Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Perspectives Of Black Male Students At An Hbcu In Rural Mississippi And The Role Non-Cognitive Factors Within A First-Year Experience Program Play In Their Continued Enrollment, Billy J. Benson, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Retention and graduation rates are declining nationwide but are exceptionally low for Black men. Extant research substantiates that various influences contribute to a student’s ability to persist to graduation. Apart from the positive impact of HBCUs on educational outcomes for Black students, empirical research highlights that enrollment, campus engagement, retention, success, and graduation are problematic (Palmer et al., 2013). Many factors—academic and non-cognitive—affect a student’s ability to persist to graduation (Bosco, 2021).

This problem of practice (PoP) explores the perspectives of Black male students at an HBCU in rural Mississippi and the role non-cognitive factors within a first-year experience program …

The Relationship Between Sport Club Participation And Academic Success In Undergraduate Students At The University Of Mississippi, Gabrielle Sokol

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Degree attainment is a shared goal of college students, higher education institutions, and the larger society, as graduates have lower rates of unemployment, higher rates of civic engagement, pay higher taxes, and are able to better prepare future generations for academic success as compared to their counterparts (Museus et al., 2008). Additionally, institutions with higher retention rates have the chance to increase their reputation and may be presented as more prestigious to potential students and their families (Hagedorn, 2005).

Despite the clear incentives for all parties, every year many students, including those at the University of Mississippi, choose to leave …

Single Versus Dual Response Demands In An Event-Based Prospective Memory Task With Context, Anne Elizabeth Vogel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future-based intentions. Previous research has explored how contextual information can support PM performance by lowering the cost to the ongoing task. For example, a study by Smith et al. (2017) demonstrated that knowing the contextual information of proximity to PM targets can affect attentional resource allocation. This was seen empirically as faster reaction times (RTs) when participants knew they were far from the target location, but longer RTs as participants knew they were approaching a target location. However, Vogel and Smith (in prep) found discrepancies in this pattern. This current study investigated these …

Mindfulness And Mathematics: The Relationship Between A Mindful Teacher And Mathematics Intervention, Ave Mayeux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents in American classrooms are currently required to fulfill multiple roles, making them particularly vulnerable to stress due to intense academic demands and social pressures. This stress can be particularly challenging for adolescents who struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, and/or self-regulation. Previous research indicates a positive correlation between mindfulness practices and reduced anxiety, improved social skills and interactions, enhanced academic performance, and better self-perception. This self-study explored the implementation of mindfulness exercises in a mathematics intervention classroom by adapting and creating appropriate resources, and facilitating mindfulness exercises suitable for adolescent students. Data in this self-inquiry study was generated through meticulous …

"'This May Not Be War, But Rather Statesmanship': Sherman's March Through Griswoldville, Milledgeville, And Greater Savannah", Matthew Ryan Lempke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that four communities in Confederate Georgia visited by Union soldiers during Sherman’s March to the Sea reorients our understanding about the state’s continued ability to resist the United States military, the level and variations of destruction, the rationales and motivations behind targeted actions, the multiplicity of experiences among diverse participants, willing and unwilling alike, and of the campaign’s broader effectiveness. The first two communities, Griswoldville and Milledgeville, were indispensable locations that set in motion a coalescence of military and political setbacks from which Confederate Georgia did not recover. As the march progressed and entered coastal communities, the …

Perceived Linguistic And Non-Linguistic Barriers Facing Saudi Female Partners Learning English, Samah Mohamad Dulli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The partners of the Saudi students who come to the United States on scholarships to earn a degree (Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D.) are eligible for full scholarships as well. However, most of them fail to proceed in earning a degree or fulfill the language proficiency requirement needed to join an academic degree program. This study surveys between 10 to 20 adult female partners of Saudi university students to elicit their opinions on how much English they think they will learn during their partner scholarship time in academic and non-academic settings. This study investigates the female partners of the Saudi degree …

Punishing Poverty: An Examination Of Financial Disadvantage And Out-Of-School Suspension, Joshua Rosenbaum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School suspension is often a response by officials to address deviant behavior within the school setting. While studies have examined various causes and consequences of school suspension, there is a dearth of literature focusing on the effects of financial disadvantage on school discipline (i.e., school suspension). Given that out-of-school suspension is a reliable predictor of juvenile justice involvement later in life, it serves as an important outcome variable in preventative criminology. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the purpose of the current study is to analyze the relationship between financial disadvantage and …

An Evaluation Of Comprehensive Professional Development Program To Improve Teacher Quality And Student Engagement, Elois R. Nicholson-Booker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this applied research study, using program evaluation, was to improve professional development for teachers to build their capacity in student engagement. This applied research study used three elements: professional development, professional learning communities, and observation-feedback, to improve teacher quality and to increase student engagement. The goal of the professional development element was to increase teacher capacity in student engagement by equipping teachers with research-based strategies to implement in individual classrooms. The goals of the professional learning communities (PLCs) was to support teachers in implementing research-based strategies to increase student engagement and to increase the level of collaboration …

Breaking Old: Trends And Adverse Events Of Prescription Stimulant Use In Older Adults, Saumil Jadhav

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined prescription stimulant medication (PSM) use among older adults in the United States from 2012-2020 by (1) assessing annual prevalence and describing clinical characteristics and treatment patterns among new PSM users, (2) evaluating the association between PSM initiation and risk of adverse events such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality, and (3) analyzing trends in the concomitant use of PSMs and antidepressants. The study utilized 5% national sample of Medicare administrative claims from 2012-2020.

First, the study identified an increase in the annual prevalence of PSM use from 0.44% in 2012 to 0.63% in 2020 among older …

Addressing Teacher Stress Levels To Implement A Social Emotional Learning Program For Teachers, Kourtney Mcdowell-Bush

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have endured work-related stressors daily to provide the best educational experience to students. This applied research study addressed teacher stress levels to implement a teacher centered social emotional learning (SEL) program. This study was collaborative and involved teachers, administrators, and district staff who worked together to develop, implement, and evaluate the action plan. There was a teacher team which included teachers from different grade levels who also completed the teacher stress survey. This teacher team met to provide an in-depth insight into teacher stressors. The teacher team with the assistance of the administrators worked to develop an SEL professional …

Supervisory Alliance And Counselor Self-Efficacy Trends Within The Internship Experience: A Single-Case Research Design, Dylan Wren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supervision provides one of the primary avenues for fostering growth and development within counselors-in-training. This supervision also impacts the evolution of counselor self-efficacy, allowing supervisors to influence supervisee’s belief in themselves and their abilities. As such, counselor education programs and state licensing boards require supervised experiences for counselors-in-training. How effective are such experiences, as measured by counselor self-efficacy and supervisory alliance? A single-case research design was employed with three participants, tracking their responses over six weeks on the Counselor Self-Efficacy Inventory and Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory - Trainee measures. Results indicated that the experience had been effective in increasing counselor …

Examining The Relationship Between Toddlers’ Sleep Patterns, Negative Parenting, And Executive Function, Morgan Elizabeth Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Negative parenting can often be described as having three domains (i.e., laxness, verbosity, and over-reactivity, Arnold et al., 1993; Rhoades & O’Leary, 2007), which may have relations to toddlers’ behaviors, like executive function (EF) and sleep. However, this field is understudied, especially in early childhood development. One possible explanation for the lack of research in this field is that it can be difficult to study executive function in toddlers due to variability in the stability of regulatory behaviors and emerging regulatory abilities at this age range. Although positive sleep patterns (e.g., quality and quantity) have been linked to executive function, …

Exploring African American Female Students' Choice Of Stem Major At Rust College, Shatara Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In comparison to the rest of the United States population, African American women are undeniably inadequately represented in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). As one of the oldest historically black colleges in Mississippi, Rust College has the social responsibility to increase the presence and contributions of minorities in STEM. Since the enrollment of African American females is greater than that of African American males at Rust College, the college has the fortuity to assist in increasing the diversity in STEM for both race and gender. This DIP utilizes Intersectionality Theory as the conceptual foundation to explore …

The Effects Of Multimodal Communication With Discourse In People With Chronic Aphasia, Elizabeth Grace Peeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose

Individuals with aphasia often experience communication breakdowns. One strategy that has been shown to be useful is switching communication modalities when a breakdown occurs. While many researchers have incorporated and shown positive effects of multimodality in aphasia treatment, few studies have utilized a discourse task to generalize the methods trained during the structured tasks to everyday life. The purpose of Multimodal Communication Treatment + Discourse and Group (MCT+DG) is to train various communication modalities in both structured and unstructured settings, which include a discourse and group therapy to help generalizing the skills in daily communication.

Method

Two participants with …

The Impact Of Perception Of L1 Stress Features On L2 Perceived Fluency, Tian Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of stress on perceived fluency, a critical dimension of fluency study, alongside utterance and cognitive fluency. Perceived fluency is defined as the inferences listeners make about speakers’ cognitive fluency based on their perceptions of utterance fluency (Segalowitz, 2010). Previous research demonstrated that factors such as pause phenomena and speech rate significantly affected subjective fluency ratings (Bosker et al., 2012; Kahng, 2018). Stress was also identified as a contributing factor through qualitative analysis (Préfontaine and Kormos, 2016), yet had not been thoroughly examined using quantitative methods.

The cue-weighting theory of speech perception suggests that listeners from …

Juvenile Coping And General Strain Theory, Peyton Conner Stephenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to quantitatively assess the impact of victimization on behavioral and emotional outcomes among a sample of adolescents detained within the juvenile justice system. Specifically, the study focuses on understanding the relationship between reports of victimization (e.g., being beaten up or threatened) and maladaptive coping mechanisms, such as involvement in fighting. To do so, Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory (GST) and the Pains of Imprisonment are adopted as frameworks for understanding the role of strain or stressors in prompting deviant behavior as a coping mechanism. This study uses secondary data from the Northwestern Juvenile Project …

Motivation And Attitudes Toward Learning English As A Foreign Language: A Case Study Of Urban And Rural University Freshmen In Saudi Arabia, Munif Almasarir

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Saudi educational system faces several challenges that contribute to low proficiency in English among Saudi students. Previous studies have focused on the EFL curriculum and pedagogical challenges, but there is a lack of research specifically examining other main psychosocial factors that contribute to the attainment of English proficiency. Motivational and attitudinal factors have been proven to have an impact on the proficiency level among EFL students. My study investigates the perceived influence of geographical location on students' attitudes and motivation toward English as a global language in Saudi Arabia. By utilizing an ethnographic approach focusing on both rural and …

Developing And Validating A Novel Screening Instrument For General Psychological Distress, Steven M. Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study presents the results of both factor analyses in developing the General Psychological Distress Screener (GPDS), and provides preliminary data of its predictive validity. As a new screening instrument, the GPDS assesses mental fatigue and emotional distress in adults and predicts certain psychiatric disorder diagnoses. Drawing upon network analysis principles, two studies were conducted to construct and refine the GPDS. Study 1 identified the variable constructs from psychopathology networks that were used in Study 2. Study 2 used principal axis factoring to develop a 4-factor solution, which was subsequently reduced to a 2-factor model for improved interpretability. Confirmatory Factor …

The Effects Of Technology-Enhanced Learning On Radiologic Sciences Student Engagement, Zack Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the multifaceted connection between technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and student engagement, with a specific emphasis on student perceptions, attitudes, and distractions associated with technology usage in the classroom. Recognizing the increasing prevalence of technology in educational settings, this study seeks to understand how students perceive technology in the learning environment and how these perceptions influence their attitudes toward its use. The research framework is anchored in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), providing a theoretical lens to assess the cognitive factors influencing student behavior.The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys and observations to gather comprehensive insights into …

Increasing Minority Student Enrollment: An Applied Research Study On Increasing The Enrollment Of Minority Students In Advanced Placement Courses, Tamekia Helm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Addressing the disparity in Advanced Placement (AP) course enrollment among minority students at Greater High School is the focus of this research. Through an extensive review of the literature, the study examines the various factors contributing to this gap, including access limitations and systemic barriers. Additionally, teacher perceptions, student attitudes, and parental involvement are explored to understand the influence on AP course enrollment decisions. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and interviews, data is collected from students, teachers and parents to gain comprehensive insights.

Proposed solutions to enhance AP course enrollment include targeted outreach initiatives and support for minority students. …

Trait Forgiveness And Trait Anger: Links With 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Bianca Kirsch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hypertension is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Higher levels of trait anger and unforgiveness are linked with elevations in blood pressure, which increases one’s risk for hypertension. Most of the research examining the association between trait anger, trait forgiveness, and blood pressure (BP) uses single-time point assessment of BP and thus, is not able to capture day-to-day BP variability. Further, existing research has primarily focused on the forgiveness of others. The purpose of this study is to address these gaps in the literature. This is a preliminary analysis using about one-fourth of the target sample. Sixteen community-dwelling adults …

Southern Animals: Multispecies Encounters In Midcentury Southern Fiction, Kacee M. Mckinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation expands our understanding of how nonhuman animal figures, symbols, and encounters within southern literature have had ideologically profound impacts on our conceptions of humanity, southernness, and relationality. This dissertation examines prose fiction, including short stories, novellas, and novels, from four influential southern writers—Richard Wright, Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery O’Connor—who were all actively engaged with representing, critiquing, and expanding American conceptions of the south, the nation, and the ‘human’ at midcentury. With an understanding of southern literature as a rich site for not only regional representation but also broader disruptions of national injustices and ideologies of domination …

Enhancing Flex Student Success: Factors Influencing Achievement In The Istudy Program At The University Of Mississippi, Jennifer Jewel Sanford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions have recently increased the number of online courses offered to students. A need exists to understand student success within asynchronous self-paced online education programs. This study explores the factors that impact student success in the Independent Study Program (iStudy) at the University of Mississippi, focusing specifically on Flex (Full-Year) enrolled students. Student success is defined as achieving a completion grade of "C" or higher. The proposed study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative analysis of student performance data with qualitative feedback from student performance data and exit surveys. The assessment aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of …

Team Origins: Leveraging Network Utilization And Leadership To Explain Team Assembly, Pol Solanelles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from social networks and leadership perspectives, I advance our understanding of team assembly – which I define as the goal-motivated, multi-step, and iterative process by which two or more potential team members interact to organize into nascent teams via formal and/or informal influence. Across three essays, I aim to redirect the conversation from who will become part of a team to how individuals assemble teams, placing leaders assembling teams and potential team members at the forefront of this research.

In Essay 1, my interdisciplinary integrative conceptual review revealed four opportunities to clarify how people assemble teams. First, I use …

Nutrient Intake, Performance, And Body Composition In Preseason Wrestlers, Gregory Coapstick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: College athletes, especially in weight class sports, often experience energy deficits. Weight class sports such as wrestling are at greatest risk for deficiencies, and little is known about the relationships between body composition, nutrient intake, and performance in these athletes.
OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to quantify macronutrient and micronutrient intake of pre-season male collegiate wrestlers and compare to recommendations, and examine relationships among nutritional intakes, body composition, and performance measurements of strength, anaerobic, and aerobic capacity.
METHODS: Male Division I wrestlers (n=11, mean ± SD age: 21.3±1.7 years, wrestling experience: 14.9±2.5 years) were recruited during preseason. …

More Than A Feeling: Materializing Sympathy In Nineteenth-Century American Literature, Kathleen Downes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“More than a Feeling: Materializing Sympathy in Nineteenth-Century American Literature” breaks from a long tradition of criticism that only considers the nineteenth-century belief that sympathy was a benevolent, voluntary, imaginative act of feeling that maintains moral rectitude through the identification of suffering with others. In this context, sympathy is primarily defined as identificatory sympathy. “More than a Feeling” expands the definition of sympathy in the nineteenth century as also something that could be atmospherically communicated, transmitting good or bad feeling, and thus affecting and infecting those around them. This other form of sympathy, which for this project I term “effluvial …

A Case Study Of The Mississippi Teacher Corps (Mtc) Program Graduate School Experience As It Relates To Mtc Postgraduate Teacher Retention, Sandra Evelyn Carver Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation in practice (DiP) is to explore the relationship, if any, between the Mississippi Teacher Corps Graduate School experience and the expressed reasons of some of its teachers to either leave their placement school; teach in another critical-needs school in Mississippi, but not remain long-term; teach in another state; or exit the profession of classroom teaching after completion of the program. This study will only focus on teachers who left their placement school, another critical-needs school in Mississippi, or classroom teaching after 5 years. These five years include the two years while participants were in the …

Mapping In/Exclusion: Queer Identity In Oxford, Mississippi, Julia Kraus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employs a mixed methods approach to investigate LGBTQ communities in Oxford, Mississippi, within the unique context of the Bible Belt panopticon. Through an examination of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford (UUCO) and Oxford Pride, the study delves into the themes of visibility and surveillance, resistance and subversion, community and identity, and institutional interactions and impacts. The research is grounded in seven original interviews with UUCO members, providing nuanced insights into the functioning of LGBTQ communities within a conservative environment. Additionally, the creation of a podcast episode titled “Queering Oxford: the Long Path to Pride” offers an innovative …

Magnolia State Of Mind: Memory And Memorialisation In Mississippi, Cosmo Mcgee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways Mississippi has historically and contemporaneously crafted its collective memory through symbolism. Confederate memorial groups endeavoured to create a “Lost Cause” memory of the state’s Antebellum past, validating its White supremacist systems into the 1960s. With the violence of the Civil Rights era failing to stop integration, Mississippians would spend the next sixty years debating the best ways to represent the state’s history.

This work looks at three distinct manifestations of Mississippi’s memorial culture: the discussions around and changes to the state flag, the cultural and sporting atmosphere of the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”), and …

Moving Minds: Examining The Potential Effects Of Movement On Executive Function Among 3-Year-Olds, Zubie Reagan Pearce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the effect of movement on the conscious control of behavior (i.e., executive function or EF) in three-year-old children. Two questions were addressed regarding the role of movement in preschoolers' EF. First, the study investigated how altering movement within EF tasks influenced children's EF performance by manipulating relevant motor patterns (i.e., arm movement within EF searching and sorting tasks) in 3-year-olds. Children wore slightly weighted armbands while engaging in two distinct EF tasks, one focusing on motor control (i.e., reaching for an object) and the other on cognitive control (i.e., sorting objects based on rules). Second, …