Digital Commons Network^™

Conversations About Food Insecurity: Examining College Campus Climates, Crystal Eufemia Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This qualitative critical narrative inquiry study explored the experiences of 19 students within four universities in a single Southern state that used campus food aid resources such as a food pantry. Using Hurtado et al.’s Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (MMDLE), this paper sheds light on how participants discussed the campus climate for students experiencing food insecurity within their respective campuses. Findings unpack students’ reflections on a lack of awareness and discussion about food insecurity and food aid resources within the campus community, the role that stigmas played in participants’ perceptions and use of campus food aid resources, and …

White Male Privilege In The Perpetration Of Sexual Violence: An Exploratory Study Of Young Adults, Emily Elizabeth Camp

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This exploratory study examined how racism and sexism among privileged White men intersect and vary to influence factors associated with sexual violence (SV) perpetration. Specifically, this study examined the interconnection of racism and sexism via latent profile analysis (LPA), how profile groups differentially predict attitudinal responses to a victim in an acquaintance rape SV vignette regarding victim blame and rape minimization (e.g., rape myth acceptance), rape proclivity, and bystander intentions to help, and whether or not these attitudes change based on the victim’s race (i.e., White or Black). The sample included 628 young adult, White, heterosexual, cis-gender men currently living …

Black Trust In Us Legislatures, Ernest Dupree Iii, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Trust is a key part of any political system. Given the very different experiences of Black people and White people in the United States, it is likely that the nature and contours of political trust varies widely from one racial group to the other. In this article, we take advantage of a specially commissioned 2018 survey to compare Black and White trust in American legislative institutions (Congress and the state legislatures). Thanks to an oversample, we also are able to zero in on variations across Black respondents, making it possible to identify the variables that push legislative trust up or …

Project-Based Learning Promotes Students’Perceived Relevance In An Engineering Statistics Course: A Comparison Of Learning In Synchronous And Online Learning Environments, Wen Huang, Jeremi S. London, Loga A. Perry

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Understanding statistics is essential for engineers. However, statistics courses remain challenging for many students, as they find them rigid, abstract, and demanding. Prior research has indicated that using project based learning (PjBL) to demonstrate the relevance of statistics to students can have a significant effect on learning in these courses. Consequently, this study sought to explore the impact of a PjBL intervention on student perceptions of the relevance of engineering and statistics. The purpose of the intervention was to help students understand the connection between statistics and their academic majors, lives, and future careers. Four mini-projects connecting statistics to students’ …

Understanding "Death": Creating Student Opportunities For Meaningful Emotional Expression In The Science Classroom, Zachary Schafer, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Understanding death as natural and integral to life cycles has been considered crucial and relevant in science teaching. The concept of death not only defines the physical end of life but also the end of a cycle and the beginnings of transformation. Adopting a broader definition of death thus empowers educators to directly address the affect and emotion that occurs for all students.

Characteristics Of Emotional Disturbance Of Female And Male Students In Elementary, Middle, And High School, Douglas Cullinan, Matthew C. Lambert, Michael Epstein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Provide data on the five characteristics of emotional disturbance (ED). For 503 students with ED and 2016 without disabilities, teachers rated the characteristics (Inability to Learn; Relationship Problems; Inappropriate Behavior; Unhappiness or Depression; Physical Symptoms or Fears), plus Socially Maladjusted. We applied a 2 (ED, without disabilities) × 2 (female, male) × 3 (elementary, middle, high school) covariance analysis, with follow‐up comparisons. Students with ED showed greater problems than students without disabilities on all five characteristics, and Socially Maladjusted. On Inability to Learn, among students with ED genders did not differ at elementary but males …

Communicating Across Eternal Divides: Conceptualizing Communicated Acceptance During Parent-Child Religious Difference, Toni Morgan, Jody Koenig Kellas

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Significant religious difference in the family has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. While religious difference may be challenging for families to negotiate, the manner in which family members communicate about it seems to be helpful in promoting positive interactions between parents and children. The purpose of this study was to conceptualize a parental communicated (non) acceptance continuum in the context of significant parent-child religious difference. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 44 adults who identified a significant religious difference with their parent. The results suggested that communicated (non)acceptance occurred along a continuum with four ranges of behaviors: communicated nonacceptance, ambivalence, …

Divergent Neural And Endocrine Responses In Wild-Caught And Laboratory-Bred Rattus Norvegicus, Joanna Jacob, Sally Watanabe, Jonathan Richardson, Nick Gonzales, Emily Ploppert, Garet Lahvis, Aaron Shiels, Sadie Wenger, Kelly Saverino, Janhavi Bhalerao, Brendan Crockett, Erin Burns, Olivia Harding, Krista Fischer-Stenger, Kelly Lambert

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Although rodents have represented the most intensely studied animals in neurobiological investigations for more than a century, few studies have systematically compared neural and endocrine differences between wild rodents in their natural habitats and laboratory strains raised in traditional laboratory environments. In the current study, male and female Rattus norvegicus rats were trapped in an urban setting and compared to weight-and sex-matched conspecifics living in standard laboratory housing conditions. Brains were extracted for neural assessments and fecal boli were collected for endocrine [corticosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] assays. Additionally, given their role in immune and stress functions, spleen and adrenal weights …

Changes In Sociocultural Stressors, Protective Factors, And Mental Health For Us Latina Mothers In A Shifting Political Climate, Amy L. Non, Elizabeth S. Clausing, Kimberly L. D’Anna Hernandez

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Background To investigate changes in sociocultural stressors and protective factors, and mental health in Latina mothers before and after the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Methods We examined changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health from two prospective cohorts of Latina mothers from interior and border US cities (Nashville, TN, n = 39 and San Diego, CA, ns range = 78–83; 2013–2020).

Results We identified significant longitudinal increases in depression, anxiety, and perceived stress in the border city, and reductions in protective factors (e.g., optimism, social support, and familism) across sites. Discrimination varied by location, and was associated with …

Changes In Sociocultural Stressors, Protective Factors, And Mental Health For Us Latina Mothers In A Shifting Political Climate, Amy L. Non, Elizabeth S. Clausing, Kimberly L. D’Anna Hernandez

School of Global Integrative Studies: Faculty Publications

Background To investigate changes in sociocultural stressors and protective factors, and mental health in Latina mothers before and after the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

Methods We examined changes in sociocultural stressors, protective factors, and mental health from two prospective cohorts of Latina mothers from interior and border US cities (Nashville, TN, n = 39 and San Diego, CA, ns range = 78–83; 2013–2020).

Results We identified significant longitudinal increases in depression, anxiety, and perceived stress in the border city, and reductions in protective factors (e.g., optimism, social support, and familism) across sites. Discrimination varied by location, and was associated with …

Collateral Damage From Agricultural Netting To Open-Country Bird Populations In Thailand, Rongrong Angkaew, Philip D. Round, Dusit Ngoprasert, Larkin A. Powell

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Nets are used across a wide variety of food production landscapes to control avian pests typically resulting in deaths of entangled birds. However, the impact of nets on bird populations is a human–wildlife conflict that remains mostly unquantified. Here, we examined the scale of netting in the central plains of Thailand, a region dominated by ricefields, among which aquaculture ponds are increasingly interspersed. Nets/exclusion types, number of individual birds and species caught were recorded on 1312 road-survey transects (2-km length × 0.4-km width). We also interviewed 104 local farmers. The transect sampling took place in late- September 2020, and from …

Employee Fit, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is employee fit?

Broadly defined, fit is said to be the “compatibility between individuals and organizations” (Kristof, 1996, p. 3). Early theories of fit proposed that alignment between individuals’ personalities and their environment would lead to greater personal success and happiness; for example, those with social personalities would find the greatest fulfillment in work roles involving helping people, such as a social worker or nurse (Holland, 1985). Since then, the idea of fit has been expanded to include not just alignment of personality, but also attitudes, values, preferences, needs, goals, knowledge, skills, and abilities (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Fit …

Explicit And Implicit Emotion Processing In The Cerebellum: A Meta‑Analysis And Systematic Review, Jordan E. Pierce, Marine Thomasson, Philippe Voruz, Garance Selosse, Julie Péron

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

The cerebellum’s role in affective processing is increasingly recognized in the literature, but remains poorly understood, despite abundant clinical evidence for affective disruptions following cerebellar damage. To improve the characterization of emotion processing and investigate how attention allocation impacts this processing, we conducted a meta-analysis on task activation foci using GingerALE software. Eighty human neuroimaging studies of emotion including 2761 participants identified through Web of Science and ProQuest databases were analyzed collectively and then divided into two categories based on the focus of attention during the task: explicit or implicit emotion processing. The results examining the explicit emotion tasks identified …

The Global Spread Of Misinformation On Spiders, Stefano Mammola, Jagoba Malumbres-Olarte, Valeria Arabesky, Diego Alejandro Barrales-Alcalá, Aimee Lynn Barrion-Dupo, Marco Antonio Benamú, Tharina L. Bird, Maria Bogomolova, Pedro Cardoso, Maria Chatzaki, Ren Chung Cheng, Tien Ai Chu, Leticia M. Classen-Rodríguez, Iva Čupić, Naufal Urfi Dhiya'ulhaq, André Philippe Drapeau Picard, Hisham K. El-Hennawy, Mert Elverici, Caroline S. Fukushima, Zeana Ganem, Efrat Gavish-Regev, Naledi T. Gonnye, Axel Hacala, Charles R. Haddad, Thomas Hesselberg, Tammy Ai Tian Ho, Thanakorn Into, Marco Isaia, Dharmaraj Jayaraman, Nanguei Karuaera, Rajashree Khalap, Kiran Khalap, Dongyoung Kim, Tuuli Korhonen, Laura Segura-Hernández, Et Al.

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the internet era, the digital architecture that keeps us connected and informed may also amplify the spread of misinformation. This problem is gaining global attention, as evidence accumulates that misinformation may interfere with democratic processes and undermine collective responses to environmental and health crises1,2. In an increasingly polluted information ecosystem, understanding the factors underlying the generation and spread of misinformation is becoming a pressing scientific and societal challenge3. Here, we studied the global spread of (mis-)information on spiders using a high-resolution global database of online newspaper articles on spider–human interactions, covering stories of spider–human encounters and biting events published …

Co-Twin Relationship Quality As A Moderator Of Genetic And Environmental Factors On Urinary Cortisol Levels Among Adult Twins, Joseph A. Schwartz, Scott Jessick, Jessica L. Calvi, Douglas A. Granger

Athletic Performance Research

Previous research has indicated that genetic and environmental factors shape physiological activity. Cortisol levels, in particular, have received significant attention, with studies indicating substantive heritability estimates across various sampling techniques. A related line of research has indicated that genetic and environmental factors that explain variability in cortisol levels may vary across context and experiences by way of gene-environment interactions (G×Es). Despite these findings, a limited number of studies have examined the extent to which interpersonal relationships may operate as a moderator. The current study focused on co-twin relationship quality as a source of moderation, as twins are more likely to …

What Do Good Lawyers Know That The Rest Of Us Don’T? Introducing First-Year Law Students To “Legal Realism” (White Paper), Gregory Crespi

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

I set forth below the general outline of a short lecture that I usually give to my first–year contract law students, at about the end of their first week of classes, in order to get them started thinking about the process of judicial decision-making, and especially about the “legal realist” perspective on that process.

Inclusion Of Individuals With Neurodevelopmental Disorders In Norm-Referenced Language Assessments, Susan J. Loveall, Marie Moore Channell, Laura J. Mattie, Alexandria E. Barkhimer

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Standardized, norm-referenced language assessment tools are used for a variety of purposes, including in education, clinical practice, and research. Unfortunately, normreferenced language assessment tools can demonstrate floor effects (i.e., a large percentage of individuals scoring at or near the lowest limit of the assessment tool) when used with some groups with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as individuals with intellectual disability and neurogenetic syndromes. Without variability at the lower end of these assessment tools, professionals cannot accurately measure language strengths and difficulties within or across individuals. This lack of variability may be tied to poor representation of individuals with NDDs in …

Functional Traits’ Annual Variation Exceeds Nitrogen-Driven Variation In Grassland Plant Species, George R. Wheeler, Chad Brassil, Johannes M. H. Knops

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Effective application of functional trait approaches to ecological questions requires understanding the patterns of trait variation within species as well as between them. However, few studies address the potential for intraspecific variation to occur on a temporal basis and, thus, for trait-based findings to be contingent upon sampling year. To quantify annual variation in the functional traits of grassland plant species, we measured specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, plant height, and chlorophyll content in 12 shortgrass prairie plant species. We repeated these measurements across 4 years, both in long-term nitrogen addition plots and in corresponding control plots. Three …

Protecting Our Pets: Nebraska’S Domestic Abuse Protection Orders And Pets, Josiah J. Shanks

Nebraska Law Bulletin (Selected Issues)

It is now well-understood that there is a link between violence toward animals and community-involved violence. And abusers typically escalate their abuse as it goes on. Unfortunately, abuse victims frequently stay within the confines of their relationship out of fear, especially when pets are involved. Protection orders are effective at protecting abuse victims, and their pets, from abusers.

Pets play a unique role in our lives and the law. Pets need to be expressly accounted for within protection order statutes. Half-measures, such as relying on a catch-all provision or updating protection order forms, are not enough. Currently, Nebraska’s protection order …

An Exploratory Study Of Early Childhood Coaches’ Practices And Professional Learning Needs, Rachel E. Schachter, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Hayley Jackson, Lisa Knoche

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Coaching is increasingly being used as a mechanism to improve the quality of early childhood education. Yet, for coaching outside of researcher-controlled interventions, limited information details coaches’ reports of their practices’ professional learning needs. We addressed this gap via an exploratory study utilizing online questionnaires of 91 coaches working with educators in a Midwestern US state across 12 coaching initiatives. Most participants had less than 5 years of experience working as an early childhood coach. Almost a third coached for multiple initiatives. Coaching occurred via multiple formats and often addressed behavior management and social emotional development regardless of the coaching …

The Challenge Of Unprecedented Floods And Droughts In Risk Management, Heidi Kreibich, Anne F. Van Loon, Kai Schröter, Philip J. Ward, Maurizio Mazzoleni, Nivedita Sairam, Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, Svetlana Agafonova, Amir Aghakouchak, Hafzullah Aksoy, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Blanca Aznar, Laila Balkhi, Marlies H. Barendrecht, Sylvain Biancamaria, Liduin Bos-Burgering, Chris Bradley, Yus Budiyono, Wouter Buytaert, Lucinda Capewell, Hayley Carlson, Yonca Cavus, Anaïs Couasnon, Gemma Coxon, Ioannis Daliakopoulos, Marleen C. De Ruiter, Claire Delus, Mathilde Erfurt, Giuseppe Esposito, Didier François, Frédéric Frappart, Jim Freer, Natalia Frolova, Animesh K. Gain, Manolis Grillakis, Jordi Oriol Grima, Diego A. Guzmán, Laurie S. Huning, Monica Ionita, Maxim Kharlamov, Elliot Wickham, Et Al.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally1,2, yet their impacts are still increasing3. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost …

Applying Visual Methods To Document The History Of Psychological Testing: A Qualitative Approach, Analay Perez, Janet F. Carlson, Buros Center For Testing At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

The history of psychological testing is critical to many areas of applied psychology. Assessment forms a mainstay of clinical practice, second only to psychotherapy (Meyer et al., 2001). In industrial/organizational psychological practice, employee selection depends on testing to assess applicant qualifications. In educational contexts, testing is central to the evaluation of academic performance and college readiness, in addition to determining eligibility for various types of special educational services.

The history of testing is deeply rooted in myriad psychological specialties (Carlson & Geisinger, 2021). This fact prompted a qualitative examination and integration of three distinct historical threads identified by the proposal …

Disability Inclusion, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

The following resources provide information to help agencies create disability-inclusive workplace policies and practices. The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is a non-regulatory federal agency that promotes policies and coordinates with employers and all levels of government to increase workplace success for people with disabilities. The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) is an ODEP technical assistance center that provides resources to help employers recruit, hire, retain, and advance individuals with disabilities and comply with their responsibilities under the ADA. Inclusion@Work: A Framework for Building a Disability-Inclusive Organization allows organizations to explore strategies for creating disability-inclusive …

Development And Evaluation Of The Atheist Identity Concealment Scale (Aics), Paul E. Yeatts, Dena M. Abbott, Debra Mollen

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Atheist Identity Concealment Scale (AICS) was developed as a tool to assess the degree to which atheists conceal their atheist identity from others. Drawing on concealable stigmatized identity (CSI) theory, the aim of this study was to provide researchers with a valid means to effectively assess atheist identity concealment. Using three separate samples of more than 500 adults in the USA, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted which ultimately resulted in a short, robust measure that comprised eight items. Additional validity evidence was provided by examining the relationship between the AICS and several previously validated tools (i.e., outness, …

Inconsistency Is The Consistency: The Title Ix Reporting Process For Sexual And Gender-Based Misconduct Within Maryland Public Universities, Aliya R. Webermann, Kathryn Holland

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Title IX is a primary federal legal approach to address campus sexual and gender-based misconduct, yet few students utilize Title IX reporting as a formal campus support, and those that do frequently report negative experiences. In this study, we interviewed 11 student survivors at four Maryland public universities who engaged with the Title IX reporting and response process. Our aims were to (a) examine how Title IX functions in a state public education system with a robust Title IX policy; (b) describe commonalities and differences in experiences; and (c) use theories of institutional betrayal and support to understand aspects of …

Exploring Generativity In Young Adults: A Grounded Theory Study, Addison Sellon

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Generativity expresses one’s level of care and concern for the next generation (Erikson, 1950, 1963). Initially established as a middle adulthood phenomenon, generativity has long been rooted in a middle adulthood framework both conceptually and through its psychometric dimensions. However, many studies have found generativity to be present in other stages of life, particularly young adulthood. This then raised the question of whether the traditional model used for generativity’s manifestation represents young adults’ experiences. This study sought further to explore generativity’s manifestation in a way that is specific to young adults. Applying traditional grounded theory techniques, the present research reanalyzed …

A Latent Class Analysis Of Personality Traits With Educational Attainment, Tyler Minter

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The five-factor model of personality (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience) is an empirically based personality model that has been utilized in multiple psychological assessments. Recent works have found Block & Block’s (1980) three personality profiles (resilient, overcontrolled, undercontrolled) within the context of the five-factor model. This study performed a latent class analysis using a short FFM assessment from the SAPA project, a free online personality test. The intention of this study was to replicate the three personality profiles within the five-factor model. Four latent classes were included in the final solution. Two of the three personality profiles emerged …

Role Stress, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is role stress?

A work role consists of “a pattern of behaviors perceived by an employee as behaviors that are expected” (Tubre & Collins, 2000, p. 156). When perceived work role expectations are unclear, incompatible with other expected behaviors, or too much to handle, role stress is said to occur (Tubre & Collins, 2000). Role stress is typically broken down into three main types: role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload. Role ambiguity refers to a situation in which employees are unsure about what their responsibilities are, what behaviors are expected of them, and what the standards are for …

Symbolic Annihilation And Stereotyping Of Native American Women In News: A Content Analysis Of Health, Safety, And Economic Status Related News, Shreyoshi Ghosh

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Professional Projects

This is an exploratory study on the safety, economic, and health challenges of Native American women who constitute about 1.5% of the American population. With the symbolic annihilation and stereotyping of Native American people and women of color, there was a need to study the portrayal of Native American women in news. The findings indicated there was a growth in news coverage during 2018-19 and safety, including missing and murdered, emerged as a key topic. But symbolic annihilation in health and economic status including pay gap news was significant. Health news mostly covered maternal health and deaths but excluded most …

Social Connectedness In Schizotypy: The Role Of Cognitive And Affective Empathy, Jessica Stinson, Rebecca Wolfe, Will Spaulding

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Social connectedness is increasingly understood to be a resilience factor that moderates vulnerability to poor physical and mental health. This study examines cognitive and affective processes that support normal socialization and social connectedness, and the impact of schizotypy, in well-functioning college students. In this study, a total of 824 college students completed a series of self-report questionnaires, and structural equation modeling was then employed to identify relationships between cognitive and affective empathy, alexithymia, distress tolerance, social connectedness, and schizotypy. Schizotypy is a trait-like condition, presumed to be genetic in origin, associated with the risk for schizophrenia. Like schizophrenia, schizotypy is …