Digital Commons Network^™

Work Hard For The Money: Performance-Based Funding In The State Of Louisiana, Victoria C. Lloyd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine in what ways, if any, the introduction of the equity incentive portion of Louisiana’s performance-based funding model impacted the underserved student groups it was designed to support. I employed a quantitative quasi-experimental design for this study by running three outcome variables (Adult Learner Enrollment, First-Time Enrollment for Racially Minoritized Students, and Low-Income Student Enrollment) by sector (two- and four-year public institutions) and employing a differences-in-differences regression with panel data. In my analysis I uncovered two main findings: 1) Louisiana’s equity incentive is showing early signs of success for all three underserved groups …

Building Solidarity Between Minority Groups, Seonwoo Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Although a considerable number of scholars agree that an intergroup coalition among minorities will be more powerful in changing biased perceptions, regulations, and policies (e.g., Burson & Godfrey, 2020; Lane et al., 2019), cross-minority solidarity is challenging due to the inherent difficulties in establishing a shared goal and reaching a consensus on methods and tactics (Gawerc, 2021; Rogers, 2004) and competing policy stances and stereotypes (Hope, 2019; Nopper, 2006). Numerous instances of social movements that failed due to the failure of coalitions to form have been documented in the literature (e.g., Almeida, 2010; Ferree & Roth, 1998; Gelb & Shogan, …

Influences On Participation In The National Flood Insurance Program’S Community Rating System In Coastal Counties In Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, And Florida, Jennifer E. Argote

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The National Flood Insurance Program provides an incentive-based program, the Community Rating System (“CRS”), to encourage communities to improve their hazard mitigation protocols to better protect against and prevent flood-related hazards. This dissertation analyzes factors that influence participation and points scored within the CRS to gain an understanding of the conditions under which communities are willing and able to take advantage of an incentive-based flood hazard mitigation program. It also includes an analysis of survey responses from 41 coastal county floodplain and CRS managers to gauge their opinions on the CRS and how it can be improved to better serve …

Managing Student Behavior: Occupational And Discrimination-Related Stress As Moderated By Coping Resources, Madeline S. Blocker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Student behavior management is a critical component of efficacious teaching and a leading contributor to teachers’ stress. Prior research has shown that teachers experiencing greater levels of workplace stress may utilize more punitive and exclusionary disciplinary techniques. However, these strategies often do not effectively manage student problem behavior and are associated with adverse student outcomes. In contrast, positive behavior management techniques have shown efficacy in managing student behavior while promoting students’ success and wellbeing. This study explored the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of workplace stress (i.e., work-related and discrimination-related) and their use of positive or punitive behavior management techniques. Additionally, …

Implicit Bias In School-Based Suicide Risk Assessment, Jessie Munson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Suicide remains a leading cause of death for youth, and the prevalence of suicidal behaviors continues to increase while demographic trends shift. Despite the considerable scope and impact of this global public health issue and robust evidence that cultural minority and gender-diverse youth are at particular risk, there is a significant dearth in the literature with respect to nonrandom variance or possible systematic error in suicide risk assessment practices. Moreover, studies related to school-based risk assessment are scarce despite the ethical and legal imperative to identify and serve at-risk youth as well as the unique ecological position of schools to …

“Why We Play The Game”: An Exploration Of Sport Employees’ Conceptualizations Of Meaningful Work, Nathan Baer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Modern sport management scholars have looked to pair the fields of positive organizational behavior (POB) and human resource development (HRD) with sport management to enhance the productivity of sport organizations through their employees (see Kim et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2023a; Kim et al., 2023b; Kim et al., 2017; Oja et al., 2015, 2020; Oja et al., 2022; Schuetz et al., 2022; Zvosec et al., 2021). One area of study that has received recent attention amongst sport management scholars is meaningful work (Baer et al., 2021; Oja et al., 2022), an emerging employee well-being metric whose definition is often …

Autism, Comorbidities, And Adaptive Functioning: A Potential Moderator, Joshua J. Montrenes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Deficits in adaptive functioning and the presence of comorbid symptomatology are both commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has identified relationships between functional level (e.g., intellectual quotient [IQ], adaptive functioning [AF]) and comorbid symptomatology in ASD. However, further insight into the relationship between AF, comorbid psychopathology, and ASD is unclear. Specifically, how AF affects the relationship between ASD and comorbid conditions is not well understood. Whether AF moderates the relationship between autism symptom severity and comorbid symptom severity in toddlers with ASD was examined. ASD symptom severity positively correlated with comorbid symptom severity across domains and negatively …

Rethinking Attention Control: An Individual Differences Approach, Vincent A. Medina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While there is extensive literature on visual spatial attention, less is known about auditory spatial attention, especially in terms of attention control. There is also a growing literature highlighting the importance of considering individual differences in attention control ability. Given these points, the purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to understand how auditory attention control is influenced by spatial location as well as vision. The second was to examine whether individual differences in attention control ability can predict task performance in that context. We utilized two tasks for these purposes. Experiment 1a consisted of a cross-modal Stroop …

Further Refinement Of An Asd-Subscale For The Childhood Behavior Checklist, Kimberly Ellison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is tied to receiving the earliest possible intervention services that can influence a child’s development (Filipek et al., 1999). There are different measurement tools utilized to aid in the diagnostic assessment process, including broadband behavioral rating scales. The Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) is a parent/caregiver completed questionnaire about one’s child (typically or atypically developing). The CBCL is one of the most utilized broadband measures at the initial stages of a diagnostic assessment or screening to aid in understanding the symptom presentation (Hyman et al., 2020). Currently, there …

Pathways To Blunted Facial Affect In Negative Schizotypy: Social Motivation And Online Cognitive Resources, Tovah M.D. Cowan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Schizotypy, a range of personality traits which confer liability for schizophrenia, is associated with significantly diminished social functioning and quality of life. Social dysfunction in all forms of schizotypy, including schizophrenia, is connected to blunted affect, or diminished expressivity, particularly facial expressions which are less frequent, intense, or long than typical. However, the mechanisms and treatments for blunted affect are, as yet, poorly understood and underdeveloped. In this project, two putative mechanisms of blunted affect were explored. The first involves cognitive load capacities, which are diminished in schizotypy, causing blunted affect – individuals do not have the cognitive resources to …

Voting In The Mall - Understanding Political Consumerism In The United States And Europe, Kwadwo Poku-Agyemang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the various traits that predispose individuals or groups to participate in political boycotts by refraining from purchasing goods and services from companies with the goal of promoting their political beliefs and goals. Specifically, this research considers the effects of political ideology, attitudes toward historically-marginalized groups, and identification with grievance groups shape self-reported participation in political consumerism in the United States and Europe. Using data from the 2016 and 2020 American National Election Survey and the eighth, nineth and tenth rounds of the European Social Survey, I find that although political consumerism has been seen as a liberal …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Adult Coping Inventory, Kristen Ashley Hollas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There are few psychometrically sound measures that assess coping in adults. For example, a widely used measure of coping, the COPE, has highly unstable sub-scales and was developed using a homogenous sample (Lyne & Roger, 2000). Because of these limitations, the Adult Coping Inventory (ACI) was developed. The ACI is a 57-item measure that contains five factors including Problem Solving, Mindfulness, Maladaptive Coping, Social Support and Avoidance. Initial reliability and validity analyses demonstrate good construct, concurrent and incremental validity. The current study involved conducting a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the factor structure of the ACI. The participant sample consisted …

Plato's Republics: A Dramatic Interpretation Of The Early Cities In Plato's "Republic", Simeon Burns

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation will demonstrate a new methodological approach to reading Plato’s Republic. I develop and apply a dramatic, dynamic hermeneutic to Book II and part of Book III in the text. This method holds that each speech is the product of a preceding agreement or disagreement between two speakers. Agreements lead to the argument’s advancement and disagreements result in a regression to a previous agreement from which to restart the exchange. The focus section is largely on the early exchange Socrates has with Adeimantus. I argue that Socrates is an unwilling participant in the famous discussion on the meaning …

An Evaluation Of Procedures To Increase Medical Device Compliance, Sarah Christian Holmes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Behavioral interventions have been implemented to increase compliance with medical devices across patient populations and target devices. Intervention to increase medical device compliance (MDC) can involve a variety of components, including different reinforcement, graduated exposure, extinction, and punishment with varying degrees of acceptability and feasibility. In the current study, we compared the effects of noncontingent (NCR) versus synchronous reinforcement schedules on the duration of MDC and latency to device removal with KN95 face masks with 2 patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following an initial baseline phase demonstrating that both participants engaged in compliance for less than 5 min, we used …

The Psychological Impact Of Adolescent Violence Exposure: The Roles Of Coping And Social Support, Kelsey Gnade Coulthard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Research demonstrates that children and adolescents experience a wide range of exposure to violence with rates ranging from 20% and 50% (Finkelhor & Dziuba-Leatherman, 1994; Finkelhor et al., 2005; Zimmerman & Posick, 2016). Violence exposure has been associated with several negative outcomes including biological, psychological, family-based, and academic problems. Further, studies have examined potential protective factors that may buffer against these consequences, with inconsistent results surrounding the roles of coping and social support. However, many of these studies use either an overly generalized definition of both violence exposure and/or social support or use very specific type of violence within a …

Beyond Machine Learning: An Fmri Domain Adaptation Model For Multi-Study Integration, Lauryn Michelle Burleigh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Traditional machine learning analyses are challenging with functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) data, not only because of the amount of data that needs to be
collected, adding a particular challenge for human fMRI research, but also due to the change in
hypothesis being addressed with various analytical techniques. Domain adaptation is a type of
transfer learning, a step beyond machine learning which allows for multiple related, but not
identical, data to contribute to a model, can be beneficial to overcome the limitation of data
needed but may address different hypothesis questions than anticipated given the analysis
computation. This dissertation assesses …

Media Literacy In Public Education: A Mixed-Method Exploration, Jessica Wyers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

You have to know where you are to know where you’re going. This is the approach I attempt to take to understand next steps in media literacy education and policy. Little research has been done to understand the current state of media literacy education, what is actually happening in the classrooms and education system, to better judge more intentional interventions in the future.

This dissertation explores the current issues in media literacy education in our public schools. I combine the strengths of a qualitative investigation of published public school media literacy curricula with survey data measuring the perceptions of students’ …