Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining Individual Differences In Attitudes Toward The Insanity Defense, Dominique M. Kornely

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the present study was to examine how individual differences in stigma against people who are mentally ill, free will beliefs, just world beliefs, and sentencing goals are associated with attitudes toward the insanity defense. Because there are many misconceptions about what the insanity defense is, and how it is actually used as a sentence, the Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) plea may be underutilized due to public opinions reflecting misunderstanding and/or possible biases (Perlin, 2017). Understanding the relation between individual beliefs and attitudes about the insanity defense would help to better understand potential biases present …

Agrochemicals And Rural Women's Health In The Volta Region Of Ghana, Sedomda Kpikpitse

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Steered by the demand to improve and increase farm production, agrochemicals are regularly used by many farmers globally. However, agrochemical usage has contributed to many chronic illnesses experienced by users such as reproductive disorders, different kinds of cancers, and some chronic respiratory diseases. There are several regional and global coalitions to regulate the prevalence of agrochemicals to ensure their safe usage. Even though people can have access to some approved chemicals, the proper handling of these chemicals is not guaranteed. Many qualities of the person handling the chemical could increase or reduce the risk associated with agrochemicals. The behavior of …

Examining African American Male Mentors Relationships With African American Boys: Benefits, Barriers, Recruitment, And Retention, Quenton Angelo Richardson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Currently there is a shortage of African American male mentors available to build meaningful relationships with young African American boys and young men. Approximately 200,000 youth mentors are working in community agencies in any given year, yet only 6% of these mentors are African American men. Research supports that youth can benefit from a homogeneous mentoring relationship. Very limited research has been conducted that explores the benefits, barriers, recruitment, and retention of African American male mentors from an African American perspective. Therefore, this research gathers information and explores the benefits and barriers of African American adult males who mentor young …

Challenging Social Systems Under The Threat Of Pollution: Replication And Extension Of Eadeh And Chang (2019), Dylan J. Pieper

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

I replicated and extended Eadeh and Chang (2019; Study 2) who found that reading a story about pollution harming a child increased self-reported liberalism and increased support for environmental regulation policies through greater negative affect (i.e., anger and disgust) (Hypothesis 1). Eadeh and Chang’s (2019) threat-affordance model posits that perceived threat can increase greater support for liberalism or greater support for conservatism, depending on the type of threat. In contrast, Jost and colleagues’ (2003) system justification theory posits that perceived threat asymmetrically predicts greater support for conservatism and greater systemsupporting collective action. This article advances a synthesis of these two …

Pluralistic Ignorance Of Campus Norms, Evan Stilgenbauer

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Changes on college campuses and movements such as #MeToo have highlighted problem behaviors such as sexual assault. Many problems and behaviors related to and including sexual assault can be attributed to misperceptions of norms and peer beliefs, which can lead individuals to act in ways they would not normally condone. It is unclear whether #MeToo or other changes over time may have affected perceptions of norms and their relation to problematic behaviors that perpetuate sexual assault.

There were three goals for the current study. My first goal was to assess the difference among perceived norms and actual norms in a …

Bleeding Cuts, Magical Spells, Sealed Hymens: A Study Of The Rite Of Tasfih In Algeria, Ahlam Laouar

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Algerian society attributes great importance to female virginity and, as such, people go to great lengths in order to protect it. One of the methods used to protect female virginity is the practice of Tasfih. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the rite of Tasfih as practiced by Algerian women. This study includes discussions of how this practice came into existence and the ways in which it is done. It also examines the relationship between female sexuality and family honor.

Before interviewing women about the ritual, I explore the current literature on Tasfih, female sexuality, and family …

Motivation To Call Police: The Exploration Of Racial And Risk Averse Motivation, Alivia Lauren Zubrod

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

When calls are made to the police, the magnitude of their impact is often overlooked. When calls are made to the police and there is no crime, police resources, time, and energy could be wasted (Sampson, 2002); however, when no call is made to the police and there is a crime, human lives could be put in danger (e.g., Felson, Messner, Hoskin, & Deane, 2002). Based on highly publicized news reports, it appears that being a racial minority is enough motivation to call the police in some situations (e.g., napping or humanitarian work; Griggs, 2018; Williams, 2018b). Aversive racism theory …

The Impact Of Sexual Assault On Sexual Risk-Taking, Melanie Alison Reyes

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Sexual assault survivors experience a variety of adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes after their assault, such as engagement in sexual risk behavior (Testa, Hoffman, & Livingston, 2010). Previous research has reported risk factors among sexual assault survivors, such as survivors’ self-reported insecure attachment (Oshri, Sutton, Clay-Warner, & Miller, 2015), difficulties with emotion regulation (Walsh, DiLillo, & Messman-Moore, 2012), and substance use coping (Ullman, Relyea, PeterHagene, & Vasquez, 2013). Given that sexual risk behavior is also associated with these variables (e.g., Hotton, Garofalo, Kuhns, & Johnson, 2013), the current study examined whether these variables may mediate the association between sexual assault …

Student Engagement In Higher Education: Measuring The Differences In Community Engagement, Stanley S. Ebede

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In U.S. education system, the growing gap in the engagement of various groups and types of students is wider than ever (Darling-Hammond, 2015). Therefore, there is a need to bridge the gap in engagement by ensuring that either personal or social circumstances such as gender, student status, ethnic groups etc. are not obstacles to achieving educational potential in higher education (Williams & Whiting, 2016; Greene, Marti, & McClenney, 2008; McClenney & Marti, 2006). Using both longitudinal and cross-sectional perspectives advocated by Fuller, Wilson and Tobin (2011); Gordon, Ludlum, and Hoey (2008); and Astin and Lee (2003), this study examined students’ …

Live Thy Neighbor, Milica Njezic

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This project explored the concept of neighboring from the cultural perspectives of the Bosnian refugees and the researcher who is Bosnian herself. The goals were to answer several research questions: (1) what kinds of tensions do we battle in liminal spaces and how do they, grounded in culture, shape the way we communicate our roles as neighbors, (2) how do Bosnian immigrants perform neighboring, (3) what constitutes a good neighbor, and (4) what are the researcher’s personal stories and are those experiences shared with others? The author argues that neighboring is something we perform, that Bosnian co-participants show unconditional hospitality …

The Effects Of Control Threat On Women's Acceptance Of Benevolent Sexism And Traditional Gender Roles, Zheng Li

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

System Justification Theory (SJT; Jost & Banaji, 1994) predicts that people tend to accept and endorse the current socioeconomic and political arrangement when they feel threatened. Based on SJT, women should support traditional gender roles and benevolent sexism when they feel threatened because these system-justifying beliefs can mitigate anxiety and distress elicited by existential threats. In the current study, female participants’ responses to a control threat were measured by an author-generated scale on attitudes toward traditional gender roles for women and Benevolent Sexism Scale (Glick & Fiske, 1996). In a community sample (but not in a student sample), participants whose …

The Impact Of Student Organizations On The Development Of Core Competencies, Stanley Somtochukwu Ebede

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Higher education has a significant impact on the development of critical skills that improve students’ academic outcomes. However, academic institutions have not adequately focused more on the role of student organizations in supporting and improving student outcomes. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perception of the development of core competencies during their experiences at a comprehensive Midwestern university, specifically examining the differences of those involved in student organizations to those not involved.

The impact of student organizations on the development of core competencies was assessed using a survey that was designed around the core competencies outlined …

Spaces Of Disadvantage, Places Of Hope : Women Empowerment, Economic Emancipation And Ngos In Bogotá Slums, Ekaterina Korzh

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This research is devoted to the gender issue in Colombian Slums with the specific focus on the social and economic place of women, challenges that women are facing within this extremely impoverished and criminalized areas and avenues to improve women empowerment and emancipation in the slums of Bogotá.

The goal of this research is to improve understanding of social and economic roles of women in the slums and identify NGO-supported coping strategies that allow improving women empowerment and emancipation in the slums of Bogotá. The first objective is to define “slums” and determine their extent, morphology and population characteristics using …

Perceived Effects Of Family Status Changes On Male Collegiate Outdoor Recreation Coordinators, Andrew K. Martin

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

A career as a collegiate outdoor recreation professional is both a challenging and rewarding occupation. It is a position that consists of inconsistent hours as well as extended periods away from home. This qualitative study identified how changes in family status affect an individual’s perception of the position as a collegiate outdoor recreation coordinator. More specifically, the perceived benefits or challenges that occur throughout the family status changes, and what effect, if any, these perceptions had on the individual’s work performance, job satisfaction and career longevity.

Using a phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight individuals who were employed …

An American's Paris: Tourism And The American Consumer, 1947-1961, Margaret Nervig

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In 1947, a group of twenty-two Iowa farmers traveled to Europe for a month-long trip around the continent’s top destinations. Their primary mission, as outlined in Life Magazine, was to investigate European farming practices, particularly agricultural methods and food needs in the postwar period. The article included photos of the Iowans visiting French farms and speaking with farmers, but it also included a full-page photo of the group at a Parisian nightclub, complete with scantily clad women. Despite their agriculturally-based intentions, these Midwestern farmers could not resist a taste of Parisian culture.

This type of imagery is only one example …

Caged Manhood : Office Culture And How Walter Camp's Daily Dozen Revitalized The Workforce, 1903-1940, Nick Sly

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This thesis is examines how culture became a means to deal with the problems of over-civilization in the early twentieth century. The realities of a salaried position and corporate work spaces had dramatically changed how the middle class felt about work. Looking at the writings of Walter Camp, the human relations movement, and the exercise culture of the period one can see how the office space was not simply a place of work but a new context for constructing masculinity and a sense of worth.

Is Higher Education The Key To Unlock The Door Of Fortune? A Study Of Students' Occupational Aspirations, Daiyue Sun

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study focuses on the relationship between students' social backgrounds and their occupational aspirations (in terms of becoming an authority, financial success and recognition in the workplace). By applying the status attainment theory and segmented assimilation theory, this study examines the significance of parental socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and social capital in predicting college freshmen's occupational aspirations using multivariate analysis. Interaction effects between the main predictors as well as control variables such as immigrant status, gender, school performance, motivations and skills are tested in the analysis. Results suggest that socioeconomic status is not statistical significance in predicting individuals' occupational aspirations in …

The Unveiling Of W.E.B. Dubois : A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Diverse Interpretations Of The Works And Life Of W.E.B. Dubois, Sonja Lee Bock

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

W. E. B. Du Bois is one of the founding fathers of sociology. Despite his many contributions, he was not included in the sociological canon and given the recognition he deserves. Du Bois was an African-American scholar whose contributions lead to the development of the first school of sociology in the United States, although he has generally not been recognized for it. My research explores how the effects of the veil contribute to the interpretations of Du Bois. To investigate this question, I will perform a qualitative content analysis of selected publications by Dubosian experts who have written extensively about …

Mean Girls And Troublemaking Boys : A Qualitative Study About Interpretive Reproduction And Peer Culture In A Preschool Classroom, Heidi Marie Gansen

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Within preschool classrooms children soon realize that they are under the enforcement and direction of their teachers, which in turn limits their control over their classroom experience. To compensate for this, children develop a peer culture that is based on their interpretations of what they have observed in the adult world (Corsaro and Fingerson 2003). This occurs through a process called interpretive reproduction in which children creatively appropriate information from adult culture in order to produce a peer culture that is unique and different from adult culture (Corsaro 1997; Corsaro and Eder 1990; Corsaro and Fingerson 2003). Through almost 70 …

Women's Status And Fertility Rates : Results From National Level Data, Jason Thomas Surratt

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The rapid increase in human population makes the study of fertility rates an area of imminent concern. Understanding the relationship between women's status and fertility rates is important because providing women with access to adequate health services, educational opportunities, occupational opportunities, and political power will give them greater control over their lives. With increased control over their lives women are more likely to limit the number of children they have to their desired amount as they gain access to the resources to limit child bearing and to find fulfillment in other areas of their lives. This study contributes to the …

Role Strain In Probation And Parole Work And Strategies Used To Reduce Strain, Samantha A. Shoger

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Probation and parole officers play a vital role in the operation of the correctional system. As a part of their role work in community-based corrections, probation and parole officers must act as both a client monitor and treatment counselor to not only assist in client reentry, but also to protect the public. Due to the nature of probation and parole work and the historical changes that have affected their work (i.e. the punitive turn, the New Penology, and the current correctional budgetary constraints), probation and parole officers must cope with a variety of factors in their work that can cause …

The Social Origin Of Violent Behavior, Todd Arthur Mensink

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the social origins of extremely violent behavior. Numerous explanations of violent offenders have focused on biological, psychological, environmental or a combination of these factors to explain violence. Most explanations of violent behavior fail to take a holistic approach to understand the cause of violent behavior. This study is an analysis of the applicability of the violentization theory. Data was obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews from six violent offenders in a residential treatment faciIity in the Midwest. Findings indicate that for most offenders, the violentization theory is consistent with their social experiences. However, two exceptions pertained to the …

Advanced Information Processing Technologies And Police Discretion, Kevin Wayne Howard

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This research seeks to evaluate the influence of advanced information processing technologies on police discretion. I have developed three propositions. First, advanced information processing technologies used in municipal law enforcement enable policing managers to easily collect and analyze large amounts of information. Second, the information acquired from these same technologies is used to create and/or modify bureaucratic rules regarding police work. Third, this combination of technological and bureaucratic processes has led to a reduction of patrol officers' discretion. Advanced information processing technologies include crime mapping, video surveillance, mobile data terminals (in-car computers), global positioning systems, and computer statistics (Compstat), a …

Transforming Lives: Exploring The Impact Of Transitioning On Female-To-Male Transpersons And Partners Of Female-To-Male Transpersons, Megan Marie Tesene

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Recent trends in gender scholarship point to an increased research focus on transidentified persons. However, the majority of it revolves around the experiences of transpersons as individuals while ignoring the influence that transitioning has on intimacy in personal relationships. Furthermore, while previous research on FtM transpersons tends to emphasize the benefits that transmen receive from transitioning, the current study focuses on some of its negative implications. Through ten semi-structured, in-depth interviews, this research explores the experiences of four transmen and six partners of transmen who were involved in a romantic relationship during the transition process. My findings indicate that transitioning …

Testing The Selective Chivalry Theory In Iowa : Gender Sentencing Of Rural Property Offenders, Maria Dorothy Herring Koeppel

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

During recent decades, sentencing patterns of offenders based on gender have been the topic of criminological and sociological research. There has been particular attention given to the lenient sentencing of female offenders compared to male offenders. Several research studies have found that gender affects the sentencing process in ways that are advantageous to female offenders, such as lower incarceration rates and shorter prison sentences. Despite the existing research on gender and sentencing, there are still several specific areas that need to be studied regarding this topic, such as property crimes and rural areas. The current research adds to the existing …

Obscenity And Pornography: A Historical Look At The American Library Association, The Commission On Obscenity And Pornography, And The Supreme Court, Gretchen Brooke Gould

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

There was a time when accessing pornographic and obscene materials was much more difficult than it is today. Prosecuted in 1868, Regina v. Hicklin was the first known obscenity case tried under the Obscene Publications Act in Great Britain. The United States Supreme Court first addressed obscenity in the 1957 case of Roth v. United States and grappled with setting standards or creating criteria by which obscenity could be defined. In the 1960s, multiple proposals for federal legislation to crack down on obscenity were offered. The American Library Association (ALA) stepped in to voice its concern and provide professional input …

Helping Adolescents Forgive : The Use Of Forgiveness Education At An Inpatient Mental Health Facility, Tiffany R. Everding

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Understanding the concept of forgiveness has demonstrated to be a complex process (Walker & Gorsuch, 2004; McCullough & vanOyen Witvliet, 2002). Enright and the Human Development Study Group (1991) developed a process model of forgiveness as a way for people to constructively deal with their anger and improve overall psychological well-being after experiencing a deep hurt. Due to the reported benefits illustrated by forgiveness intervention studies, future research is needed to examine the effectiveness of forgiveness education with adolescents in a clinical setting. The current study implemented a forgiveness education intervention with adolescents at local inpatient mental health facility examining …

The Effects Of Owi Victim Impact Courses On Offender Recidivism, Sarah Emily Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the effectiveness of victim impact courses, a court mandated intervention program, for 2nd OWI offenders (individuals with a second conviction of operating while intoxicated) in the first, fifth, and sixth districts of Iowa. Victim impact courses are intended to teach offenders about how drinking and driving can come to affect others in various different ways. The course is intended to lower reoffending rates for those who participate. Data was obtained through the ICON database. The ICON database is utilized by the Department of Corrections in Iowa to track information concerning offenders and their offenses. A bivariate analysis, …

The New Childbirth : An Analysis Of Planned Cesarean Sections, Loren Wilbers

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the experience of planned cesarean section delivery as told by six mothers who have given birth utilizing this method. The rate of planned cesarean deliveries being performed in the United States has been increasing over the past two decades. The existing literature attributes this phenomenon to mothers' fear of the pain associated with vaginal birth, desires to imitate celebrities and maintain vaginal tone, and the greed of obstetricians who push for cesarean deliveries for both convenience and financial gain. The voices of mothers themselves is lacking in the existing literature. Thus, this study draws upon a qualitative, …

Institutional Racism And Public Policy : A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The War On Drugs, Kyle L. Mahannah

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Through reviewing the concept of institutional racism, I examine how this concept has been employed in the discourse on the war on drug. Moreover, I explore how this term has been employed by opponents and proponents on the war on drugs. First, I explore how the term 'institutional racism' is defined by various authors and scholars. I then reviewed how the United State Supreme Court has set precedents regarding intentional and unintentional discrimination. I also investigate how the concept of institutional racism is used in the discourse on American institutions of education, economics, law, and politics. l then review how …