Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Factors Associated With Resilience Among Msw Students In The Face Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jose Carbajal, Donna Schuman, Warren Ponder, Christine Bishop, Amber Hall, Kristin Bolton

Faculty Publications

COVID-19 continues to affect the general population, and its impact on MSW students is unknown. Therefore, this study aims to examine resilience, attachment, and other mental health constructs among MSW students during COVID-19. U.S. MSW program directors were emailed the electronic surveys to distribute to their MSW students. Authors evaluated the bivariate relationship between the variables and conducted a multiple hierarchical regression predicting resilience. The findings suggest that individuals with higher levels of resilience have lower levels of depression and PTSD. Finally, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, and self-efficacy were statistically significant predictors of resilience in the hierarchical regression. This study …

A Deeper Understanding Of Noise Effects On Cetaceans, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

Recent research with cetaceans under human care is illuminating just how dolphins are affected by human-made noise both in terms of their ability to cooperate as well as their ability to habituate to such noise. This research is providing granular detail to regulators assessing the problems associated with anthropogenic effects and is highlighting a role for behavior/cognition research in conservation.

Differences In Resilience And Mental Health Symptoms Among Us First Responders With Secure And Insecure Attachment, Donna Schuman, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Kathryn Shahan, Katelyn Jetelina

Faculty Publications

Objective: This observational study aimed to determine whether attachment style predicted first responders' mental health and resilience. Method: Data were from a treatment-seeking sample of first responders (N = 237). Each participant completed six assessments measuring attachment, resilience, generalized anxiety, depression, suicidality, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Results: On the attachment assessment, 25.3%were categorized as secure, 19.0%as dismissive, 25.3% as preoccupied, and 30.4% as fearfully attached. As predicted, securely attached participants had the lowest scores for generalized anxiety, depression, suicidality, and posttraumatic stress disorder and the highest scores on the resiliency measure, followed by dismissive, preoccupied, and fearfully …

A Quieter Ocean: Experimentally Derived Differences In Attentive Responses Of Tursiops Truncatus To Anthropogenic Noise Playbacks Before And During The Covid-19-Related Anthropause, Paige E. Stevens, Veda Allen, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

The effects of anthropogenic noise continue to threaten marine fauna, yet the impacts of human-produced sound on the broad aspects of cognition in marine mammals remain relatively understudied. The shutdown of non-essential activities due to the COVID-19-related anthropause created an opportunity to determine if reducing levels of oceanic anthropogenic noise on cetaceans affected processes of sensitization and habituation for common human-made sounds in an experimental setting. Dolphins at Dolphin Quest Bermuda were presented with three noises related to human activities (cruise ship, personal watercraft, and Navy low-frequency active sonar) both in 2018 and again during the anthropause in 2021 via …

Predictors Of Suicide And Differences In Attachment Styles And Resilience Among Treatment-Seeking First Responder Subtypes, Warren Ponder, Jose Carbajal, James Whitworth, Donna Schuman, Jeanine Galusha, R Andrew Yockey

Faculty Publications

Objective: To identify the predictors of suicide for firefighters (FFs), emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and law enforcement officers (LEOs). Methods: We used baseline data from FFs/EMTs (n = 69) and LEOs (n = 81) to investigate the unique predictors for both first-responder subtypes. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis on validated assessments of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.Measures of attachment, resilience, PTSD, depression, generalized anxiety, trauma history, and substance use were the independent variables in two backward stepwise regressions predicting suicide. Results: Substance use and somatic depression were significant predictors for LEOs, whereas affective depression, anhedonia, externalizing …

Affective Depression Mediates Ptsd To Suicide In A Sample Of Treatment-Seeking First Responders, James Whitworth, Jeanine Galusha, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Donna Schuman

Faculty Publications

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the associations of comorbid

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), affective or somatic depression, and

suicide among first responders (FRs). Method: We used baseline data from

FRs (N = 232) who sought services at a nonprofit mental health agency specializing

in treating trauma exposed FRs. We conducted two PROCESS simple

mediation models with PTSD as the predictor, affective depression and somatic

depression as the mediators, and suicidality as the dependent variable.

Results: Affective depression significantly mediated the relationship between

PTSD and suicidality, whereas somatic depression did not. The direct effect …

Validation Of The Pcl-5, Phq-9, And Gad-7 In A Sample Of Veterans, Aazi Ahmadi, Warren Ponder, Jose Carbajal, Donna Schuman, James Whitworth, R Andrew Yockey, Jeanine Galusha

Faculty Publications

Objective: Veterans can present at nongovernment (Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs) mental health agencies with complex symptom constellations that frequently include posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety. To date, no veteran study has validated these measures on a treatment-seeking sample of veterans outside the DoD and VA. Methods: We used a treatment-seeking sample of veterans (N = 493) to validate measures that assess these constructs (PTSD Checklist 5, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7). Results: The seven-factor posttraumatic stress disorder hybrid configuration was the best fit. The best fitting model of the depression …

Differences In Suicidality In Non–Treatment-Seeking And Treatment-Seeking Law Enforcement Officers: A Cross-Sectional Study, Warren N. Ponder, Alaina M. Beauchamp, Donna L. Schuman, Jose Carbajal, Katelyn K. Jetelina, Jeanine M. Galusha

Faculty Publications

Objective: Law enforcement officers (LEOs) are exposed to high levels of occupational trauma and face added stress from heightened public scrutiny and COVID-19, which may result in suicide. It is crucial to understand differences between LEOs who seek treatment and those who do not. Method: We compared LEOs from the same greater metropolitan area who sought treatment with those who did not. Participants completed validated measures assessing posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Results: The treatment-seeking sample scores were higher on all standardized assessments. Bivariate logistic regression results indicated that the non–treatment-seeking sample's odds of experiencing suicidality were …

Understanding Across The Senses: Cross-Modal Studies Of Cognition In Cetaceans, Jason N. Bruck, Adam A. Pack

Faculty Publications

Cross-modal approaches to the study of sensory perception, social recognition, cognition, and mental representation have proved fruitful in humans as well as in a variety of other species including toothed whales in revealing equivalencies that suggest that different sensory stimuli associated with objects or individuals may effectively evoke mental representations that are, respectively, object based or individual based. Building on established findings of structural equivalence in the form of spontaneous recognition of complex shapes across the modalities of echolocation and vision and behavior favoring identity echoic–visual cross-modal relationships over associative echoic–visual cross-modal relationships, examinations of transitive inference equivalencies from initially …

Differences In Attachment, Resilience, And Negative Affect In Non-Treatment-Seeking And Treatment-Seeking Ems Professionals, Jose Carbajal, Warren N. Ponder, Lauren Malthaner, Kathryn Shahan, Katelyn Jetelina, Jeanine Galusha, Donna Schuman

Faculty Publications

Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects their mental health and makes them a vulnerable population warranting further study. However, to date, no published research has compared non-treatment and treatment-seeking EMS professionals in the same greater metropolitan area. In this study, we examined differences and similarities among the non-treatment-seeking EMS professionals (n = 57) from a local EMS agency and treatment-seeking EMS personnel (n = 53) from a non-profit community treatment center on six assessment instruments that measure attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress …

Cross-Modal Perception Of Identity By Sound And Taste In Bottlenose Dolphins, Jason N. Bruck, Sam F. Walmsley, Vincent M. Janik

Faculty Publications

While studies have demonstrated concept formation in animals, only humans are known to label concepts to use them in mental simulations or predictions. To investigate whether other animals use labels comparably, we studied cross-modal, individual recognition in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that use signature whistles as labels for conspecifics in their own communication. First, we tested whether dolphins could use gustatory stimuli and found that they could distinguish between water and urine samples, as well as between urine from familiar and unfamiliar individuals. Then, we paired playbacks of signature whistles of known animals with urine samples from either the same …

Resilience Measured As An Outcome Variable In A Sample Of Emergency Medical Service (Ems) Professionals, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cetacean Acousticwelfare In Wild And Managed-Care Settings: Gaps And Opportunities, Paige E. Stevens, Heather Hill, Jason N. Bruck

Faculty Publications

Cetaceans are potentially at risk of poor welfare due to the animals’ natural reliance on sound and the persistent nature of anthropogenic noise, especially in the wild. Industrial, commercial, and recreational human activity has expanded across the seas, resulting in a propagation of sound with varying frequency characteristics. In many countries, current regulations are based on the potential to induce hearing loss; however, a more nuanced approach is needed when shaping regulations, due to other non-hearing loss effects including activation of the stress response, acoustic masking, frequency shifts, alterations in behavior, and decreased foraging. Cetaceans in managedcare settings share the …

Ugandan Adolescents’ Descriptive Gender Stereotypes About Domestic And Recreational Activities, And Attitudes About Women, Flora Farago, Natalie Eggum-Wilkens, Linlin Zhang

Faculty Publications

In Eastern Uganda, 201 adolescents aged 11- to 17-years old (48% girls; M_age = 14.62) answered close- and open-ended questions about gender stereotypes of domestic and recreational activities and gender-role attitudes about women’s behavior, rights, and roles. Adolescents answered questions such as “who is more likely to . . .?” assessing descriptive stereotypes (i.e., stereotype knowledge) and questions such as “is it ok for women to . . .?” assessing prescriptive stereotypes (i.e., stereotype endorsement) about gender roles. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, correlations, and thematic coding. Findings indicate that Ugandan adolescents were fairly egalitarian in some domains …

Ugandan Adolescents' Attitudes Toward, And Shared Activities With, Same And Other-Gender Peers And Friends, Flora Farago, J. Xu, Natalie D. Eggum-Wilkens, Linlin Zhang, Danming An, Eunjung Kim, Emily Adams

Faculty Publications

Ugandan adolescents (n = 202, 54% girls; M_age = 14.26) answered closed- and open-ended questions about the gender composition of friends and attitudes about, and activities with, same- and other-gender peers and friends. Adolescents’ friendships were somewhat gender segregated, although other-gender friendships were present. Positive attitudes about same- and other-gender peers and friends were prevalent. Girls and boys displayed similar attitudes about same- and other-gender peers, with the exception of boys reporting more positive attitudes toward boys. Adolescents enjoyed the following aspects of same- and other-gender friendships: talking about problems, receiving help, sharing items and activities, receiving advice …

Measuring Building Height Using Point Cloud Data Derived From Unmanned Aerial System Imagery In An Undergraduate Geospatial Science Course, David L. Kulhavy, I-Kuai Hung, Daniel R. Unger, Reid Viegut, Yanli Zhang

Faculty Publications

The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), also known as drones is increasing in geospatial science curricula within the United States. Within the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) at Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, seniors in the geospatial science program complete capstone projects to evaluate current geospatial technology to investigate complex ecological, social and environmental issues. Under the umbrella of a student initiated and designed senior project, students designed a study to estimate height of buildings with UAS data incorporating UAS data, LP360 and ArcScene programs, and Pictometry web-based interface. Results from a statistical analysis of …

Book Review: Assessing Culturally Informed Parenting In Social Work, Christine M. Bishop

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cultural Identity Formation: A Personal Narrative, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

This paper provides an autoethnography of personal experiences and perceptions of being a minoritized individual. This is the story of a professional social worker learning to adapt to social norms and expectations of self. I discuss the struggles I experienced as an adolescent and as a young adult attending college. This narrative highlights the intersection of faith and social work at moments in my professional development. It is at this intersection that this social worker learns to live a holistic life without feeling discriminated against or ashamed of his identity. I begin to actualize a reality with imperfect beings who …

Proving Our Maternal And Scholarly Worth: A Collaborative Autoethnographic Textual And Visual Storying Of Motherscholar Identity Work During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elizabeth Spradley, Sarah S. Leblanc, Heather Olson-Beal, Lauren Burrow, Chrissy Cross

Faculty Publications

Pivoting to remote work as female academics and to schooling our children from home as mothers in March 2020 marked a dramatic shift in how we enact our MotherScholar identities. This collaborative autoethnographic study employs a modification of interactive interviewing and photovoice to produce verbal and visual text of COVID-19 MotherScholar identity work for analysis. Thematic analysis results in themes of maternal interruptions, professional interruptions, maternal recognition, and professional recognition. Of note, our MotherScholar interactivity functioned as identity work as we sought and granted legitimacy to one another’s’ COVID-19 MotherScholar identities. Of particular concern to us is how institutions of …

Use Of Altmetrics To Analyze Scholarworks In Natural Resource Management, David L. Kulhavy, R Philip Reynolds, Daniel R. Unger, Matthew W. Mcbroom, I-Kuai Hung, Yanli Zhang

Faculty Publications

Digital preservation of library materials has increased the need for methods to access the documents and contents maintained in digital archives. The use of altmetrics to quantify the impact of scholarly works, including PlumX, is increasing readership by listing articles in reference services. The outreach from the digital repository ScholarWorks at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) highlights the impact within the natural resources community from Digital Commons, Forest Sciences Commons; and from the Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy Commons. The use of PlumX altmetrics was examined to evaluate usage, impact, and digital audience downloads for the Arthur Temple College …

Ugandan Adolescents’ Gender Stereotype Knowledge About Jobs, Flora Farago, Natalie D. Eggum-Wilkens, Linlin Zhang

Faculty Publications

Ugandan adolescents ages 11- to 17-years-old (N = 201; 48% girls; M _age = 14.62) answered closed- and open-ended questions about occupational gender segregation, allowing researchers to assess their gender stereotype knowledge. Adolescents answered 38 closed-ended questions such as ‘who is more likely to be a doctor?’ and were asked to list masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral jobs. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests, and thematic coding. Findings indicated that adolescents were fairly egalitarian about jobs and there were no differences in occupational stereotype knowledge between males and females. Findings present reasons for hope and for continued …

The Identity Formation Process Of Immigrant Children: A Case Study Synthesis, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Children who immigrate often have difficulties in adjusting to their host country. A single case study based on similar narratives is composed to develop the character of a child’s developmental cultural issues as he immigrated to the United States from El Salvador. Attachment theory is reviewed to discuss how detachment and re-attachment affected him. A review of the literature on assimilation and acculturation is also provided. Objectives: The author synthesizes the work experience with the population with migration history to illustrate how attachment and loss impact these individuals, through a composed case study illustrated through the experience of Ramni, …

The Experiences Of Latino Adolescent Mentees Growing-Up With A Single Mother And Mentoring Program Development: A Narrative Analysis Study, Christine Marie Bishop

Faculty Publications

Latinos comprise the largest minority population in the United States. Research underscores the many positive effects that mentors can have on Latino adolescents who lack a male role model living in the home. Mentors can provide support and teach helpful skills that can be applied to multiple life domains needed throughout a person’s lifespan. There are many different types of mentoring services and styles available to adolescents. Yet, there are specific gaps and room for growth within the scholarly literature regarding Latino adolescents that need to be addressed. Shining light and allowing their narratives to be heard and understood in …

Terrorism And Right-Wing Extremism: History And Comparative Definitions, Kwame B. Antwi-Boasiako, Caleb Grant Hill

Faculty Publications

Recent narratives on terrorism have focused on the definitions. Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but the problem resides in its definition and who is defining it. Conceptualizing terrorism depends on which framework one utilizes. The use of different lenses to define the term has contributed to the lack of global acceptance of what constitutes terrorism, hence the difficulty of gathering data for analysis. It is also a conundrum when powerful nations legitimize their terrorist activities against weaker ones. This, unfortunately, has led to the subjectiveness of every attempt in the literature to objectively provide a globally acceptable definition. Using …

Critical Consciousness In Children And Adolescents: A Systematic Review,Critical Assessment, And Recommendations For Future Research, Amy E. Heberle, Luke J. Rapa, Flora Farago

Faculty Publications

Critical consciousness refers to an individual’s awareness of oppressive systemic forces in society, a sense of efficacy to work against oppression, and engagement in individual or collective action against oppression. In the past few decades, interest in critical consciousness as a resource that may promote thriving in marginalized people has grown tremendously. This article critically examines the results of a systematic review of 67 studies of critical consciousness in children and adolescents, published between 1998 and 2019. Across these studies, major themes included the role of socialization experiences, relationships, and context in the development of critical consciousness. In addition, critical …

Civic Engagement Among Iranians In The United States, Christine Marie Bishop, Sara Makki Alamdari

Faculty Publications

Civic engagement is beneficial for individuals and the overall communities they live in. There is currently a gap in our literature regarding studies about civic engagement among immigrants and refugees. The purpose of this study was to examine civic attitudes, civic engagement, and their potential predictors among Iranian immigrants and refugees in the U.S. In total, these researchers recruited 52 participants and administered an internet-based, four-section questionnaire. They found very positive civic attitudes, as well as a high level of engagement in different civic activities among this group. Applying multiple linear regression analysis, the results indicated that female participants and …

State-Community System Of Care Development: An Exploratory Longitudinal Review, Isaac Karikari, Betty Walton, Christine Marie Bishop, Stephanie Moynihan, Pinkie Evans

Faculty Publications

The system of care (SOC) philosophy evolved into a framework to support access to effective behavioral health services for children. This study explored the use of the System of Care Implementation Survey (SOCIS) to monitor SOC development during one Midwestern state’s federal planning and expansion grants. Utilizing a translational framework, results showed that despite fluctuations in SOC factor implementation over time, state and local SOCs had mid-level development. Further, inferential analysis of select factors indicated that outreach and access to services and the skilled provider network were significantly worse over time. Significant improvement in the treatment quality was documented but …

The Dyadic Dance During Deployment: Veteran And Partner Romantic Attachment, Warren Ponder, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Perceptions And Understanding Of Research Situations As A Function Of Consent Form Characteristics And Experimenter Instructions, Jeremy D. Heider, Jessica L. Hartnett, Emmanuel J. Perez, John E. Edlund

Faculty Publications

Two studies examined how research methodology affected participant behaviors. Study 1 tested (a) consent form perspective (1st, 2nd, or 3rd person) and (b) information on participants’ right to sue upon perceptions of coercion, ability to recall consent information, and performance on experimental tasks. Unexpectedly, participants who received instructions without the right to sue information had significantly better recall of their research rights. Study 2 manipulated (a) consent form complexity (presence or absence of jargon) and (b) the detail of verbal instructions (simple, elaborate); participants who received a consent form with simpler language spent more time on a difficult task, and …

Simulating Medical Isolation: Communicatively Managing Patient And Medical Team Safety, Elizabeth Spradley, R. Tyler Spradley

Faculty Publications

Reducing hospital acquired or associated infections (HAIs) is a national public health priority. HAIs pose risks to patients, visitors, and medical personnel. To better understand how to communicatively manage safety in medical isolation, data was collected with nursing students simulating medical isolation in a high-fidelity simulation with a medical mannequin with C. difficile. Observations of nursing students and faculty revealed four distinct communication practices: social support, patient education, humor, and storytelling. Conclusions include recommendations to intentionally design these communication practices into high-fidelity medial isolation simulations and scale up these communication practices in routines of safety.