Spectrum Volume 4 (3) Winter 2014

SPECTRUM Journal of Student Research at Saint Francis University

Volume 4 (3) Winter 2014

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SPECTRUM: Journal of Student Research at Saint Francis University Faculty Editors: Balazs Hargittai Professor of Chemistry bhargittai@francis.edu

Grant Julin Assistant Professor of Philosophy gjulin@francis.edu

Student Editorial Board: Shannon Adams Cathleen Fry Daniel Hines ’13 Paul Johns ’07 Timothy Keith Cecelia MacDonald Gabrielle McDermott Jonathan Miller ’08 Morgan Onink Aaron Rovan ‘09

Cover photo by Eszter Hargittai

Allison Bivens ’12 Sean Gdula ‘13 Eric Horell ’13 Amanda Johnson Jennifer Kirchner Lauren McConnell ’12 Sarah McDonald Steven Mosey Rebecca Peer Jennifer Yealy ‘13

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SPECTRUM Table of Contents Molecular Modeling of Folding in Lactam-Modified α-Conotoxins Brittany A. Kovacs; Pedro L. Muíño

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The Role of Optimism in Attaining the Ideal Romantic Partner Jennifer E. Wilde; Marnie L. Moist

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Success of Women Physical Therapy Graduates from Saint Francis University Jamie L. Wichrowski; Balazs Hargittai

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Call for papers

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(Student authors’ names underlined.)

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Molecular Modeling of Folding in Lactam-Modified α-Conotoxins Brittany A. Kovacs Chemistry Department School of Sciences bakst6@francis.edu

α-Conotoxins are short peptides containing about thirteen to fourteen amino acids isolated from marine cone snail venom (Loughnan, Nicke, Jones, Adams, Alewood, & Lewis, 2004). Conotoxins as a whole are an interesting source for biomolecular research regarding pain relief (Borman, 2010).

They are unique from other peptides because they have the ability to differentiate between ion-gated channels. This makes them ideal diagnostic tools for the characterization of neuronal pathways and drug development (Mok & Han, 1999). The toxins isolated from Conus species have also been shown to inhibit sodium, potassium, and calcium voltagedependent channels (Favreau, et al., 1999). αConotoxins contain multiple sulfur-sulfur bridges due to the presence of multiple cysteine residues.

While these conotoxins fold spontaneously in vivo, the disulfide bridges do not force this folding – they are merely important for stability. Knowledge of the structure of inhibitory toxins, as well as the reasons for their selective preference toward either neuromuscular or neuronal receptors could aid in the design of pharmaceutical drugs. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a role in many functional roles and many diseases are characterized by functional defects of these receptors (Jin, et al., 2008). α-conotoxins inhibit acetylcholine receptors at nerves and muscles (Groebe, Gray, & Abramson, 1997).

Due to the large number of cysteine residues, there are several possible ways for the disulfide bridges to form, producing different regioisomers (Hill, Oomen, Miranda, Bingham, Alewood, & Craik, 1998). It is important to be able to control which regioisomer is formed and to discover which modifications produce the strongest biological activity. It is believed that the presence of proline

Pedro L. Muíño, Ph.D. Chemistry Department School of Sciences pmuino@francis.edu

in the peptide sequence plays a role in the folding of the conotoxin. Proline both directs folding and allows less flexibility in the peptide sequence because its side chain is covalently bonded to the amino group, making it less flexible than other amino acid side chains (Kang, Radić, Talley, Jois, Taylor, & Kini, 2007).

In previous work, the replacement of the Cys2Cys7 disulfide bridge with a lactam bridge caused a complete loss of activity. However, exchanging the larger Cys3-Cys13 bridge in α-conotoxin SI led to considerable affinities for the receptor sites. If some of the biological characteristics observed for the lactam analogues of α-conotoxin SI are also found in other members of the α-conotoxin family, the activity of the most potent analogue could be used to identify the best possible drug candidate.

Experience gained in these studies can also be expanded to other peptide systems with multiple bridges.

Chemistry at Harvard Macromolecular Mechanics (CHARMM) is a molecular dynamics program used to model the motion of a system containing a central conotoxin surrounded by a drop of solvent. By modeling the motion of the conotoxin in a solvent field, the relative positions of the residues likely to form disulfide or lactam bridges can be tracked.

The structures of the six α-conotoxins were created using insightII – a graphic molecular modeling program. Modified versions of each αconotoxin were then created by exchanging the Cys3-Cys13 disulfide bridge with a lactam bridge.

To do this, the thiol in Cys3 was replaced with a carboxyl group and the thiol in Cys13 was replaced with an amine group.

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CHARMM was used to model the movement of the peptide sequences. The simulation was run by placing each α-conotoxin in a drop of water with a radius of 20 Å, at a temperature of 300 K. An artificial force field was set to prevent the water from “evaporating” and it was run for 500 000 steps, or 500 picoseconds. The system was set to track certain distances during this time period; the distance between the sulfur atoms in the cysteine residues and between the carboxyl and amine groups in the modified α-conotoxins. 500 picoseconds was the longest this program had been run on this project – in the past it was only run for 100 picoseconds.

Gaussian 03 was used to run partial optimizations for the shortest and longest distances in each conotoxin. A Hatree-Fock calculation with a 6-311G basis set was used to determine the ground state energy. Energies of the system were calculated again after removing the hydrogen atom bonded to the sulfur in the unmodified conotoxins.

By removing the hydrogen atoms, the geometries that potentially lead to the formation of a bond were simulated.

5 which makes sense because the lower energy establishes a reaction path that may lead to the for mation of a bond, which would be possible at a shorter distance. Once the distance between the sulfur atoms surpasses approximately 5Å, the relative energy does not seem to correlate to the distance between the atoms, presumably because at this point, the sulfur atoms do not significantly interact with each other.

Figure 2 shows the energy in kJ/mol against the distances between the carbon and nitrogen atoms of the lactam bridges in Cys3-Cys13 in the six modified versions of the α-conotoxins. There does not seem to be a specific relationship linking the distance between the carboxyl-amine bond and the relative energy. This could be due to the fact that the carbon-nitrogen distance never reaches the low values observed for the sulfur-sulfur systems and so no lactam bridge is formed.

Figure 2. Shortest distances and relative energies between Cys3(CG) and Cys13(NZ).

Figure 1. Shortest distances and relative energies between Cys2(SG) and Cys7(SG).

Figure 1 shows the energy, in kJ/mol, against the distances, measured in Angströms, between the sulfur atoms in Cys2-Cys7 in all twelve unmodified versions of the α­conotoxins. The plot includes the shortest three distances for each peptide sequence.

The shorter the distance between the sulfur atoms in Cys2 and Cys7, the lower the relative energy,

Figure 3 shows the distance between the carbon atom on Cys3 and the nitrogen atom on Cys13, as well as the distances between the sulfur atoms on Cys2 and Cys7 in the modified version of αconotoxin MI. There seem to be two distinct areas; (a) the top of the graph shows large distances between the tracked residues, suggesting that this is a region corresponding to an unfolded conotoxin, and (b) the large group of points towards the bottom of the plot shows reasonably short distances between the thiol groups, representing the conformations where this α-conotoxin is folded.

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The distance between the lactam carboxyl and amine changes significantly while the distance between the sulfur atoms remains roughly constant.

This figure supports the belief that proline generates a rigid portion of the peptide sequence because proline is located between the disulfidebond-forming Cys2 and Cys7. The modified Cys13 is located at a more flexible portion of the conotoxin, farther away from proline, accounting for the wider variation in distances.

Figure 3. Distances between Cys3(C)-Cys13(N) and Cys2(S)Cys7(S) in modified α-conotoxin MI.

Figures 4 and 5 are drawings of the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) of the Cys2 and Cys7 residues of α-conotoxin GI. Figure 4 still has the hydrogen atoms attached but Figure 5 shows the hydrogen atoms removed in order to simulate the initiation of a sulfur-sulfur bond under oxidation conditions. Figure 4 shows no bonding molecular orbital between the sulfur atoms. Figure 5 shows that it is possible for a bond to form between the sulfur atoms with just the molecular distances generated by the thermal motion of the system.

The results show that thermal fluctuations are enough to bring the sulfur atoms on Cys2 and Cys7 to proper binding distances as there is adequate bonding orbital overlap between the sulfur atoms.

No orbital overlap behavior has been observed between the carbon and nitrogen atoms in the lactam-modified α-conotoxins. This may be due to the fact that the atoms have yet to be close enough for bonding to occur. Proline appears to generate a rigid portion of the peptide, which is shown by the number of conformations with very similar Cys2(S)-Cys7(S) distances.

The difficulty of forming a lactam bridge was believed to be due to the large distance between the two modified cysteine residues. By experimenting with side chain lengths, perhaps these distances could be shortened. To this end, instead of substituting the thiol on the Cys13 residue with an amine group, we substituted it with two methylene groups and an amine group, making it one methylene group shorter than lysine.

CHARMM was used once again with these newly modified α-conotoxins placed in a droplet of water with a radius of 20 Å at 300 K placed in an artificial force field. This time only 200 000 steps, or 200 picoseconds, of dynamics were run.

Figure 6. Shortest distances and relative energies between Cys2(SG) and Cys7(SG).

Figure 4. HOMO with H atoms.

Figure 5. HOMO without H atoms.

Figure 6 shows the energy in kJ/mol against the distances measured in Angstroms between the sulfur atoms in Cys2-Cys7 in all twelve modified and unmodified versions of the α-conotoxins. Only the shortest three distances for each peptide

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sequence are shown. In most of the conotoxins, where the distance between the sulfur atoms in Cys2 and Cys7 is small, there is a lower relative energy.

Figure 7 shows the distances between the carbon and nitrogen atoms in a modified αconotoxin as a function of time. Without artificial constraints, the time scale of this simulation does not result in a close folding. In fact, the distances fluctuate throughout the entire 200 picoseconds and do not stay small for long.

7 distance and carbon-nitrogen distance. This suggests that the folding pattern is different for each conotoxin, depending on the peptides it contains.

Figures 9 and 10 show diagrams of the Cys2 and Cys7 residues of α-conotoxin GI at the shortest observed sulfur-sulfur distance (3.213 Å). Figure 9 still has the hydrogen atoms attached and so no bonding molecular orbital is observed. The hydrogen atoms have been removed from the sulfur atoms in Figure 10 so a molecular bonding orbital can be observed.

Figure 9. HOMO with H atoms.

Figure 7. Distance between Cys3(C) and Cys13(N) as a function of time.

Figure 8. Folding patterns of modified α-conotoxin GII and α-conotoxin SI.

Figure 8 contains two plots of the distance between the carbon and nitrogen atoms against the distance between the original sulfur atoms in two modified α-conotoxins. α-conotoxin SI seems to retain fairly small distances between Cys2 and Cys7, yet the distances between the carbon and nitrogen atoms vary greatly. α-Conotoxin GII appears to have no clear pattern. In both, there seems to be no relationship between sulfur-sulfur

Figure 10. HOMO without H atoms.

Once again, it appears that thermal fluctuations are enough to bring the sulfur atoms on Cys2 and Cys7 to proper bonding distances as adequate orbital overlap behavior has been observed between the sulfur atoms. Still no maintained orbital overlap behavior has been observed between the carbon and nitrogen atoms in the lactam-modified αconotoxins. This could be due to many factors; the large distance between atoms, rigidity caused by proline, change in distances over time, and the variations in protein folding over time. However, it appears that lengthening the side chain on Cys13 does in fact shorten C-N distances.

Works Cited Borman, S. (2010). New Way to Screen α-Conotoxins.

Chemical & Engineering News, 13.

CHARMM: The Energy Function and Its Parameterization with an Overview of the Program, in The Encyclopedia of Computational Chemistry, 1, 271-277, Schleyer, P. v. R. et al., editors (John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, 1998), by MacKerell, Jr., A. D.; Brooks, B.; Brooks, III, C. L.; Nilsson, L.; Roux, B.; Won, Y.; and Karplus, M. Croskey, A. K., Hargittai, B. (2004) Evaluation of the impact of proline on the folding of α-conotoxins. Kem. Ind., 53, 333-338.

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Favreau, P., Krimm, I., Le Gall, F., Bobenrieth, M.-J., Lamthanh, H., Bouet, F. (1999) Biochemical Characterization and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Structure of Novel α-Conotoxins Isolated from the Venom of Conus consors. Biochemistry, 38, 6317-6326.

Gaussian 03, Revision C.02, Frisch, M. J.; Trucks, G. W.; Schlegel, H. B.; Scuseria, G. E.; Robb, M. A.; Cheeseman, J. R.; Montgomery, Jr., J. A.; Vreven, T.; Kudin, K. N.; Burant, J. C.; Millam, J. M.; Iyengar, S. S.; Tomasi, J.; Barone, V.; Mennucci, B.; Cossi, M.; Scalmani, G.; Rega, N.; Petersson, G. A.; Nakatsuji, H.; Hada, M.; Ehara, M.; Toyota, K.; Fukuda, R.; Hasegawa, J.; Ishida, M.; Nakajima, T.; Honda, Y.; Kitao, O.; Nakai, H.; Klene, M.; Li, X.; Knox, J. E.; Hratchian, H. P.; Cross, J. B.; Bakken, V.; Adamo, C.; Jaramillo, J.; Gomperts, R.; Stratmann, R. E.; Yazyev, O.; Austin, A. J.; Cammi, R.; Pomelli, C.; Ochterski, J. W.; Ayala, P. Y.; Morokuma, K.; Voth, G. A.; Salvador, P.; Dannenberg, J. J.; Zakrzewski, V. G.; Dapprich, S.; Daniels, A. D.; Strain, M. C.; Farkas, O.; Malick, D. K.; Rabuck, A. D.; Raghavachari, K.; Foresman, J. B.; Ortiz, J. V.; Cui, Q.; Baboul, A. G.; Clifford, S.; Cioslowski, J.; Stefanov, B. B.; Liu, G.; Liashenko, A.; Piskorz, P.; Komaromi, I.; Martin, R. L.; Fox, D. J.; Keith, T.; Al-Laham, M. A.; Peng, C. Y.; Nanayakkara, A.; Challacombe, M.; Gill, P. M. W.; Johnson, B.; Chen, W.; Wong, M. W.; Gonzalez, C.; and Pople, J. A.; Gaussian, Inc., Wallingford CT, 2004.

Groebe, D. R., Gray, W. R., & Abramson, S. (1997) Determinants Involved in the Affinity of α-Conotoxins GI and SI for the Muscle Subtype of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors. Biochemistry, 36, 6469-6474.

8 Hill, J. M., Oomen, C. J., Miranda, L. P., Bingham, J.-P., Alewood, P. F., Craik, D. J. (1998) Three-Dimensional Solution Structure of α-Conotoxin MII by NMR Spectroscopy: Effects of Solution Environment on Helicity. Biochemistry, 37, 15621-15630.

Jin, A.-H., Daly, N. L., Nevin, S. T., Wang, C.-I. A., Dutertre, S., Lewis, R. J., (2008) Molecular Engineering of Conotoxins: The Importance of Loop Size to α-Conotoxin Structure and Function. J. Med. Chem., 51, 5575-5584.

Kang, T. S., Radić, Z., Talley, T. T., Jois, S. D., Taylor, P., Kini, R. M. (2007). Protein Folding Determinants: Structural Features Determining Alternative Disulfide Pairing in α- and χ/λ-Conotoxins. Biochemistry, 46, 33383355.

Loughnan, M. L., Nicke, A., Jones, A., Adams, D. J., Alewood, P. F., Lewis, R. J. (2004) Chemical and Functional Identification and Characterization of Novel Sulfated α-Conotoxins from the Cone Snail Conus anemone. J. Med. Chem., 47, 1234-1241.

Mok, K. H., & Han, K.-H. (1999). NMR Solution Conformation of an Antitoxic Analogue of α-Conotoxin GI: Identification of a Common Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor α1-Subunit Binding Surface for Small Ligands and α-Conotoxins. Biochemistry, 38, 11895-11904.

Brittany Kovacs (’12, B.S., Chemistry) is an optometry student at the University of Melbourne.

She was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, Kappa Mu Epsilon National Mathematics Honor Society, and the Saint Francis University lacrosse team from 2008-2010.

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The Role of Optimism in Attaining the Ideal Romantic Partner Jennifer E. Wilde Department of Psychology School of Arts & Letters jew100@francis.edu

Marnie L. Moist, Ph.D. Department of Psychology School of Arts & Letters mmoist@francis.edu

Few studies have examined why people stay in romantic committed relationships with partners who do not meet their desires. One factor that accounts for people’s tendencies to remain in unsatisfactory relationships is their level of dispositional optimism. In this study, college students in romantic committed relationships were divided into three groups: low optimism, moderate optimism, or high optimism.

Participants then completed surveys that measured the degree of perceived personality traits of their actual versus their ideal romantic partner for an overall measure of mismatch between actual and ideal partner qualities. There was no significant difference in self-reported actual partner closeness to the ideal romantic partner between low, moderate, and high optimists. There was however, a significant difference in the scale ratings of how much one judge’s his or her happiness based on their relationships with others between moderate optimists and high optimists. Lastly, a near significant trend was found between participants who had low optimism and those who had high optimism regarding their scores on the ideal romantic partner survey. Participants with high optimism were close to having significantly higher scores on the ideal partner survey than those who had low optimism, indicating another direction for future research concerning optimists and pessimists and their romantic partners.

The quality of committed romantic relationships has been known to vary from couple to couple; each partner has his or her own opinion regarding how satisfactory the relationship is. The specific purpose of the current study was to explore why some individuals choose to remain in romantic committed relationships that make them feel unhappy or dissatisfied, while others strive for the fulfilling relationships they desire. Holmes and Johnson (2009) proposed that some people enter into committed relationships with people with similar personalities, while others choose relationships with partners who are opposite their personality; the driving force behind these decisions involves people’s attachment styles.

Aside from this, little research has been conducted to study how personality affects why some people choose to remain in unsatisfying committed relationships, while others do not. In general, this topic is difficult to study because this would require asking personal questions that may make participants feel uncomfortable; as a result, they

may provide dishonest answers to hide their true feelings. Regardless of this obstacle, the goal of this study was to specifically address how one’s outlook on life could determine if some individuals were more likely than others to remain in romantic committed relationships with partners who do not meet their desires. It was also assumed that being with a partner who does not meet one’s own desires may lead to unhappiness with the relationship as a whole.

In the present study, “outlook on life” was further defined as having low optimism (implying a presence of pessimism), moderate optimism, or high optimism. Reilley, Geers, Lindsay, Deronde, and Dember (2005) defined an optimist as someone who uses external, unstable, and local explanations when describing his or her negative experiences, but uses internal, stable, and global explanations for positive experiences. In other words, optimists attribute the occurrence of negative events to forces outside of their control (external), consider the negative event as something that will be present for

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only a certain period of time (unstable), and feel as if the negative event reflects only one part of their life (local) (Scott, 2012). Whenever they interpret positive events, optimists believe they are responsible for the occurrence of the event (internal), that more good things will take place in the future (stable), and that positive events will continue to occur throughout the rest of their lives (global) (Scott, 2012). In contrast to optimists, Reilley et al. (2005) defined pessimists as those who provide internal, stable, and global explanations for negative events, and external, unstable, and local explanations for positive events.

Another study by Brenes, Rapp, Rejeski, and Miller (2002) provided a summarized version of what it means to be either optimistic or pessimistic.

Optimists have a positive outlook on life, and are confident things will turn out the way they want them to in the future. In contrast, pessimists are people who have a much more negative outlook on life, and have the general expectation that things will go wrong. Furthering this idea, Szalma, Hancock, Dember, and Warm (2006) found that when it comes to task completion, optimists are more likely to work harder at difficult tasks, whereas pessimists are more likely to internalize the difficulty of the task as proof of their own inadequacy.

Many researchers agree on the definitions of optimism and pessimism, but researchers (e.g., Brenes et al., 2002) tend to disagree on whether optimism and pessimism are polar opposites on a single dimension, or if these are two separate constructs that need to be measured on different scales. Most of the studies that have measured optimism and pessimism have used the Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994), which treats pessimism and optimism as two polar ends of a single dimension.

In addition to this, even though Brenes et al.’s (2002) study provided support for pessimism and optimism as being distinct dimensions, Reilley et al. (2005) concluded that using the uni-dimensional LOT provides more accurate results whenever researchers use larger samples.

Due to the ambiguity behind the dimensionality of optimism

10 and pessimism, the current study chose to use the uni-dimensionality model since little research has utilized a bi-dimensionality model.

Numerous studies have examined the effects of optimism and pessimism on one’s cultural location, psychological well-being, physical functioning, and acceptance within society. In one study, Rose, Endo, Windschitl, and Suls (2008) wanted to compare the amounts of unrealistic optimism and unrealistic pessimism between U.S. participants and Japanese participants using both a direct and indirect method. Rose et al. (2008) wanted to confirm that using a direct method would yield similar unrealistic optimism scores between U.S. and Japanese participants, while using the indirect method would yield different unrealistic optimism scores. In Rose et al.’s (2008) study, 127 U.S. students and 123 Japanese students first completed a survey that asked them how likely it would be for them to experience a certain negative event compared to the average student (direct method).

Then, each participant took a survey that asked both how likely it would be for him or her to experience the negative event, and then how likely it would be for him or her to experience the negative event as compared to the average student (indirect method). The results of the study revealed that U.S. and Japanese students had similar unrealistic optimism scores for the direct method, but dissimilar unrealistic optimism scores for the indirect method. These findings supported Rose et al.’s (2008) assumptions that making direct comparisons promotes unrealistic optimism regardless of culture, but making indirect comparisons expresses the different internal motivations between people from other cultures.

Results from the indirect method indicate that U.S. students (Western societies) were more inclined to think of themselves as being above average, whereas Japanese students (Eastern societies) were more likely to consider themselves as being on the same level as their peers and community. The overall study encourages further research to rely on indirect methods more so than direct methods when analyzing internal-motivations of people. Overall, Rose et al.’s (2008) study implies that Americans

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tend to think of themselves as being unique; they believe that bad things are more likely to happen to other people than to themselves. This would suggest that Americans are generally optimistic about their own circumstances and the future. If this is accurate, then perhaps people with high levels of optimism who find themselves in unsatisfactory relationships remain with their partners because they hope that the relationship will improve. Regardless, the number of people with low levels of optimism who stay in unsatisfactory relationships will be greater than those with high levels of optimism. This might occur because high optimists may end a relationship realizing that another person may make them happier in the future, whereas low optimists feel as if they will never find a better partner.

Another study carried out by Augusto-Landa, Pulido-Martos, and Lopez-Zafra (2011), focused on whether or not perceived emotional intelligence (PEI)—how well one knows his or her emotional states—and dispositional optimism, had an effect on psychological well-being. Augusto-Landa et al.’s (2011) study involved 217 undergraduate women who completed multiple surveys, which are described in detail in the materials section of his study. The results of these surveys indicated that optimism was positively related to one’s level of psychological well-being, and that pessimism was negatively related to one’s psychological wellbeing. In addition, the amount of attention one paid to his or her emotions was positively correlated with optimism, and negatively correlated with pessimism. The implications of these findings are that optimists tend to understand and control their own emotional states much better than pessimists, and because of this, optimists are more psychologically healthy than pessimists.

An application of these results may involve providing classes to help people with pessimistic views of the world understand their emotions; emotional regulation will then lead to psychological wellbeing.

There has also been interest in whether or not optimism and pessimism could predict how well people will be able to adapt to physical difficulties

11 as they age. Brenes et al.’s (2002) study took adults who had osteoarthritis—a form of cartilage disintegration in which the formation of new bone can be painful—and divided them into optimists and pessimists. Then, the researchers had them complete a series of daily physical activities to see if optimism was related to physical functioning.

Four hundred eighty participants, who were all at least 65 years old, had to complete the following physical tasks: walking, lifting and carrying a weight, walking up and down five stairs, and getting in and out of a car (Brenes et. al, 2002, p.

223).

The researchers also recorded the participants’ self-rated knee pain and depression score, and obtained an x-ray of their knees for an analysis of overall functioning.

The results revealed that optimism was not related to physical performance, but pessimism was.

Overall, pessimism led to a decrease in physical performance. Brenes et al. (2002) suggested that this could be due to pessimists’ tendencies to have passive coping strategies that do not allow them to deal well with pain. Active coping strategies, such as trying hard to ignore the painful sensations, or convincing oneself that the pain equaled progress, allowed for improvement in physical functioning.

The finding that optimism was not involved in either improvement or a decrease of improvement could be used as evidence for pessimism and optimism being separate constructs that are unrelated to one another. It is worth mentioning that passive versus active coping strategies are both dimensions that are separate from the optimism versus pessimism dimension, but it would seem that pessimists would be likely to use passive coping strategies, whereas optimists may use more active coping strategies.

Further studies could explore this idea by testing other modes of physical improvement to clarify the relationship between optimism and pessimism, and whether or not one’s coping strategies could be related to his or her outlook on life.

Lastly, Carver, Kus, and Scheier (1994) carried out a study to determine if people in our society were more accepting of individuals who expressed optimistic attitudes or beliefs, compared to

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individuals who expressed pessimistic attitudes or beliefs. The actual study involved 95 male and 103 female undergraduate students who formed impressions of people they did not know based on typed transcripts of a conversation between two people. The participants’ roles were to evaluate the interviewee. The interviewees had a set transcript that was supposed to illicit signs of either being pessimistic, and in a bad mood, or being optimistic, and in a good mood. The results of the study indicated that those who were perceived as having a pessimistic outlook on life were socially rejected by people much more than the interviewees who expressed an optimistic outlook on life (Carver, Kus & Scheier, 1994). Interestingly, people were much more attentive to negative information than they were to positive information; 42% of the participants had an emotional response toward the pessimists, and only 16% of the participants had an emotional response towards the optimists (Carver et al. 1994). These results may allow researchers to understand why individuals feel drawn towards certain people, and repelled by others; knowing such information could help researchers understand group dynamics and relationships.

In the current study, the focus was on romantic committed relationships and how having low optimism (or being relatively pessimistic), moderate optimism, or high optimism had an effect on the type of partner that one committed himself or herself to. In specific terms, the main goal was to determine if having low optimism or high optimism was related to people’s tendencies to be involved in romantic committed relationships with partners who do not meet their desires. Current research has offered insights as to why some individuals find themselves in unsatisfying relationships.

Holmes and Johnson (2009) analyzed this issue by addressing the various attachment styles that people have. The four attachment styles are as follows: secure (low anxiety, low avoidance), preoccupied (high anxiety, low avoidance), dismissing-avoidant (low anxiety, high avoidance), and fearful-avoidant (high anxiety, high avoidance). In this review, anxiety was defined as the extent to which people

12 worry about being alone or rejected. Avoidance referred to the amount of effort that one makes to evade intimacy with his or her partner. To exemplify these concepts, secure individuals are people who feel they are worthy of being loved, and are accepting of intimacy from their partners.

Fearful-avoidant people are those who worry about their partners abandoning them, and because of this, they fear intimacy due to their fear of being rejected.

After Holmes and Johnson (2009) analyzed attachment style, they addressed the following three types of partner preference: similarity, complementary, and attachmentsecurity. Similarity is the concept of preferring partners who match one’s own attachment style.

Complementary refers to the process where people enter relationships with other people who prove their expectations. Lastly, attachment-security is the term that states that regardless of attachment style, people prioritize having a secure partner because it guarantees feeling “safe.”

Holmes and Johnson’s (2009) findings can explain why some people are involved in romantic committed relationships that they may see as unsatisfying. People have a desire for their own expectations about themselves to be proven right; therefore, an anxious (high anxiety, low avoidance) individual may want to be in a relationship with an avoidant individual who has low levels of intimacy and high levels of independence. Holmes and Johnson (2009) propose that anxious people might want to be with avoidant partners because the avoidant partners’ tendencies to avoid intimacy, and to value their independence, would prove the anxious partner’s expectations correct.

The avoidant partner would confirm the anxious partner’s beliefs that he or she is unlovable, and that people are generally distant from him or her.

Even though the anxious individuals would have their expectations confirmed, this does not mean that they view the relationship as a happy one.

This theory can be somewhat related to the current study; individuals with a negative view of themselves and the people around them may be more likely to enter into unsatisfying relationships.

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Another theory that attempted to explain the phenomenon of people remaining in romantic committed relationships with partners who do not meet their desires is Graham’s (2010) analysis of love. Graham’s (2010) definition of companionate love was described as two partners working on the longevity of their relationship for the purpose of raising their children. The definition of romantic love was the feeling of initial attraction that one felt for his or her partner. Lastly, romantic obsession was defined as having feelings of jealous dependency on one’s partner. The study revealed that romantic love and companionate love were positively related to relationship longevity, but that romantic obsession was negatively related to relationship longevity. These results indicate that people who are dependent on their partners are involved in relationships that are not very likely to last, due to decreased satisfaction. Dependence could result from one’s pessimistic view of the self and others; therefore pessimism versus optimism could be important in determining relationship longevity.

These past studies have addressed how one’s attachment style and how one’s type of love towards one’s partner could contribute to relationship dissatisfaction. In contrast, the current study evaluated the issue using personality; specifically, whether or not one has low levels of optimism or high levels of optimism. Not many studies have addressed how this particular personality trait can affect one’s choice of a partner in a relationship. In the current study, 78 college students at a rural Catholic university were divided into the following three conditions according to their results on the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R) (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994): low optimist (relatively pessimistic), moderate optimist (equally optimist and pessimist), or high optimist.

The three groups were then required to complete a survey that addressed the qualities of their current romantic partner, and a survey that addressed the qualities that each participant would want their ideal partner to have. The scores from both surveys were subtracted from one another to get a difference score. The difference score taken from

13 each participant indirectly inferred the degree to which he or she is currently involved in a relationship with a partner who does not meet his or her desires. It was expected that there would be a difference in self-reported actual partner closeness to the ideal romantic partner between low, moderate, and high optimists. Those who are low optimists should have the highest mean difference between their ideal partner scores and their actual partner scores, and the high optimists should have the lowest mean difference between their ideal partner scores and their actual partner scores.

These results were expected because optimists are more likely to strive towards being with a partner who meets his or her ideal qualities in a significant other. People who are optimists tend to exude confidence and happiness, which means that many people will be drawn to them. According to the studies carried out by Carver et al. (1994) people are much less likely to socially reject someone who is optimistic than someone who is pessimistic. Since it is less likely for optimists to be socially rejected or avoided, people who have an optimistic outlook on life will have increased chances of finding someone who fulfills their ideal romantic partner qualities. Since pessimists are likely to be rejected because of their bad moods and negative outlooks on life, not as many people will want to be associated with them. Because of this, pessimists may start to settle for romantic partners who do not meet their standards of an ideal relationship. Pessimists may start to reason that no one better will come along, so they begin to tolerate unsatisfactory relationships. In addition, Reilley et al. (2005) mentioned that pessimists tend to internalize the negative events that happen in their lives, seeing themselves as the problem more so than their partners as the issue.

Method Participants 78 college students (14 male, 64 female) from a rural Catholic school took part in this study. Of all of the participants 74 were white, 1 was black/African American, and 3 were

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Hispanic/Latino. The entire student population of Saint Francis University, 1, 628 students, was invited to participate in the study, with a response rate of 5%. The mean age of the sample was 20, and the frequency of participants in each year of college was as follows: 21 freshmen, 18 sophomores, 17 juniors, and 21 seniors.

Participants were invited to be involved in this study through an e-mail invitation using Novell Version 8. Within the e-mail invitation, it was made clear that students could not take part in the study if they were not currently involved in a committed relationship with one person for one month or longer, or if they were currently involved in non-committed relationships with one or more people (e.g. dating around).

Materials The materials that were used for this study were the following: Survey Monkey (Survey Monkey, 1999), Novell GroupWise 8 (Novell Inc., 1993), Relationship Survey I (Actual relationship survey), Revised Life Orientation Test (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994), Relationship Survey II (Ideal relationship survey), and a demographic survey.

Survey Monkey (Survey Monkey, 1999) is an online service that is used to create and administer online surveys. Participants used this site on their computers to complete Relationship Survey I, the LOT-R (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994), Relationship Survey II, and the demographic survey. Novell GroupWise 8 was used to send out the e-mail invitations to the participants. The link to the combined 40 items of all of the surveys on Survey Monkey was attached to this e-mail.

The Relationship Survey I was a survey of ten items rated on a 5 pt. Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree).

The items themselves described qualities that participants may or may not have experienced within his or her current committed relationship. Participants were required to rate the items based on how much they agreed that the various statements described their current partner. Items from this survey were selfcreated, but the statements were inspired by the following three surveys: the Relationship

14 Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1998), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), and the Passionate Love Scale (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986).

The Revised Life Orientation test (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994) was a survey that contained ten items all rated on a 4 pt. scale (0 = Strongly disagree, 4 = Strongly agree).

Participants were asked to rate how much they agreed or disagreed with the statements. The test itself measured how optimistic an individual was by labeling him or her as having either low optimism, moderate optimism, or high optimism.

The validity and the reliability of the scale was not addressed in Scheier et al.’s (1994) study.

The Relationship II survey was a survey of ten items that were rated on a 5 pt. Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree). Each item described a particular quality in a relationship.

Participants had to decide how much they agreed or disagreed that each statement described his or her idea of an ideal relationship or partner. Once again, these survey items were self-created from the following three surveys: the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1998), the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), and the Passionate Love Scale (Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986).

Lastly, a demographic survey was used to gather statistics about the college students being tested, such as gender, education level, age, and current or past relationship status. This survey also included indirect questions about one’s coping strategies and how likely it is that the participant judges his or her own happiness based on the quality of his or her relationships.

Design and Procedure The current study was a quasi-experiment that aimed to indirectly determine whether or not participants’ outlooks on life had an effect on their tendencies to remain in unsatisfying committed relationships. Participants’ outlooks on life were determined by the results of the Revised Life Orientation Test (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), which labeled them as having low levels of optimism (being relatively pessimistic), moderate levels of optimism (equal amounts of optimism and

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pessimism), or high levels of optimism. To determine each participant’s tendency to remain in unsatisfying committed relationships, his or her score on the actual characteristics of one’s significant other (Relationship Survey I) was subtracted from his or her score on the ideal characteristics one desired in a significant other (Relationship Survey II), for an overall difference score.

This study had a between-subjects design, since the conditions involved naturally different characteristics; no one could be at both poles of the optimism/pessimism dimension. In an effort to offset the demand characteristics of social desirability and biosocial attitudes, participants were assured in the e-mail invitation that there was no possible way to link their names to the online surveys. No effort was made to counterbalance the order that the surveys were given in because this may have affected participants’ answers.

If participants had taken the Relationship survey II— the characteristics of their ideal partner—first, they may have based their answers on Relationship survey I—characteristics of their actual partner— off of their responses to the previous survey.

People may have wanted to stay consistent in their beliefs; if they had agreed that communication was part of their ideal relationship, they may have wanted to say that this was in their actual relationship as well. People may have also lied when answering the questions in response to any feelings of guilt or betrayal that may have arisen while reading the items. To avoid this, participants took Relationship I survey first, then the Revised Life Orientation test (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), and then the Relationship II survey; participants were not allowed to go back and change their answers to the Relationship I survey.

Also, randomization was used to make one other version of the Relationship I survey, and the Relationship II survey, to account for any order effects that would arise from order of the items within the surveys. As a result, two separate links were counterbalanced. One half of the population received the original version of the Relationship I survey, and the Relationship II survey, while the

15 other half of the population was given a different version of the Relationship I survey, and the Relationship II survey. To specify the length of time it took to complete all four surveys, a pilot study was conducted with a peer, who completed the study in about ten minutes. Overall, the cumulative survey on Survey Monkey (Survey Monkey, 1999), proved to take from 10-15 minutes to complete. Because of this extended amount of time, an extra note was placed in the e-mail that mentioned that the total survey could be completed at the participants’ leisure under no specific time limit.

The overall procedure of the study began with obtaining an Excel file that contained the names of all of the students enrolled at Saint Francis University, provided by one of the Associate Professors of Psychology at the university. The email invitation was then sent out to the e-mail addresses of the entire student population at Saint Francis University. The participants received the email that stated the nature of the study, and how their participation would provide more knowledge on the topic of romantic committed relationships as a whole. The e-mail also stated the requirements and limitations of the study that would have hindered someone from completing the survey.

Next, the participants who decided to take the survey read the instructions on how to access the survey. After clicking on the link to the survey on Survey Monkey (Survey Monkey, 1999), the participants completed all items across all surveys within one large online survey. Once participants completed the surveys, the experiment had ended.

Scoring The Relationship Survey I and the Relationship Survey II both had the same scoring system. For Relationship Survey I and Relationship Survey II, there were 10 items; each item was rated on a 5 pt.

Likert scale.

The participant’s score was determined by adding up all of the scores for items 1-10, where (1=1), (2=2), (3=3), (4=4), and (5=5).

Participants should have received scores ranging from 10-50 for both of these surveys. The Revised Life Orientation Test (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges,

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1994) had a different scoring system, which can be reviewed in the original study.

Results Alpha levels = 0.05 for all following data. In regards to the use of post hoc tests, it was not necessary to use a post hoc test for the first or third statistical analysis, but it was more convenient to use the Sidak test instead of the SNK test for the second analysis. All means for the analyses incorporated the means across all subjects. Initially the data of 65 subjects needed to be dropped because of an error in the actual survey. After fixing the error and beginning data collection again, the data of only three participants needed to be dropped because they listed themselves as graduate students; only freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior college students were of interest in this study.

A 1-way ANOVA was used to determine whether there was a significant difference in the values that were derived from subtracting participants’ scores on the actual partner characteristics survey from the scores on the ideal partner characteristics survey between the population of those who were low optimists, moderate optimists, and high optimists. The frequency distribution for these difference scores was positively skewed for those in the moderate optimism condition, indicating that a nonparametric test needed to be carried out instead of the 1-way ANOVA. After conducting the Kruskal-Wallis test, results showed that low optimists (Mdn = 5.00, SEk = 0.56), moderate optimists (Mdn = 4.00, SEk = 0.36), and high optimists (Mdn = 4.00, SEk = 0.52) showed no significant difference in their selfreported actual partner closeness to the ideal romantic partner F(2, 75) = 0.31, p = 0.74.

Another 1-way ANOVA was used to determine if there was a significant difference in the ratings of how much participants’ judged their happiness based on the quality of their relationships between low optimists, moderate optimists, and high optimists. However, the ratings of how much people judge their happiness based on the quality of their relationships with other people for participants

16 in the low optimism group was positively skewed; therefore, a nonparametric test needed to replace the 1-way ANOVA analysis. After conducting the Kruskal-Wallis test, results showed that there was a significant difference in ratings of judging happiness based on the quality of relationships with other people between the low optimists, moderate optimists, and high optimists F(2, 75) = 4.69, p = 0.01. Refer to Table 1 for the median happiness based on relationship scores for low optimists, moderate optimists, and high optimists. According to the Sidak test, the significant difference in the happiness based on relationships score is present between those in the moderate optimist condition and the high optimist condition (p = 0.02).

Level of Optimism Happiness based on relationship score

Low

Moderate

High

Mdn

3.50

3.00

4.00

SEk

0.56

0.36

0.52

Table 1. Medians for happiness based on relationship score as a function of level of optimism.

Lastly, another 1-way ANOVA was used to determine if there was a significant difference in the scores on the ideal romantic partner survey between participants’ who were low optimists, moderate optimists, or high optimists.

The frequency distributions for one’s level of optimism and his or her total score on the ideal romantic partner survey were negatively skewed for moderate optimists and high optimists; therefore, the Kruskal-Wallis test replaced the 1-way ANOVA statistical analysis. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test were not significant regarding one’s level of optimism and his or her score on the ideal romantic partner survey F(2, 75) = 2.89, p = 0.14. However, different results were found after attempting to run an independent samples t-test exclusively to examine the scores on the ideal

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romantic partner survey between participants who had low optimism, and those who had high optimism.

The Mann-Whitney U test, a nonparametric test, needed to replace the independent samples t-test because the frequency distribution for high optimists and their scores on the ideal romantic partner survey were negatively skewed. After running the Mann-Whitney U test, the results indicated a near significant trend t(33) = -2.16, p = 0.056 between the score one received on the ideal romantic partner characteristics survey and whether the participant had either low optimism (Mdn =45, SEk = 0.56), or high optimism (Mdn = 49, SEk = 0.52).

Discussion Based on the results, the main hypothesis for this study was not supported. There were no significant differences in the values that were obtained from subtracting participants’ scores on the actual partner characteristics survey from the scores on the ideal partner characteristics survey between the three levels of optimism. Particularly, there were no differences in people’s tendencies to be involved with a partner who does not meet their ideal standards between low, moderate, and high optimists. Since the likelihood of being in a romantic committed relationship with a partner who meets one’s ideal standards did not vary between the levels of optimism, perhaps researchers are mistaken about the likelihood of pessimists achieving negative outcomes. It is possible that pessimists may actually enter into romantic relationships with partners that meet their desires or standards.

There are various explanations for why there were no significant differences in the likelihood of participants’ having an ideal romantic partner across all three conditions.

One explanation concerns the amount of participants in each condition. There was a much larger amount of moderate optimists (N = 43) than there were low optimists (N = 16) and high optimists (N = 19). The lack of participants within the other two conditions may have accounted for why there was not a significant difference between

17 all three groups. It should also be noted that hardly any of the percent difference scores were large; I had expected to see a higher amount of disparity across the population as a whole between their ideal and actual partner characteristic scores. One possible explanation for these overall low percent difference scores could be that our culture emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual. This concept may have encouraged each participant to assume that only other students find themselves in relationships that do not meet their desires; the participant could not fathom the idea that being with an inadequate partner would happen to him or her individually. As a result, the answers provided for the actual partner characteristics survey may have reflected a tendency for Westerners as a whole to exaggerate the success of their circumstances by assigning their partner a high score on each survey item. It is also possible that no significant difference in the disparity between one’s actual partner’s characteristics and his or her ideal partner’s characteristics appeared because there were not enough questions; the ten items in the survey may not have been enough to reflect all aspects of a romantic committed relationship.

Even though there was no difference between one’s level of optimism and being in a romantic committed relationship with a partner who met his or her ideal qualities, this result was still consistent with past research on optimism and pessimism. In Rose et al.’s (2008) study, it was mentioned that Americans are usually “unrealistically optimistic” in general, meaning that Westerners consider themselves to be above average; each individual assumes only good things will happen to him or her. If Americans in general are unrealistically optimistic, participants may have overemphasized the good qualities of their romantic partners to convince themselves that their current partners fit the description of their ideal partner more than they think. The lack of a difference in the percent difference scores between ideal and actual partner characteristics is also consistent with Holmes and Johnson’s (2009) study. Holmes and Johnson (2009) found that people are more likely to be attracted to others who meet their own expectations

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of themselves. For example, an anxious individual who feels as if he or she is alone and unlovable (high anxiety) and desires intimacy (low avoidance) would be attracted to someone who was independent and had low levels of intimacy. This is because having an independent partner who does not desire intimacy would prove the anxious individual’s expectations that he or she does not deserve to be loved; his or her partner would be constantly preoccupied and uninterested in intimacy.

In relation to the current study, participants in all three levels of optimism may be in romantic relationships with a partner who meets their ideals because the low optimists may have set their ideal standards lower than moderate or high optimists; their current partner does not have high expectations to measure up to. Since pessimists may have been more likely to have a lower ideal partner characteristic score, their actual relationship may not have been so different from their ideal.

Despite all of these rationales, it is important to note that my original hypothesis was not supported.

The study hypothesized that low optimists would be much more likely than high optimists to settle for romantic committed relationships with partners who do not meet their ideals or expectations.

According to the results, this hypothesis was not proven to be true. On the contrary, it seemed that pessimists as well as optimists were likely to be involved in relationships with partners who possessed the ideal qualities they sought in a significant other. Aside from analyzing the main hypothesis, statistical analyses did prove significant for other elements of the study that I had not originally planned on investigating.

First, a significant difference was found between moderate and high optimists in their ratings of how much one judge’s his or her happiness based on the quality of his or her relationships. Participants had been asked to rate on a 5 pt. Likert scale how much they agreed with the following statement: “I tend to judge my own level of happiness based on the quality of my relationships with other people.” High optimists were more likely to have high levels of agreement with this statement than were moderate optimists.

18 This finding may imply that people with moderate optimism do not derive a good amount of happiness from their interpersonal relationships as much as those with high optimism do. This may have occurred due to differences in beliefs among the levels of optimism regarding romantic committed relationships. Since the low optimists are the most pessimistic out of the population, their ratings of judging happiness based on relationships may be slightly high because they are content with any relationship they can get. If pessimists are not seen as particularly desirable partners, the low optimists in this study may have felt so grateful to have found a partner that they associated this feeling with being happy about their relationships. In contrast, high optimists may be more driven to find their ideal partners, have more options for partners, or may have a positive outlook on the status of their current relationship; further enhancing their happiness. If there is ever any conflict in the relationship, high optimists may still be happy because they see an opportunity for improvement.

The lowest rating for judging their happiness based on relationships belonged to the moderate optimists.

This may have occurred because moderate optimists find themselves torn between the pessimistic and optimistic mindset, causing them to associate stress with their interpersonal relationships. For example, if moderate optimists are slightly pessimistic, they may date any person that comes along for fear of not being able to find a partner.

But because they are also slightly optimistic, they do not want to settle for relationships that do not meet their ideal standards; they may be convinced that there is someone better out in the world. Because of these warring thought processes, the topic of relationships may bring stress to moderate optimists, causing them to have lower ratings for judging their happiness based on relationships. These results also seem to be consistent with past research. According to Reilley et al. (2005), one of the characteristics of being an optimist is expecting that good things will occur in the future, whereas pessimists think that good things will not happen to them in future. If optimists are likely to expect good things to occur

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in the future, then they will be happy in their relationships because they reason that there is a chance for any faltering relationship to improve.

Those with low optimism may be less happy in general, but they are more open to accepting relationships since their perceived chances of being involved in one are slim. Those with moderate optimism may be more stressed between settling for a partner (pessimistic) and reasoning that a better partner may be out in the world somewhere (optimism).

A second finding was a near significant trend when comparing the scores on the ideal partner characteristics survey between low optimists and high optimists.

The finding suggests that individuals with low optimism set their ideal standards of a romantic partner lower than the individuals who possessed high optimism. When comparing all three levels of optimism (low, moderate, and high) the results of the statistical analysis were not significant, but when focusing on the ideal romantic partner scores solely between low optimists and high optimists there was a near significant trend. This may have occurred because of the large amount of moderate optimists (N = 43) who participated in this study. The greater amount of moderate optimists, compared to the fewer numbers of low optimists and high optimists, may have hidden the effect that level of optimism had on participants’ ideal romantic partner characteristic scores. Perhaps if there had been a more equal distribution across all three conditions (low, moderate, and high optimism) significant results would have been found. Regardless, once a statistical analysis was conducted solely on low optimists versus high optimists and their scores on the ideal romantic partner survey, a near significant trend was found. These results indicate that future studies should revisit this topic and analyze the ideal romantic partner scores with a sample that is more equally distributed among the three levels of optimism. Since the results only indicated a near significant trend, it should not be assumed that pessimists, in general, are likely to set their ideal standards towards attaining a romantic partner lower than optimists. It is still possible that

19 pessimists and optimists are both likely to enter into romantic relationships with partners who meet their desires.

Despite the results of this study, it should be noted that there were flaws in the data collection process. After sending out the e-mail invitation containing the links to the online survey, four participants e-mailed me back saying that there were incorrect labels on either end of the 1-5 point scales. Before closing down the survey there were a total of 65 responses, which needed to be dropped due to the misleading grammatical error in the survey. After fixing this problem and resending the survey to the entire population, I received a total of 78 responses. Another flaw that needed to be considered was the quality of the data coming from this particular sample.

Participants who had completed the flawed survey were encouraged to take the survey again. The risk in using their data was that they may have changed their answers from the original ones they provided in the first survey.

There is a possibility that these participants could have changed their responses to the ideal partner characteristic items to match their actual partner characteristics. They may have done this to make their current relationships appear to meet their standards in an attempt to look like the favorable participant.

Very few studies have addressed the effects of one’s level of dispositional optimism on their choice of a romantic partner. More research is needed in this area to provide more accurate results for optimism and pessimism’s effects on romantic committed relationships. The current study has allowed us to see that our perceptions of pessimists as not being able to attain the type of relationships they desire may be false; there was no significant difference in participants’ ratings of their ideal romantic partner’s qualities and the qualities of their actual romantic partner between low optimists and high optimists. Once researchers can establish what optimists versus pessimists are looking for in a committed relationship with a partner, marriage counseling will be able to solve conflict by making each partner aware of the other’s expectations based on his or her outlook on life. Further

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research could expound upon variables other than the level of dispositional optimism and the difference scores between one’s ideal partner characteristics and actual partner characteristics.

Works Cited Augusto-Landa, J., Pulido-Martos, M. & Lopez-Zafra, E. (2011). Does perceived emotional intelligence and optimism/pessimism predict psychological well-being?

Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 463-474. doi:10.1007/s10902-010-9209-7.

Brenes, G., Rapp, S., Rejeski, W., & Miller, M. (2002). Do Optimism and Pessimism Predict Physical Functioning?

Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 3, 219-231. doi:10.1023/A:1015376510466.

Büyükşahin, A. (2009). Impact of Self-Monitoring and Gender on Coping Strategies in Intimate Relationships Among Turkish University. Sex Roles, 60, 708-720. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9561-9.

Carver, C., Kus, L., & Scheier, M. (1994). Effects of good versus bad mood and optimistic versus pessimistic outlook on social acceptance versus rejection. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2, 138-151. doi:10.1521/jscp.1994.13.2.138.

Graham, J. (2010). Measuring love in romantic relationships: A meta-analysis. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6, 748-771. doi:10.1177/0265407510389126.

Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Measuring passionate love in intimate relations. Journal of Adolescence, 9, 383410.

Hendrick, S. S. (1998). A generic measure of relationship satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50, 9398.

Holmes, B., & Johnson, K. (2009). Adult attachment and romantic partner preference: A review. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6, 833-852. doi:10.1177/0265407509345653.

20 Reilley, S., Geers, A., Lindsay, D., Deronde, L., & Dember, W. (2005). Convergence and predictive validity in measures of optimism and pessimism: Sequential studies.

Current Psychology, 1, 43-59. doi:10.1007/s12144-005-1003-z.

Rose, J., Endo, Y., Windschitl, P., & Suls, J. (2008). Cultural differences in unrealistic optimism and pessimism: The role of egocentrism and direct versus indirect comparison measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 1236-1248. doi:10.1177/0146167208319764.

Scott, E. (2012).The Differences Between Optimists and Pessimists: What’s the Explanatory Style of an Optimist?

About.com. Retrieved January 23, 2013. http://stress.about.com/od/optimismspirituality/a/optimismb enefit_2.htm Scheier, M.F., Carver C.S., and Bridges, M.W. (1994).

Distinguishing optimism neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A re-evaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063-1078.

Spanier, G. B. (1976). Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, 15–28.

Survey Monkey (1999). Survey Monkey [web-based online survey]. Retrieved January 23, 2013 from http://www.surveymonkey.com.

Szalma, J., Hancock, P., Dember, W., & Warm, J. (2006).

Training for vigilance: The effect of knowledge of results format and dispositional optimism and pessimism on performance and stress. British Journal of Psychology, 97, 115-135. doi: 10.1348/000712605X62768

Jennifer Wilde ('15) is a Psychology major with a minor in English and Sociology. She is a member of the Saint Francis University Honors Program.

She is the Vice President of the Psychology club and is a volunteer at the Writing Center. Her plan is to go to graduate school for counseling or clinical psychology following graduation.

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21

Success of Women Physical Therapy Graduates from Saint Francis University Jamie L. Wichrowski Physical Therapy Department School of Health Sciences

Balazs Hargittai, Ph.D. Chemistry Department School of Sciences bhargittai@francis.edu

Gender inequality has been a long-standing problem in our society. During primitive times, women were assumed to be intellectually inferior to men, weaker than men, and only necessary for child bearing. This supposition arose as women took on more roles within the household, while men went out into the labor force. Consequently, women became known as the “homemakers,” who were responsible for all of the cooking, cleaning, and child care, and any other duties to maintain the house in working order. This meant that the husbands automatically became the “breadwinner” of the family, for they were the only ones making any money. Because this practice continued for many years without resistance, many American families accepted it as their way of life.

Unfortunately, this trend also gave rise to the belief that women are incapable of entering the work force and thus should remain in the household.

Thankfully for the working women of today, some women of the 1800’s were not willing to lie down and accept this as their fate. Women began fighting for their equal rights as early as 1848 with the first women’s rights convention. The resolutions from this convention called for the equal treatment of women and men, including equal voting rights. Shortly after the Seneca Falls convention, several states started adding amendments to grant women the right to vote. In the 1960’s, both the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Right’s Act were passed, and rights of minorities, including women, were protected against the white males in society (Imbornoni, 2008).

The Equal Pay Act made it illegal for women to be paid less than men for doing the same job (Imbornoni, 2008). Although some will say that

this act is still not precisely followed today, none can deny the tremendous effect it had on allowing women to prosper in the 1960’s. While the Equal Pay Act regulated salary differences, the Civil Right’s Act concentrated more on employment practices. This act made it unlawful for an employer to “fail or refuse to hire…or otherwise to discriminate against…because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

(EEOC, 1997) As a follow-up measure to this act, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the affirmative action policy of 1965 which gave resources and jobs to former victims of discrimination, which included minorities and women (Imbornoni, 2008).

The combination of the efforts of these women from the 1800’s through the 1900’s has had a profound effect on encouraging women to enter the labor market and on the way they are treated as they pursue a career.

Although attitudes about gender inequalities have shifted to a more gender-neutral approach after the women’s rights movements, inequalities still exist in the work force today. Many of these inequalities are focused around the difference in salary that still exists between men and women, in spite of the Equal Pay Act. A report by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) in 2005 indicates that women only get paid 76% of what a man gets paid for doing the same job (NAFE, 2005). What is most surprising about this fact is the consideration that women constitute more than 50% of managerial jobs, yet the salary gap still exists (NAFE, 2005). One would think that there would be more equality in pay twenty-four years after the Act was passed, but many sources are finding this to be a false assumption. For

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comparison purposes, in 1998, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that full-time male faculty earned $61,700 compared to full-time women faculty who only earned $48,400 (Gender and racial/ethnic…fall 1998). Simple division of these two numbers shows that females earned about 78.4% of what males earned within the same profession. This simple example illustrates that although much progress has been made in the way of equal rights for women in the labor force, there is still much room for improvement.

Without considering salaries, additional inequalities in the work force include what type of careers women pursue most often. Women make up more of the work force now than they ever have before, but in typical “male-dominated” professions, like the physical sciences, women continue to be greatly underrepresented. The physical sciences most commonly include astronomy, astrophysics, meteorology, chemistry, geology, physics, science technologies, and other physical sciences (Earned degrees in the…2000, 2001). A 2007 study of data from 2004-2005 showed that women earned only 42.2% of the bachelor’s degrees, 39.1% of master’s degrees, and 27.9% of doctorate degrees awarded in the physical sciences/science technologies (The condition of education 2007, 2007). Women received an even smaller proportion of each degree in other science fields as engineering and computer/information sciences (The condition of education 2007, 2007).

Although the percentage of women in the physical sciences is still a minority, it should not be overlooked that this is a huge increase from the 1970’s and 1980’s, when women made up a very scant percentage of the physical science population.

Within the physical science degrees, women’s involvement has risen at least 15% with each type of degree from 1979/80 to 2004/05 (The condition of education 2007, 2007). This evidence shows that women are becoming a larger part of the labor force, specifically in the sciences.

Many studies have tried to provide an explanation as to why this misrepresentation of women occurs in the field of physical science.

Some sources blame a cultural problem for the

22 underrepresentation, due to the discrepancy between the United States and other countries (Billings, 2003). Others believe that the division between men and women in the science fields occurs as early as elementary school due to the mathematics and science curriculum. Math and science are always included as part of the curriculum, but their importance is often not emphasized. Many young girls are told at an early age that they are not good at math, so they do not put any effort into being better mathematicians (Billings, 2003). This dis-interest in math and science carries forward to their high school and college years and leads them away from math/science-related fields. Young girls who are interested in these areas of study should be encouraged to pursue that interest and should be given opportunities to further explore within the sciences. If the profession continues without attracting more women, the labor force will be depleted, and eventually there will not be anybody left to take on the duties of the job (Billings, 2003).

Just as women are underrepresented students in the physical sciences, they are also underrepresented teachers. An importance of including women as professors in the physical sciences is to encourage younger women to pursue a career in the sciences.

As it stands now, with women underrepresented in the physical sciences, young women have no role models in the profession and thus become discouraged from studying further in the field (Billings, 2003). Similarity plays an important role in motivating people to strive for and accomplish their dreams; therefore, the more women who are seen in the field, the more younger women who will be motivated to follow the same path.

In contrast to the glaring discrepancy that is seen between women and men in the physical sciences, women make up more than the majority of professionals in the health science fields and have for much of history. When looking at bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees awarded only in the health sciences from 19712001, women, on average, have received more of each type of degree; however, similar to previous findings, women make up a smaller percentage of

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doctorate degrees than master’s degrees and a smaller percentage of master’s degrees than bachelor’s degrees in health sciences (Postsecondary health science degrees conferred, 2004).

Women have only ever been outnumbered by men in the health sciences with doctoral degrees in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Post-secondary health science degrees conferred, 2004). A study in 2007 showed that women dominated the bachelor’s degrees awarded for health professions in 2004-2005, being awarded 87% of degrees (The condition of education 2007, 2007). Comparing this finding to the only 42% received in the physical sciences shows the great disparity that exists between women’s representation in the health sciences compared to the physical sciences.

Similar to the previously mentioned study, women were also awarded more master’s and doctorate degrees than men in the health sciences, at 79% and 70.9% respectively, but these were both less than the percentage of bachelor’s degrees obtained (The condition of education 2007, 2007).

The most likely reason for this phenomenon is probably related to history and women’s label as the “caretaker.” Even before they entered the workforce, women were responsible for caring for their sick family members inside the home, especially when medical services were not affordable. This gave women an early start on providing health care services, so naturally, women gravitated to those types of fields when they began entering the labor force. Surprisingly, health care fields continue to be dominated by women, even though men are over-represented in leadership positions within the professions. In fact, nursing is one of the only health care professions in which women comprise the majority of the workforce and hold the majority of academic leadership roles (Men in nursing…therapy, 2004).

Another interesting and important finding in these studies about degrees earned by men and women is the underrepresentation of women as the quality of the degree increases. For example, in 2007 women were awarded only 48.8% of all doctoral degrees, as compared to 57% of all bachelor’s degrees and 59.3% of all master’s

23 degrees (The condition of education 2007, 2007).

These results are consistent with findings from previous studies that examined the representation of women in professor positions. One specific study clearly shows that as the prestige of the position increases, women progressively make up a smaller percentage of those professors. In 1998/1999 women made up 37.8% of assistant professors, yet they only make up 11.6% of full professors, a more highly-regarded position (DG Research, 2003).

This apparent inability of women to reach the top positions in their profession is sometimes referred to as a “glass ceiling” that men somehow seem to avoid (Gender inequality in the workplace, 2007). Some feminists argue that this “glass ceiling” only appears to exist because of the decisions that women make about their careers rather than a societal restraint that is placed upon women. Diana Furchtgott-Roth believes that the “demands of raising a family conflict with the realities of attaining higher level positions in one’s profession” (Gender inequality in the workplace, 2007). This explanation correlates directly with women’s assumed roles as the caretakers of the children, the family, and the household. These feminine duties could greatly restrict a woman’s ability to dedicate endless hours to furthering her profession, especially when becoming a CEO requires over 40 hours of work per week and a commitment to the position for 25 years or more (Gender inequality in the workplace, 2007). Of course these heightened expectations make it difficult for anyone, man or woman, to attain such a respected position, but because of increased familial responsibilities, women have an even more difficult time.

As one of the health sciences, physical therapy has similar representations of women and men as was stated previously. In 2003, 70% of physical therapists were women, while 55% of the directors of physical therapy programs were women (Men in nursing…therapy, 2004). This is consistent with the concept of men being over-represented in leadership positions, yet comprising less than half of the population. Because physical therapy has

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historically been dominated by women, with men not entering the field in large numbers until after WWII, a number of research studies have been done examining why males choose to enter a female-dominant field, knowing that they are going to be outnumbered (Rozier, 2001).

Suspicions before the study were that men knew that physical therapy was a female-dominant field and that men would attribute their career choice to the monetary aspect of the profession, whereas women are usually more drawn toward the compassionate, care-giving aspect. Prior research has shown that men characteristically enter genderatypical careers when in a time of monetary distress, or if they feel that they can enter and advance quickly within the profession (Rozier, 2001). On the other hand, men are discouraged from entering gender-atypical careers because of the belief that they are less prestigious than maledominated professions (Rozier, 2001). To the surprise of the experimenters involved with this study, none of the men who were interviewed cited considering the profession as female-dominant before beginning school, mainly because none of them knew that it was so dominated by women until entering physical therapy school or slightly before (Rozier, 2001).

Throughout the interviews in this study, men and women indicated a difference in future plans once they completed physical therapy school. Both men and women alike showed an interest in working in a specific setting of physical therapy, and men most-commonly focused on orthopedics/sports, while women’s interests were more widespread (Rozier, 2001). An additional piece of information related to moving up the corporate ladder was also discovered in this study.

Only one man did not indicate his desire to hold a managerial position or own his clinic someday, and women did not specify this as a goal at all (Rozier, 2001). This desire of men to advance within the profession could be a possible explanation for why more men hold these upper-level positions. It could simply be that men are more driven and thus pursue promotions vigorously as compared to women,

24 who often tend to be more passive and wait for their time to be promoted.

This passive nature of women was referenced in the interviews as a gender stereotype, while men were considered to be more aggressive (Rozier, 2001). One student commented that men “are definitely out there to own their own, business, make the bucks, make a name for themselves, maybe sometimes lose sight of why we actually got into it for- patient care� (Rozier, 2001). From the results throughout the interviews, men appear to have a definite plan to advance in the profession, while women are more satisfied with providing quality patient care. This could, however, result in a conflict of interests later when women decide they too want to advance in the profession. In a perfect world, women and men would have identical opportunities for advancement, but unfortunately this is not the case. Women who want to achieve managerial-type positions should be persistent with their efforts to ensure that they are given equal consideration for the promotion.

Surveys and interviews of the Saint Francis University physical therapy graduates were conducted to compare these previous research findings to those in this area and also to see how women from this specific physical therapy program faired once they were out working in the profession. All physical therapy graduates from Saint Francis University were included in the survey process, while only a few females were later interviewed with more in depth gender inequality questions. The purpose of the surveys was to get a baseline in comparing men and women physical therapy graduates on the categories of job titles, promotions, job offers after school, and difficulty in finding a job as a new graduate. These questions were picked because of their likelihood to show gender inequalities if they do in fact exist. After the survey responses were compiled into a database, the interview questions were created, examining gender inequality in the work place and possible explanations as to why this inequality is present.

Although the study is limited by the number of responses, it still provides valuable information

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about the success of graduates from Saint Francis University.

The first significant result from the surveys was the number of responses obtained from each gender. In total, since the physical therapy program was begun at Saint Francis University in 2000, there have been 159 graduates of the program, 55 of which have been men. As a percentage, males represent 34.6% of the graduates of this physical therapy program. This is practically identical to the results reported earlier on nation-wide data, showing that 70% of physical therapists are women (Men in nursing…therapy, 2004).

Interestingly, the survey responses by gender closely mimic this average. Of the fifty-nine responses received, fourteen of them were from males and forty-five were from females (Table 1).

As a percentage, male responses comprised 23.7% of the total responses received during the survey process (Table 1). Of the returned surveys, there were at least two responses from graduates of each graduating class from 2000 through 2007 (Table 1).

This is important to note to prevent any bias that may occur if the surveys were only collected from graduates of only a few different years. For example, gender inequality might have been worse in 2000, so if all of the graduates were from that year, inequality would appear to be a huge problem, while it might not be a problem at all in 2007. A wide range of graduation years helps prevent this type of bias.

When comparing job titles between men and women, there is a discrepancy similar to previous findings. Of the forty-five women responses, thirtythree of them work as just a staff physical therapist in their respective clinics, with only six women holding an upper-level position of any sort (Table 1). In comparison, only seven of the fourteen men hold staff physical therapist positions, while others hold job titles such as “Regional Marketing Manager” and “Vice President/Director of Residency and Research” (Table 1). Although the exact job descriptions of these positions were not provided, the titles sound as though these are very prestigious positions that not many people in a company can attain.

25 The women who were interviewed had mixed experiences with this type of inequality. Three of the women said that one of their bosses is a male and one is a female, so there has not been any inequality in achieving higher positions (2006 graduate, 2007 graduate, 2000 graduate, personal communication). On the other hand, the other participants said they have witnessed this type of inequality. One of the women said that she has seen a difference between settings in relation to who holds the top positions (2004 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008). She said that in acute care and hospitals, she has most often seen women in the top positions, whereas in outpatient clinics, males usually own the clinic at which they are usually the rehab director (2004 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008).

Another woman said that in her company, men’s ideas were regarded as more valid than women’s, and because of this, men were more often invited to own stock and hold leadership positions (2001 graduate, personal communication, April 1, 2008).

A third woman reported a similar experience in her company, where her boss is a male, and the position has always been held by a male, even though female employees have applied (2007 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008). She added to her response by saying, “When my boss is off and another employee covers, the females are disrespected. It is well known throughout the facility that men are preferred” (2007 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008). This is the most overt sign of gender inequality that has been discovered through the interview process and should be examined further.

Because gender discrimination in the work place is outlawed by the Civil Right’s Act, one of the women from the clinic should act upon this discrimination they have been facing; however, this may cause a conflict for the women because this means that they will be confronting a man, an uncomfortable and often socially unacceptable behavior. If the women who are being discriminated against allow this behavior to continue without resistance, they are only encouraging gender inequality and the men in the

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clinic will have no reason to change their behaviors. Women in positions such as this have the opportunity to change the future of gender inequality in the workplace and should gladly accept the challenge, in hopes of narrowing the gender gap for future physical therapists.

The most interesting responses on the survey came from the question “did you have difficulty in finding a job?” Although not many of the graduates did have difficulty, only six out of fiftynine, each of them provided a different reason for experiencing difficulty, yet none of the women blamed the difficulty on any gender issues, as one might expect. Only one male graduate, class of 2000, reported having difficulty in finding a job.

He claimed that he could not find any decent work, based on salary and setting, in the Johnstown, Altoona, or Pittsburgh areas because there were too many new graduates at that time. He also described how he received only two job offers after sending out thirty or forty applications. This is quite a contrast between the other male graduates who appeared to have no difficulty finding jobs and received between two and ten job offers (Table 1).

There was dissimilarity between this finding in men and the responses from the women. Although not a drastic number of women had difficulties finding a job, they seemed to have more difficulty than the men. Five of the forty-five women remembered having difficulty finding a job. Some of their explanations for the difficulty included the following: most jobs were part-time with low pay, to work in a specific setting they had to be willing to change locations, and new graduates cannot always find a job in the setting of their choice, especially acute care or pediatrics (Table 1). Even though these difficulties did not arise from gender specific issues, it is important to realize that none of the men seemed to have these problems when finding a job. This may indicate a subtle inequality that exists between the sexes that nobody would ever witness until now.

Another way to attempt to measure inequality in the survey was by asking about promotions. The survey question asked “In your current position, have you been eligible for a promotion? Have you

26 been offered the promotion?” The original thought behind the question was that if women are being discriminated against, they may not be offered promotions when they are eligible for them, once again a subtle form of inequality. This question offered some interesting insight into the gender inequality issue. When first looking at the men, nine of the fourteen were eligible for a promotion and offered the promotion, while only four were not eligible (Table 1). None of the men were eligible for a promotion but not offered the promotion. Quite contrary to this finding is the result of the women’s responses. Fourteen women were eligible for a promotion and offered that promotion, while twenty-two were not eligible at all. Three of the women graduates were eligible for a promotion, but the promotion was not offered to them (Table 1).

One of these women believes she was not offered the promotion because of her switching to part-time to stay home with her young children. In her interview, she said that a woman’s parental role/commitment to family can interfere with her progression up the corporate ladder, depending on what stage of life the woman is in. In her case, her staying home to care for her children has made her unable to compete for director’s roles or for fulltime positions (2001 graduate, personal communication, April 1, 2008). Other women who were not directly affected by familial commitments did believe that having children would affect women in the profession more than men (2007 graduate, 2004 graduate, 2006 graduate, personal communication). The remaining women who were interviewed believed that commitment to family does not really interfere with a career in physical therapy because of the flexible schedule that therapists often have (2006 graduate, 2007 graduate, 2002 graduate, personal communication).

Some women have witnessed instances in which men and women excel at different areas of the profession. A 2001 graduate feels that every person brings his/her own personality to the profession, but she has observed that most women are more nurturing than men and therefore are better with neurological patients, home health, and

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acute care (personal communication, April 1, 2008). Although she reports that men have done well in these areas too, she has observed that men tend to be stronger with numbers and concrete ideas like the sciences (2001 graduate, personal communication, April 1, 2008). Another graduate believes that the differences in ability occur according to the setting in which the person works (2004 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008). She has noticed that men are stronger and trusted more by patients in the outpatient setting, whereas women work better in hospitals and sub-acute rehab because of their more personal relationship with patients (2004 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008). She has also noticed that women often feel inferior to men in the outpatient setting, especially when men hold a managerial role, yet another implicit sign of inequality in the profession (2004 graduate, personal communication, March 31, 2008).

In summation, the history of gender inequality in the workplace is a double-edged sword. On one hand, women have made tremendous strides moving from not being able to enter the labor force at all to having representation in almost every career in the world. On the other hand, as witnessed from the above research, gender inequality still exists in the workplace today, even in fields where women make up the majority of workers, i.e. physical therapy. Discrimination is not always explicit, thus women must recognize these inequalities and be willing to bring them to the forefront to be handled properly. It is only through the acknowledgement of inequality and the use of skill and compromise that these inequalities in the workplace will become a trend of the past. Women must realize that they are the majority of workers in many of the health care fields, and they should use this to their advantage when promoting equality.

Works Cited Billings, L. (2003, March). Disparity between males, females in physical, technical sciences remains. Minnesota Daily.

27 DG Research (2003). Scissors diagram for EU average in % (1998-1999). Third European report on S&T indicators Gender inequality in the workplace. (2007). Retrieved March 31, 2008, from http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Articles/FO3020630304/?page=1

Imbornoni, A.-M. (2008). Women’s rights movement in the U.S. Retrieved March 28, 2008 from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html

Men in nursing, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

(2004). Retrieved March 7, 2008, from http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/stats/men.htm

National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) (2005).

24 cents short: women still lag behind men in earning power. Retrieved March 12, 2008 from http://www.nafe.com/web?service=direct/1/ViewArticlePage/dlinkFullArt icle&sp=365&sp=275

Post-secondary health sciences degrees conferred. (2004).

Retrieved March 7, 2008, from http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/stats/HSdegrees.htm

Rozier, C. K., Thompson M. E., Shrill, J., Volmar, M. G. (2001). Career paths of male physical therapist students entering a female-dominant profession. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 15 (3), 32-40.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2007). The condition of education 2007 (NCES 2007-064). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2001). Earned degrees in the physical sciences conferred by degree-granting institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: 1959-60 and 1999-2000.

Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2002). Gender and racial/ethnic differences in salary and other characteristics of postsecondary faculty: fall 1998 (NCES 2002-170). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) (1997) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Retrieved March 28, 2008, from http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/vii.html

Jamie Wichrowski (’08, B.S., Health Science; ’10 DPT) is a full time Physical Therapist and Facility Director for Keystone Physical Therapy in Monroeville, PA. She currently works in an outpatient office treating a variety of neuromuscular and musculoskeletal conditions with an emphasis on rehabilitation of the injured worker.

Call for papers Sub m ission G uid elines The purpose of SPECTRUM is not merely to disseminate new results, but also to inform and enlighten.

Our readership is a general and multidisciplinary audience who may not be an expert in your field of study. Consequently, please explain all pertinent concepts essential to understanding your article as well as any concepts that might not be common knowledge. Please submit your file in Microsoft Word format as an attachment to the following email address: spectrum@francis.edu. The text should be single spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font. Please use italics, rather than underlining, for emphasis.

O r ganiz at ion of M anuscr ip t s SPECTRUM is an interdisciplinary journal accepting submissions from the natural sciences, the humanities as well as the professional schools (health sciences and business), therefore, the structure and style of each manuscript will differ from discipline to discipline. Regardless, all submissions must provide a cover sheet, a thorough introduction of the problem your research addresses, the conclusion(s), result(s) or findings of your research, as well as some form of bibliographic citation. Below are the general guidelines for these requirements, some of which may not apply to your area of research.

C ov er Sheet Title Names and departments of undergraduate researcher(s) and faculty advisor(s) Abstract (200 – 300 words) Six key words Int r od uct ion Include general background of the relevant field and the larger problem your research addresses as well as its relevance within the field. In addition, explain what prompted your investigation, a summary of previous findings related to your research problem and what contributions your project brings (or was expected to bring) to the issue.

M et hod s and M at er ials (If ap p licab le) Summarize important methods and materials used in your research.

R esult s/C onclusions Give detailed report of the results and or conclusions reached through your research.

Discussion Results should be evaluated in the context of general research problem, the implications of which should be explained with conclusions, predictions or suggestions (if applicable) for further study.

T ab les (if ap p licab le) Create tables in Microsoft Word format and insert into general text accompanied by a table legend. Each table needs a number based on its appearance in the paper, where it is referenced.

Figur es (if ap p licab le) Please submit figures at the end of the article, one image per page; we will fit these in as we organize the manuscript. Each figure needs a number (the figures shall be numbered consecutively in the order of their appearance in the paper) and a title. SPECTRUM will be printed black and white, but there will be an online version where figures submitted in color will appear in color.

R efer ences You may use any referencing style you choose so long as it is a standard format or your discipline (IEE, APA, ACS, PubMed) and that you use it consistently and to the appropriate bibliographical standards.