Digital Commons Network^™

Belonging On The Field: Racial Identity, Inclusion, And Challenges Of Athletes Of Color In Predominantly White Sports, Mikaila Ealum, Madeline Koch

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

Despite past research exploring the relationship between racial and athletic identities in Black American athletes, there remains a significant gap in literature regarding the impact of sports social environments on the salience of these identities, highlighting the need for further investigation.

Social Media's Impact On Eating Disorders In Minority Groups, Amber Michon Ma, Nina Michon Ma

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

This roundtable explores how social media exacerbates eating disorders (EDs) in marginalized communities, including racial minorities and LGBTQ+ individuals. Focused on systemic change, the discussion will explore strategies to promote inclusive media representations, media literacy, and culturally competent ED treatment aiming to foster equitable, supportive digital spaces through collective action.

The Mediation Effect Of White Racial Affect On Color-Blind Racial Attitudes And Multicultural Counseling Competence, Noah Schieffer Scanlon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Racial bias is something that can impact many fields, including the field of psychology. There is growing research in examining the relationship between multicultural counseling competence and color-blind racial attitudes as well as other factors like White racial affect Few studies have examined the potential mediating relationship White racial affect may have on color-blind racial attitudes and multicultural counseling competence. To address this gap, this study provides insight into how White racial affect mediates the relationship between color-blind racial attitudes and multicultural counseling competence among white psychology trainees. This study also further examined the extent to which color-blind racial attitudes …

Great Lakes Social Hour, Great Lakes Social Hour

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

Great Lakes Social Hour

Community Conversation, Community Lakes Conversation

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

Great Lakes Counseling Psychology Community Conversation

Invited Speaker Keynote Address: Advancing Science And Our Collective Impact During Turbulent Political Times, Ezemenari M. Obasi Phd

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

Dr. Ezemenari Obasi's Keynote Speech

The Role Of Shame And Underreporting In The Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence And Ptsd Symptoms In Indo-Caribbean Women, Ashley C. Velez, Casey L. Hinger

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

This study aims to test a path analysis model that explores the mediating role of shame and symptom underreporting in the relationship between intimate partner violence and PTSD symptoms with a sample of Indo-Caribbean women.

Lunch Hour, Lunch Time

Great Lakes Regional Counseling Psychology Conference

Lunch Time!

Maintaining Well-Being: Coping Strategies For Prolonged Traumatic Experiences From The Stories Of Ukrainian Educators During The Wartime, Natalya Rakevich

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study aimed to better understand how and whether educators can maintain well-being during prolonged trauma. This study examines the experiences of Ukrainian educators living in non-occupied territories during wartime. The following research questions guided the study: What coping strategies do educators use to take care of themselves? What coping strategies do educators use with their students? How do educators perceive mindfulness and storytelling? A conceptual framework was created to better understand the topics of stress, trauma, being, well-being, surviving, suffering, and coping mechanisms through a literature review. Data collection occurred in February and March 2024, two years …

The Impact Of A Social Media Literacy Program On Adolescent Subjective Well-Being, Miranda L. Virone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the impact of a Social Media Literacy (SML) program on adolescent subjective well-being. The research was conducted in a public middle school in rural western Pennsylvania, with 102 eighth-grade students participating in a six-week SML intervention as part of regular educational practices. The study utilized pre- and post-intervention assessments to measure changes in both SML and subjective well-being. Data analysis included paired samples t-tests to assess within-group effects and Pearson’s r correlation to evaluate associations between variables. Results indicated no statistically significant effect of the SML program on subjective well-being, leading to the rejection of the first …

You Belong With Me: Examining The Relationship Between Engagement In The “Swifty” Fan Community, Feelings Of Belonging, And Social Identity, Jessica Leigh Webb

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Belongingness and social identity shape human behavior and group dynamics, yet their relationship with fan engagement remains understudied. This study examines engagement in the “Swifty” fan community—fans of Taylor Swift—and its relationship with belonging and social identity. A quantitative, correlational design addressed three research questions: (1) the relationship between fan engagement and belonging, (2) the relationship between fan identification and belonging, and (3) the relationship between fan identification and social identity. Data were collected via an online Qualtrics survey incorporating the General Belongingness Scale, Three-Factor Model of Social Identity Scale, Popular Media Fan Identity Scale, and demographic items. The survey …

The Moderating Role Of Loneliness In The Relation Between Perceived Pressure To Be Thin, Perfectionism, And Internalizing Problems Among Latina Girls, Melissa Lopez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Latina girls are at a high risk of depressive symptoms and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. This study builds on the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model to identify factors that may influence the development of these internalizing problems (Hewitt et al., 2006). Perceived pressure to be thin, perfectionistic self-presentation, and loneliness have all been linked to internalizing problems, including depressive symptoms in youth. This study focuses on Latina girls, specifically, and the ways that these variables combine to affect their well-being. This study highlights the relation between pressure to be thin and both depressive symptoms and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and explores …

The Effects Of Reading Comprehension Intervention For Dyslexia, Amber L. Coggin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A quantitative study was performed to determine if Lindamood-Bell Reading Intervention had an effect on the self-concept, anxiety levels, and depression levels of individuals diagnosed with dyslexia. This quantitative study was also conducted to determine if a person’s age had an effect on the ability to learn coping mechanisms for dyslexia. Thirty-three participants, ranging in age from 7 to17 years-old were selected to participate in the study. All participants had a formal diagnosis of dyslexia and had not obtained the Lindamood-Bell Reading Intervention prior to participating in the study. The participants were divided into three age groups. Each participant completed …

The Correlation Of Intergenerational Faith On Black Families, Anita Serwaa Bonsu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Parent-child relationships play a significant role in predicting human behavior during childhood development. As more individuals become religiously unaffiliated, this research explored the factors contributing to this reality. Many studies have highlighted the correlation of parents on behavior; however, few have examined the intergenerational closeness and religiosity within Black families in America. The primary goal of this study was to assess the correlation of parent-child closeness on intrinsic religiosity among Black families. The research asked the following question: Does parent-child closeness positively correlate with intrinsic religiosity among adult Black children? The sample consisted of 73 Black adults aged 18 years …

Family Risk Classes Predict Longitudinal Parent And Child Outcomes: Understanding The Implications Of Poverty-Related Adversity, Daniel K. Cooper, Benjamin L. Bayly, Brianna Tennie, Francesca Lupini, Martha E. Wadsworth

Faculty Publications

Experiencing poverty and associated risk factors can be detrimental to families’ mental health and well-being. However, it is unclear whether experiencing specific types or patterns of adversity leads to distinct outcomes. Guided by the Family Stress Model, the objective of this study was to (a) identify unique family risk classes based on exposure to various combinations of poverty-related adversity and (b) examine whether the family risk classes differed in their levels of parental coping strategies, couple relationship quality, parenting practices, and child behavior problems. The sample included 301 mother–father–child triads (602 adults and 301 children) with a combined income ≤ …

Synthesizing Metoo: A Meta-Analysis Of Workplace Sexual Harassment In Hospitality And Tourism, Yunxuan Carrie Zhang, Cass Shum

Hospitality Faculty Research

Purpose – Despite increasing research attention on hospitality and tourism workplace sexual harassment, there is a lack of holistic understanding of its nomological networks. This meta-analysis aims to synthesize the antecedents and consequences of workplace sexual harassment in the context of tourism and hospitality.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 184 effect sizes from 39 independent hospitality and tourism studies (N=12,093) were included in this meta-analysis. Comprehensive MetaAnalysis software was used to analyze the results.

Findings – The results supported victim age and work environment as antecedents of workplace sexual harassment. Workplace sexual harassment affects work-related (job attitudes and job performance) …

Use And Benefits Of A Therapeutic Hypnosis Interactive Media Program For Chronic Pain Management: A Pilot Study, Mark P. Jensen, Joy F. Chan, Owen Gottlieb, Laurence I. Sugarman, Emily Stensland

Articles

Chronic pain is a common condition that has significant negative effects on individuals and society. Opioids continue to be the primary treatment provided to the billions of individuals with chronic pain, despite their general lack of efficacy and significant negative side effects. A growing body of research supports the potential of therapeutic hypnosis for helping individuals better manage their chronic pain. However, access to this treatment is limited. The availability of a hypnosis digital therapeutic has the potential to address this access problem. The current study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of a digital therapeutic hypnosis prototype (not yet …

Exploring Emotion Classification Of Indonesian Tweets Using Large Scale Transfer Learning Via Indobert, Connor Shaw, Phillip M. Lacasse, Lance E. Champagne

Faculty Publications

Business, political, and other social structures create strong motivation to understand the attitudes, motivations, feelings, and emotions of a population of interest. Social media is a rich source of self-disclosed information by individuals from all walks of life about virtually every domain of the human experience, but the vast quantity of data is impossible to effectively analyze without advanced natural language processing algorithms. This research creates a transfer learning based emotion classification model for Indonesian language Twitter data. Transfer learning consists of two steps: pre-training and fine tuning. Three variations of Indonesian Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (IndoBERT) are tested …

Queer Connections: Relationship Initiation Approach And Relationship Quality For Queer Couples, Kai Ambakad

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Queer individuals encounter unique challenges in romantic relationships, making it essential to explore factors that influence their relationship quality. The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare relationship quality among queer individuals based on the method of meeting (i.e., through dating applications vs. in person) and to test communication quality as a moderating variable. This study examined commitment and satisfaction as the dependent variables for relationship quality and meeting method as the independent variable. The research addressed whether there were (1) differences in relationship quality based on meeting method and (2) whether communication quality moderated this relationship. The study …

Navigating Digital Geographies And Trauma Contexts: Conceptions Of Online Communities And Experiences Among Lgbtq+ People During Covid-19, Rachel M. Schmitz, Jennifer Tabler, Ruby Charak, Gabby Gomez, Reagan E. Cole, Joshua J. Schmitz

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The coronavirus pandemic shaped challenges for marginalized groups. Specifically, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ+) people experienced community-building constraints, notably in predominantly rural regions. People are also navigating digital geographies, or online social environments, in novel ways to develop virtual communities in the face of prejudice, discrimination, and potential trauma. Through a minority coping approach, the present study explored LGBTQ+ people’s experiences navigating the dynamics of digital geographies during the pandemic while residing in socially conservative, highly rural physical spaces where they may be exposed to vicarious trauma. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews, data were gathered from 43 LGBTQ+ identifying …

Mental Health Literacy, Education, And Implications For Mental Disorder, Robert Louis Sims Jr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental health literacy (MHL) improves the recognition and treatment of mental disorders. The completion of a bachelor’s degree has been correlated with higher levels of MHL, and higher levels of MHL are reported to improve mental health status (MHS). While educational attainment has a significant positive relationship with MHL, the strength and significance of education in predicting MHL level remains unclear. A health literacy conceptualization and self-efficacy theory underpinned further examination of these variables in this study. A survey was administered to a sample of 105 university graduates in Georgia enrolled in one of five bachelor’s degree disciplines: education, humanities, …

Classroom Teachers' Approaches To Values Education: Exploring Explicit And Implicit Strategies For Teaching And Modeling Values, Maria Ukamaka Clare Okeke

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Abstract This study explores the approaches Nigerian secondary school teachers in Anambra State use to teach values through explicit and implicit methods. Recognizing the need to understand how values are effectively communicated in the classroom, this research delves into the dual strategies employed by educators and their impacts on student moral development. The research used a qualitative interview study approach, which included semi-structured interviews with ten experienced secondary school teachers and a document analysis of teaching resources. This method allows one to investigate the explicit instruction and implicit modeling strategies applied in values education in depth. Findings reveal that teachers …

Examining The Influence Of Digital Transformation On Organizational Culture And Employee Adaptability In Higher Education Institutions Across The Gulf Cooperation Council (Gcc), Hussein Elsayed Mohamed Ismail

Journal of the Association of Arab Universities for Research in Higher Education مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للبحوث في التعليم العالي

The study aimed to explore the impact of digital transformation on organisational culture and employee readiness within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Conducted in 2024, it involved research that used a sample of employees and administrators from various universities across the region. Structured questionnaires served as data collection tools, allowing for an in-depth evaluation of the different dimensions of digital transformation. This study primarily utilises secondary data analysis, which involves examining data from existing studies, reports, and scholarly articles. This approach is selected for its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, as it allows access to extensive …

Evolving Connections: Exploring A Non-Traditional Relationship Label Through Thematic Analysis, Nevaeh P. Copenhaver, Whitney Whitaker

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Introduction: Every generation makes its mark on society as it comes of age—introducing novel terminology, challenging preexisting norms, and shifting cultural paradigms. Due to social media’s far-reaching influence, this process has been expedited. Some neologisms such as “just talking” and “situationship” have become widely recognized; despite their prominence, concrete definitions have not yet been established.

Purpose: The present study aimed to provide insights into how the current generation of emerging adults views and manages relationships with non-traditional labels.

Methods: Via an online survey, participants (N=221; mean age=26.47) described newer, non-traditional relationships labeled “just talking.” The researchers conducted a multi-phase qualitative …

Recognizing Individual Variability In Misophonia: Identifying Symptom-Based Subgroups With Gaussian Mixture Modeling, Mercedes G. Woolley, Amanda M. Ramos, Emily M. Bowers, Karen Muñoz, Julie M. Petersen, Michael P. Twohig

Psychology Student Research

Misophonia is characterized by intense emotional and physiological reactions to everyday sounds such as chewing and tapping. While previous researchers have focused on defining and characterizing the disorder, limited attention has been given to the variability in symptom presentations across individuals. In this study, we sought to identify distinct subgroups of individuals with misophonia by applying a Gaussian finite mixture model to explore the heterogeneity of symptom profiles. Sixty treatment-seeking participants completed the Duke Misophonia Interview, which assessed the presence and severity of various behavioral, affective, and cognitive symptoms. Items from this measure served as model indicators. Two clusters were …

The Relationship Between Closed-Loop Auditory Stimulation During Sleep And Eeg On Memory Consolidation, Hector Patricio Valverde

Psychology ETDs

Slow-wave sleep is critical for consolidating information into long-term memory. Past research has found this process can be enhanced using closed-loop auditory stimulation (CLAS), where pink noise tones are timed to slow oscillations using live EEG to increase slow wave amplitude and synchronize connections across the neocortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. In this study, subjects slept in our laboratory while receiving counterbalanced sham or verum CLAS. Memory retention scores were calculated using a paired associates word task completed before and after sleep. Subjective sleep quality scores were also obtained. A total of 33 verum and 35 sham nights of data were …

Experiences Of Grandparenting During Covid-19 For Grandparents Geographically Distanced From Their Grandchildren, Eva Louise Benevit

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since 2015, the number of retirees relocating after retirement has increased significantly, leading grandparents to be distant from their grandchildren. Isolation and distance from families has increased due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to high rates of loneliness and isolation for older adults. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore experiences during COVID-19 for grandparents geographically distanced from their grandchildren. This research was grounded using Erikson’s psychosocial developmental theory, with a focus on the maturity stage, and thematic analysis was used to guide interviews and analysis. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit five …

The Athletes’ Plate: Understanding Influences Of Athletes’ Eating Attitudes, Exercise Behaviors, And Body Image Satisfaction, Delanie Patterson, Brooklynn Raacke, Ryssa Schlaefli

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Delanie Patterson¹, Brooklynn Raacke¹, and Ryssa Schlaefli²

¹Department of Psychology, Fort Hays State University

²Department of Health and Human Performance, Fort Hays State University

Faculty Sponsors: Brooke Mann¹, Ph.D. and Jessica Phelan², Ph.D.

¹Department of Psychology, Fort Hays State University

²Department of Health and Human Performance, Fort Hays State University

Hays, Kansas

Introduction: Disordered eating (DE), compulsive exercise (CE), and body image satisfaction (BIS) negatively affect male and female athletes. These variables each have a core symptomology but continue to evolve with the increased usage of social …

The Healing Potential Of The Use Of Racial Socialization By School Counselors For African American Students, Vameker Banks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American adolescents experience racial discrimination incidents more frequently than their peers from other racial backgrounds. Racial socialization (RS) has been proven to be effective in assisting African American youth in coping with racial stressors. School counselors play a crucial role in supporting African American youth dealing with race-related stress (RRS). Research has focused on the use of RS among African American parents and children, yet there is a research gap regarding the use of RS among school counselors. Further research is necessary to explore how school counselors implement RS to help students cope with and respond to stressful discriminatory …

Adult Sexual Grooming: A Systematic Review, Christin Aletky, Bonita Sharma, Jose Carbajal, Tia Eubank

Journal of Social Work in the Global Community

Grooming is the manipulation and intimidation of people into acts that may appear consensual but are in fact exploitative and harmful, activities they would not have chosen otherwise. Different legal definitions and shifting social perspectives on consent complicate efforts to determine whether a given behavior is a result of informed consent or a response to grooming behaviors. Most studies on grooming and sexual assault focus on adults grooming and abusing children—research on adults grooming other adults is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to conduct a systematic review of current research on the grooming of adults. We used …