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 Real Partnership is Powerful: Understanding What Women Want and What They Know About Family Work and Communication(2024) Trovato, Karoline Joy; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Women provide the vast majority of unpaid family care, resulting in relationship dissatisfaction, depressive symptoms, thwarted career advancement, and diminished earning power (Cooke & Hook, 2018; Jung & O’Brien, 2019; Woods et al., 2019). The PARTNERS video intervention (Trovato & O’Brien, 2022) was created to educate heterosexual college women about family work distribution and healthy partner communication. The intervention was effective in improving knowledge of family work and communication and enhancing confidence in communicating with a partner for 303 college women. This study builds upon prior research by Trovato and O’Brien (2022) to assess specific differences in knowledge of family work, desired partner characteristics, and communication resulting from the PARTNERS intervention, as well as to identify ways to improve the PARTNERS intervention. Results of this study indicated that that the PARTNERS intervention educated undergraduate women about family work inequity between women and men and the effect of family work distribution on women’s relationship satisfaction, changed their desired partner characteristics to align with communication-related factors, and taught women key PARTNERS communication strategies. Future directions for research and clinical implications are discussed.Item When Guardians Become Capable: An Analysis of Social Bias and Situational Context in Bystander Intervention(2021) Wy, Gabrielle Cabrera; Xie, Min; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey in the 1990s indicate that bystanders were present in two-thirds of violent victimizations; however, a bystander who is present may not necessarily intervene. The present study posits that there are two major types of factors that may influence the likelihood of intervention across incidents: factors related to the severity of the crime, and factors that reveal social bias related to race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and crime type. Using NCVS data from 2012-2018, the present study finds statistically significant associations between presence of a firearm, a victim being female, the crime being sexual assault or rape, and the crime being intimate partner violence, and the outcome of bystander intervention. Results add to the social psychology and sociology literature on helping behavior and inform policy and practice regarding the need for programs that target bystander intervention in violent victimization.Item Public Opinion or Powerful Friends: The Motivation of Minor Power Intervention Into External Conflict(2020) McCulloch, Caitlin; Gallagher Cunningham, Kathleen; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When and how do minor power states decide to intervene in external conflicts? When minor power states intervene, what form of intervention do they employ? I argue that particular types of intervention (military, financial, or diplomatic) are determined in part by whether a specific intervention is conducted to appease domestic or international audiences. When intervention is primarily a response to the domestic public, foreign policy elites will first and foremost take high visibility intervention action. If there is no strong domestic public opinion on the intervention but there is pressure from major power allies, foreign policy elites will be more likely to take financially costly intervention action. Previous explanations have not examined the entire menu of possible intervention types, missing important variation in the decision-making calculus around intervention. This study tests this theory with a mixture of qualitative and quantitative analysis. It uses a national public opinion survey in the Republic of Georgia (2017) to support which external conflicts interest the public, public preferences for diplomatic intervention, and elite interest in public preference. It then follows this with a historical case study of India, Sri Lanka and the Tamils (1980-1990) illustratively demonstrating the exact mobilization mechanism of the public and their impact on intervention. These two chapters show that the public cares about cases with solidarity ties and media attention, and overwhelmingly prefers diplomatic intervention. It also shows a majority of elite policymakers do believe the public impacts foreign security policy. The last empirical chapter turns to the role of major power allies in motivating intervention. This dissertation uses a statistical analysis and data from 1975-2009 to show the importance of major power security incentives and security contexts in motivating minor power military intervention. It shows mixed impacts of major power security incentives and security contexts in motivating economic intervention, and shows that major power-minor power intervention occurs in less than 1% of all diplomatic intervention cases. This supports that major powers play a large role in motivating military intervention, but suggests that major powers have a smaller role in motivating diplomatic intervention.Item SCAFFOLDING CHILDREN'S COGNITIVE GROWTH USING THE STORIES GROUP INTERACTION(2012) Buell, Samantha Sedlik; Teglasi, Hedwig; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)A 15-session story-guided group intervention (STORIES) was implemented during a school lunch hour for six fourth grade students (N=6) referred for social-emotional and academic needs. Two transcript coding systems, the Group Leader Intervention System (GLIS) and Child Verbalization Codes (CVC) were used to assess both leader interventions and child cognition within the group through the coding of session transcripts. Patterns of reciprocal group dynamics were studied with a focus on various leader scaffolding techniques aimed at improving child cognitive understanding and functioning within the group setting. These patterns were examined across group phases (eating lunch and working with books), various group activities, and time. Results indicate that several leader interventions were related to higher child cognitive levels. Higher child scores followed verbalizations where the leader modeled responses, provided structure, and asked specific questions. The leader's behavior also varied following child verbalizations at different levels in terms of type and tone of intervention. Mean child cognitive responses indicated low levels of understanding and difficulty processing emotions or expressing empathy. Performance varied greatly by participant in terms of both frequency and quality of participation. Improvements in cognition were not seen over time, but certain activities were linked with better performance. Across group components, the use of more highly scaffolded questions by the leader reduced lower level responses from child participants. The highest level child cognitive responses were rare for this group and were linked with more open-ended questions from the group leader. Results are discussed in terms of the relevance for school-based group interventions, the practicality of implementing interventions during lunchtime, and the use of scaffolding techniques in work with children of varying ability levels.Item Identifying evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents using the range of possible changes model: A meta-analytic illustration(2009-09) De Los Reyes, Andres; Kazdin, Alan E.The article discusses a study involving a framework (range of possible changes [RPC] Model) developed and applied to identify patterns in consistent and inconsistent intervention outcomes effects by informant, measurement method, and method of statistical analysis to the meta-analytic study of trials testing two evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents (youth-focused cognitive-behavioral treatment for child anxiety problems; parent-focused behavioral parent training for childhood conduct problems). This article illustrates how findings gleaned from applying the RPC Model allow for unique opportunities for hypothesis generation based on the patterns of consistent outcomes effects. Based on the RPC Model, studies can be closely examined to identify the specific instances in which interventions yield robust effects, and the authors illustrate how examining effects in this way can lead to new understandings of interventions and the outcomes they produce. Findings suggest that researchers can employ previously underutilized patterns of consistencies and inconsistencies in outcomes effects as new resources for identifying evidence-based interventions.Item Identifying evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents using the range of possible changes model: A meta-analytic illustration(2009) De Los Reyes, Andres; Kazdin, Alan E.The article discusses a study involving a framework (range of possible changes [RPC] Model) developed and applied to identify patterns in consistent and inconsistent intervention outcomes effects by informant, measurement method, and method of statistical analysis to the meta-analytic study of trials testing two evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents (youth-focused cognitive-behavioral treatment for child anxiety problems; parent-focused behavioral parent training for childhood conduct problems). This article illustrates how findings gleaned from applying the RPC Model allow for unique opportunities for hypothesis generation based on the patterns of consistent outcomes effects. Based on the RPC Model, studies can be closely examined to identify the specific instances in which interventions yield robust effects, and the authors illustrate how examining effects in this way can lead to new understandings of interventions and the outcomes they produce. Findings suggest that researchers can employ previously underutilized patterns of consistencies and inconsistencies in outcomes effects as new resources for identifying evidence-based interventions.Item Development and Preliminary Testing of a Brief, Behavioral Intervention to Address the Homework-Related Problems of Middle School Students with ADHD(2008-05-31) Raggi, Veronica Lee; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In contrast to the vast literature on treatments for children with ADHD, there is a relative paucity of research examining the efficacy of psychosocial treatments for adolescents with ADHD. Furthermore, only a handful of these studies employ educational interventions designed to improve academic functioning, and no study has examined the use of a specific intervention targeting the homework-related difficulties of this group. This is despite the majority of parents of adolescents with ADHD reporting school and academic issues as their primary concern (Robin, 1990; Power et al., 2006). Intervening at this critical juncture may be ideal for preparing youth with ADHD to handle the increased academic demands of middle school and high school. In order to address this treatment need and gap in the literature, a behaviorally-based, family-school homework intervention program (HIP) for middle school students with ADHD was developed. This five-session program is integrative and evidence-based, with an emphasis on the functional analysis of homework problems, parent training in homework management principles, goal setting and contingency contracting, organizational and time management skills training, and parent-teacher consultation. Participants included 11 middle school students diagnosed with ADHD and their mothers. A multiple-baseline (MB) across participants design was used to assess intervention effects. Results from this single-subject design suggest that the HIP is beneficial in improving homework-related problems across multiple indicators of change. Positive effects were also observed on some measures of overall academic progress and ADHD symptoms. This intervention demonstrated high levels of acceptability and satisfaction as perceived by both parents and adolescents.Item When the evidence says, "Yes, no, and maybe so": Attending to and interpreting inconsistent findings among evidence-based interventions.(United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.., 2008) De Los Reyes, Andres; Kazdin, AlanAn international, multidisciplinary effort aims to identify evidence-based treatments (EBTs) or interventions. The goal of this effort is to identify specific techniques or programs that successfully target and change specific behaviors. In clinical psychology, EBTs are identified based on the outcomes of randomized controlled trials examining whether treatments outperform control or alternative treatment conditions. Treatment outcomes are measured in multiple ways. Consistently, different ways of gauging outcomes yield inconsistent conclusions. Historically, EBT research has not accounted for these inconsistencies. In this paper we highlight the implications of inconsistencies, describe a framework for redressing inconsistent findings, and illustrate how the framework can guide future research on how to administer and combine treatments to maximize treatment effects and how to study treatments via quantitative review.Item Third Party Intervention in Ethnic Conflicts: A Force for Peace or Spiraling Violence(2004-08-03) Khosla, Deepa; Gurr, Ted R.; Government and Politics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines how interventions by external states can influence the degree of violence of internal ethnic conflicts. We know that foreign state interventions can alter the trajectory of domestic disputes but scholars disagree about the potential effects. Outside support can increase the destructiveness and duration while potentially threatening to diffuse hostilities across states boundaries. Third parties can alternatively help promote a resolution through mediation or by ensuring the victory of one of the parties. This project tests several hypotheses about the effects of key variables including the goals and prior political activism of ethnic groups, the regime type of host states, the impact of the Cold War, the type of state intervenor, the form of assistance supplied, the recipients of the interventions, and ethnic linkages between the parties. The cases comprise twenty-nine ethnopolitical conflicts that emerged in the Third World in the 1980s and the 1990s. Major findings that refine our existing knowledge include how interventions during the Cold War were most likely to occur in conflicts that escalated and that major and regional powers were the main participants. In the 1990s, or the post-Cold War era, most foreign states intervened in ethnic disputes that were either stalemated or decreased in violence. Neighboring states are now the most frequent intervenors in escalating conflicts. Further, higher levels of assistance are unexpectedly associated with internal wars that stalemate or decrease in violence. Challenges to the conventional wisdom include the findings that groups seeking autonomy or secession are very likely to be involved in more intense disputes, neighboring state involvement does not usually exacerbate hostilities, and there is no relationship between competing interventions (support each side) and changes in domestic violence. Further, while military aid is most frequently furnished, it is economic, and secondly, mixed aid (usually economic and military) that is critical in escalating conflicts. Finally, foreign state involvement prior to the eruption of violent hostilities has been little studied. Yet, prior engagement is significantly associated with greater future violence.