Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Which Voices Matter? Ballot Initiatives, Marijuana, And Legislative Paternalism In Utah, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Drivers headed toward Salt Lake City on I-15 are sure to notice two things—the breathtaking Wasatch mountain range (when the thickness of inversion doesn’t obscure it) and a striking number of billboard ads warning citizens of the dangers of the misuse of opioids. This is not without good reason—Utah ranks 9th on the CDC’s list of states hit the hardest by opioid overdose. Misuse of opioids is responsible for 23 deaths every month, according to the Utah Department of Health. Empathy is called for when it comes to addiction in general, and addiction to opioids in particular. After all, many …

Geochemical Data From Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico, Anna S. Cohen, Daniel E. Pierce

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Included here are geochemical concentrations (ppm) of ceramic artifacts and clay samples from the archaeological site of Angamuco, Mexico. Additional data include maps and photographs of the ceramic samples. Concentrations were measured via Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis and are available here asAppendix B. These data complement the discussions and interpretations in “Geochemical Analysis and Spatial Trends of Ceramics and Clay from Angamuco, Michoacán”[1].

Making A Murderer, Brain Fingerprinting, And The Ownership Of Thoughts, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In 2015, Netflix released the first season of the docu-series Making a Murderer. The series follows the story of convicted murderer Steven Avery. Avery’s case is noteworthy because, in 1985, he was wrongfully convicted for the rape and attempted murder of Penny Beernsten. The Innocence Project used DNA technology that did not exist at the time at which Avery was convicted to prove that Avery was innocent and that a different man had committed the crime. Avery was released in 2003 and subsequently filed a $36 million lawsuit for unlawful conviction against Manitowoc County, among others.

Examing Patterns Of Intended Response To Tornado Warnings Among Residents Of Tennessee, United States, Through A Latent Class Analysis Approach, Jayme E. Walters, Lisa Reyes Mason, Kelsey N. Ellis

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

In the past five years, the southern region of the United States has had a large number of fatal tornadoes. Previous research indicates that residents of this area may not be taking appropriate shelter. The present study uses a random sample of Tennessee residents (N = 1126) and the latent class analysis (LCA) technique to explore discrete types of responders according to their pattern of intended behaviors when presented with a tornado warning scenario in the daytime or nighttime. LCA revealed three distinct groups in the day subsample – Tech Users, Typical Actors, and Passive Reactors – and three in …

Communicating Information On Nature-Related Topics: Preferred Information Channels And Trust In Sources, Emily J. Wilkins, Holly M. Miller, Elizabeth Tilak, Rudy M. Schuster

Environment and Society Student Research

How information is communicated influences the public’s environmental perceptions and behaviors. Information channels and sources both play an important role in the dissemination of information. Trust in a source is often used as a proxy for whether a particular piece of information is credible. To determine preferences for information channels and trust in various sources for information on nature-related topics, a mail-out survey was sent to randomly selected U.S. addresses (n = 1,030). Diverse groups of people may have differing communication preferences. Therefore, we explored differences in channel preferences and trust by demographics using regression models. Overall, the most preferred …

Replication Data For "Can You Take The Heat" Heat-Health Symptoms Are Associated With Protective Behaviors, Emily D. Esplin, Jennifer R. Marlon, Anthony Leiserowitz, Peter D. Howe

Browse all Datasets

This dataset contains survey data of the U.S. adult population that includes self-reported heat-health symptoms, protective behaviors implemented during heat waves, and perceptions of how a heat wave would affect personal health and the health of others. Temperature estimates of what participants may have experienced the summer prior to the survey are included at the county level. Demographic variables and spatial scales by region, state, and county are also included.

Feminism In Fracking: An Analyzation Of Women's Activism Regarding Hydraulic Fracturing, Taya Godfrey

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Purpose: To discover what motivates women to be involved in anti-fracking activism as to encourage further female activism.

Residents' Opinions On Fracking In Utah, Kelsey Gale

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release gas inside.

Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.

This can be a very controversial topic, especially in the Western United States where fracking is a major part of the economic growth of the states.

The public forms opinions both negative and positive regarding fracking in the state of Utah.

Studies have been done to discover the impacts, good or …

How Do We Treat Eating Disorder?, Jasmine Guanzon

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Eating Disorder is a mental health disability that affects an individual’s physical and mental health. There are different types of eating disorder: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, pica, rumination, orthorexia and etc. The earliest documentation of an eating disorder diagnosis occurred between 12th and 13th century, since then, the number of cases for this illness continues to grow (Deans, 2011). A common misconception about eating disorder is that only women suffer from this illness, however, there were documented cases of men suffering from this disorder since 1888 (Strother, 2012). There are multiple treatments offered in order to reduce and …

Kids Killing Kids: A Look Into Mental Illness, Adolescence, And Mass Murder, Levi Cragun

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Violence in America has been on a decline since the 1990’s. Active shooters have seemed to be on the rise and ever present in the media (See Figure 1).

Society searches for the cause of these acts of violence. Typical answers to violence may not be sufficient to answering for violence on this scale. One hypothesis is mental illness.

Mental illness is not normally linked to violent behavior (Stuart, 2003). However, with differences in brain development and lack of literature, mentally ill adolescents may be an exception.

With this in mind, researchers ask the following questions; Are rates of mental …

Internet Use And The Transgender Experience: Does Social Media Have A Positive Effect On The Lives Of Transgender, Nonbinary, And Gender-Nonconforming People?, Llewynn Roberts

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

How does social media, along with other internet sites, effect the lives of transgender people?

The Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces), Melissa Wells

Fall Student Research Symposium 2018

Childhood trauma, also known as Adverse Childhood experiences (ACEs) can affect every aspect of a person’s life until the day they die.

Priming Of Grasping Muscles When Viewing A Safety Handle Is Diminished With Age, David A.E. Bolton, Sarah E. Schwartz, Manhoud Mansour, Garrett Rydalch, Douglas W. Mcdannald

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Merely viewing objects within reachable space can activate motor cortical networks and potentiate movement. This holds potential value for smooth interaction with objects in our surroundings, and could offer an advantage for quickly generating targeted hand movements (e.g. grasping a support rail to maintain stability). The present study investigated if viewing a wall-mounted safety handle resulted in automatic activation of motor cortical networks, and if this effect changes with age. Twenty-five young adults (18–30 years) and seventeen older adults (65+ years) were included in this study. Single-pulse, transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the motor cortical hand representation of young …

Hellhounds And Helpful Ghost Dogs: Conflicting Perceptions Of “Man’S Best Friend” Encoded In Supernatural Narrative, Kiersten Carr

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Black dogs are a type of spectral entity that, according to legend, have been haunting the British Isles for centuries. While the legends have many regional variations, the common feature remains a large black dog, often with eyes “large as saucers” or sometimes, flaming, who appears and then disappears, often without a trace. In many of the legends, the black dog is malevolent: assaulting travelers, frightening livestock to death, attacking other dogs, haunting graveyards and gibbets, and heralding death or disaster. In other versions, however, the black dog acts as a protector to those in need, warding off disaster with …

Financial Outcomes From Selection Of Insurance Intervals, Shana Anderson Stewart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential value of enrolling in rainfall-index for pasture, rangeland, and forage insurance for Utah producers. A stochastic optimization model is used to identify the optimal selection of insurance intervals that will provide the maximum indemnity payments less premiums. Four Utah counties were selected for analysis. Results indicate that positive returns will occur greater than 60% of the time in all counties with the selected insurance intervals. The optimal months to insure varied in each county.

Lobbying Legislation And Cumulative Abnormal Returns, Brenan Stewart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735, enacted September 14, 2007) was passed by the U.S. Congress in order “to strengthen public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding. It placed more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.” Treating this event as a natural experiment, we examine how this legislation affected the Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) of firms that lobbied in the year(s) leading up to the passing of the legislation. We find that companies that lobbied in the …

Conflicts Abound: How Future Development Along The Wasatch Front Will Replace Critical Migratory Bird Habitat Around Farmington Bay, Aubin A. Douglas

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Student Research

Every year, the Great Salt Lake (GSL) and its associated wetlands provide critical habitat to over 250 migratory bird species from both the Pacific and Central Flyways. The GSL borders the Wasatch Front, which is the fastest growing and most populous region in Utah. To support the ever-increasing working population, the government of Utah aspires to increase economic growth in the region through more economic incentives and infrastructure development. As this area continues to develop, greater pressure will be placed on the surrounding natural resources, including the GSL, its wetlands, and the open space and agricultural lands that act as …

Exploring The Link Between Genetics, Chronic Stress, And Depression, Michael Woller

Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) Grant Program

Depression is a very debilitating mental illness that affects about 7% of the American Population [1] and up to about 350 million people worldwide [2]. Since the cause for depression and the reason why some individuals are more vulnerable than others are currently unclear, studying paradigms that model depression in animals, such as the learned helplessness paradigm, is useful to explore possible mechanisms and devise new treatments. To explore a possible link between genetics, chronic stress and depression, we have exposed mice vulnerable to stress to an inescapable forced swim paradigm. During the forced swim test, the mice were monitored …

Identifying And Assessing Conflicts Between Future Development And Current Migratory Bird Habitat Around Farmington Bay, Utah, Aubin A. Douglas

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Every year, the Great Salt Lake (GSL) and its associated wetlands provide critical habitat for over 250 migratory bird species from both the Pacific and Central Flyways. The GSL borders the Wasatch Front, which is the fastest growing and most populous region in Utah. To support the ever-increasing working population, the government of Utah aspires to increase the robust economic growth of the region through economic incentives and development of infrastructure. As this area continues to develop, greater pressure will be placed on the surrounding natural resources, including the GSL, its wetlands, and the open space and agricultural land that …

Corn Exports Extrication, Claire Hutchins

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Annual corn exports, as a percentage of total use, exhibit a persistent, downward trend starting in the mid-1970s. Changes in government policy and domestic supply-demand dynamics are widely held as the determinants for corn price movement over the same period. However, significant disputes have emerged since 2013 which attribute the last five years of corn market underperformance to minor trade vicissitudes between the U.S. and China. This report estimates a corn price determination model which demonstrates that foreign exports play an insignificant role in the U.S. corn market between 1997 and 2018.

Parental Involvement Among Collegiate Student-Athletes: An Analysis Across Ncaa Divisions, Katie Lowe, Travis E. Dorsch, Miranda P. Kaye, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, Logan Lyons, Amanda N. Faherty, Lindsey Menendez

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

Despite emerging evidence of a link between parental involvement and student-athletes’ (SA) experiences, and the desire for educational programming for parents of these SAs, previous research has been limited to the Division I level. This has prevented the ability to inform, develop, and deliver parent programming across the NCAA’s diverse membership. The present study was designed to descriptively assess SA reports of parental involvement (i.e., support, contact, academic engagement, athletic engagement) across NCAA Division I, II, and III member institutions and examine the potential impact of this involvement on SAs’ experiences (i.e., academic self-efficacy, athletic satisfaction, well-being, individuation). Participants were …

How Children Describe Negative Adoption Experiences, Mckenzie Paskett

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Adoption faces stigmas from society which affects peoples' perceptions of adoptees, their birth parents, and adoptive parent s; one of the most prominent being that adoption is the "second best" route to getting children (Baxter, Norwood, Asbury, & Scharp , 2014). Adoption success is mixed with some adapting well, while others have negative experience s. Studying themes about how and why negative adoption experiences happen could be beneficial to preventing them in the future. There is a unique perspective between parents and children and so the central research question for this study is: how do children describe their negative adoption …

Comparing The Predictive Power Of Executive Function Assessment Strategies On Preschool Mathematics Performance, Jacob A. Esplin

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A child’s executive function (aspects: working memory, response inhibition, and set-shifting between sets of rules) capabilities have been found to strongly relate to their mathematics skills. However, while the relationship has been strongly supported by researchers, a consensus has not been reached regarding the specifics of the relationship between executive function and math skills, including which executive function aspect is most predictive of mathematical performance and the differences in said relationship that might be found when examining both numeracy, such as counting skills and basic operations, and geometry skills. The lack of consensus may be in part because researchers have …

To Be, Or Not To Be (Like My Sibling), That Is The Question: Examining Modeling And Differentiation Behaviors Among Siblings In Organized Youth Sport, Keith Vakafutu Osai

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Sibling relationships are typically the most enduring relationship in the family unit. A large body of research documents how sibling relationships occur in the context of the immediate family, how they impact behaviors such as risk-taking, how different cultures view siblings, and how similarities and differences among siblings can be attributed to genetics as well as shared and non-shared experiences. However, one relatively common family context in which sibling dynamics are less understood is organized youth sport. The present dissertation was designed to address multiplegaps in the present literature. This dissertation is comprised of two complementary studies. Study 1, guided …

Interest Groups And Supreme Court Commerce Clause Regulation, 1920-1937, Barrett L. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Did interest groups influence the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal economic regulatory authority under the Commerce Clause leading up to the Supreme Court’s 1937 reversal? Recent scholarship has begun a renewed study of this tumultuous era seeking alternative explanations for the Court’s behavior beyond the conventional explanations concerning Roosevelt’s court packing plan. I build on this literature by extending the discussion to the influence that interest groups may have had on the Court. I propose that interest groups served as a supporting and influential audience for the Supreme Court as the justices’ institutional legitimacy became threatened by both the political …

Effect Of Acceptance Versus Psychoeducation On Hoarding, Clarissa W. Ong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Hoarding disorder (HD) is a mental health condition characterized by difficulty letting go of possessions, resulting in clutter that prevents use of active living spaces. Consequences associated with hoarding include strained family relationships, distress for children in the home, and increased burden on social services. Currently, the most empirically supported treatment for HD is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which includes such components as education about the nature of hoarding, challenging unhelpful thoughts, and exposure to distressing stimuli. Despite its demonstrated effectiveness, CBT does not result in clinically significant improvement for at least 50% of individuals, indicating the need for alternative interventions …

Resource Competition Among The Uinta Basin Fremont, Elizabeth A. Hora-Cook

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Archaeologists describe the Uinta Fremont (A.D. 0 – 1300) as a mixed foraging-farming society that underwent a dramatic social change from A.D. 700 – 1000. Researchers observe through different architectural styles and subsistence activity a change from large, aggregated settlements to more dispersed and defensively oriented villages and hamlets. The Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) model provides an explanatory framework through which to interpret these changes. IFD predicts the order in which people or animals will occupy habitats based on a habitat’s relative suitability and suggests hypothetical behaviors that people or animals might engage in to improve or maintain the relative …

A Sociological Evaluation Of A Large Team Science Project: The Iutah Experience, K. Taylor Dean

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Many contemporary scientific research projects are composed of large numbers of researchers working together to provide solutions to social issues that affect our society. In an attempt to understand and address these issues, projects have been implemented where researchers from a wide variety of disciplines come together and collaborate. As this research includes a variety researchers, it requires a unique approach. Questions such as how to make these projects as effective as possible, how to properly evaluate these projects, and how to gauge the quality and success of these projects need to be answered.

These are directly addressed in this …

Examining Market Channels For Local Produce: Consumer Affordability And Producer Profitability, Karli A. Salisbury

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study examines the price differences of commonly consumed produce between farmers’ markets and grocery stores in Utah. Our first objective is to compare price differences of a basket of produce between farmers’ markets and grocery stores. We compare these price differences in terms of low-income consumer affordability and if an individual can afford a market basket of produce using a combination of Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) dollars and Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB) incentive dollars. Our second objective for this study is to establish the price premiums of individual produce items based on where the produce was sold, …

The Relationship Of Gender-Based Microaggressions And Internalized Sexism On Mental Health Outcomes: A Mother-Daughter Study, Nicole D. Feigt

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Subtle occurrences of discrimination, insults, and slights against gender can impact woman of all ages, although little research has been done on the mental health impacts of these events on adolescents or middle-aged women. Additionally, a person’s own views on sex roles and sexism may impact how these events affect them. The following study examined the relationship between mothers and daughters on variables related to ambivalent sexism, gender-based microaggressions, and anxiety and depression. One hundred two mothers and their adolescent daughters completed various online surveys through the use of a Qualtrics panel. The sample was fairly representative, with respondents varying …