The main purpose of the present study was to examine the role of interparental positivity as an independent aspect of relationships and as a conflict management tactic in explaining the association between interparental conflict and negative conflict management of young adults. Based on social cognitive theory, it was hypothesized that exposure to interparental positivity would impact conflict management of young adults beyond the impact of exposure to interparental conflict. The findings partially supported social cognitive theory and suggested that there was a significant association between interparental conflict and conflict management of young adults. However, interparental positivity did not make an additional contribution to conflict management of young adults beyond that of interparental conflict. In addition, interparental positivity did not have a moderating affect on the intergenerational transmission of conflict behaviors. Lastly, although interparental conflict and parent-child relations were closely related, parent-child relations did not mediate the link between interparental relations and conflict management of young adults. Important contributions of the current study include a better theoretical understanding of positivity in relationships and evidence for the intergenerational transmission of positive and negative conflict management tactics. Implications for researchers, clinicians, and educators are presented. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family and Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: May 12, 2008. / Interparental Conflict, Intergenerational Transmission Of Conflict, Conflict Management, Dating, Young Adults / Includes bibliographical references. / Thomas Cornille, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ming Cui, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Karen Randolph, Outside Committee Member; Lenore McWey, Committee Member; B. Kay Pasley, Committee Member.

In recent years there has been a growing interest regarding the integration of evidence-based practice into social work curricula and practice (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003; Thyer, 2004). However, there has also been a growing concern about the proliferation of novel interventions that lack empirical support and yet make claims of efficacy in the absence of evidence (Thyer, 2007) as well as conventional social work interventions that lack empirical support and yet remain unquestioned (Gambrill, 2006). Although studies have been conducted that have examined the theoretical orientations and other practice patterns of clinical social workers, to date, with the exception of the pilot study (Pignotti & Thyer, 2009) that preceded this dissertation, no study has systematically examined the intervention choices of licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) including the use of novel unsupported therapies. The present dissertation examined the reported usage of novel and conventional unsupported and empirically supported therapies by 400 LCSWs from 39 different states who responded to an Internet survey. The purpose of the study was to determine what interventions were reported currently being used by LCSWs, reasons for choosing interventions, and their attitudes towards evidence-based practice. Prior to data analysis, the list of the therapies reported being used by LCSWs was presented to a panel of expert reviewers and therapies were classified as empirically supported therapies (ESTs), novel unsupported therapies (NUTs) or conventional unsupported therapies (CUTs). The study hypotheses were that: 1) females would be more likely than males to use CUTs and NUTs; 2) respondents who report an affiliation with eastern/new age or nondenominational/spiritual religions would be more likely to use NUTs; 3) clinical experience would be more highly rated than empirical evidence as a reason for selecting a therapy; 4) LCSWs with a theoretical orientation of cognitive-behavioral would value evidence from research more highly than LCSWs of other orientations and 5) LCSWs who use NUTs and/or CUTs will score higher on the Divergence subscale of the Evidence-Based Practice Attitudes Scale (EBPAS; Aarons, 2004) than those who did not use such therapies. The results showed that although an overwhelming majority of the sample reported using ESTs (98%), three-quarters of participants also reported using at least one NUT and 86% used at least one CUT. The hypothesis that females were more likely to use NUTs and CUTs was supported and females also used a higher number of NUTs. The hypothesis that participants reporting eastern/new age and nondenominational/spiritual religious beliefs use a higher number of NUTs was also supported, although they were not more likely to use any NUT. It was found that participants, as hypothesized, valued clinical experience over research evidence and LCSWs with a theoretical orientation of cognitive-behavioral were found to value research evidence more highly than those of other theoretical orientations. The hypothesis that LCSWs who use NUTs and/or CUTs will score higher on the Divergence subscale of the EBPAS was not supported. This study offers preliminary evidence that the use of NUTs is widespread among LCSWs, although the limitation is noted that the present sample may not necessarily be representative of all LCSWs. It also appears that given the fact that actuarial judgment has been shown to be more accurate than clinical judgment (Dawes, Faust & Meehl, 1989) LCSWs may be under-valuing research evidence. It is also evident that the use of ESTs and NUTs are not necessarily mutually exclusive and although the EBPAS indicates that overall our sample had a positive attitude towards EBP, future research needs to examine a fuller definition of the term that includes their understanding of the term and specific practices. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009. / Date of Defense: June 18, 2009. / Empirically Supported Treatments, Evidence Based Practice, Social Work Interventions, Pseudoscience, Novel Therapies / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce A. Thyer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Kenneth Brummel-Smith, University Representative; Martell Teasley, Committee Member.

Hispanics are one of the fastest growing ethnic minority populations in the United States with Mexicans and Mexican Americans representing the largest portion of this population. Concerns about cultural competence thrust acculturation and acculturative stress into the discussion of unique cultural experiences that may affect the functioning of Mexican and Mexican American families. However, the differences in family role expectations and the social capital of family members have not been discussed despite their potential relationship to acculturative stress. Prior to examining bivariate and multivariate relationships regarding these variables, the English version of the Personal Social Capital Scale was validated. The 9-item Personal Social Capital Scale (α=.85) and bonding (α=.83) and bridging subscales (α=.85) demonstrated acceptable levels of reliability. This version of the Personal Social Capital Scale also demonstrated appropriate model fit after allowing several error terms to correlate producing the following fit indices: χ2/df=2.18 (χ2=50.1, df=23), RMSEA=.06, CFI=.98, IFI=.98, RFI=.94, TLI=.97, and NFI=.96. The construct validity of the scale produced mixed results. The Pearson's correlation coefficient (r=-.441, pr=.17, pr=.20, p The bivariate relationships tested did not reveal any significant findings, as acculturation was not a significantly significant predictor of parental (β=-.02, p=.71) or marital reward value (β=-.03, p=.61) or parental (β=-.04, p=.48) and marital commitment (β=-.05, p=.35). Additionally, acculturation was not a statistically significant predictor of social capital for either the linear (β=-.03, p=.61) or the curvilinear model (β=-.03, p=.61), and all bivariate tests indicated that acculturation accounted for a minute portion of variance for all dependent variables. The final part of this study tested several multivariate relationships to identify predictors of acculturative stress. Acculturation, family role expectations, and social capital were entered into a six-step hierarchical regression model to identify predictors of acculturative stress. The final step of the hierarchical regression model accounted for 16% (R2=.16). An alternative step of the final model entering bonding and bridging social capital as separate variables increased the amount of variance explained (R2=.20). In the alternative model, the demographic variables age (β=.13, p=.04), lower income status (β=.20, pp=.03) were statistically significant predictors of acculturative stress with all demographic variables accounting for approximately 8% of the variable's variances. Of the primary variables of interest, only marital commitment (β=.13, p=.06), bonding social capital (β=-.22, pp=.23) met criteria for entry into the model, but only bonding social capital was a statistically significant predictor of acculturative stress. The creation and entry of the interaction term between acculturation and marital reward value (β=.84, pp=.02; marital reward value β=-.64, p=.02), which became statistically significant predictors of acculturative stress as conditional effects. The results from this study indicate that the Personal Social Capital Scale demonstrates acceptable reliability supported by a well-fitting model. However, interpretations of the Personal Social Capital Scores may be limited given the validity results. Additionally, different aspects of acculturation should be examined to identify components that may better predict parental and marital reward value and commitment among people of Mexican descent. Major tests in this study did reveal promising results. It appears bonding aspects of social capital may assist in mitigating acculturative stress, while certain conditional circumstance involving acculturation and marital reward may relate to lower levels of acculturative stress as well. Considering acculturation and marital reward value together (i.e., interaction effects) may also be important in predicting acculturative stress as increases in acculturation and identification with one's marital role may prove to be a difficult balance for people of Mexican descent. However, researchers and social work practitioners should exercise caution when utilizing these results given the emergence of unique effects (i.e., suppression effects), the small effect sizes for individual predictors and limited slope difference for high and low levels of the interaction term. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010. / Date of Defense: March 4, 2010. / Social Capital, Family Roles, Acculturative Stress, Acculturation, Cultural Change, Hispanics, Latinos / Includes bibliographical references. / Martell Teasley, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joseph Hellweg, University Representative; Neil Abell, Committee Member.

A critical review exploring "at-risk" ethical practice of marriage and family therapy determined that there existed no empirical literature focusing upon the antecedent, correlative, or causal factors of unethical behaviors among LMFTs. Responding to this gap, this study was designed to test the hypothesis that a significant relationship would be found between caregiver stress and at-risk ethical practice among a sample of LMFTs of Florida. Two research questions were developed to help guide an exploratory component of this study with the hope of identifying factors contributing to the understanding of at-risk practice. Surveys containing a demographic collection tool, an instrument to measure the dependent variable (at risk ethical practice), and three instruments to measure five independent variables (caregiver stress, compassion fatigue, burnout, and satisfaction with life) were sent to a randomly selected sample of one-half (n=549) of the LMFTs in the state of Florida. After a 90-day data collection window, 82 useable surveys were returned (15%). The data were found to be significantly non-normal. Upon analyses, no significant relationship between caregiver stress and at risk practice emerged; therefore the null hypothesis was not rejected. In the exploratory portion of the study, only compassion fatigue emerged with a significant predictive relationship (R2=.140; p=.002) for at-risk practice among all the independent variables and demographic data. Nearly all respondents (86.4%) identified at least one area for which they were at-risk for practicing outside the boundaries of the AAMFT Code of Ethics. The sample for this study was remarkably healthy with positively non-normal scores for caregiver stress, compassion fatigue, burnout, and satisfaction with life. The validity of this study was challenged by a very low response rate, a non-normal and very healthy sample, and unacceptably poor psychometric performance of the Ethics At-Risk Test for Marriage and Family Therapists (Brock, 1997)—the instrument utilized to measure the dependent variable. Recommendations for future research resulting from the findings of this study primarily advocate studies designed to resolve the psychometric problems of measuring at-risk ethical practice. Following the resolution of the scaling problems, a program of research that recruits larger and more representative samples of cross-discipline professionals and compares this sample with professionals who have been adjudicated for ethical violations is suggested to begin to determine the antecedent, correlative, and causal factors related to professional caregivers' practice outside the boundaries of ethical and legal constraints. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Family & Child Sciences in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for a degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: June 10, 2005. / Ethics-At-Risk, Ethics, Caregiver Stress, Compassion Fatigue, Boundary Violations / Includes bibliographical references. / Charles R. Figley, Professor Directing Dissertation; Leo Sandon, Outside Committee Member; Ronald L. Mullis, Committee Member; Christine A. Readdick, Committee Member.

Criminological and sociological theories suggest that peers play a significant role in reinforcing delinquent behavior. Numerous studies discuss the negative impact of peer influence variables. Unfortunately, little attention is provided to the protective factors of positive peers. One program that utilizes positive peer influence to redirect delinquent behavior so that participants will not reenter the juvenile justice system is the teen court model. To date, teen court research has not evaluated the impact of positive peer influence or determined whether positive peer influence even exists within these courts. This research not only addresses gaps in criminological, sociological, and teen court theory, it fills a research void concerning the operations of teen courts and their potential impacts. The results of this study also establish a foundation for examining how a neglected but potentially critical dimension of youth's relationships, positive peers, may both reduce and deter delinquency. This research reports the development and validation of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale (TCPIS). The TCPIS was disseminated to 404 participants in six teen courts in the state of Florida. The sample was systematically split to form two groups. The first group was used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the second for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results from these analyses support that positive peer influence is operationalized by three latent constructs, three correlations between factors, and fourteen observed variables. The domains focus on developing positive cognitions, positive identity development, and modeling. The theoretical model derived by the EFA and CFA was a good fit to the data with all fit indices meeting appropriate standards. The reliability for the TCPIS was .88 and the scale showed promising construct, concurrent, and predictive validity using delinquency measures. The results from this study fill conceptual and empirical gaps in teen court research by identifying theoretical mechanisms of positive peer influence. The TCPIS can now be utilized in future teen court research to determine whether specific strategies used by these courts are effective. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2007. / Date of Defense: May 23, 2007. / Exploratory factor analysis, Teen courts, Positive peer influence, Measurement development, Psychometrics, Confirmatory factor analysis / Includes bibliographical references. / Darcy C. Siebert, Professor Directing Dissertation; Daniel P. Mears, Outside Committee Member; C. Aaron McNeece, Committee Member.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Queensland, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--York University, 1997. Graduate Programme in Social Work. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-172). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ27364.

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Thesis (Ph.D. 1962)--University of Adelaide.