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  Modern-day Conceptions of Marriage in Visakhapatnam, India: “Bridging the Gap” Between Globalized Young Women and Their Parents

  Courtney E. Petersen and Charles Nuckolls

  Though the globalization of Visakhapatnam is causing a drastic shift in how university-age women understand and relate to current marriage practices and the power relationships associated with them, I propose that the tensions resulting from this change can be overcome through a revived importance placed on communication between the young woman and her parents.

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  Non-target Incidental Memory and Associated Factors

  Sean Peterson and Erin D. Bigler

  Students want to learn what is on the test, but professors want students to learn all the curriculum, tested or not. One compromise is through non-target incidental memory, which acts like peripheral vision, so that even though some material is emphasized, surrounding material is also processed and learned. The current study found a significant amount of incidental memory that did not vary with year in school or sex. Therefore, “teaching to the test” does not necessarily block all learning of other material: some of it is automatically learned as well.

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  Why Are You Nice? Relational and Dispositional Correlates of Adolescent Prosocial Behavior

  Noelle L. Pitcher, Drew Egan, Julie Lutz, and Brent Black

  IntroductionProsocialbehavior is defined as voluntary behavior to help and benefit another (Padilla-Walker & Christensen, in press). Most research looking at adolescent’s prosocialbehavior has taken a dispositional approach, meaning adolescents help people because of their personal traits such as empathy (Krevans & Gibbs, 1996), and values (Bardi& Schwartz, 2003). In addition, the majority of research focuses on prosocialbehavior toward strangers. There is also research showing that adolescents are more frequently prosocialtoward friends and family than toward strangers (Padilla-Walker & Christensen, in press). Thus, recent studies have turned their attention to a relational approach of prosocialdevelopment. This approach states that adolescents are prosocialtoward others with whom they have established relationships in an attempt to maintain those relationships (Eberly& Montemayor, 1999). Therefore, the current study will examine both the dispositional and relational approaches to prosocialdevelopment.Based on existing research, we hypothesize that: 1) Dispositional traits will be a stronger predictor of prosocialbehavior towards strangers than towards friends and family. 2) After controlling for dispositional traits, the relationship quality with mom and dad will still be directly related to prosocialbehavior towards family. 3)After controlling for dispositional traits, the relationship quality with friends will still be directly related to prosocialbehavior towards friends.

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  Marriage: Sooner or Later

  Franklin O. Poulsen and Dean Busby

  The major purpose of this study is to explore whether there are concrete relationship factors, family factors or attitudes that explain why individuals put off getting married till later and later even though they generally view it as desirable. In order to test this we use two variables (Desire to be Married and Readiness for a Close Relationship) as indicators of marriage imminence and then utilize predictors to see if our conceptual framework accurately predicts these indicators. Our predictors follow an ecological approach (Larson & Holman, 1994) to dating and marriage that assumes a variety of contexts (family, dating, culture etc.) influence our dating attitudes and behaviors. We recognize from the outset that without longitudinal data that includes both dating and marriage, what we term imminence is not an accurate reflection of marital timing, though it does distinguish between people who want to be married “now” and those who do not.

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  Marital Ideals

  Franklin O. Poulsen, Kyle Reid, and Thomas B. Holman

  There is a scant but growing literature exploring how marital ideals influence dating and marriage among young Americans. This research indicates that a person’s marital ideals are predictive of marital success (Fletcher, Simpson, & Thomas, 2000), and that similarity in ideals especially those that are value based help ensure positive marital outcomes (Acitelli, Kenny & Weiner, 2001). Americans in particular are looking for a partner who is caring, social, a good communicator, involved in a career, independent, family-oriented, and intelligent. (Knobloch-Fedders& Knudson, 2009). In this study we were interested in exploring a conceptual model that includes the source of marital ideals, what these ideals look like and how they influence marriage for young single Latter-day Saints (LDS). We were also interested in whether marital ideals among LDS young adults are more American or more Mormon.

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  From Pawn to President

  Joshua C. Powell and Sven Wilson

  This study attempts to clarify the causes of coups d’Etat, which still occur at alarming rates within less-developed nations. Previous research has focused on three potential motivations: greed, grievance, and feasibility. Greed: High levels of natural resources such as oil can easily be diverted into personal accounts, making a successful coup more profitable. Grievance: Repression or poor governance may lead to rebellion. Feasibility: A game-theoretic explanation in which coups are attempted simply because their success seems likely.

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  We are Widows, We are Women: The oral histories of low caste Indian widows and how they maintain a sense of self in the face of social role change

  Suzanne Powell, Charles Nuckolls, and Valerie Hudson

  Despite having social widowhood imposed upon them, these wides are able to create a continuance of self by taking a conscious stand on their new role through utilizing value systems they maintained prior to widowhood and by giving personal meaning to the prescribed rites and behaviors associated with widowhood.

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  Stealing Babies, Making Families: Does Corruption in Government lead to More Adoptions into the US?

  Tisah Quarnberg, Chelsea Mazar, and Jini Roby

  On March 26, 2007 Ana Escobar reported her baby Esther Zulamitawas stolen. Ana was locked in a storage closet at the family’s shoe store, north of Guatemala City, while armed men took her daughter. Two months later, Ana was sitting in the National Adoption Council’s offices when she spotted her baby. Esther was being adopted by an unidentified US couple. DNA tests had been falsified and Esther was given all new papers. Convinced that the child was hers, Ana got a new DNA tests ordered. These tests confirmed that the baby was Esther and she has since been reunited with her mother. Unfortunately, stories like these are all too familiar in Central and South America.

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  Schizophrenia and Error Processing: A Meta Analysis

  David Rackham, Scott Baldwin, and Michael Larson

  The error-related negativity (ERN) is a response locked Event-Related Potential component that peaks approximately 50 ms after an incorrect response. (Gehring, 1993) In a general sense the ERN seems to play a role in error detection and monitoring that occurs in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The ERN is modulated by affective variables as well as by psychopathology. It is thought that deficiencies in the internal monitoring systems of individuals with schizophrenia may be related to the expression of symptoms typical to schizophrenia. Studies of the ERN and individuals with schizophrenia have revealed significant results that support these assumptions. No work has been done to determine the overall effect of ERN amplitude and schizophrenia. This study determined the average effect size of ERN amplitude for patients with schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that a large average effect size of ERN amplitude attenuation in participants with schizophrenia would be found.

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  Service-Learning: Does it Matter?

  Katie E. Rasmussen, David Nelson, Jason Carroll, and Sarah Coyne

  We hypothesized that those who participated in service-learning experiences, relative to the comparison groups, would experience greater growth in self-perceptions or valuing of religious identity (RI), cultural awareness (CA), balanced living (BL), lifelong learning (LL), and critical thinking (CT). We also expected study abroad participants to experience more growth than our control group participants, given the demands and opportunities of an international experience.

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  Service-Learning in Emerging Adulthood: Positive Development and Outcomes

  Katie E. Rasmussen, Larry Nelson, and Laura M. Padilla-Walker

  The current study qualitatively examined positive development and outcomes during emerging adulthood specifically in the context of service-learning experience in the Romania International Internship program. We hypothesized that compared with emerging adults who do not participate in service-learning experiences, those who do participate develop more positive outcomes including (1) more positive self-perceptions, (2) greater identity development, and (3) achievement of criteria deemed necessary for adulthood.

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  United States Secret War in Laos with the Hmong tribe (Vietnam era) – the agreement

  P. Michael Rattanasengchanh and Andrew Johns

  The purpose of the project was to learn and understand the agreement between the Hmong tribe of Northern Laos and the United States when the U.S. government recruited the Hmong people to fight the communists in Laos.

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  Development of BYU's Teaching Museum: A History of the Museum of Peoples and Cultures

  Carlee Reed and Paul Stavast

  The Museum of Peoples and Cultures (MPC) has been a part of BYU since 1966. The MPC’s mission is to “inspire students to life-long learning and service and [mentors] them in collections-focused activities.”As the MPC has developed, it has influenced many students as they gain experience for later careers, in addition to educating them on different cultures. As of 2008, there was not a thorough recording of the progression and development of the museum. Over the past five years, the archives have been organized and made easily accessible. In addition to the archives, I researched into the history of the museum, and interviewed past directors to uncover the full development of the MPC and the effects it had on BYU and Provo.

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  Aspiring Higher: The Role of Objective Manager-Employee Work Values Fit in Employee Brand Movement Intentions

  Brian P. Reschke, Joseph Olsen, and John B. Bingham

  Multinational corporations attend to the unique challenge of managing employee mobility across various brands. While high tenure and high organizational commitment have been shown to increase retention attitudes, the organizational behavior literature has been notably silent regarding the factors contributing to employees’ aspirations to work in ‘bigger and better’ brands. Brand movement intentions of employees of a large, international professional services corporation were studied. Findings support the introduction of an objective measure of manager-employee work value fit and suggest employee brand movement is propelled in part by need for prestige.

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  Conflicting Influences: A study of emerging adults and their mothers’ marriage attitudes.

  Adam E. Rogers, Justin Hendricks, and Larry Nelson

  Emerging adulthood is a period of change and discovery in which young people are able to explore themselves and their world. In particular, Arnett (2000) has suggested that emerging adulthood is a period of identity exploration. Thus, young people, between the ages of 18-25 are at a critical stage of personal development. Recent research suggests that parents and religion are among the factors that contribute to their development (Willoughby et al., in press; Roestet al. 2009; Ebstyne, 2003).

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  Pornography Addiction: Shedding Light on Internet Help Resources

  Joshua Ruchty and Sam Hardy

  The purpose of this pilot study is to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the Candeo Program by collecting self-reported improvement data from Candeo subscribers. Candeo is an online, subscription-based recovery program for pornography addiction. Candeo guides subscribers through 10 levels of instruction --including text, video, and interactive exercises –all aimed toward reshaping thought processes in order alter addictive behaviors.

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  The Effects of Music on Memory Retention

  Taylor N. Scott, Meghan Dixon, Katie Wiscombe, and Erin D. Bigler

  Popular belief indicates that music aids in memory retention. However, Gray and Della Sala (2007) found that music does not have a significant effect on memory. A similar study indicated that music only aids memory when it is used as an association (mnemonic device; Moore, Peterson, O’Shea, & Thaut, 2008). Given this background, we hypothesized music would not influence retention on a standard clinical measure of short-term memory retention like the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT; Rey, 1995).

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  Media Increases Narcissistic Tendencies in College Students

  Megan Sheldon, Melanie Johnson, Brady Morris, and Brittany Stevenson

  In the recent decade, society has seen more and more cases of narcissistic entitlement (NE) (Twenge, Konratin, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman, 2008). An increased emphasis on celebrity worship, material wealth, physical appearance, media styles, and attention seeking in recent years may account for this shift in NE (Chen, 1998), (Ashe, Maltby, McCutcheon, 2005). NE occurs when people believe themselves to be entitled to certain privileges and have an obsessive self-love rooted in an insecure self-esteem. Individuals with NE may also be more prone to go into debt than those without it because they feel entitled to certain things even though they may not be able to afford them.

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  Child Agreeableness as a Buffer Against Depression

  Megan Sheldon, Curtis Pollard, Jonathan Kersh, and Natalie Gariby

  There is a clear correlation between the quality of family life and adolescent depression; the more conflict within a home, the more likely adolescents are to become depressed (Sheeber, Hops, Alpert, Davis, & Andrews, 1997). Another factor that is positively correlated with increased levels of adolescent depression is parental depression. Specifically, continuous maternal depressive behavior wears on an adolescent’s psychological well-being and leads to reaction of depression or a behavior disorder (Tully, Iacono & McGue, 2008). Adams, Abela, Aerbach, and Skitch (2009) found that negative personality traits were correlated to a distinct vulnerability to depression for adolescents. Because of this correlation, we hypothesize that positive personality traits would buffer adolescents from depression. An adolescent’s risk of developing depressive symptoms can be predicted by examining the factors of parental conflict and depression. We hypothesize that adolescents whose parents exhibit low amounts of conflict and depressive symptoms will themselves beat a lower risk for depression.

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  The Impact of Religiosity on the Drug Use of High School Athletes: Can Parents Really Make a Difference?

  Lance C. Shuldberg and Sarah Coyne

  There are mixed findings on the impact of parents on adolescent drug use. Parents including adolescents in athletic programs reduce some but not all drug use. Parents’ religiosity is the number one predictor of adolescent religiosity.

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  Rising to the Top (and Hitting Rock Bottom): A Look into the Relationship between Promotion and Depression

  Karen Spence, Cori Murphy, Blake Torgerson, and Jessica Thompson

  A job promotion or an increase in supervisory responsibility is typically seen as something to be congratulated; but could there actually be a dark side to it? Due to few previous studies regarding this topic in relation to women and mothers, the subject was of great interest to us. Our findings revealed that job change and increased supervisory responsibilities had a negative association with depression levels. Marriage, number of children, and dual-earner households were also negatively associated with levels of depression. Women with more children also had significantly lower levels of depression than men or women without children. Further research into the topic may reveal other hidden factors affecting depression levels that may still be lurking underneath the corporate ladder.

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  Pathways to Marriage...Or Not: A Study on the Emotions of Dating in LDS Young Adults

  Stephanie L. Standage, Melissa S. Kuhlenhoelter, and Thomas B. Holman

  The “Pathways To Marriage…Or Not” study was preformed to gain a greater understanding of the dating attitudes and experiences of LDS young adults while dating. It has become apparent through the course of this study that dating has changed from what it has been in the past. We have seen a greater amount of hanging out, and not as much casual dating. We have seen a lot of dissonance between what people say and what they do. We are wondering why this is. Why is it that young adults seem to have a harder time dating these days? We feel that one possible answer could be that young adults are afraid to be hurt emotionally. We have focused on the emotions that these young adults go through as they are dating. In this study we have found that the emotions felt in dating go through a cycle. A cycle we call the Cycle of Dating Emotions. We believe this cycle happens to everyone who is dating, regardless of if they are involved in a relationship or not.

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  Peasants and the Russian Revolution: the Affects of the Russian Peasantry on the Revolutionary Outcomes of the Revolution of 1917

  Katie Stuart, Jessica Godfrey, Zachariah Young, and Elsa Nickerson

  The Russian Revolution was one of the most influential events in the twentieth century. It created a state that was far different than any other in the world at the time. The Bolsheviks that came into power used high-minded rhetoric to garner support for their cause. This project examines the relationships between the communist movers and shakers that fought for the proletarians and the rural peasants of Russia. Our study seeks to understand how peasants that did not fit within the Marxist model were able to influence the revolutionary outcomes of the Russian Revolution. This is a study of the intersection of the harsh social conditions of the poor former serfs and the political changes that resulted from the Bolshevik revolution. Our research will demonstrate that Russian peasants' economic situation forced Lenin to adapt Marxist ideology that in turn led to the particular revolutionary outcomes of the Russian Revolution.

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  Just How Independent is the Fed?

  Brenton Swenson and Sven Wilson

  The Federal Reserve has a duel mandate to fight inflation while keeping unemployment low. The Fed is designed to be largely independent from political influence. Just how independent the Fed actually is remains an open question. According to Political Business Cycle Theory, presidents who want to maximize their chances for re-election will attempt to fight inflation early in their term, while allowing inflation to rise before the election with the goal of boosting the economy.

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  Religiosity and Achievement: The benefit of religious schooling for religious youth

  Brett Taylor, Michael Peterson, and Benjamin Gibbs

  Parental religious involvement and its effects on child math achievement in Catholic and public settings was examined at various age categories in the National Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Cohort (NCLS-K). A mother’s attendance at a religious service was found to have a significant, negative impact on student achievement overall, varying by the degree of maternal religious involvement and the religious affiliation of the child’s school. From the data, we conclude that children with very religiously involved mothers are at greatest disadvantage in non-religious schools, and further conclude that children of very religious mothers would benefit most from religious educational environments.