Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2023, Psychology-Adult Development and Aging

Microaggressions are the everyday, somewhat covert, verbal and nonverbal manifestation of prejudice. The current ageist microaggression framework was not developed using the standard focus group approach, nor does it address how ageist microaggressions might differ depending on a person's other identities (Gietzen et al., 2022). The purpose of the study was to establish how the intersections of age, race, and gender uniquely influence the development of an age microaggression taxonomy. This study was guided by the following research questions: (1) How are interpersonal experiences of ageism framed/interpreted by older adults? (2) Can these interpersonal experiences be conceptualized within a microaggressions framework? If there is evidence to suggest a taxonomy of ageist microaggressions can be developed, how will it be similar or different than the taxonomies of other identity-based microaggressions? (3) Are the interpersonal experiences of ageist microaggressions unique depending on a person's age, gender, and/or race/ethnicity, and if so, can this be clearly delineated within taxonomy development? Results of an interpretive phenomenological analysis of four diverse focus groups found a total of sixteen ageist microaggressions: Ageist Comments, Social Eradication, Workplace Prejudice and Discrimination, Health-Related Discrimination, Self-Deprecating Ageist Humor, Age-Appropriate Judgments, Assumptions Regarding Physical Abilities, Assumptions Regarding Mental Abilities, Elderspeak, Overaccommodations, Social Exclusion, Gendered Ageist Assumptions, Expectation of Age-Related Problems, Denial of Disability Experience, Emotional Nullification, and Benevolent Invalidations. Theoretical implications of this taxonomy such as affirming microaggression theory, and practical implications such as providing a system for articulating everyday instances of ageism are discussed.

Committee: Toni Bisconti (Advisor); John Queener (Committee Member); Juan Xi (Committee Member); Jennifer Stanley (Committee Member); Eric Allard (Committee Member); Olivia Pethtel (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Gerontology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Psychology-Adult Development and Aging

Ageism is a form of age-based discrimination most frequently studied in terms of unequal treatment toward older adults (Butler, 1969; 2005). Ageism is unique from other forms of discrimination as anyone can experience it if they live long enough (Palmore, 2001); this presents concerns for aging women, by the virtue of their longer lifespan, and the potential intersection of experiences with ageism with experiences with sexism, racism, and other forms of inequality (Kochanek et al., 2011). A focus on attitudes and prejudice toward older adults in the literature has resulted in limited empirical understandings of experiences with ageism, with research on ageism lagging behind research on racism and sexism. Utilizing both lifespan development theory (Baltes, 1987) and intersectionality theory (McCall, 2005), the purpose of this study is to utilize phenomenological methods to describe experiences with ageism across adulthood and to answer the following research questions: (1) How, if at all, is ageism gendered?, (2) How, if at all, does the experience of ageism differ across the lifespan?, and (3) In what ways does understanding how experiences with ageism are shaped by gender and age add to our conceptualization of ageism? A total of 70 participants, 22-87 years old, participated in story circles and in-depth interviews exploring how they have been treated due to their age and gender. Using phenomenological methodology, participants' responses were analyzed and clustered into three broad thematic categories: (a) context matters, (b) short-term reactions to discrimination, and (c) long-term reactions to discrimination. The results suggest implications for theory and policy development as well as clinical interventions.

Committee: Toni Bisconti (Advisor) Subjects: Gerontology; Psychology; Social Research; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Psychology

Introduction: This study aims to better understand the psychosocial mechanisms by which individuals who report subjective concerns about their memory (SCI) are at a higher risk for objective cognitive impairments (OCI) over time. It also aims to identify modifiable risk factors that may disrupt this progression. Aim 1 tests if symptoms of affective disorders mediate the relationship between SCI and OCI over time. Aim 2 tests if self-perceptions of aging moderate the relationship between SCI and symptoms of affective disorders over time. Aim 3 tests if self-perceptions of aging moderate the indirect effect of symptoms of affective disorders on the relationship between SCI and OCI over time. Method: Data was sourced from the Health and Retirement Study, a national longitudinal dataset, across 8 years. 4,002 adults, 65 and older, were included in the sample. The moderation, mediation, and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using a path model in Mplus (Version 8 Plus). Relevant covariates including demographic and health variables were controlled for. Results: Analyses confirmed that symptoms of affective disorders partially mediated the relationship between SCI and OCI. For individuals with negative self-perceptions of aging, the relationship between SCI and symptoms of affective disorders strengthened over time, while for individuals with positive self-perceptions of aging, the relationship ceased to exist. Finally, positive self-perceptions of aging weakened, while negative self-perceptions of aging strengthened the indirect effect of symptoms of affective disorders on the relationship between SCI and OCI. Conclusion: Results of the current study clarify the psychosocial mechanisms involved in the progression from SCI to OCI, and add support to literature identifying positive beliefs about aging and mental health as protective factors against cognitive impairment among older adults. This study implicates the need for more interdisciplinary research studying (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Katherine Abbott (Committee Co-Chair); Aaron Luebbe (Committee Co-Chair); Vaishali Raval (Committee Member); Angela Curl (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2023, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

The goal of this dissertation is the design of a theoretical model that will serve as a foundational reference in the creation of new programmatic solutions for successful aging. The dissertation addresses issues germane to Erikson's eighth stage of ego integration versus despair, the struggle that characterizes it, and seeks to examine the imperatives that determine its success or failure. Strategic impediments to achieving ego integrity borne of ageism and age discrimination are addressed, such as the societal and institutional prejudices that serve to handicap day to day functioning, self-actualization, and significant participation in the enterprise. It is hypothesized that primary vehicles for self-actualization might be found by examining the unlived life. We drill down for a more granular view to look at the component behaviors and schemas that determine outcomes, and recognize that having identified them, the next step would be to develop psychotherapeutic protocols (informed by the theories outlined) that will help seniors negotiate that stage and that struggle. The incorporation of Antonovsky's Salutogenesis Theory and Sense of Coherence (SOC) construct to determine the client's evolving goodness-of-fit towards Erikson's optimized state of ego integration, provides a pivotal capacity for evidenced-based testing and quantization in any practical implementation based on this theoretical model. This dissertation will be made available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Committee: Brett Kia-Keating Ed.D (Advisor); Stephen Southern Ed.D. (Committee Member); Gary Linker Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Gerontology; Mental Health; Psychobiology; Psychological Tests; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Therapy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Media and Communication

Understanding both gender and fandom as performative can help to identify and describe ways in which fans and fandom become gendered, influences of patriarchy on fandom, and how gendered hierarchies form. With an eye toward performativity, this dissertation explores gendering of fans and fandom through social and cultural forces, pressures within fandom, and influences from texts around which fandoms are built. Additionally, the dissertation examines the ways fandom spaces themselves become gendered and sometimes contested. Using theoretical frameworks of Judith Butler's theory of performativity, Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, this dissertation explores the Star Wars fandom as a gendered and contested space through the following research questions: RQ1: How is language used in Star Wars fan communities to uphold and perpetuate patriarchy and its associated phenomena of sexism and misogyny? RQ2: How is language used in Star Wars fan communities to resist patriarchy and its associated phenomena of sexism and misogyny? The dissertation employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to study textual interactions of Star Wars fans at the Jedi Council Forums. It follows James Paul Gee's methodological approach to CDA, which highlights discourse in the interest of social justice, how sentence-level analysis can reveal writers' use of language, and Gee's seven building tasks for language use: Significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems and knowledge. Because fandom is growing increasingly mainstream, this dissertation foregrounds women's stories and experiences to explain ways in which women audiences interact with and participate in media they consume and argues for future research in a political economy approach to understanding women audience members in creation of media and its subsequent marketing. It highlights an intersectional approach that considers how factors s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lara Martin Lengel Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lisa Handyside Ph.D. (Other); Ellen Gorsevski Ph.D. (Committee Member); Lisa Hanasono Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Ethics; Film Studies; Gender; Gender Studies; Language; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multimedia Communications; Sociology; Web Studies; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This dissertation aims to reclaim the significance and innovations of female home scientists in India's development from 1947 until 1972. Historiographies of India's development in the post-independence period have largely overlooked how gendered projects, such as the establishment of home science programs in new Indian agricultural universities, were directed by professional women. To discover the ways and to what extent home scientists played an essential role in India's modernization projects, this study investigates the transnational interactions of U.S. home economists and Indian women who earned advanced degrees in home economics subjects in the United States during the Cold War. Analyzing archival material, personal collections, oral history interviews, online subscription databases, and open-access repositories, this dissertation recovers the voices and lived experiences of these professional women. Additionally, this process uncovered a rich collection of first-person narratives. Over one hundred and twenty-five theses and dissertations written by Indian home scientists during the first three decades after Independence, collectively and individually, illustrate their pioneering leadership. The significance of this research is that it reveals home scientists' personal and professional renegotiations, setbacks, triumphs, and transnational connections with philanthropic organizations, government officials, and U.S. home economists as they collaborated and led nation-building projects.

Committee: Mytheli Sreenivas (Advisor) Subjects: Families and Family Life; Higher Education; History; Home Economics Education; International Relations; South Asian Studies; Womens Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Antioch Seattle: Counselor Education & Supervision

Diversity of cultural identities, such as abilities, age and generational cohort affiliation, and socioeconomic status and the practice of clinical supervision are rarely addressed in the professional counseling literature. Subsequently, there is a need for a greater understanding of how expanded cultural identities are addressed by clinical supervisors in the practice of clinical supervision. This research study focused specifically on how age and generational cohort affiliation are addressed as a cultural consideration by clinical supervisors during the practice of clinical supervision. For this study, the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis research approach was utilized to answer the research questions: 1. How do clinical supervisors experience addressing age and generational cohort affiliation during the practice of clinical supervision? 2. How do clinical supervisors experience addressing their own age and generational cohort affiliation with counseling supervisees? Data was collected through participants' individual semi-structured interviews (N = 5). Data analysis of the participants' interview transcripts exploring the lived experiences of clinical supervisors when addressing age and generational cohort affiliation as a cultural consideration in clinical supervision revealed three identified overarching themes: (a) feeling competent/incompetent, (b) feeling connected/disconnected, and (c) feeling respected/disrespected. Evident in the study is the gap of knowledge in the professional counseling literature regarding age and generational cohort affiliations and the resulting perception of clinical supervisors. Implications for future study include expanding the participant sample's diversity and size to include missing voices in terms of cultural identities and explore the lived experiences of counseling students, counseling supervisees, and counselor educators with regard to their experiences with the cultural identities of age and generational coho (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ned Farley PhD (Committee Chair); Manivong Ratts PhD (Committee Member); Dusty Destler PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Counseling Education; Mental Health; Psychotherapy; Therapy

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2021, Environmental Studies

As an English and Environmental Studies double major, I merged my passions for writing and ecology into a two-part creative thesis manuscript. During the summer of 2020, I interviewed three female environmental writers about their insights into the publishing world and what they perceived to be a woman's place in American conservation literature. I detail and analyze these women's personal perspectives, each of whom addressed the different impacts of sexism and ageism on their careers. This qualitative analysis then serves as a critical introduction to my creative work, in which I intertwine climate science with personal memoir to create a collection of four nonfiction essays. Each essay combines my attachment to the outdoors and our ailing planet with reflections on corporeal boundaries and emotional resilience as a woman today, experiencing and surviving the seasons of a pandemic.

Committee: Geoffrey Buckley (Advisor); Thomas Scanlan (Advisor) Subjects: American Literature; Composition; Conservation; Earth; Environmental Studies; Geography; Literature; Womens Studies

Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, Weatherhead School of Management

This integration paper provides the amalgamation for three research studies completed over three years in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Management Program's dissertation requirement for Case Western Reserve University. These studies all incorporated the underlying theme, dealing with career maintenance and development during times of severe U.S. and global macro-economic disruption. Our first study developed a conceptual framework enabling us to model a cohesive theoretical structure and study design dealing with emergent phenomenon, the consequences related to the 2008 U.S. and global economic crisis. We then conducted a qualitative study that provided insights via grounded theory interviews of 42 participants; this resulted in our Promethean Life Engagement Practices Framework. This framework provided a mapping of mental models, skills sets and practices that resulted in better outcomes throughout the five years following 2008. In our final quantitative study we conducted research via a specifically designed instrument utilizing 510 survey participants, this research tested components of the Promethean Life and Career Measurement Instrument. This integration paper evolved our research program by identifying six fundamental modifications / shifts that we believe happened in the social, workplace and economic landscape in the past five years (post 2008). The paper also highlighted nine mental frameworks and practices that we feel will help individual's better position themselves for the tumultuous and convulsive decades to come.

Committee: Peter Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D., (Advisor); James Gaskin, Ph.D., (Advisor); Eugene Pierce, D.M., (Advisor); Paul Hedlund, Ed.D., (Advisor) Subjects: Economics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Educational Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine older adults' wellness and resilience, identify whether these constructs were related to perceptions about older adulthood, and juxtapose a wellness and resilience paradigm of aging against models that focus on the biomedical aspects of aging. The study used descriptive and multivariate analyses to examine data collected from a sample of individuals ages 56 to 97 who were residing in age-restricted, independent living housing communities across Franklin County (N = 200). The analyses revealed numerous statistically significant relationships among the study variables. Group differences revealed that older members of the sample had higher levels of wellness (p = .01) and resilience (p = .001), and those who indicated self-rated depression symptoms had lower levels of wellness, resilience, and positive age perception, along with higher levels of internalized ageism (p < .01). Regression analyses revealed that resilience (p < .01) and physical wellness (diet and exercise) (p < .01) were predictors of total age perception; resilience (p = .01) and total wellness (p < .001) were significant predictors of positive self-perceptions of aging; and physical wellness (diet and exercise) (p < .01) and age (p < .01) were significant predictors of internalized ageism. Additional analysis revealed that the effect for age was conditional upon resilience level, in which individuals 75 years and older with low levels of resilience were far more likely to experience internalized ageism. Additionally, a discriminatory analysis revealed that the ability to cope and resilience had the strongest association with whether or not individuals rated themselves as suffering from depression symptoms. Exploratory analyses also revealed that wellness explained a far greater share of variance in happiness, life satisfaction, and self-rated physical health than whether individuals met the traditional biomedical criteria for successful aging. The res (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Darcy Haag Granello (Advisor); Paul Granello (Committee Member); Virginia Richardson (Committee Member) Subjects: Counseling Education; Gerontology

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2016, Population and Social Gerontology

Several studies have revealed that European and American students hold less negative attitudes toward older adults than do Eastern and Southeast Asian students despite the tradition of filial piety in Asian countries. This study examined Thai and American undergraduate students' negative and positive attitudes toward older adults and identified the sociodemographic variables associated with these attitudes. A questionnaire consisting of the Fraboni Scale of Ageism, the Allophilia Scale, and sociodemographic characteristics was administrated to undergraduate students from one public university in Thailand (n=164) and one in the US (n=171). Thai students had more negative and less positive attitudes toward older adults than their American counterparts. Having experience with older adults was associated with positive attitudes in both countries. Health-related students had the highest positive attitudes scores compared to students with other majors. Asian and Western researchers should collaborate and develop culturally-sensitive scales to measure students' attitudes toward older adults.

Committee: Jennifer M. Kinney PhD (Advisor); James S. Brown PhD (Committee Member); Kanokwan Tharawan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Gerontology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Psychology/Developmental

The present study examined age differences in identity processing styles and self-consciousness factors as they relate to one's susceptibility to ageism. Utilizing Whitbourne's Identity Process Theory (IPT), the goal of the proposed work was to: (I) examine age differences in identity processing styles (assimilation, accommodation, and balance) from a lifespan developmental perspective, (II) examine the role that age and identity processing styles play in one's susceptibility to ageism, (III) assess age-related changes in self-consciousness factors (insight, self-reflection, and public self-consciousness) across the adult lifespan, and (IV) determine how self-consciousness factors moderate the relationships between age and identity processing styles. Self-report data were collected in-person and online from 564 adults (69% female) between the ages of 18-89. Results showed full support for the identity process hypotheses demonstrating that identity assimilation increased with age, identity accommodation decreased with age, and identity balance was not age-related. In addition, full support was found for the ageism hypotheses: age and identity processing styles all significantly predicted ageism. Age was negatively associated with ageism. Identity assimilation and identity accommodation were positively related to ageism, while identity balance was negatively associated with ageism. Full support was also found for the self-consciousness hypotheses showing that insight increased with age, self-reflection decreased with age, and public self-consciousness decreased across the adult lifespan. Finally, partial support was found for the moderation hypotheses such that self-reflection had a significant moderation effect on the relationship between age and identity accommodation; older adults were more likely to adopt an accommodative style with higher levels of self-reflection. Findings are discussed with implications for future research in well-being and successful aging.

Committee: Yiwei Chen PhD (Advisor); Mike Zickar PhD (Committee Member); Marie Tisak PhD (Committee Member); Charles Stelle PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Gerontology; Psychology

Doctor of Nursing Practice , Case Western Reserve University, 2015, School of Nursing

Ageism is prevalent in society and healthcare. Research has shown that nurses and nursing students do not prefer to care for older adults. With the percentage of older adults increasing, by 2030 one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. The current nursing shortage is increasing as the population increases. This growth in the older adult population will further increase the demand for nurses. Although many related studies have not been conducted in the United States, results are conflicting whether nursing students enter their education with negative attitudes towards the older adult or if they develop negative attitudes during the education and socialization process. Little is known regarding the effect of gender on these attitudes. The purpose of this study was to compare sophomore and senior baccalaureate nursing students' attitudes toward older adults, using a cross-sectional comparative descriptive design. The convenience sample included all sophomore and senior baccalaureate nursing students at a Midwest university in the United States. Of the possible 179 students, 177 chose to participate, and this study was completed prior to the sophomores attending any clinical experiences. Attitudes were measured using the Kogan's Attitude Toward Old People Scale (KATOP) and Work Preference Ranking. On the KATOP scale, both sophomore and senior nursing students had very positive attitudes toward older adults. As most research has shown nursing students having negative attitudes on this scale, this study was not consistent with the literature. Related to work preference ranking, most of the literature shows nursing students ranking caring for older adults low upon entering a nursing program, with these rankings becoming more negative over time. This study showed that although students consistently preferred to care for populations other than older adults, there was no statistical difference between sophomore and senior students' attitudes toward older adults. Gen (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Evelyn Duffy DNP (Committee Chair); Donna Dowling PhD (Committee Member); Amy Weaver PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Aging; Education; Gerontology; Higher Education; Nursing

Master of Gerontological Studies, Miami University, 2006, Gerontology

The purpose of this research is to explore how students and police detectives view crimes against older adults, and how their views are related to their knowledge and attitudes about aging. Surveys were collected from 123 students from sociology, criminology, and gerontology courses at a Midwestern university and 36 surveys were collected from detectives at a local police department. Information on the participants' general knowledge and attitudes of aging and of crimes against older adults was collected. The overall findings of this research suggest that there is a lack of knowledge about general aging issues and criminal issues among the respondents. The data also suggest that there is ageism in how crimes against older adults are viewed from both the student and detective populations.

Committee: Robert Applebaum (Advisor) Subjects: Gerontology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2011, History

Religious groups use strong doctrinal markers to ensure and maintain their integrity and more importantly, their identity. The Ohio Valley Friends counted themselves among the traditional pacifist denominations throughout the United States in the twentieth century. With the onset of World War II, they dutifully followed this doctrine of pacifism incarcerating their youth in their own sponsored conscientious objector camp in Coshocton, Ohio. Driven by this central tenet of pacifism, through an ageist struggle to maintain identity, the Friends lost both their identity and their youth. Within two years of the entrance of the United States into the war, a sudden shift in the Ohio Valley Friend's collective affirmations caused them to try to abandon the camp's sponsorship, and patriotically support the U.S. militarist goal of victory. Their monthly newsletters and actions showed no changes in their theology nor radical reordering of their allegiance to their supernatural God, but rather the embrace of this same God, co-opted into a newly founded nationalist civil religion.

Committee: Walter Hixson Dr. (Advisor); Elizabeth Mancke Dr. (Committee Member); Kathy Feltey Dr. (Committee Member); Kevin Kern Dr. (Committee Member); Kenneth Bindas Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Religion; Religious History