Digital Commons Network^™

Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Law Enforcement, Jason L. Sharp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to extend our understanding of public perception towards law enforcement. Students from three different Kansas community colleges were surveyed about their perceptions of law enforcement effectiveness and professionalism, and what might impact those perceptions.

A total of 159 community college students responded to the survey. The majority of the respondents were female (78%), and Caucasian (77.4%). Respondent’s age represented the following percentage breakdowns: 29.6% being 18-19 years old, 27.7% being 20-24 years old, and 30.8% being 25-34. Resulting in 88% of respondents being between the ages of 18-34 years old.

Mean and standard deviation …

Cultural Considerations Of Gender-Based Violence In Jordan, Tara Sloan Jungersen

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

No abstract provided.

Group Interventions When Domestic Violence Is Present, Tara Sloan Jungersen

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

No abstract provided.

Retrying Leopold And Loeb: A Neuropsychological Perspective, David L. Shapiro

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

They called it the crime of the century; in 1924 in Chicago two brilliant, well-educated, and wealthy young men kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy and killed him "for the thrill of it". Expert testimony was presented by several well-known psychiatrists and psychologists, but even with all their clinical insights, none could reach a conclusion about the causal relation between their disturbed childhoods and a violent senseless crime. In fact, the well-known criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow made little mention of the extensive psychiatric and psychological workups, and the judge did not deal with it in his sentencing. A review …

Longitudinal Measurement Invariance Of The Child Problematic Trait Inventory In Older Chinese Children, Jie Luo, Xuetong Wong, Meng-Cheng Wang, Xintong Zhang, Jiaxin Deng, Chuxian Zhong, Yu Gao, Shi-San Qi

Publications and Research

The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) is a newly developed informant-rated instrument to measure psychopathic traits during early childhood. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal measurement invariance of the CPTI in a group of Chinese schoolchildren. Mothers of 585 children aged 8 to 12 years (50% girls) completed the CPTI twice with one-year interval. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the CPTI had strict invariance (i.e., equality of factor patterns, loadings, intercepts, and item uniqueness) across time. Furthermore, the internal consistencies for the CPTI subscales were good at both time points and the stability coefficients over time …

The Use Of Vouchers To Negatively Reinforce Number Of Weeks Compliant Among Clients In A Mental Health Court, Michele Nicole Murdock

Dissertations

The literature is sparse on the use of contingency management procedures in a mental health court (MHC). The purpose of this study was to examine the use of negative reinforcement for behavioral changes in a MHC. Specifically, the present study explored whether a voucher-based contingency management intervention improved the number of weeks compliant on MHC probation and whether participants were more externally than internally motivated to comply with MHC probation requirements. Vouchers were given for compliance with MHC probation requirements. The vouchers allowed participants to miss a future court date. It was hypothesized that participants who received the voucher would …

A Culturally-Sensitive Exploration Of Adversity And Resilience Among Trinidadians, Christabel Léonce

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Research done by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) found that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse, household challenges, and neglect were linked to later health risks in life and overall well-being (CDC, 2019). Adverse experiences occur worldwide in a variety of culturally-specific ways. Research involving youth in Trinidad and Tobago outlines emerging concerns with violence in homes, communities, and schools (Baker-Henningham et al., 2009). Currently, however, there is limited data on adverse experiences and their long-term impact in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidadians (n = 79), born and lived in Trinidad till 18 years was surveyed, ranging from ages …

Threat Perception Alteration As An Effect Of Use-Of-Force Simulation Training, Ellyse Vandyke

All NMU Master's Theses

Due to the nature of police work police officers are often placed in life threatening situations. To prepare officers for these interactions police academies employ use-of-force simulations to train relevant skills such as situational awareness and judgement. Repeated exposure to threatening situations, such as those in the use-of-force simulations, may alter the threat perception of the participant. Using self-report measures of anxiety (STAI-6 Item) and affect (PANAS), as well as respiration rate data, and short answer self-reports, the present study aims to determine if perception of threat is altered as a result of the use-of-force training, both directly after one …

The Frequency Of Sexual Perpetration In College Men: A Systematic Review Of Reported Prevalence Rates From 2000-2017, Raeann E. Anderson, Kristin E. Silver, Alyssa M. Ciampaglia, Amanda M. Vitale, Douglas L. Delahanty

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: The prevalence of sexual perpetration in college men is unknown. Prior reviews of sexual violence prevalence rates have produced wide-ranging estimates, likely due to wide variation in measurement strategies.

Objectives: This paper systematically reviewed research findings (from 2000-2017) regarding prevalence rates of sexual perpetration in college men and measurement strategies.

Data Sources: PsycINFO and Web of Science databases.

Eligibility Criteria: Empirical reports published between 2000-2017 that included male participants, available in English, and reported lifetime prevalence findings in Canadian or American college students.

Participants: Data from 78 independent samples including 25,524 college men.

Results …

Longitudinal Prediction Of Delinquent Behavior In Early Adolescence, Kathleen Watson Macdonell

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood behavioral problems have consistently been reported as an antecedent for later problem behavior, including delinquency in adolescence and into adulthood. Parenting behaviors are an important influence on the potentially negative behavioral trajectory from childhood behavior problems to delinquency in early adolescence. The current study sought to provide further understanding of the relationship between teacher-reported third grade childhood behavior problems and two outcomes: ninth grade teacher-reported and ninth grade self-reported delinquency. Additionally, the moderating impact of parental monitoring and parental school involvement, assessed in fifth grade, was explored. Using a longitudinal sample of 556 participants, hypotheses were assessed separately for …

Toward Christian-Identity Response Theory: Exploring Identity, Spirituality, And Response To Adversity Among African American Males Placed At Risk, Charity Hannah Garcia

Faculty Publications

Christian-Identity Response Theory (C-IRT) adds to limited research integrating spiritual development as a central component of human development across the life span and provides a substantive theory for how spiritual development may lead to transformative practice. Thirty-four African American males in three age groups (13-17; 18-25; 26+), placed at risk during adolescence and connected with Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) organizations at the time of data collection, engaged in the research process. Focus group discussions or initial interviews were followed by in-depth interviews. Line-by-line and incident-by-incident coding led to the formation of tentative categories and themes. Data was compared to …

Consequences Of Public/Private Selves On The Stigmatized Individual In The Workplace, Dinah Miriam Camilleri

Theses and Dissertations

Although workplace discrimination based on group membership has been studied, there is little research focused on the experience of stigmatized individuals and the organizational outcomes of perceived stigmatization. This study aimed to determine whether perceived stigmatization leads to negative consequences such as emotional exhaustion, counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), and reduced job satisfaction through the process of public/private self-schematization. A sample of 302 employees identifying as religious minorities were surveyed three times over a period of four months. Findings indicate that self-schematization mediated the relationship between perceived stigmatization and emotional exhaustion while partially mediating the relationships between perceived stigmatization, job satisfaction, …

Teacher And Child Interaction: The Effects Of Familial Distress, Child Behavior, And Teacher Perceptions, Jessekah R. Ennis

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

There has been a significant amount of research that has studied the ecological conditions that create behavioral problems for children from families that are female headed, in poverty, and live in areas where there is violent crime. There has also been evidence that revealed statistically significant associations between the way teachers perceive students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and their beliefs of the capacity of the children to learn. Studies have also examined how teachers interact with children that are exhibiting behavioral problems that are from low socio-economic status. However, to date there has been no study that has combined these …

Is A Theory Of The Problem Sufficient For A Theory Of The Solution? Negotiating Tensions Among Research, Practice, Advocacy And Activism In Serving Immigrant Communities, Diana Formoso, Dina Birman, Edison Trickett, Dana Rusch, Ashmeet Oberoi

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

The lives of members of immigrant communities are inevitably shaped by U.S. laws, rapidly-shifting immigration policy, institutional policies and practices (e.g., in schools), and how immigrants are welcomed (or not) by members of host communities (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). These and other aspects of the context of reception have important implications for immigrant integration, education and employment, and mental health. Accordingly, there have been significant calls for psychologists to take active roles in advocacy and activism, which resonates deeply with many of us. Roundtable organizers are community psychologists working with immigrant communities and seeking to negotiate the tensions that can …

Community Stakeholder Perspectives Around The Strengths And Needs Of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors, Diana Formoso, Lourdes Suarez-Morales, Carolina Barbeito, Veronica Lynne Grosse, Adriana Wilson

Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

Unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIM) are youth who lack lawful immigration status and who are without a parent or guardian in the U.S. who can provide custody and care. By all accounts, UIM experience stressful and traumatic circumstances before, during and postmigration. Most UIM left their home countries due to economic stagnation, poverty, crime and gang-related violence (Kandel et al., 2014); almost half described fleeing societal violence and one in five described experiencing domestic abuse (UNHCR, 2014). During migration, UIM are vulnerable to human trafficking, kidnapping, and other abuses (Kandel et al., 2014). Upon resettlement, UIM sometimes experience extended stays in …

Defining The American System, Andrea Bellovary

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

American systems are commonly discussed in system justification literature; however, little is known about what subsystems are important to Americans’ understanding of the overall American system and what impact status has on forming these perceptions. This study attempts to answer these questions by asking Americans about their perceptions of the overall American system and seven underlying subsystems (political, economic, employment, education, criminal justice, social services, and health care). Three hundred and forty three community members from the Chicagoland area and Mechanical Turk were recruited to participate in the survey. It was hypothesized that high-status participants would prioritize the subsystems that …

Social Networks As Mediators Of Proximal Recovery Outcomes For Veterans Living In Recovery Homes, Mayra Guerrero

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Although the prevalence of alcohol and substance abuse among veterans has been long documented (Kulka et al., 1988; Tanielian et al., 2008), insufficient work has been done on veterans living within recovery homes such as Oxford House (OH). Approximately 18% of OH residents in the United States are veterans (Oxford House, 2015); however, only one study has looked at veteran status within OH (Majer, Jason, Ferrari, Venable, & Olson, 2002). In addition, no study has examined the social networks of veterans within recovery homes. Furthermore, although the relationship between length of stay (LOS) in an OH and various positive outcomes …

How Women Navigate Safety In The Dominican Bateyes, Mary Margaret Tull

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that individuals of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic are at high risk of violence and experience multiple levels of structural oppression. However, less research exists specifically for women of Haitian descent, who are at unique risk of violence due to the complex political history between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as well as structural and gendered violence. I use frameworks of socio-ecological systems, intersectionality, structured violence, and gendered violence to consider how women of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic construct safety and prioritize different needs for their survival. I used thematic analysis to analyze life …

Examining Protective Factors That Promote Resilience Among Children With An Incarcerated Parent, Celeste A. Jackson

Dissertations

Children of incarcerated parents (CIP) represent one of the most vulnerable, at-risk populations in the United States (Johnston, 1995). Best estimates suggests there are 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parents and African-American children are disproportionately represented at a figure of 1 in 9 children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Much of the research attempting to understand this population and guide intervention efforts has employed a deficit-based approach, highlighting the plethora of adverse risk factors and negative outcomes associated with being the child of an incarcerated parent. This approach fails to acknowledge the presence of resilience inherent in these youth. The …

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

Increasing Students’ And New Professionals’ Knowledge Of Child Sexual Abuse Outcomes: An Evaluation Of An Online Intervention, Kate Theimer

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Following disclosure, support from professionals (e.g., mental health clinicians, social workers, health care providers, teachers) can help increase resiliency in youth who experience child sexual abuse (CSA). Particularly, those who respond compassionately and competently, believe and report the abuse, do not blame the victim, and increase the family’s protective factors are best suited to decrease negative outcomes. Yet, research shows that many professionals are not adequately prepared to support families due to insufficient knowledge and misinformed beliefs (Pelisoli, Herman, & Dell’Aglio, 2015). Moreover, few assessments measure knowledge specific to the aftermath of CSA and few interventions aim to increase professional …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

Understanding Trauma And Victimization In Women's Incarceration: California's Treatment Response, Marissa Tuttle-Roache

Social Sciences

The purpose of this review is to provide an exploration of past research on women's pathways to incarceration, specifically discussing how this problem affects California women. Using research from various case studies, both quantitative and qualitative, this review examines the correlation between life experiences and incarceration for women. California laws and policies that mitigate the impact incarceration has historically had on women will be discussed. This research provides a better understanding of the treatment needs of incarcerated women and the programs that could provide them with some positive resources to succeed post incarceration and avoid recidivism.

Protective Factors Of Academic Resiliency, Guadalupe Valdivia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Numerous studies had explored wide-ranging effects of childhood adversity. Yet, there is no known study that explores the impact of non-parental relationships (NPR) formed during the participation in out-of-school youth activities (OSYA), and future orientation (FO) on academic resiliency (AR) among people with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). This study moved away from the deficit perspective and focused on the strengths of individuals rather than weaknesses. The study examined the impact of protective factors of OSYA, NPR, and FO using the Michael Ungar’s (2011) Socio-Ecological Model of Resiliency to better understand their role on AR among university students with ACEs. A …

Adults' Interpretation Of Children's Relative Temporal Judgments, Meghan Manginelli

Student Theses

Abstract

This study examined how adults interpret children’s relative temporal judgments about significant events. Previous research with children has shown that children have a “prospective bias,” when making relative temporal judgments. The impact of this bias within the context of eyewitness testimony is currently unknown, as no prior research has examined how adults interpret relative temporal judgments (i.e., are they also forward thinking). The present study examined this question. Adult participants were provided with mock attorney-child interactions during which a child witness (either 8 or 17 years old) gave relative temporal judgments (i.e., near, before, after) to …

Linguistic Features Of False Confessions And Confessions Not In Dispute: A Corpus Analysis, Lucrezia Rizzelli

Student Theses

Confessions are considered the gold standard of evidence, and yet many cases of false confessions causing wrongful convictions have come to the surface in the past decades. Currently, a method to identify false confessions does not exist and studies focusing on the content of the confessions have found similarities rather than points of distinction. In this study, we approached confessions from a stylistic rather than qualitative point of view, utilizing corpus analysis to outline the linguistic features of two samples of confessions: false confessions (n=37) and confessions not in dispute (n=98). Subsequently, we created a model …

Coercive Control In Long Term Sex Trafficking Relationships: Using Exhaustion To Control Victims, Nicole C. Bassil

Student Theses

The importance of coercive control tactics in maintaining women in commercial sex has been well-documented. Less known is how these tactics manifest in long-term relationships and how victims cope or react to establish patterns of control. The current study measured the temporal patterning of coercive control in long term sex trafficking relationships via wiretapped phone conversations between pimps and sex trafficked workers. In addition, victim responses of compliance versus resistance to coercive control tactics were measured. 68 phone calls over four months were transcribed and coded between two pimps and four women working in commercial sex. The findings indicate that …

Fight, Flight, And Free Will: How Knowledge Of Biopsychosocial Effects Of Trauma Influence Free Will Beliefs And Punishment For Juvenile And Adult Offenders, Rachel Lazar

Student Theses

Justifications for punishment are generally grounded in retribution or consequentialism. Retribution presupposes a belief in free will, claiming that offenders freely and rationally choose to commit a criminal act, and are therefore deserving of punishment. Consequentialism does not necessitate a reliance on free will, and views punishment as means to a valuable end. In recent years, neuroscientific research has challenged the notion of free will, providing one pathway for a public shift away from retribution and towards consequentialism. However, methods by which to instill this doubt in laypeople are still being discovered. To date, no studies have attempted to instill …

Collaborative Research For Justice And Multi-Issue Movement Building: Challenging Discriminatory Policing, School Closures, And Youth Unemployment, Ronald David Glass, Brett G. Stoudt

Publications and Research

This special issue engages ethical, epistemic, political, and institutional issues in projects of collaborative research for justice that were designed with movements contesting policing, school closures, and youth disinvestment and unemployment. Three of the articles were collaboratively written by activists and scholars who drew from movements that deployed research for community-driven progressive change. The movements and the research are thus situated at the intersection of struggles against a resurgent anti-immigrant white supremacy, gentrification, a punitive carceral state, low pay and lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and the privatization of the public sector. These articles build upon and are in conversation …

Researching At The Community-University Borderlands: Using Public Science To Study Policing In The South Bronx, Brett G. Stoudt, María Elena Torre, Paul Bartley, Evan Bissel, Fawn Bracy, Hillary Caldwell, Lauren Dewey, Anthony Downs, Cory Greene, Jan Haldipur, Scott Lizama, Prakriti Hassan, Einat Manoff, Nadine Sheppard, Jacqueline Yates

Publications and Research

This article is a case study of the Morris Justice Project (MJP), a participatory action research (PAR) study in a South Bronx neighborhood of New York City (NYC) designed to understand residents' experiences with and attitudes towards the New York Police Department (NYPD). An illustration of public science, the research was conducted in solidarity with an emerging police reform movement and in response to an ongoing and particularly aggressive set of policing policies that most heavily impacts poor communities and communities of color. The case study describes a set of ongoing participatory, research-action, "sidewalk science" strategies, developed in 42 square …