The value concept is regularly employed by sociologists and social psychologists. Despite the ubiquitous nature of the concept, values are not a relevant theoretical construct in much social theory and the concept remains difficult to measure. This project tackles both theoretical and methodological shortcomings in the study and application of values. Two cutting edge methods of value measurement are used--the Schwartz Value Survey and the factorial survey method--and their results compared to assess the validity of these measures. There is little convergent validity with these two methods, perhaps due to some of the difficulties encountered when measuring values in the first place. In terms of content validity, both measures of values demonstrate a relationship between people's values and their deviant behavior. Surprisingly, this result has been difficult to obtain in the criminological literature. A theory that specifies a direct mechanism between values and deviance--cultural deviance theory--is tested. Evidence supports the notion that people who are more likely to be deviant, are also more likely to place a higher priority on "subterranean" values for wealth, aggression, competition, and beating the system, while simultaneously placing a low priority on "mainstream" values like trustworthiness and equality. Results could also apply to other criminological theories that have previously ignored values as an important theoretical construct.

In the contemporary society choice of career is sex-stereotyped. There are more females in educational and nursing careers, and there are more males in engineering and science careers. Females and males perceive their roles in the society in a sex-stereotyped way and they try to fit into culturally appropriate sex-roles. People make causal attributions for different situations in life and think and behave according to the causal attributions they make. The research question of this dissertation asks if sex-role and attributional style affect career choices, and if the answer is different across cultures. Two studies were concerned with the relationship between sex-role, attributional style, and career choices at college and high school levels in two different cultures (the United States and Romania). Comparisons were made also between females in single-sex high school and coeducational high schools. A third study determined the changes in career choices following attributional retraining. Results from the studies show that career choices are sex-stereotyped and sex-roles influence choice of career in both cultures. The sex-stereotypical choice of careers is more evident in Romania. Females in single-sex education schools report more adaptive sex-roles and attributional styles, and they choose more diverse career fields than females in coeducational schools. Attributional retraining is related to changes in career choices.

To prove a hostile environment sexual harassment claim, a plaintiff must show that the alleged conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive to have created a hostile, intimidating, or abusive work environment. In determining whether that standard has been met, courts ask whether a reasonable person in the same or similar circumstances would have found the conduct harassing. Since 1991, some courts have determined that this objective standard can best be operationalized by asking the triers of fact to view the behavior from a "reasonable woman's" perspective. In the landmark case, Ellison v. Brady, the court justified the need for a sex-specific standard by implicitly relying on findings from social science research suggesting that men and women differ in how they define sexual harassment. A meta-analysis of 79 studies that examined male/female differences on definition of sexual harassment was conducted. A small but persistent sex effect was found (r=.1635) such that women tend to have broader definitions of sexual harassment than men. A closer look at male/female differences on individual stimuli showed that they varied considerably, however, suggesting that the important differences may relate more to the type of behavior being evaluated than to the sex of the evaluator. Additional research exploring these stimulus effects should be conducted.

Nonverbal behaviors impact our perceptions of interaction. Many sociological theories have attempted to understand how perceptions work in interaction. Affect Control Theory is one which has had particular success in understanding the ways in which people perceive events generally; with this research I hope to be able to make that theory even stronger and more predictive by including nonverbal behaviors in its scope. A four-study research design is presented. The first study collected the affective meanings of nonverbal behaviors independent of event contexts. Study two paired nonverbal behaviors with other behaviors to see how they combine in people's perceptions to create new affective meanings. The third and fourth studies required performing two experiments (one with paper stimuli and one with videotaped stimuli) to see what effects the inclusion of nonverbal behaviors has on impressions people form of events and event elements. I found that single nonverbal elements each have distinct meanings and create distinct impressions in those who view them; that nonverbal behaviors work in combination with behaviors to create modified impressions of situations; that nonverbal behaviors play as important a role as behaviors in those combinations; and that nonverbal behavior ratings are essential to understanding the meaning of behaviors in event contexts. This project has increased our understanding of the relationship between nonverbal behaviors and impressions that are formed in the context of interpersonal interaction. In addition, it increased the utility of Affect Control Theory in predicting event perceptions by allowing for more accurate understanding of the complex situations in which people interact.

Research suggests that the fighting spirit (FS) of patients coping with serious illness correlates with their physical health and psychological adjustment, but studies to date have operationalized FS primarily through questionnaires and have neglected the possibility that close relationships influence (or are influenced by) an individual patient's FS. This study examines the reliability and validity of an observational measure of FS, developed by the author, and its relationship to patient, spouse, and marital variables. The measure is based on an expanded definition consisting of eight dimensions: optimism, control, self-efficacy, sense of purpose, self-esteem, persistence, active participation, and adaptability. Participants were 88 couples in which one of the partners (63 men and 25 women) had congestive heart failure (CHF). As part of the Michigan Family Heart Project (Coyne, 1993), both partners participated in individual home interviews and completed questionnaires related to physical health, psychological functioning, approaches to coping with the illness, and the partners' marital relationship. Biomedical measures of illness severity were recorded concurrently from the patient's chart, and a telephone interview 9 months later provided follow-up measures of patient life satisfaction and distress. Judges reliably rated FS dimensions from audiotaped interview segments of the patient describing how he or she had coped with a recent health problem, and the composite FS measure demonstrated good internal consistency and fair convergent and discriminant validity. Although FS did not predict four-year survival, it did relate to health, psychological functioning, and the marital context, though in different ways for male and female patients. For female patients, FS appeared to be a problem-focused, spouse-involving approach associated with initial distress that improved over time; whereas for male patients, FS appeared to represent a private self-efficacy in illness management independent of problem-solving efforts and associated with initial well-being that deteriorated over time. Though preliminary, these results suggest that FS coping may have different correlates and consequences for men and women, and highlight the importance of dose relationships in managing serious illness.

Described since the beginning of medicine and considered to be the oldest mental illness, depression is understood as a mood, symptom, syndrome and mental disease. It affects a large number of individuals, mainly women during their productive period, in different cultural environments. World Health officials suggest that over 200 million individuals worldwide are affected by one of the forms of depression. Epidemiological and biological studies have revealed the close relationship between depression and several factors, including sex, age, social environment, personality, and genetics. They utilize a single causal model of illness, and neglect the role played by culture in the expression and experience of depressive disorders. As a mood variation, depression is a panhuman phenomenon, but not all cultures recognize depressive disorders as a categorized ailment. Indeed, some cultures (Buddhist) give positive values for depressive complaints and even encourage them; other cultures (Western), however, tolerate depressive symptoms only as acute phenomena. Cross-cultural researchers have discussed the importance of culture for modeling the experience and effects of depression. It is culture which gives positive or negative meaning to depressive phenomena. In this way, anthropologists have questioned the universality of depressive disorders and suggested that depression is a cultural, Western construction. In the second half of the twentieth century, research studies have described the high prevalence rates of depression across cultures. Probably because of emotional and socioeconomic pressures, modern industrialized life exposes individuals to a high risk of depression. Indeed, Western researchers have demonstrated that in each new generation, a greater number of individuals have experienced depression. Contrary to the belief of Brazilian health professionals, lower class African Brazilians are at an increased risk for depressive disorders. The research study for this dissertation was realized in public health services in greater Sao Paulo, Brazil. I interviewed 565 patients and included 105 in the study. All patients presented clinical depression and the majority of them were considered to be chronically impaired. Psychosocial factors such as: gender, age, socioeconomic background, race, migration, marital status, educational background and religious preference were positively associated with the occurrence of depression.

Although it is often anticipated that demographic diversity in decision-making teams will enhance decision quality because individuals will offer unique perspectives, there is little empirical support for this hypothesis. Diverse work teams usually suffer from poor communication and are prone to conflict because individuals are so different from each other. My dissertation research tries to better understand how demographic diversity affects individuals in teams by examining the team decision-making process in depth. I study the intervening process variables of conflict and miscommunication, as well as the outcome variables of team identity and decision quality. I also examine how communication media affect individuals in these same teams. I conducted a field experiment. Subjects were assigned to conditions based on their actual roles in an organization. Using a balanced 2 x 2 design, I constructed demographically diverse and homogenous work teams along the dimensions of organizational function, racial-ethnic minority status, and sex. Teams communicated face-to-face or using computer-mediated communication technology. Results indicate that demographic diversity has both a positive and a negative effect on the ability of individuals to identify with their team and to negotiate higher quality decisions. Results also show that when teams' communication was computer mediated, individuals in these teams had weaker team identity and lower decision quality. An intervening process theory involving miscommunication and conflict is supported.

The purpose of this study was to empirically assess the validity of legal assumptions regarding the use of physical punishment by Mexican parents with their children. Three legal assumptions were identified and tested in the studied Mexican legal framework: (1) parents always act in the best interest of their children; (2) non-severe physical punishment is an adequate and nonharmful strategy for rising children; and (3) parents discriminate between moderate/corrective punishment and severe child abuse. One hundred-fifty mothers living in the Northwestern Mexican State of Sonora were interviewed regarding their use of physical punishment with their children, their knowledge of the law regarding their and their children's' rights and duties, their perceptions of their legal obligations in regard to their disciplinary practices with their children, their disciplinary beliefs, their monitoring of their children, the frequency of maltreatment they received from their parents, their levels of depression/anxiety, their antisocial behaviors, and their alcohol consumption levels. In order to validate the legal assumptions, three structural models were specified and tested. The first model tested the assumption that physical punishment is used in the best interest of children. In this model, the perception of a legal prerogative to use physical punishment was found to increase violence against children. In contrast, parental knowledge of child and parental rights and obligations was inversely related to punitive disciplinary beliefs, while such beliefs were positively associated with child punishment and negatively associated with child monitoring. The second model estimated the effect of a history of mothers' vicitimization during childhood on their adult behavior. It was found that being maltreated as a child was associated positively with antisocial behavior and depression/anxiety, which in turn affected positively alcohol consumption and harsh parenting. The third model estimated the covariance between moderate punishment and severe punishment. Results showed that the correlation between them was higher than the factor loadings between each latent construct and their corresponding observed variables. This finding indicates that parents do not discriminate between moderate and severe punishment, invalidating the assumption that parents are aware of limits between what can be considered abuse and disciplinary punishment. The implications of these findings are discussed.

During the 20th century, a significant portion of the field of public health has evolved to focus on the impact of lifestyle on health and chronic disease, and survey research is considered a staple to both public health practice and research. Because of the costs associated with non-response and nonparticipation, it is important to consider strategies and techniques that maximize participants. This dissertation examines this area of compliance by studying the impact of the foot-in-the-door technique (FITD) (Freedman & Fraser, 1966) in two studies utilizing health related survey measures. The FITD technique is tested in two applied settings to determine effectiveness. The project is unique in that the project uses test of multiple targets at once, and multiple critical requests. Independent variables include size of critical request, exposure to multiple critical requests over time, psychological reactance, preference for consistency, and demographic variables. Results show that the FITD is effective when used to recruit multiple individuals at once, and with multiple critical questionnaires. In addition, the size of critical questionnaire is inversely related to participation, for both treatment and control subjects. Finally, although the FITD was not supported as effective when compared with a control group over time, it was significantly more effective than a 'standard treatment' that did not use a 'short' FITD questionnaire, but rather used standard length questionnaires over time. Psychological reactance and preference for consistency did not impact compliance with critical requests. In addition, demographic variables did not impact completion of critical requests questionnaires.

This study described the meaning of the wedding day as experienced by brides who were planning their upcoming weddings. Topics that were addressed included: an investigation into the meaning of the wedding day as created by young women who were planning their wedding days; with a focus on the role of traditions and rituals in the creation of the meaning day; and an examination of how significant others were involved in the creation of the meaning behind the wedding day. Brides were recruited from a variety of sources, including students and attendants at a local bridal fair. Criteria for inclusion required that brides were young, heterosexual women between the ages of 21 and 30, were formally engaged to be married, had a specific wedding date set within 12 months, and had never been married. Fourteen brides participated in interviews. Giorgi's (1985, 1997) phenomenological procedure was used for data analysis. Findings revealed six essences that influenced the brides' created meaning of the wedding day. The six essential findings were labeled using concepts from symbolic interaction theory: symbols, role-taking, role-making, definition of self definition of the situation, and definition of other. Within each of the six essences, several themes emerged. Symbols were a predominant influence on the creation of the wedding day. Symbols were described when brides discussed the various traditions and rituals they were adopting, adapting, and avoiding as they planned their weddings. Brides went about role-taking and role-making in an effort to create their wedding days. Brides were guided in their role-taking and role-making through their use of wedding documents, such as bridal magazines. Brides' desired wedding days were also shaped around the definitions they carried of themselves and their definitions of the situation that they hoped to create on their wedding day. Several significant others were involved in the creation of the meaning of the wedding. Significant others were found to be both helpful and unhelpful to the brides. Overall, the meaning of the wedding day represented the influence of these six essences as the bride went about planning the wedding day she hoped to create.