Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of Prosody On Preschool Children’S Emotional, Cognitive, And Behavioral-Eye And Behavioral-Body Engagement During Story Time, Trevor Rowe

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many children have insufficient early literacy experiences and fail to obtain proficient emergent literacy before they enter kindergarten. Reading to young children has been positively linked to improving their emergent literacy. Numerous factors influence how engaged children are while being read to including the adult’s prosody, receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental design, this study sought to understand the association among prosody, child engagement (emotional, cognitive, behavioral-eye, and behavioral-body), receptive vocabulary, and the home literacy environment. The sample included 76 3- to 5-year-old children from local child care centers and their parents. To understand the …

The Ideal Educator: Investigating Teaching Culture And Teaching Styles Through Teacher Self-Efficacy And Social Acceptance, Jared R. Glenn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previously collected data from the Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS 2013) is utilized to examine two hypotheses. First, I investigated whether teachers who perform well in their jobs also tend to be popular friend choices among colleagues and administrators. Second, if there were evidence to support the first hypothesis, I examined whether these popular teachers also had a particular style of managing their classrooms.

While popular opinion often suggests that education is a one-size-fits-all method of sharing knowledge, actual educational methods actually change from place to place and country to country (Ho and Hau, 2004; Malinen et al, 2013). …

Interpreting Risk: Variations And Explanations Of Resident Perceptions Of Hydraulic Fracturing Impacts, Adrian B. Uzunian

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hydraulic fracturing has increasingly become a global phenomenon that has induced the public to be suspicious of the impacts of this process. As this new process has been fraught with controversy, it is important to gain further understanding of how different people perceive the risks associated with oil and gas development. Focusing on the Eagle Ford Shale region, located in South Texas, I examine how social position and source of information is related to perception of environmental and health risks. I do this by conducting a qualitative analysis of interviews from two counties experiencing hydraulic fracturing development, examining the most …

Staff Interactions And Affect In Persons With Dementia: An Observational Study Of A Memory Care Unit, Keirstin V. Meyer

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

It is estimated that the number of people in the United States living with dementia in 2015 will nearly triple by the year 2050. With no cure for dementia, we are faced with providing care in a way that maximizes well-being. The majority of prior research focused on the best ways to reduce behavioral problems and mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety. The objective of this study was to increase knowledge about the social influences on well-being in persons with dementia, particularly from staff in residential memory care units. This study found that the most common interaction type from …

Refugee And Employer Perceptions Of The Effects Of Capital On Refugee Employability In Utah, Christian L. Fritz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology Department at Utah State University conducted a state-wide needs assessment of refugees in Utah for the Utah
Department of Workforce Services. Using the data collected for this project, I analyzed the interview transcripts of twenty-four participants in the study including eight employers of refugees, eight Iraqi refugees, and eight Burmese refugees. I looked at the skills, education, finances, personal connections, personal attitudes, and cultural knowledge of the refugees and compared those to the desires of the employers of
refugees.

I found that the employers favored refugee employees because they work hard and do not …

Lived Experience Of Young Widowed Individuals, Eunicia Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Young widowhood is a unique experience that has received little in-depth attention in research and clinical settings. Their experiences may differ from other types of losses, particularly from losses that are typically expected to happen later in life. The present study treated the lived experiences of young men and women who have experiences the loss of a spouse. Eleven men and women between the ages of 18 and 49 were interviewed about their experiences post-loss using phenomenological methods. After coding for similarities and differences between the experiences, five themes emerged in all eleven interviews: (1) relationship, (2) first reactions, (3) …

Bringing The States Back In: Institutional Determinants Of State Level Immigration Policies, Paul D. Jacobs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For the record 42 million immigrants residing in the U.S., the ease with which they can integrate into society is heavily determined by what state they reside in. While immigration policy formation at the state level is new due to the historical supremacy that the federal government has had on this issue, the federal stalemate at the federal level has led the states to pass more than 1,500 immigration laws since 2005. How states come to enact inclusive or exclusionary immigration policies is not well understood. Previous scholarship has examined many important predictors of these inclusive or exclusionary laws, but …

The Role Of Sexual Communication In Committed Relationships, Adam C. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this Master's thesis, I describe a study to understand the role that sexual communication plays within committed couple relationships. I used data from a sample of 142 couples who completed an online survey consisting of a battery of quantitative assessments measuring relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, communication processes, and sexual communication.

Through path analysis, a statistical tool that tests relationships between variables, I observed the impact that sexual communication has within couple relationships. In my findings, I highlight the differences between the "what" and "how" behind couples' communications about sex. I examined these findings by gender and found important differences …

Perceived Alzheimer's Disease Threat As A Predictor Of Behavior Change To Lower Disease Risk: The Gray Matters Study, Christine Clark

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alzheimer’s disease is a growing public health concern with an estimated five million Americans currently afflicted. That number is projected to triple by 2050 as the baby boomer generation approaches age 65, the most common age where people begin to show symptoms of cognitive decline stemming from changes in the brain related to Alzheimer’s. Since there is currently no cure or preventive pharmacological treatment, AD prevention research is now recognized as an important enterprise. Modifiable lifestyle factors that can reduce AD risk or delay its onset have been identified as reasonable targets for behavioral intervention, including increased physical activity, healthier …