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This dissertation attempts to explore the nature of a particular food consumption pattern using a number of different deviance theories in order to outline the career path of vegetarianism. Using semi-structured interviews with 45 practicing vegetarians from two regions of the United States, the career path of the vegetarians was developed around David Matza's (1969) theory of becoming deviant. Within each stage of Matza's classic work, more specific theories were applied to explain the friction between vegetarianism and the more socially-accepted practice of meat eating within the United States. The framework of the stages includes the affinity for, affiliation with, and signification of vegetarian ideology and practice. Each stage within the theory is also a stage in the development of the vegetarian identity. The more specific theories utilized to explain phenomena within each particular stage attempt to show a progression from initially being interested in the ideals and practice of vegetarianism to becoming and verbalizing as a mature, practicing vegetarian. Finally, the vegetarians interviewed were asked to give the prognosis for the future of vegetarianism. Ph. D.

Military wives continue to represent the majority of military spouses and as a result, most research on military spouses has focused exclusively on them. Utilizing data from the 1999 Survey of Active Duty Spouses, one goal of this study was to address this gap in the literature by examining how male and female military spouses differ. The results indicated that military husbands were more likely to have military experience themselves than military wives. Military husbands were also more likely to be older than female spouses and less likely to have children. Men were also more likely to indicate that their employment was not a concern during the family's last permanent change of station move. The primary goal of this study was to examine the influence of gender on military spouses' support for their active duty spouses' retention in the U.S. Military. Previous research has indicated that spousal support plays an important role in military personnel's retention decisions. Other factors that were considered for their influence on spouse support for retention included age, race/ethnicity, education, children, personal military experience, employment concerns during the family's last move, the hours worked per week by the active duty spouse, the rank of the active duty spouse, and the military spouse's satisfaction with the military lifestyle. The results of this regression analysis indicated that military husbands are less supportive of their active duty spouses' retention than military wives. Satisfaction with the military lifestyle was found to be the most significant predictor of military spouses' support for their active duty spouses' retention in the U.S. Military. Of the other factors, age, race/ethnicity, education, the hours worked per week by the active duty spouse, and the presence of children in the family were also found to be significant predictors of spouse support for retention. As satisfaction with the military lifestyle was demonstrated to be a significant influence on spouse support for retention, this study also involved an examination of gender differences in satisfaction with the military lifestyle. Gender was not found to be a significant influence on satisfaction with the military lifestyle. Factors that were found to significantly influence satisfaction included the military spouse's age, race/ethnicity, concerns about employment, hours worked per week by the active duty spouse and the rank of the active duty spouse. Concerns about employment during the family's last move and the hours worked per week by the active duty spouse were both found to have a negative influence on military spouses' satisfaction with the military lifestyle. Ph. D.

This study aims to examine the attitudes of the Saudi undergraduate college students toward the anticipated effects of privatization on the employment system of the Saudi privatized SOEs. Using survey questionnaire data collected in May 2002 from 672 Saudi undergraduate college students, the study results reveal varied attitudes. On the one hand, large percentages of the respondents prefer working under close supervision of Saudi management, having a salary based on productivity, being promoted based upon performance (rather than seniority), and adhering to prescribed procedures in executing job tasks. On the other hand, high percentages of the study respondents tend to dislike the concepts of putting forth more effort to meet management's plans, of working on nights and weekend, and of compromising job security in return for a higher salary. In addition, while the majority of the study respondents believe that privatization of state-owned enterprises is best for the local economy, their support for privatization is qualified by their insistence or desire that it not negatively impact their own interests. The statistical significance and association analyses reveal that the effects of academic majors and province on respondents' attitudes toward promotion criteria, teaming, and management's nationality are indeed significant. In addition, gender, SES, living areas prior to college entry, and adherence to religion are significantly related to respondents' attitudes toward privatization in general and toward some of its potential effects on the employment system. Recommendations are provided. Ph. D.

This study uses autobiographical reflection to investigate the negative impact of essentialist masculine gender socialization on men's lives. In particular, I use personal recollective accounts both from my early childhood socialization-in the traditional Greek-Cypriot culture of the 1970s and 80s-and from my own introspections and analytical conceptualizations concerning intimate relationships in general. I analyze these accounts by using a feminist postmodern ideology of gender deconstruction and reconstruction. Men oftentimes fall victims of patriarchal masculine scripting by suppressing their needs for intimacy, connectedness, and self-disclosure, qualities traditionally devalued as feminine traits. Suppressing such needs exacerbates inadequacies in male intimacy with possible manifestations in the form of generalized non-clinical male sexual anxiety. Implications are also discussed in terms of the by-products of male sexual anxiety, such as non-clinical sexual addiction and male victimization. Ph. D.

The effectiveness of the Jail-Based Public Inebriate Treatment and Intervention Program, in the city of Roanoke, VA, is evaluated. This program targets those who have violated their interdiction status, ordered by the Circuit Court, to not consume, possess or purchase beverages containing alcohol. A voluntary treatment program has been set up to treat those interdicted housed within the jail. This treatment program hopes to rehabilitate the offender, decrease the number of arrests within the City of Roanoke and improve the attractiveness of the downtown area. The typical participant in this program is a 51-year-old homeless male who has been drinking for approximately 33 years. Methods of evaluation include the analysis of arrest data collected from January 1996 to June of 2000, as well as interviews conducted in local day shelters, within the jail, with a court community corrections representative, in the court house, at the Blue Ridge Community Treatment Center and with a representative of the downtown business community. The goals of the program are evaluated for their effectiveness. Some goals are found to be more effective than others and Richard Hall’ s Contradiction Model is used to explain this variation. Master of Science

The death penalty has been an area of focus in several academic disciplines, yet modest literature has been generated which examines the sanction from a sociological perspective. Most of the sociological interest in capital punishment is directed at examining and explaining racial disparities in sentencing, its effectiveness as a deterrent to violent crime, or its use as a mode of formal social control. Although execution methods have changed frequently over time in the United States, there is a paucity of research examining this phenomenon through a sociological lens. The extant literature identifies changing societal ideologies regarding the use of institutionalized violence as the impeti for legislative shifts in methods of execution. While these studies are useful in partially explaining method changes through time, there is a dearth of work which specifically addresses the dialectical process by which meanings attached to methods of punishment are socially constructed and negotiated, what social agents are engaged, and how this process occurs with respect to historical context. This dissertation examines the legislative changes in execution methods at two points in time in North Carolina's history, 1935 and 1983. Grounded in a hybrid theoretical foundation of functionalist and interactionist perspectives, this study is a qualitative analysis of historical primary and secondary data. One goal of this project is to identify how social context informed ideologies of state-sanctioned death. Furthermore, this study attempts to reveal some of the various social agents who engaged in the process of negotiating meaning, how this process manifested itself, and how historical context may have influenced differences in legislative motive during the two transition years. A comparative analysis of the data reveals that deference to the institutions of science, technology, and medicine was vital to the process of socially reconstructing and redefining methods of execution at both points in time. However, findings also indicate that public exposure to an existing method of execution as well as historically relative ideologies concerning state-sanctioned death greatly affect how the negotiation of meaning transpires. Ph. D.

Once upon a time in the remote northern panhandle of Idaho, in the early 1990s, occurred a series of events that would lead to the deaths of three individuals, a beloved pet, and the overt acts of lawlessness and terrorism of three federal law enfocement agencies against United States' citizens. Thus, I introduce the story of Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the Weaver family, and the federal law enforcement agencies that have collectivity become known as the infamous "dress rehearsal for Waco..." (Kopel and Blackman, 1997:32). Since this is a constructivist analysis of events surrounding Ruby Ridge, I specifically focus on how reality is constructed through the process of reification. In this research endeavor, I utilize an elaboration of Aho's (1994) steps of reality construction (naming, legitimation, mythmaking, sedimentation, and ritualism) in the understanding of how the situation of Ruby Ridge was constructed. I have integrated these five stages into the chronological events of Ruby Ridge and illustrate how the situation was constructed to be real and how the consequences of crisis management employed by federal law enforcement agencies evolved into reactive state terrorism. In other words, I answer the question-"How could this happen?" Ph. D.

The rapid advancement of computer and telecommunications technology has made working in the home a practicality. Dubbed ?telecommuting,? this manner of work describes a circumstance where the employee, through the use of some form of telecommunications device (most often a computer with some form of modem), works at a location other than a centralized office (Hill, Hawkings & Miller, 1996). In many cases, the location of work is the home. Current estimates place the number of telecommuters in the United States at 19.6 million and growing (Swoboda & Grimsley, 2000). However, while emphasis has been placed on the positive consequences of telework, thus far little attention has been given to the latent negative consequences of telecommuting. The focus of this work is to develop a theoretical paradigm that explains how telecommuting may potentially contribute to abuse in home. The types of abuse targeted by the theoretical paradigm are: child, spouse, and elder abuse. In particular this model helps identify those telecommuters who are at greatest risk for the perpetration of abuse. This model is informed by a stress paradigm of abuse and identifies five variables that are considered to be crucial in affecting violent outcomes among telecommuters: 1.) socioeconomic status / occupational status; 2.) gender; 3.) crowding; 4.) social isolation; and, 5.) boundary control. How these variables interact within the telecommuting paradigm is described. Ultimately this work serves as a platform from which future empirical research may be conducted. Master of Science

Several studies show that African-Americans are less likely than whites to use alcohol or drugs. However, if African-Americans use drugs then they are more likely to become heavy and persistent users. African-Americans are also more likely to have a current substance abuse disorder. There is not much in the literature to explain this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to examine the alcohol and drug abuse, use and dependence of blacks and whites in order to explain the differences in the course of the substance disorder, using data from the National Comorbidity Survey. There are many variables thought to contribute to the racial difference, such as socio-economic status (measured by income and education), religion, insurance, employment status, and marital status. The data in this literature indicate that the aforementioned variables do not explain the racial difference in substance disorders. However, after performing interaction analyses, it is clear that the effects of treatment are different for blacks and whites. Treatment is more effective for whites, and it may even cause the substance disorder to become worse for blacks. Several studies indicate that this may be the result of cultural differences between the treatment staff and the clients. Master of Science

Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) General Theory of Crime has received extensive attention over the past decade. This dissertation explores the scope and limitation of the theory by testing a wide variety of behaviors against the causal effect of low self-control. Utilizing the attitudinal scale developed by Grasmick et al. (1993), self-control and involvement in fifteen different criminal, deviant, and risk-taking behaviors was measured to test the key aspect of Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory. The sample consists of 450 students from a research university and a liberal arts college. Analysis of the scale reliability reveals more support for the construct validity found in other studies. Furthermore, each of the six sub-components of the self-control scale are tested against each of the behavior indices to further assess scales limitations. In addition to self-control, gender, race, and parental education are used as control variables in the analysis to test the possible variation of the association between self-control and deviance throughout the population. The finding from this research provide more caution to Gottfredson and Hirschi's theory. The behaviors analyzed in this study are only modestly associated with low self-control. Furthermore, gender has a strong impact on all three behavior types leading to the conclusion that self-control is not the sole causal variable in determining who will commit crime and deviance. Race and parental education were not significantly related to the behaviors studied, but the sample is homogeneous in regards to these two variables. Ph. D.

Alcohol abuse and illicit drug use in the United States are major concerns of American households, as well as of the White House. This dissertation research evaluates alcohol abuse and controlled drug use by American workers in the context of various individual, organizational, and occupational settings. It tests the importation and organizational stress perspectives, the occupation subculture perspective, and the lifecycle wage compensation theory. The analyses are developed utilizing (1) logistic regression, (2) generalized linear modeling, including Poisson regression and negative binomial regression, (3) weighted modeling estimation, taking the clustering effects of complex survey design into account, and (4) the hierarchical growth curve modeling of intra- and inter-individual differences. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979—1993, the 1997 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, and the 1998 National Occupational Information Network (O*NET 98), I find that employees' drinking and controlled drug use behavior are predicted by a number of individual background characteristics, as well as workplace-environment variables. I also find that occupational characteristics influence alcohol and drug using behaviors of workers, although in more complex ways than suggested by much of the organizational stress and occupational subculture literature. It appears that occupations with higher levels of steady employment prospects exert the most significant negative effect on employees' alcohol use, marijuana use, and any illicit drug use, regardless of an employee's age, gender, race, education, and income. It also appears that the etiology of cocaine use is different from that of either alcohol use or other drugs, such as marijuana. Finally, I find that when education and years employed are held constant, employees' current marijuana use is negatively associated with their earnings. No evidence has been found that current alcohol use, current marijuana use, or lifetime cocaine use predicts future growth rates on earnings. Having examined the factors of occupational, organizational, and individual social/demographic characteristics as they influence patterns of alcohol abuse and controlled drug use in multiple large representative samples of the labor force, discussions on the research findings, the implications, the limitations, and the future study directions are presented. Ph. D.

A vocational horticulture curriculum was assessed for its effectiveness in strengthening social bonds and changing attitudes about personal success and job preparedness in a group of juvenile offenders. The curriculum focused on vocational training and entry-level job skills in horticulture and landscaping and prepared the youth for internship positions in grounds maintenance. Pre/post-tests based on Hirsch=s tests of social bond for juvenile delinquents were developed to address attitudes toward school, teachers, peers, opinions on personal success, and environmental attitudes. A separate pre/post test dealt with careers and aspirations. Results from these tests were compared to tests administered at a comparable program in an urban setting. Behavioral records for one semester before and the semester during the horticulture curriculum were compared. Daily journals maintained by service-learning student mentors were analyzed for observational themes, as were teachers' observations and project follow-up interviews. Success of the program was based on the students' successful completion of the program, students' desire and ability to be hired for summer internships and/or employment in horticultural related jobs. Due to the limited size of the study group (6), this research project intends only to provide a profile of several youths' response to vocational horticultural training with regard to the objectives stated above. It is exploratory in nature and offers ideas for future larger scale research and confirms some existing trends in research with juvenile offenders. Master of Science

Studies of football hooliganism have developed in a number of academic disciplines, yet little of this literature directly relates to criminology. The fighting, disorderly conduct, and destructive behavior of those who attend football matches, especially in Europe has blossomed over the past thirty years and deserves criminological attention. Football hooliganism is criminal activity, but is unique because of its context specific nature, occurring almost entirely inside the grounds or in proximity to the stadiums where the matches are played. This project explores the need for criminological explanations of football hooligans and their behavior based on literature which indicates that subcultural theories may be valuable in understanding why this behavioral pattern has become a preserve for young, white, working-class males. This study employs Albert Cohen's (1955) theory of subcultural delinquency to predict the hooligan activities of young, white, working-class males. West and Farrington's longitudinal study, the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development provides a wealth of data on numerous topics, including hooliganism, and is used to explore the link between hooliganism and criminological theory. The running hypothesis, grounded in Cohen's theory of subcultural delinquency, is that the less middle-class the youths are in their values the more likely they will be to engage in football hooliganism. Cohen initially identified a locus of nine middle-class values: ambition, individual responsibility, achievement and performance, delayed gratification, rationality and planning, etiquette and the cultivation of social skills, self-control, wholesome leisure, and respect for property. These middle-class values have been modified into a shorter set of values; constructive leisure, acceptable conduct, self-reliance, and success, that are more mutually exclusive and easier to test empirically. Scales were constructed for each dimension of the modified version of Cohen's middle-class values using factor analysis with orthogonal rotation. Each scale then underwent reliability analysis using Chronbach's alpha. From there the scales for the middle-class values, the dependent variable of football hooliganism, and controls were tested using both bivariate and multivariate procedures. Results indicate that these modified middle-class values may be an important explanatory factor for football hooliganism. Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to enhance understanding of leisure experiences by applying an organizational approach to the sociology of leisure. This organizational approach, used mainly to study work and occupations, consists of a conceptual framework derived from social systems theory and structural functionalism. The sensitizing concepts used from this framework were recruitment, socialization, and identity. In this study, I focused on the leisure group of clog dancers. My research questions, derived from this approach, include (1) How do clogging groups recruit their members? (2) How are people socialized into their role as cloggers and group members? (3) Do cloggers form a special identity because of this activity? Twenty cloggers were interviewed for this study. All of the dancers were white, and all but one were female. Most of the dancers were married, and their ages ranged from 20 to 69 years. All of the dancers have clogged for at least four years, and half of the dancers have been clogging for 10 or more years. Their educational levels covered a wide spectrum, from less than high school to Master's degrees. Occupational status and income level also varied widely. Through concept-driven interviews, the dancers indicated what they believed were important aspects of their leisure experiences. A majority of the dancers stated that they were recruited through social networks or by media influence. They experienced both formal and informal socialization in learning dance steps and how to perform as a team player in front of an audience. Finally, the dancers believed that they held a special identity because of their talents as a clogger. While each dancer derived different meanings from his/her identity as clogger, this identity appeared to be salient and psychologically central for all of the dancers interviewed. Master of Science

This study is intended to explore the interactive effect of various interpersonal groups and longitudinal maturation on the socialization of individuals within a culture. It will deal with conflict resolution and the formation of a transitory sense of self informed by George Herbert Mead's perspective with an emphasis on symbolic interaction. I have chosen as my sample group a division I female college soccer team in the eastern United States . My time as an assistant coach has given me access to the daily lives of these players for a two year period during which I have acted as a participant observer. Although the study is limited to a small group of elite athletes, it is presumed that similar processes are at work each time an individual enters a new social setting or attempts to reconcile conflicting norms between different groups. When such groups collide, the individual is forced to conform to one at the expense of the other(s). This creates what I will call deviant conformity Master of Science

This study addresses the extent to which participation in the military affects subsequent status attainment and mobility in America. The purpose of this research was to conduct a comprehensive examination of existing empirical research resulting in a synthesis of findings and establishing a concise summary of the state of the literature on this topic. The study is limited to the examination of existing research on male veterans in the years between 1950 and the present. Findings from sixty-four articles and seven books are presented. The background characteristics of servicemen, the promotion and retention of servicemen, and the post-service earnings and education of servicemen, in the era of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the All-Volunteer Force are discussed. When possible, comparisons are made between servicemen and their civilian counterparts, as well as between Anglos and African Americans. Findings indicate that men serving in the military prior to Vietnam were from somewhat higher socio-economic and educational backgrounds. The background characteristics of Anglo veterans of Vietnam and the AVF were homogenous to their civilian counterparts. Black veterans of the period from the war in Vietnam through the present have slightly higher levels of education and income prior to service as compared to their civilian counterparts. Research on promotion, retention, and military occupational assignments demonstrate that blacks are more likely to enlist and re-enlist than are Anglos. Promotions are currently achieved at approximately the same rate regardless of race. However, throughout the period examined, blacks are more likely to be trained in military occupational specialties considered to be less transferable to the civilian workforce. Findings on post-service attainment are limited to the examination of income, earnings, and education. Military service resulted in higher levels of income, earnings, and education for all veterans serving since 1950, with the notable exception of Anglo Vietnam veterans. In other words, as compared to their civilian counterparts, veterans had significantly higher incomes, earnings, and educational levels post-service. Explanations for the association between military service and social mobility, including fluctuations in enlistment standards and educational benefits during the period under investigation, are presented. Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to provide a better understanding of handbooks and to establish criteria guidelines for handbook selection and use. Content analysis utilizing the library as fieldwork identified 15 handbooks for MsWs meeting selection criteria for this study. Coding and diagramming of over 2000 pages resulted in identification of 15 themes which grouped into 3 types of relationships: personal (to self and God), familial (to husband and children), and congregational (to the church). Six of these themes were recognized as distinctive to the life of the MsW. Three time frames (1940 to 1960, 1960 to 1980, and 1980 to 1998) were established, and handbooks were found to be consistent with the social context of their respective era. An unfolding picture of the life of the MsW as portrayed by key informants revealed a shift in emphasis, with earlier handbooks portraying a lifeworld revolving around role fulfillment, and later handbooks emphasizing development as a person. A lack of learning opportunities for MsWs was noted throughout the eras. A 30+ page appendix of metaphors indicates that MsWs use their gift of reasoning through word pictures. The authors taught lived world truth as they perceived it. This study indicated clues as to appropriateness of content in handbooks and safeguards to be taken in reading them for self-directed learning or other training purposes. The implication is that handbooks are adult education by default. Two original products resulting from this research were a schemata of the process of using handbooks as a format for learning and selection criteria guidelines for choosing a handbook. The process may be utilized in self-directed learning (individual or guided) and within other educational settings, and the guidelines may be adapted to handbooks for other populations. This research should encourage related studies to broaden the knowledge base of understanding handbooks and recognizing their place in training, utilizing field research using literature sources, and assisting MsWs with learning how to effectively manage their myriad roles and relationships. Ed. D.

The National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC) ( 1989) has defined career development guidelines for all groups from elementary school students through adulthood. These guidelines have been adopted by over 40 states. Virginia has chosen not to adopt them and currently does not have state standards against which to identify or assess exemplary career development practices in middle schools. Such identification procedures would serve to (a) provide guidelines for program development and expansion, (b) provide a means of accountability, ( c) provide a standard of performance, ( d) provide consistency among middle schools, and ( e) showcase exemplary programs. This study examined exemplary career development practices at 43 middle schools in Virginia during the Fall of 1996. The researcher identified these schools by asking for recommendations from State Department of Education Field Representatives, university faculty with expertise in the fields of counseling, middle school education or both, and current and most recent past officers of the Virginia Counselors Association and the Virginia School Counselor Association. A survey method was used to identify general curriculum design, physical facilities, technological capabilities, activities and strategies used to incorporate career development into the curricula of the identified middle school. Three site visits and one in-depth telephone interview were conducted by the researcher to verify exemplary career development practices. The following common themes were found concerning exemplary career development practices: There were teacher-advisory programs in which a variety of career development activities took place in the academic classrooms. There were middle school teams in which groups of teachers worked together on career development activities which were integrated into the core curriculum through these teaming efforts. There were curriculum design efforts in which career development exploratory classes were offered on either a 6, 9, 12, or 18 week rotation. There were special interest clubs, many of which directly related to career development. There were classroom guidance activities conducted by counselors related to career development. Evaluations of the Survey findings, recommendations and conclusions of this study were reported in the hope that middle school career development programs in Virginia's middle schools will strive for exemplary practices for the benefit of their own students. Ed. D.

The purpose of this research is to examine multiple variables as they relate to delinquent behavior. The dependent variable, self-reported delinquency, includes violent Index crimes (for example, robbery, aggravated assault), serious property offenses (for example, burglary, motor vehicle theft), weapons offenses (for example, carrying a handgun, shooting a gun at someone), drug dealing offenses (for example, selling marijuana, cocaine), and drug use. The sample (N = 127) is composed of male and female youths between the ages of 12 and 18 years who were detained in two different juvenile detention centers at the time of the study. As many previous self-report studies have tended to draw samples of youth not containing a significant proportion of serious, violent, and chronic offenders (for example, school-based and home-based samples), it has become increasingly important to study samples of juveniles that do contain a significant proportion of such offenders. Moreover, the research literature strongly suggests that a relatively small percentage of youthful offenders in a given community are responsible for a disproportionate share of serious delinquent acts (the so-called "chronic few"). The data were gathered via self-administered questionnaire. Path analysis is used to test an integrated model of delinquent behavior that is based on a conceptual framework referred to as the Actor, Situation, Context or ASC paradigm. From this systems framework, a theoretical model is developed that combines propositions and variables from social structural theories (in effect, social disorganization and strain) with propositions and variables from social process theories (social bond and social learning). The data generally support the basic hypotheses and the integrated model, explaining as much as 44 percent of the variance in self-reported delinquency. Implications of the multi-systemic model and the empirical findings are discussed. Ph. D.

This research is unique because it represents the first sociological study of pedophiles who use the Internet. The data were gathered from a Usenet newsgroup that is frequented by pedophiles. A content analysis was performed on all of the postings from admitted pedophiles (N=41) that appeared on this newsgroup during a one month period. Scott and Lyman’s classic formulation of accounts served as the conceptual framework for this study. The primary research question was: "How do pedophiles who use the Internet account for their deviance?” There were four ancillary objectives to this analysis: (1) to ascertain the degree to which pedophiles who participate in this newsgroup provide validation to, and seek validation from, other users; (2) to investigate the extent to which pedophiles who participate in this forum provide information to, and seek information from, other users; (3) to assess the degree to which pedophiles use this newsgroup to seek correspondence with other pedophiles; and (4) to determine the extent to which users of this newsgroup are members of the pedophile organization NAMBLA (the North American/Man Boy Love Association). Slightly more than one-half of the pedophiles in the sample provided some type of account in defense of pedophilia or adults having sex with children. Thirty-nine percent offered a denial of injury account; 31.7% proffered a condemnation of condemners account; 14.6% provided a BIRGing account; and 4.9% used an appeal to loyalties account. Also, nearly one-fourth of these pedophiles used polythematic accounts. The results of this research also indicate that this computer forum serves a validation function for these pedophiles. Moreover, many of the postings that appeared on this newsgroup contained information that should be of interest to pedophiles. Some of these on-line pedophiles use this newsgroup to establish correspondence with other pedophiles. Although only a few of the pedophiles in this sample indicated a NAMBLA affiliation, these individuals frequently provided accounts which reflect the ideology of that pedophile organization. Ph. D.

This study investigates organizational response as a mediating factor in the relationship between environmental change and deprofessionalization of stockbrokers between the years 1975 and 1990. Both quantitative and qualitative content analysis are used to analyze 412 business news articles concerning three brokerage firms. It is hypothesized that the environmental changes of jurisdictional competition resulting from deregulation of the industry, technological changes, and declining client trust resulting from scandals, will not have a direct effect on deprofessionalization of stockbrokers in these firms. It is expected, instead, that these environmental changes will be mediated by organizational responses, resulting in variation among the firms in the deprofessionalization of stockbrokers. The quantitative portion of the study shows different patterns of organizational response among the three firms examined regarding the environmental changes being investigated. The qualitative portion of the study indicates variation in deprofessionalization for stockbrokers within these firms resulting from differences in organizational response. The results of this study suggest a need for further investigation of the effects of organizational responses on the extent of deprofessionalization for professionals working in organizations. Organizational responses are likely to influence not only stockbrokers but other professionals in times of change and flux due to events both internal and external to the organization. Ph. D.

The purpose of the study was to identify the relative influence nonachievement factors have on secondary school teachers' grading practices. Specifically, an attempt was made to predict on the basis of non-achievement related factors the discrepancy between the grades teachers actually award to hypothetical student profiles and the grades that would result if based on academic achievement alone. Teachers learn in their professional training to base grades on student achievement, however in actual practice they do not always follow such an approach. They openly acknowledge including non-achievement factors in awarding students grades, explaining that there are psychosocial consequences in grades that must be considered. The study involved 192 secondary school teachers from twelve school districts who taught high school academic subjects. Teachers were asked to award grades to hypothetical student profiles in simulated grading situations. Each simulation, or vignette, presented a hypothetical student profile and included a unique combination of factors which had been shown in previous research to influence teachers' grading decisions. A technique referred to as policy capturing was used to evaluate the extent to which assigned grades reflect student gender, effort, behavior, ability, and test score improvement. In predicting the grade discrepancies of teachers, it was judged necessary to restrict the number of grade discrepancies for teachers to five or more, which represented approximately one-sixth of the possible 32 discrepancies provided by the vignettes, reducing the number of teachers in the sample to 99. Regression models predicting the 99 teachers' grade discrepancies, which were differences between the letter grade awarded by teachers and the grade implied by the test scores in the vignettes, and policy capturing analysis revealed that student test score improvement and student behavior influenced teachers most in their grading. However, teachers seemed to place more importance on students' quiz average grades as a measure of academic performance, than on students' six-week test grades. In addition, secondary analyses of the data revealed that in predicting the importance placed by the 99 teachers on students' test score improvement and on behavior, teachers with more years of experience placed less importance on either of the factors in grading than their less experienced colleagues. Ph. D.

In this thesis I utilize sociological theories on deviance, published research on adoption, and surveys of 41 adoptees and 15 adoptive parents in order to address four primary questions: 1.What factors have influenced adoption historically, and continue to influence current practices? 2.In what ways does the legal system treat the adoptive family differently than the consanguine family? 3.Is there a stigma associated with adoption? 4.What factors are associated with adoptees' decision to search, or not to search, for their biological parents? Adoption practices have been heavily influenced by the supply of and demand for children, and the stigma associated with illegitimacy, unwed motherhood, and infertility. Despite the fact that adoption legislation in most states creates the adoptive family "as if" it were a biological family, numerous examples of the differential treatment of adoptive and biological families are explored. From inheritance legislation to health insurance coverage, adoptees and adoptive families are often treated differently vis a vis non-adoptees and biological families. The stigma associated with the varying triad members, birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees, is explored in the context of adoption as deviant. From the sometimes negative perception of adoptees and adoptive families, to the legally mandated differential treatment of these groups, a theory concerning the origin of adoption stigma and its perpetuation in society is offered. Interviews with adoptees support existing literature that suggests that significant life events,similarity of characteristics between the adoptee and his or her adoptive family, communication about adoption in the adoptive home, and the amount of information about the birth family are all factors that may motivate adoptees to seek out their biological relatives. Sociological deviance theories are used to examine the many issues addressed in this thesis. A central and recurring point is that the legal institution of adoption is not as legitimate a method of family formation as is biological parenthood. Furthermore the adoptee and the adoptive parents may be subject to being labeled as deviant for their role within the triad. Master of Science

Administrators, faculty, and researchers have assumed that advising needs and preferences for advising styles are similar across student population segments and do not consider the relationship of student attributes or the institutional setting to academic advising. Crookston (1972) presented two advising styles--developmental advising, which reflects a concern for the student's total education, and prescriptive advising, which is primarily focused on formal academic matters. In order to better understand the preference for advising relationships among college students, a model of developmental advising was formulated by Winston and Sandor (1984b). However, because of the increased numbers of special student populations such as women and minorities, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which advising styles are received and desired by most students. Ph. D.

Using data from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, the relationship between socioeconomic status and residential distribution was examined for the black population in four Virginia cities, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Norfolk, and Richmond. Three indexes were employed to measure degrees of segregation at the census tract level. These indexes were, dissimilarity, interaction, and isolation. The dissimilarity index is a measure of the evenness of residential distribution of minority members. The interaction index is a measure of the probability of minority residential contact with majority members. The isolation index is a measure of the probability of residential isolation of minority members. Census tracts were classified according to the extent of racial changes that took place in these tracts. Socioeconomic status of black residents was measured over two dimensions: education and income. The association between minority socioeconomic achievement and degrees of segregation was estimated with multiple regression. A majority of the regression results supported the human ecology theory that minority spatial assimilation is an outcome of socioeconomic achievements. Findings also suggested that the relationship between minority socioeconomic status and degrees of segregation did not vary in strength in the hierarchical pattern predicted by previous human ecology studies of segregation. The findings provide a minor departure from the traditional theory of human ecology. The regression models estimating the effects of socioeconomic variables on residential dissimilarity and residential isolation showed statistical significance. The regression models estimating the effects of socioeconomic variables on residential contact did not show statistical significance. This might suggest that present measures of residential segregation and socioeconomic status need to improved. Master of Science

This study investigated the relationship between firm economic well-being and preventable accident rates in the U.S. motor carrier industry between 1975 and 1986. In 1980 the U.S. motor carrier industry was deregulated which produced highly competitive market conditions. Firms facing such conditions were required to devise coping strategies if they were to survive in this new highly competitive business environment. This research suggests that financially weakened firms trying to survive in a deregulated environment would be forced to rely on cost cutting strategies which are inherently threatening to workplace safety. However, the ability to implement such strategies would be limited at firms where union contracts restricted management from modifying work rules. As such, not all motor carriers were expected to exhibit the same relationship between firm economic well-being and preventable accident rates. Multiple regression analysis was utilized to assess the relationship between carrier economic well-being and preventable accident rates at two points in time, pre-deregulatory 1975-76 and post-deregulatory 1985-86. Three major hypotheses were tested. First, the economic well-being of the firm was hypothesized to have a greater effect on the firm's preventable accident rate after deregulation than before deregulation. Second, the economic well-being of the firm was hypothesized to have less effect on preventable accident rates for union firms than for other types of firms. Third, changes in the effects of firm economic well·being on preventable accident rates were hypothesized to differ less across time for union firms than for other types of firms. As expected, union firms and owner operator firms exhibited a stronger relationship between fum economic well-being and preventable accident rates following deregulation than prior to its passage. However, the regression analysis for nonunion firms produced unexpected results. Nonunion fums exhibited a weaker relationship between fum economic well-being and preventable accident rates in the post-deregulatory model than was the case in the pre-deregulatory model. Possible explanations for this unexpected finding are discussed. In addition, this study challenges a widely accepted approach to analyzing workplace safety problems. That approach advocates focusing on the inappropriate behavior of specific individuals when firms are confronted with deteriorating workplace safety conditions rather than investigating organizational level variables which are routinely associated with unsafe working environments. This distinction is important because merely removing isolated individuals who are thought to compromise workplace safety will not provide a meaningful remedy if, in fact, such unsafe behavior is a response to managerial pressures. This study suggests that such pressuring would trigger :unsafe behavior in almost any individual confronted with similar circumstances. Master of Science

Bible college personnel face a unique challenge in providing career counseling to their students. Bible college students hold a deeply religious world view which can bear directly upon their career decision-making. The purpose of this study was to develop a career decision making workbook for Bible college freshmen. The development of such a workbook required the identification of relevant spiritual determinants, appropriate career development resources, and the integration of career decision-making theory with a theology of work and leisure. Research and development methods used in the study included (1) initial document design, incorporating the use of instructional design principles; (2) review of readability experts; (3) preliminary field testing with students; and, (4) main field testing with students. The field tests were conducted as two-day workshops, involving a total of 38 subjects. The subjects were Bible college freshmen who volunteered to participate. The preliminary field test was conducted at a Bible college in southern West Virginia. The main field test involved three Bible colleges in the southeastern United States. Student interviews and a pretest-posttest design were utilized to obtain data on the workbook’s effectiveness. Field test results indicated that the workbook helped subjects to (1) crystallize their current career thinking, (2) increase their appreciation for a spiritual-rational model, (3) understand the importance of leisure as part of the concept of career, and (4) seriously think about the future consequences of decisions. Subjects performed poorly on the terminal objective, i.e., the making of a tentative career decision. However, low scores were thought to be an indicator of the limited nature of the workshop format rather than a reflection of the effectiveness of the workbook. Major conclusions were that (1) the workbook has the potential to encourage improved career decision-making skills for students and, (2) the workbook is adaptable to a variety of Bible college settings. Recommendations for document revision, operational field testing, and summative evaluation are presented. Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive career interest inventory based on Super's (1980, 1984) Life Span, Life Space Theory of Career Development, and McDaniels' (1983) concept of Career = Work + Leisure (C = W + L). Career counselors increasingly have recognized the importance of a developmental perspective (Seligman, 1980; Super, 1983) and the inclusion of leisure as an integral component of one's career (Blocher & Siegal, 1984; Edwards, 1984; McDaniels, 1984). The results of this study produced a one hundred and twenty item interest inventory which can be used in career counseling, leisure counseling, or in a holistic approach. The Career Exploration Inventory (CEI) is an innovative instrument which measures developmental work and leisure interests from the past, in the present, and those anticipated in the future. The instrument is a self-administered, scored, and interpreted interest inventory for guided career exploration. Norms were developed for the CEI using two separate norm groups: unemployed/underemployed adults (N=104) and employed adults (N=106) ranging in age from eighteen to seventy-three. Validity of the CEI was comparable to existing work and leisure interest inventories. Coefficient alpha internal consistency measures ranged from .56 to .84, while subjects' top scores for the interest categories were consistent with their work and leisure activities 43 to 51 % of the time. The CEI correctly identified sustained, developmental interests for work (54%) and leisure (67%). Test-retest reliability measures for the eEl ranged from .80 to .92 over a three month period of time. The results of this study verified the utility of a developmental instrument which measures an individual's work and leisure interests over time. Many subjects reported the instrument's accuracy in measuring "true" continuing interests, rather than just current interests. Ed. D.

Conceptual work on the study of crime argues the need for new approaches to understanding the incidence and etiology of that social phenomenon. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the explanatory power of the deprivation-compensation model of criminality. This new model of crime commission incorporates two social psycholoical constructs - relative deprivation and limited rationality - which partially mediate the relationship between structural and interpersonal deprivation and the type of crime committed. In this research, I focus exclusively on women offenders. A two-part questionnaire was administered to 112 women inmates at three state correctional facilities located in Illinois. A personal history inventory provided basic demographic and crime-related information. Part two was comprised of items tapping relative deprivation and limited rationality. The proposed model received only minimal support. A consistent finding was the weak influence that structural and interpersonal deprivation had on the type of crime committed by women offenders; however, the path coefficients for both of these constructs to relative deprivation were statistically significant. Relative deprivation and limited rationality shared a statistically significant relationship to the type of crime committed by women offenders. Several alternative explanations for the findings are offered. Finally, a number of suggestions for the conduct of future research using relative deprivation and limited rationality are outlined. Ph. D.

The present study was concerned with career education practices in higher education settings. The major purpose of this study was to determine if the recently published course, Career Planning and Decision- Making (979), which was developed by Appalachia Educational Laboratory, was effective in assisting freshman and sophomore students in choosing or examining their choice of a major and enhancing their career decision making behavior. A secondary purpose of the study was to obtain eva1uative data on this published course. The Harren Assessment of Career Decision-Making, the Rotter Internal-External Scale, and a personal interview, using a structured interview schedule, were used to gather data. The significance of the difference between the groups on the I-E Scale and pretest was determined by analysis of variance using the .05 level of significance. The difference between the groups following the treatment were determined by analysis of covariance with the I-E and pretest as covariates. Career Planning and Decision-Making was taught during the Winter Quarter, 1979, at a large comprehensive university in Virginia. The population consisted of freshman, sophomore, and transfer students who wer~ enrolled as pre-education majors. From the students who volunteered for the course a random assignment was made to either the control group (N = 21) or the experimental group (N = 21). An analysis of the data revealed: (1) no difference at the .05 level on the ACDM pretest or the Rotter I-E Scale scores; (2) no difference at the .05 level on either the career decision to attend college or the choice of a major; but (3) significant differences (p < .001) in decision-making styles and choice of occupation. The structured interview revealed that the students perceived themselves as being more effective decision makers and as having made progress in choosing a major and an occupation as a result of the course. All indicated they were very pleased with the course and all recommended that the course be incorporated as a permanent offering, preferably at the freshman or sophomore level. It was concluded that the course, Career Planning and DecisionMaking was effective for teaching career planning and decision-making skills to students in college settings. Ed. D.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to develop a systematic approach to fiscal data collection and (2) to analyze these data to determine the cost of selected trade and industrial education programs in Virginia. The four vocational-technical centers utilized in the study were selected according to: (1) geographic location and (2) years of operation. Centers chosen were urban and rural, representing three geographical regions of the State of Virginia. The objectives of this study were: (1) to set forth in general terms the components of cost analysis for selected trade and industrial education programs in Virginia, (2) to identify the cost of specific selected trade and industrial education programs in Virginia, (3) to present the methodology for a systematic approach for fiscal data collection in selected trade and industrial education programs in Virginia, and (4) to present cost data which may be utilized by administrators and local directors of vocational education in evaluating selected trade and industrial education programs. Limitations of the study were: (1) all data were based on actual expenditures for a one year period, (2) vocational-technical centers were selected which had been in operation for at least four years, (3) only regular trade and industrial education programs were utilized in this study, and (4) transportation of students and amortization of equipment were not included in this study. Expenditure items used in the study were determined by a panel of experts who agreed that the expenditures were attributable to vocational education costs. All expenditures utilized in this study were included in the list approved by the panel. The study required personal examination of records and reports maintained by: (1) vocational-technical centers, (2) local school agencies, and (3) the Division of Vocational Education, State Department of Education. Fiscal data were retrieved and analyzed by vocational-technical centers and by specific programs which permitted a per student cost to be attained. The study revealed that: (1) instructional salaries comprised the largest percentage of the total expenditures, (2) maintenance appeared to be very low in the percentage of total cost, (3) 68.4 percent of total costs was borne by the local school district and 31.6 percent was borne by the state, (4) the program with the largest percentage of total cost was Practical Nursing, (5) centers offering more programs experienced a lower per student cost than centers offering fewer programs, (6) there was a range of per student expenditure from $528.11 to $832.56, with an average per student cost of $692.27 for all four centers, and (7) the range of costs per student for all programs at all centers was from $296.55 to $1,096.03. Because of diverse accounting and expenditure methods found in local school districts the necessary forms for fiscal data collection and analyses were developed. The systematic approach and design was as follows: (1) determine which are bonafide costs, (2) condense the aforementioned classification list to fit the local accounting system, (3) collect data, (4) determine sources of funding, (5) prorate cost, (6) compute total cost for each expenditure classification, (7) compute total cost for each program area, (8) compute the unit costs, and (9) list student cost by programs. A self-contained packet for the systematic approach and analysis utilized in the study was developed and is included in Chapter 5 for use by local directors of vocational education. Ed. D.