Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Trauma Related Predictors Of Dissociation In Maltreated Youth, Amanda L. Mraz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Maltreated youth who experience traumatic dissociation are at an increased risk for various psychopathological difficulties. Much is still unknown about the machinations behind experiences of dissociation post-trauma. This study aimed to identify variables that place maltreated youth at risk for experiencing traumatic dissociation (e.g., dissociative amnesia, absorption and imaginative involvement, passive influence, depersonalization and derealization, and total adolescent dissociative experiences symptoms (A-DES)). Investigatory variables included demographic (e.g., age, gender, and racial identity), cognitive (e.g., resiliency and posttraumatic cognitions), and psychological (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) and anxiety) factors. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis was utilized to observe the …

Cultural Mechanism Of Mothers' Perceptions Of Youth Psychopathology, Yen-Ling Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cross-cultural research systematically identifies variations in cultural practices, meanings, and responses across different cultural groups. For example, psychiatric symptoms vary in their salience and degree to which they are reported across cultures. Cultural differences in causal attributions likely lead to differences in an individual’s help-seeking intention. However, there are limitations in previous cross-cultural studies about perceptions of psychopathology, including not measuring impairment level and parental distress, as well as the problematic use of categorical variables as predictors. To overcome limitations in previous work, the current project examined the cultural mechanism of mothers’ perceptions of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology in youth. …

The Psychopathology Circumplex+: A Novel Conceptualization Of Psychopathology And Associated Measure, Edward A. Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Fearless Dominance (FD) and Impulsive Antisociality (IA) are two personality traits often used in the study of psychopathic personality. FD is characterized by a lack of empathy, resilience to stress, and social potency, while IA is marked by impulsivity, selfishness, and manipulativeness. The current trio of studies sought to expand the use of FD and IA to assess psychopathology more generally. Study 1 consisted of a meta-analysis of all the relationships between FD/IA and various forms of psychopathology. Results affirmed that FD and IA each correlate with a variety of different psychological disorders, each to varying degrees of magnitude, but …

Identifying Clinical Profiles In A Community Sample Of Youth With Selective Mutism, Melanie Rede

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Selective mutism (SM) refers to a consistent failure to speak in social situations that have an expectation for speaking, despite fluent speech in other situations (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Recent researchers describe SM as a heterogeneous disorder not always characterized by anxiety (Driessen et al., 2020). Specifically, some have argued that SM may be better explained as a neurodevelopmental rather than an anxiety disorder (Kearney & Rede, 2021). The aim of the present study was to find unique classes for anxiety, oppositional, and communication difficulties among youth with SM. Participants included 129 caregivers of youth with SM aged 6–14 years …

Examination Of Performance Validity And The Relationship To Cognition And Symptoms In Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Erick A. Rogers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Approximately one-in-five individuals with psychotic disorders (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum disorders [SSD]) fail performance validity indicators (PVIs) during neurocognitive testing. Ensuring the validity of neurocognitive test results is necessary if the test scores are to be of use for diagnostic consideration, intervention selection and planning, predicting outcomes, and following changes in cognition over time in response to intervention, spontaneous recovery, or disease progression. PVIs are designed to require only a minimum level of engagement with the evaluation, which means nearly everyone is expected to “pass,” even those with moderate to severe brain damage. Traditional interpretations of PVI failure suggest a noncredible …

Offender Reintegration In Nevada: A Longitudinal Study Focusing On Transitional Challenges, Reentry Capital, And Recidivism, Carolyn S. Willis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Offender reintegration (reentry) depends on offender motivation, public policies, community efforts, and resources provided through government and nonprofit sectors. As individuals are released from incarceration and reintegrate into the community, they are often dependent on resources provided by different service providers and the community. The role of the community is crucial as resources are oftentimes not accessible. Lack of employment and housing, mental health issues, substance abuse, and the inability to reestablish personal relationships diminish the prospects of successful reintegration and increase the chances of reincarceration. Reentry capital delivered through community-based programs addresses the transitional issues justice-impacted individuals encounter post-incarceration. …

Measurement Invariance Of Impact In Bilingual And Monolingual High School Athletes, Hana Cecilia Kuwabara

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Given the reported negative consequences of sport related concussion (SRC), establishing the validity of concussion management tools is essential if they are used to determine the severity of concussion, track recovery or decline, implement effective interventions, and assist in return-to-play decision making. Previous research has found cognitive and symptoms differences on ImPACT, the most widely used SRC assessment measure, between monolingual and bilingual student athletes. Before further investigation of these differences can occur, measurement invariance of ImPACT must be established to ensure that differences are not attributable to measurement error. The current study has two aims: 1) to replicate a …

The Relationship Between Psychopathy And Sexism Across Self-Report, Vignette, And Novel Dialogue Tree Tasks, Arianne Fisher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Psychopathy is a personality construct consisting of a number of traits often associated with what many consider to be the “dark side” of personality. Multiple models and associated measurement tools have been created in an attempt to conceptualize psychopathy, but the field has not reached a consensus in its definition of this construct at this time. Across models, psychopathy is associated with a number of negative attitudes and behaviors, including various forms of prejudice. The relationship between psychopathy and one form of prejudice has not been examined, constituting a serious gap in the literature. This form of prejudice is ambivalent …

Examining The Factor Structures Of The Erq-Ca, Rcads, And Rsca To Identify Unique Predictors Of Ptsd Symptom Clusters In Maltreated Youth, Amanda N. Howard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Youth who have experienced maltreatment have a higher risk of developing posttraumatic disorder (PTSD), which is associated with poorer mental and behavioral health outcomes including emotion dysregulation, anxiety, depression, and lower resiliency. At present, the literature largely focuses on youth who have experienced general trauma or PTSD symptoms, while maltreated youth are vastly understudied. The present investigation was the first study to date to examine the factor structures of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA), the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), and the Resiliency Scale for Children and Adolescents (RSCA) in a sample of maltreated …

Clinical Utility Of The Substance Use Items Of The Sport Interference Checklist In Collegiate Athletes, Igor Kowal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Collegiate sports are growing in popularity (National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2022) and pressure to perform (van Raalte & Posteher, 2019); leading to difficulties in collegiate athletes’ mental health (Rice et al., 2016), particularly in regard to increased substance use (Wilson et al., 2021). Current literature demonstrates that existing substance use assessments are most likely not answered truthfully by athletes (van den Berg et al., 2018), are not applicable to real-world contexts, can be intrusive, and are expensive to administer. In the current study, psychometric properties of items from a self-report measure of substance use interference with sport training and competition …

Initial Development And Psychometric Evaluation Of The Mental Health Optimization Checklist (Mhoc), Raymond E. López

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: The Mental Health Optimization Checklist (MHOC) is a proposed measure which utilizes the theory of optimization science to improve mental health outcomes. Psychopathology is typically viewed dichotomously (i.e., does or does not have a disorder) or through cut-off criterion (i.e., 4 out of 5 symptoms, total scores), whereas optimization views psychopathology on a continuum on which patients can optimize factors impacting their mental health. Optimization theory is important for reducing stigma around mental health treatment and the MHOC offers itself as an informative psycho-diagnostic tool.

Methods: An undergraduate student sample (n = 682) completed the MHOC and the Symptom …

Examining Reflexive Communication Following A Break In Alcohol Abstinence, Lynda Kay Maxfield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over 107 million individuals are thought to have alcohol use disorder (AUD) (Ritchie & Roser, 2018). Discontinuing drinking can be difficult, but social support is thought to promote sobriety efforts. The r/stopdrinking online public community supports such efforts. This study has two broad aims: (1) explore how resilience building might occur on r/stopdrinking among initial users disclosing an abstinence disruption and responses from other users; and, (2) explore possible relationships, within initial posts, between resilience and three other phenomena (i.e., trauma, stated views of Alcoholics Anonymous, statements reflecting the transtheoretical model’s ten processes of change; Prochaska & Prochaska, 2021). To …

Fear Of Recurrence As A Mediator Of Illness Perception And Perceived Stress In Acute Myocardial Infarction Survivors, Sarah E. Zvonar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate fear of recurrence as a mediator of illness perception and perceived stress. This research will determine how illness perceptions and fear of recurrence affect perceived stress in the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) population. Other aims will observe how demographics predict patients who may experience increased fear of recurrence and stress in the AMI population, how the variables of fear of recurrence change over time, and if fear of recurrence is still a significant mediator after controlling for depression and anxiety.Rational/ Conceptual Basis/ Background: Acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) are often accompanied …

Examining The Effects Of Perspective-Taking And Empathetic Concern On Attractiveness Biases In Millennial And Generation X Adults, Stephanie Verba-Quinones

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examined the effects of perspective-taking and empathetic concern on attractiveness biases and stereotypes in Generation X and Millennial adults. Such biases and stereotypes are pervasive and can lead to preferential treatment and differential outcomes for individuals of varying attractiveness levels (see Langlois et al., 2000 for review). Previous research suggests that social media may amplify the importance placed on attractiveness, particularly for women (Fardouly et al., 2015; Perloff, 2014; Tiggemann et al., 2014; Toma & Hancock, 2018). Given the negative impacts of biases and stereotypes, this study sought to investigate pathways to reduce attractiveness biases and stereotypes …

Coercive Sexuality: The Effect Of Early Victimization On One’S Views And Attitudes Toward Sex, Kevin Elias Hoover

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The prevalence of childhood sexual abuse is difficult to assess but research is growing on possible long-term consequences of this victimization. Two areas of concern are potential repeat victimization and changed attitudes toward the coercive nature of sexuality. Children who have their sexual boundaries violated at a young age may be more likely to experience sexual assault later in life (Scoglio et al., 2021). Research continues to confirm that many sexual abusers were in fact abused themselves as children (King et al., 2019). This research seeks to make connections between these experiences of sexual victimization and support for coercive sexual …

Development And Initial Validation Of The Mindful Self-Regulated Learning Scale (M-Srls), Sarah Wolff

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Modern mindfulness is a catch-all term. Just exactly what it looks like within the context of education and how it is taught vastly varies. As such, program fidelity and integrity is questioned. Here a definition of mindful self-regulated learning is proposed and the Mindful Self-Regulated Learning Scale (m-SRLS) is developed. This includes item generation and development, systematic testing of item performance, scale dimensionality, convergent and divergent validity, measurement invariance across groups and subgroups, and scale reliability over a series of five pilot studies and five primary studies using independent samples. The resulting m-SRLS is a context specific measurement tool that …

The Role Of Style In Community Identity And Group Affiliation: An Archaeological Study Of Virgin And Kayenta Branch Ceramics, Daniel Melvin Perez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research focuses on the Virgin Branch heartland of the North American Southwest, an archaeological area spanning southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and northwestern Arizona. The interplay of Virgin Branch community identity, group affiliation, and social interaction over time, between ca. 300 B.C. and A.D. 1225, is considered intra-regionally and in the context of interactions with neighboring Kayenta Branch populations of northeastern Arizona. The principal question for this research is: How is Virgin Branch group identity communicated and reflected through expressions of technological and painted designs styles on pottery amidst intra- and inter-regional events and interactions over time? Support for this …

The Role Of Small Puebloan Architectural Sites On The Southern Shivwits Plateau, William M. Willis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This work concerns itself with the Virgin Branch Pueblo of the southern Shivwits Plateau. Within their settlement systems lies considerable variation in terms of architectural sites. The smallest of these sites are often referred to as fieldhouses, a term that has distinct meaning within the archaeological discourse of the American Southwest. Fieldhouses are seasonally occupied structures used by Puebloan people during the agricultural growing season. They arise out of the necessity of land tenure systems that evolve in response to growing competition for arable land in the face of population pressure and finite resources. This research finds that the small …

Individual Differences In Police Officers’ Decision Styles In Order Maintenance Policing, Damarrah Elisheba Jameson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Day-to-day police work tends to be in order maintenance policing. These encounters necessitate officer discretion in decision responses to manage them. These decision responses reflect an officer’s decision style which precedes the encounter and drives subsequent decision making to manage them. However, little is known about officer-level decision style. For example, whether an officer has a rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, or spontaneous decision style (Scott& Bruce, 1995). Police training in any format often lacks attention to decision styles. As such, an officer’s decision style is most likely associated with demographics (e.g., age, gender) and occupational self-efficacy – a reflection of …

Black Girl Magic: History, Identity, And Spirituality In Contemporary Fantasy And Science-Fiction, Taylore Fox

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2013, activist and social media influencer CaShawn Thompson composed a Tweet claiming, “Black Girls Are Magic,” which shortened to the hashtag “#BlackGirlMagic.” As the hashtag began to circulate social media, the phrase birthed a digital movement that celebrated the beauty, accomplishments, and mere presence of Black women and girls. This project argues that Black Girl Magic, operating as a social and literary framework, combats the injustice, inequality, and lack of respect and representation that Black women and girls faced in the past and continue to face today. In Black Girl Magic literature, Black women characters perform literal and figurative …

Finish This Over Drinks? A Study Of Sexual Harassment Perceptions, Hannah E. Barti

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The awareness of sexual harassment has been growing within the workplace, in the home, and within public areas. The #MeToo movement has shined light on this issue in recent years. This study aimed to understand how college students perceive sexual harassment within three scenarios: a music student and their teacher, two coworkers, and between an academic advisor and an adult student. This study included 531 responses from a diverse student population at a Southwest university. Consistent with previous findings, women were more likely to recognize sexually harassing behaviors. There were no significant gender differences in blame attribution in any of …

“But What About Me?”: How Memorable Messages Received During Catholic Sex Education Contribute To The Development Of Identity Gaps, Hannah Novak

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Sex education in the United States is a widely debated issue. Christians have supported abstinence-based education in the United States for decades (Dent & Maloney, 2017). There are numerous studies that have examined how abstinence sex education is faulty, specifically religious sex education (Judge, 2020; Levand & Ross, 2021; Rasmussen, 2010; Reuther, 2008). Studies found that religious sex education led to mental, physical, and emotional health disparities in the United States (Baker et al., 2015; Nelson et al., 2017). This study explored how memorable messages received in Catholic sex education led to the formation of identity gaps in participants' lives. …

Developmental Differences In School Climate Predictors Of Chronic School Absenteeism, Michael Fensken

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

School attendance problems (SAPs) represent a critical developmental challenge for youth. SAPs represent a spectrum from difficulties attending school despite complete school attendance to complete absence. Ongoing SAPs can lead to chronic absenteeism, which may be defined as missing 8.3–10.0% (15–18 days) of school in an academic year. However, debate exists over the utility of a demarcation for chronic absenteeism. A shortcoming of cutoffs to defining problematic chronic absenteeism is that demographic, academic, symptom, and family variables are not delineated clearly. Yet, the present intervention frameworks (e.g., multi-tiered systems of supports models; MTSS) rely on clear delineations of such variables …

Comparing Comics And Illustrated Texts In Multimedia Learning, Jackson S. Pelzner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to examine how different forms of media, in particular science comics and illustrated texts, contribute to different patterns of learning. While the standard illustrated text seen in a textbook has been a useful tool for instruction, science comics appear to be an alternative that could be used in lieu of media that use the traditional illustrated text format. The comic format, known more for its visual appeal to readers, is consistent with the principles of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer, 2009), though comprehension may require different mechanisms (Cohn, 2013a). It was hypothesized …

Gender Differences In Internalizing Problems And Everyday Behaviors Associated With Executive Function In Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hiroko Mullner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience internalizing problems, and there was evidence suggesting that poor executive function (EF) predicted their internalizing problems. However, this association was primarily found in studies with male children with ASD. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate gender differences in internalizing problems and everyday EF in ASD children (age 5-15) and examined the associations between internalizing problems and everyday EF.Method: This study examined neuropsychological assessment data of ASD children without intellectual disability. The study consisted of two groups: 1. ASD boys (n = 44), 2. ASD girls (n = 15). The study …

The Transaction Costs Of Federal Environmental Policy Changes: The Effects Of The Temporary Covid-19 Cwa Rollback On Local Water Systems, Jesse Lee Barnes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An institutional dilemma exists between the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). US surface waters are protected from point-source pollution by the CWA. Community Water Systems (CWSs) that draw from these surface waters for potable purposes are required to treat that water to a level that meets SDWA health standards. Therefore, decreases in CWA regulations could lead to surface water quality declines and, thus, higher SDWA compliance costs for CWSs. This area of inquiry has become increasingly relevant due to Trump-era executive actions to try to decrease the federal government's role in multiple environmental policies, …

A Cultural History Of Anti-Feminism In Marvel's Scarlet Witch, Madison M. Kooba

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Marvel Comics character Wanda Maximoff, otherwise known as the Scarlet Witch, has received significant attention in popular culture due to her recent appearances as the primary protagonist and antagonist in television show WandaVision (2021) and film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). These depictions foregrounding Wanda’s struggles with mental health have made her an admirable character to many who see her drawing power from her emotions as a celebration of aspects of womanhood that have long been shamed by society. Sourcing these contemporary adaptations, however, lies decades of blatantly anti-feminist and sexist comics that villainize and ridicule Wanda’s …

The Impact Of Local Broadband Access On High School Graduation Rates, Eugen Brazdil

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The United States government has been funding infrastructure expansions and upgrades to bring Internet access to schools and households. While this broadband funding has increased access and adoption, it is unclear how improvements in Internet access affect student performance because Internet access has both productivity and distraction effects. The Internet provides students with access to vast amounts of educational content, instructional videos and other valuable resources that increase productivity. It also provides students access to social media, video games and other forms of entertainment that distract students and reduce student performance. While the literature shows that advances in technology (computers) …

Supervision In The Digital Age: Online Sexual Solicitation Of Children And Youth, Kaitlyn Taylor Swanberg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the creation of the internet, offenders have been using cyberspace as a means to solicit children and adolescents for sexual content. With children having unrestricted access to the internet at an earlier age than ever before, it is crucial for academics to better understand the digital world in order to protect children online. This study aims to understand the relationship between internet activities, age, and online sexual solicitation largely using an environmental criminology framework, utilizing the Routine Activities Theory by Cohen and Felson (1979) and Target Congruence Theory by Finkelhor and Asdigian (1996). The sample of this study consisted …

The In/Visible Stockade: Sex Offender Management, Governmentality, And The Search For Normal Life, Christopher Wakefield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the past thirty-five years, the United States has seen a dramatic expansion of regulatory policy around individuals convicted of sexual offenses. Sex offender management policies include national and state registries, notification laws, treatment mandates, residency restrictions, and numerous exclusions from institutions. A growing body of research from sociologists and criminologists has tracked the effects of this sex offender regime by measuring recidivism and collateral consequences among released offenders. Less attention has been paid to how sex offenders adapt to their regulator context—especially the selective public visibility that the registry generates. Furthermore, sociological scholarship has not yet developed strong theoretical …