Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-53). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Gary Kleck, Florida State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 27, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 138 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-72). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70). Also available via the Internet.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether different types of home protection/guardianship behavior have any influence on worry about burglary, using the Seattle, Washington data collected by Terrance Miethe in 1990. This study also examines whether gender and previous victimization have any moderating effect on the relationship between home guardianship and worry about burglary. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationships. The findings in the main model showed that four of the seven types of home guardianship significantly predicted higher likelihoods of worry of about burglary. When gender was treated as a moderator, only one type of home protection significantly predicted higher chances of worry for females whereas four types of home protection significantly predicted higher odds of worry for males. When previous victimization was treated as a moderator, findings in the non-victims’ model were the same as findings in the main model. Findings in the previous victims’ model showed that one type of home guardianship predicted higher chances of worry about burglary. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 50-53). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

People tend to maintain certain positive illusions about themselves and their futures that may be adaptive in buffering their self-esteem and feelings of efficacy from the effects of negative or threatening feedback. The illusion of unique invulnerability is the expectation that others will be the victims of misfortune and negative events more so than oneself. One possible implication of holding this belief is that, if a false sense of security is fostered, actual vulnerability to experiencing negative events that one has control over (for example, contracting lung cancer from smoking) might be increased if self-protective behaviors are decreased. The purpose of this study was to determine 1) what personality characteristics are related to this belief in unique invulnerability, 2) whether unique invulnerability is related to assumption of risk in behavior, 3) how accurately people assess the riskiness of their own behavior, and 4) how beliefs in unique invulnerability change over time and experience with risk. Subjects were 164 male and female Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, ages 17-20, engaged in rappelling down a tall structure, an inherently risky activity. A measure of unique invulnerability and several personality measures were administered before rappelling, and risk-relevant behavior was observed during rappelling. Personal safety ratings were obtained and the invulnerability measure was readministered after rappelling. Results indicated that unique invulnerability was positively correlated with self-esteem (p<.004). For subjects’ first rappels, unique invulnerability was negatively related to number of bounds to descend a 40-foot tower (p<.01), such that as invulnerability increased, number of bounds decreased. Although assumption of risk was operationally defined as taking fewer bounds, further analyses indicated that number of bounds might be more a reflection of physical competence than of riskiness. This finding suggested that greater beliefs in invulnerability were related to competent rappelling performance, while lesser beliefs in invulnerability were related to ultra-conservative behavior. Self-reports of safety were positively related to number of bounds for first rappels off a 40-foot tower (p<.01), and were related to instructor ratings of jump competence and safety for first and second rappels off a 40-foot tower (ps<.05). This suggests that as a number of bounds became more conservative, and as instructor ratings improved, self-reports of safety increased. Finally, beliefs in unique invulnerability decreased after rappelling, both for subjects who rappelled (p<.001), and for control subjects who observed but did not rappel (p<.05). Conclusions are that self-esteem is an important component of the illusion of unique invulnerability, that invulnerability is related to competent performance while engaging in risky activities like rappelling, that invulnerability is subject to change over time and experience, and that subjects can fairly accurately assess the objective safety of their behavior. Implications for theory and research on unique invulnerability are discussed, as well as limitations and future directions. / Master of Science

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka vad som skiljer i personlighet mellan studenter som vaccinerade sig mot svininfluensan och studenter som inte vaccinerade sig. Studien genomfördes genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning på 194 studenter från ett universitet i Svealand. Deltagarna fick besvara psykometriska personlighetstester som mätte känslighet, ångest, depression, sympati och pålitlighet. Därefter utfördes statistiska test i SPSS för att i huvudsak beräkna medelvärdesskillnader. Resultaten visar att vaccinerade studenter är signifikant känsligare än ovaccinerade studenter. Vaccinerade studenter är också mer ångestfyllda men skillnaderna är inte signifikanta. Det finns inga nämnvärda skillnader i depression, sympati eller pålitlighet. Typ av utbildning och kön predicerar heller inte vaccinering. Sammanfattningsvis ska känslighet därmed ses som den viktigaste prediktorn för vilka personer som vaccinerar sig vid pandemier. Resultatet kan generaliseras till den svenska befolkningen eftersom studiens andel vaccinerade motsvarar befolkningens andel vaccinerade. Studiens urval motsvarar däremot inte den svenska populationens genomsnittliga utbildningsnivå. Å andra sidan har utbildningsnivå inte visat sig vara en betydande faktor för hälsoskyddande beteenden i tidigare forskning, varför mitt resultat bör betraktas som betydelsefullt. / The purpose of this study is to examine which personality aspects that are differing from students who got vaccinated against the swine flu, to students who did not get vaccinated. This study carried out a quantitative survey on 194 students from a mid-region university in Sweden. The participants were to answer psychometric personality tests on sensitivity, anxiety, depression, sympathy and dependability. Thereafter, statistical tests were conducted through SPSS, mainly to calculate mean differences. The results conclude that vaccinated students are significantly more sensitive than un-vaccinated students. Vaccinated students are also more anxious but these differences are not significant. There are no notable differences in depression, sympathy or dependability. Type of education and sex do not either predict vaccination. Finally, sensitivity shall be viewed as the most important predictor in a person’s likeliness to get vaccinated at pandemics. The findings can be generalized to the Swedish population because the proportion of vaccinated students in this study corresponds to the proportion of vaccinated people of the Swedish population. However, the sample of this study does not correspond to the educational level of the Swedish population. On the other hand, educational level has not been shown as an important determinant in health protective behaviors in former research literature, why my result should be considered as meaningful.