Digital Commons Network^™

The Importance Of Peer Relationships For Immigrant And Refugee Youth, Victoria Beth Ward

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This current project tests the relationship between peer relationship problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Participants in this study were 64 3rd through 12th graders (Mage= ; 51% male) enrolled in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) with an immigrant or refugee background. Self-report questionnaires were administered which measured peer relationship problems and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Greater peer relationship problems were found to be significantly related to increased levels of depression. Anxiety was not found to be significantly related to peer relationship problems. This current project finds that peer relationships significantly affect the well-being of immigrant and refugee youth.

Others: A Magazine Of The New Verse And The Correspondences With Amy Lowell, Jeanie Huynh, Andrew Zero, Adrianna Rodriguez Diaz, Liam Anderson

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This edition presents the correspondences between Imagist poet, Amy Lowell, and main editor Alfred Kreymborg and associate editor William Carlos Williams from the span of an entire decade, 1915-1925. These showcase the relationship between her and those involved in the little magazine Others: A Magazine of the New Verse, which ran for only four of those years, from 1915-1919, with interests of publishing, at the time, unknown authors, outside of the already-known literary circles of the period, hence Others and what made Lowell ultimately decide to cease any involvement in its further editions and anthologizing of any kind after 1916.

The Tragedy Of Yemen - An Integrative Approach To Conflict Resolution To Solve The Humanitarian Crisis, Peter V. Van Volkinburg

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This study proposes to develop an integrative approach to conflict resolution and conflict negotiation to end the war in Yemen. This study offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the peace negotiations processes to study past and current efforts of the international community in conflict resolution, identifying the partners, goals, and strategies in the peace negotiation process, as well as reconstructing the historic background of the conflict, demands, and claims of the fighting sides. As such, I will take the following steps to study this conflict.

1. Situate the conflict in its historic context, identify all parties of the conflict and their demands, …

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Immigration And Naturalization Internship With Catholic Charities, Lizbeth Zamora-Torrijos

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This presentation will describe the journey interns go through with the Immigrant Survivors Project Specialists. Over the course of the 2023 Fall Semester my work entailed of assisting with advocacy on behalf of victims of domestic violence, violent crimes, and sexual assault. Including writing and/or translating victims' personal statements for declarations of character, or qualifying crimes, which are crucial in the immigration process. Interns were required to investigate, interview, and research applicants as well, and this work could entail; taking fingerprints for FBI background checks; writing executive case summaries; reviewing and summarizing medical, court, and police records, helping maintain database …

Jesuit Education’S Impact On Student’S Spirituality, Mark Gomez

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This study investigates how college students' experiences at Loyola University Chicago shape their religious and spiritual development. Twenty second-year and above students participated, sharing their perspectives on campus life and spirituality through an anonymized questionnaire. Findings reveal a diverse religious landscape, with Roman Catholicism predominant. Despite secular influences, participants value spirituality. It is evident that students craft personalized spiritual paths, drawing from diverse influences, including Ignatian spirituality, fostering a dynamic evolution of religious beliefs on campus.

Infrastructural Violence And Women's Health In Northern Peru, Aman Kothadia

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Evidence suggests that communities lacking access to water and water-related resources see increased health disparities due to structural and environmental factors. In this poster, we contend that a lack of water resources acts as a form of “infrastructural violence” that impacts the lives of women. Specifically, we draw from a broader research project on water insecurity and gender-based violence conducted in Peru from 2021-2022 to highlight the differential experiences of women living in two communities, one with water infrastructure and one without it. We conclude that infrastructural and societal inequities pose a significant health risk to women in water-insecure regions.

Understanding Mesoamerican Life Cycles And Rituals Through Figurines, Laney Waters

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Children of ancient times are frequently overlooked within the archaeological record. For this presentation, I examined different aspects of Mesoamerican culture in order to identify two figurines discovered at the Postclassic site of Tzunun, Mexico. These figurines shine light onto ritualistic objects and ceremonies regarding childbirth as well as aiding to clarify the roles and expectations of Mesoamerican children. They allow us to investigate the past and in turn to reconstruct Maya life cycles and how children progressed into adulthood in Mesoamerican, and more specifically, Maya society.

Balancing The Scales: Investigating The Potential Impact Of Risug And Adam As Novel Male Birth Control Methods, Marcus Piattoni, Ryan Chang, Saniyya Butler, Grace Acosta, Geena Fajardo

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

ADAM is a newly invented, non-hormonal form of male birth control that is projected to be FDA approved and widely available in 2027. This project seeks to examine the science of how ADAM, and its precursor RISUG, work, alongside the social and ethical implications of a widely available method of male birth control. We will discuss the unique composition of ADAM and RISUG and how it maintains azoospermia or oligospermia in men. Then, we will discuss the social and ethical implications of having a widely-available, long-term male birth control, including its effects on male reproductive autonomy, gendered implications, and what …

Abortion Attitudes In Cook County Post Dobbs V. Jackson, Skylar Kanine

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

A project of the Cook County Community Survey Project, Skylar's report details the social demographics associated with abortion access in Cook County in the wake of the Dobbs V. Jackson decision.

Deliberation And Determinism: Two Processes Affecting The Soul From Antiquity To Modernity, Morgan Fuksa

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Notions of the soul, its corporeal and tangible makeup, and its division amongst gender has increasingly varied from Antiquity to Modern periods. For writers such as Origen, the soul implicates an inherent identity, seen through his belief in free will, and levels of rationality embedded into the soul based on gender. In modernity, notions of the soul have changed drastically based on the genre of literature surveyed. For Kate Chopin, a modernist writer, the soul is subjected to determinism, an inescapable process that subscribes to the idea that free will is absent, as outside factors will determine you to act …

Difference In Excitement While Watching Male Vs. Female Athletes, Lauren Pflueger, Aj Carroll, Isabel Butler

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This study explores the difference between male and female sports. We aim to understand whether the reception of women’s teams is due to a significant difference in attention and excitement levels of the viewer or if the difference in excitement between men’s and women’s sports is influenced by misogyny or other societal factors. This study was IRB-approved, and data was collected in the UX & Biometrics Lab at Quinlan. Attention, engagement, and excitement were measured using eye-tracking technology (measuring attention), facial recognition software (measuring engagement), and Galvanic Skin Response data (measuring arousal).

Cook County Community Survey: Gender And Restorative Justice, Madeline Grace

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This presentation explores the connections between gender and public opinion on restorative justice practices. In particular, it looks at how opinions about restorative justice practices may vary based on the gender of the respondent and the gender of the perpetrator. During the Fall 2023 semester, I worked with my advisor to craft questions on these issues for the CCCS, which was fielded this January. Through this experience, I was able to deepen my knowledge of a variety of factors that may influence broader opinions about criminal justice issues.

From Naked And Ashamed To Clothed And Guilt-Ridden: Augustine Of Hippo And Poor Things (2023) In Dialogue With Genesis 1-3, Jack Jones

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

As biblical interpreters have tried to rationalize the (in)famous fall of humanity in Genesis 2, they often consolidate blame to the woman, Eve. Specifically, Augustine of Hippo’s City of God portrays Eve in a purposefully negative light to fortify patriarchal domination. In this presentation, I will discuss how certain approaches to the interpretation of Genesis, specifically, "the fall", construct what Bernard Williams denotes as a culture of guilt, particularly in relation to women and feminine sexuality. Accordingly, I will also evaluate how the 2023 film Poor Things, posits parallels and subversion to scrutinize these insisted gender ontologies.

Emotional Appeals’ Effect On Perceived Cultural Distance As A Mediator Of Human Rights Engagement, Elizabeth Stotz

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

In this study, the complex relationship between campaign videos’ emotional valence, perceived cultural distance (PCD), and engagement is examined using surveys and biometric data. The present study aims to establish PCD as a mediator of engagement with international human rights issues, particularly, refugee and migration crises, according to the emotional intensity of the campaign video. Biometric data including facial expression analysis and galvanic skin response were used to validate positive, negative, and neutral valence video conditions. Based on previous studies, it was predicted that PCD decreases significantly after watching positive campaigns and negative campaigns. The resulting decrease in PCD was …

The Influence Of Multimodal Exposure On The Development Of The Other-Race Effect In Infancy, Osinigwe Ibekie

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This study explores the Other Race Effect (ORE) in infants, which is the difficulty individuals have in differentiating and remembering faces of different races or ethnicities. This study aims to investigate how audiovisual exposure affects infants' processing of faces of their own and other races. Based on the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis (IRH), the study hypothesizes that audiovisual exposure will improve newborns' ability to perceive faces of their own and other races. The study will utilize a familiarization trial and a visual paired comparison (VPC) trial with sets of multimodal own- and other-race face stimuli presented synchronously and asynchronously to assess …

The Effect Of Microaggressions On African American Couples' Cortisol Levels, Jocelyn Arroyo

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The goal of this study was to examine actor-partner effects of microaggressions on African American couples’ stress and cortisol levels. African American couples were recruited from the Chicagoland area to report their experiences over the past 3 months and to provide a hair sample to assess cortisol. Results indicated that actor and partners’ reports of how bothered they were by microaggressions over the past 3 months were related to actors’ cortisol levels. These results suggests that people and their partner’s reports of how bothered they were by microaggressions were related to increased stress and cortisol levels in African American couples.

Women In Entreprenuership: A Social Media Content And Discourse Analysis, Caitlin Asantewaa Osei

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

How do women entrepreneurs use social media? Women face unique challenges in the workplace in balancing career and family. Literature shows that women do not fit the traditional mold of entrepreneurship (McAdam 2012). However, the research identified three dominant discourses that shape women's entrepreneurship through media communications: community building, gendered space-making, and authentic communication. Across all the data, women were rarely discussed in the context of business but rather in the context of their gender identity.

Examining The Impact Of Gender Differences In Domains Of Psychopathology And Parenting Stress, Elizabeth Marquez

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Research highlights the importance of stress on the development of psychopathology (Gryzywacz et al., 2006). This study examines gender differences regarding the impact of parenting stress on psychopathology in a sample of 174 Latinx caregivers, with a child between ages 6-10. Using data from baseline measures, T-tests demonstrated that females reported higher somatization, depression, and phobia than males.

Correlations revealed positive associations between parenting stress and report of psychopathology symptoms in caregivers, with females reporting more symptoms than males.

Research should continue to examine how gender moderates pathways to psychopathology and develop tailored interventions to support female caregiver mental health.

Education Plans Among Racially Minoritized Youth During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mckenzie Gallivan

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The present research explores linkages between ethnic identity, education plans, and experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic among young adults. Longitudinal data were collected from a study of low-income, predominately Latinx and Black teens and parents. Bivariate correlation analyses were conducted. The results found that experiencing more risk during the pandemic was positively correlated with attending a community college. Additionally, ethnic identity was positively correlated with both attending a community college and a 4-year college. These results show that a sense of strong ethnic identity among Latinx and Black teens may be protective within the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An Experimental Test Of The Effects Of Descriptive Representation On Attitudes About Local Government, Madeline Schade

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

We leverage the diversity of the Cook County Board of Commissioners to test for the effects of descriptive representation among respondents to the 2023 Cook County Community Survey. Our results are null in the full sample but when we find some significant results in our sybgroup analysis among women and Black respondents.

Multimodal Models Of Animal Sex In Scientific Literature: Breaking Binaries Leads To A Better Understanding Of Ecology And Evolution, Isabella Gates, Anisha Pethkar, Marcus Piattoni, Alexis Rossi, Sara E. Lipshutz

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

‘Sex’ is often used to describe a suite of phenotypic and genotypic traits of an organism related to reproduction. However, not all these traits are necessarily linked, and the rhetorical collapse of variation into a single term elides much of the complexity inherent in reproductive phenotypes. We conducted a meta-analysis of scientific literature to investigate how terminology related sexual phenotypes changes over time. We find that the conflation of gender and sex has increased, and there is a mammalian bias in this conflation. We highlight how a more inclusive and expansive framework for sex can clarify studies of sexual diversity.

Is Childhood Trauma Associated With Current Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome Symptoms In College Students?, Logan Phengsomphone

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Problem: This study will evaluate the connection between childhood trauma and current symptoms of cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS) in college students. Cognitive disengagement syndrome is characterized by a combination of behavioral symptoms such as excessive daydreaming, mental confusion and fogginess, being lost in one’s thought, and slowed behavior and thinking (Becker, 2021). CDS has comorbid symptoms that overlap with interpersonal childhood traumas (e.g., disengagement from environment; Musicaro et al., 2020), which calls into question whether trauma exposure may exacerbate CDS symptoms in later life. As anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation are also associated with childhood trauma, we will include those …

Recommendations For Increasing Cultural Sensitivity In Ipt For College Students (Ipt-Cs), Mattheus Shack

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Research in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) has recently turned to adaptation studies in diverse populations. Minoritized college students represent multiple groups within individualized contexts, therefore effective treatments for this population should reflect its diversity. An ongoing project at IMPACT lab is validating a short-form adaptation of group IPT for college students (IPC-CS) to serve this population. This poster will present the state of the literature of culturally adapted IPT, with a special focus on populations relevant to universities. It will then provide recommendations based on the literature and data collected at IMPACT for further accommodating diversity in university mental health interventions.

Fast Fashion In The Age Of Global Capitalism, Samantha Bahena

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Since the 1980s, the U.S. garment industry has outsourced clothing manufacturing to the global South. Manufacturing is primarily outsourced to the global South because of its weak labor laws and low minimum wage requirements. As a result, customers of U.S. clothing corporations are able to purchase clothes at low costs, but workers in the garment industry in the global South become increasingly impoverished. The influence of celebrities and social media in recent years has encouraged the overconsumption and rapid disposal of clothing, widening the lifestyle gap between consumers in the global North and manufacturers in the global South.

Overview Of Instruments Of Measurement For Perceived Discrimination, Solea A. Smith, Karen Saban

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The purpose of this study is to examine the current tools of measurement for perceived discrimination. Specifically, to investigate the number of tools of measurement available, similarities and differences between different tools available, and possible gaps in these tools of measurement. Literature shows the impact of perceived discrimination on both physical and mental health, but little literature exists on the quality and quantity of tools of measurement for perceived discrimination. By investigating current tools of measurement improvements may be made in the collection and analysis of such data.

Campaigning On The Court: Congressional Campaign Ads And Their Effect On U.S. Supreme Court Legitimacy, Sue Rieger

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973), discourse surrounding the legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court has escalated drastically. However views surrounding the Supreme Court’s legitimacy have always permeated its way into the political arena through the development of media and advertising. In order to best understand why the Supreme Court is being questioned, we must examine when it occurs. To analyze media involvement in the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, I analyzed political candidate’s use of Supreme Court issues and characterization of the court. A set of over 300 political campaign ads have been …

Transgender And Gender Diverse Gender Identity Development, Evelyn Pacifici

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The purpose of this study is to understand the experience of transgender and gender diverse identifying individuals’ identity development; to understand how social media impacted their gender identity development; and understand how family members and religion impacted their gender identity development. We utilized individual interviews with a sample of TGD undergraduate students. We used thematic qualitative analysis rooted in a constructionist perspective to guide our analyses. Three themes were found, religion, parents, and social media, and each had sub-themes.

The World Of Sikhism, Mohamed Ziad Eljerary, Arub Abdullah Sumayli

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This research study consisted of traveling to then inquiring on and observing the Devon Gurudwara Sahib Of Chicago. We (Arub Sumayli & Mohamed Eljerary) traveled to the Gurudwara on 04/13/2023 and explored how worshipers prayed and how the Gurudwara is run. We also saw individual items and décor and the meaning behind them, as well as interviewing a person there to tell us about the Gurudwara, Sikh faith, and rituals.

Feminism And Forgiveness: How Catholic Women Respond To Gender-Based Microaggressions, Arden Schultz

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This is a paper based on a two-year research project about faith, forgiveness, and microaggressions. For the symposium, I intend to give an oral/PPT presenation.

Perinatal Mental Health In Community Social Work, Stefanie Cobb

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

An examination of perinatal mental health in community social work through the lens of intersectionality and reproductive justice.