Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Impostor Phenomenon, Perfectionism, Psychological Distress, And Burnout In Pre-Health Undergraduate Students, Victoria Lee

Honors Theses

Preparing for a career in the healthcare field is incredibly strenuous and demanding, and previous research endeavors have demonstrated that students in professional healthcare programs show an increased susceptibility to impostor phenomenon, perfectionism, psychological distress, and burnout. Previous studies have indicated a possible link between impostor phenomenon, perfectionism, psychological distress, and burnout; however, these studies only considered two or three constructs at a time in graduate students (Rosenthal, et al., 2021; Seong, et al., 2020; Garratt-Reed, et al., 2018). The current study’s purpose was to investigate the whether or not impostor phenomenon, perfectionism, and psychological distress could be potential predictors …

Academic Cheating And Stressors At The University Level, Samuel Borge

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine why academic cheating occurs. Prior studies have investigated students’ reasons for their academic cheating, and this study aimed to further this research by trying to determine variables that might influence the behavior. A total of 56 Assumption University undergraduate students participated. Self-report measures included the Survey on Academic Dishonesty (SAD) (McCabe & Trevino, 1997), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), and a measure of self-control (Tangney et al., 2004). In addition, a novel probability discounting task was created as a second measure of academic cheating. This task assessed participants’ likelihood …

Southern Sustainability: An Examination Of Waste Management Mechanisms Within The University Of Mississippi Community, Haley Clift

Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and study local mechanisms surrounding waste management at The University of Mississippi. The research study gathers quantitative and qualitative research to make conclusions about sustainability and recycling practices on The University of Mississippi's campus. The thesis discusses whether those practices are effective for those in The University of Mississippi's community based on the data collected and research conducted. The researcher also offers proposals for the University of Mississippi community based on the research conducted.

The gap that exists in the waste management processes at The University of Mississippi was addressed by blending …

The Effectiveness Of The University Of Southern Mississippi's Marketing And Branding Efforts Among Prospective Students, Amy Clevenger

Honors Theses

With enrollment rates expected to surge over the next decade, the competition

between institutions of higher learning will also increase. Because of this, marketing

material produced by all institutions will need to adjust to become more effective at

establishing brand identity to attract the attention of prospective students. Using Aaker’s

brand identity model as a framework to understand branding methods, this research aims

to identify marketing communication strategies that are more effective in a prospective

student’s decision-making process. The thesis also investigates prospective students’

recall and perception of marketing material produced by USM to determine its overall

effectiveness and differences …

Table Stakes In The War For Talent: Examining The Role Of Educational Assistance Programs Among The Fortune 1000, Noah Hubbard

Honors Theses

This study gathered stakeholder viewpoints regarding the role of educational assistance programs among the Fortune 1000 companies during the war for talent. Thirteen semi-structured interviews revealed themes that addressed four guiding research questions. After analyzing the results of the interviews and reading relevant literature, I created recommendations for each of the questions. From the first guiding research question (How do educational assistance programs help attract and retain employees and differentiate companies from one another?), recommendations include: offer a broad range of programs from G.E.D. to master’s degrees, utilize tuition assistance models to improve access to educational assistance programs, and allow …

Increasing The Student Activity Fee, Alexandria Bea Mabry

Honors Theses

The Student Activity Fee is a five-dollar fee paid by every graduate and undergraduate student at the University of Mississippi through their university tuition. The purpose of the Student Activity Fee is to support any efforts and passions of student organizations to allow them the financial freedom to host intentional programming for students or provide items needed for the function and success of that organization. The Student Activity Fee Fund was estimated to be depleted by Fall 2023. Therefore, in order to protect the Fund, a Student Activity Fee increase to two-dollars per credit hour was proposed to the student …

The Leaky Pipeline Of Women In Stem, Lauren Jakobs

Honors Theses

Women make up more than half of biology-related doctoral degrees yet are still underrepresented in the faculty and higher-level positions of this field. This disparity is referred to as the leaky pipeline problem and exists in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field. The goal of the research paper is to bring the leaky pipeline problem to the forefront and analyze solutions that can address it. This thesis will address the impacts of gender biases that people experience through childhood, adolescence, and high school into college and contribute to the lower retention of women in science. It will also …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Covid-19 On Students At The University Of Mississippi: Family, Careers, Mental Health, Hannah Newbold

Honors Theses

This study analyzes the effects of COVID-19 on students at the University of Mississippi. For students, COVID-19 changed the landscape of education, with classes and jobs going online. Students who graduated in May 2020 entered a poor job market and many ended up going to graduate school instead of finding a job. Access to medical and professional help was limited at the very beginning, with offices not taking patients or moving appointments to virtual only. This would require that each student needing help had to have access to quality internet service, which wasn’t always guaranteed, thus producing additional challenges.

These …

Racial Representation For Faculty In Higher Education, Joo Ning Lim

Honors Theses

Diversity and representation for faculty in higher education are crucial to cater to the needs of diverse student populations in the 21st century. A significant factor that contributes to faculty diversity is the retention and recruitment of underrepresented minority faculty members. This study aims to provide valuable insights into the current state of racial representation of faculty in higher education institutions and identify solutions to improve the retention of underrepresented faculty. Specifically, this study investigates faculty retention and welfare by comparing data across five public, research institutions in the Midwest. Findings revealed that the racial representation of faculty within the …

The Effects Of Higher Education On Socioeconomic Mobility: A Comparative Analysis Of Outcomes At Bucknell University, Katrien Weemaes

Honors Theses

Income inequality and the lack of higher-education opportunities across the United States often correlate with families' socioeconomic status. In this honors thesis, the following questions will be examined: How does the social mobility of Bucknell Students compare with students from other national universities? How do a student’s race and financial aid status affect their ability to achieve social mobility? How has the rate of social mobility through Bucknell changed in recent years? How does a student’s current family socioeconomic status affect their ability to achieve high-income success upon graduation? Does the level of accessibility to Bucknell change when socioeconomic status …

Ethnicity And Education: College Attendance Patterns Among Early 20th-Century Maine's Immigrant Community, Jacob M. Nash

Honors Theses

I examine the college attendance patterns of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Maine in the early 20^th century relative to other ethnic groups using individual-level Census records. I employ the Abramitzky, Boustan, and Eriksson (ABE) algorithm to track second-generation Jewish, Italian, French Canadian, English Canadian and European immigrants from the 1910 Census to the 1940 Census. My logistic regression analysis indicates that second-generation Jewish immigrants in Maine attended college at significantly higher rates than their peers of similar background in every other ethnic group. While I cannot evaluate them, I also discuss potential explanations for the disparity in college attendance …

College As A Pressure Cooker: Relationships Between The Pressure To Succeed, Mental Health Distress, And Coping In College Students, Jennifer Doherty

Honors Theses

This study set out with the intent of examining the relationships between pressure to succeed, depression, anxiety, stress, and coping. While previous studies have not really begun to explore the pressure to succeed, many have found support for individual variables of stress. By compiling commonly cited stressors and possible reasons for why they cause stress, we created the pressure to succeed scale, transforming these variables into a larger construct. Through multiple surveys including the newly constructed PSS, the USS (used for convergent validity), the DASS-21, and the Brief COPE survey, this study found support for this new phenomenon. Specifically, positive …

The Impact Of Community Service In The Classroom Setting: A Research Study, Julie Dunn

Honors Theses

Community service has been linked to different psychological benefits. The field of positive psychology is growing and the purpose of the present study was to expand this research by examining other psychological benefits to those who participate in community service. We examined this relationship when community service is a requirement for the class. We compared Community Service Learning (CSL) participants with non-CSL participants of the same course. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed flourishing, self-esteem, serenity, gratitude, and their views about community service at the beginning (before completing community service) and at the end the semester. Contrary to our hypothesis, there …

A Glimpse At Teaching Leadership In America: Case Studies Illuminate The Problems, Margaret Girton

Honors Theses

Leadership is everywhere in America. The concept of leadership is nearly impossible to define and means many different things to many different people, yet it permeates American society at all levels. Moreover, the American people seem to be obsessed with the notion of leadership and within their obsession have projected a value on the concept, making it a quality desired by many. The obsession of leadership is exemplified by the proliferation of the leadership industry and an increased emphasis on leadership development in the corporate world. Furthermore higher education has been similarly affected by the leadership phenomenon and often aims …

Making It: The Role Of School-Based Intervention In Shaping Educational Aspirations Expectations And Achievement Among High School Students, Maeve Williams

Honors Theses

In an age when higher education has become increasingly channeled as a means of gaining access to an information-driven economy, it is important to note who does and does not enroll in postsecondary courses. The American ‘achievement’ ideology touts education as an opportunity equalizer, and attributes lack of achievement in this system to individual failing. An extensive body of literature, however, points to systemic barriers which create a gap in achievement, primarily along the social fault lines of early development and family characteristics, peers and community, school environment and locational setting, and the demographic factors of race, socioeconomic class and …

Quantitative Assessment Of The Presence Of A Bubble In The Higher Education Market, Kyle Birnbaum

Honors Theses

The relationship between the value of a college education and the price of the diploma is explored for exuberance in light of the accelerating growth rate of college tuition. With the Great Recession of 2007 still in on the minds of the American public, bubble formation and the subsequent burst is a concern for future economic stability. Discussion on the presence of a higher education bubble continues to increase however it has yet to be quantitatively assessed. This paper utilizes a modified price-dividend ratio, tailored for higher education, implemented in the econometric model for bubble detection developed by Phillips, Wu …

Does Digital Engagement Predict Enrollment: An Analysis Of Applicants’ Behavior On Union College’S Website, Christopher Garibaldi

Honors Theses

This paper examines the behavior of admitted regular decision applicants on Union College’s website. I focus on the period between the announcement of admission decisions until after the deadline for deposits. I find that website traffic surges following the release of admission decisions, and falls sharply after the deadline for deposits. Traffic comes from applicants who end up enrolling at Union, as well as those who ultimately enroll elsewhere. The share of traffic from applicants who enroll elsewhere gradually declines from about 75 percent at the beginning of our sample to about 60 percent by the deposit deadline, declining to …

The Benefits Of Giving Back: Volunteerism In Adolescence And Emerging Adulthood, Kaitlyn Bouthillette

Honors Theses

Volunteerism has been on the rise on college campuses for the past few decades. In response to this growing interest, opportunities to volunteer through local service, mission trips, and service learning classes have expanded. Researchers of this fairly new phenomenon have focused on the short and long term benefits of undergraduate volunteerism and why students volunteer. Research has also been conducted on high school volunteerism and its benefits. This study adds to the knowledge of volunteerism across the life span, focusing particularly on adolescence and young adulthood. This thesis attempts to fill in the gaps of previous research by looking …

Bystanders And Bullying: A Reflective Examination Of College Students' Experiences, Katherine Marie Larsen

Honors Theses

This study examines the individual responses of bystanders to bullying based on situational and personal variables. Using self-report data collected on 935 university students, these variables were used to determine if there was a relationship between the variables and the decision to intervene in a bullying situation for a friend. The results suggested that race, sexual orientation, and direct forms of bullying (physical and cyber bullying) have a relationship between an individual’s choice to intervene in a bullying situation for a friend. The findings failed to support the hypothesis that personal factors such as gender, socio-economic status, and a history …

The Effect Of Educational Debt On The Probability Of Homeownership For College Graduates: An Empirical Analysis, Cole Ikkala

Honors Theses

With the average tuition of both public and private institutions on the rise, students are graduating from college with a higher burden of debt than ever before. In turn this is adversely affecting their post-graduation decisions, specifically the purchasing of their first home. With the simultaneous increase of educational debt levels and tightening of lending constraints for mortgages, it is hypothesized that first-time homeownership is being delayed. The purpose of this study is to analyze what exactly is delaying graduates from purchasing a home, the outstanding total educational debt amount or the monthly educational debt repayment amounts. Both can hinder …

Tennessee: The Birth And Development Of Performance-Based Funding In Higher Education, Evan Williams

Honors Theses

Tennessee was the first state to introduce performance based funding metrics into their higher education system in 1979. Over the past 30+ years, the state reevaluated and amended their formula every five years. What was initially an additional allocation that could be earned on top of an institution’s standard budget has now become the sole method of allocating funds for higher education in Tennessee. In 2010 the Tennessee legislature passed the Complete College Tennessee Act, Which put the state on the path to be the first state in the nation that allocates 100% of higher education funds on the basis …

The Causes Of Student Unrest, Sandra Lee Sawyer

Honors Theses

Protest is not a new invention of the 1960's. Protest has always been the normal apparatus to initiate change in human societies. College students can no longer be taken for granted. Though the great majority of them remain largely content, conservative, and apathetic, a determined minority of restless ones have forces other to examine and sometimes to change institutions, rules, and values that were once considered inviolate.

Special Studies In Psychology, William E. Walker

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Group Psychotherapy With Underachievers, Marty Mcdonald

Honors Theses

The aim of this paper is to point out the opportunities and possibilities of group psychology in helping underachievers particularly at the college level. Due to lack of available information on this topic, it was necessary first to examine group psychotherapy and underachievers separately and then to try correlating the two areas.