Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Policy Analysys And Program Evaluation: Real Talk Youth Impact Program, Carlton Monroe, Liam Maccaul, Natalie Lorenzano, Vincentiu Anghel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Real Talk’s effectiveness on having a positive impact with at-risk youth here in Southern Nevada. Using data collected by Real Talk, the goal was to find new strategies for the program to further expand its outreach based on the impact they have made on the students that have successfully completed the program.

[Community Oriented Policing (Cop) Evaluation], Kaci Kerfeld, Taylor Glaser, James Koloskie

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An in-depth review of the use of force policies and practices used by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) was conducted after the alarming rate of officer involved shootings was publicized by the Las Vegas Review Journal (RJ) in 2011. The 75 recommendations handed down to LVMPD after the review not only helped guide the agency towards procedural and reporting changes, but also paved a way for the agency to begin rebuilding trust in police within the community. This program evaluation focuses on the community engagement efforts put forth by the Bolden Area Command (BAC) community oriented policing (COP) …

How May I Impress You? A Content Analysis Of Online Impression Management Tactics Of Youtube Beauty Vloggers, Xiaoxiao Ma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research aims at investigating how YouTube beauty vloggers utilize impression management tactics to convey the intended image in an online environment by analyzing their self-presentational behaviors. Two individual coders coded one hundred videos that top trending on YouTube, featuring some single human vloggers who used English as the primary presentation language.

Results revealed that first, vloggers had engaged with all four self-presentational behavioral strategies (verbal expressions, nonverbal cues, artifactual displays, and purposive behaviors) in the seemingly amateur videos. Second, a commonly shared feature of top trending vlogs was that they were all designed with abundant and diverting content, indicating …

Specification Of Mixed Logit Models Using An Optimization Approach, Cristian David Arteaga Sanchez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mixed logit models are a widely-used tool for studying discrete outcome problems. Modeling development entails answering three important questions that highly affect the quality of the specification: (i) what variables are considered in the analysis? (ii) what are going to be the coefficients for these variables? and (iii) what density function these coefficients will follow? The literature provides guidance; however, a strong statistical background and an ad hoc search process are required to obtain the best model specification. Knowledge of the problem context and data is required. Given a dataset including discrete outcomes and associated characteristics the problem to be …

The Impact Of Supportive Parenting On Career Confidence Of Young Adults, Salma Ettefagh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite freedoms for women in modern economies, there remains a large disparity between female graduation rates and women achieving high-ranking positions in the business world. Confidence may be one factor why women are underrepresented in the executive class.This

exploratory research investigated if supportive parenting has an effect on self-reported career confidence among undergraduates. A quantitative ANOVA analysis found that instrumental support factors (for example, money and tuition) overall were significant in predicting performance-based confidence, particularly for males. However, qualitative results showed that supportive parenting and confidence are not always correlated.

Consumer Attitudes And Purchase Intentions Of Cruises In China, Wenjia Han

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the impact of consumers’ attitudes towards cruises on their purchase intention of cruises. A sample of 229 past outbound travelers in China were surveyed via an online self-administered survey sent by a Chinese online survey platform named ’So Jump’. The survey used a two-part statement evaluation format to measure cruise purchase intentions and the factors that impact the intentions. Respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement, the important of the sub-factors, and the likelihood to participate in certain activities on a seven-point Likert scale. Use the theory of planned behavior as the base, the three …

Numerical Methods For Option Pricing Under The Two-Factor Models, Jiacheng Cai

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Pricing options under multi-factor models are challenging and important problems for financial applications. In particular, the closed form solutions are not available for the American options and some European options, and the correlations between factors increase the complexity and difficulty for the formulations and implements of the numerical methods.

In this dissertation, we first introduce a general transformation to decouple correlated stochastic processes governed by a system of stochastic differential equations. Then we apply the transformation to the popular two-factor models: the two-asset model, the stochastic volatility model, and the stochastic interest rate models. Based on our new formulations, we …

Same-Sex Focus In The Visual Attention Of Heterosexual Women: An Investigation Of Potential Explanations, Sarah C. Jones

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When simultaneously presented with male and female erotic visual stimuli, heterosexual women have a significantly less category-specific pattern of visual attention, wherein they spend much more time viewing same sex stimuli than do men. Heterosexual men, on the other hand, have a much more category-specific pattern of visual attention, allocating nearly all of their visual attention to the female stimuli. The present study investigated several proposed explanations for women’s more diffuse visual attention patterns: that heterosexual women may find some arousal value in viewing erotic female images given their greater sexual fluidity/erotic plasticity in comparison to men, that women may …

Development And Psychometric Evaluation Of The Unfinished Business In Bereavement Scale, Kara Klingspon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bereavement is one of life's greatest challenges, but most grievers recover within approximately six months after the loss. Prolonged Grief Disorder or Complicated Grief describes the 10-20% who continue to struggle with chronic and severe symptoms such as yearning and/or longing for the deceased. Those with prolonged grief are at elevated risk for a number of detrimental physical and mental health outcomes. Unfinished business, which refers to a subjective perception that something was left undone, unsaid, or unresolved with the deceased, is one marker indicating greater risk for such symptomology. Although a common target for intervention, no empirically validated tool …

Esports Enthusiasts And Gamers: Motivations, Behaviors, And Attitudes Towards Gambling, John Lukasik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined what the driving factors behind why people watch esports and play video games, and their views on casino gambling. This research takes into account several motivational models and theories for video game and media consumption, including the Uses and Gratifications Theory. In addition, motivations and behaviors in regards to gambling were also examined. Although there is plenty of research on gambling motivations, none looks primarily at how esports and video game enthusiasts in specific feel about gambling.

In-depth Interviews were conducted on esports and video game enthusiasts to understand what they enjoy about esports and gaming, and …

Social Cognition In Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Elyse Parke

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which impacts behavioral outcomes, including social functioning. Children with ADHD demonstrate impairment across a number of social domains, including aggressive behavior, poor social skills, and higher rates of Oppositional Defiant Disorder compared to typically developing peers. However, the underlying neurocognitive underpinnings of these poor social outcomes are unclear. Furthermore, little is known regarding the impact of ADHD symptomatology on aspects of social cognition. Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity may differentially impact components of social cognition. Determining whether performance on social cognition tasks is predictive of social skills and problem behaviors is also an area …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of The Coach-Athlete Relationship On Athlete Mental Health, Corey Rae Phillips

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There is a demand to target the mental health needs of collegiate athletes, who are

considered to be at-risk for physiological injuries, psychological disturbances, and

academic problems. Due to the dynamic nature of the coach-athlete relationship,

assessing the impact coaches have on athletes’ psychological wellbeing is imperative to

shift the way mental health is addressed within this population. The current study aims to

address the relationship between perceived problems in the coach-athlete relationship and

mental health of college students who participate in organized sport. I hypothesize that

problems in the relationship have serious implications for athletes and mental health

providers …

Athlete Alcohol Use And Alcohol-Related Consequences: The Role Of Drinking Motives, Michelle Pitts

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Intercollegiate athlete alcohol use, particularly in softball athletes, is higher compared to nonathletes and they experience greater alcohol-related consequences. Motivation to drink alcohol is a strong predictor of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in college students, including collegiate athletes. Drinking motives are reasons why people consume alcohol, including reasons that are specific to the context of athletics. Two dimensions underlie drinking motives: positively or negatively reinforcing motives and internal or external motives (Cox & Klinger, 1988). In this study the influence of sport-related and general drinking motives on alcohol use and negative alcohol-related consequences was examined in 721 collegiate softball …

Value Co-Creation Propositions: A Self-Determination Theory Of Customer Acceptance, Trust And Wellbeing, Lenna V. Shulga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the emergence of shared business models, hospitality and tourism consumers are faced with the decision to accept value propositions from various service providers, including traditional, collaborative and shared. Grounded in service-dominant logic, theory of acceptance, theory of value, self-determination theory and generational theory, this dissertation examines why consumers accept value propositions from service providers and what drives customers to collaborate with front-line employees. The research uses three studies that utilized a destination resort context with a mixed factorial equal cells experimental design. Study 1 utilized a 3 (generations) x 3 (business models) x 4 (value propositions) factorial between-within subjects …

Preventing Deaths By Writing: In Search Of A Prescriptive Software Solution For Curing Student Writing Ills In Postsecondary Nursing Education, Donald Allen Deever

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Life and death represent the nursing field, and to a number of educators, helping nursing students to develop effective writing skills is equally seen as a life and death matter. A lack of proficiency in writing may literally be the death of a nursing student’s college hopes, but more importantly is the thought that a lack of proficient writing skills by nurses may mean the death of patients. Peer-reviewed studies suggest that 440,000 patients die annually in hospitals due to mistakes called adverse events (AE’s). According to research, a lack of proper communication, including written communication, represents the third leading …

Temperament And Behavior Factors In A Community Sample Of Youth With Selective Mutism, Rachele Alexandra Diliberto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children with selective mutism often present as a very diverse population, with both oppositional (APA, 2013; Cohan et al., 2008; Steinhausen & Juzi, 1996), and anxious symptoms (APA, 2013; Kristensen, 2000; Vecchio & Kearney, 2009) most commonly reported. The first aim of the current study was to validate the presence of previously identified anxious and oppositional behavior factors in a community sample of youth with selective mutism. These factors were previously identified in a clinic sample of youth with selective mutism (Diliberto & Kearney, 2016). The second aim was to examine the association of anxious and oppositional behavior factors with …

Obligations Of The State: State Behavior And The Occurrence Of State Success, Brendan Mark Morris

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The start of the twenty-first century has coincided with the emergence of the concept of state failure as a major humanitarian and security concern. While the occurrence of state failure has received much attention, there has been little agreement on the actual definition and conceptualization of state failure. This study intends to aid in the improvement on the discourse of state failure by providing a new approach on failed states that analyzes shifts in state fragility. In this new approach, this study focuses on the occurrence of state success and explain how states succeed by focusing on the fulfillment of …

An Examination Of Accuracy And Elaborations For Character Traits In A Narrative, Michael Palena

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When people read a story, they often form a highly detailed representation known as a situation model. The event-indexing model (Zwaan, Langston, & Graesser, 1995) proposes that situation models are constructed along several indices, one of which is protagonist or character. While much research has been devoted to the study of tracking and forming trait-based models of fictional characters, little attention has been paid to the representation of characters’ external attributes. In Experiment 1, participants read a short story containing various characters and their attributes. Participants were then asked to recall the characters and their attributes, either according to their …

The Psychophysiological Correlates Of Personality, Trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Social Support, Meghan E. Pierce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Theories considering the etiology of psychopathy suggest that trauma exposure, specifically childhood maltreatment and sexual abuse, is related to the development of callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents, which are precursors to psychopathic traits in adulthood. Furthermore, posttraumatic stress disorder has an opposite relationship with many of the emotional and behavioral components of the two-factor model of psychopathy. Specifically, PTSD is positively associated to IA and traits associated with it and negatively associated with FD. Thus, this study sought to expand upon the current theories of a trauma-based etiology of psychopathy by investigating the relationship between trauma, PTSD, and psychopathic …

De-Colonizing Language Needs: A Critical Ethnographic Study Of Former And Current Teachers’ Language Dispositions And How Taking A Multicultural Education Course Mediates Those Dispositions, Ravijot Singh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this critical ethnographic research was to examine how taking a Multicultural Education course mediated teachers’ language dispositions. Particularly, this study examined how language and culture have a profound connection that is largely unrecognized in the American education system, and how lack of respect for the home language of students by their teachers leads to negative attitudes towards the children and impedes students’ academic progress.

This study used a theoretical and conceptual framework that incorporate intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) as its research paradigm to understand the interaction and overlapping roles of language and culture in society, and how neoliberal …

The Development And Testing Of Potential Music Piracy Warnings, Joanne Ullman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A combination of technological, legal, and economic factors necessitates efforts to protect music from being illegally reproduced in a globally digital environment. Entities such as record companies, recording industry organizations, and special governmental agencies are committed to eradicating the unauthorized dissemination of copyrighted material. Furthermore, the FBI provides an official anti-piracy icon with accompanying text to be placed on websites and packaging. In support of these initiatives, the principal goal of this study was to empirically identify icon design elements that will most successfully communicate to consumers the illegality of unauthorized music reproductions.

Recommendations from extant literature indicate that viewers …

Understanding Transitions Of Trust Across Different Business Contexts: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Study, Sungsik Yoon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Airbnb’s influence has been growing rapidly in the last few years, and hotel operators are beginning to recognize the competitive threat it poses. However, consumers may perceive Airbnb differently than hoteliers. Thus, the current study attempts to explore hotel customers’ perceptions of the sharing economy business (Airbnb). It is important to pay attention to the different business settings of the channels that currently exist in the lodging industry. Moreover, investigating the relationship between trust and perceived risk in this new channel (i.e., Airbnb) is crucial due to the inherent risk of transactions on Airbnb, especially when compared with traditional Business-to-customer. …

Jornaleros Engaged In A Multidimensional Struggle: A Critical Ethnography With Day Laborers In Las Vegas, Jorge Adrian Castrejon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Day labor work has spread across the entire Unite States as part of the secondary labor market, or as Cherrie Moraga describes it- survival work. Day laborers in Las Vegas, Nevada have become a significant part of this trend in the Southwest, where the highest rate of day laborers work, and for which little community and scholarly work has been produced. The National Day Labor Survey, the most comprehensive study with day laborers, reports that the day labor market is rife with abuse and violations of worker rights. But, the exploitation of this predominantly migrant workforce would not be possible …

Volunteer Management In Faith-Based Organizations, Cheryl Regina Coleman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) rely heavily on volunteers to carry out their mission, making volunteer labor fundamental to an organization’s business operations and outcomes. A review of the literature revealed a significant gap in managing volunteers effectively in a nonprofit, faith- based setting. The standard business management practices typically employed when managing volunteers lack effectiveness in nonprofit FBO environments. Employing for-profit management practices to managing volunteer labor in nonprofit settings is especially challenging given the uniqueness of nonprofit organizations that rely on volunteer over paid labor. Challenges include the organization’s values, mission, identity, social goals, outcomes, and ideological characteristics. The purpose …

Launching Conservative Resistance: A Rhetorical Criticism Of The Young Americans For Freedom, Tyler John Snelling

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

At the end of the 1940s, conservatives faced internal divisions, an elitist image, and people supporting government post Great Depression. Liberalism seemed entrenched throughout society. Yet, the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), the first national, conservative movement, formed in 1960. This thesis investigates YAF’s earliest “publicity” in National Review, an influential magazine, to understand part of what preceded conservatism’s evolution. Publishing “The Ivory Tower: Young Americans for Freedom” by William F. Buckley and the “Sharon Statement,” YAF’s manifesto, side-by-side formed a new identity—young conservative—that empowered activists. From Maurice Charland’s “constitutive rhetoric,” chapter two investigates Buckley’s telling of the past as …

International Responses To Human Trafficking: A Comparative Secondary Data Analysis Of National Characteristics, Olivia Germaine Tuttle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Human trafficking is a rising international issue that has become a key concern for human rights organizations and governments throughout the world. As such, new policies are being developed and implemented to combat the problem. A guiding standard for these policies is the United Nations (UN) 2003 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which established a formal definition of human trafficking. While the UN Protocol was a significant step in the fight against human trafficking, it is limited by its framework, which focuses heavily on criminalization and punishment of traffickers. Recent discourse and …

"Less Than A Relationship:" Transitions Into An Impactful Romantic Relationship, Yuliya Yurashevich

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Are we friends, dating partners, significant others, or who are we? To answer this question, the study examined transitions into an impactful romantic relationship using relational turbulence theory (RTT). The goal of this thesis was to investigate communicative behaviors during romantic relationship transitions in association to relational uncertainty and relational satisfaction. Using axial and emergent coding, lay individuals’ definition of the impactful romantic relationship was derived and several types of transitions (most commonly, acquaintances to romantic partners and acquaintances through friends to romantic partners) were identified. Regression analyses revealed the support for half of the theory-driven hypotheses. Taking into consideration …

Examining The Extent And Impact Of Surveillance On Animal Rights Activists, Cassandra Boyer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the post-9/11 era, the USA PATRIOT Act provided law enforcement agencies broad powers to investigate citizens believed to be potential or perceived domestic terrorist threats. Preceded by the Animal Enterprise Protection Act (AEPA) of 1992, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) of 2006 delivered to these same agencies laws under which animal rights (AR) activists could be charged as domestic terrorists. Considered to be potential domestic terrorist threats under the Green Scare era, AR activists became prioritized as state-sponsored surveillance subjects.

This thesis seeks to determine the extent of surveillance on AR activists as well as its impact in …

Societal Opinon Of Government And Private Agencies’ Surveillance Capabilities Post 9-11, Stephanie E. Kaplan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States has placed an increased focus upon government and private agencies to engage in surveillance practices in order to combat terrorism. The passing of the United States PATRIOT ACT (2001) expanded the surveillance capabilities of law enforcement officials thus allowing both federal and state agencies to legally wiretap a range of communication devices. Under the justification of “fighting terrorism,” federal and state agencies now have more access to sensitive data on/about a range of persons including subjects of interest. Legal scholars (Bam, 2015, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), …

Conflicted Provision: Exploring The Intersection Of Social Support And Deception, Courtney Lane Mcdaniel

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Social support and deception are both significant elements of close relationships. Social support involves verbal and nonverbal behaviors that are used when an individual is trying to help another person (Vangelisti, 2009). Social support is imperative to relationships, and as such, plays a large role within friendships, romantic relationships, and professional relationships alike. Research has suggested that friends in particular are one of the most enduring and irreplaceable sources of social support (Burleson, 1994; Burleson & Goldsmith, 1998; Floyd, 1995; Floyd & Parks, 1995). Thus, because friends comprise the strongest support system for many individuals, studying how deceptive communication functions …