Digital Commons Network^™

Female Delinquency And Pathways To Crime, Pamela Lynn Smykal

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation investigated gendered relationships and their potential influence on women’s criminal motivation. Historically, researchers attempted to understand criminal behavior using a male-oriented perspective which has dominated criminological literature. Criminologists have neglected to consider the role of gender as a significant predictor or pathway toward criminal behavior of either males or females. Within the last two decades, female criminality has become a spotlight for recognition and attention separate from male criminality. Traditional research on crime has been limited in understanding the pathways for female criminality and motivations for offending as individual predictors of male crime. Analyzing the role of …

The Role Of A Certified Child Life Specialist Within A Child Advocacy Center, Breanna E. Hintz

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Childhood abuse and neglect is currently a prevalent issue in our society. Children who do not receive adequate support and ongoing services experience lasting impacts on their mental health and ability to cope with future events. Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) are community-based agencies that promote the intervention of childhood abuse and neglect. This setting, paired with the tailored support of Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS), is an under-researched yet promising combination of services that can encourage the healing process for these children and their families. This study aims to understand the role of CCLSs in a CAC and how their …

Volunteer Programs & Service Learning Annual Report 2021-2022, Office Of Volunteer Programs & Service Learning

News, Magazines and Reports

Early in the fall semester, we welcomed Colin Petramale to the VP&SL team as the new Coordinator for Community Partnerships, Faith and Justice! Colin manages the frst year Pioneer Service Grant program, in addition to building and maintaining the relationships with our of-campus community partners.

We strengthened the commitment to our partners by on boarding with GivePulse, our community engagement tracking sofware. Nonproft organizations receive free access through their afliation with SHU, allowing them to publicize partnership opportunities; SHU students, staff and faculty can connect with these partners by searching and signing up for upcoming activities. It’s a win-win situation! …

The Relationship Between College Student Characteristics And Reporting Sexual Assault Experiences On Two Different Scales, Kimberly Tyler, Colleen M. Ray

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though high rates of sexual assault are found on college campuses, prevalence rates between studies can vary considerable by gender, sexual orientation, and other student characteristics. Thus, it is unknown whether these are “true” differences for such characteristics or if there are methodological differences to consider. As such the current study examined whether student characteristics including gender, race, sexual orientation, sexual attraction, Greek affiliation, and relationship status are uniquely associated with reporting on two different sexual assault scales. Data were gathered from 783 college students in 2019–2020 at a large Midwestern university. Results revealed that the two different scales consistently …

Familial And Individual Risk Markers For Physical And Psychological Dating Violence Perpetration And Victimization Among College Students, Meagan Kunitzer, Kimberly Tyler, Leslie Gordon Simons

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Dating violence (DV) is a prominent problem among college students that can result in harmful physical and mental health outcomes. Though much research has focused on physical DV, fewer studies have examined psychological DV. As such, the current paper compared early/familial risk markers (e.g., child physical abuse, witnessing parental violence, and maternal relationship quality) and individual risk markers (e.g., alcohol use, marijuana and prescription drug use) for physical and psychological DV among college students. Data were gathered at two large public universities using pencil and paper surveys (N = 1,482). Bivariate results revealed more risk markers for men (e.g., …

Trans-Forming Resilience Research: A Critical Interpretive Synthesis Of Resilience Research With Transgender And Gender Diverse Populations, Morgan Brooks

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Historically, much of the research pertaining to transgender and gender diverse (trans) health and wellbeing has been conducted in ways that are reductive, pathologizing and exploitative. Trans activists and scholars express concerns about how such research contributes to pervasive negative perceptions, stigma, and cisgenderism, reinforcing stereotypical, binary ideas of trans people as both damaged and dangerous, vulnerable and heroic. Ongoing negative media attention and harmful policy decisions rooted in these views demonstrate the importance of offering alternatives to these reductive, deficit-based narratives associated with trans people. In response, strengths-based research oriented around the construct of resilience is increasing; yet approached …

Exploring Climate, Wellbeing, Resilience, And Resistance In 2slgbtq+ Leisure Spaces: A Mixed Methods Study To Advance Inclusion, Tin Vo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Participating in queer sports groups, rainbow choirs, trans virtual discussion groups and other Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQ+) leisure activities can offer participants safety from societal heterosexism and cisgenderism and opportunities for community connection and peer support, as well as foster their overall wellbeing. Yet, transgender/gender nonconforming (TGNC), racialized, and/or disabled individuals, and those with other diverse identities are often marginalized in these spaces. Though researchers have studied exclusion within 2SLGBTQ+ leisure spaces, relatively little is known about how the climate of these spaces shapes social and mental health outcomes. Connected to …

Enhancing Police Accountability And Legitimacy, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

As the institution responsible for exercising the state monopoly on violence within U.S. borders, the legitimacy of policing depends on its accountability through the democratic process. Ideally, police in a democracy are authorized by the voting public to use force in a manner that is limited, justifiable, and clearly in service of the aims of public safety and law enforcement - in other words to prevent the social harms associated with criminal behavior. A combination of factors including structural inequality, historical associations with white supremacy, and hyperlocal oversight structures present significant challenges to police legitimacy, especially in highly policed communities …

Human Trafficking Of People With A Disability: An Analysis Of State And Federal Cases, Andrea Nichols, Erin Heil

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The current academic discourse examining human trafficking is lacking in focus on survivors with a disability. The increased likelihood of abuse experienced by people with a disability is well documented in the research literature, and a small body of research indicates heightened sex trafficking victimization of minor girls with a disability. Yet, very little research specifically examines sex and/or labor trafficking of people with a disability, and no systematic research analyzes prosecuted cases of trafficking with disability as the focal point of analysis. Drawing from a content analysis of 18 federal and 17 state cases of human trafficking, the current …

Sorority Women’S Perceptions Of Survivors’ Services And Justice On An Urban Campus, Andrea Giuffre, Elaine Gunnison

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

While researchers have attempted to estimate the prevalence of and identify risk factors for sexual assault, less is understood about the relationship among populations at high risk for sexual assault and their perceptions of survivors’ services organizations and justice. The purpose of this investigation is to contribute to existing research through exploratory qualitative analyses of 43 undergraduate sorority women’s perceptions of survivors’ services and justice on a large, urban campus in the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Results of these exploratory analyses revealed that the sorority women had preferences for informal confidants and services whom they could trust concerning …

Group Social Capital And The Employment Prospects Of Refugee Women Who Experience Domestic Violence, Donella Caspersz, Renata Casado, Carol Kaplanian, Farida Fozdar, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper offers research insights on how refugee women who experience domestic violence develop employment prospects. Guided by social capital theory and the concept of group social capital, the paper uses a qualitative approach to identify intrapersonal and interpersonal processes in a group intervention that assist women members to adjust their cognitive reasoning about their domestic violence experience and engage in behaviours that potentially enhance their employment prospects. The paper contributes to understanding how group processes can foster small wins that may enhance the employment prospects of this vulnerable group.

Making The Most Of Program Evaluation Data: Understanding Human Services Professionals’ Well-Being Through Qualitative Secondary Analysis, Elizabeth Ann Deaton Wacker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) allows researchers to explore new research questions and ensure that participants’ voices are heard to the greatest extent possible, without the burdens of additional data collection. However, this approach is rarely used outside of the health sciences, and little guidance exists in the literature about how to conduct QSA. This study is a secondary analysis of qualitative program evaluation data related to the well-being of human services professionals from two fields: child welfare and early care and education (ECE). It explores these professionals’ well-being, as well as the methodological issues of how well-being has been addressed …

Transitional Experiences Of Young African American Women In Foster Care, Tiarra Michelle Myers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emancipated foster youth continue to experience fewer positive outcomes after foster care despite the changes in legislation and the implementation of additional transitional living programs and supports such independent living programs. This quantitative research study followed a non-experimental, secondary data analysis to examine how independent living programs impact the outcomes for African American young women who have transitioned out of the foster care system compared to their Caucasian young women peers at age 17 and age 21. The exploratory study used data from the Children’s Bureau National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) Cohort 2. A cross-section comparison analysis was conducted …

Barriers And Opportunities To Exiting Prostitution: An Analysis Of Prostitution Diversion Programs, Marina Binti Mohd Hamdan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Problem-solving courts incorporate therapeutic and punitive measures in the court process in the criminal justice system. Prostitution Diversion Programs (PDP) are recognition of women in prostitution's inherent systemic struggles to desist and recover. Specialized Prostitution Diversion in Baltimore City and Project Dawn Court in Philadelphia are two PDPs analyzed through a longitudinal study on participants throughout their involvement as well as after they graduate from the program. By addressing the barriers to exiting prostitution through women’s turning points and providing opportunities to overcome hardships, women are more likely to successfully exit prostitution and maintain their sobriety in the long-term. Findings …

Relationships Among Burden, Quality Of Life, And Self-Efficcy In Careegivers Of An Older Family Member, Dr. Marietta Margaret Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractInformal caregivers of a family member who has been dementia diagnosed play a substantial personal, social, and economic role in the care of their family member. However, this type of caregiving can have detrimental effects on a caregiver’s psychological, financial, physical, social, and emotional well-being. This quantitative study addressed possible relationships between caregiver burden and quality of life, and caregiver burden and self-efficacy as measured by the Zarit Burden Interview, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF, and the Caregiver Self-Efficacy Scale. The theory of transactional stress and the stress process model provided the theoretical foundation. The participants of this …

Perceived Transformational Leadership Styles And Job Satisfaction Among Probation Officers, Joann Ruth Mcgee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the field of probation service work evolves, so does the role of the probation officer. The problem addressed in this study is that probation officers are experiencing more complexities related to job satisfaction, however there exists limited amount of research on probation leadership and probation officers overall job satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between the level of job satisfaction of probation officers and supervisors' transformational leadership style. Malsow's hierarchy of need theory and Bass and Avolio's full-range leadership model was utilized as the theoretical framework for the research. The …

Human And Social Services Direct Service Professionals' Perception Of Late-Life Cumulative Grief And Loss, Deanna Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Globally, the adult population 65 and older is anticipated to grow, signaling the necessity of awareness of late-life issues and concerns. Although research has shown that losses and changes in late life are anticipated, there is very little empirical evidence of how HSPs direct care professionals understand, assess, or perceive the complexities of cumulative grief and loss in their 65 and older clients. Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory (CGT) (2014) was used as the conceptual framework a qualitative methodology to explore the understanding, assessment, and perception of the complexities of late-life cumulative grief and loss of HSPs working with adults 65 …

Workplace Characteristics That Affect The Career Development Of African American Women, Coretta Loraine Alexander

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAfrican American women are underrepresented in executive/senior-level positions in public and nonprofit organizations. The purpose of the study was to identify how workplace culture characteristics inform the career development of African American women. The conceptual framework incorporated Hegel’s standpoint theory and Collins’ Black feminist thought, emphasizing the importance of perspective differences stemming from social or professional experiences. The research questions addressed the workplace culture characteristics that assist or hinder African American women’s career development in northern California. I transcribed, coded, and analyzed data gathered from 15 audio-recorded, semistructured interviews. Results indicated that specific characteristics of workplace cultures were identified as …

The Perspectives Of Former Csec On The Recruitment Process Through Online Platforms, Shawnte Beacham-Houston

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is the sexual exploitation of children for financial gain and is a billion-dollar industry. The sexual exploitation of children is a serious form of sexual abuse and a violation of their human rights. Previous research has explored sex trafficking victimization but not pathways to sexual exploitation. Current research does not explain how online activities and specific internet platforms are involved in CSEC recruitment and entry into the commercial sex trade industry. In this study, the way in which social media platforms are used to recruit children into the sex trade industry was addressed. The …

Refugee Women’S Post-Resettlement Experiences In The United States, Dr. Kristen M. Curry, Phd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and community members of the host country make decisions regarding refugee lifestyles during and post-resettlement rather than the refugee women themselves. This research study informs the development of and provision of multiculturally appropriate counseling services to refugee women living in the United States from the perspective of the refugee women themselves. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences and related meanings of a group of Hmong refugee women living in post-resettlement in the United States. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was developed with a feminist …

Addressing Filicide In Ghana: Linking Cultural Understanding With The Law Against Filicide. Does The Law Work?, Alhassan Abdullah, Margarita Frederico, Felix Mensah, Hajara Bentum, Yihang Wang, Jennifer Litela Asare

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Consistent with international promulgation on the criminalization of filicide, Ghana’s Children’s Act 1998 (560) and the Criminal Justice Act criminalizes any form of torture against children. Yet, perpetrators of filicide in Ghana may go unpunished due to the beliefs in cultural norms that justify filicide acts. The cultural narratives of filicide can impede on the application and effectiveness of the laws of filicide. Method: The study employed a vignette approach to explore the views of 19 adults, who were parents between 69 years of age and 30 years of age, in rural and urban Ghana on the laws of …

How To Phrase Critical Realist Interview Questions In Applied Social Science Research, Andreas Brönnimann

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The tenets of critical and social realism are well supported in the literature. However, researchers following a realist paradigm have concerns about the lack of methodical guidance for qualitative interviewing, despite their affirmation about the importance of in-depth interviews. A conducted review of empirical realist literature provides evidence of an absence of guidance and commonality regarding interview planning practices. To overcome this absence, this paper composes a guiding framework to assist researchers to phrase more appropriate interview questions in realist research. The steps are founded on critical and social realist concepts while guided by methodological realist principles. Its contribution aims …

Schools, Separating Parents And Family Violence: A Case Study Of The Coercion Of Organisational Networks, Sue Saltmarsh, Kay Ayre, Eseta Tualaulelei

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper considers how complex family circumstances such as parental separation, custody disputes and family violence intersect with the organisational cultures and everyday practices of schools. In particular, we are concerned with the ways that coercive control–a strategy used predominantly by men to dominate, control and oppress women in the context of intimate partner relationships–can be deployed to manipulate and coerce the organisational networks of schools into furthering abusive agendas. Informed by cultural theory and research from sociology of education, legal studies, criminology and family violence, we show how what we term the ‘coercion of organisational networks’ (CON) both relies …

Family Resilience Model: The Influence Of Cultural Identity, Coping, Family Strain, Socioeconomic Status, And Community Support To The Formation Of Family Resilience Among Batak Toba Ethnic Group, Sri Redatin Retno Pudjiati, Sri Hartati Dewi Reksodiputro, R. Urip Purwono

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

A resilient family is a family that is capable of survival, overcoming difficult challenges, and then grow stronger (Walsh, 2006). Cultural identity is one of the factors that play a role in forming family resilience, because in order to build the understanding and values of family resilience one needs to build it in accordance to local culture. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that build family resilience in Indonesian families, especially Batak Toba families. The measurement tool used in this study is Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ) to measure family resilience (α = .879), The Responses …

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Performing Amish Agrarianism: Negotiating Tradition In The Maintenance Of Pennsylvania Dairy Farms, Nicole Welk-Joerger

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

Amish people have a reputation for being ecologically and environmentally conscientious. As numerous scholars in Amish and Plain Anabaptist studies have demonstrated, Amish views of the environment are diverse and ultimately anchored in the understanding that God made nature for human use. In these cases, Amish views of the environment could be described as much more anchored in traditional philosophical notions of “agrarianism” than “environmentalism.” In this article, I explore how some Amish approach agrarianism with a turn from more traditional farm life toward necessary economic engagement with multi-faceted operations and diversification. Based on intensive ethnographic research and participant observation, …

Ongoing Genocides And The Need For Healing: The Cases Of Native And African Americans, Benjamin P. Bowser, Carl O. Word, Kate Shaw

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The elimination of Native peoples and the enslavement of Africans in the U.S. more than qualify as acts of historical state sponsored genocide. A feature of both genocides is that they ended as institutional practices but have continued culturally and psychologically. The primary contemporary legacy of these genocides is racism which reinforces historical trauma and grief. Suggestions are made for how healing for Native and African Americans can begin despite ongoing racism. This includes psychological counseling for White Americans with beliefs in White supremacy. Suggestions are also made for how reconciliation can begin at the county-level between descendants of slave …

Library Services And Facilities In Higher Education Institutions In Pakistan: Satisfaction Of Patrons, Muhammad Shoaib, Rustum Ali, Arisha Akbar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper attempted to examine the academic library facilities and satisfaction of university library patrons at higher education institution in Pakistan. It is evident that library staff has also been trying their best level to facilitate the library users through different procedures in global south and global north. A quantitative study design had been opted to conduct a cross-sectional survey from two public sector university students of BS (4 years) programme. A structured questionnaire had been administered to measure the response 1275 library patrons sampled through proportionate random sampling technique. A pilot testing had been done to check the reliability …

Fascination With Murder: Exploring The Internal Structure Of The True Crime Community, Eric Gaither

Theses and Dissertations

The admiration of killers is a trait found in numerous murderers, who claimed they felt inspired to murder from previous attacks. The True Crime Community is an online community with a deep fascination and possible obsession with criminal behavior. Community members include those who display admiration for killers and those who commit copycat crimes. Unfortunately, information regarding this community is limited and often conflicting as academic studies are scarce. This thesis explores the True Crime Community culture with a content analysis of authority figures' posts from a True Crime Community forum to understand the norms of discussions and behaviors. Although …

Motivation To Move Out Of The Community As A Moderator Of Bullying Victimization And Delinquent Behavior: Comparing Non-Heterosexual/Cisgender And Heterosexual African American Adolescents In Chicago’S Southside, Dexter R. Voisin

Faculty Scholarship

A growing body of research documents that bullying victimization is associated with delinquent behavior. There is an increasing need to better illuminate the factors that might moderate this relationship. This study examined whether the motivation to move out of low-resourced neighborhoods and sexual orientation/gender identity moderated the relationship between bullying victimization and delinquent behavior among a sample of 450 heterosexual and 91 non-heterosexual/cisgender African American youths. Measures considered were bullying victimization, delinquent behavior, sexual orientation/gender identity, motivation to move out, and family demographics. Sexual orientation/gender identity was not associated with youth delinquent behavior after controlling for covariates. Being motivated to …