Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill

Brigham Young University - Provo Main Campus | BYU · Department of Psychology

This article describes the WomanStats Project Database — a multidisciplinary creation of a central repository for cross-national data and information on women available for use by academics, policy-makers, journalists, and all others. WomanStats is freely accessible online, thus facilitating worldwide scholarship on issues with gendered aspects. Wo...

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper analyzes how development is articulated by three distinct groups of actors, donors/development sponsors, facilitators/program staff, and the beneficiaries/local village residents, within a specific development situation in the Ouelessebougou region of Mali, West Africa. The findings indicate some overla...

Social development indicators reveal that most developing countries are on trajectories that will result in failure to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the targeted date (UNDP 2003). In fact, 50 countries are regressing on at least one of the goals, while another 65 countries in all probability will fail to reach on...

Does the security of women influence the security and behavior of states? Existing evidence linking the situation of women to state-level variables such as economic prosperity and growth, health, and corruption is fairly conclusive. Questions remain, however, concerning the degree to which state security and state security-related behavior is linke...

Witness and nonwitness children ages 6 through 11 (N = 115) responded to questions concerning emotions in violent and anger-provoking scenarios. First, children watched videos of several types of conflict and attributed emotions to victims and perpetrators. Attributions of emotions varied significantly depending upon gender, exposure to violence, v...

Utilizing ethnographic research methods, this case study examines the experiences of an NGO-sponsored health care program in rural Mali. The findings indicate that while, in principle, the organization operates from an alternative development base, it has been unable to decentralize the decision-making process and facilitate community dialogue and...

The violent and peaceful behaviors of 115 children who had or had not witnessed domestic violence were measured in five types of simulated conflict. Witnesses did not differ from nonwitnesses in conflicts involving limited resources, jealousy over possessions, or intimidation; witnesses were significantly more violent in conflicts involving aggress...

This paper examines the effectiveness of an NGO-sponsored literacy program in rural Mali. The study employs ethnographic techniques to examine the type of literacy instruction provided, the level of participation, the meanings of literacy to participants, and the contextual factors that influence the social and personal effects of literacy. The ana...

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This research explored whether witnessing spouse abuse influences children's use of violent and peaceful behavior in conflicts with peers. Sixty-two child witnesses were compared with 53 non-witnesses across five types of childhood conflicts: limited resources, exclusion, aggression, intimidation, and jealousy. Each conflict was presented in two fo...

This study explores how college-aged women who are members of the Church ofJesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints (LDS) make decisions about choosing a career or staying home fedl-time. It examines how committed they are to 11U1ltiple role planning, what influence their mothers have on their decision-making process, how much they know about the roles the...

Terrorism is approached in terms of individuals' motivations in the context of group violence. Biological, social, and psychological factors that contribute to group violence in general are explored, and the psychological, rational choice, and structural explanations of terrorism are addressed. In light of these constructs, three patterns of thinki...

Child witnesses' use of violent or peaceful strategies to resolve conflicts with peers were compared with strategies used by nonwitnesses. Stories depicting 5 types of peer conflicts were presented to each child, and the strategies used by the child to reach peaceful resolutions were scored. Findings include differences between witnesses and nonwit...

This paper presents a case study of a rural credit program sponsored by the Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance (OUA) in Mali, West Africa. Ethnographic methods are employed to determine the outreach, impact, and sustainability of the program. Findings indicate that program specifications increasingly limit participation to an established and primarily ma...

As the prevalence and severity of youth violence have risen, so have programs aimed at preventing such violence. We review 30 programs categorized as antiviolence, conflict-resolution, or peace programs, based on goals, target skills, and theoretical constructs. Through empirical evaluations, we designate programs as either promising or effective....