When a woman discovers that she is pregnant, she begins a process of internal work to develop her mother role. This process has been outlined in the literature for the delivery of a healthy full-term baby, however little is known about the process for mothers of medically fragile babies. A threatened pregnancy and subsequent delivery of a medically fragile baby involves a different process of internal work by the mother to prepare for her role. Mothers with a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) experience stress, uncertainty, and anxiety potentially causing a permanent impact on the successful development of her role. It is the purpose of this dissertation to explore the process of mother role development among those first-time mothers having a baby in the NICU. This study was conducted using a qualitative grounded theory method. Data collection consisted of personal journals, in-person interviews, researcher notes and observation. The specific aims include (1) describing the disruption in the individual’s preconceived idea of being a mother, (2) exploring specific strategies that support the mother in the development of her role while in the NICU, (3) describing the mother’s perception of her role during physiologic changes in her baby, (4) examining the mother’s evaluation of her mother-role success, (5) developing a deeper understanding of the process of developing the role of mother while in the NICU, and (6) constructing a theoretical model to illustrate the process of becoming a mother while in the NICU.

Problem: Family-owned and –managed businesses constitute the majority of organizations worldwide. Yet, although, because of their  special enmeshment of family and business spheres, conflicts constitute a central threat to those types of organizations, not much has been done to study this phenomenon specifically in a family business context. Minding the actuality that especially the family related factors that contribute to the occurrence of role and relationship conflicts within family firms remain understudied, this thesis will take an emotional ownership perspective to examine the phenomenon from a different angle. Purpose: To advance the general understanding of role and relationship conflicts within a family business setting, the purpose of this thesis is to determine the role emotional ownership plays in regard to role and relationship conflicts within family firms. Method: This qualitative study utilizes a case study strategy including a total of six case companies and eight research respondents. Data is thereby collected from semi-structured interviews and documentary secondary data. The analysis of the empirical findings is conducted following a two-step process. First, the empirical findings of the distinct case companies are cross-analyzed. Then the emerging patterns are formulated into a general model. Conclusions: Family owners’/employees’ feelings of emotional ownership towards the firm do influence the occurrence/intensity of role and subsequent relationship conflicts within family firms. The exact nature and impact of this influence will however depend on a number of factors. Those factors include (i) the existence of rules and regulations to govern the separation of family- and work related roles within the family and the firm, (ii) family-related factors, like the existence of a “peacemaker” and/or “decider”, strong family cohesion and/or trust among the family and its members, as well as (iii) cultural factors such as “respect for the elders”.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which elementary school students label physical activities according to gender. Participants for this study were 202 students grades one through six from a Muncie Community School in Muncie, Indiana. Participants were divided by age and gender for the statistical analysis. The students were asked to respond to the Physical Activity Stereotyping Index (PASI), a Lickert-type instrument designed to assess the degree to which individuals label selected physical activities according to gender.Results of the study suggested that children's perceptions about the gender appropriateness of physical activities may be a function of age as evidenced by higher scores for the older children. It appeared also that boys gender-label physical activities to a greater extent than do girls. Those findings suggested that as children widen their experiences with social interactions, they adopt clearly-defined and gender-specific play patterns. / School of Physical Education

In this study I examined how sex of the child and the adult and the age of the child influence people's perceptions regarding the abusiveness of adult-child sexual interactions and attributions of blame and responsibility in such incidents. The relationship of gender-role attitudes to perceptions of child sexual abuse was also investigated. Undergraduate students read one of eight vignettes depicting a sexual interaction between a child and an adult in which the sex of the child, the age of the adult, and the sex of the adult were experimentally manipulated. Respondents then answered questions regarding their perceptions of the abusiveness of the incident and attributions of responsibility and blame made to the adult. Results indicated that scenarios depicting a 15-year-old were rated as less abusive and less responsibility was attributed to the adult relative to vignettes involving a 7-year-old. Furthermore, when the vignette depicted a 15-year-old with an adult of the opposite sex, less blame was attributed to the adult. / Department of Psychological Science

Research in the area of sex and gender communication has been largely relegated the organizational setting and the superior/subordinate framework. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the effects of biological sex and psychological gender on evaluations of communication appropriateness within the interpersonal context. College students were first asked to complete a sex-role inventory. There were then presented with a series of scenarios depicting a communication encounter in which communicators adhered to gendered communication behavior norms, and a communication encounter in which communicators deviated from gendered communication behavior norms. After reading each transcript, participants completed a communication appropriateness scale for each character presented in the scenarios. The results show that within the interpersonal context, there are differences between males and females in evaluations of general competence, and that males enacting a feminine style of communication are evaluated as more communicatively appropriate than males enacting a masculine style of communication. Finally, this study provides a critique on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory based upon empirical evidence. / Department of Communication Studies

Gender roles have progressed and evolved over time, with women having adopted masculine traits to a greater degree than men have adopted feminine traits. This study examined college students’ views towards women taking on negative stereotypical masculine traits, such as derogatory language and aggressiveness, as presented in two film clips. Results indicate that students who are more egalitarian in their gender views and who identify as masculine in their gender role perceptions were more likely to have favorable views of the nontraditional speech and behavior presented. Open-ended responses revealed a range of attitudes towards what is considered appropriate language and behavior for both men and women, indicating that a is shift occurring, albeit subtle. / Department of Sociology

Bakgrund: Män har genom historien dominerat på arbetsmarknadens chefspositioner och därmed utformat chefskapets innehåll. Chefskapet är sammankopplat med agentic attribut som anses "manliga". Hur kvinnor hanterar sitt chefskap har mest studerats vid mansdominerade arbetsplatser där kvinnan är avvikare. Det finns en kunskapslucka i forskningen när det gäller kvinnors sätt att hantera chefskapet vid en kvinnodominerad arbetsplats där kvinnan är normen. Syfte: Syftet var att studera hur kvinnliga chefer vid kvinnodominerade arbetsplatser uttalar sig om manliga och kvinnliga egenskaper i sitt chefskap. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ ansats där sex semistrukturerade intervjuer gjorts med kvinnliga chefer inom den offentliga sektorn. Intervjuerna har spelats in och transkriberats och analyserats med tematisk analysmetod som tolkats med social role theoy, role congruity theory . De två teorierna används för att belysa skillnader som vi menar beror på sociala konstruktioner av kön och könsordning som också används i analysen. Resultat: Intervjupersonerna upplevde att de blev respekterade som chefer och uttryckte ingen konflikt i rollen, att vara kvinna och samtidigt chef. De utgjorde normen inom offentlig sektor där de flesta omkring dem var kvinnor. Flertalet av cheferna ansåg inte att de behövde använda några särskilda strategier för att bli tagna på allvar eller få sin röst hörd. Kvinnorna ansåg inte att de hade specifika förväntningar att uppfylla för att de var kvinnor. Samtliga chefer beskrev sitt chefskap utifrån både communal och agentic egenskaper. De beskrev fler communal egenskaper som viktiga i sitt chefskap, vilket är långt ifrån det stereotypa agentic dominerade chefskapet. Det framkom att de ser chefskapet som en balansgång mellan communal och agentic egenskaper men communal egenskaper betonades mest. Resultatet visade även på en del upplevda skillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga chefers förutsättningar. Kvinnorna har ibland ansetts som sämre chefer vid tillsättning av tjänster och en av de chefer som har fler män kring sig har vid några tillfällen upplevt att männen vill ta steget framför och överta ledarskapet. Flera kvinnor beskrev att de upplevde att män hade det lättare när det gällde att bli accepterade i chefsrollen och lättare blev accepterade i sin auktoritet / Men has dominated the labour markets management positions through the history and formed the qualities of leadership. The leadership is linked to agentic attributes that are considered "male". How women deal with a manager role has mostly been studied in male- dominated environments where women are deviants. There is a knowledge gap in the research regarding women’s ways of handling managerial positions in a female- dominated environment where the women is the norm. The aim of this study was to see how women managers in female- dominated places of work comment on male and female qualities in the manager role. The study has a qualitative approach where six semi- structured interviews with female managers in the public sector. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The material is processed and analyzed by thematic analysis method which has been interpreted by social role theory and role congruity theory. The two theories are used to illuminate the differences that we believe is due to the social constructions of gender and the gender order witch also is used in the analysis. The respondents felt that they were respected as managers and expressed no conflict in the role, to be a woman and at the same time manager. They constituted the norm in social services where most around them were women. The majority of the managers did not feel that they needed to use some specific strategies to be taken seriously or get their voice heard. The women felt that they did not have specific expectations because they were women; they felt that their own expectations influenced them the most. All managers describe their leadership from both communal and agentic characteristics. They describe more communal characteristics as important in the manager role, which is far from the stereotypical agentic dominated manager role. It appears that they see management to be a balance between communal and agentic qualities but that communal characteristics emphasized most. The results reveal, however, some perceived differences between male and female managers conditions. The women have sometimes been regarded as inferior managers in recruitment and one of the managers who have more men around here, sometimes felt that men wanted to step in front and take over the leadership. One manager mentions strategies to get men to handle her straight communication. Several women described that they felt that men have it easier when it comes to being accepted into the managerial role and easier accepted in its authority. It also appears that some women find that they were expected to solve more problematic situations just because they were women

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The present study examined the relationship between the sex role orientations of college students and their mothers' employment history. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and a Parental Employment History Questionnaire were administered to 151 male and female undergraduates. Sixutilized standard score measures of sex role orientation from the BSRI as criterion variables. Predictor variables included sex of subjects, parents in the home, type of maternal employment and number of years mothers worked in full or part time postions. No significant relationships were determined between maternal employment and the sex role orientations of adult offspring. Implications and possible avenues for further research in sex role and maternal employment research are discussed.