Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Fred O. Bradley / Statistics published in 2003 indicate that over 67% of community college students are first-generation students, students from families where neither parent has graduated from college. First-generation students are disproportionately represented among those who terminate college prior to graduation. This study explores role theory as a model for understanding and addressing the problems of first-generation students. Survey questions linked to role commitment involving intentions to work, commute and participate in campus activities were administered to 257 first-time full-time students: 182 students were first-generation and 75 were non-first-generation. Analysis using the Mann-Whitney U Test indicated first-generation students had significantly less commitment to the role of student. Later, first-generation students were divided into "successful" and "unsuccessful" groups based on their two semester grade point average. The Mann-Whitney U Test failed to demonstrate a significant difference between "successful" and "unsuccessful" first-generation students. The ordinal score responses of first-generation students to the three survey questions were then used as categories and grade point averages of the students in those categories were compared using ANOVA procedures. The results were mixed but suggested further investigation was warranted. The study was concluded with interviews of ten "successful" first-generation students. The interview results were supportive of conclusions drawn from role theory underscoring the value of further studies with larger sample sizes and modifications in methodology suggested by this study.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / BACKGROUND: Global female workforce participation has increased rapidly over the past few decades, and the majority of marriages are now dual-earning. Marriages were therefore expected to shift from traditional to egalitarian, where household tasks are shared equally between spouses. However, decades later, the majority of marriages are still found to be in a transitional phase, where women are employed outside of the home, but maintain responsibility for the majority of domestic tasks and childcare. The transitional marriage holds a number of complications for spouses, as gender roles are no longer clearly defined and more difficult to negotiate. Married women are under particular strain as they now have to balance both the work and family roles. OBJECT: The aim of the present study is to gain a better understanding of how women in transitional marriages experience and make meaning of the roles that they fulfil. Minimal research has been devoted to this issue, and the literature largely focuses on marriages at the traditional or egalitarian ends of the gender role spectrum. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight women in transitional marriages, with children living at home. The data were examined using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated that the majority of participants worked out of economic necessity as opposed to choice, and that half of the participants earned more than their spouses. Most participants still harboured traditional gender beliefs even though their external circumstances had changed. This discrepancy seemed to cause significant internal and marital conflict, yet the attainment of more egalitarian beliefs seemed difficult to attain owing to feelings of guilt and a perceived threat of identity loss. Consequently, the majority of participants had difficulty relinquishing control over several household tasks. Furthermore, demanding work hours, the lack of family-friendly policies at work, and cultural factors also played a role in the maintenance of traditional beliefs by participants CONCLUSIONS: Much research still needs to be conducted to gain a more thorough understanding of changing gender roles in society, as well as to inform new workforce legislation that could enhance the lives of families. Lastly, as most studies focus on the experiences of women regarding the division of labour (probably because of the significant adaptations that have occurred in women’s roles), it becomes necessary to gain an understanding of the experiences of men as well, particularly if research is going to be utilised for the benefit of the whole family. As became evident, unequal division of tasks is often maintained by women for several reasons, and is no longer necessarily the result of oppression by men, as much of the literature suggests.

Sexism är en form av diskriminering av en individ baserat på individens kön. Teorin om ambivalent sexism beskriver de två beståndsdelarna fientlig och välvillig sexism. Tidigare kvantitativa metoder och designer har begränsat individers möjligheter att utförligt beskriva attityder och uppfattningar av välvillig sexism. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa individers attityd och uppfattningar av välvillig sexistiskt tankesätt. Totalt 10 deltagare intervjuades om deras uppfattningar och inställning till 2 profiler varav en porträtterar välvillig sexism. Genom en kvalitativ tematisk analys med hermeneutisk ansats utformades 4 teman och 1 underteman. Resultatet visade att välvilligt sexistiskt tankesätt uppfattades som kontrollerande, emotionellt instabilt, dysfunktionellt och med gömda avsikter. Studiens resultat stödjer inte tidigare forskning när det kommer till positiva attityder och förhållningsätt till välvillig sexism. Däremot kompletterar resultatet tidigare kvantitativ forskning med nya data om individers negativa syn på välvillig sexism. Framtida studier inom ämnet skulle kunna utformas med mer fokus på enskilda grupper med andra sexuella läggningar.

The concept of role exit presented by Zena Smith Blau in her book, Old Age in a Changing Society, refers to the ongoing process of relinquishing previously enacted social roles; a process which is part of everyday life for men and women of all ages. However, Blau argues that role exits in later life are different from those in earlier stages of the life cycle because they tend to be terminal and involuntary. These factors, according to Blau, cause role exits in old age to negatively influence the individual's overall satisfaction with life. This thesis examines the concept of role exit from three perspective: first, from a theoretical perspective as it emerges out of social role theory; second, in a substantive context as it relates to the problem of old age; and finally, from an empirical perspective as an indicator of reported life satisfaction among a sample of older adults.

This study investigates socialization and ideal expectations for the health professional role in the provision of quality terminal care. Guiding the research are role theory, socialization theory, and Talcott Parsons' (1951) pattern variables. The research was conducted in three phases. The first phase involved development of an analytical framework elaborating upon Parsons' five pattern variables, which were first conceptualized as dimensions describing the ways in which roles could vary. Specific indicators for each of the pattern variables were developed. Typologies characterizing (1) the medical, or conventional, model and (2) the holistic model (specifically, the hospice model) for the provision of health care based on these indicators then were developed. Using the analytical framework, the second and third phases consisted of: (1) a content analysis of the physician and nurse socialization literature to determine the role prescriptions learned by these health professionals; and (2) a content analysis of open-ended interviews with a group (N = 94) of terminally ill elderly patients (n = 17), family members (n = 38), and health professionals (n = 39) from 10 urban health care programs (five conventional and five hospice) to identify ideal role expectations for the health professional. Major findings were that: (1) Parsons' pattern variables, with elaboration, can provide a useful framework for role analysis; (2) physicians and nurses appear to be socialized to a number of role prescriptions consistent with the medical model, although there is evidence of conflicting socialization (to both models) for some role prescriptions; (3) respondents' expectations generally were consistent with those prescribed by the hospice model with some notable exceptions; (4) the role expectations of the three groups of respondents were more congruent than was expected, although subgroups' (conventional versus hospice) expectations tended to differ. Implications of the findings for: (1) role analysis; (2) socialization of health professionals to minimize role strain and conflict with patients and families; (3) continued implementation of conventional and hospice models for the provision of quality terminal care; (4) assessment of the quality of terminal care are explored; and (5) further research are explored.

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Yes / Conference abstract from the British Geriatrics Society Autumn Meeting, 14-16 Nov 2018, London, UK.

Yes / Social media have become an important interaction channel between the government and citizens in the era of the digital community. The adoption of social media in local government services offers a new channel to encourage citizen engagement in the public policy decision-making process. Moreover, communication with citizens through social media exposes large opportunities for the local government to analyse and appreciate the relationships among social media participants in the digital community to enhance public services. The purpose of this study is to understand the local government’s social media network and identify the social role in the local government’s social media network structure. Thus, this study adopted the social network analysis (SNA) approach on the Twitter data of a local government’s official account in the UK as a case study. The study revealed that the internal local government stakeholders play an important social role in the local government’s social media network. The implication of the study was discussed.