The purpose of this thesis was to explore whether the gender of a sexual assault survivor influenced to whom they disclosed the sexual assault. Previous research indicates that barriers to disclosure could differ based both on the gender of a sexual assault survivor and characteristics of the disclosure recipient. Examining how disclosure is influenced by survivor gender could help better identify which groups could benefit most from educational resources. Participants (n = 160) were college students who experienced a sexual assault in adolescence or adulthood. Disclosure to a range of different formal and informal supports was assessed. Findings indicated that male survivors were significantly less likely to disclose to female friends than female survivors. Both male and female survivors reported low rates of disclosure to formal support providers (such police, therapists, medical professionals). These findings suggest that both men and women who experience sexual assault are unlikely to report the incident to police and campus offices, and they are unlikely to disclose the incident to medical and mental health providers. Therefore, it is important that barriers to disclosure to formal support providers be examined in future research.

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Previous research has shown benefits of adolescents' disclosure of activities to parents in reducing risk of deviant child behavior (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). In the current study I examine the effect of disclosure on learned helpless attributions, through the mediators of paternal, maternal, and peer support in sample of college undergraduates enrolled in psychology classes. In two online data collection points, participants completed measures on peer, paternal, and maternal support, disclosure, and negative attributions. In order to examine associations among these variables, I tested three general models: 1) disclosure would predict negative attributions through support, 2) support would predict negative attributions through disclosure, and 3) support would moderate the relations between disclosure and learned helpless attributions. Results demonstrated interrelations of disclosure with peer, maternal, and paternal support. Disclosure, peer support, and maternal support were negatively correlated with learned helpless attributions. However, the first and second models were not supported. The third model was partially supported in regard to maternal support. When maternal support was low, greater disclosure was associated with greater learned helpless attributions. Future longitudinal and experimental research is needed to further discern pathways of association for these constructs. / Master of Science

No / Evidence from research conducted on corporate accounting indicates that the interaction of environmental factors influences disclosure practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of various corporate governance and cultural (race and education) characteristics, in addition to firm-specific factors, as possible determinants of voluntary (non-mandatory accounting and non-accounting information) disclosures in the annual reports of Malaysian listed corporations. The results of the regression analysis indicate significant associations (at the 5 percent level) between two corporate governance variables (viz. chair who is a non-executive director and domination of family members on boards) and the extent of voluntary disclosure. This finding has implications for corporate governance policy formulation by the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MISG). One cultural factor (proportion of Malay directors on the board) is significantly associated (at the 5 percent level) with the extent of voluntary disclosure suggesting that governmental focus on culture may solicit a response to secrecy from those who feel threatened.

This study examines how suicide attempt survivors (SASs) decide whether or not to disclose their suicide attempt to close others. The investigation is framed using the revelation risk model (RRM) of disclosure (Afifi & Steuber, 2009) with particular focus on the risk assessment and willingness to disclose components of the model. Additionally, the investigation considers the concept of stigma in an effort to expand how stigma is relevant within the decision to disclose about prior suicide attempts. The sample includes 10 participants recruited from the Live Through This project, a project dedicated to collecting and sharing stories online from suicide attempt survivors. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Data analysis showed that suicide attempt survivor disclosure generally follows the framework of the RRM. Notably, stigma was shown to be a major factor in the secret valence and risk assessment stages of the model. Additionally, the disclosure decision-making process was found to change over time.

Conventional wisdom suggests that firm’s patenting choice is largely due to strategic considerations such as industry competition and the prominence of the invention. We explore this issue from a managerial discretion perspective, suggesting that patenting choice facilitates managerial discretion via earnings management. On the one hand, not filing patents generates a more opaque information environment for market scrutiny, suggesting higher chance of earnings management. On the other hand, stewardship theory indicates that managers use trade secrets to protect their intellectual property. We find that non-patenting firms do not engage in financial earnings management while their real activity based earnings management is lower than patenting counterparts. On average, non-patenting choice does not lead to harmful opaqueness.

Thesis (MPH.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Setting: The study was undertaken in St Rita’s Hospital, a district hospital for healthin Makhuduthamaga Municipality, Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province. The purpose of the study was to describe client experiences of HIV-positive post-disclosure tosexual partners at St Rita’s Hospital, Limpopo Province. A qualitative, descriptive and phenomenological design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select 15 HIV- positive clients to participate in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for data collection until saturation was reached. Data analysis was done using Techs open-coding method. Research findings: The study found that most of the clients were shocked and worried after testing HIV-positive. Participants whose sexual partners were aware that they were sick, indicated their wish to test and to immediately disclose their HIV-positive status. The study identified that some women found it difficult to disclose their HIV-positive status to sexual partners and continued to have unprotected sex in spite of ongoing counselling and support provided at the clinic. Some women participants who disclosed to sexual partners were accepted and some were rejected by sexual partners. Some women who disclosed their HIV-positive status to sexual partners were unable to motivate sexual partners to be counselled together and have mutual disclosure. These participants therefore continued to have unprotected sex with sexual partners and some became pregnant as sexual partners indicated that they tested HIV-negative elsewhere and were not keen to use condoms. Female participants did not indicate the use of female condoms as part of their responsibility to prevent transmission of HIV. Implications, recommendations and conclusions: The barriers which female participants face to disclose their HIV-positive status to sexual partners and not being able to insist on the use condoms may contribute to a high rate of HIV transmission and disease incidence. There should be establishment of consortiums at community level to provide quality support and follow up to clients who face challenges or fear to disclose their HIV-positive status to sexual partners. KEYWORDS • Clients’ experiences • Disclosure • Experiences, • Sexual partner • HIV-positive

Over the last decade, the SEC has taken a number of steps to move towards a real-time reporting regime in an effort to deter strategic accumulation of news disclosures by management. However, evidence from theoretical literature suggests managers are still able to engage in strategic bunching of within-firm disclosures under a real-time reporting regime if managers have control over the timing of news-triggering events. To test whether real-time reporting deters strategic disclosures I examine managers' disclosure behavior for both regular poison pill adoptions and in-play pill adoptions because managers can time the regular poison pill adoptions but have limited ability to do so for in-play pill adoptions. My results indicate real-time reporting does not (does) deter disclosure bunching for regular poison pills (in-play pills). To the extent that disclosure bunching occurs for in-play pills under the real-time reporting regime, my findings suggest managers are more likely to time the disclosure of other news to achieve disclosure bunching. Disclosure bunching dampens the negative pricing impact of poison pill adoption disclosures and continues to do so under the real-time reporting regime.

Cette thèse analyse l’impact de la réglementation des divulgations environnementales ainsi que l’utilité de ces informations pour les investisseurs, partie prenante susceptible d’influencer l’entreprise en l’amenant à produire l’information environnementale utile, éventuellement imposée par la réglementation. Notre recherche s’appuie sur une approche quantitative basée sur le traitement des scores de divulgation environnementale au travers de modèles de régression ordinaire et censuré. Les scores de divulgation environnementale ont été calculés à partir d’une grille de mesure élaborée par nos soins et utilisée pour l’analyse de 121 entreprises européennes. Les résultats montrent que la réglementation des divulgations environnementales a un impact positif direct et induit sur le niveau de divulgation environnementale des entreprises. Par contre, l’impact des recommandations gouvernementales ou émanant d’organismes professionnels est identiquement faible. Les résultats montrent également que l’utilité des divulgations environnementales pour les investisseurs n’est pas uniforme : elle dépend de l’opacité des divulgations financières de l’entreprise, de son exposition aux risques environnementaux et de la structure de son actionnariat. Enfin, dans un contexte où l’information environnementale publiée est largement, voire totalement volontaire, les résultats montrent que les entreprises orientent leur communication environnementale en fonction des parties prenantes qu’elles identifient comme prioritaires. / Using disclosure scores to assess the level of environmental information provided by 121 randomly selected European listed companies, this research has two major goals. First, it examines whether environmental information is useful to investors. Second, it analyzes whether it is worth regulating environmental disclosures. Results reveal that the usefulness of environmental disclosures for investors is not uniform. It varies among firms, increasing with (i) exposure to environmental risks; (ii) ownership dispersion; (iii) the level of financial opacity. Furthermore, results also reveal that regulation has a direct and induced favorable impact on corporate environmental disclosure. After controlling for the usual determinants of environmental disclosures, we show that firms subject to a law that regulates environmental reporting disclose more than those domiciled in countries that have developed guidelines only. Finally, in a context where environmental information is mainly voluntary, we show that firms reserve their environmental communication for their preferred stakeholders.