Demographic Characteristics And Breastfeeding Confidence Of Mothers Who Choose To Exclusively Breastfeed And Combination Feed Their Infants Subjects were recruited from physicians' offices and public clinics in a metropolitan area (n=71). Fifteen (21%) of the subjects were planning to combination feed while 56 (79%) were planning to exclusively breastfeed. Subjects completed the Maternal Confidence Survey (O'Campo et al, 1992) and provided demographic information. A higher proportion of women planning to exclusively breastfeed were married (p=0.003), Caucasian (p=0.005), and educated beyond the high school level (p=0.04). Subjects in the exclusively breastfeeding group were significantly older (mean age = 26.7) than those in the combination feeding group (mean age = 22.8) (p=0.009). Confidence scores were significantly higher (mean score = 4.7) among women planning to exclusively breastfeed compared to women planning to combination feed (mean score = 4.3) (p=0.04). Results of this study suggest women who intend to combination feed are distinctly different from those who intend to exclusively breastfeed. Women planning to combination feed may benefit from prenatal intervention to enhance breastfeeding confidence. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

This study sought to determine differential importance of environmental criteria on product labels as judged by consumers in relation to socio-demographic factors. Five product categories and thirteen criteria were used in this study. Characterizing the `ecologically concerned consumer' may be helpful in developing market segmentation strategies. Findings from this study may provide knowledge about predictors of environmentally responsible consumption behavior. Such research may guide environmental labeling efforts to reduce environmental burdens of consumption.In this study consumers differentially endorsed ecolabel criteria. Further, differential importance was significant for gender, ethnicity, and income. Research is needed to explore the relationships between respondent demographics and eco-label criteria importance.It is necessary to consider importance of criteria to consumers. Without consumer interest, eco-labeling schemes are doomed to fail. Thus, it is recommended that ecolabeling schemes consider the importance of eco-label criteria, particularly, criteria related to social welfare. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Recently, the reputations of celebrities have been scrutinized. Reputation management was a concept thought to be beneficial for celebrities. Image restoration theory has been a concept formulated for use by individuals; therefore it was used for this study. This study is one of the first to review the theory's use in public relations, and its influence on celebrity status.Celebrity R. Kelly was the subject because he was involved in legal scandal. The objective was to determine if Mr. Kelly's publicist utilized image restoration theory as the basis for constructing response statements.A case study approach was utilized to provide an understanding of how this strategic plan might salvage reputations. The researcher reviewed documents and interviewed persons who had knowledge of the R. Kelly crisis. This study found use of elements of image restoration theory in this case as a form of reputation management, thereby confirming the usefulness of it as a cogent public relations tactic. / Department of Journalism

This study is an investigation of how people’s attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help are related to how they typically cope with stressors and by their general self-efficacy – a relationship that has not been examined in prior research. Participants were 754 men and women students in a mid-sized Midwestern university. Students completed an online survey that included the Brief COPE, Beliefs About Psychological Services scale, and New General Self-Efficacy scale. Results revealed that higher general self-efficacy and coping by means of Use of Emotional Support, Use of Instrumental Support, and Venting were associated with more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help; and that lower self-efficacy and coping by means of Denial, Substance Use, Behavioral Disengagement, and Self-Blame were associated with less positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

To test the generalizability of the theory of aversive prejudice in predicting discrimination against gay men, a partial replication of Dovidio and Gaertner's (2000) experiment was conducted. Two hundred and five White undergraduate students from a Midwestern university evaluated an ostensible applicant for a counseling position. The current study was a 2 (Applicant Sexual Orientation: gay, straight) x 2 (Applicant Race: Black, White) x 2 (Applicant Qualification: high, moderate) x 2 (Participant Gender) between-groups experiment. Men provided straight applicants with significantly higher qualification ratings than gay applicants. Gay applicants were perceived as less competent on leadership than straight applicants. A gay Black applicant was least likely to be recommended for the position only when he was ambiguously (moderately) qualified, compared to straight White, straight Black, and gay White applicants. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed. / Department of Psychological Science

This thesis sought to test the null hypothesis that stated: There is no difference in the perceptions of public opinion research firm specialists toward their client relationships with public relations practitioners as compared to practitioners in marketing and advertising.A mail survey was sent to 129 opinion firm member organizations of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations. A total of seventy-one responses were returned representing 54.3 percent of the population. Of the returned surveys, twenty-one respondents, or 29.5 percent, had conducted research for public relations, marketing, and advertising practitioners within the last year and were able to complete the questionnaire.The findings rejected the null hypothesis and indicated areas where perceptions differ. According to the surveyed researchers, their public relations practitioners fell short of marketing and advertising practitioners in understanding research methods, in possessing the necessary research skills needed to interpret statistical data, and in fully using the available services of opinion research firms.In addition, sixteen client/researcher characteristics were explored to focus on specific strengths and weaknesses, as seen by researchers, in relationships with public relations, marketing, and advertising clients. These characteristics explorations were used to create an ideal client/researcher relationship profile for comparison. This clearly found distinct differences in opinion researchers’ working relationships with each practitioner. To begin, while public opinion researchers thought understanding long-term project goals was the most important characteristic in an ideal client/researcher relationship, it was one of the least practiced characteristics by public relations practitioners. Similarly, researchers thought characteristics, including decisiveness regarding decisions, clear-cut objectives, understanding a study's limitations, and support from top management were very important in relationships. These same characteristics were not regularly practiced by the surveyed researchers' public relations clients. Concurrently, among those characteristics considered to be the least important by the respondents in an ideal client/researcher relationship, public relations practitioners most regularly practiced them. These include freedom allowed the researcher to carry out a study, enjoyment between client and researcher while working together, and simple approval procedures.Advertising clients fell dramatically behind the preferred ideal relationship in only two areas according to the surveyed respondents, involving candid communications between researcher and clear-cut objectives. Marketing practitioners did not deviate far from the ideal client/ researcher relationships according to opinion researchers. Overall, marketing practitioners are the preferred client.

The national health promotion goals for increasing breastfeeding initiation rates to at least 75% of all mothers and six month breastfeeding continuation rates of at least 50% by the year 2000 do not seem to be obtainable. These goals require new insight into what motivates a new mother to continue to breastfeed. This study identified perceived social support and interpersonal dependency as potential factors associated to lactation duration, based upon the previous breastfeeding experience of the mother. Inexperienced breastfeeding mothers perceived more total support, task support and informational support than mothers with previous breastfeeding experience. This study did not correlate the amount of perceived support to lactation duration. An ancillary finding was that women providing a combination of breast milk and artificial baby milk feeds had a significantly higher lack of social self-confidence than mothers providing breastmilk exclusively. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Qualitative research was used to get the perspectives of high school dropouts about their lives as nonparticipants in adult education. The research problem addressed in the study was the lack of information from high school dropouts themselves about their life experiences. The purpose was to have high school dropout nonparticipants express their views. The particular research method used was case study.Interviews were held with 15 high school dropouts who had been out of school at least five years. Three one-hour interviews were held with each respondent. Each interview had a particular focus. The first focused on the respondent's family and school experiences until the time of dropout. The second focused on present life experiences. The third focused on plans for the future, including possible participation in adult education.The respondents were selected from the dropout population with members being multi-age, multi-ethnic, of both genders, and from various localities within a community of approximately 200,000. The respondents were selected through the researcher's personal knowledge of dropouts who had not participated in further education; names provided by a relative and two acquaintances of the researcher; and names given by other respondents.The three interviews resulted in 13 categories of information. Categories included the following data: demographic, family, support people, education, employment, and future plans.Five of the 15 respondents saw no reason to become involved in adult education. One would become involved only if current employment ceased. Seven planned to enroll in adult education classes in the near future. Two planned to enroll when current obstacles were overcome.Reasons given for future enrollment in adult education resulted in three categories, with five respondents naming more than one reason. The reason self-satisfaction was given by six respondents. Job change was named by eight. Returning as an example for their children was the reason given by four respondents.Respondents seemed content with their lives. They enjoyed sharing their thoughts.The results of the study represent only this study. The reported protocol for data collection, the narrative, and the analysis of data enable replication of the methods used in the research. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this multi-case investigation was to identify the perceptions of preservice teachers about reading and reading instruction as they began reading methods courses and to determine any changes in these perceptions that occurred during the undergraduate teacher education program. The goal of this research was to accumulate classroom and field-based data that would help to build a better understanding of why preservice teachers believe the way they do, what types of experiences are needed in the undergraduate reading programs to impact change, and how and when changes manifest themselves. The research concentrated on preservice teachers participating in two required reading methods courses and their student teaching placements. The influence of their background in learning to read, the methods courses, the cooperating teachers, and the professor on the perceptions of preservice teachers were investigated. Three groups of individuals provided information for this study:14 student participants, 17 teacher participants, and 3 key informants. The data collection process was divided into two phases based on the college curriculum schedule. The participant pool was narrowed at the end of the first phase, with 3 key informants chosen to allow for a more in-depth examination of the accumulating data. Several data sources contributed to this study. These included artifacts, such as reflective forms and lesson plans, the score resultsfrom DeFord's Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile, field notes from observations, and transcripts of interviews. Findings from the data provided evidence that perspectives do guide the practices of preservice teachers and that these perspectives are open to change. The perspectives of the preservice teachers were affected by the Developmental Reading course and the cooperating teachers. As the preservice teachers were encouraged to reflect about previously held beliefs and the new information they were acquiring from courses and field experiences, they formed their own perspectives. Implications for the educational community were inferred and recommendations made for future research. / Department of Elementary Education

Pre-college programs designed to increase the intentions of minority students to attend college have become commonplace on many college campuses. Evaluation of such programs has focused on measuring the effectiveness of the delivery of services provided to students. At other times, evaluation of program effectiveness focused on measuring increases in individual skill development. Both of these components of evaluation are acceptable means of determining program effectiveness but have limitations because they may not address students intentions to attend college.This study as evaluation research was designed to investigate whether student participation in the Summer Scholars Residential Program resulted in changes in the intentions of the students toward participation in higher education. The population of the study was 184 minority junior high and senior high school students in Indiana who attended a week long Summer Scholars Residential Program 1992.Several methodologies were used to gather evidence regarding students' experiences in the program. One hundred and eighty four pre- and 164 post-questionnaire instruments were completed by students during four separate weeks of participation in the Scholars Program. A select number of 10 students maintained journals of their experiences. Finally, 21 students responded to interviews after one year to gather evidence on the long term effects from participation in the Scholars Program and to obtain more specific feedback from students.Comparisons were made between student responses on the pre-questionnaire and the post-questionnaire as one method of determining possible changes in students' intentions to pursue higher education before and after participating in the Scholars Program. Other comparisons were made of students intentions to enroll in specific courses in high school including pre-college courses. The evidence gathered showed that participation in the Scholars Summer Program did reinforce and increase students' intentions to attend college. In addition, the follow-up phone interviews showed that students changed their courses in high school from general to college preparatory. / Department of Educational Leadership