The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between media as family leisure and family functioning among families with at least one adolescent child. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between family functioning and media use, media connection, and media monitoring over time. Furthermore, because the data were nested in families, and because most family leisure research has been limited to individual-level analyses, this study incorporated mixed modeling into its analysis which accounted for family-level and individual-level variance. The sample consisted of 500 families participating in the Flourishing Families (FFP) Project, a longitudinal study of inner-family life involving families with a child between the ages of 11 and 16. Multiple regression analysis indicated there was a significant negative relationship between media use and family functioning. Mixed model analysis further indicated there was a significant positive relationship between media connection, parental media monitoring, and family functioning, and this relationship was stable over time. These relationships were significant even when accounting for the variance explained by depression, anxiety, conflict, and other demographic variables. Findings support existing media effects and family leisure research. This research, however, goes beyond existing research in its mixed level analysis that accounted for family-level variance and in its analysis of time in the stability of the relationship between media variables and family functioning. Findings further suggest the importance in parental involvement in adolescent media use when explaining variance in family functioning.

Despite known associations between fitness and recurrent cardiovascular events, changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscle strength with long-term cardiac rehabilitation (CR) have not been extensively examined in men, and data in women is absent in the literature. The purpose of this thesis was to estimate changes in CRF and muscle strength associated with long-term CR program enrollment in men and women, and to examine the influence of baseline fitness and age on these fitness trajectories in men. Our methods and interpretations of the findings are discussed in the thesis, but in brief, using mixed model analyses we observed important fitness benefits over long-term CR enrollment in men and women and influences of baseline fitness and age on the trajectories in men. Our data provide new evidence of improved fitness trajectories in men and women after long-term CR enrollment and highlight the importance of long-term exercise-based CR after the completion of short-term programs. Larger prospective cohort studies are warranted to confirm the observations, and to identify potential mechanisms underlying these findings. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Sex ratio is very important for the evolution of dioecious plants. It can influence the reproductive success of plants. Sex ratio bias is common among reproductive individuals. Studying the reproductive traits can help to understand possible mechanisms that could influence the generation and maintenance of sex ratio bias. However, few studies have reported the relationship between reproductive traits and sex ratio bias. We investigated 29 full-sib families of the dwarf willow Salix herbacea L. S.herbacea exhibits an overall female sex ratio bias but also strong variation in sex ratio among families. We used variance component analysis to investigate from which morphological level the variation of reproductive traits (cumulative catkin number over four growth periods, annual catkin number in the fourth growth period, flower number, ovule number) came from. And we used mixed models to test the influence of family, sex and the sex by family interaction on reproductive traits. Besides that, we also tested the correlation between sex ratio and reproductive traits. Our results suggest that genetic factors can influence the degree of sexual dimorphism of S. herbacea in the different families Flowers from families with higher sex ratios had more ovules, sex ratio and the ovule number co-varied across families.