Digital Commons Network^™

College Students’ And Teachers’ Biases Regarding School Children Based On Appearance, Sex, And Clothing, Lauren K. Decoste, Terry F. Pettijohn Ii

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This research explored how appearance, sex, and clothing differences influence adults’ perceptions of primary school students across two studies. Male students were predicted to be rated higher in academic ability, behavior, and likeability compared to female students, while formally dressed students were expected to receive more favorable ratings than informally dressed students. Study 1 included college students (N = 160), and Study 2 included employed teachers (N = 112). Participants rated formally and informally dressed male and female students on perceived behavioral, academic, and social skills, likeability, and engagement. Results showed that model sex influenced several perceptions, with male students …

Lost On The Moon: A Classroom Activity For Bringing Group Processes To Life, Christin L. Munsch, Allison Lena, Kay Sassan

Feminist Pedagogy

This teaching activity reviews key concepts in group processes and introduces students to Expectation States Theory (EST) and Status Characteristics Theory (SCT), two micro-sociological frameworks that explain how inequality of opportunity emerges in task-oriented small groups with consequences for unequal outcomes. The activity is built around a team-building exercise “Lost on the Moon” in which participants rank 15 survival items individually and then in small groups. We adapt this exercise by taking field notes on group interactions and drawing on these notes to facilitate a discussion in which students critically reflect on their interactions with one another. We close the …

Treating The Trauma Beneath The Violence: A Reappraisal Of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrator Interventions, Huda S. Shaikh, Vanessa Cordoba

Journal for Social Work Scholar-Practitioners

Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a global public health emergency with little meaningful reduction in prevalence over the past two decades, despite extensive micro-level interventions targeting perpetrators through batterer intervention programs (BIPs) and legal accountability mechanisms (Arce et al., 2020; Babcock et al., 2004; Shetty, 2025; WHO, 2025). Using a macro social work and epistemological lens, this paper argues that the IPV field and judicial systems, particularly in the United States, have relied on an outdated and largely reactive paradigm that obscures the trauma histories of perpetrators, neglects intergenerational and neurobiological mechanisms, and perpetuates epistemic injustice toward both survivors and …

Microbusiness Owner-Managers And Financial Planning: A Transtheoretical Model Of Behaviour Change Approach, Christopher L. Gorman

Annual DBA Scholars Conference

The practitioner-scholar proposes a cross-sectional study to investigate how microbusiness owner-managers adopt financial planning behaviour through the lens of the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change (TTM). The study will examine the TTM’s stages of change and the factors that influence these owner-managers’ decisions to engage in financial planning. By applying a behaviour change framework to an underexplored area of financial planning research, the study will aim to identify barriers and opportunities to microbusiness owners’ adoption of financial planning. The findings will inform strategies CFP^® professionals can use to enhance client engagement, communication, and decision-making among microbusiness owner-managers.

Cisgender Women With Autism And Their Experiences In Psychotherapy: A Phenomenological Study, Lillian Katherine Gray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research has underrepresented cisgender women with autism, and there are limited and inadequate resources and services. Cisgender women with autism experience unique challenges which connect to mental health challenges. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of cisgender women with level one autism; specifically, their experiences related to camouflaging, reasons for seeking psychotherapy, and the therapeutic relationship with their mental health care provider. Participant criteria included being a cisgender woman diagnosed with level one autism, who camouflage, and attended psychotherapy as an adult. Procedures included an online screening survey and semi-structured interviews. I used …

Examining Emotion Regulation And The Link Between Childhood Adversity And Secondary Trauma In First Responders, Maci Lenora Harmon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

First responders are routinely exposed to traumatic events in the course of their professional duties, placing them at increased risk for secondary traumatic stress (STS). However, psychological responses to occupational trauma exposure vary considerably across individuals. Developmental research suggests that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may contribute to long-term alterations in emotional functioning and stress responsivity, potentially increasing vulnerability to later trauma-related symptoms. Emotion regulation (ER) has been identified as a transdiagnostic process associated with trauma-related stress. Furthermore, ER may function as a pathway linking early adversity to occupational stress outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional correlational mediation study was …

The Correlational And Predictive Effect Of Evangelical Adolescent Church Volunteering And Mental Health Flourishing, Todd Reiff Lesher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Adolescence is a time of significant development, often characterized by pubertal changes, identity exploration, and shifts in interpersonal relationships from parents to peers, all of which are necessary for the transition from childhood to adulthood. In addition to these aspects of adolescent development, personal and contextual changes can contribute to internalizing vulnerabilities throughout adolescence that can jeopardize their mental health. The focus of this study concentrates on religious volunteering, to better understand how variables related to volunteering contribute to adolescent mental health. The purpose of this study is to understand how Evangelical church volunteering impacts mental health flourishing in adolescents. …

Unlocking Flow: Revealing The Blueprint For Peak Experiences Among Surgeons, Maximilian H. Pollack

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Flow supports optimal performance and well-being, yet surgical research has treated it as a static, intrapersonal state, leaving its interpersonal and organizational conditions poorly understood. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore how surgeons experience flow in the operating room and to identify the conditions and strategies participants described as supporting flow access. Guided by Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) flow theory, McQueen et al.’s (2025) multifaceted framework, and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), purposive and snowball sampling recruited 20 surgeons across nine specialties (12–49 years, M = 33.95) for semi-structured interviews. Analysis followed Englander and Morley’s (2023) five-step …

Minority Domestic Violence Victims And The Criminal Justice System, Jasmine Nicle Shelton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study used a qualitative approach to develop an understanding of lived experiences of minority domestic violence victims. The six open-ended questions were designed for the participants to describe their experiences when interacting with law enforcement, the court system, and victim support services. African American and Hispanic participants between the ages of 18 and 55 were recruited from domestic abuse treatment or support facilities and social media outreach. Potential participants completed an eligibility screening to determine whether they met the inclusion criteria. Interviews were conducted with 13 African American and Hispanic participants until data saturation was reached, indicating that …

Adult Children Of Alcoholics: How Growing Up With An Alcoholic Influences Parenting Practices And The Parent-Child Dynamic, Taylor Sayre Bart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand how the influence of growing up with an alcoholic parent influenced one’s parenting practices and the parent-child dynamic. This study explored the lived experiences of adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) as it related to their alcoholic parents’ parenting practices and styles. This study also explored how the participants’ childhood experience affected their relationship with their children and subsequently influenced their own parenting practices and styles. Bowlby’s attachment theory and Bowen’s family systems theory guided this study. Attachment theory was used as it is a key factor in building relationships between …

The Human Side Of Healing: A Qualitative Study Of The Holistic Benefits When Integrating Dog Training Into Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Recovery, Michelle J. Nordstrom

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Introduction: Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are highly prevalent among Servicemembers and veterans. Many of those with PTSD also struggle with moral injury and co-occurring health complications. This combination results in poor outcomes with current evidence-based practices. However, a series of recent studies examined the efficacy of a service dog training program (SDTP) which demonstrated improvements in symptoms.

Methods: A privatized archival dataset of redacted transcripts was used. The interviews were collected during a broader mixed methods study and maintained for a phenomenological, thematic analysis. There were 119 transcripts from 84 of the original 117 participants who engaged …

A Phenomenological Study: Life During The Pandemic As An Adolescent In Hidalgo County, Texas, And Life Today, Melissa Guevara-Pérez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of adolescents during a critical part of social, emotional, and identity development. Although previous research has noted the immediate effects of the pandemic on adolescents, limited research has examined the long-term impact on individuals who experienced the pandemic during adolescence and are now transitioning into adulthood. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Hispanic young adults who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic as adolescents and to understand how those experiences influenced their social and personal development as they transitioned into adulthood. Participants included 10 Hispanic young adults who …

The Literacy Link: Connecting Parents Who Are Incarcerated With Their Young Children Through Reading Aloud, Mary Campbell Wood, Heidi Ungrodt, Pamela Wedig-Kirsch, Ronda Davis, Jacqueline Buck, Lindsay A Weymouth

Journal of Extension

Parental incarceration is consequential for children. Outreach strategies can maintain parent–child relationships during incarceration. The Literacy Link connects parents in jail and prison with their children through two strategies: a dialogic reading workshop and a recorded book reading program. Over 3 years, we implemented these strategies with parents in jails and prisons located in 12 counties. We surveyed parents and the caregivers with whom children live during their parents' incarceration. Parents reported improvements in attitudes and confidence related to reading aloud. Most parents and caregivers reported that these strategies provided a connection between parents and children during incarceration.

Exploring Potential Psychological, Behavioral, And Physiological Predictors Of Human Flourishing In Division 1 Athletes: Toward A More Comprehensive Mental Health Screening, Derek Aaron Wheeler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has created numerous task forces and guidelines to address the rise in mental health challenges faced by student-athletes. However, these efforts have largely focused on identifying psychopathology rather than promoting flourishing. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive utility of self-report and objective measures of human flourishing among NCAA Division I student-athletes at initial screening (i.e., preparticipation exam). This retrospective, cross-sectional, correlational study analyzed archival data from 92 student-athletes from 13 different sports. Measures included the Secure Flourishing Index (SFI), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Athlete Sleep Behavior Questionnaire (ASBQ), and Power …

How Veterans With Ptsd Experience Symptom Improvement From Social Support, Patti "Lori" Beisner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Social support is a concept that is simple to grasp, yet subjective in nature and difficult to describe. Current research abounds reporting the positive impact of social support upon veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, few studies describe the phenomenon of social support for combat veterans, which they attribute to PTSD symptom improvement. The purpose of this study was to address this gap in research by exploring the lived experiences of veterans who have improved symptoms that they attribute to support they have received. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight combat veterans who self-reported PTSD symptom improvement due to …

Examining How The Frequency Of Artificial Intelligence Use In The Workplace Relates To Employee Self-Efficacy And Job Satisfaction, Dalton R. Vail

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Artificial intelligence is a prominent topic in society. Its adoption in the healthcare sector has occurred rapidly. Nonetheless, much existing research focuses on clinical healthcare professionals, thereby overlooking those in non-clinical roles. Non-clinical roles make up a small portion of the healthcare industry, but they account for a large share of burnout in the field. This quantitative study aimed to explore the relationships among artificial intelligence, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy. It posited that these variables are interconnected concerning artificial intelligence in a non-clinical context. Furthermore, the study sought to determine whether job satisfaction and self-efficacy are influenced by how often …

Burnout And Job Performance Among Working Mothers: The Moderating Roles Of Servant Leadership And Perceived Organizational Support, Claudia Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Working mothers frequently navigate competing work and family demands that increase vulnerability to burnout and may affect job performance. Despite these challenges, working mothers remain underrepresented in organizational research examining burnout and performance outcomes. Limited studies have explored how perceived organizational support (POS) and servant leadership influence the burnout-performance relationship across the individual dimensions of burnout. This quantitative correlational study examined the relationships between burnout and job performance among working mothers in the United States and tested whether POS and servant leadership moderated these relationships individually and jointly. The sample included 86 full-time working mothers recruited through convenience and snowball …

Beyond Screening In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Domain-Standardized, Measure-Flexible Framework For Comprehensive Neuropsychological Assessment, Etiane Navarro

Archives of Assessment Psychology

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multisystem neurodegenerative disorder in which cognitive, behavioral, language, and social-cognitive changes may occur across clinical phenotypes, including the ALS-frontotemporal spectrum. Neuropsychological assessment is important for characterizing nonmotor manifestations and identifying changes relevant to autonomy, everyday functioning, and clinical management. This systematic review examined literature identified through APA PsycINFO, PubMed, Google Scholar, and supplementary searching to characterize neuropsychological domains, measures, phenotype-related findings, and disease-specific limitations relevant to comprehensive assessment. Two hundred records underwent title and abstract screening, 150 reports were reviewed in full text, and 61 resources were retained for synthesis. ALS-specific screening instruments, including …

“I’M Never Enough”: Associations Of Childhood Emotional Abuse Subtypes With Overweight Preoccupation And Dietary Restraint Among Women, Kayla Queen, Megan Sweeney, David A. Frederick

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Childhood emotional abuse from authority figures encompasses verbal abuse, emotional rejection, and overexpectations. Although global emotional abuse is an established correlate of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, the unique roles of these specific subtypes remain underexamined. Across two studies of adult women recruited from CloudResearch (Ns = 2566; 824), we evaluated associations between authority figure abuse subtypes, body image, and dietary restraint. Bivariate correlations revealed that all subtypes related to poorer body image and higher restraint. Hierarchical regressions demonstrated that emotional abuse subtypes explained incremental variance across outcomes beyond demographic factors. When modeled simultaneously, overexpectations emerged as the …

Why Does God Hate Me? A Theistic And Empirical Review Of Attachment To God, Rachel K. Weber

Student Works

General attachment is based on a person’s perceived ability to receive help from their primary caregiver and their perceived worthiness of such help (Bowlby, 1973). This style is separated into four categories that create a paradigm with which future relationships align (Acevedo et al., 2012; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). These four categories are fearful-avoidant, dismissive-avoidant, secure, and anxious-preoccupied (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). This is biologically based and used to ensure an infant’s survival (Bowlby, 1973). These attachment styles are also applicable to one’s relationship to God (Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1992). Secure attachment to God is indicative of positive religious coping …

Beyond Screening In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Domain-Standardized, Measure-Flexible Framework For Comprehensive Neuropsychological Assessment, Etiane Navarro

Archives of Assessment Psychology

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multisystem neurodegenerative disorder in which cognitive, behavioral, language, and social-cognitive changes may occur across clinical phenotypes, including the ALS-frontotemporal spectrum. Neuropsychological assessment is important for characterizing nonmotor manifestations and identifying changes relevant to autonomy, everyday functioning, and clinical management. This systematic review examined literature identified through APA PsycINFO, PubMed, Google Scholar, and supplementary searching to characterize neuropsychological domains, measures, phenotype-related findings, and disease-specific limitations relevant to comprehensive assessment. Two hundred records underwent title and abstract screening, 150 reports were reviewed in full text, and 61 resources were retained for synthesis. ALS-specific screening instruments, including …

How Wisconsin Extension Educators Talk About Climate Change Without Talking About ``Climate Change'', Sky Hershberger, Todd P. Newman

Journal of Extension

Climate change touches all areas of Extension's programming. To understand how educators approach talking about climate change with constituents, we interviewed 15 Extension educators and three program managers in Wisconsin. Crops and Soils educators view climate change as interwoven with their work, Financial Education educators view it as mostly disconnected, and Community Economic Development educators range between these extremes. Educators in all three programs avoid the polarizing phrase ``climate change,'' instead focusing on specific, local, and relatable issues. Educators show empathy and emphasize resilience (adaptation) rather than mitigation. These findings can inform Extension's organizational strategy on climate change.

Differences In Sustained Attentional Engagement With Emotional Targets In Individuals Reporting High And Low Worry, Jinu J. Mathew

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Attention bias towards emotionally salient or threatening information has been well documented across various populations, and it has been thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety. While previous research has identified early-stage attentional differences in individuals reporting elevated anxiety symptoms, less is known about how worry might impact later-stage processes involving sustained attentional engagement and visual working memory. The present study examined behavioral and electrophysiological indices of attentional processing during a modified visual search task in individuals reporting high compared to low levels of worry. Sixty-eight participants were recruited and classified into high and low worry groups …

High School Teachers' Experiences Working With Latino Immigrant Students Who Have Experienced Trauma, Collette Marie Jiménez Serra

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Latino immigrant students in U.S. public high schools are disproportionately exposed to trauma related to migration experiences, family separation, poverty, and acculturative stress, yet many teachers report feeling underprepared to address students’ trauma-related needs in culturally responsive ways. Limited research has examined high school teachers’ lived experiences implementing trauma-informed practices with Latino immigrant students, particularly from teachers’ own perspectives. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore high school teachers’ lived experiences implementing trauma-informed practices with Latino immigrant students, including their perceptions of preparedness and the factors influencing implementation. Guided by principles of trauma-informed care (TIC) and relational-cultural …

Artificial Sentience: From Computational Functionalism To Behaviourism?, Wanja Wiese

Animal Sentience

I critically examine Jonathan Birch’s account of how brain emulations might create artificial sentience candidates, arguing that his account risks collapsing into a behaviourist account, unless the specific computational processes realised by such emulations are carefully considered. Drawing on examples from computational neuroscience, I show that similar behaviours can arise from vastly different computational processes, thereby undermining the suggestion to focus on behaviourial profiles to determine whether a brain emulation of a sentience candidate is itself a sentience candidate.

Spirituality And Resilience Among Survivors Of Child Sex Trafficking: A Ten-Year Longitudinal Study In Cambodia, Glenn M. Miles, Lim Vanntheary, Nhanh Chantha

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Sex trafficking causes profound trauma requiring comprehensive healing. While spirituality is central in many survivors’ lives, it remains under-researched. In Cambodia, Christian organisations provide most aftercare despite 93-97% Buddhist population, creating complex religious dynamics. This study examined how spirituality affects trauma recovery, the factors that support or hinder spiritual practice, and how religious identity is negotiated over time. Butterfly Longitudinal Research project followed 128 sex trafficking survivors (80% female, 20% male, ages 6-30 at baseline) in Christian-founded aftercare programs throughout Cambodia, beginning 2010. A mixed-methods longitudinal design employed structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews 2-3 times annually over 10 years, …

George C. Roberts Award Recipients

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

The Survival Of Sugar In Post-Emancipation British Guiana: East Indian Indentured Immigration And The Cheapening Of Labor, Wazir Mohamed

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

This Paper revisits the post-emancipation changes in the labor market of British Guiana. British Guiana, Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, and several other locations were spaces where East Indian Indentured Immigrants from Idia became pivotal in the economy.[1] In the decade after emancipation (1838-1848), the rise of global free trade in sugar spurred by the equalization of duties in sugar factored in the search for a cheaper and the importation of a more pliable labor force to keep the wheels of sugar turning in British Guiana. With this background in mind this paper focuses on indentured immigration of East …

Eating Disorders & Meat Consumption: A Meta-Analytic Review, Urska Dobersek, Laurel Standiford-Reyes, Tyler Robinson, Alex Antony Edwin, Sarah Siebers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In this meta-analytic review, we examined the current evidence on eating disorders in relation to meat consumption and meat abstention. We systematically searched six online databases in December 2025 for primary research on eating disorder-related variables in meat consumers and meat abstainers. Fifty-one studies with 55,984 participants (n_{meat consumers} = 44,282, n_{meat abstainers} = 9,751) met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The outcomes were eating disorders and orthorexia nervosa. Meat consumption was associated with lower eating disorder (g = 0.20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.32], p = .001) and orthorexia nervosa symptomology (g = 0.47, 95% CI [0.33, …

Recovery And Resilience Of Survivors Of Sex Trafficking In Nepal, Bishnu Sapkota, Glenn M. Miles, Chitra B. Buthathoki

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This exploratory qualitative study examines how trafficking survivors in Nepalese rehabilitation centres perceive recovery and experience resilience within Nepal's specific socio-cultural context. This qualitative study employed in-depth interviews with six female sex trafficking survivors in Bagmati Province rehabilitation centres and analysed them through Bronfenbrenner's socio-ecological framework under the themes such as Hindu purity concepts, caste discrimination, joint family dynamics, and non-governmental organization dependency which shape their recovery experiences. The findings of the study reveal recovery as gradual emotional stabilization and future orientation rather than complete healing. Survivors describe stigma in terms of religious purity/pollution binary, with Dalit participants experiencing compounded …