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 Body Positivity for Asian Americans: Development and Evaluation of the Pride in Asian American Appearance Scale (PAAAS)(2021) Le, Thomas Phong; Iwamoto, Derek K; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While a growing body of literature has examined factors that contribute to Asian Americans’ negative body image, little research has investigated Asian Americans’ body image from a strengths-based perspective. This study thus presents the Pride in Asian American Appearance Scale (PAAAS), which was designed to measure the extent to which Asian Americans feel positively about their own racialized physical appearances as well as those of fellow Asian Americans. Items were developed through an extensive literature review, cognitive interviews, and expert feedback. Exploratory (N = 398) and confirmatory (N = 398) factor analyses suggested a 4-factor structure and produced a 25-item scale with the following subscales: (a) Pride in Asian Features, (b) Preference for Asian American Appearance, (c) Asian Americans as Desirable, and (d) Action Promoting Asians’ Attractiveness. Internal consistency estimates as well as factor determinacies were high and demonstrated that the specified items adequately represented their intended factors. The PAAAS was significantly correlated in theoretically expected directions with internalized racism, collective self-esteem, and psychological distress. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.Item Weighing the Body: Olympic Weightlifters' Negotiations of Weight Class & Body Ideals(2021) Nelson, Monica; Jette, Shannon; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Despite the demanding physical requirements of the sports in which they compete, the bodily practices of competitive athletes are informed and constrained by the athletic and dominant discourses that they are surrounded by. Gendered discourses of the ideal body may induce female athletes to avoid development of “masculine” muscle (Krane et al., 2004); dominant healthist discourses that demonize body fat can contribute to physiological impairments among athletes participating in lean-sport cultures (Ackerman et al., 2020). Through feminist poststructuralist analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with eight male and eight female competitive Olympic Weightlifters, this thesis examines how male and female strength athletes negotiate multiple discourses about acceptable and “athletically-functional” bodies when choosing their weight classes. This study also observes how athletes manipulate (and are manipulated by) their bodies in order to accommodate and resist dominant discourses, offering a demonstration of the social and biological construction of the athletic body.Item Body image experiences among Asian American women: A qualitative intersectionality framework(2016) Brady, Jennifer; Iwamoto, Derek K; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Body image concerns are a growing issue among Asian American young adult women and evidence suggests that they experience distinct sociocultural stressors that might heighten risk. This study advanced knowledge through a Grounded Theory qualitative approach and explored the unique experiences of oppression among Asian American undergraduate women (N=20) that influence body image dissatisfaction. Participants completed a one hour semi-structured interview describing their socialization experiences; gender and racial identity development; feelings and thoughts about their bodies; beliefs of Western and cultural beauty norms; and body image management strategies. The core category Body Image was comprised of attitudes and perceptions about body weight, shape, and size, facial features (e.g. eye size) and skin complexion/tone. Numerous contextual, interpersonal, and identity conditions, emerged to produce a range of positive and negative body image beliefs. Results can advance etiological understanding of prominent sociocultural factors that may attenuate or heighten risk for body image concerns.Item Body images in magazines: A cross-cultural investigation of media effects in Russian and U.S. young women(2007-04-25) Markova, Svetlana V.; McAdams, Katherine C.; Journalism; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The dissertation is a cross-cultural-generational investigation of audiences' perceptions of media messages. The study comparatively examines adolescent and young adult females' concepts of body images in beauty and fashion magazines in Russia and USA. The theoretical model for the study was developed in the intersection of mass communication and human development research traditions. Specifically, media effects and audience research traditions of media studies, in combination with social-cognitive domain theory of developmental psychology, were applied for analysis of direct and indirect impact of media messages on young women; of their motivations for reading magazines; of their critical evaluations of media content; and of their predispositions to media-associated health risks. The study was conducted in two stages: mixed research methodologies employing qualitative exploration of the stated problem followed by its quantitative examination. A total of 20 participants (10 Russian and 10 U.S. teenage females) were recruited for in-depth interviews; this part of the study focused primarily on differences in media uses and perceptions between adolescent audiences across cultures. The hypotheses and the survey questionnaire for the second part of the study were developed on the basis of these qualitative data and used to test both cultural and generational differences among media audiences. A total of 400 survey participants represented adolescent (mean age=18.5) and young adult (mean age=28) females in Russia and USA. Two major factors were found to be significant in determining perceptions of media messages by diverse audiences: (1) desire for advice about body-related issues and (2) desire for information and entertainment. Adolescent females were more motivated to read magazines for entertainment and informational purposes than adult women in both cultures, whereas U.S. females were more motivated by body-awareness than Russian females in both generational cohorts. In this connection, U.S. females experienced lower levels of self-esteem after reading magazines and were more predisposed to development of eating disorders than Russian females. The study revealed limited effects of media on diverse cultural and generational audiences, suggesting that media users select specific media content and are consequently influenced by it based on personal motivations for reading specific content of their interest.Item Women Counselors' Countertransference Reactions to Women Clients with Body Image Disturbance(2006-04-25) Doschek, Elizabeth E.; Gelso, Charles J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Women may seek counseling for body image concerns because such concerns are common in society. Women counselors may also suffer from body image disturbance, however. Countertransference is a threat to a counselor's ability to help a client and occurs when client presenting style and/or problem taps into unresolved counselor issues. Women counselors' countertransference reactions to women clients with body image concerns were investigated in light of counselors' body image concerns and client physique in an audiovisual analogue counseling session. Counselors interacted with a video of a woman client discussing body image concerns. Client physique was manipulated such that counselors saw either a client whose physique was close to or far from the societal ideal. No significant relationships were found between the two independent variables (counselor body image disturbance and client physique) and countertransference. The nonsignificant findings are discussed in the context of the low body image disturbance in the sample.