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Pollinator conservation has recently become a topic of greater interest and research around the world as native insect pollinator species increasingly face population declines. In the United States, growing concerns regarding food security and decreased biodiversity have led to the creation of programmatic and best management practices (BMPs) promotional efforts among governmental and non-governmental organizations. These efforts seek to support pollinators on public and private lands by addressing the primary causes of decline (e.g., habitat loss and increased chemical use). Although these organizations have worked diligently to increase awareness and applicability of programs to private landholders, there is still a gap in pollinator BMP adoption. The purpose of my dissertation was to address the pollinator BMP adoption gap through empirical research with two primary goals: 1) develop and test a measurement instrument to investigate the current state of adoption in Mississippi, landholder attributes, and attribute influence on adoption intentions, and 2) conduct segmentation analyses to develop preliminary recommendations for future educational and outreach efforts to increase adoption of pollinator BMPs. I used two sociological theories to develop a questionnaire consisting of constructs measuring landholder attributes, including Attitudes, Injunctive Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, Intentions, Knowledge, and Communication Channel Use. I conducted a selfministered mail survey during summer 2018 and received a 38.5% effective response rate. Relative to the first goal, major findings from the research included evidence of reliability and validity for the measurement constructs, landholders having more favorable than unfavorable Attitudes regarding the use of pollinator BMPs on their properties, and Perceived Behavioral Control as the strongest influence on adoption intentions compared to additional landholder attributes. Relative to the second goal, major findings included the generation of four distinct clusters and three land use type segments that allowed for group comparisons and development of a recommended two-step targeted educational and outreach approach. My dissertation provided theoretical and substantive advances to the fields of adoption research and pollinator conservation from which future research and outreach efforts can grow.

The present study examined the possibility that adult romantic attachment orientation, empathy, and social skills could either individually or jointly influence the expression of mate poaching behaviors. Participants (N = 404) were recruited from a Southern Appalachian university and ranged in age from 18-60 years, with a mean of 21. Data were collected using a web-based survey system. Results of this study lend support to the growing literature demonstrating a link between adult romantic attachment and mate poaching. Additionally, the present study also added to the literature by showing for the first time 1) a relationship between empathy and mate poaching and 2) a relationship between social skills and mate poaching. Contrary to one of the hypothesized structural models, adult attachment was not found to mediate the relationships between 1) empathy and mate poaching and 2) social skills and mate poaching.

Background: Exposure to greater Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has been associated with increased likelihood of general and sex offending behaviors. However, few studies consider both the impact of varied ACE exposures and other early experiences on pathways to offending behaviors in adolescents who have engaged in sexually abusive behaviors. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of ACEs and sexual boundary problems within the home on the development of delinquent and sexually abusive behavior. Participants & setting: Data were collected from archival records of male adolescents (N = 285) who had received treatment for sexually abusive behavior at a youth facility. Methods: This study investigated the effects of individual adverse experiences on delinquent nonsexual and sexually abusive behaviors through structural equation modeling. Results: Structural equation modeling revealed a three-factor model for ACEs. Direction and significance of paths between ACEs and the onset, persistence, and nature of maladaptive behaviors differed. Household dysfunction was related to an earlier onset (β = 1.19, p = 0.013) and more persistent nonsexual delinquent offending (β = 1.05, p = 0.048) and contact sexual offending (β = 1.19, p = 0.010). Conversely, sexual abuse and exposure to sexual boundary problems were associated with an earlier onset of sexually abusive behavior (β = −1.08, p = 0.038) as well as indicators of adolescent-onset (β = −1.30, p = 0.002), less persistent (β = −1.53, p = 0.001), and nonviolent (β = −1.89, p = 0.001) delinquency. Conclusions: Findings suggest variations in ACE exposures differentially influence the onset, severity, and persistence of delinquent and sexually abusive behaviors among these youths.

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Matrix inductive reasoning has been a popular research topic due to its claimed relationship with the general factor of intelligence. In this research, four subabilities were identified: working memory, rule induction, rule application, and figure detection. This quantitative study examined the relationship between these four subabilites and students' general ability to solve Matrix Reasoning problems. Using tests developed for this research to measure the identified subabilities, the data were collected from 334 Chinese students aged from 12 to 15. Structural equation modeling method was used to analyze the collected data and to evaluate the hypothesized models. Results from the analysis showed that a valid model existed to represent the construct of matrix inductive reasoning. Except for figural detection ability, the other three subabilities had significant direct effects on matrix inductive reasoning ability. Readers should interpret from this result with caution due to the unsatisfactory reliability of the Figure Detection scores. To improve the validity of the interpretation, a new model without the latent variable of figure detection was reexamined. In this analysis, significant relationships still existed from the three subablities to matrix inductive reasoning ability. The strongest relationship existed from working memory ability to matrix reasoning ability, with a standardized coefficient of .52. Effects from rule induction and rule application ability to matrix reasoning dropped to .36 and .34 respectively. These results suggested the important role of working memory on solving inductive reasoning problems. In addition, a significant and substantial indirect path was found that lead from working memory to rule induction to rule application to matrix reasoning. The indirect path indicated that a process existed when students solved Matrix Reasoning tasks.

To date, police organizations have not been rigorously analyzed by organizational scholars and most analysis of these organizations has been captured through a single construct. The purpose of this study is to develop confirmatory police organizational analysis by validating a multi-dimensional conceptual framework that explains the relationships among three constructs: environmental constraints, the design structures of police organizations, and organizational performance indicators. The modeling is deeply rooted in contingency theory, and the influence of isomorphism and institutional theory on the covariance structure model are investigated. One hundred and thirteen local police organizations from the State of Florida are included in this non-experimental, cross-sectional study to determine the direct effect of the environmental constraints on the performance of police organizations, the indirect effect of environmental constraints on the performance of police organizations via the organizational design structure of police organizations, and the direct affect of organizational design structure on performance of police organizations. For the first time, structural equation modeling and data envelopment analysis are used together to confirm the effects of the environment on police organization structure and performance. The results indicate that environmental social economic disparity indicators have a large positive effect on police resources and a medium effect on police efficiency. Propensity of crime indicators has a large negative effect on police resources, and population density has a small to medium negative effect on crime clearance. Structure has a much smaller effect on performance than the environment. The results of the efficiency analysis revealed unexpected findings. Three of the top five largest police organizations in the study scored maximum efficiency. The cause of this unexpected result is explained and confirmed in the covariance model. The study methodology and results enhances the understanding of the relationship among the constructs while subjecting environmental and police organizational data to two comprehensive analytical techniques. The policy implications and practical contributions of the study provide new knowledge and information to organizational management of police organizations. Furthermore, the study establishes a new approach to police organizational analysis and police services management research called Police Services Management Research (PSMR) that encompasses a variety of disciplines with a primary responsibility of theory building and the selection of theoretical framework.