In this study, we contrasted socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006) with dynamic integration theory (DIT; Labouvie-Vief, 2003) using trajectories of quantitative and qualitative social support in later life. SST is a lifespan theory of motivational development (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999). There is a normative decline in social support networks in later life. In other words, individuals who perceive the limitation on time left for their future are likely to decrease the quantitative social support and compensate for this decrease by improving qualitative social support with emotionally meaningful social partners. The theory also postulates that age is the primary proxy for perceived limitation of individuals' lives (Carstensen, Fung, & Charles, 2003). Further, self-reported health and functional status are factors that affect older adults' perception of limitation of time left in their lives (Carstensen, 2006). In contrast, DIT is a neo-Piagetian theory that emphasizes the presence of individual differences in quantitative and qualitative social support in later life depending on individuals' levels of cognitive resources that are associated with educational levels (Labouvie-Vief & Diehl, 2000). Despite these different arguments on the trajectories of quantitative and qualitative social support in later life, SST and DIT have not been tested within a same study. The current study examined the trajectories of frequency of social contact (quantitative social support) and reliance on family members and close friends (qualitative social support) in later life. Participants were drawn from the Normative Aging Study (NAS; N = 1,067, M[subscript age] = 60.83, SD = 8.08) who completed social support surveys three times from 1985 to 1991. Using unconditional and unconditional analyses (Raudenbush & Bryk, 1986), growth models of frequency of social contact with and reliance on family members and close friends were tested. Within subject analyses found that the trajectory of frequency of social contact was a U-shaped curve with the age of 54 years at a peak, while the trajectory of reliance on family and friends were stable and linear. Random effects of age for the intercept and slope were significant in both models of frequency of contact and reliance on family and friends, although the random effect for the latter were small in both models. Between subjects analyses were conducted to examine whether cognitive resources, marital status, health status, and functional status predicted variance in the intercept and slope of both types of support. As SST hypothesized, having better self-reported physical health predicted higher levels of frequency of contact over age. Being married was associated with higher quantity of social support. However, contrary to our hypothesis based on SST, having poorer functional status predicted more frequent social contact over age. The random effect of intercept was still significant after controlling for these psychosocial predictors. The evidence to test the DIT hypotheses was examined in the model of the qualitative social support. Having memory problems predicted decreasing reliance on social partners. However, marital status and education did not significantly predict change in qualitative social relationships. Contrary to the hypothesis based on SST that posited poor self-reported health was associated with higher qualitative social support, it was better self-reported health that predicted higher qualitative social support. The random effects for the intercept and slope were still significant after controlling for these psychosocial factors. Taken together, the findings of the current study suggest that SST and DIT can be used as theoretical frameworks that are complementary rather than contradictory in their predictions of socioemotional development in later life. SST is useful to illustrate the overall trajectory of quantitative social support in a normative development in late life. DIT's stance better explains the individual differences in qualitative social support in non-normative contexts. The findings also suggest that having memory problems and poor self-reported health as non-normative developmental outcomes may be risk factors of older adults' ability to seek for social support. / Graduation date: 2012

The first aim of the dissertation is to shed light on how communication at a drama college may obstruct the students’ involvement. There are three studies on this subject in the dissertation. The first study deals with the students’ involvement in their education in general. The second study deals with the applicants’ involvement in the entrance examination to the college. The third study deals with the students’ involvement in a basic acting course at the college. The main theoretical framework is Etienne Wenger’s theories on social practices and social configurations, Per Linell’s activity type theory, and Herbert Clark’s theories on joint projects. The studies reveal a number of potential communicative obstacles, due to different basic communicative circumstances, communicative procedures and normative formulations. The second aim of the dissertation is to offer analytical tools which drama colleges and similar organizations can use to shed light on their own communication. The analytical concepts and the method used in the studies have the potential to be useful for such organizations: the concepts are relatively comprehensible and do not require a specific type of data, and the method offers steps in which to conduct an analysis. The third aim is to develop forms for what in the dissertation is called a practice-oriented communication analysis, in order to contribute to the discussion on how to study language use as part of broader communicative and social contexts, and how to collaborate with those whose communication is studied. The dissertation offers an orderly way to handle such questions, by formulating guidelines for the selection of theories, methods, and data, and by arguing for certain theories, methods, and data in regard to the guidelines.

Consent for the research study was obtained from the divisional executive of the financial services division being researched and all ethical factors were clarified. All potential participants were engaged in a divisional communication session where participation was advised to be voluntary and anonymity and confidentiality was assured. The results of the study revealed that there was no statically significant relationship between intention to quit and organisational commitment but a statically significant relationship between organisational commitment and age, tenure, marital status and staff with dependants respectively were revealed. Further to that, a statistically significant relationship between intention to quit and age, tenure, marital status was also revealed. Therefore, based on the understanding gained, and the relationship it had with respect to the biographical factors used in the study, it presents organisations with the insight and opportunity to better retain staff. Clear understandings of the limitations of the findings presented are also discussed and additional recommendations for future research are also provided.

The goals of this thesis are to evaluate quality of life (QoL) in adult patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in relation to population normative data, to construct a preference-weighted index (utility) from a disease-specific QoL measure and to assess it in a clinical context. The study included samples from the general population and patients with GHD from four European populations: England & Wales, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. The country-specific patient cohorts were retrieved from KIMS (Pfizer International Metabolic Database). A questionnaire was developed that contained items from existing QoL questionnaires including, among others, Quality of Life Assessment in Growth Hormone Deficiency in Adults (QoL-AGHDA) and the EQ-5D. The QoL-AGHDA is a disease-specific measure for use in adults with GHD. The EQ-5D is a generic instrument which describes health states for which country-specific preference-based weights are available. Thus, it was possible to generate preference-weighted indices (utilities) based on data generated by both instruments. This thesis reports QoL-AGHDA normative values for the populations of England & Wales, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, and confirms the extent of QoL impairment in patients with GHD in comparison with the general population. Long-term GH replacement resulted in sustained improvements in overall QoL towards normative country-specific values, as well in most of the dimensions that were impaired before treatment. For use in health economic evaluations, models for generating utilities (QoL-AGHDAutility) from QoL-AGHDA were developed. It is believed that these models may facilitate medical decision making, given that they provide a tool for obtaining utilities in the absence of directly collected preference-weighted indices. QoL-AGHDAutility effectively monitored treatment effects in patients with GHD. Moreover, this study confirmed a QoL-AGHDAutility deficit before treatment and a gain after starting GH replacement. The novel aspect of the present approach was to apply preference-weighted indices derived from a disease-specific measure to assess QoL in the clinical context, together with patient demographic and clinical characteristics. The robustness of this analysis is reinforced by the fact that utilities in both general and patient populations were generated using the same methodology.

The oral sensory ability in children can be assessed through test of intraoral stereognosis and two-point discrimination. Currently, these two tests are not frequently used in clinical settings, and normative data are not always available. The aim of this study was to establish normative data for these two tests in children aged 5;6 to 7;0 years. Further, intention was to compare the results with respect to age and gender. In total 103 children participated, 49 boys and 54 girls. The participants were divided into three age-groups. The results regarding intraoral stereognosis showed significant differences between genders, where boys performed poorer than girls. Differences between two of the three age-groups could also be established. The results show that an improvement can be expected in children six years and older. Regarding two-point discrimination 73 of the 103 children performed perfectly. The remaining children’s scores were also consistently high. No differences between gender and age were found. There was no correlation between the test results of intraoral stereognosis and two-point discrimination. Therefore it would be necessary to perform both these tests in assessment, since they probably examine two separate aspects of the oral sensory ability. / Oral sensorisk förmåga hos barn kan bland annat utredas genom test av intraoral stereognosi och tvåpunktsdiskrimination. Dessa två test är i nuläget inte särskilt kliniskt utbredda, och normvärden saknas ofta. Föreliggande studie syftade till att fastställa normvärden för dessa två test hos barn mellan 5;6 och 7;0 år. Vidare jämfördes även testresultaten med avseende på åldersgrupp och kön. 103 barn deltog i studien, varav 49 var pojkar och 54 var flickor. Deltagarna delades in i tre åldersgrupper. Resultatet visade signifikanta könsskillnader på test av intraoral stereognosi, där pojkarnas resultat var något sämre än flickornas. Även skillnader mellan två av åldersgrupperna konstaterades gällande intraoral stereognosi. Resultatet visar att en förbättring på testet kan förväntas då barnen har fyllt sex år. Angående test av tvåpunktsdiskrimination klarade 73 av de 103 barnen testet felfritt, och överlag presterade barnen mycket bra på testet. Inga skillnader mellan kön eller åldersgrupper noterades beträffande test av tvåpunktsdiskrimination. Testresultaten av intraoral stereognosi och tvåpunktsdiskrimination korrelerade inte. Därför är det sannolikt nödvändigt att i utredning utföra båda testen, eftersom det kan röra sig om två olika aspekter av intraoral sensorik.

Lip force has been found to affect the ability to achieve satisfying speech production and swallowing. A normative value for lip force in adults has been measured to 15 Newton (N). Corresponding value for children measured with Lip Force Meter 100 (LF100) does not exist. In the current study lip force was measured in children between the ages of five and ten years. The aim of the study was to obtain normative values for children with typical development in separate age groups. Production of syllable with initial bilabial plosive was further calculated to see if any correlation between lip force and syllable production existed. An examination of learning effect in repeated measures was also executed. The age group 5:0-5:11 only included four participants. This age group was therefore not included in the statistical measurements. The common mean for lip force in all children was 14.98 N. The mean for each age group was 12.75 N for 5:0-5:11 year olds, 14.69 N for 6:0-6:11, 16.93 N for 7:0-7:11, 14.97 N for 8:0-8:11 and 14.14 N for the age group 9:0-9:11 years. In the current study no significant differences in lip force was found between age groups. The common mean for syllable production in all children was 5.50 syllables/second. A significant difference between the ages six and seven year olds as well as six and nine year olds was found, where the older age groups showed higher values. No significant correlation was found between lip force and syllable production. Analysis of the learning effect over three lip force measurements showed tendencies for increased lip force at the last measure. The difference was not significant. In the present study no statistical measurements for gender differences were executed for each separate age group due to small numbers. Measurements in age group 6:0-9:11 showed tendencies for higher values of both lip force and syllable production for girls. These differences were not significant.

The strive for control over employees has developed throughout the years. This paper has its focus on how normative control can work as a powerful method to create and uphold a sought for behavior. Many companies have found an interest in a higher moral stance to get competitive advantages, and offer their customers and partners a more ethical product. This phenomenon has in Sweden resulted in a sphere of companies who has earned the R-licens. The R-licens is earned by companies if they fulfill ethical and cultural criteria. This paper explores how a telemarketing company reinforce these ethical guidelines and how the company use normative control to reassure what they consider ethical behavior. The paper has a social constructionist view and the data was gathered by semi-structured interviews. The data was analyzed via discourse analysis.The conclusion is that the normative control effectively has created an environment of a ethical perspective in the company. The control is due to a dualistic surveillance (horizontal and vertical) and that the employees take a stand against external conceptions of how telemarketing works and how competing companies operate. Their beliefs and trust in their moral standings and methods of selling is better and more honest (compare to their competition) makes them justify and reinforce the culture and its surveillance over them. Their shared beliefs are so strong that actions outside the culture are unacceptable and may result in lay-offs. The contribution of this paper is a window of observation, how normative control works to ground the ethical phenomenon on the company.

Benämningsförmågan av verb och substantiv kan påverkas på skilda sätt vid neurologisk skada eller sjukdom och idag finns inget normerat verbbenämningstest på svenska. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att översätta och ta fram normvärden för friska vuxna personer på Action Naming Test (ANT), samt att undersöka huruvida ålder, kön, utbildnings- och kognitionsnivå påverkar resultaten. Målorden i ANT översattes från engelska till svenska genom omvänd översättning och 120 personer i åldrarna 20-83 år testades med detta. För möjlighet att undersöka inverkande faktorer på resultaten samlades information om utbildningsnivå in och deltagarna testades även med Irregularly Spelled Words (ISW) och Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) Blockmönster. Resultaten visade att ålder, utbildning och kognition hade en inverkan på hur friska vuxna personer presterade på ANT. Yngre deltagare presterade signifikant bättre, liksom deltagare med hög utbildnings- och kognitionsnivå. Hänsyn bör tas till att anpassningar till svenska språket inte är fullständigt utförda, men då resultaten har ett stort underlag kan de ändå användas som normvärden vid testning av verbbenämningsförmåga hos personer med neurologisk skada eller sjukdom. / In case of brain damage the naming ability of verbs and nouns can be differently affected. Since there is no test of verb naming available in Swedish, the aim of this study was to translate and establish normative data for Action Naming Test (ANT). Further, the intention was to compare the results with respect to age, gender, educational and cognitive level. The words in ANT were translated from English to Swedish through back translation and 120 healthy participants, aged 20-83 years, were tested. To be able to study factors possible influence on the results, information about education was also collected and the participants were tested with Irregularly Spelled Words (ISW) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) Block Design. The result showed that age, education and cognition had a significant influence on the ANT results. Young participants performed better, as well as participants with high educational and cognitive level. Considerations should be taken that the adaptations to the Swedish language are incompletely, but since the result is based on a large sample it can be used to test verb naming in patients with brain damage.

Abstract In accordance with several scholars in the field of human resource management, developing employee commitment towards the employing organization is valuable due to the assumption that it increases their satisfaction, productivity and adaptability. By taking a pedagogical perspective focusing on impact processes, the aim of this master thesis is primarily to identify the constructions and functions of interpretive repertoires, of a few employees, in their descriptions of how the experience of Nynas’ Corporate Group Induction has influenced their commitment to Nynas, but also to categorize the constructions and functions of interpretive repertoires in a booklet underlined during the Corporate Group Induction, which I refer to as “This is Nynas”. In addition, the aim is to identify if other employees at Nynas share similar experiences, regarding the influence of the Corporate Group Induction. Moreover, the primary methodological approach used and theoretical perspective taken in this study is discursive psychology, based upon the premises of social constructionism. The empirical material is mainly consisting of interviews with six employees at Nynas, as well as of an analysis of the booklet “This is Nynas”. Additionally, the empirical material consists of a web-survey, based upon a five-point Likert scale, containing a sample of 25 employees. The study has identified two main interpretive repertoires in the booklet “This is Nynas”, explicitly the identity and the internalize repertoires, as well as subversions of these repertoires. In relation to this, the study has found that the interviewees in their language use to a large extent emphasize the interpretive repertoires constructed in “This is Nynas”. Furthermore, this master thesis have identified that the interviewees constructed certain interpretive repertoires when describing the experience of the Corporate Group Induction, and its influence on their commitment to Nynas, namely: the enhancement, the involvement, the development, the reciprocity and the constancy repertoires. Moreover, the study illustrates that the interviewees generally highlighted the Corporate Group Induction as having a strengthening influence on their commitment to Nynas, especially in relation to feelings of being a part of the company, due to the fact that they experienced themselves as active participants during the program. Furthermore, the result shows that the interviewees perceived the Corporate Group Induction as a sign of reciprocal dedication between themselves and Nynas, particularly on the subject of their integration into the company. Finally, the study has found that the experience of those who participated in the survey corresponded to a high extent with the interviewee’s experience of the Corporate Group Induction, and its influence on their commitment.      Keywords: induction program, Corporate Group Induction, social constructionism, discourse analysis, discursive psychology, discursively constructed, reflexivity, commitment, affective, continuance, normative, Likert scale, late modernity, strategic sampling.

¡§Individual¡¨is the basic analytic unit in a pluralistic society. Especially, phenomenon of public affairs is essence of the problem and is based on individual cognition, hidden in group behavior. The individual cognition forms group judgment and interpersonal influence in the group. This interpersonal influence process may simplify as the power relations between group members, the communication network and the interaction form in the group, and the opinion relations within the group (French, 1956). The conflict is the essential situation of interpersonal influence and also is one kind of relational form and phenomenon for group judgment. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the interpersonal influence and conduct interpersonal mutual cooperation in the public affairs area. The group decision-making (or judgment) can be explored based on observable individual preference and group decision-making. That can infer unobservable interpersonal influence. This interpersonal influence process transforms the individual judgment into the group decision-making. There are two stages in interpersonal influence process, including opinion formation for individual members, and compromise among group members. Namely, the individual might revise his or her preference voluntarily. The group integrates the revised members¡¦ judgments into group decision-making. That is, the group process resembles the process which individual integrates multi-cues like information integration theory (IIT) (Friedkin, 2005; Sniezek et al., 1989). The average cognitive algebra pattern in IIT may measure the interpersonal influence effectively. The theories of group decision-making are still insufficient. For example, social power theory and social comparison theory explain the concept of choice shift, but not positivism. Social decision scheme (SDS) employs decision scheme to predict the group decision-making, but it is insufficient for explaining the group decision-making process. Although social dilemma explores both individual level and group level, it cannot provide the weighting method. Cognitive conflict paradigm (CCP) discusses judgment policy shift, but preference shift is still not mentioned. Although CCP focuses on interpersonal learning, it does not propose how to weight interpersonal influence. The functional measurement theory in IIT may supplement insufficiencies in these theories.. The research utilizes the concept and the method of IIT, which prodivides experimental validity for explaining the complex interpersonal influence process by using social weight. This research uses budget allocation as discussion cases. Interpersonal conflicts are divided by the cognitive conflict and the interest conflict. By using social judgment theory (SJT), this research can analyze cognitive difference in the case of cognitive conflict. Besides, using quasi-experimental procedure in IIT, the findings of this research include: 1. In the group process, group members¡¦ judgments are integrated to group decision-making based on unequal-weight rule mostly. Members¡¦ social weights are different and depend on the level of members¡¦ preferences. 2. The members in different groups have the same preferences initially. Although social weights of these members are not significant difference in statistic, these members still appear the differences between individuals. 3. In cognitive conflict case, the group consensus is not consistently accompanied by cognitive consensus. 4. The group influence results from normative social influence, rather than from informational social influence. 5. It shows that there is negative correlation between social weight and normative effect. Besides, social weight and comprise degree also show negative.correlation 6. The cognitive feedback and the outcome feedback don¡¦t affect decision-making result. 7. The relationship between social weight and the degree of satisfaction is not supported. The social weight and the fairness of decision-making process show significant correlation 8. The subjects¡¦ decision-making performances in the study don¡¦t show significant difference