Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Typologies Of Battering: Uncovering Patterns Of Coercive Tactics Used By Abusive Men In A Mixed Methods Study, Abbie L. Tuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coercive control provides a current day feminist understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent research has demonstrated the significance of coercive control and suggests it provides a more accurate understanding of IPV than using physical violence alone. Utilizing a feminist lens, this study’s first aim was to explore if typologies based on coercive control could be developed. The second and third aims were to explore if demographic differences and differences in masculinity exist across typologies. The final aim of this study was to continue the feminist understanding of IPV using the moral emotions of shame and guilt as an extension …

Essays In Health Economics, Chuxin Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In Chapter 1, I investigate the effect of a financial incentive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on new medical procedure technology diffusion. I examine how the incentive affects diffusion among Medicare patients, for whom hospitals receive the incentives, and non-Medicare patients for whom there are no incentives. I answer these two questions by studying the New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) program offered by Medicare (Part A). It is unknown whether its incentive is enough to encourage diffusion under the prospective payment system and it also remains unknown whether it spills over to non-Medicare patients or crowds …

Recursive Functional Learning In Nonfluent Aphasia, Gerald C. Imaezue

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

People with nonfluent aphasia (PWNA) require feedback from an external agent as well self-feedback to facilitate performance of language production tasks. The extent to which PWNA can use self-feedback alone to improve their task performance is unknown. In addition, it is argued that self-feedback may reinforce or minimize performance errors over time. To test whether either is the case, we introduce an original learning mechanism, recursive functional learning, which uses self-feedback loops to optimize recursively multiple subsystems (cognitive and linguistic subsystems) that PWNA engage during task performance. We used this mechanism to underpin a novel automated procedure we developed, recursive …

Parallel Processes Of Posttraumatic Stress And Metabolic Dysfunction: Long-Term Costs Of Trauma On The Psychological And Physical Health Of 9/11 Survivors, Shane W. Adams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Metabolic conditions (MetC) have been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and may be critical indicators of the systemic physical sequelae of traumatic stress. Parallel process latent growth modeling wasapplied to longitudinal data collected from 35,788 9/11 survivors and used to model PTSD symptoms and MetC to determine how the development and course of one affect the other. A unidirectional relationship was found in which the intercept of PTSD symptoms predicted the slope of MetC. Hyperarousal (ß=.172) and emotional numbing (ß=.171) PTSD symptoms demonstrated the strongest association with the growth of MetC over and above …

Health Care Providers' Attributions Of Blame For Unintended Pregnancy And Hiv Acquisition Among Cisgender Women, Alison J. Goldberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Unintended pregnancy and HIV are both possible but preventable outcomes of vaginal sex, and both can be prevented in similar ways (condoms, daily oral medication, etc.). Despite these similarities, providers more readily prescribe contraception to cisgender women, compared to PrEP (Guttmacher Institute, 2021; Raifman et al., 2019). Providers’ differential willingness to prescribe each medication cannot be attributed merely to differences in women’s need for pregnancy prevention vs. HIV prevention, as women account for nearly 20% of new HIV infections (CDC, 2021). Through three studies, I examined whether perceivers’ support for harm reduction (i.e., prescribing PrEP/contraception) and behavior reduction (i.e., discouraging …

Illness Intrusiveness And Psychosocial Adjustment Among Older Adults With Multimorbidity, Irina Mindlis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Given the high prevalence of multimorbidity (MM) among older adults and the exponential growth of the older adult U.S. population, identifying factors that can lessen depressive symptoms and improve quality of life (QOL) in this population is timely and important. While it is well established that MM is associated with greater depressive symptoms and poorer QOL (Li et al., 2016; Makovski et al., 2019; Marengoni et al., 2011; Read et al., 2017), the mechanisms underlying these relationships remain understudied. The illness intrusiveness model (Devins et al., 1984) proposes that stressors posed by diseases (disease-related factors) and their treatments (treatment-related factors) …

Variations In Family Child Care: Providers' Experiences Crafting Spaces In-Between School And Home, Eleanor Luken

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Family child care, which takes place in the caregiver’s own home, is one of the most common arrangements for American working parents, yet it remains low paid and undervalued in the ecosystem of early childhood care and education (Uttal and Tuominen, 1999). Little is known about how family child care providers organize space within their homes and the repercussions the location of care has on their daily practices with children, relationships with family members, and design of their homes. Even less is known about the strategies used by providers operating in dense, urban neighborhoods with high housing costs. This investigation …

Epistemic Virtue And Receptivity To Science In Policing, Braden L. Campbell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the underexplored relationship between character epistemology and its potential to explain behavior, decision-making, and culture within the criminal justice system, particularly the police. Building on the existing theoretical framework of evidence-based policing (EBP) and the recognized gap in understanding police receptivity to science, this study hypothesized that intellectual character at personal and collective levels positively correlates with science receptivity.

Epistemic character was defined through the aggregation of four traits: open-mindedness, defensiveness, insouciance, and groupthink. Science receptivity was measured by openness to change, desire to learn, reliance on intuition, and mistrust of science. Data were collected through surveys …

Colonial Geographies Of Gendered Violence And Mental Health In The United States And Puerto Rico, Lorraine Lizbeth L. Torres Colon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As of January 2021, after years of community organizing and protests, the Puerto Rican island government announced a state of emergency due to the high rates of gendered violence on the island. At the same time, within the field of psychiatric epidemiology, consistent findings have indicated higher frequencies of mood disorders and substance abuse disorders among Puerto Ricans both on and off the island, relative to all other US Latinx ethnic groups. This dissertation frames Puerto Ricans experiences with psychological distress and gendered violence as public health issues nested within differing geographies of colonial divestment. I explore the relationships between …

Regulating The Care Boom: Labor Standards Enforcement And Paid In-Home Care Work, Isaac Jabola-Carolus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the United States, population aging has driven explosive growth in care-sector occupations, especially among low-wage home care aides who provide long-term assistance to older adults. These aides, predominantly women and disproportionately people of color, now represent one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing occupational groups. In recent decades, economic inequality and meager social policies have also spurred demand for nannies, housecleaners, and other domestic workers—occupations heavily reliant on immigrant women, many undocumented. While scholarly and public discourse has addressed labor shortages and job quality in such occupations, a related problem is the widespread violation of labor standards, including minimum …

You Hurt My Feelings: Autonomic And Behavioral Responses To Social Exclusion And The Moderating Effect Of Psychopathic Traits, Liat Kofler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain social connections, and thus experiencing social exclusion is extremely distressing as it threatens this basic human need. Individuals who are socially excluded often respond aggressively, not only towards their ostracizers but also towards innocent bystanders, with ostracism being implicated in extreme acts of violence such as school shootings. However, individual differences in behavior exist within the context of social exclusion as not everyone responds aggressively after being ostracized. Identifying risk factors for retaliatory aggressive behavior following experiences of social exclusion may facilitate the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating such …

The Effects Of Isolated Affordances On Preschool Counting Improvement When Using A Digital Coloring App, Katherine Papazian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Counting is an important preschool math skill that is necessary for building a strong foundation in mathematics. Previous research has demonstrated that guided counting activities can improve counting ability in preschoolers and that drawing on paper while learning can deepen processing, but research has not included digital drawing as a potential means of deepening processing while children count. This study developed a novel touch-screen app, which used a guided coloring activity to encourage effective counting skills and serve as a home numeracy tool that could be employed by all parents, including those with math anxiety. To evaluate the benefits of …

Losses And Gains Of Teletherapy: The Impact Of The Pandemic On Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Dan-Bi Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative phenomenological research investigates various therapeutic aspects of the transition from in-person interaction to teletherapy that began in March 2020. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each of the seventeen participants practicing in the New York City metropolitan area between the Fall of 2022 and the Spring of 2023. The questions aimed to explore changes in the psychoanalytic concepts of therapy as experienced by the therapists, including transference, enactment, fantasies, the commute, transitional space, zoom fatigue, and more. Results and discussion offer interesting insights on zoom fatigue, an ever-broadening scope of the therapeutic environment and the comparable changes in …

Settling Into Inequality: Resettled Afghans In The Washington Dc Metro Area, Harry Frey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August of 2021, nearly 90,000 Afghans who had fled their country have been resettled in the United States, constituting one of the largest groups of refugee arrivals in the U.S. in recent history. Working from a database I created from the administrative records of a non-profit refugee aid group, I use data and spatial analysis to examine the demographics of Afghans resettled in the DC metro area, the characteristics of the census tracts and counties in which they have been resettled, and their access to public transportation. I find that the …

Quality Management And Oversight Of Texas Forensic Science Service Providers, Sarah P. Chu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Forensic science oversight in the U.S. largely relies upon voluntary third-party forensic laboratory accreditation programs. Without a national system of regulation and given the highly fragmented local systems of control, few forensic science service providers (FSSPs) are subject to regulatory oversight beyond their third-party accreditors. Texas is unique in its establishment of a robust statewide oversight system and a strong governmental culture of transparency, permitting this study of forensic quality management. This study consisted of two parts. The first part of this dissertation characterized and analyzed quality incident reports (QIRs) published by the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory …

How Smoking Became A Moral Issue: A Complex Systems Perspective On Moralization, Matthew Vanaman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

When something is morally wrong, it is in the moral domain; when something becomes morally wrong, it is moralized. But how do we know when something is in the moral domain, and how can we tell whether something is becoming moralized? The empirical study of morality, or a given person’s judgment of what constitutes moral virtue or vice, has historically approached these questions through one of three theoretical perspectives: cognitivism, which argues that people primarily or mostly use effortful thought to judge right from wrong; emotivism, which sees these judgments as flowing from emotion; and dual-process models, which …

Effects Of Genes And Gene-Environment Interactions On Work-Family Conflict And Enrichment, Peter Yu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how macro-level issues can influence how we manage work and family responsibilities. Yet, work-family (WF) research at different levels of analysis is relatively scarce. To address this, I take a multilevel lens to study WF conflict and enrichment in the context of micro-level factors (in the form of genes), macro-level factors (in the form of family and community-level demands), and their cross-level interactions (i.e., gene–environment interactions). To study genetic main effects, I drew from the work-home resources model to identify four candidate genes associated with conditions that could impact the ability to accrue WF resources …

Extreme E-Service Learning: Remote Learning For Undergraduate Students And Telehealth Intervention For Children With Autism, Madiha S. Muzammal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Extreme e-service learning courses in higher education, in which all components of the course including the instruction and service is provided online (Waldenr et al., 2012), offer rich educational experience as well as mutual benefits to the students, community and the higher education institutes. Very few studies have examined extreme e-service learning. We examined an undergraduate extreme e-service learning course in psychology; students learned through a virtual class and provided telehealth behavioral intervention services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Utilizing mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative measures including student observations, assignments, and self-reports) and a mixed design (single subject …

Understanding The Impact Of Incentive-Driven Changes In Hospital And Physician Practice Styles, Ke Zeng

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that investigate impact of incentive changes on hospital and physician practice styles, as well as patient outcomes.

In an effort to curb the escalating healthcare expenditure, the Center for Medicare \& Medicaid Innovation has introduced several alternative payment models, which have garnered significant attention in numerous studies with varied findings. This first chapter introduces the focal point of this thesis, namely the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, and provides a review of pertinent studies that have examined this model and related areas. Specifically, this chapter reviews and summarizes the findings from studies …

Wanting Under Surveillance: A Critical Analysis Of Young Women’S Sexual Desire, Jennifer Chmielewski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The negotiation of sexual desire is argued to be a vital part of the development of women’s sense of agency and well-being. Whereas desire is a concept that is widely used, measured, and diagnosed, women’s experiences of desire are poorly understood. Heeding the calls of feminist psychologists for conceptual analysis, and the need to examine desire within the multiple intimate and sociopolitical contexts in which sexuality develops, my dissertation is a critical feminist analysis of young women’s desire, centered on their subjective and embodied experiences. Moving beyond questions of what women desire or how much desire they have, I explore …

The Relationship Between “Black Lives Matter” Movement Protests And Police Arrests In New York City, Chicago, And Los Angeles: An Empirical Analysis, Lukas Louwagie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The summer of 2020 marked a boiling point of protest and frustration at long-criticized police behavior in the United States. The events that summer revealed the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement as something that could not be ignored and was capable of drawing national support and attention across many dividing lines (Mitchell 2020). Today, it seems evident that the BLM movement has had a substantial impact on modern political discourse—yet its impact on police behavior and reform, the primary target of the movement, is murky. Police departments across the nation are pushing back against calls to defund and reform their …

Africa’S Coastal Archaeological Record And Climate Change, Michael Murphy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the 1980s, archaeologists have warned about threats from anthropogenic climate change (ACC) to the world’s archaeological record in coastal areas. Until recently, such warnings did not include Africa’s archaeological record. There is a persistent gap in research on climate change and Africa’s archaeological and cultural heritage stretching back before the U.N. established the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the gap and help to narrow it. The approach is to take advantage of the availability of the dataset from the first geographically comprehensive study of climate change and coastal …

Redrawing The Contours Of Care: Ethical Commitments And Gendered Politics In The Work Of Government Psychological Counsellors In Sri Lanka, Nadia Augustyniak

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the last three decades, Sri Lanka has seen a growing popular interest in psychology as a field of professional practice as well as a steady expansion of mental health services. Historically, this shift has been linked to the impacts of political violence (1971, 1987-1989), civil war (1983-2009) as well as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, with local and international trauma and humanitarian interventions shaping recovery and the country’s mental health and psychosocial care infrastructure. More recently, however, psychology and mental health have been increasingly decoupled from the discourse of trauma, entering into everyday life and popular culture through the …

Rewiring The Spokes: The Future Of U.S. Bilateralism In Asia, Gian Marc Lombardo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the end of WWII, multilateralism has consistently grown as the go-to alliance structure for the United States. Despite this, the U.S. opted to create a series of bilateral alliances after WWII in Asia, dubbed the Hub-and-Spokes system. This alliance system has not only sustained itself, but also continues to fortify itself in the face of a rising threat in Asia. China has increased its assertiveness and has shifted the balance of threat in the region, while also being the primary economic and development option for regional states. This major change in the structure of Asian power has surfaced the …

Abuse Victimization And Impulsivity In Incarcerated Males: Examining The Roles Of Affective Instability And Trauma Symptoms, Jacqueline K. Douglas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Incarcerated individuals with a history of physical and/or sexual abuse have been found to exhibit increased levels of impulsivity compared to those with no abuse history (Carli et al., 2014; Davis et al., 2017; Sergentanis et al., 2014). Given that impulsivity is a risk factor for criminal delinquency (Carroll et al., 2006; Kamaluddin et al., 2015; Zimmerman, 2010), it is important to gain a thorough understanding of psychological factors that may contribute to higher levels of impulsivity in incarcerated populations. The present study examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship of physical and/or sexual abuse history to impulsivity in a sample …

"How" As A Signal Of An Invariant Meaning, Andrew S. Mccormick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to explain why speakers and writers use how in the communicative contexts in which they do, and its central claim is that how is a signal of one invariant meaning. The form’s diverse communicative contributions can be explained by hypothesizing a single meaning that contributes to different message effects, or contextual interpretations, on different occasions of its use.

The present analysis rests on the crucial distinction in Columbia School (CS) linguistics, the theoretical framework guiding this project, between meaning and message. A meaning is a signal’s invariant semantic contribution, while messages are the context-unique interpretations that …

Evocative Visualization Of Void And Fluidity, Tomiko Karino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last few years alone, we have seen a significant increase in a demand for inclusion and diversity in every sector in our society. While there are numerous data visualization projects that point out and raise concerns about the lack of diversity, they often merely illustrate the disparity. By using the permanent collection data of the Museum of Modern Art, this capstone project explores ways to creatively visualize gender disparity among the artists in the museum’s collection and questions what makes evocative visualizations that make an impression on the audience. It examines how to create visualizations that not only …

A Blackgirl Artivisionary Mosaic: Art-Based Participatory Refusals To School Punishment, Tyese A. Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study participants were co-research partners and engaged in a Project Based Learning six-week summer project in an urban northeastern metropolis community-based non-profit where they received stipends for participation. This dissertation explored how Blackgirls (aged 14 -21) express their experiences with disparate school punishment through community-based participatory artmaking. We called the photos, poems, collages, sculptures, storyboards, digital art, visual art, songs, spoken word, and videos Artivisions (art I vision). In the Jam Sessions, a subset of the partners we called curators discussed the pieces, shared their experiences, and offered insight into Blackgirls’ responses, coping skills, and decision-making regarding school punishment. …

Does The Apoe-Ε4 Allele Differentially Influence Cognition: A Longitudinal Investigation In Healthy Older Adults At Risk For Alzheimer’S Disease, Aditya Kulkarni

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is the strongest susceptibility factor for sporadic, late-onset, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, not all persons who carry the ε4 allele show significant cognitive decline, and thus do not progress to dementia. The impact of the ε4 allele on memory decline has been documented primarily in populations already demonstrating cognitive impairment (i.e., those with mild cognitive impairment or dementia), with fewer investigations completed in baseline healthy older adults. Investigations of the ε4 allele and its influence on non-memory domains are also sparse in the literature. Furthermore, these cognitive investigations are typically cross-sectional and …

Observers' Perceptions Of Rapport In Accusatorial Interrogations, Gabriela Rico

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rapport is widely regarded as a necessary precondition for interrogations and is thought to lay the foundation for the success of later interrogation techniques. In accusatorial contexts in which suspects are often resistant to disclose potentially self-incriminating information, rapport enables interrogators to gain the suspect’s trust, respect, and cooperation. Although the specific psychological mechanisms by which rapport achieves these effects are largely understudied, rapport-building techniques resemble principles of social influence (Goodman-Delahunty & Howes, 2014), specifically persuasion. Techniques such as establishing common ground, engaging in active listening, demonstrating empathy, and disclosing personal information may serve as impression management strategies, which allow …