not as Sorge (care) or as mortal but as desire for a loved one, is fundamentally non-correlated with being itself because it wants more for this other than being can give. An exposure to this insight is painful—and also difficult: for it then leaves the self alone with a task to build for this other against the conditions of being itself. All the while, being can turn the self against itself, by turning the origin of its selfhood (its relationship with a special other) against this endeavor. Instead of building, one can then fall into a destruction loop, where the meaning of the past overcomplicates the need for building the conditions of meaning and love in life. In the following pages, expressionistic phenomenology—a phenomenology that seeks to express the formal inadequacy of being itself—is expressed through the pseudonymous, intellectual memoir called Generation Loss, written by Dylan Errington in the wake of the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, Christina “Chris” Weston. Dylan’s book iterates, and formally reflects, the need for building and creating works that express desire’s dissatisfaction with being itself. / Graduate / 2023-04-21

Bibliography: pages 89-92. / To date numerous works in the African traditional religion have appeared In this devoted to the description of field many have been particular religion phenomena, while some have attempted to refute the beliefs and practices of the religion. But examining the effort of various investigators who have grappled with this task, one has the impression that they may have overlooked something. This something is bringing together the beliefs and practices of African traditional religion to form the worships in other world religions. It can be said the worship of God in Africa traditional religion is the very soul of African religion. This study attempts and examines what some scholars have written about African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices, and brought it together to form what may be called the worship of God in the religion. In constructing the purpose of this study, many writers have been used. Here the writer would like to mention some scholars by name, because much of their material have been constantly used. Such scholars as John S. Mbiti, Geoffrey Parrinder and Emmanuel, Bolaji Idowu. These writers recorded careful observation of African traditional religion, its beliefs and practices. This provides useful insights into the worship of God in the religion. In achieving the study, the problem of ancestor-worship has been discussed, although a final conclusion has not been reached, because it is an ongoing debate. The practices and believes have been discussed as the starting point of the worship in religion. The study observed particular practices which constitute the worship. These includes: sacrifice, offering, prayer and the religious leaders who performed the worship. To make what constitutes the worship complete, the spiritual aspect of it has also been discussed. At the end of the study, some suggestions and recommendations have been made so as to stimulate and motivate the African students undertaking the studies of African traditional religion. It is also a challenge to the students who are studying African theology.

Prior research has suggested age related changes in attitudes toward love. The present study was completed to extend this assumption to high school and college educated samples and across stage of life. Both samples included a proportionate number of males to females . A new instrument (measuring a Conjugal Love Factor, Romantic Power Factor and a Romantic Idealism Factor) was generated for use in this study. In addition the Knox Love Attitude Inventory (1970), the Rubin Love Scale (1970) and a short form of Rotter's I-E Scale (Vlecha and Ostrom, 1974) were also administered to each sample. Results indicated that the high school sample held more romantic attitudes and fluctuated in their attitudes toward love over the various stages of life more than the college sample. Fluctuation for the high school sample, on most instruments involved a significant digression in romantic attitudes when children were being reared in the home and a sharp rise in romantic conceptions when children were no longer in the home (curvilinear relationship). Conjugal attitudes for the high school group followed a linear progression. The high school educated sample began low in conjugal attitudes but progressed across the stages to a more conjugal conception of love . Locus of control was also found to affect the way in which one viewed love, particularly in adolescence. Internal adolescents were significantly less romantic than external adolescents. Surprisingly sex differences were not found to consistently affect love attitudes.