Digital Commons Network^™

Locked And Loaded: The Truth Behind Gun Violence, Alana N. Shroyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Gun control remains one of the most controversial policy issues in the United States. While gun reform advocates argue for stricter firearm regulations to reduce gun violence, pro-gun advocates contend that crime is driven more by individual behavior, socioeconomic conditions, and mental health than by gun availability alone. This research project examines gun control laws in the United States, analyzes gun violence data, explores illegal firearm trade markets, compares international approaches, and evaluates whether gun control laws effectively reduce violence while preserving constitutional rights.

Examining Marginalized Sexual Identity Development Through Perry’S Scheme Of Cognitive Development, Miranda Bejda

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Existing models of LGBTQ+ sexual identity development are critiqued for their linearity and lack of inclusion for diverse experiences and sexual identities. There is a call for a more robust understanding of the cognitive aspect of sexual identity development. The purpose of this dissertation is to further the understanding of how people think about their sexual identity through the developmental process using Perry’s scheme of cognitive development as a framework. Through semi-structured interviews, I analyze the LGBTQ+ sexual identity development process (Stage 1), how Perry’s scheme applies to LGBTQ+ sexual identity development (Stage 2), and propose a Perry-informed model of …

How Do You Fix Knowledge In Place? Digital Nomads And Infrastructural Stickiness, Emma Grimley, Prerona Das, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Remote work has become increasingly accessible due to the growing acceptance of remote work arrangements following the COVID-19 pandemic. Some state actors, especially in countries which face a shortage of digital talent and have reputations as leisure-tourism destinations, have begun considering the opportunities for digital transformation or workforce upskilling that highly skilled remote workers may offer. This paper develops the case of remote workers in Thailand to argue that infrastructural stickiness is a critical determinant for effective knowledge transfer to occur. By infrastructural stickiness we refer to the regulatory and socio-material infrastructures that both attract and retain international remote workers …

Lenses Of Faith And Culture: Christian College Students' Perspectives On Infertility, Mary Samuels

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis investigates the perspectives of Christian college students on infertility, adoption, and assisted reproductive technologies through focus group discussions. Following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, 13 states have established a total abortion ban, and 28 states have established abortion bans based on gestational duration. This study materializes because recently developed state-level abortion laws may impact in vitro fertilization (IVF) access if states expand legal protection of fetal personhood. Previous research has described that while Christian traditions demonstrate cultural pronatalism and opposition to abortion, Christian individuals’ concepts of infertility and views of treatments such …

Symbolic Racism And Punitive Policy Preferences In The First Quarter Of The Twenty-First Century, Anthony T. Fulinello

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Despite the decay in the acceptability of explicit racism brought about by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, implicit racism may continue to inform individual decision making even into the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Utilizing data from 25 years of the General Social Survey, this study examines how indicators of symbolic racism, a form of implicit racism, impact punitive policy preferences among the general United States population using separate logistic regression models isolating each indicator, plus a full model, for each outcome. Punitive policy preferences were operationalized as support for increased spending on crime prevention …

The Impact Of Criminal Justice System Contact On Adolescents In The U.S.: Prescription Drug Misuse, Marijuana Use, Health Outcomes, And Demographic Characteristics, Fadime Gokce Karaaslan

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Criminal justice system (CJS) contact remains a pervasive feature of social life in the United States, with both direct and indirect consequences for adolescents and their families. Although previous research has explored the consequences of direct CJS contact, less is known about how indirect or vicarious contact affects adolescents’ well-being and substance use. Drawing on data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), this study investigates the association between parental incarceration and vicarious police stops, defined as police stops involving parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, or other social ties, and adolescent well-being. Findings indicate that CJS contact is …

The Role Of Adolescent Attachment In The Relationship Between Trauma And Identity, Ellie Mitova

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Traumatic experiences have been shown to influence identity development during emerging adulthood, a complex developmental period. However, research examining how trauma interacts with adolescent attachment qualities to shape identity processes remains limited. Previous studies have primarily focused on infant attachment styles and their long-term developmental outcomes, leaving a gap in understanding how attachment qualities developed through relationships with parents and peers during adolescence may influence identity development in emerging adults. Additionally, while traumatic experiences have been associated with maladaptive identity processes such as rumination and identity distress, some research suggests that trauma may also contribute to deeper identity exploration and …

Rethinking Belonging In First-Year Student Support: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation Of Eop/Sss Programing At Cal Poly Humboldt, Elizabeth Rose Silver

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This mixed-methods project examines the role of the Educational Opportunity Program and Student Support Services (EOP/SSS) first-year orientation programs, particularly STEM Summer Bridge, in supporting feelings of belonging and persistence. While institutional efforts often frame student success through metrics such as retention and concepts like sense of belonging, this project interrogates how these are experienced and understood by students themselves. Quantitative analyses compared one-year persistence rates between STEM Summer Bridge participants and multiple comparison groups across three cohorts (2022–2024). Results showed no statistically significant differences in persistence; however, STEM Summer Bridge participants demonstrated persistence rates comparable to or slightly higher …

Trajectories Of Egyptian Women In The Us, Sageda A. Tagen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aimed at studying and analyzing the experiences of highly skilled Egyptian migrant women living in the US both who migrated as adults and those who migrated as children with their families. It analyzed their backgrounds prior to the migration decision, the migration decision and their legal status, the role of the family in their journey and their challenges within the social context of their workplaces. The study utilized a qualitative ethnographic lens. The study is based on ethnographic interviews with 15 highly skilled women living in the US, most of whom are concentrated in Indiana and Michigan. The …

Caterpillar's Spatial Metamorphosis: Heavy Equipment Manufacturing In The 21st Century, Utkarsh Kumar, Michael L. Dougherty

Faculty Publications – Sociology and Anthropology

Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturer, grew rapidly in the 20th century before a crisis of overproduction in the early 1980s threatened its survival. In response, it launched the $2.8 billion “Plant with a Future” (PWAF) program, a sweeping material and ideological overhaul that remade the firm for the post-Fordist global economy. This article advances three interventions. First, it shows how post-Fordism as a spatial and ideological project emphasized decentralization, accountability, and customer orientation, which helped legitimize and institutionalize corporate restructuring. Second, it demonstrates that flexibilization operated as a spatial strategy, implemented through four interrelated processes: bureaucratic restructuring, …

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

Confucian Thought As A Strategic Veil: How Western Strategy Should Correctly Compete With China, Owen Miller

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The rise of the People's Republic of China as a peer competitor to the United States constitutes the defining geopolitical challenge of the twenty-first century, but even so, Western strategic analysis has consistently failed to engage China on its own terms. The recurrent pattern of Western misinterpretation results from projecting Western assumptions onto a state whose institutional and cultural drivers operate under fundamentally different premises, where key elements of Chinese strategic culture and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) instrumentalization of Confucianism as a moral veil are instruments of domestic legitimacy and external strategic narrative. The United States must recognize that …

Conflict And Resilience: Unraveling The Connection Between Religiosity And Interethnic And Interconfessional Trust In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Željko Pavić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, national and religious identities have traditionally been deeply connected, serving as key markers of group belonging and boundaries between communities. Among the three main groups — Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs — religious affiliation often functions not only as a matter of personal belief but also as a symbolic affirmation of national identity. This study explores the relationship between various measures of religiosity and attitudes toward members of other nations and religions, with particular focus on differences among the three communities. The results confirm that religion remains an important marker of national identity across all three groups. …

Dynamics Of Changes Of Religiosity In Condition Of Crisis Events (Based On The Example Of The Russian-Ukrainian War), Yurii Boreiko, Fedotova Tetiana

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes changes in the religiosity of Ukrainians during the Russian-Ukrainian war as a large-scale event. It explores the nature of the connection between the traumatic experience of war and religiosity and determines the trajectory of changes in the religiosity of Ukrainians during the war. It has been established that the Russian-Ukrainian war caused social upheavals accompanied by crises in various spheres of public life. As a large-scale tragic event, the war became a catalyst for changes in self-assessment of faith in God and participation in religious practices. The level of religiosity of Ukrainians during the war was significantly …

The Rise And Fall Of The First Atheist State: Albania’S Rediscovery Of Faith, Fatos Tarifa

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper explores Albania’s unprecedented experience as the only modern state to constitutionally declare itself atheist. After World War II, Enver Hoxha’s communist regime sought to reshape society through radical ideological transformation. In 1967, the regime banned all religious practice, dismantled churches, mosques, and monasteries, and persecuted clergy. Religion was criminalized, while atheism was promoted as a central component of socialist identity, enforced through education, propaganda, and cultural policy. In 1976, Albania was proclaimed by its constitution the world’s first atheist state. The paper examines the historical circumstances that produced this extreme stance and its consequences: suppression of traditions, erosion …

Hosts, Scouts, And Female Indentured Sexual Servitude In Contemporary Japan, Caroline Norma, Seiya Morita

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article sweeps away glossy abstractions obscuring the indenturing of women in sexual servitude in Japan. These abstractions were generated by anthropologists writing in English in the first two decades of the 21^st century who inverted the relationship between perpetrator and victim to suggest that female customers exploited hosts. To overturn this view and expose the ‘gendered reality that [i]s really going on’ in Japan, this article differently explains from a feminist perspective how present-day host and scout businesses indenture Japanese women in sexual servitude. This role is one of both procuring victims as well as keeping young women …

Lgbtq People's Experiences With Crime, Victimization, And The Criminal Legal System, Vanessa R. Panfil

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The ebb and flow of social control efforts aimed at LGBTQ people necessitate a thorough investigation into their experiences. This review of the literature is organized around four key themes that characterize LGBTQ people's experiences with crime, criminalization, victimization, and the criminal legal system—including police, courts, and carceral facilities. LGBTQ people experience excessive rates of arrest and incarceration and have higher rates of victimization, which illustrate disproportionality. Their experiences differ from those of their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and are conditioned by age, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, illustrating intersectionality. The two primary, interrelated mechanisms driving LGBTQ criminalization and …

Do Emerging Social Media Platforms Shape The Gender Gap In Surveillance Political Knowledge?, Saskia Papsova

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Abstract

Research shows that men consistently score higher than women on standard political knowledge measures, but as Americans increasingly obtain political information through social media, it is unclear whether different platforms affect this gender gap. This study investigates whether social media platforms shape the gender gap in surveillance political knowledge—knowledge of current political facts and contested claims circulating in the contemporary information environment, and which platforms have the biggest impact. Using data from the ANES 2020 Social Media Study, I estimate weighted OLS regression models testing whether platform-specific usage is associated with surveillance political knowledge and whether these associations differ …

“I Call For The Resurgence And Reclamation Of Our Indigenous Ways”: Institutional Landscapes, Resistance, And The Experiences Of Mmir Advocates, Sara Tehrani

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island experience disproportionately high rates of violence and homicide compared to other racial groups. Rooted in coloniality and sustained by Western institutions, this epidemic is recognized as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis. In response, Indigenous women have mobilized the MMIR Movement to raise awareness and advocate for institutional change. Although scholarship on MMIR has expanded, limited research has explored the experiences of MMIR advocates. This study interrogates the institutional landscapes that shape MMIR advocacy and explores the resistance strategies advocates employ to address the crisis. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this study examines semi-structured …

Lunch Shaming And The Right To Privacy, Ira P. Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Lunch shaming is the practice of penalizing students who cannot afford to pay for their meals, resulting in them being denied food, served alternative meals, or publicly identified. The origins of lunch shaming can be traced to the financial pressures faced by school districts that struggle to balance tight budgets with the mandate to provide free or reduced-price meals to eligible students. Despite legislative efforts and advocacy campaigns aimed at mitigating the problems associated with lunch shaming, the practice persists, exacerbated by rising food costs and the expiration of pandemic-era food programs.

Many law journal and other articles have correctly …

What Must Change? Towards Gender-Equitable And Inclusive Academic Communities, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

University leadership has a responsibility to support gender equity that goes beyond simply holding senior roles, writes Lily Kong. Here, she calls for changes in career pathways, workload allocation and service expectations to open space for more women.

It Makes You Nervous When You Start Talking About Racism: Shining Light On Teacher Educators’ Experiences Of Anti-Racist Pedagogy In Australian Teacher Education, Sasha Janes

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Teacher educators have a significant responsibility in promoting anti-racist pedagogy and guiding preservice teachers to engage in critical self-examination regarding dominant narratives. However, many teacher education programmes fall short of adequately equipping aspiring teachers for diverse classrooms as they often perpetuate a predominantly white system and curricula. Informed by Critical Pedagogy and underpinned by a lens of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies, this paper discusses the experiences of teacher educators facilitating anti-racist pedagogy within teacher education programmes at Australian universities. Semi-structured interviews were held with 23 experienced teacher educators employed at universities across Australia. Data reveal teacher educators’ efforts to promote anti-racist …

Invisible Innovation: Intellectual Labour On Regional University Campuses In Australia, Merete Schmidt, Lucinda Aberdeen, Colleen Carlon, Robyn Eversole

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In Australia, regional university campuses occupy a geographically and institutionally peripheral position in a metrocentric higher education system. We argue that the concentration of research funding and capabilities at metropolitan campuses devalues the intellectual labour of academics working on regional university campuses. The authors use collaborative autoethnography to explore a common theme of ‘gap filling’, that is, mobilising scarce resources to create unique solutions for local issues, and draw on Southern Theory to theorise the implications for our work in the location-based power relations of the Australian knowledge production economy. In this context, we utilise Eversole's concept of ‘invisible innovation’ …

Christianity As Coping Mechanisms For Migrants With Mental Health Challenges In Australia: Social Work Implications, Obed Adonteng-Kissi, Nnaemeka Meribe, Kathomi Gatwiri, Lillian Mwanri, Agness Tembo, Frank Darkwa Baffour, Edith N. Botchway-Commey, Aunty Kerrie Doyle, David Chisanga, Ahmed A. Moustafa, Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Christian religion may be a powerful resource that can serve as a coping mechanism to resolve challenges and provide comfort to African migrants confronted with mental health challenges. We aimed to explore the coping strategies among African migrants in Australia. We undertook semi-structured interviews online with 11 participants with African backgrounds, comprising six mental health clinicians and five migrant service users living in Australia for at least the past 12 months. Literature exploring religious coping mechanisms, social support and acculturation was drawn on. The interviews were undertaken online via Teams, WhatsApp call, and zoom with participants whom we recruited through …

Transnational Youth And Social Mobility: The Role Of Family Financial Support In Unsettled Lives, Alexandra Lee, Anita Harris, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Transnational mobility is typically seen as an opportunity to break out of fixed class positions and facilitate social mobility. However, the availability of parental support remains a persistent if complex determinant of the social mobility opportunities available to young adults who move abroad. The influence of family support and class background on youth social mobility has been clearly recognised in class scholarship in Australia. Yet, this relationship has remained under-examined in transnational mobility contexts, where social mobility has tended to be examined more in relation to young people’s employment opportunities and visa pathways. Seeking to fill this gap, our paper …

Case Study: The Economic And Legal Challenges Moving From A Township To A City, George F. Dierberger Dr., Ibrahim Keita Dr., Cory Erickson

Journal of the North American Management Society

The paper examines the economic and legal challenges moving from a township to a municipality in the state of Minnesota. One of the authors was a member of the township board as they went through the process of educating the citizens on the risks and rewards of changing from a township to a municipality.

Frailty, Home Accessibility, And Falls In Later Life, Bonnie Albright

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

As more people remain in their homes as they age, the risk of living at home with frailty and reduced function increases, which may also increase the risk for falls in the home. The scientific literature shows that frail people are more likely to experience falls, which leads to many negative outcomes, such as hospitalization, placement in a skilled nursing facility, and even death. The preference to age-in-place (AIP) is more likely to be met if older people live in accessible housing. Accessible homes may mitigate the risk for falls and promote AIP, especially among frail older people.

While there …

Decoding The Girl Code: Exploring The Unwritten Norms In Female Adolescent Friendships, Lindsay Angela F. Azura, Annica Mariz G. Ilagan, Krystine Jean O. Obia, Natalie Allyana P. Talplacido, Stella P. Go

Sinaya: A Philippine Journal for Senior High School Teachers and Students

The girl code refers to a set of unspoken social rules that shape how adolescent girls form, maintain, and navigate close female friendships. These unwritten norms influence how they provide support, handle emotional challenges, and navigate moral decisions. Despite its significant impact on female adolescent relationships, research on the girl code, especially within the Philippine context, remains limited. This qualitative exploratory study examines how the girl code operates among cisgender Filipino adolescent girls, focusing on its key aspects, underlying values, development, enforcement, and consequences. Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among close-knit female friendship groups of senior high school …

Education For A Shared Society In Wartime: A Faculty Of Education Dean’S Autoethnography, Ilana Paul-Binyamin

The Qualitative Report

My autoethnographic study emerged in the wake of the Hamas–Israel war that began on October 7, 2023, placing me in a dual position as both an academic leader and a member of a society in crisis. As Dean of a multicultural Faculty of Education, I reflect on how the war disrupted longstanding efforts to promote shared society education between Jews and Arabs. Drawing on personal narratives, reflective fieldnotes, and case studies from campus life, I explore how trauma, fear, and political polarization undermined the multicultural frameworks I had developed over years of practice. I document moments of rupture—between students, faculty, …

Opening Paths: Subjective And Professional Trajectories In Psychosocial Intervention For Victims Of The Armed Conflict In Colombia, Edwin Alexander Hernandez Zapata, Diana Vanessa Vivares Porras, Juan David Soto-Fadul

The Qualitative Report

In this study, we analyzed the affective experiences and labor subjectivation processes of community psychologists working in intervention programs implemented by state institutions in Colombia for victims of the armed conflict, a conflict that remains ongoing in various regions of the country. By labor subjectivation processes, we refer (drawing on Foucault) to the ways in which individuals come to relate to themselves and to others through the norms, discourses, and practices that shape their roles within a given historical and institutional context—in this case, the field of psychosocial labor. To conduct this research, we used discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews …