The National Institutes of Health recommends the development of conceptual models to increase rigor and improve evaluation in research. Validated models are essential to guide conceptualizations of phenomena, selection of variables and development of testable hypotheses. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a methodology useful in model testing due to its ability to account for measurement error and test latent variables. The purpose of this study was to test a model of The Geriatric Cancer Experience in End of Life as adapted from Emanuel and Emanuel's framework for a good death using SEM. It was hypothesized that the model was a five-factor structure composed of clinical status, physical, psychological, spiritual and quality of life domains and that quality of life is dependent on the other factors. The sample was comprised of 403 hospice homecare patients. Fifty six percent were male, 97% were white with a mean age of 77.7. Testing of the model used AMOS statistical software. The initial five-factor model was rejected when fit indices showed mis-specification. A three-factor model with quality of life as an outcome variable showed that 67% of the variability in quality of life is explained by the person's symptom experience and spiritual experience. As the number of symptoms and the associated severity and distress increase, the person's quality of life significantly decreases (ß -0.8). As the spiritual experience increases (the expressed need for inspiration, spiritual activities, and religion) the person's quality of life significantly increases (ß 0.2). This is significant to nursing because the model provides a useful guide for understanding the relationships between symptoms, spiritual needs, and quality of life in end of life geriatric cancer patients and suggests variables and hypotheses for research. This study provides evidence for a strong need for symptom assessment and spiritual assessment, development of plans of care inclusive of symptom control and spiritual care, and implementation and evaluation of those plans utilizing quality of life as an indicator for the outcome of care provided by nurses.

Violence and aggression continue to be both public health and economic concerns. The field of violence prediction has undergone a series of changes in an attempt to best assess risk including using unstructured clinical judgment, actuarial measures, and structured professional judgment. Although prediction has become more accurate with improved measures, a new generation has recently emerged with an emphasis on understanding violence, as opposed to merely predicting it, to shift the focus towards violence prevention. In addition to the creation of measures, researchers have sought to identify specific risk factors for aggression and violence including static and dynamic risk factors. Despite research demonstrating associations between neuropsychological and social-cognitive factors, violence risk measures continue to omit these variables. The current study developed a multi-faceted, theoretical model of aggression including social-cognitive, neuropsychological, personality, and psychiatric factors. A community, male sample (N = 1,192) collected through Amazon's MTurk responded to a series of self-report measures and neuropsychological tasks. Utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM), I created a model predicting aggression. Several important paths were significant including from entity theory to aggression, mediated by hostile attribution bias, schizotypy to aggression, mediated by both hostile attribution bias and disinhibition, substance use to aggression mediated by disinhibition, and psychopathy to aggression directly. This model provides a framework for future research that focuses on process factors of violence and aggression.

In today’s technological environment, organizational capabilities for managing change are regarded as important for business survival and growth. In particular, dynamic organizational capabilities have attracted considerable research interest over the past decade. Recently several studies have suggested that dynamic capabilities may be associated with a concept termed organizational fitness. What is not clear in this emerging research stream is whether firms with superior organizational fitness are more likely to prosper than unfit firms. In addition, relatively little attention has been directed toward creating a systemic model of dynamic capabilities that explains organizational fitness. The nature of fitness has been intensively debated in the biological sciences over a period of several decades. A confusing variety of fitness definitions have emerged from this literature. The lack of an agreed definition of fitness has resulted in several streams of research on organizational fitness. As a result of this fragmentation, there has been little progress toward answering the question of how to measure organizational fitness. The fragmentation in organizational fitness literature is problematic, because research into the relationship between organizational fitness and firm performance is not well-advanced. In this study, organizational fitness is defined in terms of organizational capability to produce variation. By defining fitness in this way, the tautological criticisms leveled against existing concepts of fitness are avoided. The definition of fitness proposed here accommodates both an evolutionary learning perspective and a perspective of strategic management, and thus reflects an integrative approach to the concept. A notable feature of the literature exploring organizational fitness is that it has been focused on large corporations. However, a growing body of literature suggests that SMEs are different from large firms and need to be examined in their own right. SMEs are important contributors to business in most countries throughout the world. This study addresses that perceived gap in the literature and asks: What relationship, if any, is there between organizational fitness and business performance for SMEs? Theory is developed and tested here by means of a large sample of SMEs in New Zealand. Two distinct aspects of organizational fitness are identified for SMEs. First, survival fitness is associated with generic combinative capabilities. Second, growth fitness is associated with knowledge assimilation and transformation. SME growth fitness and survival fitness are each found to be positively related to business performance under a variety of contexts. Further, an increase of growth fitness and survival fitness provides a means of alleviating selection pressures for SMEs. That is, dynamic capabilities of knowledge assimilation and integration are found to be positively associated with SME business performance. In contrast to studies that advocate SME development of context-dependent capabilities, the findings of this study suggest an alternative perspective: variable selection pressures can be influenced by SMEs with a high level of survival and growth fitness.

This thesis investigated the effects of photographic and text information on respondents' attitudes and willingness-to-pay for a proposed beach protection scheme in the erosion prone Gold Coast region on the east coast of Australia. The research developed two alternative expectancy-value attitude-behaviour models to test residents' attitudes toward relevant targets and behavioural intention, expressed through stated willingness-to-pay, and compared the proposed models with one established attitude-behaviour model. The thesis set out to investigate three central research questions; one question relating to the effects of information on attitudes and willingness-to-pay, and two questions relating to the relationships between attitudes and willingness-to-pay. It was hypothesised that photographs that depicted severe erosion damage would result in more positive attitudes toward, and greater willingness-to-pay for, beach protection than photographs that showed only mild levels of erosion damage. Positive relationships were hypothesised between variables representing attitudes toward beach erosion, attitude toward beach protection, attitude toward paying for beach protection, and willingness-to-pay. Finally, it was hypothesised that the relationships between attitudes and willingness-to-pay could be adequately explained by the proposed attitude-behaviour models. The thesis describes how seven information treatments and eight attitude measurement scales were developed and tested in a pilot experiment before use in a survey of homeowners in the region of interest. Analysis of variance showed that, while respondent's attitude toward beach protection was affected by the information treatments, their willingness-to-pay for the proposed program was insensitive to information. There were no significant effects that could be attributed exclusively to text descriptions of the good but there were significant effects that could be attributed to photographic information treatments. However, none of the effects on attitudes resulted in significant effects on the behavioural intention expressed in stated willingness-to-pay. Analysis of respondents with low previous knowledge of the proposed good revealed more extensive information effects on attitudes, but still not on willingness-to-pay, and this suggests that high levels of previous knowledge in a large proportion of the sample had a moderating effect on attitude change caused by the information treatments. Regression analysis showed that seven of the eight attitude and behaviour variables in the proposed attitude-behaviour model were significant predictors of willingness-to-pay. In the final phase of the analysis, goodness-of-fit indices, estimated using Structural Equation Modelling, indicated a good fit between the data and the attitude-behaviour models tested. Standardised coefficients on the model indicated that perceived behavioural control, expected utility of outcomes, and subjective norms all had strong direct relationships with stated willingness-to-pay, and strong indirect relationships on willingness-to-pay via attitudes toward payment. These results are consistent with the relationships proposed in attitude-behaviour models and the moderating effects of these variables explain why significant information treatment effects were observed on attitude to beach protection but not on willingness-to-pay. This research showed that respondent's willingness-to-pay in a contingent valuation experiment is quite insensitive to photographic treatments when previous knowledge is high and that costly and time consuming testing procedures, recommended by authorities, may not be necessary under these conditions. It also demonstrated that measures of attitude, consistent with an attitude-behaviour model, can be collected easily in a contingent valuation study and can contribute to understanding of participant responses and to identification of protest responses.

Bronfenbrenners Process-Person-Context-Time model was used to examine the relationships among the process of negative parenting, the person characteristics of child temperament and early aggressive behaviour and the contexts of family income (in)adequacy and maternal depression from infancy to school entry and their effects on the outcome of aggressive behaviour in boys at school entry. The sample included 361 boys in two-parent families who participated in the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). Structural equation modeling was used with a repeated measures longitudinal design. The model explained 43% of the variance in boys aggressive behaviour at school age. The results indicated that, by preschool age, boys and mothers behaviours are well established, and that process, person, and context variables all influence the persistence of boys aggressive behaviour. The strength of the effects of these variables increased with their proximity to the developing child and decreased over time. By school age, concurrent effects were not significant. The addition of the contextual variables resulted in ill-fitting models. Modification indices suggested the ill fit was localized in modeling the persistence of maternal depression, and not in the relationship between maternal depression and the other variables in the model. Modification indices also suggested there may be reciprocal effects between boys aggressive behaviour and both negative parenting and maternal depression, but this was not tested. Future research using a cross-lagged panel design could clarify these relationships. This study contributes to a growing body of research on the development of aggressive behaviour in children and underscores the importance of examining the contribution of the multiple levels of process, person, context, and time to the development of aggressive behaviour. Findings of this study provide evidence that the effects of proximal processes and proximal contexts on the development of boys aggressive behaviour are strongest in infancy and toddlerhood, and their consequences extend through to school entry. Initiating prevention and intervention efforts in early childhood that provide parents-to-be and parents of young children with practical direction in ways to engage in positive and responsive interactions with their children would do more to reduce the development of aggressive behaviour in children than would later interventions aimed at changing entrenched behaviours in both parents and children.

Background: High nursing turnover and early nursing career exit rates evidenced by the current global nursing shortage is the impetus for effective strategies aimed at retaining nurses in their current positions. Nurses’ behavioral intentions to leave or stay are not well understood. Aim: This thesis aims to increase understanding of why clinical nurses choose to remain in their current positions and to assess the influence that nursing leaders have on staff nurses’ intent to stay. Methods: Two systematic literature reviews were conducted; one to synthesize current research on clinical nurses’ intentions to stay and the influence of leadership practices on those intentions; the other to determine the appropriateness of conceptualizing intentions to stay and leave as opposite ends of a continuum. Building on two published conceptual models (Boyle et al. 1999; Tourangeau & Cranley (2006), a new theoretical model of nurses’ intent to stay was developed and tested as a structural equation model using LISREL 8.8 and a subset of the QWEST study data provided by 415 nurses working in nine hospitals in one Canadian province. Results: The systematic reviews identified positive relationships between relational leadership practices and nurses’ intentions to stay, supporting the assertion that managers influence the behavioral intentions of nurses and their intentions to stay and leave. Intentions to stay and leave were found to be separate but correlated concepts. Model testing results, χ2=169.9, df=148 and p=0.105, indicated a fitting model that explained 63% of the variance in intentions to stay. Concepts with the strongest direct effects on intent to stay were empowerment, organizational commitment, and desire to stay. Leadership had strong total effects and indirectly influenced intent to stay through empowerment. Conclusions: Findings suggested that intent to stay or leave should be investigated as separate but correlated concepts. Relational leadership that focuses on individual nurses and supports empowering work environments will likely affect nurses choosing to remain in their current positions.

Adjustment, particularly in adulthood, is a vague concept discussed among researchers. Most often researchers only consider lack of involvement in problem behavior as criteria for positive adjustment. Furthermore, it is unclear what factors influence the likelihood of adjustment and the influence of race on these factors is unknown. The current study proposed a composite of male adult adjustment that considers what the Wellness Model terms the “wholeness” of an individual. In addition, adolescent predictors of adult adjustment and the influence of race on factors influencing adjustment were examined in a longitudinal sample of 481 males. Results revealed 4 profiles of adjustment: 1 profile that included individuals who were overall adjusted, 2 profiles that included individuals who were moderately adjusted, and 1 profile of individuals who were maladjusted. The majority of the sample was identified as adjusted in that they were financially responsible, did not have psychological problems, engaged in little to no acts of delinquency, and acknowledged at least adequate social support. Note, however, that these individuals did engage in some substance use. The smallest profile of individuals was those who were maladjusted in that they engaged in excessive delinquency, used both drugs and drank alcohol heavily, and lacked a positive support system. However these individuals were also absent of psychological problems and were financially responsible. Findings also uncovered predictors of adjustment, such that high levels of depression, physical punishment, and poor relationships with peers were associated with only moderate levels of adjustment regardless of race. Furthermore, racial differences in predictors of adjustment were found. Anxiety and parent/child communication were associated with only moderate adjustment for African American but not Caucasian males. In contrast, mother’s arrest and peer delinquency were associated with only moderate adjustment for Caucasian American but not African American males. Recommendations for prevention and intervention strategies are discussed.

Urban forest management is being increasingly recognized as a viable policy vehicle for improving the overall quality of life in urban regions, promoting economic well-being as well as mitigating some of the environmental impacts of urbanization. As a complex system of ecological merit, the urban forest is ultimately dependent upon community-directed efforts to protect and maintain its health, largely through tree ordinances. An understanding of how values and other social factors trigger public concern for and management of the local urban forest is important because of ramifications of community urban forestry policy on regional ecosystem functional capacity. This dissertation investigates the influence of individual experience with trees, knowledge about trees, and tree-related attitudes and beliefs on public support for management strategies to protect the urban forest. Attitude theory forms the foundation of the empirical approach used in this study. Drawing from place theory, attitudes representing Sense of Place were hypothesized to also play a role in explaining variation in homeowners’ support of urban forest protection strategies. Data were obtained from a public opinion survey of 800 homeowners living in a major urban area in Southern Appalachia and joined with measurements of tree canopy density. Geographic information systems software was used to create measures of tree canopy density from Light Detection and Ranging data for varying aerial extents around the survey respondents’ properties. Theoretical constructs were formulated and deployed in structural equation models to test the validity of the hypothesized relationships among the constructs, representing predictors of public support for urban forest protection policy. The modeling results showed that place-based contexts are significant in the prediction of community willingness to support higher levels of urban forest protection. Findings from this study suggest that although the presence of urban trees in one’s neighborhood leads a homeowner to place greater importance on various attributes of trees, this does not automatically lead to support for strong tree ordinances. One also must have a basis of attachment to tree places, which is predicted by tree knowledge and experience with caring for trees around one’s home. In conclusion, limitations and suggestions for future research are provided.

The current study examined the factors that affect female political participation in students at women’s colleges and coeducational institutions. The first part of the study consisted of building a model to explain female political participation based on previous research findings. The second part of the study consisted of examining differences between the model and the levels of participation among the two groups. Results showed that only self-esteem, femininity, feminist identification and knowledge of female political leaders significantly impacted political participation. No structural differences in the model were found between the groups. Students at women’s colleges had significantly higher means in political activity than their counterparts at coeducational institutions but there were no significant mean differences in political participation.

The current study examined the factors that affect female political participation in students at women’s colleges and coeducational institutions. The first part of the study consisted of building a model to explain female political participation based on previous research findings. The second part of the study consisted of examining differences between the model and the levels of participation among the two groups. Results showed that only self-esteem, femininity, feminist identification and knowledge of female political leaders significantly impacted political participation. No structural differences in the model were found between the groups. Students at women’s colleges had significantly higher means in political activity than their counterparts at coeducational institutions but there were no significant mean differences in political participation.