The purpose of this thesis was two fold. First, there was an experiment in which the independent variable was the behavioral skill levels of parents and their adolescents on a social skills training program and the dependent variable was the parent and adolescent perceptions of their interpersonal relationship regarding communication and problem solving. Second, there was an experiment comparing instructional styles wherein the independent variable was the length of time used to present the social skills training program and the dependent variable was the resulting scores on the behavioral measures of the program. A modified pretest -post-test control group design was used wherein the control group for the first experiment became a portion of the experimental group for the second experiment. There were 43 parent adolescent dyads who volunteered to participate. Of those, 25 of the dyads met the minimum criteria for being included in the analysis. There were 18 dyads analyzed from the experimental group and seven from the control group. Results of the first experiment, regarding the effects of a social skills program on perceived interpersonal relationships, demonstrated that while the parents did perceive an improvement , the adolescents did not. Results of the second experiment demonstrated that the long term program of one skill every week for eight weeks was more effective than the concentrated one week program of two skills per night for four nights.

The data for this study were obtained in October 1989 through the use of a 128-item questionnaire given to students attending an alternative high school in Ogden, Utah. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was included as part of the questionnaire. A total of 166 usable questionnaires were received from the students. The objectives of this research were to determine if relationships between self-esteem, race, gender, and religion and time use could be detected in at-risk adolescents. The data collected indicate that self-esteem, religion, gender, and race have only slight significance upon the self-reported time use of the alternative high school student. The alternative high school students came from multiple economic and social backgrounds but were quite homogeneous in their perceptions about Sunday and in their activities on Sunday. Statistical significance was noted in the comparisons of self-esteem and gender to self-reported time use. Those students with high self-esteem viewed Sunday more as a day of little or no accomplishment than those with low self-esteem. Gender appears to influence how time is spent, as significant differences were found in the amount of TV watched by boys ad girls as well as in time spent goofing off and in preparing and eating meals. Comparisons between members of the two dominant religions, Catholicism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, produced no statistical significance regarding religion and Sunday self-reported time use. Comparisons between students of the two dominant races, Caucasian and Hispanic, produced no statistical significance regarding race and Sunday self-reported time use.

Three hundred seventy-six college students responded to a measure designed to examine retrospective accounts of the physical affection received during early childhood. The study looked exclusively from the perspective of the adolescent. Assessing the importance of touch in human development, and the role it plays in adult attachment and the ability to form and maintain close and intimate relations with others was the purpose of the study. Six separate measures were used to assess the role of touch in adolescent development: three items from Gupta and Schork to assess physical affection (touch); Simpson's attachment style measure; Gerlsma, Arrindell, Van der Veen, and Emmelkamp's parental warmth measure; and Rosenthal, Gurney, and Moore's Erikson Psychosocial Inventory Scale to assess intimacy. Also, one-item measures to assess trust and parents' marital satisfaction were all utilized in this study. Results confirmed statistically significant relationships between parental warmth and touch, warmth and attachment, and intimacy and attachment. Related literature supported the findings of the study and point to the importance of parental warmth and touch in early childhood for competent social and emotional development during adolescence. Implications of the results and possible areas of future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine change in symptoms of anxiety and satisfaction experienced by participants who received acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) by using technologically assisted psychotherapeutic interventions (TAPI). TAPI utilizes the internet as a medium to make mental health services available and accessible to people residing in rural communities. The participants in this study were women who were experiencing severe levels of anxiety and lived in a rural community. Measures were taken at three different points in the study (pretherapy, posttherapy, and 6-months posttherapy). Participants received therapy over the internet via Macromedia Breeze videoconferencing to reduce symptoms of an anxiety disorder. Seven women from rural Utah communities volunteered to participate in the study. This study found that symptoms of anxiety were reduced immediately posttherapy and that the change was sustained 6-months posttherapy. In regards to the satisfaction, participants indicated high levels of satisfaction with their TAPI experience. This high level of satisfaction was maintained 6-months posttherapy. (89 pages)

The purpose of this study is to assess children's perceptions of the nurse as they are related to children's age, the amount of contact children have had with nurses and children's sex. An oral picture test, consisting of 10 photographs, was administered to 45 children in the Edith Bowen Elementary School at Utah State University. The children were interviewed about their perceptions of the nurses in each photograph and their responses were rated as being positive, negative or neutral. The findings of this study indicate that although significant differences exist in children's perceptions of the nurse in terms of positive, negative and neutral responses, these differences are not due to the effects of the age of the children, the amount of contact they have had with nurses or the sex of the children. The conclusions are that children's perceptions of the nurse are affected by a variable which was not tested in the present study and that children seem to reveal the more positive aspects of their feelings about nurses. The author suggests that children's negative feelings about nurses are too powerful to be verbalized and have been internalized by the children due to the influence of social pressure to conform.

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact oi the Young Mothers' Program #2 Granite School District, Salt Lake City, Utah, and the aspects of the program that were responsible for that impact , upon the lives of the Young Mothers who have attended the program since its existence. This study could possibly serve as a guide in evaluating other programs of this nature, locally and nationally. Knowing the value of a program could help establish it more firmly in the education system. A questionnaire was mailed to sixty students who had attended Young Mothers' Program #2 for one term or more. The questionnaire covered all aspects of the Young Mothers ' Program. The information compiled from the returned questionnaire was used for data analysis . Twenty-six items, which represented attitudes of the students toward many aspects of the Young Mothers' Program, were used for data analysis on impact of the program. Factor analysis was used with the data from the 26 items and four factors emerged as significant. They were: 1a. Mother Toddler Care Concerns 2b. Good Teacher- Classroom Atmosphere and Opportunities 3c. Mother Baby Care and School Peer Interaction 4d. Teacher Student Trust Dimension The data analysis did support the hypothesis that the Young Mothers Program #2 does have a positive "impact on life" on the students who have attended . Factor 1a. (Mother Toddler Care Concerns) indicated that if concern for the toddler was high, then "impact" was low . Factor 2b. (Good Teacher-Classroom Atmosphere and Opportunities) was also significantly high as a predictor of "impact". Factor 3c . (Mother Baby Care and School Peer Interaction), while still above the acceptable level of significance, was not as strong a predicting factor as la. and 2b . Factor 4d . (Teacher -Student Trust Dimension) was significant only if the other factors were present and, therefore , did contribute to the overall "impact on life". Construct validity was established through factor analysis, while reliability and validity indices were established for each of the four factors . The conclusion of this investigation would suggest , with some additional revisions, the four subscales could be used in further evaluation of Young Mothers Programs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between antecedents of sexuality and the level of sexual satisfaction in females who had been married no more than five years. Past research has examined communication, presence of orgasm, sexual desire, and frequency of sexual activity and various other antecedents of sexual satisfaction. One relationship that was an addition to those already found in the literature was sexual knowledge as an antecedent to sexual satisfaction. Six questions were formulated for the study: 1. How do females perceive their global sexual functioning? 2. How do females perceive their level of sexual satisfaction? 3. How accurately do females answer questions regarding female and male anatomy and physiology, sexual arousal and response, and sexual technique? 4. What is the relationship between the participants mean scores on the subscales of the Global Sexual Functioning (GSF) and their reported level of sexual satisfaction? 5. What is the relationship between the participants mean scores on the subscales of the Sexual Knowledge Inventory (SKI) and their reported level of sexual satisfaction? 6. What is the relationship between the participants mean scores on the subscales of the Sexual Knowledge Inventory (SKI) and their reported level of Global Sexual Functioning (GSF)? The research questions were tested with data from 217 females who completed a survey with questions about sexual functioning, sexual satisfaction and sexual knowledge. Results found that five variables accounted for 43% of the variance to sexual satisfaction namely: "variety of sexual activities," "not experiencing negative emotions," "frequency of sexual activity," "sexual dysfunction," and "the time intercourse lasts." Conclusions and suggestions for future research are presented.

The influence of selected socioeconomic factors on the consumer awareness of women was investigated. An instrument was developed to measure the consumer awareness of individuals. The three areas assessed were awareness of existing problems in the marketplace, awareness of laws that control these problems and sources of help for the consumer when she encounters these problems. A profile of a woman with low consumer awareness was constructed from the results of the data collected In the study. She will have an annual income of less than $8,000; she will have a high school education or less; her husband will be employed in sales, clerical or managerial work; her husband will be 40 or older and they will have no children living at home. The results of the study indicate that a ll women need assistance in be coming more aware of existing consumer protection laws and of sources of help with consumer problems. All women were more aware of possibilities of where to go for help than of what protection the law provides .

The problem to be investigated in this study was to examine the association between the educational training program of an Urban Job Corps Center and the reading performances of trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds. A sample of 100 trainees was randomly selected to represent the total population of Job Corpsmen in an urban center. The Job Corps Center in Clearfield, Utah, was the initial site in this study. The sample selected from the Job Corps was from four racial-ethnic groups: Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Whites, and Mexican-Americans. Each trainee was given a reading test upon arrival and another test six months after training had begun. The test scores were analyzed in four categories: (1) mean reading levels by ethnic groups, (2) individual differences in reading performance by ethnic group, (3) those with one year performances compared with those with less than one year performances, and (4) comparison of those with seventh grade performances with those with sixth grade and below performances. From these four ways of measuring reading skills, the results indicated that most of the trainees improved in their reading performances during the first six months in residence at the Job Corps. However, due to low reading levels in the individual initial test scores, all trainees did not improve at the same level of performance. Of the four racial-ethnic groups, the significant gains made in reading after six months of training was substantiated by the progress made between the initial reading level and the second reading level mean scores. Mean scores, between the first test scores and the second, showed that most trainees, by racial-ethnic groups, made sufficient improvements in reading. These improvements were made in a six-month period of training in the Job Corps. Of the four measurements used in this study, three were tested using the chi square statistical method to substantiate the significance in reading performances of these trainees. Level of confidence was accepted at the .05 level of significance. From the results of this study it was evident that potential for learning can still be obtained by disadvantaged young men when opportunities favorable for learning are present. The rehabilitation Urban Job Corps Center in Clearfield, Utah, was shown in this study to be a means of achieving these potentials.

A longitudinal research design was used to determine if parents' personal well-being or marital relations changed after the launching of the youngest child and what variales might affect these potential changes. Eighty-nine parents whose youngest child was a senior at Logan High School or Sky View High School responded to mail-out questionnaires, assessing parents general well-being, marital relations, marital companionship, personal stress, quality of parenting experiences and degree of parent-child conflict. Approximately one year later, a second questionnaire was sent and twenty-three of the parents who responded had launched their youngest child. One of the most striking aspects of the results of this study was the general lack of statistically significant findings. For most individuals, launching of the youngest child had little positive or negative affect on parents personal well-being or marital relations. Significant relationships were found for parents who had low quality parenting experiences or whose relationships with their youngest child tended to be conflictful . These findings suggest that low quality parenting experiences or high amounts of parent-child conflict negatively impact personal well-being and marital relations and that the launching of the youngest child lessens the negative impact of these two variables. The exception to this finding was that low quality parenting experiences was significantly r elated to parents' marital satisfaction regardless of whether or not the youngest child left home.