College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Family Reputation in Asian Indian American Women: An Exploration of Its Implications and Emotional Consequences(2023) Sheth, Anjali; O'Neal, Colleen R; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Asian Indian American young women are often torn between two incompatible cultures, Eastern and Western. The former promotes collectivism while the latter promotes individualism. In addition to this internal cultural conflict, there is the added obligation of maintaining one’s family reputation which can create challenges for young women who are navigating these opposing cultures. The specific goal of this study was to understand how Asian Indian American undergraduate women experience and perceive family reputation, in addition to its impacts on their emotional experience, emotional coping, and mental health. The method involved semi-structured interviews with ten participants who identified as (a) Asian Indian American, (b) cis-gendered woman, (c) second-generation immigrant, (d) the child of two parents born in India, and (e) an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland. For analyses, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to code and develop themes that emerged from the interview narratives. Results yielded six superordinate themes that defined family reputation through the perspective of the participants as well as their conceptualization of the various factors that are related to the construct (e.g., gender). The discussion addresses the importance of understanding this construct as it shows up for this sample given its relevance in various aspects of their lives.Item Women's Grief Experiences: The Death of a Close Female Friend(2019) Sauber, Elizabeth Winick; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Friendship provides women with a plethora of benefits, including reduced physiological and psychological distress (e.g., Martina & Stevens, 2006; Yang et al., 2016). Yet we do not know what happens when women lose their female friends. Previous work conceptualizes friend loss as disenfranchised, which exacerbates grief reactions (Deck & Folta, 1989). Thus, as informed by the individual differences framework of grief reactions (Mancini & Bonanno, 2009), the purpose of this study was to 1) qualitatively describe the bereavement of women who have experienced the death of a close female friend and 2) test an integrative model of grief reactions predicting complicated grief and posttraumatic growth among female friend grievers. For the qualitative portion of the study, seven women were interviewed in three focus groups. Findings from directed content analysis highlighted common grief reactions (e.g., sadness, yearning for their friends), supportive and disenfranchising interactions related to social support, ways of coping (e.g., rituals to stay connect to the deceased), growth after loss, and ongoing challenges after the friend’s death. For the quantitative portion of the study, a path analysis of online survey data obtained from 148 women was conducted using maximum likelihood estimation in Mplus. Analyses suggested that the hypothesized model demonstrated inadequate fit. Modification indices and additional pathways were reviewed for theoretical plausibility, resulting in three additions to the model. The revised final model was a good fit to the data, explaining 55% of the variance in complicated grief and 43% of the variance in post-traumatic growth. Most strikingly, avoidant emotional coping served as a key mediator and predictor of complicated grief, while problem focused coping served as a key mediator and predictor of post-traumatic growth. This has implications for counseling psychologists regarding theory and practice related to bereaved women—in addition to recognizing the significance of female friend grievers’ losses, the results can be used to advance outreach and intervention efforts among disenfranchised grievers.Item Future Chore Division Ideals and Expectations: Validating a Measure with Undergraduate Women(2018) Silberberg, Ayelet; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)College-aged women expect to disrupt their future careers, earn less, and be responsible for more household and childcare chores than their future spouses. This unequal division of labor has been linked to inequality in the workforce between women and men with women earning less and being concentrated in low pay, low prestige occupations. The current investigation sought to improve understanding of this phenomenon by exploring the factor structure and psychometric properties of a measure of chore division ideals and expectations in a sample of undergraduate women. Exploratory factor analyses suggested separate measures of ideal and expected chores, each comprised of two factors: traditionally feminine chores, and traditionally masculine chores. Confirmatory factor analyses did not reach satisfactory cutoff levels, but the scores on the preliminary scales showed evidence for convergent validity, internal reliability, and test-retest reliability. Results also supported hypotheses regarding relationships between the subscales. Tentative implications of these findings, future directions for research, and clinical implications are discussed.Item The New Bottom Line: Black Women Cultural Entrepreneurs Re-Define Success in The Connected Economy(2016) Buford, Kathryn Buford; Hill Collins, Patricia; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black women cultural entrepreneurs are a group of entrepreneurs that merit further inquiry. Using qualitative interview and participant observation data, this dissertation investigates the ways in which black women cultural entrepreneurs define success. My findings reveal that black women cultural entrepreneurs are a particular interpretive community with values, perspectives and experiences, which are not wholly idiosyncratic, but shaped by collective experiences and larger social forces. Black women are not a monolith, but they are neither disconnected individuals completely devoid of group identity. The meaning they give to their businesses, professional experiences and understandings of success are influenced by their shared social position and identity as black women. For black women cultural entrepreneurs, the New Bottom Line goes beyond financial gain. This group, while not uniform in their understandings of success, largely understand the most meaningful accomplishments they can realize as social impact in the form of cultural intervention, black community uplift and professional/creative agency. These particular considerations represent a new paramount concern, and alternative understanding of what is typically understood as the bottom line. The structural, social and personal challenges that black women cultural entrepreneurs encounter have shaped their particular perspectives on success. I also explore the ways research participants articulated an oppositional consciousness to create an alternative means of defining and achieving success. I argue that this consciousness empowers them with resources, connections and meaning not readily conferred in traditional entrepreneurial settings. In this sense, the personal, social and structural challenges have been foundational to the formation of an alternative economy, which I refer to as The Connected Economy. Leading and participating in The Connected Economy, black women cultural entrepreneurs represent a black feminist and womanist critique of dominant understandings of success.Item The Role of Feminine and Masculine Norms in College Women's Alcohol Use(2015) Kaya, Aylin Esra; Iwamoto, Derek K; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Current literature suggests not only that men and women can conform to both feminine and masculine norms, but that women who adhere to certain masculine norms may be at greater risk for problematic alcohol use. This study examined conformity to both masculine and feminine norms, and how conformity to distinct norms influenced heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems among a sample of underage college women (N= 645). Results demonstrated that the masculine norms risk-taking and emotional control were associated with increased HED, while the masculine norm power over women was associated with a decrease in HED. Traditional feminine norms, including modesty and sexual fidelity, were associated with a decrease in HED and alcohol-related problems. The feminine norm relational was associated with increased HED, while the norms thinness and appearance were associated with increased alcohol-related problems. The study’s theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.Item THE ROLE OF IMPLICIT SELF-CONCEPT IN PLANNING FOR CAREER AND FAMILY IN UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN(2015) Silberberg, Ayelet; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Married women are more likely to leave careers and take on domestic labor responsibilities than their partners. This contributes to gender inequality in the workforce. The current investigation sought to understand this phenomenon by examining factors contributing to career and family planning in college-aged women. A novel Implicit Associations Test (IAT) examined the degree to which implicit self-concept explains variance beyond explicit measures of gender in willingness to compromise career for family, and chore division expectations. Eighty-six undergraduate women completed the IAT and a computer survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses found no relationship between the IAT and other variables. However, participants expected to perform more chores than ideally desired, and a positive relationship emerged between egalitarian gender role expectations and egalitarian ideal chore division. In post-hoc analyses, high expressivity related to egalitarian chore division expectations, and willingness to sacrifice career for children. Recommendations for future research and practice are discussed.Item Do Lesbians in the Military Pass as Heterosexual?(2010) Bonner, Kimberly Bridget; Segal, David R.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This exploratory multiple-case case study investigates if lesbians in the military, past and present, manage to "pass" as heterosexual. This project is designed with the aim of enabling new questions about old problems regarding gender and sexuality within American military culture. Data come from two sources comprised of seventy-three interviews with military lesbians from three previously published works and five face-to-face interviews with active duty lesbians conducted by the author between 2007 and 2008. Lesbians in the military are centralized here in this multiple-case case study because they are both "women" and "homosexuals" participating in an institution that has had historically tense relationships with members of both of these social groups. This project pays specific attention to non-gender conforming lesbians in the military and argues that this group in particular potentially stands to shed light on how both gender and sexual norms operate within both American society and military culture.