Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Translating Risk Information To Protective Action: Examining Household Response To Information About Earthquake Hazards And Risk, Carson C. Macpherson-Krutsky

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Natural hazards have been a part of the landscape since its existence, but they are becoming more devastating as they intersect with growing populations and as climate change increases their frequency and intensity. As these changes occur, the need to understand how to reduce disaster impacts becomes paramount. Despite growing concern and increasing costs of disasters over the past decade, household preparedness, which is at the foundation of disaster readiness, has seen little to no improvement. Using two research experiments, we adopt the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM; Lindell & Perry, 2004; 2012) as a framework to investigate what motivates …

(Re)Discovering I Am Worthy: A Black Feminist Autoethnographic Confrontation Of Abuse, Sarah Elizabeth Keeton

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a Black Feminist Autoethnographic confrontation of white supremacist, racist ideology. I assert that Black people are in an abusive relationship with America. Utilizing the Cycle of Violence, the relationship abuse framework, Critical Race theory and Black Feminist Thought, this thesis explores the violent ways America abuses Black bodies and how that abuse affects our very beings. Utilizing autoethnography to record what others have erased, I confront my abusers in all of their different forms, including the internalized abuse of self. This writing is a process of uncovering and (re)covery. This recovery process will examine the convergence …

Local Ecological Knowledge Exchange Of Steelhead, Mikaela A. Weisenfluh

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Local ecological knowledge (LEK) has been researched in the past to examine how it can aid and support scientific ecological knowledge (SEK). SEK is often seen as the preferred and superior type of knowledge when dealing with environmental changes. However, both of these types of knowledge are not segregated within individuals but are dependent on age, experience with the fishery, experience with a scientific organization, and/or perception of changes in the environment based on lived experiences. Interactions between LEK and SEK users is valuable to the conservation that is needed to protect these fish species and is dependent on how …

Queer Lives In Idaho And The Surrounding Region: Impacts Of Anti-Discrimination Laws, High School Environment, And The Covid-19 Pandemic On Mental Health, Ollie Shannon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of Queer people in the Intermountain-West are under- documented by the scientific community. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. It was responsible for more than 47,500 deaths in 2019. Members of the Queer community have higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts than the general population. Theoretically, we may predict that people experience negative mental health outcomes under situations of reduced social contact and support or during periods of exclusion by conspecifics. My research explores mental health in the Queer community utilizing data collected in an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. …

Assessing Population Variation Using Heritable Nonmetric Traits: A Bronze Age Assemblage From Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates, Katie Marie Taylor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the use of heritable nonmetric traits as a means for assessing population variation and biological relatedness within an archaeological sample using the commingled human skeletal tomb assemblage from the Bronze Age site of Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates (2100-2000 BCE). A total of 410 individuals representing all ages and both sexes were interred in the Umm an-Nar period tomb. An analysis of sixteen heritable nonmetric traits was conducted on the adult human skeletal remains for both cranial and postcranial elements. Of the eight elements analyzed, one element in particular displayed anomalies rarely described in archaeological contexts. Seven …

Stepfather Investment And Reproductive Outcomes Among Us Couples, Daniela Gomez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Although paternal investment in humans is highly variable, many males invest heavily in offspring. Biological fathers invest more in children than stepfathers, yet stepfathers do invest in their stepchildren, possibly to gain mating access to the mother. Stepfathers are also more likely to be abusive and antagonistic towards their stepchildren than biological fathers. Most previous research quantifies the investment of stepfathers in relation to biological fathers. However, no studies have explored how investment and relationship quality influences reproductive outcomes for stepfathers. I examine how stepfathers’ relationship quality with stepchildren associates with stepfathers’ reproductive success (number of biological children born to …

The Influence Of Ecological Variables On Archaeological Site Density In The Owyhee Region, Southwest Idaho, Jennifer Cuthbertson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Vegetational resources are reported to have had multiple uses in indigenous groups who were present in the Great Basin area throughout the Archaic periods. Resource acquisition and position of resources is documented to have had impacts on settlement patterns, but the impact of the range of vegetational resources, specifically, is lacking thorough study in the northern Great Basin area. Due to fluctuating climates, modern development, and other factors both anthropogenic and otherwise, Archaic vegetation ranges may not be wholly visible in the same locations today; however, the environments surrounding sites may be determined by observing a variety of ecological variables, …

Cancel Culture: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Social Media Practice Of Canceling, Samantha Haskell

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Unlike previous forms of public shaming, canceling is a product of Web 2.0 and the boom of social media. The act of canceling is inherently tied to the word “canceled,” however, how the public defines a cancellation is not static. Instead, how those on social media partake and understand canceling is due to consistent strategies that emerge during a cancellation. In this research, I conducted a case study of the cancellation of Kevin Spacey that took place in 2017. Over 1700 tweets discussing Kevin Spacey’s cancellation were captured in order to determine the process of canceling. Through qualitative content analysis, …

Modeling Real And Fake News Sharing In Social Networks, Abishai Joy

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Online media is changing the traditional news industry and diminishing the role of journalists, newspapers, and even news channels. This in turn is enhancing the ability of fake news to influence public opinion on important topics. The threat of fake news is quite imminent, as it allows malicious users to share their agenda with a larger audience. Major social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, etc., are making it easy to spread fake news due to the minimal moderation/ fact-checking on these platforms.

This work aims at predicting fake and real news sharing in social media. Specifically, we employ a multi-level …

Employment And Drug-Related Mortality, Trung Minh Pham

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In the last two decades, there has been a downturn in labor force participation. One research approach to explain the downturn is death by despair—a recent topic in economics on pain and preventable deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and suicide. This thesis hopes to add to the death by despair literature by exploring the effect of employment on drug-related mortality through empirical investigation across 17 demographic groups—accounting for age, education, gender, and race—from 2011 to 2018, and covering all 50 US states along with the District of Columbia. Different estimations of population (demographic groups, gender and state total) are used …

Community Food: A Pilot Ethnographic Study Of Local, Small-Scale, & Sustainable Agriculture In Boise, Idaho, Evan Leacox

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 revealed vulnerabilities in industrial food systems, particularly in relation to food security. In this thesis I explore small-scale, local, and ecologically sustainable forms of agriculture (Small Ag) that are frequently presented as options enabling communities to achieve increased food security. This concept of Small Ag deserves closer investigation. This thesis describes an ethnographic pilot study of Small Ag I conducted in Boise, Idaho during the 2020 pandemic. Using remote digital research methods to conduct surveys and interviews, I investigated the beliefs, motivations, and behaviors of participants in Small Ag. I sought to answer basic questions: …

The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And Police Officer Wellbeing: An Empirical Examination Of One Agency, Silas Patterson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the relationship between organizational culture and police officer well-being, using an empirical examination of one agency. Culture is important in law enforcement. Previous studies on police culture have typically sought to understand the effect of culture on officer behaviors. This thesis takes a different approach by examining the effects of culture on individual officer well-being. The results of this study indicates that culture is related to well-being, along certain dimensions. Cultural attitudes towards an organization’s administration and the citizens officers interact with are shown to be consistent predictors of well-being. The results of this study provide implications …

Arranged Marriage, Partner Traits And Parental Investment: Examining The Reproductive Compensation Hypothesis In Humans, Annemarie M. Hasnain

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Both sexes choose mates based on qualities that will enhance offspring viability and quality. In some cases individuals are forced to reproduce with less desirable mates which has been shown to result in lower quality offspring. The Reproductive Compensation Hypothesis (RCH) predicts that parents who mate under constraint will increase their reproductive effort and investment in offspring to compensate for lowered offspring viability. Evidence for the RCH has been found in several animal species; however it has not been examined in humans. One possible type of mate choice constraint in humans is that of arranged marriage in which parents or …

Using A Species Distribution Approach To Model Historic Camas (Camassia Quamash) In Southern Idaho And Implications For Foraging In The Late Archaic, Royce Johnson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Camas (Camassia quamash) is well documented as a traditional native food source throughout the Northwestern United States and Canada. A better understanding of the historic distribution of camas in Idaho would help to distinguish root foraging in this region from the Pacific Northwest. Modern grazing, development, climate change, and other factors have decimated native camas in this region. This study uses a species distribution model (MaxEnt) to provide a well-informed geospatial projection of the historic distribution and habitat characteristics of camas in Southern Idaho. Understanding the most significant landscape and climate characteristics for camas allows us to estimate …

Diplomatic Intervention And The Effects Of Third-Party State Power On Intrastate War Outcome, Alexann Sandberg

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to examine the role third-party states may play as diplomatic intervenors in intrastate wars. Because diplomatic interventions seek settlement outcomes over military victory, understanding the efficacy of these interventions may provide support for their usage over non-diplomatic options. I hypothesize that third-party state power, in the form of military, economic, and political capabilities, will impact the likelihood of diplomatic intervention outcome; more powerful third-party states will have a greater likelihood of producing preferred outcomes. I use 12 multinomial regression models to examine this relationship. I find that economic capabilities are the only factor of state power that …

Does Attending A More Elite School Lead To Better Labor Market Outcomes?: Evidence From The College Football Labor Market Using Screening Information, Kyle Brookman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

College football prospects in the market for an athletic scholarship face similar career-altering choices as traditional academic students when selecting a college, however, the market they operate in is very different. They are actively recruited by university coaches and closely observed by a college sports scouting industry. Their choice of school is highly anticipated and publicized within college sport culture. College football is no doubt a lucrative industry, particularly for the elite university football programs, but one may want to know if the athletic scholars themselves gain in any career measurable way by attending a more elite university football program. …

Exploring Cooperative Behaviors Among The Sena Of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique And The Dolgan/Nganasan Of Ust'-Avam, Siberia, Victoria Silva

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Why do humans cooperate? Mechanisms including inclusive fitness, reciprocal altruism, indirect reciprocity, and costly signaling provide explanations for human cooperation and partner choice. Using data from the Sena people of Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique and the Dolgan/Nganasan of Ust’-Avam Siberia, I examine several questions relating to cooperation. During a preliminary study, interview and observational data was collected that provide insight on the day-to-day activities of 33 households in Gorongosa National Park. Cooperative activities include cooperative socializing, play, cooperative breeding, and household labor. It was found that most daily activities observed were done solitarily and men were most likely to be …

Ethnic Fractionalization, Corruption, And Trust In The Courts, Sinan Nadarevic

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has examined the effects of ethnic fractionalization on trust in political institutions. However, most of the literature focuses on a general understanding of political trust, disregarding the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and individual trust in the legal system. I argue that high levels of ethnic fractionalization decrease trust in the courts. To provide empirical support for my theory, I use individual-level survey data from 32 African and Latin American countries from 2013 and I produce two findings. First, using multiple OLS fixed effects regression analysis, I find that ethnic fractionalization decreases trust in the courts. Second, using mediation …

No Dogs Allowed: A Qualitative Study About Invisible Barriers Faced By Those With Disability, Kory Gaona

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Service Animals (S.As.) are becoming more common throughout the United States and are seen more frequently on college campuses. This study uncovers the lived experiences of S.A. handlers on college campuses nationwide, to further understand the exclusion or inclusion that S.A. handlers experience throughout their everyday life. Utilizing Critical Disability Theory and Organizational Communication lenses through a series of open-ended questions, this study analyzes a handler’s experience with their S.A. Adopting a qualitative lens, I conducted one on one interviews. It filled a need for academia as present research on S.As. typically focuses on quantitative research. I was able to …

Towards Unifying Grounded And Distributional Semantics Using The Words-As-Classifiers Model Of Lexical Semantics, Stacy Black

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Automated systems that make use of language, such as personal assistants, need some means of representing words such that 1) the representation is computable and 2) captures form and meaning. Recent advancements in the field of natural language processing have resulted in useful approaches to representing computable word meanings. In this thesis, I consider two such approaches: distributional embeddings and grounded models. Distributional embeddings are represented as high-dimensional vectors; words with similar meanings tend to cluster together in embedding space. Embeddings are easily learned using large amounts of text data. However, embeddings suffer from a lack of "real world" knowledge; …

Redeeming The Monster: The God Of War Subreddit's Narrative Of Rebirth For Hegemonic Masculinity, Mario Sanders

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In a 2019 documentary on the development of the video game God of War (2018) for the Playstation 4, Cory Barlog, the game’s creative director, openly discusses his desire to give the toxic, hypermasculine protagonist, Kratos, a “second chance” after nearly a decade since the franchise’s previous installment. In giving Kratos his second chance, Barlog decided to make him a father, claiming that becoming a father changes one’s perspective on everything. Video games scholars have argued that games are a noteworthy element of players’ identities and interactions due to their promotion of the manufacture of player narratives. The following research …

Critical Race Theory And The Impact Of Oppression Narratives On The Identity, Resilience, And Wellness Of Students Of Color, Gerdonna J. Ellis

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I explore the different stories students of color draw from and internalize to understand their identities in relation to oppression and resilience. Through reviewing critical race theory (CRT) and critical whiteness literature, I identify what I call the “oppression narrative”, in which students of color are often discussed as being oppressed and disadvantaged. Stories are powerful, and in many ways the stories we hear and believe about ourselves make us who we are. Eight narrative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with students who attended a predominately white institution (PWI) and identified as black or Latinx. Seven themes emerged …

The Unintentional Gerrymandering Of America: How Population Shifts In Congressional Districts Contribute To The Wasting Of Votes, As Measured By The Efficiency Gap, Hannah Sharp

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Thanks to the foresight of our Founding Fathers we are required by law to redraw legislative boundaries every ten years, after the decennial census. These boundaries create districts at both the state and federal legislative level, and there are many guidelines which govern how districts can be drawn in order to provide for fair competition and accurate representation. Population distribution is key to how electoral districts are drawn at all levels. In recent decades, increasing concentrated populations of Democrats in urban areas and decreasing population in rural, more Republican areas has made it harder to draw competitive districts at the …

Development And Evaluation Of A Brief, Bystander Bullying Intervention For Low-Income, Ethnically-Blended Middle Schools, Molly Elizabeth Moran

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation includes three individual articles that examine a brief bystander bullying intervention (STAC) culturally adapted for low-income, ethnically-blended middle schools. Chapter One provides a brief introduction to the three articles that comprise this dissertation, the theoretical framework, and the rationale and purpose of this dissertation. Chapter Two includes a mixed-method study examining the development of the culturally adapted intervention. Qualitative data was used to inform the intervention adaptations. Quantitative data provides preliminary support for the cultural validity of the adapted intervention. Chapter Three includes a mixed-method study examining the appropriateness of the culturally adapted intervention. Qualitative data was collected …

Opportunities And Obstacles In The Transition To A Distributed Network Of Rooftop Solar: A Multi-Method Approach, Steve M. Hall

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the feasibility and viability of providing power to Ada County, Idaho, using a distributed network of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels. Using a multi-disciplinary and multi-method modeling approach, a detailed simulation is performed where existing structures are retro-fitted with grid-tied solar photovoltaic systems using currently available technology. Feasibility is determined using simulated supply and demand per building, while viability is determined through standard financial metrics used in the energy sector. A major critique of solar energy comes from the vast amounts of space required to efficiently capture solar power, along with the inefficiencies created by transmission loss and …

Girl’S Education In Africa: The Importance Of Culture And State Capacity, Hadley Olivia Hobbs

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Why is girls’ education participation notably below average in countries throughout both North and Sub-Saharan Africa? Previous research has concluded that the low rates of girls’ education in Africa are attributed to economics and more specifically wealth. While wealth needs to be addressed as a part of the discussion of issues surrounding girl’s education, it does not seem to be the primary cause of low participation outcomes. I argue that culture and governance are the primary factors effecting girls’ education in Africa. Moreover, government effectiveness and female genital mutilation are primary causes of the outcomes of girl’s education and appear …

The Effects Of South Africa's Unexpected Monetary Policy Shocks In The Common Monetary Area, Bonang N. Seoela

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Common Monetary Area (CMA) is a multilateral agreement that provides a framework for a fixed exchange rate regime between the South-African Rand and the currencies of Lesotho, Eswatini, and Namibia (LEN). The nature of the arrangement restrains the LEN countries from exercising independent discretionary monetary policy. As a result, they must rely on the South African authorities for policy formulation and implementation. Interest rates in the LEN countries cannot deviate too far from those in South Africa. Given this limited scope for monetary policy in the LEN countries, this study investigates how each member country adjusts to shocks to …

Organized Crime And Development In Low And Middle-Income Countries, Katie Kelshaw

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The presence of organized crime is common across all income levels, but the effects of organized crime differ between low-income and middle-income countries. Institutionally, socially, and economically, criminal organizations make contributions which affect the states they are in. This paper theorizes that the contributions made by organized crime help development in low-income countries, then later harms development in middle-income countries. Empirical tests find that the direct effects of organized crime are not significant in low and middle-income countries. The indirect effects of organized crime – corruption in the public sector — have a negative effect on development.

Weaponizing The Epa: Presidential Control And Wicked Problems, Craig A. Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In its broadest sense, presidential control encompasses all the actions, in both word and deed, whereby presidents “go it alone” to adopt policies in the absence of congressional will to do so, and sometimes directly contrary to it. This dissertation studies how President Obama used rhetorical and administrative tools of presidential control to address the “wicked problem” of climate change. The “administrative presidency” and the “rhetorical presidency” are familiar political science terms, but in the case of climate change policy, they appear to be moving policymaking in a new and perhaps profound direction, which this study refers to as “post-deliberative …

Presidential Influence And Competitive Grant Funding: Reexamining Presidential Pork, Benjamin Albert

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

How does partisan alignment with the president affect the distribution of federal competitive grant funding? This analysis contributes to the literature on distributive politics by reexamining the relationship between alignment with the president and competitive grant funding over the time period of 2001 to 2017. Furthermore, the analysis will test if the relationship between alignment and competitive grant funding changed after the enactment of the 2011 earmark moratorium. Fractional probit regression is used to model the relationship between a representative’s partisan alignment with the president and the portion of annual competitive grant funding that their district receives. The results suggest …