Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of Urinary Pesticide Concentrations, Protective Behaviors, And Risk Perceptions Among Latino And Latina Farmworkers In Southwestern Idaho, Carly Hyland, Alejandra Hernandez, Éric Gaudreau, Jessica Larose, Jean-François Bienvenu, Lisa Meierotto, Rebecca L. Som Castellano, Cynthia L. Curl

Public Health and Population Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Studies have documented high levels of pesticide exposure among men farmworkers; however, few have examined exposures or the experiences of women farmworkers. Data gaps also exist regarding farmworkers’ perceived risk and control related to pesticides, information that is critical to develop protective interventions.

Objective: We aimed to compare urinary pesticide biomarker concentrations between Latino and Latina farmworkers and examine associations with occupational characteristics, risk perceptions, perceived control, and protective behaviors.

Methods: We enrolled a convenience sample of 62 farmworkers (30 men and 32 women) during the pesticide spray season from April–July 2022 in southwestern Idaho. Participants were asked to …

Vive La Différence?: Is There A Gender Gap In Campaign Strategy And Spending, And Does It Matter?, Paul S. Herrnson, Charles Hunt, Jaclyn J. Kettler

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Record numbers of women were elected into office in the US in recent years, and campaign financing may have contributed to their successes. This raises two questions: Is there a gender gap in campaign strategy and spending? And if there is, does it have an impact on election outcomes? Using a new dataset that includes itemized campaign expenditures for the almost 3,500 candidates who contested a House election between 2012 and 2020, we report little evidence of a gender gap in candidates’ campaign spending, but we find some differences in the effects of communications spending on women’s and men’s electoral …

Voter Id Laws And Gendered Impacts On Voter Turnout, Jacqueline D. Franolich

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Since well before the U.S. presidential election of 2020, voter identification laws have been a topic of discussion amongst politicians, voters, the news media, and scholars. Many have questioned the focus and true reason for their creation, their implementation, their effects and potential unintended consequences. Specifically, many have argued that voter identification laws pose too great a barrier to potential voters to be worth the benefits gained in election security. Since the election of 2020, those discussions seemed to magnify. For example, in a May 2021 speech, President Biden repeated similar assertions made in the past by scholars and activists …

The Effect Of Group Interactions And Group Structure On Achievement In Elementary School Robotics Classrooms, Jonathan Kimei Yogi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Jung and Won's (2018) review of elementary school ER found a lack of understanding of instructional practices for ER with young children. Other researchers have called for further studies into what effective classroom orchestration and interaction look like within ER classrooms (Ioannou & Makridou, 2018; Xia & Zhong, 2019). This study was conducted to understand the effect of group interactions and group structure in terms of gender on achievement in elementary school robotics classes. Knowing the effect that interactions have on students' achievement can help inform instructional practices and pedagogies in educational robotics activities (Kucuk & Sisman, 2017). The study …

Sexually Selected Preferences For Human Altruism Across Sexual Orientation, Gender, Age, And Reproductive Status, Katherine Valinske Kappelman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Prior studies have attempted to establish how human altruism has evolved, including theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and costly signaling. Recent investigations have explored the evolution of altruism as the result of sexual selection, where individuals may exhibit altruistic behavior because it is preferred by potential mates. In this study, I examine how altruistic behavior toward different people (family, friends, strangers, or general altruistic acts) is preferred when considering potential short-term and long-term mates. While previous research has examined this question using college-aged heterosexual participants, this study uses a more diverse sample, including individuals who identify as LGBTQ, those …

Rural Embodiments Of Femininity: An Autoethnographic Approach To Gender Narratives, Randi Wichman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The socialization one experiences throughout their lifetime informs their communication behaviors with others around them. Coming of age in a rural, Westernized geography instilled in me a unique sense of femininity that was constructed to complement the narratives significant to the cultural context of Rural America. This research discusses multiple dominant and marginalized forms of gender and these identities’ relationships to the gendered experiences that I had growing up in rural Montana. This autoethnography is composed of narrated experiences, pre-teen assessments, and poetic descriptions of the disciplining I was confronted with throughout my childhood in my small, ranching community. I …

Untangling The Associations Between Generalized Anxiety And Body Dissatisfaction: The Mediating Effects Of Social Physique Anxiety Among Collegiate Men And Women, Mary Pritchard, Kyle Brasil, Ryon Mcdermott, Anna Holdiman

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers disagree on which types of anxiety influence body dissatisfaction and how gender (cisgender men vs. cisgender women) may impact these associations. Specifically, little is known about how generalized anxiety and social physique anxiety combine to predict body dissatisfaction in men and women. The purpose of the present study was to explore a moderated mediation model in which the relationships between generalized anxiety and body dissatisfaction (drive for thinness and drive for muscularity) were mediated by social physique anxiety and moderated by gender. Data from 423 U.S. college students (n = 259 women) were analyzed using multigroup structural equation …

Already An Archaeobotany, Sydney Britsch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Steven Universe once sang, “I learned to stay true to myself/ by watching myself die.” This is precisely the natural journey we must all embark upon in this life; our self continually returning, remembering that which we can trust our bodies have known all along: we are not actually separate from this thing we’ve called nature. This ever-opening landscape necessitates fluidity and the recognition of other modes of knowledge and connection, sometimes only sound or space as our guide. A place where self-healing and self-sacrifice is simultaneously enacted. Each of these moments reverberates and affects the universal voice. The earth …

Gender And Performance In Public Organizations: A Research Synthesis And Research Agenda, Sanghee Park

Public Policy and Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the variations among empirical findings of gender effects on the performance of public organizations; and identifies avenues for future efforts in the scholarship of gender and public administration. The meta-analysis using 72 studies published between 1999 and 2017 demonstrates that studies reporting statistical significance of female leadership and gender representation in the workforce tend to find a positive impact on performance. Study characteristics such as policy types/areas, time scopes, geographical context consistently affect the findings of gender effects, while the variance in measurement strategies and publication status do not make a difference in empirical evidence.

Ceo Gender-Based Termination Concerns: Evidence From Initial Severance Agreements, Felice B. Klein, Pierre Chaigneau, Cynthia E. Devers

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We theorize that female candidates considering CEO roles will perceive greater termination vulnerability in such roles than their male counterparts. We further theorize that indicators of recent organizational distress will exacerbate female CEO candidates’ perceptions of termination vulnerability, while the presence of female leaders will mitigate these concerns. To test our arguments, we examine the initial values of newly appointed female and male CEOs’ severance agreements from 2007 to 2014. Results support our arguments and begin to shed light on the factors that influence female executives’ concerns about CEO roles and ultimately firms’ ability to appoint female CEOs.

Necropolitical Resistance In Early Modern Drama: Violence And Death As Agentive Acts In Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, Madison Jansen

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy has been widely-read by the academic community, but not always for its own sake. Its influence on the Revenge Tragedy genre, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, have been common topics, sometimes at the expense of readings that engage with the play itself. This thesis continues a tradition of applying the ideas of Michel Foucault to the Early Modern era in order to interrogate the role of power, knowledge, and sovereignty. This thesis explores the way that Michel Foucault’s theory of biopolitics, and the related concepts of necropolitics and necroresistance, create significant new ways of understanding the …

Linking Gender, Language, And Partisanship: Developing A Database Of Masculine And Feminine Words, Damon C. Roberts, Stephen M. Utych

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Seemingly, gender, language, and partisanship are intertwined concepts. We believe that the use of gendered language in political settings may be used strategically by political elites. The purpose of this paper is to craft a tool for scholars to test the interconnection between politics, gender, and language—what we refer to as being the gendered language and partisanship nexus. We test our prediction using original word rating data. From our test, we find significant variation across seven hundred words in ratings as masculine and feminine and discover that words rated as masculine are more likely to be rated as dominant and …

Service-Learning: An Experiment To Increase Interpersonal Communication Confidence And Competence, D. Brian Mcnatt

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test whether engaging in course service-learning projects can impact interpersonal oral communication confidence and skill development beyond that of traditional course research projects.

Design/methodology/approach – Three sections of a university management course were randomly assigned to have a service-learning team project, while the other three retained the traditional research team project. All projects were student-generated. Survey data were collected at the beginning of the semester and at the end four months later.

Findings – Results indicated that service-learning produces greater oral communication self-efficacy. For female students, service-learning projects also increased their …

Administration, Emotional Labor, And Gendered Discourses Of Power: A Feminist Chair’S Mission To Make Service Matter, Michelle Payne

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

Michelle Masse’ and Katie Hogan’s edited collection, Over Ten Million Served (2010), argues that “complaining about service is not the same as critically analyzing service as a significant dimension of academic labor” (15). Nor, as Phillips and Heinert argue, is the admonition to “just say no” an ethical solution to the gendered inequity of academic labor. In this essay, I not only illustrate the consequences of saying yes to service and analyze its significance, but I illustrate the ways that service positioned me to advocate for change at my own institution. More specifically, I focus on the unique administrative role …

Measurement Invariance And Latent Mean Differences Of The Chinese Version Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale Across Gender And Education Levels, Han Chen, Jun Dai, Yong Gao

Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Self-efficacy has been identified as an important determinant of youth’s behavior change including physical activity (PA) participation. However, the dimensionality check of a PA self-efficacy scale has rarely been conducted in China. The current study aims to examine (1) the unidimensionality of a shortened Chinese version of PA self-efficacy scale (S-PASESC); (2) the measurement invariance of S-PASESC across gender and levels of education; (3) the latent factor mean difference between gender and levels of education; (4) the direct effects of self-efficacy on PA by different gender and education levels; and (5) the comparisons of the direct effects of self-efficacy …

Expanding Efficiency: Women's Communication In Engineering, Jennifer C. Mallette

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

As engineering fields strive to be more inclusive of women, focusing on perceptions of women's work is vital to understanding how women can succeed and the limitations they may face. One area in need of more attention is the connection between communication and women's experiences in engineering. This article examines the gendered nature of writing labor in engineering, focusing on case studies of three women who were able to use writing effectively, yet how communication emerged as a gendered form of labor subject to gendered perceptions. While these women's communication skills led to professional success, their association with writing echoes …

Writing And Women's Retention In Engineering, Jennifer C. Mallette

English Literature Faculty Publications and Presentations

Engineering disciplines have focused on recruiting and retaining women, assessing factors that contribute to decisions to enter or exit the field at every level. While many studies have examined writing in engineering disciplines, few have looked at writing’s role in women’s decisions to remain in or leave engineering. Using a case study of a professional civil engineer, Katy, this study examines the role that writing played in her dissatisfaction with engineering and her ultimate decision to leave the field. The author analyzes two genres of writing, meeting minutes and a preliminary engineering report, to explore how Katy’s writing practices often …

Girls Just Wanna Be President: How The History Of Female Presidential Candidates Affects Political Ambition And Engagement, Kaycee Babb

History Graduate Projects and Theses

Female political ambition drops around high school, none of the 45 presidents of the United States have been female, and the history of female presidential candidates is largely absent from public memory. This project examines the connection between social perceptions of political involvement and the history of female politicians by creating a resource website of female presidential candidates in the United States. The website is meant to encourage youth political engagement, specifically the engagement of middle school to college-aged female students to lower the gender gap of political ambition. Without representation within American politics, many young women are not inspired …

A Retrospective Illustrative Case Study On The Barriers Facing First Generation College Students And How A Targeted Program Ameliorates These Barriers, Samuel Kosydar

International Journal of Undergraduate Community Engagement

First generation college students face a particularly unique set of challenges navigating the college pathway to success. Financial concerns aside, lack of awareness of campus resources and stigmatization that can also be dependent upon race and gender may impede academic performance and impose additional stressors. In a retrospective illustrative case study, barriers facing first generation college students are examined from the vantage point of a community based first generation college scholarship program designed to recruit and retain these students at a private university. Observational and census data are used as analysis. While many such barriers are ameliorated at least in …

Men And The Socially Created Stigma Of Anorexia, Marcus Ogawa

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study illuminates how college men negotiate and communicate their body image in a culture that is placing greater emphasis on the importance of body image for men. Embracing the theory of Social Construction, this study offers a communicative perspective to explore men’s articulation of body image and how they make sense of anorexia. Existing research reveals anorexia as a problem primarily associated with women, and consequently men demonstrating anorexic behaviors often find it difficult to receive help. Literature also affirms that our culture often expects men to be ashamed of behaving in any way that does not conform to …

Online Graduate Students’ Preferences Of Discussion Modality: Does Gender Matter?, Yu-Hui Ching, Yu-Chang Hsu

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Audio/video discussion has been used increasingly in online courses due to its affordances in enhancing online communication. However, whether learners of different characteristics can benefit from this discussion modality has not been investigated extensively. This study examined whether gender plays a role in learners’ preferences and perceptions of audio/video discussion as compared to text discussion. The survey data of thirty-six participants’ perceptions were collected and studied after they participated in an audio/video discussion activity. The findings show that females preferred audio/video discussion more than males did, and more females reported that audio/video discussion strengthened their connection with peers. The top …

Thomas Savage’S Queer Country, O. Alan Weltzien

Western Writers Online

Novelist Thomas Savage (1915–2003) grew up in the lonely world of the northern Rockies during the twentieth century’s first half and in eight of his thirteen novels continually re‑inhabited it as a scene of gender protest. He left Montana, his native state, at twenty‑two, only periodically visiting after that and returning only once after the 1960s. His daughter said he “hated Montana” and wanted to get as physically far away from it as possible, but that’s not the whole story. In those eight novels Savage critiques the limited roles available to men and women in the high landscapes between his …

Child Health And Parental Paid Work, Peter Burton, Kelly Chen, Lynn Lethbridge, Shelley Phipps

Kelly Chen

We ask how the paid work of Canadian married mothers and fathers is affected when a child has a physical/mental condition or health problem that leads to restrictions in daily activities. Using the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we find that married mothers of children with disabilities are less likely to engage in paid work and/or work fewer paid hours per week. No statistically significant changes in paid work participation or hours are apparent for fathers of the same children. We find, moreover, evidence that the degree of specialization within families increases when there is a …

Narrating Gender: A Feminist Approach To The Narratives Of The Transgender Experience, Jamie K. Lange

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Gender and identity are complex and often ubiquitous in nature. This is a study about gender and identity and the ways in which they manifest through the narratives of five transgender individuals, who all transitioned after the age of 45, who now live as women. This study about the transgender experience adds a significant and important perspective on gender, identity, identification, and the relationship between gender and identity. The most important conclusions are the lengths to which these people go to support gender social constructs, reinforcing the immense strength of the social construction of gender. The idea that social constructs …

Girls Will Be Girls: Discourse, Poststructuralist Feminism, And Media Presentations Of Women, Amanda Soza

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This study examines presentations of women in the media through Foucauldian critical discourse analysis in order to explore dominant ideas of gender and femininity embedded within D/discourses that constrain the lived experiences of women. Specifically, this study explores the television show Girls as a text presenting particular knowledge of femininity. By engaging in an interpretive analysis of the ways femininity is presented in both public and private presentations of gender in Girls, I reveal how women make sense of past and negotiate future public performances of femininity in private. Further, I deconstruct a specific scene of Girls to reveal …

Relationships Between F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Participants’ Roles And Their Educational And Degree Choices, Christine T. Chang

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The annual robotics competition that is held by the non-profit organization For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (better known as FIRST) implicitly requires that the multifaceted teams subdivide in order to ensure that sufficient team resources are committed to all areas of the competition. The self-stated goal of FIRST is to inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This study examines the relationship between FIRST participants’ specific roles on their teams and their subsequent academic and career pursuits. Study participants (N = 174) consisting of FIRST Robotics Competition alumni responded to an …

An Examination Of Finish Time Variation For Collegiate Cross Country National Championships By Gender, Kevin Riley Peters

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In cross country, women compete over shorter distances than men with little justification for these differences. The purpose of this study was to assess gender differences for the spread of finishing times and examine the appropriateness of shorter competition distances for females. Forty-six cross country national championship data sets (n_males = 10,788; n_females = 10,884) from the NCAA (1999-2011) and NAIA (2005-2011) were utilized for analyses. Several measures of variation were computed to assess spread of finishing times data (i.e., Coefficient of Variation [CV]; Interpercentile Ranges [IR], and Rates of Separation [RS; IR divided by the distance …

Peer Influence: Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Prescription Medications, Mary E. Pritchard, Alberto Varela

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Risk-taking behavior (e.g., alcohol abuse, tobacco usage, misuse of prescription medications) among college students is a widespread problem. Our study focused not only on the frequency of risky health behaviors in college students, but also the companions with whom they engaged in such behaviors.

Methods: Three hundred and twelve college students completed a survey examining the frequency with which they engaged in alcohol, tobacco, and improper prescription medication use, as well as with whom they were most likely to engage in these behaviors.

Results: Results indicated that participants were most likely to take health risks when accompanied by someone …

A Preliminary Evaluation: Demographic And Clinical Profiles And Changes In Functioning In Children Receiving Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Bonnie L. Davis Kenaley, Nathaniel J. Williams

Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The present study is the first to examine the demographic and clinical profiles at intake of children with emotional disturbances who received Child Psychosocial Rehabilitation (CPSR), a relatively new treatment for children suffering with emotional disturbance(ED). Fifty-three children ranging in age from 4 to 18 years received CPSR from a for-profit outpatient child and adolescent mental health clinic located in southwestern Idaho for a minimum of six months. The children's demographic and clinical profiles were examined. In addition, the relationship between the relative change in psychological, emotional, and behavioral functioning as measured by CAFAS (Hodges, 1989, 1994) and PECFAS (Hodges, …

Does Self Esteem Moderate The Relation Between Gender And Weight Preoccupation In Undergraduates?, Mary E. Pritchard

Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Previous research has established gender differences in self esteem as well as weight preoccupation. In addition self esteem is known to relate to weight preoccupation. However, no studies have examined whether self esteem moderates the relation between gender and weight preoccupation. Five hundred sixty seven undergraduates completed surveys assessing self esteem and weight preoccupation. Results showed significant gender differences in self esteem and weight preoccupation. In addition, the interaction between self esteem and gender had a small but significant effect on weight preoccupation. Counselors should be aware of this when designing programs to treat weight preoccupation in conjunction with low …