Kelly Brose '11
Cognitive Aspects of Attitudes Toward Adoption
Each year in the United States, there are at
least 6 million pregnancies (Arons, 2010). Almost 40% of
these pregnancies are
to single women (Stein & St. George, 2009).
Of those, 40% of such
pregnancies result in
abortion, while only
one percent of single
women with an
unplanned pregnancy
choose adoption (Arons, 2010). In an effort to better understand attitudes
towards adoption, the study tested a model in which knowledge about adoption and abortion was hypothesized
to predict attitudes towards adoption and abortion.
Participant recruitment targeted American citizens who
were 18 years of age or older, and a total of 97 respondents completed multiple adoption attitudes
scales, an abortion attitudes scale, an abortion knowledge
test, and an original adoption knowledge test that was
developed by the researcher. Path analysis of the data
yielded support for the original model. However, post hoc
testing revealed a better fit between the data and a
slightly modified version of the model in which
knowledge about abortion and adoption predicted abortion attitudes, but only knowledge about abortion
predicted adoption attitudes. Adoption and abortion
service providers may find this information useful when
providing education and services to single women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, as well as to the
general public.
Rebecca Frost '11
Odor Preference in Asian Musk Shrews
Asian musk shrews are thought to
communicate with each other using scent markings,
although the specific
ways they do this are
not well understood.
Previous work
concerning odor
preference in our
colony has shown that
male shrews are
attracted to female
urine, but females are
not attracted to to
male urine [F(1,17) = 7.514, p=0.014]. A study using
opossums (Zuri, Su, & Halpern, 2003) shows the same
sort of urine preference in that species, but also found that females are attracted to male musk. Male and female
shrews were given two 2-minute preference tests and
the time spent investigating wooden or cotton balls
scented with their own, a male’s, or a female’s musk was
recorded. Preliminary data analyzed with a two-way
ANOVA has shown that neither sex shows musk odor
preference [F(1,16) = 0.163, p=0.692], but changes to the
experimental methods could lead to significant data.
