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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Promotional Communication For A College Food Pantry: Findings From A Cross-Sectional Assessment Of Socioecological Variables Related To Past Use Of A Campus-Based Food Pantry., Bunny Marie Hayes Aug 2023

Promotional Communication For A College Food Pantry: Findings From A Cross-Sectional Assessment Of Socioecological Variables Related To Past Use Of A Campus-Based Food Pantry., Bunny Marie Hayes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This study examined differences between users and non-users of campus food pantry, conducted communication audit, and made recommendations for future food pantry communication. Methods: Cross-sectional twofold study, first analyzing existing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental data to test predictors of campus food pantry usage characteristics, using inferential statistics. Secondly, conducting a communication audit that evaluates the reach of student communication. Results: Significant differences were found between users and non-users of food pantry that support hypotheses in relation to gender, age, race, class, marital status, housing type, housing description, and Pell eligibility. Findings could not support hypothesized differences in first-generation status. …


Perceptions Of Student Loan Debt: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Black Undergraduate Students' Experiences., Pilar Prather May 2023

Perceptions Of Student Loan Debt: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Black Undergraduate Students' Experiences., Pilar Prather

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rising cost of higher education concerns many families in the United States, especially those from historically underrepresented backgrounds. The purpose of this study is to explore the phenomenon of Black students' perception of their student loan debt and how their financial knowledge influences their decisions at a public institution. This qualitative research provides space to empower individuals to share their stories through semi-structured interviews to get an account of their experiences. Grounded in Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth Theory, the study seeks to capture the unique ways Black students make financial decisions. The dissertation is divided into five chapters: …


The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow May 2023

The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

These thesis and exhibition, invite the viewers to travel through different places in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The region’s landscape, like many other American landscapes, is often known to the public through the settler colonial lens—a lens that ignores Indigenous peoples’ history in the region. The work in the exhibition is a response to landscape art's history and its complicity with American settler colonialism- art that was recruited to create a new identity for the settlers and for the country from the beginning of the American Colonial Project. Landscape art was a crucial part of this effort, presenting the land …


Authentically (Un)Real Assessing Vh!'S Basketball Wives And Its Violent & Colorist Portrayals Of Black Women., Wilma Denae Powell May 2022

Authentically (Un)Real Assessing Vh!'S Basketball Wives And Its Violent & Colorist Portrayals Of Black Women., Wilma Denae Powell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Does reality television serve as solely a form of entertainment, or could reality television also be maintaining hegemonic beliefs and reinforcing biased views of Black women? Since 2010, Vh1’s Basketball Wives has given audiences the opportunities to entertain themselves by watching women who are/were married to, dating, or are the mothers of children fathered by professional basketball players. Despite the show’s name, few members of the cast are currently married and audiences only get mere glimpses of the cast in motherly or marital interactions. So, what does Basketball Wives offer audiences who tune in to watch Black women for entertainment? …


Black Ads Matter: An Analysis Of Black Representation In Advertising., Elyssa Quinn Smith May 2022

Black Ads Matter: An Analysis Of Black Representation In Advertising., Elyssa Quinn Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the summer of 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) became a rallying cry throughout the United States and the world. At that time, many individuals and organizations reflected on how they could better support the movement for equality, equity, and inclusion, but some of the results were ingenuine, perceived as virtue signaling or woke washing. In this thesis I explore the Black representation in advertising from three prominent car brands from both pre- and post-summer 2020. I analyze ads from Acura, Buick, and Lincoln to determine if they are synergistic and include multi-dimensional Black representation, criteria Burgess et al.’s (2020) …


A Content Analysis Of The Female Tiktok Influencer: How Smis Alter Their Image And Self-Presentation Based On Their Communities., Sydney R Dotson May 2022

A Content Analysis Of The Female Tiktok Influencer: How Smis Alter Their Image And Self-Presentation Based On Their Communities., Sydney R Dotson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influencer marketing is a growing industry on social media platforms, like TikTok. Influencers have the power and authority to control the purchases and habits of their audiences, however, the communities of these followers can be just as influential. According to TikTok For Business (2021), “part of the excitement of [TikTok] is derived from people having the power to choose the spaces they want to be part of, and the content they want to interact with.” The purpose of this study is to determine if social media influencers alter their image and self-presentation based on their community. The study examines the …


Approaching Trans Debates As Fascistic Sites Of Engagement., Sarah Jump Aug 2021

Approaching Trans Debates As Fascistic Sites Of Engagement., Sarah Jump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past decade, trans rights issues have been a legal topic of discussion and are still discussed publicly in 2021. This thesis researched how arguments surrounding anti-trans issues were successful in the United States. The arguments surrounding these issues are important to study to see how they pass within society and if traditional rules of argumentation are changing. This thesis proposes that traditional dialectical argument is no longer occurring and has taken a post-dialectical turn. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the kinds of arguments used in these issues and build the case that they are evidence …


Black Men Wanted: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring The Situational Factors Related To The Retention Of African American Male High School Teachers., Christopher Kevin Flores May 2021

Black Men Wanted: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring The Situational Factors Related To The Retention Of African American Male High School Teachers., Christopher Kevin Flores

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the nation’s high school student population becomes increasingly diverse, the declining number of minority teachers, particularly African American male teachers is becoming an area of concern. This instrumental case study of African American male high school teachers in the Fayette County Public School system in Lexington, Kentucky sought to identify the motivations for teaching, the barriers prior to and during teaching, as well as the roles these individuals are asked to fulfill in their schools. Using purposeful sampling, 10 individuals participated in semi-structured interviews aimed at providing insight to the three research questions related to motivations, barriers, and roles. …


Defending Judge Roy Moore: A Case Study Of Persuasion Resistance Strategies., Stephen F. Brockman May 2021

Defending Judge Roy Moore: A Case Study Of Persuasion Resistance Strategies., Stephen F. Brockman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored what kind of persuasive resistance strategies people used when faced with information that was contrary to their existing belief system. A typology of resistance strategies as articulated by Fransen, Smit, & Verlegh (2015), was used to guide the development of a coding system. I coded the public quotes of supporters of a political candidate after sexual misconduct allegations came to light. The first research question investigated was: What kinds of persuasion resistance strategies were Roy Moore supporters most likely to use? The second was: What kinds of persuasion resistance strategies used tended to co-occur? The most important …


A Content Analysis Of Olivia Pope: How Scandal Reconfirms The Negative Stereotypes Of Black Women., Chelsy Leann Golder May 2020

A Content Analysis Of Olivia Pope: How Scandal Reconfirms The Negative Stereotypes Of Black Women., Chelsy Leann Golder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to answer how Scandal reconfirms the negative stereotypes of black women. Scandal’s leading character, Olivia Pope, embodies the Mammy, the Jezebel, and the Sapphire. These stereotypes were invented during slavery and still used today to justify the current racial and gendered oppression of Black women. A linkage between the stereotypes and Olivia Pope’s character will be made based on an analysis of the television show. A random sampling approach was used to select a total of 14 episodes. Each of the 14 episodes were carefully examined for examples of Mammy-like, Jezebel-like, and Sapphire-like …


Digital Political Information Consumption And Ambivalent Political Attitudes., Dane Ryan Warner Aug 2019

Digital Political Information Consumption And Ambivalent Political Attitudes., Dane Ryan Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understating how individuals form, reinforce, or change attitudes has a long history in political science research. This study seeks to contribute to the existing literature by bridging the gap between the ambivalence and digital political communications literature by examining the relationship between digital political information consumption and ambivalent political attitudes. Using the American National Election Studies 2016 Time Series Study, I examine the role of digital political information consumption as a moderator of value conflict and ambivalent political attitudes. The findings suggest that increased levels of information gather significantly reduce group ambivalence, candidate ambivalence, and value ambivalence.


Send Nudes : Art On Social Anxiety And Human Connection In An Internet Driven Society., Lauren A Bader May 2019

Send Nudes : Art On Social Anxiety And Human Connection In An Internet Driven Society., Lauren A Bader

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My social anxiety is the driving force behind my thesis work. Sufferers of social anxiety often have a hard time forming relationships because their fear of social interaction causes them to refrain from self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is the act of telling others personal details about yourself. This can be hard for people with social anxiety because of their intense fear of judgement. It is quite common for people with this type of anxiety to seek out opportunities to self-disclose online because they have the advantage of anonymity and time to construct thoughtful responses. In my work I seek out participants online …


User's Ability To Detect Fake News In Online Environments., Aleeza N. Gardner May 2019

User's Ability To Detect Fake News In Online Environments., Aleeza N. Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technology has drastically changed the way people consume news. Due to the rise of online spaces built for users to share content, there has been a rise in the spread of false information. Social media platforms, Facebook specifically, provide their users with personalized content based on their interests. The ease of spreading information online coupled with the anonymity of the Internet, creates a breeding ground for potential misuse of information. This study sought to examine how users view themselves and others were influenced by fake news on social media if the post is denoted as fake, or if the post …


Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study : Stories From First-Generation-To-College Rhetoric And Composition Phd Students On Navigating The Doctorate., Ashanka Kumari May 2019

Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study : Stories From First-Generation-To-College Rhetoric And Composition Phd Students On Navigating The Doctorate., Ashanka Kumari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation responds to the decreasing number of first-generation-to-college doctorates in the humanities and the limited scholarship on graduate students in Rhetoric and Composition. Scholars in Rhetoric and Composition have long been invested in discussions of academic and/or disciplinary enculturation, yet these discussions primarily focus on undergraduate students, with few studies on graduate students and far fewer on the doctoral students training to become the next wave of a profession. In this dissertation, I argue that if we engage intersectional identities as assets in the design of doctoral programs, access to higher education and academic enculturation can become more manageable …


Hemoglobin A1c Levels And Sport Participation In Children With Type 1 Diabetes., Amy Kozerski May 2019

Hemoglobin A1c Levels And Sport Participation In Children With Type 1 Diabetes., Amy Kozerski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study’s purpose was to determine a possible difference in hemoglobin A1c levels and sport participation in children with type 1 diabetes. Patients with provided consent via an iPad electronic informed consent/assent (preamble) completed a physical activity and sport participation survey. The survey was linked to their medical chart including demographic and diabetes medical history (e.g. HbA1c). The analyses provided a sample of 120 participants, 40 in the no sport participation group and 78 in the sport participation group with 56 females and 64 males, with an average age12.94±2.8 years. An independent sample t-test, removing one outlier from the …


Innovation And Equity In Public Health Research : Testing Arts-Based Methods For Trauma-Informed, Culturally-Responsive Inquiry., Tasha Golden May 2019

Innovation And Equity In Public Health Research : Testing Arts-Based Methods For Trauma-Informed, Culturally-Responsive Inquiry., Tasha Golden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the field of Public Health has shifted from a biomedical paradigm to a social ecological approach, focusing on health equity and social determinants of health, it has increasingly acknowledged the roles of culture and trauma in health outcomes. The field has responded by modifying some research practices, but continues to prioritize conventional methodologies—with few options designed to foreground trauma- and cultural-responsiveness. Unfortunately, to the extent that conventional approaches require health to be defined, communicated, or valued according to dominant norms, they risk perpetuating inequities. Health equity therefore requires the development of research methodologies that increase inclusivity and access, elicit …


Feeding Behaviors And The Child With Posterior Tongue-Tie : Comparison To Norms., Mckenzie Sexton May 2018

Feeding Behaviors And The Child With Posterior Tongue-Tie : Comparison To Norms., Mckenzie Sexton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tongue is an important muscle used in speech, mastication, swallowing, and breastfeeding. It plays an important role in facial development, dentition, and periodontal status. Posterior ankyloglossia, also known as posterior tongue-tie (PTT), is characterized by a tether beneath the lingual mucosa. Upon visual inspection, the frenulum is non-prominent but with the use of a grooved director it may appear abnormally prominent, short, thick, or cord-like. Palpation of the frenulum may reveal tightness. There is a lack of empirical data about PTT and the impact on feeding beyond early infancy. PTT is not well recognized and can be missed resulting …


Student Attitudes On Social Media And Perception Of Instructor Social Media Use., Abi Mathew John May 2017

Student Attitudes On Social Media And Perception Of Instructor Social Media Use., Abi Mathew John

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand what student attitudes are toward using social media in the classroom and if those attitudes influenced how they perceive instructors using social media in the classroom. Implementing a mixed method approach, this study conducted focus groups to gain an in-depth understanding of what student attitudes were and why they held those ideas. A survey was then distributed to the students’ in a Midwestern University to see if there was a relationship between students attitudes and their perceptions of instructors who use social media. Results showed that students do hold a positive attitude …


Media Framing And Public Opinion Of Refugees: News Coverage Of Hungarian Refugees, 1956-57., Cecelia M. Hunt May 2017

Media Framing And Public Opinion Of Refugees: News Coverage Of Hungarian Refugees, 1956-57., Cecelia M. Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how United States news media framed Hungarian refugees of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It begins with a historical overview of the revolution and an explanation of how the media have framed other refugee groups and influenced American public opinion by doing so. Then the thesis explains how 713 news articles, coded for attributes and value frames, described Hungarian refugees from November 1956 until December 1957. American news media framed Hungarian refugees in a positive way, which matched the positive American public opinion of this particular refugee group. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one introduces …


Fantastical Body Narratives : Cosplay, Performance, And Gender Diversity., Tiffany M. Hutabarat-Nelson May 2017

Fantastical Body Narratives : Cosplay, Performance, And Gender Diversity., Tiffany M. Hutabarat-Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to explore how the phenomenon of cosplay has been able to produce and sustain a diversity of gender expression due to its emergence from an activity-based community that emphasizes creative play. This creative energy is manifested through cosplay as an active, ritualized practice in which gender diversity is invited to be realized as a distinct possibility, resulting in a display of a full range of masculinities and femininities as well as crossplays and genderbend cosplays. I argue that cosplay can therefore be understood as a phenomenon that destabilizes the gender binary—its active practice promotes the production and …


The Influence Of High/Low Context Culture On Choice Of Communication Media : Students’ Media Choice To Communicate With Professors In China And The United States., Xiaoxu Yang May 2016

The Influence Of High/Low Context Culture On Choice Of Communication Media : Students’ Media Choice To Communicate With Professors In China And The United States., Xiaoxu Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on a widely used cultural construct, high context and low context culture to investigate the culture’s influence on media choices. This research compares the communication media choices of two cultures: the high context culture of China and the low context culture of the United States. 351 participants from the two countries filled out the surveys. All the participants were college students; 195 participants were from a mid-size college in China and 156 from a Midwestern University in the United States. The survey included the high context-low context scale, media richness questions and how participants choose media to …


Educational Excellence Through Dual Degrees : Using Symbolic Convergence Theory To Make It Happen Here., Stephanie Ann French Dec 2015

Educational Excellence Through Dual Degrees : Using Symbolic Convergence Theory To Make It Happen Here., Stephanie Ann French

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interdisciplinary studies is a goal for the University of Louisville as it pertains to the Vision 2020 Plan. Implementing interdisciplinary studies is a part of Educational Excellence, goal number one of five strategic goals in the Vision 2020. Each of the colleges at the university has devised a strategic plan to determine how each will contribute to that goal. This specific research provides an overview of various issues pertaining to implementing programs in interdisciplinary studies. It then explores a specific instance of interdisciplinary possibilities by focusing on a single instance of what might become an exemplar of interdisciplinary studies. Specifically, …


A Phenomenological Study Of Anticipated Intimacy And Sexual Expression Needs Of Aging Male And Female Baby Boomers., Charles Shawn Oak Dec 2015

A Phenomenological Study Of Anticipated Intimacy And Sexual Expression Needs Of Aging Male And Female Baby Boomers., Charles Shawn Oak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the phenomenon of how heterosexual Baby Boomers define and understand intimacy, sexual expression, along expectations and desires relating to their respective expressions across the lifespan through their individual experiences and reflections. A set of guiding questions were used in a hermeneutic phenomenological qualitative research design. Data was gathered from thirteen subjects (n=13) using the Rappaport Time Line (RTL) that was used to develop individualized semi-structured interviews and follow-up interviews that were professionally transcribed. These were coded to identify emergent themes. Results of the study provided insight into the phenomenon of how heterosexual …


The De-Feminization Of Femininity : Exploratory Content Analysis Of Gay Male Fashion Magazines., Christopher J. Vincent May 2015

The De-Feminization Of Femininity : Exploratory Content Analysis Of Gay Male Fashion Magazines., Christopher J. Vincent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project is an exploratory content analysis that seeks to measure the ways in which gay male fashion magazine de-feminize their representations of feminine performing gay men. 125 images across five summer editions of Instinct Magazine, from 2010-2014, were randomly selected and were measured along the lines of race/ethnicity, fitness of clothing, build, touch, gaze, and body curvature. The research confirmed that gay male fashion magazines do in fact de-feminize their representations of femininity along these variables. The research also reflects pre-conceived ideas of representation along the boundaries of race. Using Michael Warners theory of Publics and Counterpublics as …


Communitas In Youtube Comments : The March 2012 Henryville Tornadoes., Richard William Slawsky May 2014

Communitas In Youtube Comments : The March 2012 Henryville Tornadoes., Richard William Slawsky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper serves as a critical case in analyzing the emergence of communitas in online discussions. Although communitas, or the unstructured community that often emerges in the wake of major societal upheavals, has often been documented in a common geographic setting, little research has been done into the emergence of communitas in online or computer-mediated settings. Determining whether or not communitas emerges in the comment streams attached to YouTube videos related to the tornadoes that struck Henryville, Ind., on March 2, 2012, will serve as an indicator that communitas will emerge in other online channels as well. This project consisted …


Unfulfilled Potential : A Case Study Of Traditional News Media And The Internet., Brenna Loraine Angel 1984- May 2010

Unfulfilled Potential : A Case Study Of Traditional News Media And The Internet., Brenna Loraine Angel 1984-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Internet offers a tremendous opportunity for traditional media to expand and/or enhance news stories. This thesis is an exploration of the convergent journalism practices of three news organizations in a medium-sized market. It employed content analysis and in-depth interviews to compare the news stories of a newspaper, television station, and radio station with content on each organization's Internet website. While the three media organizations in this case study had different approaches to convergent journalism, they each utilized some type of multimedia technique on their websites including slideshows, videos, audio, hyperlinks, and reader interactivity. For the most part, however, online …