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 Essays on Institutions, Governance and Economic Growth(2024) Batra, Kartikeya; Galiani, Sebastian; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Economic development and growth are impacted by several factors. Among these, existing social institutions, and quality of governance are important determinants. These factors become especially relevant in the context of low and middle-income countries. Such nations are home to a large share of the world’s population, and aspire to grow their economies at high rates. Understanding constraints to their socio-economic development and prescribing policy solutions is, therefore, an important area of research. In the three chapters of this dissertation, I explore three different issues that impact social institutions and governance, which, in turn, impact socio-economic development. I do so in the context of India, which is home to approximately 20% of the world’s total population. In the first chapter, I explore whether historical land policies impact long-run socio-economic outcomes, including the persistent institution of the caste system and stereotypes associated with it. I find that lower land concentration does lead to improved socio-economic outcomes, especially for the socially marginalized landless communities. In the second chapter, I test whether enhanced state capacity by means of better public infrastructure improves the performance ofbureaucrats in rural India. I find that better roads lead to better bureaucratic performance, possibly due to improved monitoring by higher officials whose mobility is positively impacted. Finally, in the third chapter, I examine whether the size of a political party impacts its decisions to field wealthy candidates. I find that a smaller political party is likely to field a wealthier candidate than a bigger political party, possibly due to fewer avenues to mobilize resources. This is important, for the wealth profile of a candidate, in turn, has the potential to impact governance outcomes in their area. The three chapters are aimed at understanding causal relationships pertaining to important questions in the context of India’s society, political economy and economic development. My results provide novel contributions to relevant strands literature, and also allow me to provide relevant policy prescriptions.Item Examining the co-development of episodic memory and hippocampal subfields – A longitudinal study(2020) Canada, Kelsey Leigh; Riggins, Tracy; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Episodic memory is a cornerstone ability that allows one to recall past events and the context in which they occur. Many different tasks have been used to assess the development of episodic memory during early childhood. Previous longitudinal work on individual tasks has noted accelerated changes from approximately 5 to 7 years, suggesting non-linear changes in memory ability during early childhood. However, the extent to which tasks relate to one another and are indicative of the latent construct of episodic memory is not known. Further, improvements in memory are thought to relate to underlying changes occurring in the functionally distinct subfields of the hippocampus (i.e., CA2-4/dentate gyrus (DG), CA1, and Subiculum) during this developmental period. This study examined changes in episodic memory ability, hippocampal subfield volume, and the relation between changes in episodic memory and volume of hippocampal subfields during early childhood (4 to 8 years) using longitudinal data and a structural equation modeling framework. Results suggest that episodic memory ability improves substantially during this period, with consistent improvements between 4 to 8 years. Further, there are robust increases in subiculum, CA1, and CA2-4/DG volume between 5 to 6 years of age. Finally, within this sample, there were relations between the development of hippocampal subfields and improvements on a single source memory task commonly used to assess episodic memory. Interestingly, this relation was most robust between subiculum and source memory. Overall, these results highlight the ability to use laboratory tasks to characterize developmental changes in episodic memory, highlight 5- to 6-years as a period of developmental change in hippocampal subfields, and further support a role of the hippocampus in supporting episodic memory.Item Developmental differences in relations between parent-reported executive function and unitized and non-unitized memory representations during childhood(Frontiers, 2015-08-19) Blankenship, Sarah L.; Riggins, TracyPrevious research has documented an association between executive functioning (EF) and memory for bound details. However, it is unknown if this relation varies as a function of the type of bound information (i.e., unitized versus non-unitized) and whether this association changes as a function of age during childhood, when both EF and memory undergo rapid development. The current study sought to address these gaps by examining whether relations between parent-reported EF differed for unitized versus non-unitized memory representations and if these relations differed between children who were 4, 6, or 8 years of age. Results revealed that EF was selectively associated with non-unitized associative memory in 8-year-old children; no significant relations between EF and either memory condition were evident in 4- or 6-year-olds. These results suggest relations between EF and memory may be specific to non-unitized representations and that this association may emerge across childhood as both EF and memory abilities develop.Item Seeds of Contestation: Genetically Modified Crops and the Politics of Agricultural Modernization in Ghana(2015) Ignatova, Jacqueline Alyce; Haufler, Virginia; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)What actors, expertise, and models of development are advanced by the ‘new Green Revolution in Africa’? This dissertation addresses this question through a blend of discourse analysis and ethnographic fieldwork during a period of agricultural transition in Northern Ghana. What struggles over authority, knowledge, identity, and property define this contemporary political economy of agricultural modernization in Ghana? I argue that legal, techno-scientific expertise and agribusiness work together to advance a model of agricultural development based on new forms of capital, governance structures, and technology. This model of agricultural development is mobilized and legitimated through discourses of emergency, salvation, entrepreneurship, and humanitarianism. In this new Green Revolution in Africa, regions like Northern Ghana are seen by development planners as ‘backwards,’ with growing ‘yield gaps’ that undermine food security. What is needed, from this perspective, is capital investment, entrepreneurship, and access to yield-enhancing technologies, such as ‘pro-poor biotechnology.’ Deficiency frames, the combined use of hype and science, and donations become critical mechanisms to facilitate—or resist—the entry of contested agricultural technologies and models of agricultural development. At the center of these discursive strategies is the figure of the farmer, who is seen as an agent and object of salvation by proponents and opponents alike. I complement discourse analysis with ethnography to show that these grand plans to transform farming from a way of life to a business are constantly challenged by the existing complexity of Africans’ multiple, coexisting roles, risk reduction practices, and notions of entrepreneurship.Item PREDICTING YOUNG WOMEN'S CAREER PLANS: DO FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHILDREN PREDICT OUTCOMES OVER AND ABOVE INSTRUMENTALITY?(2013) Savela, Alexandra; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study assessed factors related to career development in a sample of undergraduate women. The roles of instrumentality, anticipated work-family conflict, and willingness to compromise career for children in the prediction of career choice traditionality, career aspirations, and occupational engagement were examined. Additionally, the moderating role of willingness to compromise career for children on the relationship between instrumentality and each career outcome was tested. Results indicated that instrumentality predicted leadership aspirations, recognition aspirations, and occupational engagement. Anticipated work-family conflict predicted career choice traditionality, leadership aspirations, and occupational engagement over and above instrumentality. Willingness to compromise career for children added to the prediction of occupational engagement after controlling for instrumentality and anticipated work-family conflict. No moderation findings were detected. Findings are discussed in terms of future research directions and in the context of career counseling with undergraduate women.Item Executive Coaching as a Developmental Experience: A Framework and Measure of Coaching Dimensions(2008-09-10) Gettman, Hilary J; Stevens, Cynthia; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The widespread and rapidly growing practice of executive coaching (Berglas, 2002) has evolved as a practice outside of the context of any academic discipline. While the literature on executive coaching is voluminous, there has been no attempt to systematically outline and operationalize the important dimensions of coaching practice. This lack of empirical foundation has made it difficult assess coaching in any meaningful way, for example, to determine what aspects of coaching are critical to effectiveness, or if it is even effective at all. In order to begin to fill this gap in the research, I sought to understand the important dimensions of executive coaching. To this end I reviewed the literature on coaching, and relevant research literatures, to get a better understanding of what coaches likely do to promote development, to develop a more grounded conceptualization of the dimensions of executive coaching, and to begin exploring the theoretical bases for these dimensions. I proposed six dimensions of coaching activities: assessment, challenge, emotional support, tactical support, motivational reinforcement and promoting a learning orientation. Second, I operationalized these dimensions by creating items based on the literatures reviewed, as well as input from subject matter experts, and based upon my own expertise. Finally, I administered the scales to 188 coaches and 32 executives, and evaluated the scales for their structure, reliability and validity. In the resulting factor structure, four of the dimensions were found as proposed, but challenge split into three factors and tactical support into two factors, resulting in nine dimensions of coaching activities, with reliabilities ranging from .75 to .91, averaging .84. Finally, some analyses of convergent, divergent and criterion-related validity of the dimensions were conducted, resulting in some preliminary indications of the construct validity of three of the scales, and providing information of where future validation work should be done. Interestingly, levels of engagement in seven of the dimensions varied meaningfully and predictably amongst coaches according to their education and training, which could have widespread implications for coaching selection and training. The resulting dimensions and measures open the door to further study of coaching, advancing both research and practice.Item Society and Infrastructure: Geographical Accessibility and its Effects on School Enrolment in Nepal(2007-10-12) KC, Shyam; Vanneman, Reeve D.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research examines the effects of geographical isolation on school enrolment in Nepal using mainly the Nepal Living Standards Survey-II (2003-2004). Nepal, a country with severe road accessibility problems, presents an especially suitable population for this research. Geographical access is measured as the time required by the household to reach the nearest motorable (dirt or paved) road. The accessibility profile that emerges reflects three forms of imbalance in the state-society relations in Nepal. The first imbalance is regional. The second imbalance is socio-economic reflected mainly in higher concentrations of poverty and illiteracy in inaccessible areas. The third imbalance is the state's inability to cater essential services for the people there. Stepwise regressions of the NLSS-II cross sectional data show that isolated children are less likely to be enrolled in part because they are poorer, have less educated parents and are from disadvantaged caste/ethnic groups. Another important part of the reason is isolated children are served by distant and low quality schools and also lack basic services such as electricity. Among secondary aged children, isolation continues to have an independent effect even after taking into account all other determinants of enrolment. This suggests that isolation operates beyond the socio-economic, familial and institutional disadvantages the children face in getting enrolled in school. Adolescent (but not pre-adolescent) girls are more likely to be impacted by inaccessibility than boys. There is no evidence that inaccessibility operates differentially amongst the poor and the non-poor in sending children to school. Analyses of the NLSS panel data reveals that improvements in accessibility improves the chance of the children to continue being enrolled in school, but the remoteness they lived through in their childhood also affects such chances in later years. 'Physical' networks in the form of roads have the potential to enhance social networks and the political voice of isolated households, which in turn enables them to value and demand education for their children. Sociology of roads is a field that needs to be expanded to get a better insight on the social changes that are associated with the building of roads.Item Analyzing the Impact of Participatory-Planned Conservation Policies in the Negril Environmental Protection Area, western Jamaica(2007-05-06) Miller Anderson, Lovette; Defries, Ruth S.; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF PARTICIPATORY PLANNED CONSERVATION POLICIES IN THE NEGRIL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AREA, WESTERN JAMAICA Lovette Miller Anderson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Dissertation directed by: Professor Ruth Defries Department of Geography This dissertation research sought to determine the ways in which the participatory-planned conservation policies influence changes in local populations' natural resource use. The research took place in the Negril Environmental Protection Area, western Jamaica and covered the period 1990 to 2005. The two major questions asked were 1) In what ways do participatory-planned conservation policies influence changes in the protected area's natural resource use? 2) How does group membership and demography influence the perception of the conservation policies and of changes in natural resource use? The research employed trend analyses, content analyses, a population survey, discriminant analyses and semi-structured interviews to answer the research questions. In general, the research finds that national socioeconomic development interests were given priority over the participatory-planned conservation policies. The changes in local populations' natural resource use were primarily due to the national socioeconomic policies that were in place prior to the protected area designation as well as those that were implemented during the study period. Second, the research finds that, in general, groups that have shared histories were homogeneous in their views of conservation and/or development. In contrast, newer entrants to the protected area were generally heterogeneous in their views of conservation and/or development. Further, the research finds that changes in the demographic characteristics of local populations significantly influence the perception of conservation and development. For example, respondents who were relatively new to the protected area generally had a positive perception of conservation and of the decline in fishing jobs. In contrast, respondents who have lived there relatively longer had a negative perception of conservation and of the decline in fishing jobs. By examining the complexity of implementing the participatory-planned conservation policies in Negril's postcolonial and non-colonial socioeconomic and political landscape, this research extends the discourse on protected areas from large, relatively low populated areas to the complex geographic landscapes that currently describe some newer protected areas.