Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics

In the spirit of applied economics, my dissertation comprises three interdisciplinary and policy-oriented Chapters, broadly related to the fields of development economics, agricultural economics and financial accounting. Methodologically, I have utilized a wide array of methods including economic modeling, time-series econometrics, mathematical analysis and numerical simulations. In the first Chapter, I extend the burgeoning literature examining the adverse effects of the industrial organization of the microfinance sector and competition for donor money on poverty alleviation to highlight problems with the existing structure of the microcredit markets. My model explains the stylized facts associated with the recent crisis in the microfinance sector of less developed countries. I formulate a dynamic optimization problem to capture the objective functions of credit unconstrained and credit constrained lenders. The default rates in a symmetric Nash equilibrium are compared with default rates from the analogous social planner problem to prove that intra-firm competition results in inefficiently high default rates. Subsequently, I show that increasing flows of donor funds lead to even higher default rates regardless of lender types. Lastly, I analyze the location choices of lenders to show that competition among lenders leads to an over emphasis on urban areas at the cost of the exclusion of rural areas, resulting in financial exclusion of rural poor and sub-optimally high default rates in urban areas. In the second Chapter, I study the underlying mechanisms behind price fluctuations in the Pakistan poultry sector. Based on extensive fieldwork, I document the organization of production and the price discovery process in the poultry sector in Pakistan. Second, I develop a parsimonious, dynamic model to simultaneously capture the optimizing behavior of chick and poultry farmers. I explicitly model the mutual interdependencies between upstream famers and downstream f (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mario Miranda (Advisor); Abdoul Sam (Committee Member); Ani Katchova (Committee Member); Joyce Chen (Committee Member) Subjects: Accounting; Agricultural Economics; Economic Theory; Finance

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Psychology/Clinical

The present study examined the relation among Response Evaluation and Decision (RED; Fontaine & Dodge, 2006) processes, latent mental structures, and aggressive and prosocial response selection in a sample of 215 children. Results showed that aggressive-supporting RED processes and latent mental structures independently predicted children's selection of aggressive responses in hypothetical peer provocation scenarios. Support was found for the proposed model whereby RED processes mediated the relation between latent mental structures and response selection. Aggressive-supporting normative beliefs and low affective control of anger predicted favorable RED for aggressive responses (i.e., high efficacy and valuation of aggressive responses; high expectancy and valuation of positive outcomes resulting from aggressive behavior), which in turn predicted aggressive response selection. Examinations of the relation among prosocial-supporting RED processes, latent mental structures, and response selection yielded similar results. Prosocial-supporting normative beliefs and high affective control of anger predicted favorable RED for prosocial responses, which predicted selection of prosocial responses to peer provocation.

Committee: Eric F. Dubow PhD (Advisor); Thomas R. Chibucos PhD (Committee Member); Dara Musher-Eizenman PhD (Committee Member); Catherine H. Stein PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2006, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2005, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Psychological Sciences

Information avoidance is the act of preventing or delaying learning unwanted information. People may avoid information to avoid negative future emotions or when they lack sufficient coping resources. Although cross-sectional, lab-based empirical research has identified antecedents of information avoidance, little research has investigated information avoidance consequences. The present daily diary study examined the temporal dynamics of college students' information avoidance in everyday life across different contexts. It was hypothesized that greater information avoidance would be associated with lower negative affect, lower coping resources and self-efficacy, and less adaptive behavior. Participants (n=182, 79.56% female, 79.01% white, Mage=20.30 years) responded to a baseline survey and nightly surveys for 14 days (yielding approximately 2,200 diaries). Measures included self-reported information avoidance, affect, coping resources, and behavior engagement. Cross-sectional analyses tested baseline factors predicting aggregate data over the two-week diary period. Within- and between-person associations were tested using concurrent and cross-lagged multilevel models controlling for sociodemographic factors. The average participant reported avoiding information in at least one context on 26.36% of days, with more variability in information avoidance explained within-persons compared to between-persons. Participants most frequently avoided information about money, the news, and physical activity. Participants who reported greater negative affect (B=0.66, p=.024), lower social support (B=-0.43, p=.025), lower money self-efficacy (B=-0.35, p=.034), and lower health self-efficacy (B=-0.29, p=.023) at baseline reported more instances of information avoidance over the two-week period. On days in which participants reported greater negative affect (OR=1.29, p=.002) and lower domain-specific self-efficacy (grades, money, health, and physical activity; ORs: 0.37-0.53; (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Taber (Committee Chair); John Updegraff (Committee Member); Jeffrey Ciesla (Committee Member); Jennifer Roche (Committee Member); Rebecca Catto (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Educational Studies

The pursuit of knowledge through research is among the purposes of doctoral education. This pursuit takes place in the form of research and socialization among peers and faculty members. This qualitative research study was built on grounded theory and used semi-structured interviews with 12 doctoral business students at a top research university in the United States. The purpose was to explore the information behaviors this group of students exhibited and their use of digital learning to engage in scholarship. While information behavior is a common topic of investigation in library science, this study sought to look at the entire doctoral experience in the context of organizational learning. Furthermore, as this work focuses on academics in a college of business, it was desirable to frame it in a way that those individuals would understand in addition to academics in education and library science. Findings from the study identified major themes of conducting research, navigating doctoral education, and faculty and peer relationships. Within those, a variety of technologies and interactions with information were prevalent.

Committee: Ana-Paula Correia (Advisor); Scott Sweetland (Committee Member); Amanda Folk (Committee Member); Colette Dollarhide (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education; Educational Technology; Library Science

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Social information and predator inspection are both important, well-known components of antipredator strategies in fishes. Less well-documented, however, are factors influencing variation in these behaviors. I used the species Xiphophorus helleri, a sexually dimorphic fish in the family Poeciliidae, to answer questions relating to how sex, social context, and the level of predation threat in an individual's original environment contribute to variation in both proclivity to perform inspections of predators and in proclivity to use social information about predation. I also examined how the level of predation threat in an individual's original environment influences female mate preference for males shown either performing or not performing a predator inspection. In the first chapter, I compared proclivity to make use of social information about predation between fish from high-predation sites and low-predation sites, between male and female fish, and between fish in shoals of varying sex compositions. I detected a strong influence of predation regime on proclivity to use social information, with fish from high-predation areas using observations of shoalmates to increase antipredator responses more than fish from low-predation areas. I also detected differences in risk- taking behavior absent any information about predation threat, with fish from high- predation areas showing more risk-averse behavior. I did not detect any influence of sex or shoal sex composition on an individual's proclivity to use social information about predation. In the second chapter, I examined the effect of predation regime on female mate preference for males shown either performing or not performing a predator inspection via video playback. I found a preference for males that did not inspect in females from high- predation sites, and no preference for either type of male in females from low-predation sites. I also found a positive relationship between body size and preference for inspector ma (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Molly Morris Dr. (Advisor); Donald Miles Dr. (Committee Member); Ronaldo Vigo Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Animal Sciences; Aquatic Sciences; Behavioral Sciences; Biology; Ecology; Evolution and Development; Freshwater Ecology; Zoology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Management

Entrepreneurs carry the mantle of simultaneously developing and managing relationships with multiple stakeholders and systems under varying conditions. This is entrepreneurial relationship management (ERM) function that entrepreneurs use to perceive, organize, implement, engage, maintain, and sustain relationships with multiple stakeholders, and to manage cross-functional relationships among different areas of business, both internally and externally. The ERM function is activated through entrepreneurial relationship management capabilities (ERMC). These capabilities are manifested in the habitual entrepreneurial relationship management practices (ERMP) of the entrepreneurs. Both the ERMC and ERMP represent a set of unique managerial resources that are central to business value creation, strategic actions, and effective business decision-making. This study seeks to better understand the capabilities and practices that underlie entrepreneurial relationship management and the conditions under which they are effective. A three-part exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was designed for the study. The qualitative study with 29 entrepreneurs and business leaders explores the entrepreneur-to-entrepreneur (E2E) ERM practices of business leaders in America and overseas. The study reveals that three practices—information behavior, interactive practices, and anxiety-uncertainty management practices—are key for E2E relationships. Study 2 uses survey data collected from 363 entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to assess information behavior and interactive practices as predictors of entrepreneurial passion and action. The result confirms the two predictors as ERM practices. Study 3 uses data collected from 321 entrepreneurs to confirm and extend the results in Study 2. The process produced two additional practices—relational mutuality practices and relational attentiveness. It also confirmed relational anxiety-uncertainty management practices as a mediating factor. These (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Salipante Professor Emeritus (Committee Chair); Kalle Lyyntinen Professor (Committee Member); Cola Philip Dr. (Committee Member); Aparna Katre Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Information Systems; Management

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2018, Communication

This study examined the potential for concepts within the Health Belief Model to predict Chinese college students' daily brushing, daily flossing, and annual dental check-up behavior. Additionally, dental-related information seeking and scanning were explored. The survey was completed by 150 Chinese college students and found that some components of HBM significantly predict brushing behavior, flossing behavior, and dental check-up behavior. Self- efficacy was the best predictor of brushing and dental check-up behavior, while barriers and dental-related knowledge were the best predictors of flossing behavior. Participants prefer to seeking from social media and with his or her dentist and scan information from social media and mass media. Information seeking and scanning only significantly predicted flossing behavior. Knowledge, seeking and scanning information from a dentist were the best predictor of dental check-up behavior. Future studies could examine more about self-efficacy and dental health behavior in the Chinese cultural context.

Committee: Angeline Sangalang (Advisor); Teri Thompson (Committee Member); James Robinson (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Dental Care

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2018, Psychology

People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) experience deficits in information processing speed, which underlie higher-level cognitive difficulties and negatively impact activities of daily living. While considerable research on physical activity indicates its benefits on cognitive health, there is growing evidence that sedentary behavior, or sitting, may be detrimental to health independent of engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). As greater sitting is linked to increased risk for several adverse clinical conditions, it may also be associated with poorer cognitive function. One mechanism by which sitting time may influence speed of information processing is through its influence on neural network functioning. The current study elucidated the relationship between sedentary behavior, processing speed, and global information transfer in neural networks in a sample with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. We found a negative association between sedentary behavior and processing speed while controlling for MVPA, and covariates. We did not find global efficiency to be associated with sedentary behavior, processing speed, or mediate the relationship between sedentary behavior and processing speed, while holding constant MVPA, disease severity, and additional covariates. This research offers support for sedentary behavior as an important and viable target for intervention, and establishes the groundwork for further probing of neural network function in PwMS.

Committee: Ruchika Prakash Ph.D. (Advisor); Charles Emery Ph.D. (Committee Member); John Corrigan Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Neurosciences; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Economics

My research concerns the dynamic effects of informational frictions on consumer behavior, focusing on consumer search and the use of the internet. The first chapter studies how geography affects behavior on Peer-to-Peer lending markets. Extensive literature on the traditional credit market finds that investors and lenders are sensitive to their distance from the borrower, due to the cost of information gathering and monitoring. Recent empirical work has found mixed results. I find that local lenders tend to bid earlier, bid larger amounts, and are more informed in the sense that they are better able to evaluate the underlying risk of borrowers. Lastly, I develop a simple model of social learning with heterogeneous agents that provides testable predictions. My results are consistent with this model; a listing with more early local bidding activity will attract more lenders, leading to a higher probability of funding and a lower final interest rate, if funded. This work suggests that the behavioral differences between local and nonlocal lenders are driven mostly by informational frictions and not merely preferences. Local lenders are better informed because they have easier and cheaper access to information, and this asymmetry contributes to explaining why geographic-based frictions are still present and relevant in online lending markets. The second chapter develops a dynamic model of consumer search that exploits intertemporal variation in within-period price and search cost distributions to estimate the population distribution from which consumers' search costs are initially drawn. We show that static approaches to estimating this distribution generally suffer from a dynamic sample selection bias because forward-looking consumers may delay their purchase in a way that depends on their individual search cost. We analyze identification of the population search cost distribution using only price data and develop estimable nonparametric bounds on the distribution fu (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Blevins (Advisor); Maryam Saeedi (Committee Member); Richard Steckel (Committee Member); Stephen Cosslett (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2016, Social Welfare

The first aim of this dissertation was to describe online health information seeking behavior (OHISB) and health information seeking experience (HISE) in elderly cancer survivors using the Internet. The second purpose was to investigate predictors of OHISB and HISE in elderly cancer survivors using the Internet. In this dissertation, OHISB is defined as the behaviors engaged in by individuals to acquire health information via the Internet, while HISE refers to individuals' perceptions and appraisals of not only the quality of information sources and contents, but also experiences and feelings during information seeking. As a theoretical framework, this dissertation adopts the comprehensive model of information seeking (CMIS). The CMIS posits that individuals' health information seeking is affected by various demographic characteristics, health-related experiences, beliefs, salience, and perceptions of information sources. To address these purposes, a sample of 235 elderly cancer survivors was drawn from the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS); data were collected from January 2008 through May 2008 (a cross-sectional cohort survey). For this dissertation, inclusion criteria were individuals who reported they had been diagnosed with cancer at some time in their lives (self-report, not medical records), who used the Internet, and who were aged 60 years or older. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized structural relationships between predictors and OHISB, and between predictors and HISE. In advance of conducting the structural model, confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm that each of two multiple-item scales (i.e., unmet health information needs and HISE) adequately fit a single factor model. In this dissertation, the structural model fit the data well. Being male and having higher trust in Internet health information significantly predicted higher OHISB, while higher education, more years since cancer d (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Aloen Townsend L. (Advisor); Kathleen Farkas (Committee Member); Elizabeth Tracy (Committee Member); Eva Kahana (Committee Member) Subjects: Behaviorial Sciences; Health Care; Oncology; Social Work

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, Communication

The purpose of this study is to examine factors that predict the use of social media for health communication. Specifically, this study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as the theoretical framework to examine factors that predict health information-seeking, communicating health-related issues with others, and making health-related decisions via social media. Findings suggest that, consistent with the theory of planned behavior, attitude was found to be a significant predictor of using social media to seek out health information, participate in health communication, and make health-related decisions. However, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control failed to show as significant predictors of health communication via social media. Implications of these results for health communication via social media and recommendations for future health communication strategies were discussed.

Committee: Tang Tang Dr. (Advisor); Rebecca Britt Dr. (Committee Member); Kathleen Stansberry Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Health; Mass Communications

PHD, Kent State University, 2013, College of Communication and Information / School of Information

This qualitative study investigated the information culture and beliefs within two United Church of Christ congregations in Northeast Ohio. One congregation was Open and Affirming (ONA), and one congregation was not. ONA refers to a congregation's decision to be listed as a place where LGBT individuals—in particular—are welcomed and accepted. Using a purposive sampling technique, 8 focus groups of 4-8 participants each were asked to discuss content derived from three research question areas: participant beliefs, information that participants used to inform these beliefs, and how this information was used. Analysis found that both congregations espoused the superiority of their beliefs about inclusivity, thus creating a paradox whereby their inclusivity involved excluding beliefs of exclusion. Because the ONA congregation preferred a personal expression of belief, they were more comfortable with the potential divisions caused by this paradox than the non-ONA congregation, which preferred a communal expression of belief. Analysis also found that most participants relied heavily and placed great authority in information from internal sources, e.g., prayer, meditation, and emotion. The ONA congregation reflected the presence of more unique information, indicating that they approached the Bible and other common religious information critically and with more freedom to come to different conclusions than fundamentalists and biblical literalists. Despite these differences in belief expression and information type, the analysis found that both groups showed evidence of Chatman's Small Worlds theory. First, participants showed evidence of unmet information needs. Many lacked confidence in the ability to articulate personal beliefs. Second, participants noted the presence of long-term attendees who determined the relevancy of incoming information. Finally, participants tended to guard against disclosing information about personal problems to other congregants, pre (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Don Wicks PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Danielle Coombs PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Daniel Roland PhD (Committee Member); Lynne Guillot-Miller PhD (Committee Member); George Cheney PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Information Science; Organizational Behavior; Religion; Religious Congregations; Social Research

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2011, Industrial, Interior Visual Communication Design

Nowadays, when we talk about sustainability or environmentally friendly practices, we try to convince groups or individuals to be good citizens or good people. Especially young people do not care deeply about pursuing an environmentally conscious lifestyle if it requires an effort on their part. What if one uses fun to influence (i.e., motivate and inform) students about sustainability in their daily life? Would this approach be more successful in changing their behavior? Can sustainability even be considered to be fun? As we already know, behavior change requires motivation and fun could be used as a motivational factor. Proposing that we need to develop programs and concepts that make a sustainable lifestyle fun instead of perceiving it as a negative influence on our quality of life provides new opportunities for projects and interventions. When we make sustainable practices fun, the likelihood to adapt such a new behavior increases. Behavioral change results from a combination of three factors, namely, awareness, information and motivation, which is the most important starting point for fun. This thesis addresses the difficulties in informing and motivating students to choose a sustainable lifestyle by focusing on their consumer behavior. With a fun and playful application, the user should be able to learn and inform herself or himself about a sustainable lifestyle and be motivated to integrate it into her or his own daily life. By offering multiple choices of action as well as the opportunity to be and act as a part of a whole group (i.e., collective action), competition and therefore motivation should be raised. This results from the idea that fun can be experienced both individually or as a group. Design Research is the main tool to develop this informational and motivational application. Research on the target group, in combination with existing case studies in design and the psychological aspects of human decision making, will lead to a design application. T (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Nini J (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Sanders B.-N. (Committee Member); Carolina Gill (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; Design; Fine Arts; Sustainability; Systems Design

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2010, Human Ecology: Human Nutrition and Food Management

As obesity rates continue to rise in America, so do obesity-linked disorders such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Older women are especially susceptible to these diseases because of hormonal changes after menopause. New research has shown the omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid (LA), to be effective in attenuating metabolic syndrome symptoms. Despite this, public health messages continue to ignore LA and focus on omega-3 fatty acids, resulting in a good understanding of the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids but confusion or lack of information about omega-6 fatty acids. New health messages are needed to inform the American public and especially postmenopausal women about LA. In order to effectively do so, a mental model should first be created to understand the women's current thoughts and beliefs about dietary fats and oils and the decisions they make regarding selection and use. The objective of this pilot study was to determine what women were currently consuming, to use the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model to frame the examination of women's current knowledge and information sufficiency with regards to dietary fats and oil products and their link to health, and, working within the human behavioral framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior, to determine the women's perceived behavioral control with regards to consuming healthy fats and oils. Twenty-one postmenopausal women with T2DM were recruited to participate in four focus groups and to complete a dietary fat and oil food frequency questionnaire that was developed and tested by the research team. Of the dietary fats and oil products that the women thought of as healthy, those that were high in omega-3 fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acids were identified as major themes. The major themes for the women's consumption showed that the women tended to consume products that they had identified as healthy with only a few products that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lydia Medeiros PhD (Advisor); Martha Belury PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Joshua Bomser PhD (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Nutrition

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Pharmacy

The new FDA guidelines on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs require the sponsor to present balanced benefit-risk information. However, data suggest frequent lack of compliance with these guidelines. Misinformation to consumers can have serious implications on health and safety. The study objective was to explore the impact of variations in risk disclosures through DTC print advertisements on consumer attitudes and behaviors. A 2 x 2 factorial design was implemented, where the risk statements in the advertisements varied in number and specificity. A convenience sample of 240 elderly (>=60 years) male and female participants was recruited. The participants were asked to read a print advertisement and then complete a questionnaire.Participants exposed to specific risk statements were less likely to look for additional information (p<0.01) and adopt the advertised drug (p<0.01). Additionally, they held less favorable attitudes toward the advertised drug (p<0.01) as compared to those presented with general risk statements. The number of risk statements presented had no significant effect on attitudes or behaviors. However, a two-way interaction effect of number and specificity of risk statements on likelihood of adoption was observed. This interaction demonstrates that when participants were exposed to two risk statements, they did not significantly differ in adoption rates as a function of specificity. However, when exposed to four risk statements, specificity had a significant impact on adoption of the advertised drug, such that participants receiving four specific risk statements were less likely to adopt the advertised drug. These findings have significant implications health policy. Presentation of highly specific risk information can adversely affect healthcare seeking behavior. Thus, drug manufacturers should aim at providing fair balance of benefit-risk information to lay consumers without compromising public health. There is also a need (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dev Pathak (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2009, Mathematics

Information maximization criteria have been used to account for the physiology of sensory systems as diverse as receptive fields in the primary visual and auditory cortices, and olfaction. We investigated a model of an organism searching for food by taking successive samples from an environment in which food particles diffuse stochastically from a slowly and randomly moving source. In the limit of large food concentrations we reduced our high dimensional model system to a Markov chain on a small number of equivalence classes. In this system we made rigorous quantitative comparisons of different search strategies based on (i) maximizing the searcher's information about the food source's location, (ii) maximizing the likelihood of landing on the source, and (iii) hybrid strategies combining aspects of (i) and (ii). In terms of long-term expected food benefit we found that each strategy was superior to the others depending on the source's rate of movement.

Committee: Dr. Peter Thomas (Committee Chair); Dr. Hillel Chiel (Committee Member); Dr. Ken Lopora (Committee Member); Dr. Elizabeth Meckes (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Mathematics

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Psychology/Clinical

Aggression and prosocial behavior have been shown to have important implications for later social adjustment for children (see Parker & Asher, 1987 for a review). Social information processing, including children's social goals, predicts children's aggressive and prosocial behaviors (Crick, 1995; Crick & Werner, 1998; Delveaux & Daniels, 2000; Dodge, 1980; Nelson & Crick, 1999). Less is known about whether another social cognitive variable, theory of mind, relates to children's social behaviors. The current study sought to elucidate the relations among theory of mind, social goals, and children's teacher-, peer-, and self-rated physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior. Seventy children between the ages of 8 to 10 completed measures of theory of mind and social goals, and rated themselves and their peers on social behaviors. Their teachers also completed ratings for each child's aggressive and prosocial behavior. Results indicated that theory of mind skills and social goals are related in some instances to physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior. However, the source of the rating (i.e., teacher, peer or self), especially in regards to relational aggression, conditioned the results. There were also gender differences. Further research should take gender and the rater into consideration, as well as other potentially important aspects of social information processing in the prediction of children's aggression and prosocial behavior. It also is important to examine other types of aggressive behavior, such as verbal aggression.

Committee: Eric Dubow (Advisor); Dara Musher-Eizenman (Committee Co-Chair); Molly Laflin (Committee Member); Mary Hare (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2006, Psychology/Clinical

Social information-processing models provide theoretical support for an association between social cognitive processes and aggressive behavior (Crick and Dodge, 1994; Huesmann, 1998). However, little empirical research has investigated how two social cognitive factors, social goals and beliefs about the acceptability of aggressive behavior, are related to one another and how they combine to influence child behavior. The present study examined the relationship among children's social goals, retaliation beliefs, and behavior within and across best friend, sibling, and peer relationship contexts. Elementary and middle school children's desire to pursue aggressive and prosocial goals and their approval of verbal, physical, and relational acts of retaliatory aggression were assessed across relationship context, type of aggression, age, and gender. In addition, path models were constructed to determine whether the relationship between children's social goals and aggressive behavior is direct or mediated by children's retaliation beliefs within multiple relationship contexts. The findings indicated that the relationship between social goals and aggressive behavior in relationships with best friends and peers operates differently than in relationships with siblings. Further, children's social goal endorsements and beliefs regarding the appropriateness of aggressive behavior varied by age, type of aggression, and relationship context.

Committee: Dara Musher-Eizenman (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Developmental