Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Congruence X Employment Tenure: A Study with Transitioning Youth with Disabilities(2010) Castan, Juliana Unis; Fabian, Ellen; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the relationship between congruence (between individual's inventoried career interests and subsequent job) and employment tenure for transitioning youth with disabilities successfully closed in fiscal year 2008 by the Maryland State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency (DORS) - Region 6 (N = 51). The relationship between employment tenure and demographic variables (gender, ethnicity, education level, disability type, social security benefits status, and length in services) is also assessed. Data was obtained from DORS database, wage checks reports and file reviews. This study did not find support for the relationship between employment tenure and either congruence or demographic variables. Related findings include high frequency of low congruent jobs, and the majority of jobs in janitorial and service areas, part time and with hourly wage between $5.00 and $10.00.Item Regression Diagnostics for Complex Survey Data: Identification of Influential Observations(2007-09-13) Li, Jianzhu; Valliant, Richard; Survey Methodology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Discussion of diagnostics for linear regression models have become indispensable chapters or sections in most of the statistical textbooks. However, survey literature has not given much attention to this problem. Examples from real surveys show that sometimes the inclusion and exclusion of a small number of the sampled units can greatly change the regression parameter estimates, which indicates that techniques of identifying the influential units are necessary. The goal of this research is to extend and adapt the conventional ordinary least squares influence diagnostics to complex survey data, and determine how they should be justified. We assume that an analyst is looking for a linear regression model that fits reasonably well for the bulk of the finite population and chooses to use the survey weighted regression estimator. Diagnostic statistics such as DFBETAS, DFFITS, and modified Cook's Distance are constructed to evaluate the effect on the regression coefficients of deleting a single observation. As components of the diagnostic statistics, the estimated variances of the coefficients are obtained from design-consistent estimators which account for complex design features, e.g. clustering and stratification. For survey data, sample weights, which are computed with the primary goal of estimating finite population statistics, are sources of influence besides the response variable and the predictor variables, and therefore need to be incorporated into influence measurement. The forward search method is also adapted to identify influential observations as a group when there is possible masked effect among the outlying observations. Two case studies and simulations are done in this dissertation to test the performance of the adapted diagnostic statistics. We reach the conclusion that removing the identified influential observations from the model fitting can obtain less biased estimated coefficients. The standard errors of the coefficients may be underestimated since the variation in the number of observations used in the regressions was not accounted for.Item On Formal Feature Licensing in Minimalism: Aspects of Standard Arabic Morphosyntax(2007-08-28) Soltan, Usama; Uriagereka, Juan; Linguistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation investigates a set of phenomena in Standard Arabic at the syntax-morphology interface, providing an analysis for each within the assumptions of the minimalist program, particularly those related to mechanisms of formal feature licensing. Among the issues discussed are the subject-verb agreement asymmetry, case-assignment, default agreement, nominative Themes, as well as interactions between tense, negation, and modality heads. In this regard, I provide an analysis for word order alternation in the language in terms of left dislocation rather than via movement, showing that the language does not show A-movement effects in SVO orders, passives, raising constructions, or object shift. The same is also shown to hold in what is usually referred to as raising-to-object constructions. The proposed analysis shows that formal features such as case and agreement can be licensed in absence of movement, a conclusion more compatible with the Agree-based approach to formal feature licensing in minimalism than with the Spec-head approach. Finally, I propose to extend Agree to head-head relations in the functional domain, accounting for the interesting, though rather intricate, paradigm of inflecting negatives as well as person-less imperatives in Standard Arabic and languages that exhibit similar behavior.Item The Role of Depression, Social Support, and Gender in an Individual's Decision to Leave an Emotionally Abusive Relationship(2006-01-19) Mitchell, Danielle Lynn; Leslie, Dr. Leigh; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explored the relationship between depression, the social support of friends and family, gender, and the steps an individual takes to leave an emotionally abusive relationship. A primary analysis was run on 424 individuals who presented for couples therapy at a university based clinic. Results indicated that depression was positively associated with taking more steps to leave an emotionally abusive relationship for both genders. Family support was not associated with steps to leave for either gender; however, social support of friends was negatively associated with steps to leave for females only. Social support only moderated the relationship between depression and steps to leave for females with higher depression levels in the sample. A secondary analysis indicated that severity of abuse had the strongest association with steps to leave the relationship. The results have important implications on how depression and social support are treated in emotionally abused individuals.Item Attachment Style as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Level of Perceived Conflict and Constructive and Psychologically Abusive Behavior in Clinic Couples(2004-08-03) Beyder-Kamjou, Irina; Epstein, Norman; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined a potential moderating effect of attachment styles of members of clinical couples on the relationship between their level of perceived conflict and use of forms of psychologically abusive versus constructive conflict management behavior toward each other. Data from one hundred seventy seven couples who had sought therapy at the Family Service Center at the University of Maryland, College Park were used. Each client had completed a set of assessment questionnaires prior to beginning couple therapy at the clinic, and all data previously had been entered into a database. The subset of assessment measures utilized for this study included questionnaires assessing attachment styles, forms of psychological abuse, physical abuse, and relationship adjustment. It was hypothesized that when individuals experience conflict in their intimate relationships and their working models of attachment are activated, they will use degrees of constructive or psychologically abusive conflict management behavior based on the type of attachment style that they exhibit. It was postulated that, in general, if individuals perceive their relationship to be higher in level of conflict, they would use more psychologically abusive conflict resolution behavior than if they perceive their relationship to be lower in conflict. Results supported this hypothesis. It was also proposed that individuals perceiving their relationship to be lower in level of conflict would utilize more constructive conflict resolution behavior than individuals perceiving a higher level of conflict in their intimate relationships. Results did not support this hypothesis. In addition, individuals with secure attachment styles who perceive their relationship to be higher in conflict were expected to use more constructive conflict management skills than insecure individuals, whereas insecure individuals were expected to use more psychologically abusive behavior. The results indicated an interaction between the level of perceived conflict and the level of attachment insecurity for individuals' use of psychologically abusive conflict resolution behaviors, but not for individuals' use of constructive conflict resolution behaviors. Contrary to the hypothesis, it was found that securely attached individuals in higher conflict relationships utilized more psychologically abusive conflict resolution behavior than their insecure counterparts. However, consistent with the prediction, no significant differences were found in secure and insecure individuals' use of psychologically abusive conflict resolution behaviors in lower conflict relationships. Moreover, regarding specific types of insecure attachment, it was expected that if perceived level of conflict between the partners is relatively high: (a) individuals reporting a dismissive-avoidant attachment style would use more of the hostile withdrawal types of psychological abuse as compared with individuals reporting other forms of insecure attachment, (b) individuals with the fearful-avoidant attachment style would use more of the denigration type of psychological abuse as compared to individuals reporting other forms of insecure attachment, and (c) individuals with the preoccupied attachment style would use more of the restrictive engulfment and domination-intimidation types of psychological abuse as compared to individuals with other forms of insecure attachment. The results did not support these hypotheses. As predicted, there were no differences in the use of psychologically abusive or constructive behavior among individuals with secure attachment and the various types of insecure attachment who perceived their relationship to have a lower level of conflict. Furthermore, gender and racial (Caucasians versus African-Americans) differences in the distribution of attachment styles in members of these clinical couples were examined, and no significant results were observed. In addition, gender differences in the relationship between attachment styles and use of constructive and psychologically abusive conflict resolution behaviors in high versus low-conflict relationships were examined in an exploratory fashion. The results indicated no significant gender differences in individuals' use of constructive or psychologically abusive conflict resolution behaviors based on the level of conflict that they perceived in their relationship. Finally, the distribution of couple pairings by partners' attachment styles was explored, and the most common pairings were found to be both partners secure, both partners fearful-avoidant, and a secure male matched with a fearful female. Overall, the findings indicate that attachment styles are a variable that those who study and treat abuse within couple relationships should take into account. Implications of the study's findings for therapeutic interventions with psychologically abusive partners with various attachment patterns and suggestions for future research are discussed.