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Race, Threat, And Firearms: : Analysis Of State-Level Self-Defense And "Stand Your Ground" Laws, John-Michael Simpson May 2019

Race, Threat, And Firearms: : Analysis Of State-Level Self-Defense And "Stand Your Ground" Laws, John-Michael Simpson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the expansion of state-level self-defense laws between 2005 and 2010 using a threat theory framework. Unlike prior historical changes in self-defense law, which were largely made through judicial avenues and were localized at the state-level, the recent expansions of self-defense have been driven by state legislatures to produce notable patterns of change, including protections of criminal immunity and codifications of presumption of reasonable fear. Threat theory would predict that the strengthening of informal social controls to use violence in self-defense is a response by the dominant group to perceived threats to power from a subordinate group. In …


Adult Children Of Divorce : How Do Attachment Insecurity And Interparental Conflict Contribute To Romantic Relationship Satisfaction?, Hannah Muetzelfeld Jan 2019

Adult Children Of Divorce : How Do Attachment Insecurity And Interparental Conflict Contribute To Romantic Relationship Satisfaction?, Hannah Muetzelfeld

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research has shown that children of divorce who are exposed to high levels of interparental conflict tend to have worse adult outcomes than individuals not so exposed (e.g., Gager, Yabiku, & Linver, 2016), including damage to their romantic relationships (Cui, Fincham, & Durtschi, 2011; Feeney, 2006). The present study investigated the contributing role of adult attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety) to the relation between recollections of interparental conflict during childhood and adult romantic relationship satisfaction. A convenience sample of 678 U.S. participants (319 men, 345 women) whose parents had divorced prior to their reaching age 18 completed …


Female College Students' Experiences With Coercive Control : A Qualitative Investigation, Larissa Barbaro-Kukade Jan 2019

Female College Students' Experiences With Coercive Control : A Qualitative Investigation, Larissa Barbaro-Kukade

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current qualitative study was designed to provide a phenomenological understanding of how coercive control in a romantic relationship is experienced by college women, whose experiences have not been studied. Previous surveys of intimate partner violence (IPV) on college campuses as well as in the community have assessed prevalence rates and types of abuse (e.g. ACHA, 2015; Black et al., 2011; Buhi et al., 2009; Fass et al., 2008; Straus, 2008; Straus & Gozjolko, 2014), rather than survivors’ lived experience of the relationship. To extend this literature, the present study focused on coercive control, a cycle of psychological tactics including …


Assessing Novel Expectancies About Ayahuasca : A Preliminary Report, Brianna Rose Altman Jan 2019

Assessing Novel Expectancies About Ayahuasca : A Preliminary Report, Brianna Rose Altman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Given the growing popularity of Ayahuasca, we sought to identify why people might use this psychoactive brew rather than classic hallucinogens like LSD or psilocybin. Experienced users (N=139) completed an online survey about their use of hallucinogens, including ayahuasca, how their ayahuasca experiences differed from those with other hallucinogens, and their willingness to use ayahuasca over other hallucinogens in the future. Participants reported meaningful differences between ayahuasca and other hallucinogens, which apparently related to positive connections to nature and other people, dramatic or terrifying negative thoughts, and aversive physical reactions. Multiple measures of self-reported likelihood of using ayahuasca again increased …


The Contribution Of Acculturative Stress To Body Dissatisfaction Among Latina College Women : Testing The Moderating Effects Of Ethnic Identity And Differentiation Of Self, Julien Alexandra Almonte Jan 2019

The Contribution Of Acculturative Stress To Body Dissatisfaction Among Latina College Women : Testing The Moderating Effects Of Ethnic Identity And Differentiation Of Self, Julien Alexandra Almonte

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Despite extensive research on the high prevalence of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders among white college women, minimal research has been conducted on Latina college women’s experience of body dissatisfaction. Recent research indicates that Latina college women have a high prevalence of body dissatisfaction and eating disorder pathology. The purpose of the present study was to extend this line of study by investigating the role of acculturative stress as a predictor of body dissatisfaction in Latina college women. Additionally, the study examined the potential buffering effects of ethnic identity and differentiation of self as moderators of the relation between acculturative …


Winners And Losers In The Remaking Of American Healthcare Payment Systems Following The Aca : A Theory Of Private-Actor Policymaking And Implications For Democratic Decision Making, Heather G. Bennett Jan 2019

Winners And Losers In The Remaking Of American Healthcare Payment Systems Following The Aca : A Theory Of Private-Actor Policymaking And Implications For Democratic Decision Making, Heather G. Bennett

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, thereby ushering in the most sweeping, expansive changes to the American healthcare system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Supporters, including healthcare advocates, celebrated the passage of the ACA as a defining moment in healthcare history. As broad policy reform influenced practice on the ground in the months and years after passage, physicians working in private practices and hospitals changed some things about the way that they treat patients. Yet, following interviews with doctors and medical office practice managers to talk …


When Is Test-Potentiated Learning Item-Specific Versus Generalized?, Carol Bolte Jan 2019

When Is Test-Potentiated Learning Item-Specific Versus Generalized?, Carol Bolte

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The current experiments used short (< 1 min) and long (24-hour) retention intervals in the Test-Potentiated Learning (TPL) paradigm to investigate pair specific versus generalized testing effects (TEs) using weakly related English word pairs. The design of the present experiments improved the design used by Cho, Neely, Crocco, and Vitrano (2017), who used Swahili-English pairs. The present design allows for (a) an assessment of both between- and within-subjects pair-specific vs. generalized TEs within the same experiment and (b) better controlled comparisons of the pair-specific and generalized TEs. There was no TE at the short retention interval. At the long retention interval, the TE for tested pairs studied before and after the review test was greater than the generalized TEs obtained for (a) untested pairs studied before and after the review test and (b) untested pairs that were only studied after the review test. Thus, a pair-specific TE occurred, unlike in Cho et al. (2017). The potential reasons for why weakly related English word pairs show pair-specific TEs but Swahili-English pairs do not are discussed.


Work-Family Balance And The Relationship Between Parental Status And Marital Satisfaction : A Revision To The Marital Structure Approach, Michelle Lynn Barton Jan 2019

Work-Family Balance And The Relationship Between Parental Status And Marital Satisfaction : A Revision To The Marital Structure Approach, Michelle Lynn Barton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Using data from the 1980 Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study and the 2000 Work and Family Life Study, this dissertation evaluates whether measures related to work-family balance are able to explain why parents with children in the household have lower levels of marital satisfaction compared to parents without children in the household and especially compared to those who are childless. Analyses presented here demonstrate the centrality of spousal interaction for understanding this relationship, and to a lesser extent, measures related to the perception of fairness in the division of household labor. While neither sex, cohabitation history nor race …


The Transition From Active Duty To Veterans In Higher Education, Chantel Nicole Boudreau Jan 2019

The Transition From Active Duty To Veterans In Higher Education, Chantel Nicole Boudreau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This paper focuses on the transitions from military life to civilian life experienced by veteran students at a public university and how they differ for male and female veterans. I gathered my qualitative data through one-on-one interviews with 12 respondents; four females and eight males. I found that veterans must overcome a number of different hurdles. Some veterans had negative experiences while others had very positive experiences. In this article we will learn of the many different struggles experienced by student veterans and what led them to be where they are now. One thing that stands out in this qualitative …


Individuals With Developmental Disabilities And Criminal Incompetence : An Analysis Of Predictors To Restoration, Ashley Cahill Jan 2019

Individuals With Developmental Disabilities And Criminal Incompetence : An Analysis Of Predictors To Restoration, Ashley Cahill

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Competency to stand trial is a concept of jurisprudence preventing the adjudication of individuals who lack the capacity to understand the proceedings against them and which prevents them from assisting in their own defense because of mental disease or “defects”. In the criminal justice system, defendants found incompetent to stand trial are remanded to the care of the mental health system for a period of time to restore their competence. The determination of competency to stand trial is by far the most common psychiatric evaluation requested by criminal courts, and is especially critical for defendants with developmental and intellectual disabilities.


Bayesian Analysis In Adult Skeletal Age-At-Death Estimation, With Additional Consideration Of Pathological Variables, Jessica L. Campbell Jan 2019

Bayesian Analysis In Adult Skeletal Age-At-Death Estimation, With Additional Consideration Of Pathological Variables, Jessica L. Campbell

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A common task bioarchaeologists face is to estimate age-at-death in populations that have no corresponding documentation. This poses many challenges, the first of which is that age-at-death is highly variable within and among populations and can be further confounded by genetic and environmental influences, as well as other components of the biological profile. Estimating age-at-death in a historic sample can be even more challenging due to missing age indicators or taphonomic changes that obscure the features. Bayesian Analysis offers the potential to mitigate these challenges and to estimate age-at-death with lower degrees of uncertainty and higher probabilities of increased accuracy …


The Hot And The Cold : A Historical Explanation For Russia's And America's Contrasting Foreign Policy Approaches To The Arctic, Joshua Newman Caldon Jan 2019

The Hot And The Cold : A Historical Explanation For Russia's And America's Contrasting Foreign Policy Approaches To The Arctic, Joshua Newman Caldon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explains how and why Russia has expanded its sphere of influence in the Arctic and why the United States has not assertively balanced this expansion. In doing so, I show that regional spheres of influence are historically and socially constructed. While material and security concerns motivate state behavior, I show that states also develop institutions, identities and interests that influence their relationships with each other and cause them to approach regions in different ways that are not readily explained by realist or liberal assumptions of how international relations should work.


The Transformation Of Political Islam In Turkey : A Cultural Analysis Of The Islamic Narratives Of The 'West', Ozgur Celenk Jan 2019

The Transformation Of Political Islam In Turkey : A Cultural Analysis Of The Islamic Narratives Of The 'West', Ozgur Celenk

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study examines the shifting meaning of the ‘West’ within the Islamic discourse in Turkey from 1987 to 2005. In the last two decades, Turkish Islamists have renounced their longstanding anti-western rhetoric; adopted a language of democracy and human rights; and commenced to support Turkey’s membership bid in the European Union. The question of how to make sense of this dramatic transformation of Islamic political culture will frame the main discussion in this study. The proposed study argues that the existing academic and popular explanations of this transformation are inadequate in that they privilege instrumental models such as rational actor …


The Effect Of Social Support On Physiological Stress Reactivity In Youth Exposed To Community Violence, Rachel Clegg Jan 2019

The Effect Of Social Support On Physiological Stress Reactivity In Youth Exposed To Community Violence, Rachel Clegg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research indicates that asymmetry between biological stress response systems is associated with psychological and physiological problems, which negatively affect child development. Asymmetry between these systems is common following childhood exposure to adversity. Furthermore, research shows that social support may act as a buffer against negative effects of stress, specifically for girls. The present study examines the role of social support in the relationship between biological systems among a sample of 49 youth (ages 9-12) with high levels of exposure to community violence. We measured perceived social support within the youth and exposed them to an in-lab psychosocial stressor. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis …


Stress And Support In Health Service Psychology Students : Predictors Of Burnout And Vigor, Dylan Alexander Corp Jan 2019

Stress And Support In Health Service Psychology Students : Predictors Of Burnout And Vigor, Dylan Alexander Corp

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Students in health service psychology (HSP) training programs (i.e., doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, or school psychology) have reported experiencing greater burnout (i.e., energetic exhaustion) and lower vigor (i.e., energetic arousal) than typical workers. Given that greater burnout and lower vigor are associated with negative outcomes like poor health and client care, the purpose of the present study was to understand burnout and vigor in HSP students. Specifically, the present study sought to test the Conservations of Resources theory of stress (CORT) by replicating previous findings that threatening work-related stress and the supervisory working alliance (SWA) predicted HSP students’ burnout …


Getting Serious With Comedy : Power, Stand-Up Comedy, And American Public Life, Andrew Michael Cutrone Jan 2019

Getting Serious With Comedy : Power, Stand-Up Comedy, And American Public Life, Andrew Michael Cutrone

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This master’s thesis theorizes the political and cultural significance of stand-up comedy as an institution in the contemporary US public sphere, against the dominant perception that it is an enterprise severed from social consequence. Via a critical application of Ferguson’s theorization of power in The Reorder of Things (2012), in addition to a reading of stand-up comedy routines and related public discourse that utilizes feminist and queer of color theory, I show how subjective terrains of race, gender, and sexuality produce the discursive and political materials which organize stand-up discourse and performance in moments of “racial comedy,” “gender comedy,” and …


Understanding Drug Testing And Access To Support Services In Emergency Shelters : A Qualitative Study Of Frontline Workers In The District Of Columbia, Maryland And Virginia (Dmv) Region, Erica Dean Jan 2019

Understanding Drug Testing And Access To Support Services In Emergency Shelters : A Qualitative Study Of Frontline Workers In The District Of Columbia, Maryland And Virginia (Dmv) Region, Erica Dean

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this dissertation research was to acquire knowledge from emergency shelter managers and frontline staff about the use of drug testing as a pre-requisite for access into shelter as well as for continued stay and receipt of services. To achieve these objectives, the following research aims framed this study:


Effects Of Testing On Retroactive Interference And Proactive Interference In The A-B/A-C Paradigm, Stephanie Crocco Jan 2019

Effects Of Testing On Retroactive Interference And Proactive Interference In The A-B/A-C Paradigm, Stephanie Crocco

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In an A-B/A-C paradigm, testing A-B pairs before A-C learning reduces retroactive interference (RI, Halamish & Bjork, 2011) and proactive interference (PI, Wahlheim, 2015). In four experiments, after A-B and RI control pairs were studied in List 1, these pairs were either tested or restudied. A-C pairs and PI control pairs were then learned in List 2, followed by a final test on both lists or only List 1. Four procedural factors were manipulated: (1) Swahili-English pairs vs. weakly related English pairs, (2) List 1 restudy vs. test review between- vs. within-subjects, (3) some List 1 pairs studied vs. not …


Classification Of Major Depression In College Students : A Grade Of Membership Analysis, Ishani Ravindra Deo Jan 2019

Classification Of Major Depression In College Students : A Grade Of Membership Analysis, Ishani Ravindra Deo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The disease burden of major depressive disorder is at its greatest among college-aged individuals, and frequently leads to long-term negative outcomes. However, within and across racial/ethnic groups, there are significant differences in how the disorder manifests and the resulting impact. Conceptualizing depression in a way that accurately reflects this variation is therefore a crucial task. In the current study, grade of membership (GoM) analyses were used to derive “fuzzy set” depression profiles in a college sample for each of the five major racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The primary sample consisted of 22,778 European, African, Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, and …


Development Of The Sexual Minority Affirmative Practice Scale, Ryan Craig Ebersole Jan 2019

Development Of The Sexual Minority Affirmative Practice Scale, Ryan Craig Ebersole

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Literature on the practice of affirmative psychotherapy with sexual minority (SM) clients has steadily increased over the past two decades in recognition of the unique experiences and mental health needs of this marginalized population. SM-affirmative psychotherapy is an approach to psychotherapy that is culturally-responsive, actively affirms the validity of SM identities and experiences, and promotes the resilience of SM clients in the face of stigma. To date, much of the extant research on SM-affirmative psychotherapy has focused on therapist factors and perspectives. Further, most previous research on SM clients’ experiences in therapy has been qualitative, due in part to the …


An Examination Of The Relationship Between Cognitive And Metacognitive Factors And Bulimic Symptoms In Undergraduate Women, Lauren Eileen Ehrlich Jan 2019

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Cognitive And Metacognitive Factors And Bulimic Symptoms In Undergraduate Women, Lauren Eileen Ehrlich

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Rumination, a passive, perseverative, self-focused style of thinking about negative emotions and events, is a cognitive factor that has been empirically linked to a variety of harmful outcomes, particularly negative affect and depression. Recently, rumination has been proposed as a transdiagnostic risk factor that predicts numerous mental health conditions, including eating disorders. Taking into consideration the potential harm of rumination, researchers have sought to explain why individuals continue to ruminate. Metacognitive theories posit that negative and positive beliefs about rumination influence how frequently an individual ruminates and the consequences of repetitive, negative thinking. However, there is a dearth of evidence …


The Dynamics Of E-Petitioning Behavior In We The People : An Exploration Of Online Mobilized Collective Action, Catherine Dumas Jan 2019

The Dynamics Of E-Petitioning Behavior In We The People : An Exploration Of Online Mobilized Collective Action, Catherine Dumas

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the impact of e-petitioning as a collective mobilized action taken to express policy preferences and the way that signing behavior takes place. Previous studies have analyzed e-petition signature data to track and understand the relationship between signing activity, time, and success of a petition (Hale et al., 2013; Yasseri et al., 2014). By using data mining techniques, namely market basket analysis and social network analysis, this research will explore three case studies that consist of three sets of similar petitions that were initiated on the US e-petitioning platform, …


Health Shocks, Labor Market Activities, And End-Of-Life Medical Expenses, Yuan Fang Jan 2019

Health Shocks, Labor Market Activities, And End-Of-Life Medical Expenses, Yuan Fang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Health capital depletes with each additional health shock. The presence of health insurance may reduce out-of-pocket costs, and hence increase the demand for care following a shock. Also, death is the ultimate health outcome for an individual that follows periods of health morbidities and health shocks. Towards the end individual lives, the demand for and cost of health care increases tremendously, but these costs vary significantly across socio-demographic groups.


Right Size Me : Policy Responses To The Obesity Eidemic And Behavioral Change, Wenhui Feng Jan 2019

Right Size Me : Policy Responses To The Obesity Eidemic And Behavioral Change, Wenhui Feng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Obesity is a critical health and social concern. Almost 40% of American adults are obese, creating more than $300 billion dollars in annual medical costs. While obesity is a public concern that has been on the policy agenda for some time, obesity policies have proven difficult to formulate, adopt and implement in practice. In this dissertation, I explore three obesity-related policies – adoption of obesity prevention policies by local health department, calorie labeling on restaurant menus and food assistance benefits – and find the importance of ideological and political considerations for obesity policies at different stages in the policy process …


Measurement Invariance Of Maximizing Tendency Scales, Paige M. Foss Jan 2019

Measurement Invariance Of Maximizing Tendency Scales, Paige M. Foss

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The present research investigated the measurement invariance of two maximizing tendency scales; the Maximizing Scale (MS) and the Maximizing Tendency Scale (MTS), across three cultural and language multigroup comparisons. Archival data from 13 studies were analyzed (N = 6013) using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an item response theory (IRT) technique. CFA results indicate that both measures are noninvariant at the metric level. IRT results indicated that the MTS had six items that exhibited differential item functioning, but at the test level, expected score differences are small, so researchers may be able to safely use the MTS at the …


The Impact Of Principal Leadership On Teacher Perception Of The Annual Professional Performance Review (Appr), Barry Alexander Finsel Jan 2019

The Impact Of Principal Leadership On Teacher Perception Of The Annual Professional Performance Review (Appr), Barry Alexander Finsel

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Teacher quality is the most important school-based factor affecting student learning and achievement. In 2009, the Race to the Top (RttT) federal education initiative provided an opportunity for states to compete for federal grant resources to reform their public education systems, which included revamping teacher evaluation systems to improve teacher (and principal) effectiveness. Consequently, New York State was awarded almost $700 million in 2010 during the second phase of RttT for its Regents Education Reform Plan, which established a new teacher and principal evaluation plan known as the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR). Under its first version (§3012-c), APPR used …


Endogenous Policy Design In Healthcare : A Case Study Of Emergency Department Crowding, Katrina Alexandra Hull Jan 2019

Endogenous Policy Design In Healthcare : A Case Study Of Emergency Department Crowding, Katrina Alexandra Hull

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The United States’ health care system has faced growing per capita use, and subsequent crowding, of the emergency department since the 1990’s, evidenced by longer wait times and the institution of ambulance diversions. Emergency departments are but one element of a complex system, with difficulties which persist despite policy efforts.


Foundation For Success : Radical Right Populist Parties' Strategic Use Of The European Parliament, Injeong Hwang Jan 2019

Foundation For Success : Radical Right Populist Parties' Strategic Use Of The European Parliament, Injeong Hwang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines the role of the European Parliament (EP) on electoral persistence of radical right parties that are marginalized in national politics by focusing on the French Front National (FN) and UK Independence Party (UKIP). The EP has been an alternative political arena for nationally marginalized radical right parties to obtain various political resources because European elections are based on proportional representation system and have a low profile. The EP provided its members with political resources including remunerations, assistants, legitimate status, chances to speak in the EP, and increased visibility.


Evaluating The Cognitive Profile Of Autism Spectrum Dsorder, Cortney Janicki Jan 2019

Evaluating The Cognitive Profile Of Autism Spectrum Dsorder, Cortney Janicki

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Previous research on the cognitive functioning of individuals with autism spectrum disorder has mixed findings. It is generally understood that individuals with autism have a unique cognitive profile compared to their typically developing peers; however, capturing the special features of this cognitive profile has been difficult. The present study examines the cognitive profile of individuals with autism from multiple angles including overall Nonverbal and Verbal IQ score differences, differences in age, and differences in sex. The study evaluated data gathered from diagnostic evaluations for autism spectrum disorder performed in the Capital Region of New York. A total of 178 children …


Examining How Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Christian Clients' Perceptions Of Therapists' Cultural Humility Contribute To Psychotherapy Outcomes, Kelsey Anne Kangos Jan 2019

Examining How Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Christian Clients' Perceptions Of Therapists' Cultural Humility Contribute To Psychotherapy Outcomes, Kelsey Anne Kangos

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Understanding the intersection between sexual and religious identity has important implications for mental health. The lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community is at high risk for major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, eating disorders, substance abuse issues, and poor self-esteem. Religious culture can further these risks when they create homophobic environments, resulting in LGB individuals‘ struggle to integrate religious and sexual identities (Sherry, Adelman, Whilde, & Quick, 2010).