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Contemporary Mythology: Poems Of Creatures And Grievances, Zane G. Segal

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Urban legends and modern folklore have never been popular subjects in the canon of serious poetry, despite their more ancient counterparts being frequently coveted content. In a post-science world, the uncanny hearsay of yesteryear has lost its star power, and the act of believing in such myths has been relegated to an embarrassing pastime of drunk uncles and gullible dimwits. However, Contemporary Mythology is a collection of poems which are not afraid to be embarrassed. By entertaining the lovable qualities of unlovable monsters, these poems seek the resonance which keep urban legends comfortably lodged in the backlogs of American culture. …

Dispossession Of Ancestral Land: Effect Of Displacement On Indigenous Peoples' Life Satifaction, Kaitlyn Bird, Hailey Shangin, Alana Smutz, Julisa Lopez, Adam Farero, Stephanie Fryberg

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

North America's history of forced displacement and relocation of Indigenous tribes continues to affect contemporary Indigenous peoples (Wolfe, 2006). As climate change, socioeconomic disparities, and industry encroachment shape displacement, Indigenous people continue to be negatively impacted (Covey, 2021). The current work explores how displacement impacts life satisfaction for Indigenous Peoples, and whether cultural embeddedness modifies this relationship. Using the Indigenous Climate Justice survey (N=282), regression analysis illustrates that those who have not been displaced generally report higher life satisfaction than those who have been displaced (β=-0.255, SE= 0.108 p= 0.019). Lower reported life satisfaction is especially prevalent when those displaced …

The Impact Of Mental Health On Recidivism: A Logistic Regression Analysis Examining Federal Probation Outcomes, Stephanie Kowal

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

My research study examines the relationship between mental health and a person’s success in probation. I used secondary data that was sourced by the Criminology research group at UM that collected probation data from the Feder Probation District in Montana during 2022. I wanted to specifically understand whether probationers that were receiving mental health treatment were more likely to recidivate while in the probation program. In this study, recidivism refers to an instance in which a probationer violated a condition of their release and was sent back to prison. From the binary logistic regression analyses I estimated, I discovered that …

Assessing American Attitudes: Welfare Perceptions Over Time By Race, Gender And Education, Liliana H. Silver

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Income and wealth inequality in the United States have skyrocketed since the 1970s, making the country increasingly unequal (Hout 2021; Lee 2023; Piketty and Saez 2014). Researchers disagree on whether overall support for redistribution in the United States has changed in the last several decades (Ashok et al. 2016; Lee 2023; Pittau et al. 2016) but recent studies suggest the country has seen a significant political realignment based on race and education. Education levels are increasingly becoming major determinants in this voter realignment (Kitschelt and Rehm 2019). Much of the literature on attitudes toward welfare exists in political science or …

The Impact Of Past Experiences Of Intimate Partner Violence And Coercion On Abortion Attitudes, Grace M. Bintz, Selina Hardt

University of Montana Conference on Undergraduate Research (UMCUR)

Recent changes to the abortion laws across the United States have had a profound impact on the psychological well-being and overall health of women. The extent and ways that people support or oppose access to abortion may be influenced by personal experiences of sexual violence and coercion. To understand the implications of legal actions towards women’s reproductive health, this study explores associations between abortion attitudes and experiences of reproductive coercion, non-partner sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and perceptions of people actively seeking abortion access. In this study, participants were asked about their personal attitudes towards abortion, and their experiences of …

The Psychological Impact Of Climate Change Reminders, Brit King

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

In addition to the ongoing and anticipated destruction of the environment, climate change threatens the mental well-being of humanity on a global scale. Climate change has been conceptualized as a form of existential anxiety due to its acute, chronic, and expected (yet uncertain) effects (Zotova & Karapetyan, 2018). Younger generations will be more directly impacted by the long-term effects of climate change and have been burdened with a greater responsibility to minimize its destruction (Hausfather, 2020). Furthermore, young people are at an increased risk of psychological impacts from climate change and have reported high levels of climate-related anxiety and distress …

Cigarettes And Ice Cream For Lunch: Parent And Student Rights At The Butte Industrial School In The Long Progressive Era, Lauryn N. Tecca

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

In 1903, Butte opened the doors of the Butte Industrial School for truant children. Following the guidelines of truancy schools in places such as Chicago and Cleveland, the school was an attempt to deal with Butte children who habitually skipped school and hold them accountable for their actions. Quickly after opening, juvenile court proceedings became a fixture in The Butte Miner. Scholarship on the school centers around the children's experiences and their treatment in the juvenile courts that sentenced them there. Very little is said about the parents of these children. According to a 1915 U.S. Bureau of Education report …

The Role Of Advisors’ Sexual And Gender Minority Status In Gender And Sexuality Alliances, Bennett Ilac, Kelly M. Davis

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Research has consistently shown that sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience higher rates of mental health issues. One protective factor against these issues is the presence of Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) in schools. The presence of a GSA at school has been associated with lower rates of depression and higher levels of academic achievement, self-esteem, and belonging for SGM youth. Though the benefits of GSAs are well-documented, less research exists about the practices of GSAs and the advisors leading them. This study is based on data from a survey of 170 GSA advisors, 86 of whom self-identified as …

Is Circle Time Enough Language Input To Learn Grammatical Gender?, Madeline Grace Strah

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

In the United States, little is known about second language learning in the context of public preschools. However, we do know that dual immersion programs have for the most part been limited to private or charter schools, with fewer than 3600 programs available nationwide. This raises the question of whether it’s even possible for public educators to facilitate second language learning through small group activities. Additionally, is the language input received during this small group enough language input for children to acquire a feature absent from their first language, like grammatical and lexical gender? Research has shown that opportunities where …

Stem Course Taking Patterns Of Transferred Students From Tribal College, Shurong Li

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

Montana largest race/ethnic non-While population is Native Americans (NAs) - 8.2% of the population compared to 1.7% nationally (American Community Survey 2017; U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). Montana, known for its expansive Native American reservation territories, is also home to a significant number of tribal colleges.

While tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) play a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage and fostering academic growth, Native American students face distinctive challenges when they graduate from a TCU and transfer to a 4-year institution outside their reservations. These challenges include maintaining a sense of community connection, encountering a lack of cultural competence in …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Behavioral Symptoms Associated With Trauma, Hannah G. Hall

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

School is an integral environment for students to learn the academic and social-emotional skills they need to be successful. However, students are inseparable from the challenges they face at home or in the community, and these dynamics affect their behaviors at school. Children with histories of trauma are often identified through a range of emotional and behavioral concerns and there is an increasing need to intervene. It is reported that by age 16, more than two-thirds of children will be exposed to one traumatic event (SAMHSA, 2022). Despite the prevalence of trauma, the signs manifest differently, making it difficult to …

Manbox: A Goodbye Play, Jadd Davis

UM Graduate Student Research Conference (GradCon)

"ManBox: A Goodbye Play" is an original short play that explores the limitations an individualistic patriarchal society forces on members of the dominant hegemony - in this case semi-autobiographically as I am a white male who grew up in the Western United States. In it, the protagonist runs up against multiple walls as he attempts to say something meaningful to a loved one, trying to access something more significant than his rudimentary emotional vocabulary will allow. I wrote this play in response to watching my father grapple with the loss of his own father, seeing him tie himself in knots …