Adolescent friendship quality and emotional adjustment: examining the role of mothers' own friendships

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 23, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears on the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf.Thesis advisor: Dr. Amanda J. RoseIncludes bibliographical references."July 2011"The present study examines associations between youths' friendships and the friendships their mothers have with other adults. It was hypothesized that youth whose mothers have friendships high in positive qualities would have more positive friendships themselves and report decreased internalizing symptoms. Similarly, children of mothers whose friendships were high in negative qualities were expected to report increased negative qualities in their own friendships as well as increased internalizing symptoms. A sample of 172 fifth, eighth, and eleventh gradeyouth and their mothers were recruited to test these hypotheses, however, only the latter hypothesis was supported. Although mothers who reported high levels of conflict in their own friendships had children whose friendships were characterized by increased conflict, similar associations did not emerge for positive qualities. Further, youth whose mothers reported higher levels of negative qualities in their friendships were more likely to report increased internalizing symptoms themselves, even after reports of the mother-child relationship, youths' friendship quality, and mothers' own internalizing symptoms were controlled

Many-body Anderson localization in one dimensional systems

We show, using quasi-exact numerical simulations, that Anderson localization of one-dimensional particles in a disordered potential survives in the presence of attractive interaction between particles. The localization length of the composite particle can be computed analytically for weak disorder and is in good agreement with the quasi-exact numerical observations using Time Evolving Block Decimation. Our approach allows for simulation of the entire experiment including the final measurement of all atom positions.Comment: 12pp, 5 fig, version accepted in NJ

Creep in Photovoltaic Modules: Examining the Stability of Polymeric Materials and Components

Interest in renewable energy has motivated the implementation of new polymeric materials in photovoltaic modules. Some of these are non-cross-linked thermoplastics, in which there is a potential for new behaviors to occur, including phase transformation and visco-elastic flow. Differential scanning calorimetry and rheometry data were obtained and then combined with existing site-specific time-temperature information in a theoretical analysis to estimate the displacement expected to occur during module service life. The analysis identified that, depending on the installation location, module configuration and/or mounting configuration, some of the thermoplastics are expected to undergo unacceptable physical displacement. While the examples here focus on encapsulation materials, the concerns apply equally to the frame, junction-box, and mounting-adhesive technologies

Does religion make a difference? : assessing the effects of Christian affiliation and practice on marital solidarity and divorce in Britain, 1985-2005

Marital breakdown rates were examined among 15,714 adults from the British Social Attitudes dataset for 1985-2005. Separation and divorce peaked at around 50 years of age, and increased significantly over the period of study. Ratios of separation or divorce were compared between respondents who had no religious affiliation and (a) Christian affiliates who attended church at least once a month, (b) Christian affiliates who attended church, but less than once a month, and (c) Christian affiliates who never attended church. The results showed that active Christians were 1.5 times less likely to suffer marital breakdown than non-affiliates, but there was no difference between affiliates who never attended church and those of no religion. Christians who attended infrequently were 1.3 times less likely to suffer marital breakdown compared to non-affiliates, suggesting that even infrequent attendance at church may have some significance for predicting the persistence of martial solidarity

Girls’ and boys’ problem talk: Implications for emotional closeness in friendships.

This research highlights the critical role of gender in the context of problem talk and social support in adolescents’ friendships. Early- and middle-adolescents’ (N = 314 friend dyads; Ms = 13.01 and 16.03 years) conversations about problems were studied using observation and a short-term longitudinal design. Mean-level gender differences emerged in that girls participated in problem talk more than boys and responded in a more positive and engaged manner to friends’ statements about problems (e.g., by saying something supportive, asking a question) than did boys. Interestingly, boys used humor during problem talk more than girls. Despite mean-level differences, there were not gender differences in the functional significance of participating in problem talk and positive engaged responses in that these behaviors predicted increased friendship closeness for both boys and girls. In contrast, humor during problem talk predicted increased closeness only for boys, highlighting an understudied pathway to closeness in boys’ friendships