Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: Justin T. Denney
&
Joanne Belknap

Some existing research suggests that women victims of intimate partner abuse report the non-physical (verbal/ psychological/emotional) abuse as more hurtful than the physical abuse. Using a longitudinal sample of 178 women in three research sites identified by the courts as victims of domestic violence, this study analyzes the extensive data collected on the type(s) of abuse the women report experiencing, distinguishing many forms of non-physical abuse and many forms of physical abuse. The role of whether the abuse is non-physical, physical, or both is analyzed, while examining demographic characteristics of the women, mental health variables (e.g., quality of life and psychological distress), and data on the women’s use of the police and courts.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: According to recent accounts of infants’ physical-reasoning (PR) system, when watching an occlusion or a containment event, infants categorize the event and then tap their category knowledge, which lists the variables identified as relevant for the category. Beginning at about 3.5 months for occlusion and 7.5 months for containment, height is listed as a relevant variable, so infants include height information in their representations of these events. Here we examine how infants go about including this information.

One (visual-inspection) hypothesis assumes that, upon realizing that height information is needed, infants visually inspect the objects in the event to determine their heights. Another (two-system) hypothesis assumes that, at the start of an event, infants store representations of the objects in an object-recognition (OR) system. As the event unfolds, infants build an event representation in their PR system; upon realizing that height information is needed, infants query their OR system for this information. According to the first hypothesis, infants must have visual access during an event to use height information; according to the second hypothesis, infants can obtain height information without visual access, provided they had time to represent it in their OR system.

We showed 6-month-olds occlusion or containment events in three “snapshots”; between snapshots a panel hid the interior of the apparatus. The snapshots were constructed in such a way that, by the time infants could categorize the event, they could no longer gather height information through visual inspection—they could only retrieve it from their OR system.

In snapshot1, a tall object stood next to a tall container. In snapshot2, an experimenter’s hand held the object either behind (occlusion condition) or inside (containment condition) the container; only the top of the object remained visible, so infants could no longer determine its height. In snapshot3, the object stood next to the container and was either the same height as before (no-change event) or much shorter (change event). We predicted that infants in both conditions would store object representations in their OR system (snapshot1), but that only infants in the occlusion condition would retrieve height information from their OR system (snapshot2), and hence that only these infants would detect the surreptitious change to the object’s height (snapshot3).

Results confirmed our predictions, suggesting that infants store object representations in their OR system, and access these representations when variable information is needed in their PR system. Additional experiments further support the two-system hypothesis.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Although primarily utilized in the sciences, this study tested peer instruction (PI) in an undergraduate statistics course. The technique had a significant positive effect on the accuracy of students’ responses to statistical problems and on students’ confidence in their statistical abilities. PI has the potential to be applied to a wide variety of courses.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The career development of men in the predominately female profession of physical therapy is assessed in relation to the intersecting social worlds of sport and work. A critical feminist perspective on sport, masculinities and the gender order (Connell 1987) is used as an analytical framework for interpreting data gathered from 32 semi-structured interviews with two cohorts of male physical therapists in their early and mid-careers. A distinctive “domain of masculinity” characterized by a background in sports, sports injuries, and bodybuilding activities is identified as the primary mechanism for entering the field, choice of certification, and practice experience. We argue that a sports-related pathway and early emphasis on athleticism, helps to maintain “hegemonic masculinity” by easing men into a female-dominated profession through a familiar masculine terrain. However, variations on hegemonic themes are evident and respondent’s encapsulations of the essential characteristics of the “good PT” are highly androgynous, including the stereotypical “female traits” of caring and nurturing. Paradoxically the context of athleticism dialectically shapes men’s abilities to comfortably accept “alternative masculinities” in the form of caring work that departs from hegemonic archetypes of men and men’s work, while at the same time men’s choices reinforce hegemonic masculinities.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The impact of chronic illness on disability among older adults has been well-documented with extensive research on functional decline in the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). However, research that focuses on disability arising from emotional problems or research on disability among younger adults is less prevalent. We examined models of disability resulting from both physical and emotional health problems among samples of both older and younger adults. In these models we further distinguish between disability attributed to physical or emotional problems by subjects who are experiencing difficulties performing instrumental and advanced (cognitive) ADLs. The findings reveal that emotional problems measured by symptoms of depression always have significant effects on all four dimensions of disability, and these are often among the most influential effects in the models. The findings also reveal that discriminating between attributions of disability to emotional and physical health is necessary in order to have a complete understanding of the structure of functional disability.