Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisors: Diane L. Schallert and Lisa S. Goldstein. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2007. / Title from title screen (site viewed Aug. 1, 2007). PDF text: 230 p. : ill. (some col.) UMI publication number: AAT 3255893. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / This thesis examines the relationship between advertising agencies and clients with special emphasis on expenditures for advertising, the nature of services, the selection of an agency by a client and of a client by an agency, and improvement of agency-client relations. A questionnaire was developed which would embrace some of these areas. The questionnaire was mailed to three hundred advertising agencies and 300 clients were selected from the September 1959 Agency List. The clients were not the clients of the agencies selected. Results from the questionnaire are used throughout the thesis to help explain some of the problems of agency-client relations. The introduction to the thesis defines and explains the role and the purpose of advertising in society. Then Chapter I discusses the organization and purpose of the advertising agency with an explanation of each of the departments within an agency. Each department within the agency represents a service which that agency offers to its clients. A discussion of advertising expenditures is found in Chapter II. There was some discrepancy between the views of the agencies and the clients on this matter. The agencies, being more optimistic than the clients about future expenditures for advertising, agree with industry executives.[TRUNCATED]

‘Gay identity’ is an often taken-for-granted concept in research. When researchers refer to gay men’s identities, the term is used in relation to sexuality, as a labelling process, and operationalised through reference to homosexual relationships. But what do those relationships mean to gay men? What does ‘being gay’ mean to gay men? Those questions, for the most part, remain unaddressed. My review of literature shows that ‘being gay’ has been commonly equated to ‘being homosexual’ and, although sexual relationships are one of the most common themes in research about gay men, studies often investigate them from epidemiological perspectives. In this thesis, I draw attention to the limits of those perspectives and explore the contributions that sexual, erotic, and romantic connections make to gay men’s sense of identity. From a narrative approach, this thesis is concerned with how self-identified gay men give meanings to their romantic, erotic, and sexual relationships and how those meanings become entangled with their sense of who they are. To conduct this study, I interviewed ten gay men of different ages and backgrounds living in the United Kingdom, each of whom provided narrative data during unstructured one-to-one, one-off interviews. Drawing upon a narrative structural analysis, my findings are presented in two ways: first in the form of idiographic narratives concerning five participants and, secondly, as an overarching analysis with central themes identified across participants’ narratives. My findings show that gay men construct a sense of identity through their sexual, erotic, and romantic relationships and that being gay pervades the self in a way that affects their entire life stories. This study concludes by challenging the conception of ‘being gay’ as a sexual orientation because it describes in sexual terms an identity that is not only, not always, and not predominantly sexual.

The thesis explores the meaning of caring in the lives of a group of people who are labelled as dependants, adults with learning difficulties. Through biographical interviews and documentary research the author examines how care for people with learning difficulties has developed over time in one local area; and the understandings people on the receiving end have of the care offered them by families and staff. The findings suggest that dependency is not acknowledged by the majority of people interviewed who present themselves as givers of care as much as recipients of care. The research identifies gender as an important variable in the way care and caring are understood and experienced. The research makes a contribution to the literatures on gender and caring; family; peer and staff relationships of adults with learning difficulties; the history of learning disability; and qualitative research with marginalised groups.

No description available.

There is ample evidence to suggest that, in the context of dating relationships, female-perpetrated intimate abuse is as common as male-perpetrated intimate abuse (e.g., Archer, 2000). Despite awareness of this fact, female-perpetrated intimate abuse remains an understudied area. The current study adds to the available literature on female-perpetrated intimate abuse by examining Dutton’s (2007) theory of the Abusive Personality in a sample of 914 women who had been involved in dating relationships. This is the first study to examine all elements of the Abusive Personality in women simultaneously. Consistent with the Abusive Personality, recalled parental rejection, borderline personality organization (BPO), anger, and trauma symptoms all demonstrated moderate to strong relationships with women’s self-reported intimate psychological abuse perpetration. Fearful attachment style demonstrated a weak to moderate relationship with psychological abuse perpetration. With the exception of fearful attachment, all elements of the Abusive Personality demonstrated a relationship with women’s self-reported intimate violence perpetration. However, these relationships were comparatively weak. A potential model for explaining the interrelationships between the elements of the Abusive Personality was tested using structural equation modeling. This is the first study with either sex to examine all elements of the Abusive Personality simultaneously using structural equation modeling. Consistent with the proposed model, recalled parental rejection demonstrated a relationship with BPO, trauma symptoms, and fearful attachment. Also consistent with the model, trauma symptoms demonstrated a relationship with anger, and BPO demonstrated strong relationships with trauma symptoms, fearful attachment, and anger. Additionally, anger itself had a strong relationship with women’s self-reported perpetration of intimate psychological and physical abuse. Contrary to the proposed model, fearful attachment had a non-significant relationship with anger – when this relationship was examined using structural equation modeling. Based on findings from the current study, fearful attachment has a weaker relationship with college women’s perpetration of intimate abuse than it does with clinical samples’ perpetration of intimate abuse. Following a discussion of the results, limitations of the study are discussed in conjunction with possible future directions for this line of research. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Research indicates that determinants such as commitment, communication and attachment facilitate long-term marriages. The present study seeks to understand these and other possible determinants that facilitate enduring relationships. Furthermore, the research focuses exclusively on the determinants that males believe facilitate long-term relationships. Bader and Pearson's transposition of Mahler's Model of Separation Individuation onto adult relationships was used as a theoretical point of departure. Bader and Pearson posit that couples evolve through stages which resemble Mahler's Model of Childhood Development. A qualitative approach using semistructured interviews aided in creating a non-threatening environment whilst collecting data. Purposive non-random sampling was used to identify participants and thereafter participants were obtained via snowball sampling. Tesch's thematic analysis was used to analyse results. The research findings highlight the understanding of what determinants males deem essential to facilitate long-term relationships.

Because students may seek discussions most often with approachable adults, and such discussions may be more potentially helpful than discussions initiated otherwise, approachability of adults on school staffs was studied. Some potential correlates of approachability were examined: sex and age of adults, similarity-dissimilarity of students' and adults' value patterns, and adults' knowledge of particular students' value preferences. Five hypotheses based upon the theories of Heider and Newcomb, who postulated that persons are attracted to others perceived as like, were formulated. A sixth hypothesis concerning the relative importance of correlates was to be investigated if the first five were supported. Adults' approachability was studied for three kinds (contexts) of serious discussions: (1) of an impersonal problem, (2) of vocational choice, and (3) of personal problems. Two kinds of value patterns, factual values and normative/instrumental values, suggested by the theoretical categories of Margenau and Rokeach were studied. Grade-XII students and the adults known to at least 30 percent of them in each of five British Columbia secondary schools formed the sample. Approachability results were based on 371 students making choices among 115 adults. An adult's approachability score was formed by dividing the times he was chosen for a context by the number of students who knew him. In all schools, for all contexts, a small number of adult Ss were very often chosen, about a third chosen by a few students, and about 50 percent not chosen. Results pertaining to hypotheses were: 1. Adults were chosen proportionately more often by students of the same sex for vocational-choice and personal problems contexts (p < .001, using chi square). In the impersonal- topic context, male adults were chosen proportionately more often by male and female students (p < .001 by chi square test). 2. Youngest adults were not chosen proportionately more often for any context. Adults in the 31-40 and 51-60 age ranges were those chosen proportionately more often in most schools for all contexts (p < .001 by chi square test). 3. Students did not choose adults with similar factual-value patterns proportionately more often: no relationship was found between similarity of adults with students- in-general who knew them and approachability, or between mean value-pattern correlations of an adult with students who chose and did not choose him. 4. Students did not choose adults with similar normative/instrumental-value patterns proportionately more often. Neither of the possible relationships noted in (3) was found. 5. On the basis of results from a sub-sample of 27 adults, adults' more accurate knowledge of students' value preferences was not related to their approachability. A discussion of results included the following points: 1. Students appeared to have made choices on the basis of the adult's school role: social studies teachers, most of whom were male, were often chosen for impersonal topic discussions, suggesting that role rather than sex-similarity-dissimilarity led to disproportionate choices; counselors were often chosen for the other two contexts, and several of them were in the age ranges proportionately more often chosen, suggesting that role, rather than age, may have contributed to the disproportions. 2. Possible gaps in communication of adults' and students' values to each other and/or weaknesses in instrumentation may have contributed to the lack of clear relationships between approachability and value patterns and knowledge of students' value preferences. Informal observations by the investigator during the course of the study were listed , among them an apparent positive relationship between adult liveliness and approachability. Further research was suggested on the correlates of approachability of adults with similar roles, on adult liveliness and approachability, and on students' perceptions of adults' values and approachability. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate