Proceedings with Abstracts

Session I: Oral Presentations

Group I

“The Effects of Marital Conflict on College Students' Adjustment” Shanea Richardson, Andrea Rupert, and Heather Simendinger, Penn State Erie, The Behrend Campus

The current study examined the relationship between college students’ exposure to marital conflict, connectedness, and coping efficacy.  College students reported on subscales of marital conflict, coping, and connectedness.  Based on the emotional security theory (Cummings & Davies, 1994), we predicted that children who were exposed to higher levels of marital conflict would not cope as effectively as children from homes with lower levels of marital conflict.  Further, based on past work, it was expected that students’ connectedness would also relate to coping efficacy.  Results from this study will provide more information to enhance our understanding of the predictors related to college students’ coping efficacy.

“The Codependence of Persian Nationalism and Shi’a Islam in Iran’s Battle with 19th and 20th Century Change” Marissa Christman, Niagara University

This paper explores the struggles with modernization that are had in contemporary Iran and finds that they are anti-Western in character and caused by a collision of Iranian nationalism with Shi’a Islam.  The European import of nationalism, which is defined in the paper, was introduced to Iran in the 19th century.  Iranian history is summarized in an attempt to solidify the reader’s understanding of the Iranian world view at this time.  The paper argues that Iranians subconsciously adopted nationalist sentiment on Persian terms and partnered these ideas with a devotion to Shi’a Islam in a logical and anti-Western reaction to modern events.  The Tobacco Protest of 1891, the Constitutional Revolution in 1905, and the Islamic Revolution of 1979 are three defining events in contemporary Iranian history that demonstrate this nationalist/Shi’a partnership.  The ramifications of said partnership are examined in the conclusion.

“Ishmael's Voices: The Uncovering of an American Adam in Moby Dick” Eric Magliocca, Washington and Jefferson College

In Moby Dick, Herman Melville embraces the cultural concerns of the 1800’s by fashioning Ishmael as an American Adam, seeming to draw on a literary tradition of figures that represent American innocence and possibility.  However, a careful examination of Ishmael's divergent voice and "heroic" beginnings suggest that Melville's most famous narrator is a new kind of Adam, one not encumbered by the American sense of prosperity, but only of self-reliance and the methods of capturing it. 

“Dual Identity Reconciled: The Poetic-Professional Consciousness of William Carlos Williams” Matt Hepler, Houghton College

One of the salient features of the poetry of William Carlos Williams relates to his attempts to reconcile the poetic with the professional, to use situations and languages from his vocation, the practice of medicine, in his avocation (for lack of a better term), the writing of poetry.  As a poet who is also a doctor and a doctor who is also a poet, Williams creates a narrator who becomes almost exclusively the voice of the poet merging with the doctor.  This merging reflects the voice of Williams himself.  As such, the substances, locations, situations, people, and processes of his professional world intersect at times with his poetic world.  After an in-depth investigation into his primary texts, I have divided these intersections into three broad categories and presented key examples of each poetic category: Professional Relic, Professional Narrative (Third person, First person, and Autobiographical), and Diagnostic Poetic.

Group II

“Determinants of Healthy and Vulnerable Narcissism” Matthew W. Jones, Chelsea R. Heinz, Kristen MacNeil, and Rachelle J. Walsh, Alfred University

Previous research indicates two, divergent forms of narcissism a healthy (functional) form and a vulnerable (dysfunctional) form.  The current study focuses on further differentiating between the two.  It is hypothesized that these two forms arise from different psychological sources and therefore could be distinguished by differences in social behavior.  Participants, recruited from Introduction to Psychology classes, complete the following scales: the Interpersonal Perception Task-15, Beck Depression Inventory, Sensitivity to Criticism Scale-15, Ruminative Responses Scale, Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, Vulnerable Narcissism Inventory-52, Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Self Monitoring Scale, and UCLA Loneliness Scale.  Data collection is ongoing.  Further clarification of the differentiation between these two forms could lead to more effective identification and treatment for those suffering with narcissistic personality disorder.  Use of an interpersonal approach to therapy for the vulnerable narcissist may be supported if we obtain the expected results.

“Tiling Rectangles with Trominoes and Tetraminoes” April Bowers and Mindy Swancott, Houghton College

In this paper we consider the number of ways to tile 3 x n rectangles with trominoes and 4 x n rectangles with tetrominoes.

“Women in Bartending” Kelly Kriner, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

This research is a participant observation case study of a small bar in Emporium, Pennsylvania.  At the time I began the research I had been tending bar for nearly two years.  I interviewed eight women bartenders and observed the patrons at the bar.  I used open-ended interviews reporting the positive and negative aspects of bartending and how the women coped.  What my findings revealed was that even though women are easily hired at this occupation, gender issues still exist.

“Living with a Female Single Parent: The Ups and Downs over the Years” Sarah Lorya, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Over the years, single parent households, particularly female-headed ones, have been on the rise.  A recent study indicated that, in the Unites States, 26 percent of teenagers are living with a single parent.  Keeping this in mind, I wanted to further examine the positive and negative effects of having a single parent, particularly a single mother, because I was raised this way.  I found some interesting facts I had never known before.  I know that one negative aspect that single households face is poor financial status, but I also found some positive aspects.  I interviewed thirteen college students, six male and seven female, ranging from the age of 18 to 21, who had been raised by a single parent.  My finding show that these respondents overcame obstacles, learned to become independent, and had especially close relationships with extended family members.