Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Socioeconomic Status And Ethnicity As Predictors Of Childhood Career Aspirations, Sydney Saint-Jean

Honors Theses

Beginning at an early age, children discuss what they want to be when they grow up. This is known as their career aspirations. There are multiple factors that influence the career aspirations of children. Some of which includes familial income level, grade level and ethnicity. Although studies suggest that there is a relationship between income level and career aspirations, there is a gap in the literature when examining the relationships between socioeconomic status, ethnicity, grade level, and their effects on the career aspirations of children. This study explores this multi-level relationship on what a child wants to be when they …

Gender Role Beliefs And Intercultural Romantic Relationships, Jessica Bujor

Honors Theses

The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between gender role beliefs and intercultural relationship quality for individuals in committed relationships, and between gender role beliefs and willingness to date outside of your respective culture for individuals not in committed relationships. This study also examines romantic relationships using the homophily principle from social psychology, which states that we are more attracted to people who are more similar to ourselves—this may play a role in the prevalence of intercultural romantic relationships. I used Lafontaine’s short version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale to measure relationships quality, the …

Express Yourself : A Study Of Expressive Writing And State Anxiety, Emerald Danielle Norman

Honors Theses

This study is under a larger study on the efficacy of psychological first aid compared to expressive writing as a crisis intervention method for individuals exposed to a traumatic event using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Research has shown that expressive writing can be beneficial to improve the mental and physical health of patients (Gortner, Rude, & Pennebaker, 2006). Research has shown that the use of positive emotion and insight words through expressive writing can reduce state anxiety (Shen, Yang, Zhang, & Zhang, 2018). This study examined the effect of expressive writing on state anxiety by comparing the intervention with …

A Phenomological Study: The Adventist Musician Experience, Tiffany Steinweg

Honors Theses

What is the experience of a Seventh-day Adventist professional classical musician? Both Seventh-day Adventists and classical musicians have been the subjects of numerous studies in past decades; however, few to none of those studies have focused on individuals who identify as both. The current study seeks to better understand the experiences of Adventist musicians within their church and within the wider classical music community. Interviews were conducted with five musicians using an initial and a follow-up set of questions. Themes were identified from interview transcripts by a content analysis. Several predicted themes were confirmed such as the experience of one’s …

A Pfa Study: Exploring The Relationship Of Anxiety And Self-Esteem With Expressive Writing, Abraham J. Gothong Walayat

Honors Theses

Research has indicated that expressive writing is thought to be beneficial by decreasing inhibitions, but what was still unknown is how the use of self-esteem words could moderate the change in anxiety levels. This study examined the efficacy of Expressive Writing on anxiety levels across time (baseline, immediately post treatment, 30 minutes post, and 15 days post) compared to a Superficial Writing control condition. This study also examined how the use of self-esteem words moderated anxiety levels. Subjects (N=31) were drawn from the Andrews University Behavioral Science Research Subjects Pool and were randomly assigned to either an Expressive Writing experimental …

Parental Influence On The Communicative Behaviors Of Black Young Adults, Sarah R. Brockett

Honors Theses

This study examined communicative behaviors of Black young adults and how they were impacted by the relational dynamics of their parents. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 73 Black young adults 18-35 years of age. The survey instrument measured the students' argumentative approach and avoidance behavior in interpersonal relationships. There were three directional hypotheses, but the data collected did not prove or disprove them. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents had parents that were still married. The results showed there to be no significant difference in argumentativeness between the "together " and "strained" groups. Verbal and …

An Examination Of The Mother-Baby Relationship, Morgan A. Winkfield

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between postpartum depression and mother-child bonding. The purpose of this study is to help improve the understanding of the bond between a mother and child and the factors that affect postpartum depression. The dependent variable is bonding, it described as the emotional attachment between mother and child. Bonding is measured using the Post Partum Bonding Scale. The independent variable is postpartum depression. This is a disease that arises after birth often affecting the way a woman connects with the world around her. This variable is studied using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. A series of …

The Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Parenting Practices, Talisa C. Gonzalez

Honors Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to traumatic sources of stress that a child may endure before the age of 18 such as household dysfunction, neglect, various types of abuse (i.e., physical, verbal, sexual), parental separation, and witnessing violence. These kinds of traumatic experiences have been linked to poor mental, emotional, social, and physical health in adulthood. Researchers found associations between early childhood experiences of abuse and individuals' later abusive parenting of their own children. Although the effects of ACEs can have detrimental consequences, resilience-both internal and external-can mitigate these negative effects

through the use of protective factors such as personal …

Comparing The Effectiveness Of Frameworks For Religious Motivation: A Secondary Data Analysis Of Four Seventh-Day Adventist Samples, Michele Prodans

Honors Theses

My project examines two theoretical frameworks for understanding religious motivation and corresponding instruments, which need to be tested for reliability and consistency. Religious orientation theory defines religious motivation as pursuing religion for either extrinsic or intrinsic reasons. Self-determination theory defines motivation as internalization of religious practices. I examined four surveys of Seventh-day Adventists from 2005 to 2018 that had either a religious orientation scale or a self-determination theory religious internalization scale. Confirmatory analysis found the structure of the scales based on self-determination theory to be more acceptable and identified problematic items that caused the religious orientation instruments to be less …

Investigating The Effects Of Popularity On Comment Civility: A Youtube Case Study, Isaac Smith

Honors Theses

This study will explore the connection between the civility of internet comments and their popularity- through the example of two YouTube videos. By using a combination of manual review and computer analysis, to help readers discover if video popularity has a negative effect on comment civility. Findings also examined correlations between factors that indicate civility, while also including examples of notable and intriguing comments found during this study.

Prosocial Effects Of Perpective-Taking Through Lego Play, Carlyle Francis C. Tagalog

Honors Theses

This study examined the claims in the LEGO Six Bricks Booklet regarding perspective-taking outcomes related to prosocial behaviors intended to benefit another (The LEGO Foundation, 2015; Dunfield, 2014). In helping situations, trait kindness also predicts prosocial behaviors (Lefevor et al., 2017). Sixty-eight subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions that varied perspective-taking. We conducted one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni-Holm post-hoc tests to compare performances on the prosocial measure in the three conditions. The results showed no significant difference between means of the prosocial behaviors in each condition. Kindness levels also demonstrated no significant difference within each experimental group. It …

Experiences With Diversity: Microaggressions, Religiosity, And Psychological Wellbeing In A Diverse College Sample, Jessica Ann Stelfox

Honors Theses

This study examined students' beliefs about the existence of racial discrimination on Andrews' campus and their experience with behaviors classified as microaggressions. We used a survey composed of the following measures: Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hill and Argyle, 2002), Intrinsic/Extrinsic Religious Orientation (Francis, Fawcett, Robbins, & Stairs, 2016), Social Dominance (Pratto, Felicia, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994), and Racial and Ethnic Microaggression (Nadal, 2011). Pearson's R correlations and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Thiem, 2016) were used to analyze subjects' responses (N-147). We found low overall levels of microaggressions across campus and focused our detailed analyses on three specific microaggressions: microinvalidations, 80% of …

An Examination Of Resilience Over Time Between Men And Women In Psychological First Aid, Leiali'i Ruth Edwards

Honors Theses

Research has shown that Psychological First Aid (PFA) crisis intervention helps to promote resilience in individuals affected by traumatic events (Everly, 2012). This study examined differences in resilience levels between genders over time by comparing PFA with a Social Acknowledgment (control) condition. Using the Response to Stressful Events Scale (Johnson et al., 2011) to measure resilience, subject responses (N=41) were analyzed using a mixed between-within subjects ANOVA. Results indicated that there were no statistically significant main effects or interactions. These findings do not support the study's hypotheses that there would be a significant interaction between time and gender.

Distribution And Paleobiology Of Hibernation In Fossil Ground-Dwelling Squirrels From The Great Plains, Usa, Randy Sanchez

Honors Theses

Hibernation is a widespread phenomenon present across mammalian taxa, including in many ground-dwelling squirrels (family Sciuridae). Prior work has shown that a hibernation mark can be identified in the ever-growing incisors of these ground squirrels through surface inspection. In this study, we inspected fossil incisors, originating from the Great Plains, from the C.W. Hibbard collection at the University of Michigan for features associated with hibernation marks in modern species. We noted hibernation mark-like features in several fossil ground squirrel incisors from the genera Otospermophilus, “Spermophilus”, and Urocitellus, ranging stratigraphically from the early Pliocene to the late Pleistocene and providing the …

Procrastination, Motivation, & Flow, Reginald Desrosiers

Honors Theses

No Abstract.

Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald

Honors Theses

My research project consisted of examining 200 bills sponsored by six African American members of Congress during the Ninety-third Congress (1973-1975). These six members of Congress represented Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; or New York, New York- three metropolitan cities with significant African American populations. This research emphasizes the importance of Black members of Congress to African Americans nationwide by highlighting the Congressional Black Caucus' formation and mission, examining the bills' key terms and public policy issues for racial implications, and consulting a variety of secondary source material that underscores the need for descriptive representation in the Black community. The primary …

Exposure To Video Media And Its Effects On Attitudes Towards Law Enforcement, Amante Gonzalez

Honors Theses

This study examined how exposure to video media (specifically media geared toward a social media platform) depicting either negative or positive police interactions with individuals will influence perception of law enforcement officials. Using a modified version of the Building a Relationship of Trust Community Perception Survey (BRTCPS) subjects (N=43) responses were analyzed using a two way ANOVA. Results indicated a strong main effect for exposure to both the negative and positive police interaction videos in regards to attitudes towards law enforcement. These findings support the thesis that the videos emotional valence is extremely successful in altering individual’s attitudes towards law …

Exposure To Narratives And Social Reasoning, Cassandra Chlevin

Honors Theses

This study drew predominantly from previous work on the relationships of narrative and non-narrative texts with empathy and social reasoning. It has been posited that fiction -- due to the parallels between narrative texts and the social world -- may help readers maintain if not cultivate their social skills, whereas readers of non-narrative material may not have this benefit. This project attempted to both replicate and extend this pattern in a Seventh-day Adventist Christian sample by using instruments employed in previous research as well as a set of Bible-based instruments. Correlational analysis and nested linear regression were used to examine …

Narcissism And The Selfie: Investigating Millennial Narcissism On Instagram, Megan Reed

Honors Theses

Recent studies revealed a correlation between self-promoting images on social media and higher levels of narcissism. This research further examined the relationship between narcissism and use of social media by determining the proportion of selfies an individual posts on Instagram and narcissism among millennials. The proportion of pictures that were selfies was measured in two ways: in the subject's past 4-weeks of picture posting and in the last 30 pictures the subject posted. The standard Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) was used to measure the subject's level of narcissism. Correlation analyses revealed that no correlations were found between the NPI score …