Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Building Capacity Through The Use Of A Strategic Prevention Framework System In Communities, Duncan Meyers

Theses and Dissertations

The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a planning and implementation model that mobilizes communities to collaborate on developing and implementing an evidence-based prevention system. This model follows a structured five-step process with two cross-cutting elements (cultural competence and sustainability) that emphasizes building capacity of coalitions to strategically plan, implement, and sustain evidence-based prevention services to reduce adolescent substance use. This study utilized a repeated cross-sectional design. Participating youth were in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 and lived in one of 27 counties in a Southeastern state that was funded through the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s SPF State Incentive …

The Impact Of Sports Dropout On Adolescent Functioning, Brittany Skiles Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Sports is the most commonly participated in extracurricular activity during adolescence. Aligned with the Positive Youth Development theoretical framework, previous research has shown that sports participation offers youth a context rich in resources found to promote positive adjustment into adulthood. However, around one third of the youth participating in sports drop out each year, and little research has examined the impact of sports dropout on indicators of youth adjustment. This study examines the relation between sports dropout and academic achievement, self-esteem, depression, perceived school climate, perceived support from adults in school, and alcohol use. The moderating effect of sports engagement …

Redneckaissance: Honey Boo Boo, Tumblr, And The Stereotype Of Poor White Trash, Ashley F. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Tumblr is an understudied social media site with a young, progressive, and queer user base of content creators. This study examines Tumblr posts about Here Comes Honey Boo Boo to understand the nature of Tumblr and the way a convergent culture that includes non-viewers negotiates a television show dependent on stereotypes. Discourses around authenticity, LGBTQ issues, and body acceptance resist the negative white trash connotations of the show, but this resistance is embedded in stereotypes around race, class, gender, sexuality, and geography. The result is a continuum in which users negotiate what the show means in how they use that …

Investigating Construct Validity Of The Cyber--Peer Experiences Questionnaire, Kendall Moore

Theses and Dissertations

With electronic technology becoming increasingly important in all aspects of modern life, traditional forms of relating with others have crossed into the cyber realm. Within that context, both positive and negative aspects of relational behavior have advanced in ways still largely underexplored in the research literature. One such area, termed “cyberaggression,” has recently gained momentum as a research focus. Given the numerous mental health sequelae from being involved in cyberaggression, such as anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, there is a clear and compelling need for more research in this area. To date, however, there remains little consensus on the conceptualization …

Do Discipline Style And Parenting Self-Efficacy Interact To Predict Observed Child Behavior? Outcomes From A Representative Sample Of Mothers With Young Chilren, Emily Noel Neger

Theses and Dissertations

Both parenting style and parents’ sense of their own parenting self-efficacy (PSE) have been found to predict child behavior outcomes in young children. Parents who engage in lax or overreactive parenting practices or who lack confidence in their parenting abilities are more likely to have children who display disruptive and noncompliant behavior. Until now, very little research has examined whether an interaction exits between these two constructs in predicting child behavior outcomes. The current study looked to fill this gap and assess whether a significant moderation relationship exists between parents’ parenting style and PSE in predicting observed child behavior. A …

General Strain Theory And Bullying Victimization: Do Parental Support And Control Alleviate The Negative Effects Of Bullying, Jonathon Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

With growing reports of bullying victimization ranging from 8 percent to 46 percent in many countries, bullying victimization has been declared an international problem often affecting youth in or near one’s school with poor parental supervision. While there has been a growing body of research concerning bullying victimization, few studies have examined the collateral consequences of bullying victimization and the mediating role of family processes through the theoretical lens of general strain theory. This thesis attempts to shed light on such a complex social phenomena and contribute to the bullying and stress literature. This study posits that bullying victimization is …

Promoting Hpv Vaccination For Male Young Adults: Effects Of Social Influence, Wan Chi Leung

Theses and Dissertations

HPV vaccination is an important public health issue, but past research has mostly been done on the HPV vaccination for females. This study explores promotions of the HPV vaccination for men, focusing on how social influence plays a role in influencing young male adults’ attitudes toward the HPV vaccine. An online survey was conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk, and responses from 656 males aged 18-26 in the United States were analyzed. Results indicated that exposure to messages were associated with perceived effects of the messages on others, which related to the perceived descriptive norm of vaccine uptake among other males. …

Beyond Ideals: Proslavery Reforms On A Nineteenth-Century Cotton Plantation, Kevin R. Fogle

Theses and Dissertations

The last four decades of the antebellum period witnessed the rise of a proslavery plantation reform movement aimed at preserving slavery in the face of increasing abolitionist pressure. Reformers promoted the image of ideal enslaved households operating as part of efficient modern plantations ruled by reason, benevolent management techniques, and scientific agriculture. Where implemented, reforms resulted in numerous changes to plantation life both around the home and in the fields. Slaves who bore the brunt of these changes struggled to resist plantation reforms or grudgingly accepted them depending on the impact upon established daily routines and any potential benefits bondsmen …

Framing Death: Politics, Meaning, And The Strategic Communication Of Organ Donation Messages In South Carolina, Jeremy T. Vanderknyff

Theses and Dissertations

This study applies framing theory within a critical-interpretive anthropological context to understand how organ procurement organizations (OPOs) design messages to promote organ donation registration and how cultural factors including notions of embodiment and structural inequalities influence audiences’ processing of those messages. The first part of the study employs content analysis to deductively identify OPO-produced message frames. The second part of the study uses focus groups across South Carolina to explore audience reactions to different message frames. Themes from donors and non-donors alike reflected a mistrust of the medical establishment, a keen awareness of structural inequality, and complex notions of embodiment …

Hiv-1 And Cocaine: Motivation And Synaptic Function, Sarah J. Bertrand

Theses and Dissertations

Molecular and behavioral assays were used to examine the effects of HIV-1 on synaptodendritic integrity, motivated behavior and the therapeutic potential of natural isoflavones in ameliorating both synaptodendritic injury in vitro and changes in motivation in vivo. The overarching hypothesis of the present dissertation is twofold: 1. HIV-1 causes a decrease in motivation for sucrose and cocaine and the change in motivational state is driven by compromised synaptic integrity as evaluated by F-actin and DAT function and, 2. Treatment with phytoestrogens will prevent synaptodendritic damage, normalize the internal motivational state of the HIV-1 Tg rat for sucrose and cocaine, and …

Randomized Control Study Of Neurofeedback With College Students With Adhd, Alycia M. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD represent a major national problem. There are increasing numbers of students in schools requiring special education services as a result of ADHD, and each of these students costs the U.S. education system approximately $5,000 per year (Robb et al., 2011). There are additional societal costs associated with the disorder, and ADHD can be debilitating for individuals with the disorder and their families (i.e., Barkley & Murphy, 2010; Ginsberg, et al., 2013). The most common treatments are stimulant medication and behavioral training (i.e., Pelham & Fabiano, 2008), but recently neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback) has been receiving a …

The Liberal Commercial Peace, Regional Considerations: International Relations Of Southeast Asia, Latin America, And The European Union Countries, Chienwu Hsueh

Theses and Dissertations

Most of the large-N empirical studies on the liberal commercial peace theory demonstrate that, in general, trade has a robust pacifying effect in reducing the probability of dyadical militarized interstate disputes. However, why trade’s pacifying effect varies across time and space remains a puzzle that previous research has not yet solved. The liberal commercial peace literature suggests the following questions are in need of answers: Why does trade promote peace mainly in inter-region dyads but not in intra-region dyads? What are the preconditions that make trade’s pacifying effect work or not work? In this research, I argue that there are …

Vocational Readiness: The Effect Of Pre-Prison And Incarceration-Based Trauma On Cognitive Appraisals And Self-Perceptions Of Incarcerated Women, Joi Dykes Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The number of women incarcerated in the United States has grown at an alarming rate. This research study presents a conceptual framework for examining pre-prison and incarceration-based trauma and its effects on cognitive appraisals and self-perceptions. Literature from psychology, feminist psychology and neuropsychiatry are integrated to discuss how pre-prison trauma creates pathways to crime for females, how incarceration serves as a form of traumatization (or retraumatization), how the social dynamics of the prison environment potentially exacerbates mental health issues (i.e., PTSD, anxiety, depression), how this negatively affects a female inmates vocational readiness—the ability to obtain and maintain employment once engaged …

The Syntax-Space Effect, Timothy W. Boiteau

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has linked the concept of number and other ordinal series to space via a spatially-oriented number line. Other researchers have shown that language as well may have an underlying spatial representation, though this seems to be tied to visual scene recognition and production and is potentially an idiosyncratic effect of a limited set of concrete verbs. In this dissertation, employing a novel method that measures the underlying spatial biases of actors in transitive sentences, I show that findings from previous studies showing a relationship between transitivity and space reflect an interaction between word order in the sentence, order …

Anxiety And Autism Symptomology On Social Skills In Young Boys With Fragile X Syndrome, Debra L. Reisinger

Theses and Dissertations

Children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) are at high risk for developing several comorbid disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety, that can substantially impart their social skills. However, to date, there are no studies that examine complex social skills within boys with FXS and the effects of emerging autism and anxiety symptoms on the development of their social skills. The current study examines social skills at the composite and subdomain level in young boys with FXS in contrast to typically developing (TD) boys and in relation to age, adaptive behavior, anxiety symptoms and autism symptomology. The study consisted …

The Meaning Of Place Recovery On The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Ronald L. Schumann, Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Recovery is a post-disaster period of adjustment when individuals, households, neighborhoods, and communities work to overcome the effects of a disaster and regain functionality. Recovery is a multi-scalar process whose outcomes are manifested in the physical landscape; however, assessments of the meaning, progress, and outcomes of recovery are specific to individuals who view the landscape from an embodied perspective within the local social hierarchy. Common recovery measurement techniques used by emergency managers, planners, local leaders, and hazards scholars approximate recovery with reconstruction of physical infrastructure or repopulation of residences. These longitudinal quantitative proxies may claim to represent the status of …

Using Geographical Information Systems To Investigate Access To School Mental Heath Services, Heather L. Mcdaniel

Theses and Dissertations

Many youth present emotional or behavioral difficulties at levels that necessitate mental health services, yet few receive these needed services. However, school mental health services are thought to improve access to mental health services for youth and families over and above traditional community mental health centers. The purpose of the current study was to expand on existing research by examining community-level and geographic predictors of the utilization of school mental health or community mental health services. Within the context of a large, federally funded trial, I examined how community rurality, ethnic/racial makeup and drive time predicted the use of either …

Behavioral And Heart-Defined Attention In Infants At High Genetic Risk For Autism, Bridgette L. Tonnsen

Theses and Dissertations

Characterizing early predictors of autism facilitates earlier identification, diagnosis and treatment. Although aberrant visual attention is one of the earliest identified predictors of autism and may play an integral role in developmental cascades that contribute to associated impairments, the emergence of atypical attention in infancy is poorly understood. The present dissertation includes three related manuscripts examining early patterns of visual attention in two infant samples at elevated risk for autism: infant siblings of children with autism (ASIBs) and infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS). Together, these manuscripts identify patterns of abnormal heart defined attention among ASIBs (Study 1), investigate the …

A Tale Of Two Landscapes: Examining Alienation And Non-Visitation Among Local African American Fishers At Congaree National Park, Janae Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The Wilderness Act of 1964 limits acceptable activities in federally designated wilderness areas to those associated with leisure, scenic viewing, education and scientific inquiry. These stipulations, which privileged the interests of the early environmental movement’s elite white leaders and disregarded uses valued by racial/ethnic minorities and working class groups, continue to inform wilderness management in national parks. This legacy of exclusion is evidenced by national park visitation statistics showing overrepresentation1 of whites and underrepresentation of African Americans (Meeker, Woods, & Lucas, 1973; P. A. Taylor, Grandjean, & Gramann, 2011). The purpose of this study is to understand how wilderness management …

In The Eye Of The Beholder: Exploring The Dialogic Approach To Police Legitimacy, Justin Nix

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, police legitimacy has generated a great deal of scholarly attention. Numerous studies carried out in a variety of settings have demonstrated that citizens are more likely to perceive the police as a legitimate authority when they interact with citizens in a procedurally fair way. In turn, citizens become more likely to accept police decisions, comply with the law, and cooperate with the police. Yet until very recently, scholars have only focused on citizen perceptions of legitimacy while neglecting the perspective of the police themselves. It may very well be that the police believe other ideals are more …

Beyond Grades: The Impact Of Race And Academic Disidentification On Social Functioning And Academic Outcomes Among At-Risk High School Students, Brian K. Colar

Theses and Dissertations

An extant literature has supported the notion that black students perform poorly in comparison to white students on frequently used indicators of academic functioning, known as the academic gap between races. Although previous studies have identified this academic inequity between White and Black high school students, there is a dearth of literature examining the context and processes which may contribute to this gap. The current study further examines this educational disparity by evaluating the role of students’ social functioning, the impact of race, and academic outcomes among at-risk high school students. Although analytical evidence reports a positive correlation between social …

Criminology On Crimes Against Humanity: A North Korean Case Study, Megan Alyssa Novak

Theses and Dissertations

In the last century, modern technology has significantly increased human interaction across the globe. The growing globalization of our society has created new areas of interest for many academics. This thesis explores the topic of international crime—specifically, state perpetrated crimes against humanity. Criminologists have become increasingly interested in large-scale atrocities and several theories on the topic have been perpetuated in the last few decades. Through a case study, this research determined that current theories are capable of explaining crimes against humanity in North Korea. Additionally, the findings suggest that international institutions should create programs that utilize restorative justice techniques.

Authentic Relationship Management To Heighten Control Mutuality In Social Media, Diana Catherine Sisson

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on literature from public relations, marketing, interpersonal communication, and organizational communication, this dissertation focused on the effects of authenticity on relationship management outcomes in nonprofit organizations’ social media efforts. There is significant need for relationship management rooted in authenticity with the rise in inauthentic communication online. This dissertation aims to contribute to relationship management theory by highlighting the role of control mutuality in analyses of authenticity in organization-public relationships in social media for nonprofit organizations like local animal welfare organizations. This dissertation proposes that control mutuality is an ethical outcome of authentic relationship management. This dissertation also proposes that …

A Quantitative Examination Of The Use Of Stand-Alone Courses And Infused Curricula On Middle School Counselors' Perceptions Of Preparedness With Legal And Ethical Dilemmas, Angelica Greiner

Theses and Dissertations

As school counselors are at a heightened risk for facing litigation, it is imperative that they are appropriately trained to effectively respond to legal and ethical issues they may encounter in their daily work. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of stand-alone courses and infused curricula on middle school counselors’ selfdescribed preparedness to effectively respond to legal and ethical dilemmas. Data was collected from middle school counselors in South Carolina by using an electronic survey. The researcher used the Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale as the instrument to determine their preparedness to …

Working Memory In Children With Neurocognitive Effects From Sickle Cell Disease: Contributions Of The Central Executive And Processing Efficiency, Kelsey Erin Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are at risk for neurocognitive impairment due to disease effects including stroke, sleep disordered breathing, anemia-induced hypoxia, and small vessel occlusion. In particular, problems in working memory are an area of concern due to the importance of this construct in determining intelligence and academic functioning. According to Baddely’s model, working memory is composed of verbal and spatial working memory, but it is unclear whether one aspect of working memory is more impacted than another in children with SCD. In addition, little is known about the role of two key components in SCD-related working memory …

Mindfulness And Cognitive Aging, Elise J. Herndon

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness meditation involves the cultivation of a focused, pre-conceptual consciousness that enables increased present-centered awareness of internal states, cognitive processes, and external stimuli (Mikulas, 2011; Kornfield, 2010). Studies suggest that mindfulness practice affects the brain structures and cognitive processes related to fluid intelligence, and may affect fluid intelligence itself among highly experienced practitioners (e.g., Gard, Taquet, et al., 2014; Lazar et al., 2005; Ritskes et al., 2003). Fluid intelligence includes higher-order reasoning and problem-solving abilities that are independent of cultural and environmental influences. These abilities peak in young adulthood, then begin to decay (Cattell, 1987; Goldberg, 2005).

The current study …

The Turkish Foreign Policy Under The Justice And Development Party (Akp): A Paradigm Shift?, Ali Demirdas

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the Turkish foreign policy has become even more important in recent years given the developments surrounding the country. Furthermore, the last decade witnessed a radical change in the Turkish foreign policy making under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

This dissertation aims to explain the nature of this change based on the application of the Policy Paradigms Theory, comparing the components of the AKP foreign policy understanding with those of the Kemalist, the status que paradigm that defined the foreign policy making in Turkey well into the early 21st century. The application of the theory provides evidence, based on …

Antecedents Of Adolescents' Hope: Personality, Parental Attachment, And Stressful Life Events, Kristin L. Otis

Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, psychology has concentrated on the importance of identifying psychological qualities in individuals that indicate positive mental health and flourishing. Hope has been proposed to be one of these qualities (Day, Hanson, Maltby, Proctor, & Wood, 2010; Marques, & Lopez, 2014). This study examined the relations among parental attachment, stressful life events, personality variables, and hope in a sample of 647 middle school students from one middle school in a Southeastern US state. The results showed statistically significant correlations between hope and all four predictor variables as well as students’ grade levels and socioeconomic status (SES). The …

Relationships Between Law Enforcement Officer-Involved Vehicle Collisions And Other Police Behaviors, John Andrew Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Specialization and versatility regarding officer negative outcomes have different implications for agency policies and practices. Versatility suggests interventions that address several problematic behaviors, while specialization may necessitate more targeted interventions. If officers who engage in one form of negative behavior are also more likely to be involved in other undesired outcomes than co-monitoring behaviors via early intervention systems or other mechanisms may be an effective means of identifying problematic officers. The threat posed by officer-involved motor vehicle collisions to the safety of police and the public has received increased attention from practitioners and researchers in the past decade or so. …

Group Social Skills Interventions For Children With Aspergers: The Effects Of Parent-Guided Social Skills Software, Ryan M. Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Asperger’s syndrome (AS) has recently become controversial as a unique pervasive developmental disorder. Although it is apparently different than low-functioning autism, it has been deemed too similar to high-functioning autism (HFA) to be considered a distinct diagnosis in the DSM-5 classification system. However, despite the removal of AS from the DSM-5, research shows that both AS and HFA are significantly different than autism with cognitive impairment (intelligence quotient <= 70), and therefore have different treatment needs. These needs primarily include specialized social skills training. Youth with AS/HFA who obtain sufficient social skills often report greater levels of quality of life and lower levels of anxiety and depression. Their parents also report less parental stress. Although a growing number of evidence-based social skill interventions exist, few use an experimental design and incorporate special interest areas (i.e., the pervasive interests of children with AS), generalization techniques (e.g., different settings, parent inclusion) or computer mediation, which research suggests is needed. Using an experimental design, this study investigated the incremental benefits of parent-guided social skills software (i.e., Social Express) in improving social, emotional and behavioral functioning in the child, as well as reduce parental-stress in the parent. Thirty youths with AS/HFA enrolled in a 9-week social skills group at a clinic participated in this study, as well as their parents. Half were randomly assigned to receive Social Express. Results indicated that the treatment group showed significant improvements in social motivation compared to the control group. No significant main effects were found in regards to other social skills, internalizing problems, adaptive skills, parental stress, or life satisfaction; however, it should be noted that this study is limited by a small sample size. Other significant effects may exist, and should be investigated in the future with a larger sample size.