Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mining Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccines Using Unstructured Social Media Data, Chad Aaron Melton

Doctoral Dissertations

The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the necessary separation of populations led to an unprecedented number of new social media users seeking information related to the pandemic. Nowadays, with an estimated 4.5 billion users worldwide, social media data offer an opportunity for near real-time analysis of large bodies of text related to disease outbreaks and vaccination. This study investigated and compared public discourse related to COVID-19 vaccines expressed on two popular social media platforms, Reddit and Twitter. Approximately 9.5 million Tweets and 70 thousand Reddit comments were analyzed from dates January 1, 2020, to March 1, 2022, and …

Genealogy Tells: Informing Health And Aging Policies Using East Tennessean Older Women's Family Histories, Perceptions, And Experiences Of Health Inequity, Heather Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

Older women face unique health inequities challenges. This study aims to provide an understanding of older women’s perceptions and situated experiences regarding the gendered health inequities they face and the social determinants (SDH) thereof. It examines how these health inequities are situated in older women’s genealogical (familial) and geographical health and mortality outcomes histories and how their perceptions and experiences of health inequities and their familial mortality outcomes histories are characterized by the geopolitical and social norms in which they live. The purpose of this project is to present policy and decision-makers with insights about and recommendations from older women …

Ambivalent Sexism And Condom Use Self-Efficacy Amongst Men Who Bottom: A Serial Mediation Model, Elliott Nolan Devore

Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of gendered power dynamics between men and women during sexual encounters are well documented in the literature. Specifically, internalizing sexist beliefs about masculine dominance and feminine submission is related to worse sexual health outcomes. Less is known, however, about gendered power dynamics between men having sex. Those who engage in anal sex as the receptive partner (i.e., bottom) are feminized and shamed in various cultures, viewed as submissive, and may have internalized sexist beliefs and, thus, sexual role prejudice. Consequently, bottoms may feel less sexual autonomy, which influences their condom use self-efficacy. This is important given that bottoms …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Second-Year African American Male Students On Predominantly White Campuses Through Critical Race Theory, Craig S. Pickett Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Title: A Phenomenological Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Second-Year African American Male Students on Predominantly White Campuses through the Lens of Critical Race Theory

Abstract:

The critical nature of the first year has pushed thousands of colleges and universities across the United States to create intentional programs specifically for first-year students. Less understood are the experiences of students during their second year – a different and, at times, even more challenging period. Second-year students face a myriad of issues, including achieving competence, desiring autonomy, establishing identity, and developing purpose, with many experiencing a phenomenon called the sophomore slump. …

Sexual Harassment As A Narrative Contest, Christine Vossler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how stories shape both the perpetration of sexual harassment and the experiences of victims during and after sexual harassment. During and after the experience of sexual harassment, a narrative contest transpires between the harasser, victim, and others who contribute to the contest by engaging in the formal and informal conversations that follow known experiences of harassment in the workplace. I analyze 22 public statements, interviews, and investigative reports, including statements from men accused of sexual harassment, women who were sexually harassed, and bystanders. A narrative framework, including concepts of narrative believability and story credibility, is used to …

Housing Market Conditions And Neighborhood Concentrated Disadvantage: Impacts On Crime Victimization In Knoxville, Tennessee, Jiayi Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Neighborhood concentrated disadvantage is a composite social factor that quantifies the quality of neighborhoods in urban areas. Criminal activity and victimization are more prevalent in disadvantaged neighborhoods. However, whether housing market factors (e.g., eviction, foreclosure, and subprime lending) represent an unrecognized dimension of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage remains unknown. I contribute to the neighborhood disadvantage literature by assessing whether three housing market factors (eviction, foreclosure, and subprime lending) are a neglected part of neighborhood concentrated disadvantaged that explains criminal activity and victimization. Furthermore, I investigate whether housing market factors mediate the relationship between concentrated disadvantage and crime. Last, using spatial analysis …

Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, Rachel A. Ponder

Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced numerous unprecedented political, social, and economic challenges that resulted in unprecedented responses by policy makers. As result, existing inequalities and injustices rooted in a dense history of structural and institutional violence were uncovered and exacerbated. As of June 2021, at least 398,627 people in prison tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 2,715 had died (The Marshall Project 2021). In the United States, the inmate population is disproportionately made up of poor, people of color. This is a pattern that is rooted in the country’s long history of racism and white supremacy. This cycle continues as …

Possessed: New Horror Films In The Era Of Neoliberalism, Bethany C. Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations

Since its inception, the horror genre has been reflective of cultural fears. In neoliberal society, horror cinema has experienced a cultural revival that has challenged the conventional boundaries of the genre and expanded our current understandings through a convergence of neoliberalism and gothic horror with unprecedented popularity in the cultural imaginary. The conjuring universe, one of the highest grossing and most popular horror universes to date, presents a key space for cultural criminologists, like horror and film fans, to engage with the terror of the neoliberal world through mediated new gothic images, resulting in a gothic criminology. Through an ethnographic …