Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Online Political Participation: Evaluation Of The Changing Effects Over Time, Gabriel Davis May

Master's Theses

The internet is a political participation medium that has been subject to constant changes. Just since 2008, there has been a significant increase in the amount of people who use the internet for political purposes. Building on the work of Brian Kruger and others I evaluate whether the internet brings new participants into the political process or if the internet only "reinforces" those who already participate. I utilize data from recent American National Election Studies to employ an ordinary least-squares regression model for recent presidential election years and assess whether the internet has brought new participants into the political fray …

Are You Happy? Local Economic Development In Northern Thailand, Katherine Sorensen

Master's Theses

Thailand has had a long history of economic development. In recent years, Thailand began to focus on economic development initiatives a local level. The implementation process has been slow, but the introduction of social enterprise programs has proven a promising strategy in local economic development. Successful examples of economic development can be found in Thailand wherein this paper argues through collaboration between government agencies and local communities lies the key to success.

Qualitative techniques including a two months of fieldwork in Thailand, first hand observations, and appreciative inquiry interviews are used to analyze economic development initiatives in the communities of …

The Road To Recovery: Injured Athlete's Perspectives On Recovery Through Social Support, Brooke Kuhn

Master's Theses

Injured athletes’ perspectives on different aspect of their recovery process were analyzed using concepts such as social support, responsiveness, and self-disclosure based on three different sources: coaches, trainers, and teammates. 39 participants were used for this study. With an age range from 18-44 years old, the participants are both current college and former college athletes. Many of them ranged from the different types of sports played and at different divisional levels. 82.1% of participants were Caucasian, 12.8% were African American, and 5.1% selected other as their ethnicity. The results exemplify, through linear regression, that trainers are the most effective source …

Organized Chaos: Daily Routines As A Potential Mechanism Linking Household Chaos And Child Behavior Problems, Kristy L. Larsen

Master's Theses

Children living in chaotic households exhibit more externalizing behaviors. Child externalizing behavior, exhibited as early as the toddler and preschool years, is a risk factor for later maladjustment. Understanding the mechanisms linking household chaos to early externalizing behaviors is important since those mechanisms could be targeted as a point of intervention. The primary aim of this study was to examine daily routines as a potential mediator of the relation between household chaos and both child externalizing behavior and bedtime resistant behavior. A secondary aim was to examine different levels of routines (family routines, general daily child routines, and specific bedtime …

Exploring The Moderating Effects Of Aggression On The Relationship Between Negative Urgency And Suicidal Desire, Rachel L. Martin

Master's Theses

Suicide is a health concern with 44,965 deaths in 2016. Typical assessment of risk factors relies on self-report, which can be susceptible to underreporting. As such, non-face valid measures and innovative assessment approaches such as implicit association tests may help identify risk factors by eliminating conscious underreporting. The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior is an empirically supported theory hypothesizing why individuals die by suicide. The theory comprises three elements: thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and capability for suicide. Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness have been found to be non-face valid measures and less susceptible to conscious underreporting. Objective measures, such as …

The Economic Impact Of The 2018 Conference Usa Baseball Tournament On The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Jonathan Brent

Honors Theses

This study aims to measure the economic impact of the 2018 Conference USA Baseball Tournament on the Mississippi Gulf Coast compared to holding the college sporting event at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Visitor spending and demographic data was collected through random intercept surveys outside MGM Park in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Economic Modeling LLC (EMSI) Input-Output model was used to determine the economic and fiscal impact of visitor spending during the sporting event. The impact to the six-county coastal region and the state of Mississippi as a whole was analyzed. The EMSI model projected an increase of …

Motivations In Volunteer Tourism: The Mini-Mission Concept, Lindsey Hargrave

Honors Theses

In our increasingly globalized world, people have more access to each other than ever before. With the plight of those in faraway places more visible now, people have demonstrated a desire to help. In the last twenty years, the industry known as volunteer tourism has grown exponentially. From its roots as an eco-friendly alternative, this industry has evolved into a multibillion-dollar global phenomenon. As volunteer tourism evolved, many different subsets of this concept emerged. One of which includes the idea of a mini-mission. The mini-mission is traditionally a short, volunteer tourism trip, however, it also includes some religious aspects. Academics …

Contagious Or Not Contagious: Is That The Question? Evaluating The Effects Of Disease Contagion On Memory For Word Lists, Laura Pazos

Honors Theses

Researchers have suggested that individuals possess a disease-avoidance system designed to detect and remember potential sources of harmful pathogens, a system termed the behavioral immune system. Recently, Fernandes, Pandeirada, Soares, and Nairne (2017) reported an increase in memory for objects associated with individuals that are contaminated with a disease. My thesis extends this finding by examining whether disease-related memory benefits are due to the mere presence of a disease or whether the disease needs to be perceived as contagious and thereby threatening to facilitate memory. Two experiments, one between- and one within-subjects, were designed to test memory performance in the …

Religious Identity Influence On Ethnic Minority Youth Risky Behavior, Laquitta Simpson

Honors Theses

Previous studies have assessed religious identity in adolescents, showing that stronger religiosity correlates with lower levels of stress, better occupational and academic performances, and overall better well–being in adolescents and young adults (Koenig et al., 2001). There is also evidence of differences across races in how religiosity influences areas of adolescent behavior. The purpose of the current study is to identify the association between the strength of religiosity in White and Black at-risk youths and their involvement in risky behaviors. Data was gathered from teens aged 16-19 who are currently enrolled in a military-style residential program (n = 80); …

Social Skills Training And Generalization Of Skills In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Brittany Wright

Honors Theses

The social deficits observed in individiuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can often be improved with social skills training. The current study evaluated the effects of the Superheroes Social Skills training program which uses animated superheroes, video modeling, and comic books to teach social skills training. Three participants with ASD were trained in Conversation, Responding to Questions, and Body Basics over ten sessions, with sessions occurring twice a week in a non-school setting at the Arc of Southeast Mississippi. A multiple baseline across skills design across participants was used to examine the effects of the intervention on skill …

The Queer Student’S Agenda: Positive Relational, Educational, And Administrative Experiences From Recent Lgbtq High School Graduates In The Deep South, Jack Hoda

Honors Theses

The vast majority of research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) youth within secondary schools has focused on negative aspects of adolescent experiences such as victimization, suicidality, and depression. In addition, much recent sociological theory on the process of stigmatization suggests that these very ideas associated with LGBTQ identities become social stressors, requiring individuals to adapt to their stereotypical expectations. This study argues that academia’s focus on solely the negative experiences associated with marginalized identities, without due attention given to the positive, perpetuates the social expectations that these negative experiences are essential realities. To contribute to an emerging …

Patient-Perceived Stigma & Communication In Mental Healthcare: Predictors Of Medication Adherence And Mental Health Outcomes, Cameron A. Cloud

Honors Theses

Patients with mental illness often report feeling stigmatized by their mental healthcare providers, which may deter them from seeking care services altogether. Although workplace interventions can be implemented to reduce stigma, outcomes are limited and may not be long-lasting. The objectives of this study are to investigate which variables of interpersonal communication are significant predictors of medication adherence and mental health outcomes in patients with mental illness. This study surveyed 258 participants from the United States who were at least 18 years of age and reported seeing a mental healthcare provider and taking psychotropic medication within the past five years. …

Vulnerable Narcissism, Difficulties In Emotion Regulation, And Relational Aggression In College Students, Shelby E. Caffarel

Honors Theses

Relational aggression is a form of aggressive behavior involving the intentional infliction of harm to the victim’s sense of belonging, reputation, or social relationships. Although most of the research on relational aggression has focused on children and early adolescents, there is evidence that it can be a serious problem for college students as well. Several predictors of relational aggression have been identified, but the mechanisms through which many of them operate is not sufficiently clear. The present study examined the relationship of vulnerable narcissism and difficulties in emotion regulation to relational aggression in a college student sample. It was expected …

Perfectionism And Alcohol Use Outcomes In College Students: The Moderating Role Of Alcohol Protective Behavioral Strategies, Tiara Watson

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the moderating role of alcohol-protective behavioral strategy (PBS) types (stopping/limiting drinking – SLD; manner of drinking – MOD; serious harm reduction – SHR) on the relationships adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism have with alcohol misuse and alcohol-related negative consequences. Participants included 526 traditional-aged college students (M_age = 19.77, 80.7% female, 60.2% Caucasian/White non-Hispanic) who reported alcohol consumption in the past thirty days and completed measures of perfectionism, typical weekly drinking, alcohol-related negative consequences, and PBS use. PBS-SHR moderated the relationships between adaptive perfectionism and typical weekly drinking such that the negative …

The Impact Of The United States Presidential Administration On African American College Students, Latisha Swygert

Honors Theses

It has been shown that college students of color do not share the same experiences as their Caucasian counterparts, with students of color experiencing higher levels of harassment and lower levels of perceived campus safety (Rankin & Reason, 2005). The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and the subsequent Trump administration on college students of color, specifically African American college students, and the psychological distress that may have been caused by the consequences of a shift in the national political climate. Participants were college students ages 18 to 54 who completed …

Character Count Or Vote Count: How Social Media Has Shaped Modern Politics And Challenged The Meaning Of Civic Engagement, Hannah Scott

Honors Theses

Social media has taken the world and compressed it into a single button for all to access. As tactics and protocol has already changed, social media has reached its invisible hand into modern U.S. politics and has altered the landscape of political action. Through surveys, article analysis, and social media observation, this study examined how social media has changed modern civic engagement, if social media can even be considered civic ‘engagement’, and how it has separated itself from ‘traditional’ civic engagement. Through previous literature and a conducted survey, the finding of this study suggest that social media not only positively …

Exploring Financial Literacy Of Independent Musicians In The Gig Economy, Benjamin Milam

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the elements of the career of independent musicians. Specifically, how they overcome or fail to overcome the challenges of a gig economy through knowledge and ability to properly manage scarce financial resources. The research questions posed are as follows: (a) Does higher financial literacy allow independent musicians to sustain and improve their career in the gig economy? (b) How do independent musicians use financial literacy to sustain their career? (c) How does industry experience affect the ability of independent artists to effectively allocate financial resources? To answer these research questions, …

Peer Vs. Professional: Assessing The Communicative Experience Of Student Orientation Leaders, Casey M. Ford

Honors Theses

Current literature reveals that peer-leadership is valuable and integral within institutions of higher learning. While extensive research reveals how peer-leaders benefit the overall student experience and contribute to institutional recruitment and retention, (Tinto, 2012) little research has considered the actual experience of student peer-leaders. The current study considers the communicative challenges and triumphs student orientation leaders encounter in their roles as students and university ambassadors. During a university’s new student orientation, student orientation leaders function as both student leaders and university professionals; they serve as liaisons between students, their parents and families, and the university they represent, often working as …

Attitudes Of Men And Women Toward Sexual Assault: The Role Of Stigma, Self-Stigma, And Gender Roles, Annie Hendricks

Honors Theses

Sexual assault is an issue pervaded with stigmas, whether imposed on a person from a social source or from oneself. Stigmas have shown to be harmful to a survivor’s recovery from trauma (Deitz, Williams, Rife, & Cantrell, 2015) and may influence whether or not a survivor of sexual assault reports an incident of sexual assault (Spencer, Mallory, Toews, Stith, & Wood, 2017). One factor that contributes to internalizing a stigma to form a self-stigma is the anticipated reaction a survivor faces when he or she discloses an incident of sexual abuse (Murray, Crowe, & Overstreet, 2018). To determine how gender …

Music Scenes, The Creative Economy, And Changing Your Backyard, William Ford

Honors Theses

City branding has become a popular tactic by cities looking to improve economic development, reputation, or attract tourists and businesses to move to its specific town or city especially with music branding. However, much of the research on city branding focuses on massive international cities.

This project focuses on how city branding can be implemented in a smaller setting, but more specifically how the uniqueness of a smaller town’s music scene can be the catalyst to an effective city brand. To do this, data from the Levitt Foundation was analyzed to get a better grasp on what qualities a smaller …

Direct Behavior Observations And Teachers' Ratings Of Internalizing Problem Behaviors, Lauren R. Parker

Honors Theses

Systematic direct observation is a commonly used method in schools to compile data on students' behavior in a naturalistic setting. Internalizing problem behaviors, behaviors such as social withdrawal, somatic complaints, and anxiousness, can lead to adverse consequences and have not, to the researchers' knowledge, been systematically observed in a classroom setting. Additionally, students have never been identified for intervention through direct observation. The researchers administered the Student Internalizing Behavior Screener (SIBS), which is a 7-item, teacher-completed, Likert-type scale which measures occurrences of internalizing problem behaviors. Once scores from the SIBS were calculated, students who scored at-risk were chosen for observation …

The Rebel Made Me Do It: Mascots, Race, And The Lost Cause, Patrick Smith

Dissertations

Public memory is commonly tied to street names, toponyms, and monuments because they are interacted with daily and are often directly associated with race, class, and regimes of power. Mascots are not thought of in the same manner although they are present as part of everyday life. The childish or sometimes comedic nature of the mascot discounts it from many considerations of its influence, symbolism and history. Nonetheless this research focuses on the term “Rebel” as a secondary school mascot. The term possesses the trappings of race because the American vernacular ties the word to the Confederate States of America …

In-Feed Native Advertisement On News Websites: Effects Of Advertising Format, Website Reputation, And Product Involvement, Lijie Zhou, Fei Xue

Faculty Publications

Focusing on two popular types of native advertising, endemic in-feed advertisements and linked in-feed advertisements, the current study examined the effects of advertising format, website reputation, and product involvement on perceived advertising credibility (trustworthiness and expertise), attitude toward the advertisement, brand interest, and purchase intention. In general, endemic in-feed advertisements were rated more favorably on source expertise and brand interest, while linked in-feed advertisements scored higher on attitude toward the advertisement. Three-way interaction effects were found for source trustworthiness, attitude toward the advertisement, brand interest, and purchase intention. Endemic in-feed advertisements showed stronger impact for the high-involvement product on a …

Understanding Farm Households' Participation In Nong Jia Le In China, Tie Wang, Wei Wang, Zhongjun Wu, Ching-Hui Su, Ming-Hsiang Chen

Faculty Publications

As the dominant form of rural tourism (RT) in China, Nong Jia Le (NJL) has made it possible for local farm households to benefit. In this article, a four-step strategy based on binary logistic regression was introduced to identify the most important factors influencing the participation of farm households in NJL. Next, a comparative study based on data from two NJL communities was conducted to test the approach and identify the most important influential factors as well as the differences. The results showed that the approach could identify the optimal model and the most influential factors in different rural communities. …

Multifractality Of Posture Modulates Multisensory Perception Of Stand-On-Ability, Jonathan K. Doyon, Alen Hajnal, Tyler Surber, Joseph D. Clark, Damian G. Kelty-Stephen

Faculty Publications

By definition, perception is a multisensory process that unfolds in time as a complex sequence of exploratory activities of the organism. In such a system perception and action are integrated, and multiple energy arrays are available simultaneously. Perception of affordances interweaves sensory and motor activities into meaningful behavior given task constraints. The present contribution offers insight into the manner in which perception and action usher the organism through competent functional apprehension of its surroundings. We propose that the tensegrity structure of the body, manifested via multifractality of exploratory bodily movements informs perception of affordances. The affordance of stand-on-ability of ground …

The Roots Of Community: A Local Librarian's Resource For Discovering, Documenting And Sharing The History Of Library Services To African Americans In Their Communities, Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

Intended for current library professionals, this toolkit provides a theoretical basis for completing public history projects about libraries and explores specific project types, selected best practices and related resources. It divides into three major sections: Part 1, “Planning,” Part 2 “Gathering” and Part 3, “Sharing.” Respectively, these sections cover the preparation, collection and communication tasks of research projects and, where appropriate, offer readers several types of potentially useful resources. Many of these resources—forms, letters, standards, examples of evidence—were used for the author’s Roots of Community project and appear as examples of resources deemed suitable for that project. In other instances, …

Comparing Forward And Backward Chaining In Teaching Olympic Weightlifting, James W. Moore, Laura M. Quintero

Faculty Publications

The popularity of Olympic‐style weightlifting in fitness routines is growing, but participating in these exercises with improper technique places lifters at increased risk for injury. Fitness training professionals have developed multiple teaching strategies, but have not subjected these strategies to systematic evaluation, particularly with novice lifters. Two strategies recommended by professional training organizations are akin to forward and backward chaining, which have been shown effective at teaching other novel, complex behaviors. The present study compared these forward‐ and backward‐chaining‐like strategies to teach novice lifters “the clean” and “the snatch,” two Olympic weightlifting movements frequently incorporated into high‐intensity training programs. Participants …

The Socio-Economic Impact Of The Disproportionate Occurrence Of Asthma In The State Of Mississippi: Should Reporting Be Mandated?, Lolita D. Gray, Jahniah Grimsley, Jabria Pearson

Journal of Health Ethics

The state of Mississippi continues to experience a disproportionate occurrence of asthma among its citizens and various associated socioeconomic impacts. The objective of this study seeks to gauge the perception of the participants in regards to this asthma disparity. Specifically, research questions seek responses to following: 1) Will mandated, systematic reporting of asthma occurrences among socioeconomically disadvantaged communities effectively address the asthma disparity and lead to a better quality of life? and 2) Will mandated, systematic reporting of asthma increase the socioeconomic impact among these communities? This cross-sectional study employs a case study methodology utilizing various research techniques, i.e. interviews, …