Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

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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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Beyond the Mainstream: A Theory Test of School Engagement and Sexual Assault
    (2012) Vlajnic, Maja Milana; Thornberry, Terence P; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    While many mainstream criminological theories purportedly explain all types of crime, next to nothing in the literature tests for rape and sexual assault — an exceptional oversight, considering that an alternate theoretical explanation (feminist theory) exists for this class of crime. This thesis hopes to begin to rectify this gap in the literature by testing an aspect of control theory, the school bond. Using the National Youth Survey, logistic regression is applied to test the effects of school engagement (academic and athletic) on rapes attempted or completed by male adolescents. Support for neither the control theory hypothesis nor the feminist theory hypothesis is found, as neither engagement variable reaches significant results. However, this thesis still hopes to emphasize the necessity of literature specifically testing rape and sexual assault, and offers directions for future research to expand on this.
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    Sexuality Education, Sexual Communication, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Sexual Assault Experience among Deaf and Hard of Hearing College Students
    (2009) Francavillo, Gwendolyn Suzanne Roberts; Sawyer, Robin G; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students are at an increased risk of sexual assault in comparison to their hearing peers. Previous studies demonstrate that although sexual assault rates among college students are high, among the Deaf community, these rates are nearly double. Data suggest that between 50% and 83% of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals will experience sexual assault in their lifetime, with Deaf and Hard of Hearing women more likely to experience sexual assault than Deaf and Hard of Hearing men. There exists only a small amount of published research regarding Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals and sexuality, and an even smaller amount of research has been conducted with Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals on the subject of sexual assault. The high sexual assault rates among Deaf and Hard of Hearing students may be partially attributed to their limited sexuality education and knowledge, most often as a result of communication, language, and cultural barriers. The purpose of this study was to 1) examine a possible relationship between levels of sexuality education, sexual communication, rape myth acceptance, and sexual assault experience, along with demographic variables, among Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students; and 2) examine differences between students previously educated in schools for the Deaf versus mainstream schools, with regard to their levels of sexuality education, sexual communication, rape myth acceptance, and sexual assault experience. The instrument was developed incorporating the Sexual Communication Survey (SCS), Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (RMAS), Sexual Experiences Survey (SES), sexuality education and sexual activity components. Two sets of hypotheses were examined via linear regression to ascertain significant relationships among the variables, with Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) constructs being used as the theoretical foundation of the study. Seven analyses were found to be statistically significant, with sexual communication, gender, and consensual sexual activity predictor variables explaining the outcome variable, sexual assault experience, at high percentages. The findings from this research have provided a greater baseline of data for future studies to investigate the factors influencing sexual assault among Deaf and Hard of Hearing college students.
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    Examining Potential Mechanisms for Increasing Emotional Willingness
    (2008-08-25) Paulson, Autumn Melody; Lejuez, Carl W.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research has demonstrated that women who have experienced a rape are at an increased risk for developing subsequent psychological and behavioral consequences (e.g., mood disturbances, anxiety symptoms, substance abuse). More recently, it has been suggested that an unwillingness to experience negative emotions may contribute to these adverse consequences. One proposed strategy for increasing emotional willingness, and thereby decreasing these psychological and behavioral consequences, is to increase acceptance of one's emotional experiences. This investigation examined whether an experimental manipulation designed to increase emotional acceptance resulted in greater emotional willingness among rape survivors. Participants consisted of 38 women who experienced a rape since the age of 18. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions (acceptance, distraction, time control) and instructed to practice the skills provided during the session and record their experiences for a week. At the end of this week, participants' emotional willingness and ability to engage in functional behaviors when distressed were assessed by a trauma-relevant, distressing behavioral task. Participants also completed a self-report measure to assess for emotional willingness. Although group conditions did not differ in emotional willingness as assessed by the behavioral task, the acceptance and the time control conditions reported significantly greater increase in emotional willingness as compared to the distraction condition. Furthermore, findings suggested that differences in emotional willingness may be partially mediated by self-report non-reactivity to emotional experiences for the acceptance condition. Time control condition demonstrated decreased ability to engage in a goal-directed behavior when distressed whereas the acceptance and distraction condition did not. Finally, results suggest that distraction skills may be perceived as less tolerable based on greater non-completer rates and lower rated agreement with provided skills as compared to acceptance skills. Implications and future directions are further discussed.
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    The Investigation of Rape Complaints: Variables that Best Predict Arrest
    (2005-05-05) Smith, Jaclyn D'Anne; LaFree, Gary; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    I examine the variables that predict arrest in rape cases based on hypotheses derived from the feminist-conflict theory, the consensus perspective, and the liberation hypothesis. Feminist-conflict theorists argue that extralegal variables influence the decisions of the police, irregardless of legal variables. Conversely, the consensus perspective argues that legally relevant variables will have the greatest impact on police decisions. The liberation hypothesis suggests that the influence of extralegal variables on police decisions depend on the strength of evidence and crime seriousness. The results from a logit regression analysis on arrest using police archival data do not support the liberation hypothesis. The feminist-conflict theory correctly predicts a decrease in the likelihood of an arrest as the intimacy between the suspect and victim increases. However, there is more support for the consensus perspective for predicting arrest as evidentiary strength is the strongest predictor of arrest.
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    A Typological Approach to Exploring Pathways for Rapists, Child Molesters and Incest Offenders
    (2004-05-12) Harris, Danielle Arlanda; Dugan, Laura; Criminology and Criminal Justice
    This research assumes offense specialization and distinguishes between rape, child molestation and incest. I hypothesize that child molesters will reveal the earliest age of onset (self-reported age of first sexually aggressive behavior) when compared to rapists and incest offenders respectively. Second, I hypothesize that sexual risk factors (pornography exposure and use) will characterize a specific pathway to child molestation and non-sexual risk factors (poor peer associations and substance use) will be more relevant in rape and incest pathways respectively. A descriptive univariate analysis supports the first hypothesis and a principal components factor analysis supports the second hypothesis. Child molesters are indeed characterized by a high rate of exposure to and use of pornography and rapists are more likely than other sexual offenders to use drugs and alcohol and to have extensive criminal histories. Incest offenders are distinguished by their 'social competence' and by variables criminologists consider to be 'protective' factors.