published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Fertility studies have often focused on the behavioral and attitudinal attributes of women with regard to fertility. Until recently, the role of men in fertility studies have often been ignored within much of the literature concerning fertility decisions. The focus of this study will examine if differences exist between husbands and wives with regard to the following four aspects of fertility decisions: spacing of children, methods of family planning, sex preference, and desired family size. The data were collected from 125 households in Kitwe, Zambia. Identical questionnaires were submitted to the husbands and wives during separate interviews. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Overall, no significant differences exist among husbands and wives with regard to the four aspects of fertility decisions being researched.

Women as a group hold little power in the social system which increases women's vulnerability to domestic violence. According to Merton (1970), social problems may be revealed through the disaster recovery process. A coraHunity1s organizational response to social problems such as wife abuse depends upon organizational members' perceptions. The data suggest that organizational perceptions of domestic violence largely depend upon the setting or environment in which an organization exists and operates. A second factor that greatly determines an organization's perception of domestic violence after disaster is organizational type. Organizations which provide services to domestic violence victims pre-disaster are more likely to perceive domestic violence following disaster than organizations which do not provide domestic violence related services prior to disaster.

Women in distressed relationships who had sustained severe psychological abuse and either no, moderate, or severe violence from their partner were included (N = 93). Men's and women's alcohol use did not differ with level of violence. Different patterns were found in the moderate violence group regarding women's beliefs about their partner's substance problem, men's psychological abuse, and the relationship of men's and women's quantity of alcohol use and times intoxicated. Uncertainty resulting from moderate violence may strengthen the emotional impact of psychological abuse. Even when psychological abuse is exacerbated by violence, women may use active coping techniques rather than drinking to cope with abusive relationships. The findings suggest that an inordinate focus on alcohol abuse may be ineffective in combating the problem of domestic violence.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Sherry J. Haar / Research about military wives has been limited. In academia, most research centers on the soldier and/or the family as a unit. When literature does address only the wife’s perspective it rarely presents a positive portrayal of her life. However, it is not just literature that shows a gap in exposing the voice of the military wife. Art-based works rarely focus on her perspective; and methodologies, such as practice-based research, rarely utilize actual voices as inspiration. The aim of the current study was to discover the voice of the military wife, examine it through a feminist lens, and then translate those voices into artwork that represented the collective, lived experience of the women interviewed. Three methodologies were utilized to analyze and translate the voices of military wives into textile art. These three methodologies: practice-based research, phenomenology, and feminist inquiry provided a suitable structure for shaping the study to fulfill the project aim. Interviews conducted with 22 military wives revealed two overarching themes: militarization and marriage; as well as multiple subthemes. Three subthemes were recognized as being the most prominent: relationships, separation, and collective experience. These themes were used as the inspiration for the creation and installation of three textile art pieces. The current study serves to fill the gaps in both the literature and the artistic process by presenting both the positive and negative aspects of the military wife’s lived experience and using that lived experience as inspiration for textile art.

This dissertation explores the relationship between the ancient Israelite HOH and the members of his family as portrayed in the prescriptive texts of Deuteronomy. In choosing the prescriptive texts, this study distinguishes between the actual (what was) and the ideal (what should have been). Chapter 2 examines those texts, elsewhere referred to under the rubric of "family law," which specifically address the rights and responsibilities of the father in relation to other members of his household. These texts include Deuteronomy 21:10-14; 21:15-17; 21:18-21; 22:13-21; 24:1-4; 24:5 and 25:5-10. Each text is examined with focus on the characters involved, the setting (including relevant Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern background material), and ultimately the main concern or concerns driving each text. Those concerns are analyzed to see what implications the text has for the role and responsibilities of a righteous father in ancient Israel. This study seeks to establish from these texts the underlying principles that were to govern the use of his authority within the household. Chapter 3 consists of a synthesis of the results of the study and suggestions for further research. This work contends that these texts presuppose, rather than establish, a father's rights. Further, the texts view the father's authority in terms of responsibility, namely responsibility for the well-being of the members of his household to be achieved through zealous commitment to righteousness. Finally, it is proposed that abuse of a man's authority resulting in social degradation of a woman is followed by restrictions on that man's authority. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

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The socio-emotional well-being of maltreated children is a key priority for practitioners and policy-makers alike; yet not enough is known about the developmental mechanisms that might link children's parenting experiences with their psychosocial adjustment. Previous research suggests that parental abuse and neglect can have adverse effects on children's peer relationships and self-perceptions. Emerging theoretical and empirical work suggests that children's social understanding and empathy could play a key role as mediators of these effects, but we have little knowledge about the differentiated pathways that might be uncovered by adopting a multidimensional conceptualisation of parenting experiences, social understanding and empathy, and peer reputations and self-perceptions. This thesis includes five papers reporting on a programme of empirical research conducted in order to address this gap in knowledge. The first, a meta-analysis and systematic review, revealed a complex and differentiated profile of social understanding among maltreated children. The second paper reports on a thematic analysis of a focus group and detailed semi-structured individual interviews with foster carers. In line with our theoretical model, carers readily identified children's difficulties with social understanding and empathy as relevant explanations for their socio-emotional problems. The third paper presents a new multidimensional self-report measure of empathy in children, demonstrating differentiated connections with socio-emotional functioning. The fourth paper presents comparisons between maltreated children in foster care and their classmates at school (aged 7-11 years), using measures that assess their peer reputations, self-perceptions, social understanding and empathy. Results indicate both direct links from maltreatment status to self-perceptions, as well as indirect links via children's theory of mind skills, their prosocial responses to others' emotional states and their behavioural reputations. The final paper delves deeper into the variations within the non-maltreated sample, uncovering links between specific features of the children's parenting experiences and their behavioural reputations, peer status and self-perceptions, via emotion understanding and empathic responses. Overall, the findings from this programme of research highlight the interplay of parenting experiences and socio-emotional competence in understanding school-aged children's psychosocial functioning. The results carry implications for further research as well as for applied work to support maltreated children and the adults who work with and care for them.

<p>This thesis deals with the space for action available to women of the regional elite. The interaction of such categories as gender and class are discussed. The overall purpose is to describe and analyze the role of the county governor’s wife during the period 1900- 1940. The study takes its point of departure in the lives of Ellen Widén and Hanna Rydh, both wives of county governors, and especially treats the area of cultural heritage as the potential public arena for women. Special attention is focused on the cultural heritage as a possible public sphere of activity for women at that time. Cultural heritage has been defined as the cultural and material expressions that were regarded as possessing symbolic value and that have therefore been the focus for various kinds of preservation. Cultural heritage is associated here with a growing field for professional interest and work.</p><p>Women in general were given specific tasks within the nation. One of these was to safeguard aesthetic and cultural characteristics within the nation, the province and the home region. By working within the sphere of cultural heritage, with arts and crafts and with the preservation of the home region, women were regarded as links between the older and younger generations. The specific characteristics of the home region could be expressed through various textiles. The work of creating specific parish costumes can be seen as one of many examples of a female cultural heritage.</p><p>The study has shown that the wives of county governors could have a direct and immediate influence on activities in the area of cultural heritage. This research has established that these women formed a more independent power factor than earlier research has maintained. The county governor’s wife did not automatically gain a position of power. She had potential power, an opportunity derived from both class and gender. To transform this potential into power and influence demanded success and skill in the field.</p><p>When Hanna Rydh, the wife of a county governor, declared herself a candidate for the position of county governor in 1938, it was too much of a challenge to the prevailing gender order. Through a form of ”tyranny of difference” women were prevented from establishing themselves within public spheres that were more masculine by tradition. This could be true of specific fields or of the formal power exercised by the parliament, the government and public offices. If the female elite challenged the men of their own class, their opportunities were circumscribed. I have chosen therefore to speak of both power and “non-power.” Within certain contexts there were good opportunities for the regional female elite to obtain their own space for action. Yet, in other situations the limitations were greater than the opportunities; “non-power” also existed. </p>