<p> Religion as culture shapes the worldview of its subscribers and thence attitude formation and preferences of individuals towards many topics including the environment. Research interest in the impact of religion soared in the late 1960s, in response to White's (1967) article in Science claiming that a huge burden of guilt for the environment crisis rested on the shoulders of Christianity. Although this Dominion Hypothesis highlights the contrast between Christianity and other religions, the contrast has not been addressed in systematic comparative cross-national research assessing whether Christians hold more negative environmental attitudes than other world religions. This dissertation fills that research gap. The Dominion Hypothesis does not exhaust the potential impacts of religion on environmentalism. For example, social psychology posits the importance of experience as well as of culture on attitudes about matters one encounters directly, so the dissertation posits the Direct Experience Hypothesis and confirms the differentiation of local from global environmental attitudes. Moreover, social psychology also directs our attention to the Reverence Hypothesis, that a subjective side effect of religiosity is reverence and responsibility for nature. To address the Dominion Hypothesis that Christians hold less environmentalist attitudes than their peers in other religious traditions, the direct experience effect, and the Reverence Hypothesis, this dissertation includes descriptive analysis, psychometric scale evaluations, OLS regression, and multilevel modeling of data from the pooled World Values Survey/European Values Survey. Findings are mixed on the Dominion Hypothesis, but consistently support the Direct Experience and Reverence Hypotheses. </p>

<p> This research offers a framework that explains how observers respond to moral violations when considering the amount of power and status held by violators. It follows the group processes literature on the characteristics of power and status. A proposed theory describes that prior to witnessing moral violations, observers develop moral expectations about potential violators on the basis of the levels of power and status attributed to the violators. When the moral violations occur, the moral expectations about the violators, as well as the resources available to the violators, in turn, affect the judgment and punishment decisions of the observers toward the violators. An online vignette study and a laboratory experiment test my predictions based on the proposed theory by varying the relative levels of perceived power and status between evaluation targets (i.e., violators) and evaluators (i.e., observers). </p><p> Vignettes used in Study 1 described that observers had lower, equal, or higher power/status compared to violators in hypothetical scenarios. In Study 2, observers were assigned with either lower or higher power/status relative to violators in a group interaction setting in which the observers experienced differential risks of retaliation from the violators. Both studies assessed expectations of observers about the moral character of potential violators before exposing the observers to details of a moral violation committed by the designated violators. Punishment decisions of observers examined in Study 1 were attitudinal measures while those in Study 2 were based on behavioral reactions.</p><p> Results indicate that prior to the immoral incident, observers developed lower moral expectations about violators with greater power and higher moral expectations about violators holding greater status. However, these expectations did not always translate into moral judgment and punishment. While viewing the violation as immoral regardless of power/status held by the violators, depending on the context, observers might or might not penalize the violators differentially across the power/status spectra. Fears of retaliation from violators who utilized resources attached to varied power and status positions did not affect how observers punished the violators. Therefore, results of the studies suggest a resilient power and status hierarchy despite the disruption of moral norms.</p><p>

<p> Race, as Delgado and Stefancic (2001) stress, is a structuring agent that greatly affects the experiences and even the well-being of individuals in US society. While American education has been considered a driver for equality, racism and race-based inequities are significant components of this institution, creating qualitatively different daily and cumulative experiences and outcomes for students based on race. Not only is it important to uncover how race and racism are manifested in educational institutions, but it is also necessary to better understand the intersecting oppressions that work alongside race to create particular experiences for brown and black students.</p><p> Using Critical Race Theory Methodology and relying on the counter-narratives of 31 students of color collected during 9 focus group meetings in the spring of 2014 at a predominately white university in the US Southeast, this study finds that these students are emotionally, academically, and socially affected by microaggressions, namely subtle and overlooked forms of racism and other intersecting oppressions in various campus settings. Sue et al (2007) defines microaggressions as &ldquo;<i>brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group </i>.&rdquo; Through such verbal and behavioral cues, brown and black students continually encounter white normativity and &ldquo;otherness&rdquo; throughout campus. Respondents also experience stereotype threat and reveal a social and cognitive burden of reconciling and juggling a complicated identity as <i>students</i> and <i>persons of color</i>, while also internalizing the oppressions they encounter daily. Findings indicate a need for effective training of professors in recognizing their cultural biases and stereotypes they are reinforced through their interactions and curriculum. Sincere and effective awareness efforts need to be implemented on campus for students and faculty, and should replace superficial attempts at diversity awareness that often reinforce racial and other inequities and differences.</p>

<p> With the outbreak of civil war in Somalia in the late eighties and early nineties, many Somali fled the country, often with young children in tow. This study used a qualitative method of individual interviews to explored the current ideology and socio-structural living situation of 8 Somali male youth 18 -23. This research focuses on exploring the social-psychological interactions between Somali refugees with forced migration experiences and their American born sons. This exploration was in service of determining trauma symptomology in the offspring of refugees with forced migration experiences. Participants completed measures of trauma-transmitted symptomology measuring, intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal, as well as measures recording Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, (PC-PTSD). The PC-PTSD scale is currently in use by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Participants were interviewed in English, and queried about subjects such as; initial knowledge of parents&rsquo; refugee status, knowledge of parent&rsquo;s past trauma, current relationship with parents, and their views on how Somali&rsquo;s refugee history might affect male Somali youth today. Data gathered from this study was analyzed using five multilayered stages according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results of this study uncovered concurrent themes among the participants to include: Communication, Transformative Identities, Faith, Acculturation/Integration, and Familial Ties. The results of this study revealed that a consistent optimistic family and community narrative was able to positively influence the current and future narratives and ideology of the youth studied. These findings coincide with Bowen&rsquo;s theory of self-differentiation, and positive coping methodology (Gialadi &amp; Bell, 2012).</p>

<p> This study was in partnership with the Maine International Trade Center. The Maine International Trade Center was formed to help Maine businesses develop trade internationally and successfully network with international businesses, and connect with governmental and business professionals globally. Maine&rsquo;s leaders have added resources to the Maine International Trade Center, feeling that it is crucial to Maine&rsquo;s economic recovery. Maine&rsquo;s International Trade Center and the Maine Legislature commissioned an extensive research study in 2013. The outcome from this study was the need for further research on global competencies, citizenship and leadership. </p><p> The global economies are more connected than any other time in history, consequently so is business. Businesses are competing globally; cost and performance pressures are relentless. Our societies are changing, some having more, and some having less. This study researched the phenomenon of the global citizen leader, and what the cognitive, metacognitive, attitudes and behaviors are for successful executive level business professionals, who are engaged in international trade and global assignments. By studying the dimensions of cultural intelligence, social responsibility, global competence and global civic engagement rich schemas of the complex construct of a global citizen leader came from the experience and stories of thirteen Maine leaders.</p>

<p> This study was an exploration of factors that impact the perceived quality of life among Russian-speaking immigrants in the United States. Specifically, the study was designed to investigate what type of relationship (if any) exists (direction and strength) between one&rsquo;s desire to immigrate, sense of having a choice, the accuracy of preimmigration expectations, and quality of life after immigration. This researcher sought to understand whether desire and choice to immigrate and accuracy of one&rsquo;s expectations about immigration as measured by a survey can significantly predict changes in quality of life as measured by Q-LES-Q-18 (in general and in its facets). This research question was examined using a series of multiple regressions. Post hoc studies included an examination of the relationship between quality of life as measured by participant responses to the Q-LES-Q-18 and subjective happiness, as measured by modified SHS. Posthoc analyses further explored relationships between demographic factors, income, language fluency, relationship status, and other variables with quality of life after immigration. Finally, open-ended questions were used to provide pertinent narrative to help explain the conclusions gathered from quantitative data. The perceived accuracy of expectations about immigration was found to be a major predictor of quality of life after immigration. It had unique, significant contributions to the prediction of physical heath, subjective feelings, leisure time, and general activities aspects of quality of life. Quality of life in all of its aspects was highly connected to ability to use the language (speak, understand, and communicate) of the dominant culture. Income strongly and positively correlated with participants&rsquo; subjective feelings, general activity, and life satisfaction.</p>

<p> This study uses data from 16 semi-structured interviews to assess the stressors facing immigrants from Mexico and Central America&rsquo;s Northern Triangle. Specifically, I examine the experience of unauthorized migration and the stress associated with the process of migration and life in the US. I rely on theories of Stress Proliferation, the Mestiza Double Consciousness, and the notion of <i>Familismo</i> to provide explanations for why immigrants have stressful lived experiences, starting with their experiences in their home countries and ending with difficult experiences in the US. The goal of this study is to offer insight into the Hispanic Paradox in mental health&mdash;the lower rates of illness for Hispanic Americans despite the hardships they face. My data show that immigrants face stressors before, during and after migration, and often describe living in a state of distress, but they do not necessarily conceptualize their distress the same way as the American medical model or even their children (who are American citizens) do. Being undocumented or having an undocumented parent causes a proliferation of stress that, which suggests a need for future research on whether Hispanics truly have lower rates of distress, or whether cultural differences in terms of how particularly first-generation immigrants define and describe distress are affecting the ways mental illness is perceived. </p><p>

While a literature on the mental health of lesbian mothers is beginning to emerge, no study to date has prospectively examined lesbian women's mental health in the context of transitioning to parenthood for the first time. This dissertation explores the transition to parenthood in a sample of lesbian couples who are becoming mothers for the first time, with a special focus on how the division of labor and women's roles change over time. Thirty-four couples (29 inseminating, 5 adopting) were interviewed, at two time points (before the birth of their child, and three months postnatally). I conducted in-depth interviews with both partners, and all participants filled out a series of questionnaires at both time points. The division of paid and unpaid labor, women's feelings about their own and their partner's work-family roles, and women's ideas and feelings about motherhood, were assessed. Biological motherhood was explored as a potential shaping variable with regard to parental roles. Results revealed that the division of housework changed little across the transition to parenthood, although some couples reported that the nonbiological mother tended to perform a larger share of household tasks postnatally. Biological mothers performed a greater proportion of child care tasks postnatally. Both biological mothers and nonbiological mothers tended to reduce their hours in paid employment as a means of handling the demands of child care and avoiding total specialization of roles (e.g., one woman staying home, one woman working full-time). Postnatally, the majority of women felt that being a parent was their most important role in the family, and for most women, being a mother became a salient aspect of their identity—at least as salient as their identity as a lesbian. The majority of women felt that biological motherhood had not defined their parental roles, and these women reported a number of strategies they had employed (e.g., spending equal amounts of time in child care, establishing special routines with their child) in an effort to resist the primacy of biological motherhood. More research on the transition to parenthood among lesbian couples is needed, with particular focus on the needs and issues that arise for the nonbiological mother.

The intent of this research project was to develop a greater understanding of the long term effects of maternal bereavement. A phenomenological research design, employing the conversational in-depth interview, was used. Participants were asked to describe, in their own terms, how they experienced the death of their child and how that experience had evolved over the intervening years. Of particular interest were the internal processes and mechanisms used in the development and evolution of maternal grief, the present quality of life and the women's concept of self and of the world. An interview guide, refined in a pilot study, served to identify the potential scope of topic areas. Constant comparative analysis, as applied to grounded theory, guided data collection and analysis. Common themes were identified as: survival, including motivation and strategies; adaptation to life without the physical presence of the child; the presence or absence of support; purpose and meaning of the death and the reconstruction of purpose and meaning in current life. Common patterns included an expanded empathy for those in pain and crisis; a connectedness with universal pain; a shift in values and priorities; an increased motivation to be of service and to make positive use of the pain and growth that had ensued as a result of the child's death. The adaptation to life without the deceased child involved emotional, spiritual, cognitive and behavioral processes. Common to all participants was the use of spiritual processes in the reconstruction of purpose and meaning in life without the child. The majority of participants retained a connection with the child who had died through a felt presence or ongoing relationship with the child. All the participants expressed the belief that maternal grief is a life-long process, with no final resolution or completion. Within these commonalities, the data reflected the idiosyncratic and dynamic nature of maternal bereavement. Each woman's story remains uniquely her own yet mirrors the indomitable qualities and courage of human survival in the face of overwhelming loss.

This thesis explores how the general public understands and responds to dementia. In the context of this study the word ‘understanding' is used to convey the complex co-construction of knowledge and establishing of beliefs that constitutes public understandings of dementia. The study also examines the responses of members of the public to dementia, in the context of their understanding. Data were collected over a 12 month period and included a module in the Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, five focus groups and nine interviews with participants from the focus groups. The survey module included thirty measures examining levels of knowledge and attitudes towards dementia. 1200 participants were targeted and the survey was administered by the Northern Ireland Research & Statistics Agency with a response rate of 58%. The focus groups and interviews provided the mechanism to gather a more nuanced picture, exploring the beliefs behind the attitudes and the self-reported responses of participants to people with dementia. Findings indicate that the general public has a reasonable knowledge of the symptoms and pathway of dementia in line with a bio medical model. However the findings also indicate that the general public holds a mix of theoretical and empirical knowledge and that this is often contradictory. A complex mix of scientific or medical information, experience, anecdote and assumptions contribute to the discourse. This information is stored and conveyed in the form of stories and a consequence of this interplay is that individual experiences told in the form of stories are generalised to become building blocks in the construction of what the general public understands dementia to be. The current construction of dementia among the general public is found to be both nihilistic and ageist with clear evidence that dementia is stigmatised. I will argue that that the relationship between dementia and ageing in the minds of the general public is a symbiotic one. Dementia has become a cultural metaphor for unsuccessful ageing marking entry to the fourth age. The stigmatising response of the general public is the result of a complex interplay of multiple factors. I have expanded on previous ideas of multiple jeopardy and intersectionality, suggesting that the stigma associated with dementia is unique and driven as much by emotional responses as by the social location of the person with dementia. I have borrowed Brooker’s (2003) term “Dementia-ism’ to describe this stigma. This thesis argues for a more complex and sophisticated approach to changing public attitudes and reducing stigma. Dementia-ism must be addressed with the same strength of purpose currently applied to sexism, racism and ageism.