Digital Commons Network^™

Developmental Themes Associated With Religious Activity After Early Return From A Latter-Day Saint Mission, Samuel E. Hancock, Sam A. Hardy, Michael Goodman, Camron Angell, Jenae M. Nelson

Faculty Publications

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, qualified young men are expected (and young women are given the option) to complete extended missionary service during the transition to adulthood. Some youth end their missionary service short of the anticipated duration, which is associated with markedly lower rates of religious activity post-return. This study is a qualitative inquiry into the developmental themes associated with early returned missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who chose to remain active (be consistently involved with the church), sampling from areas with high rates of Latter-day Saint activity, where stigmatization …

Understanding Landowner Perceptions: Enhancing Conservation Easement Adoption In Missouri's Priority Landscapes, Mckenna N. Thompson, Jennah I. Klein, Robin M. Rotman, Sonja A. Wilhelm Stanis, Gus C. Raeker, Michele D. Baumer

Faculty Publications

Conservation of private lands is essential for protecting open space, supporting ecosystems and species, preserving resources, and facilitating outdoor recreation. One tool for private land conservation is a conservation easement – a voluntary legal agreement where a landowner surrenders certain rights to use or develop their property. This study explores landowner perceptions of perpetual conservation easements in areas of high conservation value in Missouri, focusing on landowners without existing easements. Through interviews, four themes emerge containing both motivations and constraints: prior knowledge, land protection, regulations, and finance. Many landowners were unfamiliar with conservation easements or had misconceptions or misunderstandings. The …

An Updated Perspective On Learning, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

The subject of human learning is revisited. The emergence of new research findings in cognitive neuroscience and related disciplines using new imaging tools and techniques has revealed the existence of not one but two complementary learning systems. A newly-discovered prospection process, interacting with both memory systems, has been revealed as the pivotal mechanism of learning that leads to new experience and new memory records. The universal impact of emotion on this process also receives a new emphasis. This, coupled with the ever-present social environment, show learning to be the result of conversational activity. The existence of this more complete and …

Love, Sex, & Aging: Gendered Perspective On Relationship Desires And Satisfaction In Older Adulthood, William Henninger, Melinda Heinz, Nathan Taylor

Faculty Publications

This research explores gender differences in long- and short-term relationships and sexual satisfaction among older adults. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory posits that as people age, they prioritize immediate emotional satisfaction due to perceptions of limited time. This shift influences older adults’ romantic relationships, increasing the likelihood of seeking meaningful connections and reducing the prevalence of negative emotions. With healthy relationships linked to physical, psychological, and financial benefits, research is needed to further understand older adult romantic relationships. Older adults (n = 155) from the Seniors Together in Aging Research (STAR) completed a survey assessing relationship preferences and current and predicted sexual …

Editorial Introduction: Governing Through Attention, Collaboration, Learning, And Participation, Geoboo Song, Gwen Arnold, Melissa K. Merry, Saba N. Siddiki, Holly L. Peterson, Creed Tumlison, Eric Button, Benjamin Galloway, Camille Gilmore, Erica Ivins, Rinjisha Roy, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, Ryan Ramaker, Rachel Britton, Isaac Owusu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Anti-Holistic Algorithms, Itay Ravid

Faculty Publications

This Article presents a critical tension in modern criminal justice between holistic criminal-justice aspirations and algorithmic governance: whether the holistic rehabilitation and reintegration project can survive technological determinism. As criminal legal systems embrace algorithmic risk- assessment tools as solutions to address recidivism, this Article reveals a profound epistemological concern: the fundamental incompatibility between viewing offenders as “whole persons” capable of transformation and reducing them to statistical probabilities within computational matrices. By doing so, it demonstrates how algorithmic mediation fundamentally alters—and potentially destroys—the holistic message itself.

In establishing this argument, the Article advances in two stages. It first identifies the development …

Under-Marketing Women’S Sport: The Gendered Labor Of Value Co-Creation In U.S. Women’S Soccer, Tarlan Chahardovali Ph.D., Joshua I. Newman Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Research Question: This study explores how professional women soccer players in the U.S. perceived the role of institutional actors in value co-creation during a pivotal period in the sport’s development. It examines the marketing responsibilities players were expected to undertake and how this labor shaped their experiences and self-perceptions. Research Methods: Guided by value co-creation and value realization frameworks, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with 22 current and former professional women soccer players. Data were analyzed in two stages: first cycle coding, followed by pattern coding to consolidate labor themes into constructs reflecting athletes’ experiences of institutional support, promotional …

Toward A Feminist Geo-Legal Reading: Us Country-Of-Origin Information In Asylum Adjudication, Malene H. Jacobsen, Austin Crane, Elise Dosch

Faculty Publications

In this article, we offer what we call ‘a feminist geo-legal reading’ of documents used in spaces and practices of law. Legal cases and decisions are often based on different legal and non-legal documents, including laws, explanatory memorandums, testimonies, medical reports, and so forth. In contemporary asylum adjudication, country-of-origin information reports (COIs) have become a crucial source of authoritative evidence as asylum officers and immigration judges use these reports in their determination of a person's need for and right to protection. However, there is no straight line from COIs' substance to the prevailing authority that they command within asylum adjudication. …

Formalism In Jewish Law, Chaim Saiman

Faculty Publications

Scholars differ as to the degree to which Jewish law is formalistic. This chapter aims to make sense of the debate surrounding formalism in Jewish law by distinguishing between three types of legal formalism: classic formalism, modern formalism, and detail-following formalism. Viewed through the lens of modern formalism, Jewish law is likely less formalistic than commonly assumed as it is not primarily concerned with constraining decision makers. Nor is Jewish legal discourse typified by its unified conceptual schemas that proceed from abstract concepts to bottom-line decisions in the way that classical formalism proceeds. This chapter introduces an alternative framing termed …

Everyday Norms Have Become More Permissive Over Time And Vary Across Cultures, Kimmo Eriksson, Pontus Strimling, Irina Vartanova, Brent Simpson, Minna Persson, Khalid Ahmed Abdi, Neta Ad, Alisher Aldashev, Habib Mohammad Ali, Maurizio Alì, Khatai Aliyev, Yasser M. Alrefaee, Alberth Estuardo Alvarado Ortiz, Per A. Andersson, Giulia Andrighetto, Gizem Arikan, John Jamir Aruta, Christian Lutete Ayikwa, Jonatan Baños-Chaparro, Davide Barrera, Justina Barsyte, Birzhan Batkeyev, Azma Batool, Elizaveta Berezina, Stéphanie Ngandu Bimina, Marie Björnstjerna, Sheyla Blumen

Faculty Publications

Every social situation that people encounter in their daily lives comes with a set of unwritten rules about what behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate. These everyday norms can vary across societies: some societies may have more permissive norms in general or for certain behaviors, or for certain behaviors in specific situations. In a preregistered survey of 25,422 participants across 90 societies, we map societal differences in 150 everyday norms and show that they can be explained by how societies prioritize individualizing moral foundations such as care and liberty versus binding moral foundations such as purity. Specifically, societies with more …

Moving Beyond Traditional Legal Scholarship Impact Rankings, John Cannan

Faculty Publications

Legal academia is likely stuck with law faculty scholarly impact rankings—that is, using citation counts to judge a law faculty’s reputation and influence. But why can’t we produce better, more useful studies? Current rankings rely on outdated methods. Moreover, these rankings—touted by their creators as objective—suffer from long-standing flaws. They are also grounded in limited understandings of legal citations as sources of information. This paper calls on law librarians to advance legal citation research by adopting methodologies from other information sciences and developing legal citation taxonomies and theories.

Disparities In Street Harassment Exposure And Mental Health Consequences: Elevated Risk For Marginalized Women, Sophia Shaiman, Kaitlin M. Boyle

Faculty Publications

Street harassment is a widespread harm that disproportionately affects women. While research suggests links between racial inequality, street harassment, and mental health outcomes, it is less understood how the severity of harassment experienced is shaped by their demographic characteristics, and how the severity of the harassment shapes mental health outcomes. Thus, we ask two questions. First, which demographic characteristics are associated with a greater risk of “complementary” and “hostile” forms of street harassment? Second, are complementary and hostile forms of street harassment both associated with higher levels of negative emotion, psychological distress, and post-traumatic maladaptive beliefs? To answer these questions, …

When Old Meets New: Two Louisiana State University Outreach Librarians Build, Work, And Learn Together To Support Collaborative Student Engagement, Alia Kempton, Mitch Fontenot

Faculty Publications

In this essay, outreach librarians Mitch Fontenot (he/him), Louisiana State University, and Alia Kempton (she/her), Louisiana State University, Special Collections, reflect on their inaugural year of working together, highlighting key achievements, challenges, and growth that have marked their collaborative journey. They discuss how they established effective communication, built trust, and developed a shared understanding of goals and expectations. Additionally, they explore where they envision their partnership heading in the future, touching on long-term aspirations, potential areas for deeper collaboration, and the strategies they plan to implement to continue fostering a successful and productive working relationship.

Supporting Faculty Parents In Professional Development: Case Studies, Recommendations, And A Call For Inclusive Approaches, Anne Marie Gruber, Lindsay Doukopoulos

Faculty Publications

Educational development is often scheduled during academic breaks with the intent of allowing faculty participation; however, this can actually make it more difficult for faculty who are in parenting roles, particularly during summer and school breaks when childcare options are limited. This article provides case studies from two different institutions describing approaches to offering childcare support to faculty participants in professional development. Ultimately, although both cases were successful, they were limited solutions to what is actually a much larger cultural problem. Our discussion shares lessons learned, recommendations, and urges others to embrace inclusive and equity-focused endeavors in supporting faculty caregivers' …

Categorial Declinations & Democracy, Brenner M. Fissell

Faculty Publications

The most contentious action taken by reform prosecutors has been the issuance of categorical declination policies. Opponents decry this as bureaucratic nullification of democratically enacted offenses, while the prosecutors themselves counter that they are responding to the will of their local electorate. Democracy claims, it appears, have taken center stage in this debate, and they are deployed by both sides. How should we think about democracy and categorical declinations? The most comprehensive scholarly work on this subject is a 2021 article by Professor Kerrel Murray. In this essay, I hope to continue the work begun by Murray, offering additional insights …

I Do, And I Will: Effectual Religiosity May Strengthen The Triad Chord Of Commitment For Women Of Faith, Tamara M. Chamberlain, Loren Marks, David C. Dollahite, Ashley Lebaron-Black, Elizabeth Kay Madsen, Christina N. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Although religiosity is commonly linked to marital satisfaction in sociological research, few studies have examined how it strengthens marital commitment among women of faith. This study explored the perspectives of religious, heterosexual married women using interviews in the United States from 196 highly religious couples with successful marriages. Three core themes emerged: (1) personal commitment—including the decision to marry, religious beliefs and practices, and the need for effort and sacrifice; (2) moral commitment—highlighting sexual relations before marriage, promises made before God, family, and friends, and views on fidelity and divorce; and (3) structural commitment— emphasizing the role of a religious …

October 7 And International Police Cooperation: The Silence Of Interpol, Mathieu Deflem

Faculty Publications

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the background and interpretation of Interpol’s silence following the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. The author examines the international policing im-plications of the events, with special attention to why the world’s largest police organization failed to issue any substantive response.

Methodology: The research is based on asociological analysis combining ahistorical and institutional overview of Interpol’s counterterrorism activities with the examination of the organization’s communications and institutional decisions. It relies on qualitative sources and an interpretive, case study-based approach using public documents, records, and statements.

Findings: …

Louisiana's Ten Commandments Statute: With Litigation Updates From Arkansas And Texas, Carl H. Esbeck

Faculty Publications

Legislators in conservative states are drawn to a belief that the Ten Commandments [“10/Cs”] underscore American’s moral, jurisprudential, and historical heritage. First the State of Louisiana, and thereafter Arkansas and Texas, enacted legislation requiring the posting of the 10/Cs in every public school and university classroom in the state. This quickly brought on legal challenges by students and their parents, along with a smattering of local clerics, together contending that these laws were unconstitutional, most prominently violations of the Establishment Clause. State attorney generals leaped to defend these statutes making the facial assertion that the 10/Cs are not so much …

The Silent Grief Of Grandmothers After An Out-Of-Order Death—An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Jordan Robertson, Elizabeth Cutrer, Paul Caldarella, Jeremy B. Yorgason, Terrell Young, Erjola Gjini, Sarah Stuart, Savannah Tueller

Faculty Publications

This study delves into the lived experiences of grandmothers grappling with grief following the “out-of-order” death of a child, child-in-law, or grandchild, using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis grounded in the Dual Process Model-Revised. With 70% of U.S. adults over 65 being grandparents, the research highlights their often-invisible role as both grievers and caregivers amid family loss. Findings reveal three key themes: navigating personal grief, intergenerational support dynamics, and reconstructing family identity. Grandmothers oscillate between loss-oriented and restoration-oriented coping, with grief intensity varying by relational proximity—most profound when losing their own child. They provide emotional and practical support to surviving grandchildren, …

How Stereotypes And Labor Shortages Lured Asians To The Sunshine: A Brief Historical And Demographic Review Of Asian Americans In Florida., Wenxian Zhang

Faculty Publications

Asians began to arrive in Florida in the years after the Civil War, concentrated mainly in railroad construction, agriculture, and service sectors such as laundry, restaurant, and grocery business. Their population grew very slowly until after World War II, when the discriminatory immigration policies were finally lifted. The 1965 immigration reform act, openings of the Walt Disney World and other tourist attractions, the end of the Vietnam War, the thriving sunbelt economy, and the rapid population growth have all brought numerous new Asian immigrants to the southernmost state in America. Shaped by multiple waves of immigration and various socioeconomic factors, …

Portrayals Of Disabilities In Picturebooks With The Schneider Family Award, Sohyun Meacham

Faculty Publications

This study analyzed the portrayal of disabilities in picturebooks that have received the Schneider Family Award, a well-known children’s literature award in the United States focused on disability representation. The purpose of the study was to conduct an intersectional analysis of these picturebooks to explore how characters are positioned across multiple categories such as disability, race/ethnicity, gender, class, age, and language. Using the Rating Scale for Quality Characterizations of Individuals with Disabilities in Children’s Literature, the study analyzed all 17 picturebooks appropriate for early childhood that received the Schneider Family Award from 2004 to 2020. The analysis found that these …

October 7 And International Police Cooperation:The Silence Of Interpol, Mathieu Deflem

Faculty Publications

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the background and interpretation of Interpol’s silence following the terrorist attacks committed by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. The author examines the international policing implications of the events, with special attention to why the world’s largest police organization failed to issue any substantive response.

Methodology: The research is based on a sociological analysis combining a historical and institutional overview of Interpol’s counterterrorism activities with the examination of the organization’s communications and institutional decisions. It relies on qualitative sources and an interpretive, case study-based approach using public documents, records, and …

Climatologist Mann's Defamation Suit Victory: Can It Resolve The Crisis Of Expertise, David S. Caudill

Faculty Publications

When a jury awarded one million dollars in punitive damages to climatologist Michael Mann, in his defamation suit against writer Mark Steyn (who accused Mann of scientific fraud), it was newsworthy, even surprising, because opinions regarding scientific matters are rarely actionable. And yet it was not seen as a groundbreaking event in terms of legal doctrine, since the outcome was easily justifiable— Steyn’s accusation was provably false. However, even if the Constitutional contours of defamation law did not change, the Mann verdict has far-reaching implications for a major contemporary social phenomenon, namely the so-called crisis of expertise, a term identifying …

Carolyn Parker's Electronic Frequencies, Charnell Chasten Long

Faculty Publications

The chapter illustrates what it meant for Carolyn Beatrice Parker (1917–1966) to be a Black woman physicist in the US during the Jim Crow era. Her father, a physician, and her mother, a teacher, shepherded her into Fisk University, an historically Black college. As a physics major she studied infrared spectroscopy with the Black physicist Elmer Imes, graduating with a BS in 1938. She later attended the University of Michigan, obtaining an MA in physics in 1941. But like many Black women, she spent time before and after graduate school teaching in the K–12 system. In 1943, she became a …

Enditnow Impact Study Findings, Shannon M. Trecartin, René Drumm, Petr Cincala, Ellen Nogueira Rodrigues, Yazmik Cantillano, Kayla-Hope Bruno, Lalramliani Ralte

Faculty Publications

In January 2025, researchers at Andrews University (AU) initiated a study to evaluate Seventh-day Adventist churches’ engagement with the 2024 Abuse Prevention or enditnow Sabbath. The purpose of the study was initially to assess visibility and participation through the publicly available digital platforms of the sampled churches. The findings from that investigation were reported to the Departments of Archives and Statistics and Women’s Ministries in June 2025. The study’s scope expanded when researchers received a faculty research grant from Andrews University’s Office of Research to further investigate how Adventist churches across the NAD participate in the enditnow Sabbath. This report …

The Risk Of Marginal Inclusion In The Fortune 500: A Quasi-Replication Of Lewis & Carlos (2023), W. Chad Carlos, Yasir Dewan, Ben W. Lewis, Brian P. Reschke, S. Isaac St. Clair

Faculty Publications

Conventional wisdom suggests that being included in an exclusive ranking leads to positive external evaluations. However, Lewis and Carlos (2023) found that firms situated near the threshold for inclusion on the 100 Best Corporate Citizen ranking were devalued by investors. To assess the generalizability of this surprising finding, we quasi-replicate and extend this finding by applying the same regression discontinuity design to the Fortune 500 ranking. We find corroborating evidence: firms near the bottom of the Fortune 500 receive lower external evaluations, not only from investors but also from industry peers. Our findings therefore quasi-replicate and extend Lewis and Carlos’ …

Neo-Gender Balancing In Saudi Arabia: Divorce Under Social Exchange Theory, Abdullah F. Alrebh, Radhi H. Al-Mabuk

Faculty Publications

This paper uses Richard Emerson’s social exchange theory to analyze the balance in the exchange relations between men and women in Saudi Arabia. The paper is comprised of four major sections: (1) Emerson’s social exchange theory; (2) Saudi women in Vision 2030; (3) Statistics on Saudi women marital status; (4) Power dependence. Emerson’s five assumptions are applied to cases of Saudi women in order to demonstrate how winds of social change are affecting not only attitudes but also actual behaviors and decisions regarding divorce. Using the Comparison Level for Alternatives model, the results of the analysis are reported, and a …

Impact Of Social Media On Family Relations In The Arab Gulf Region, Radhi H. Al-Mabuk, Abdullah F. Alrebh

Faculty Publications

Social media use especially among children and adolescents has become a topic of concern in the Gulf region especially for parents. This chapter addresses the issue of social media use and its impact on family relations, and is comprised of six parts: (1) place of social media in sociology; (2) prevalence of social media in the Gulf region with an emphasis on how much use, nature of use and motivation for use; (3) positive and detrimental consequences of social media use; (4) impact of social media use, especially problematic social media, on family relations; (5) parents’ role in guiding their …

Nourishing The Living Tree: Vincent Macdonald And His Constitutional Thought, Preston Jordan Lim

Faculty Publications

Since the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian judges have increasingly approached the Constitution through a living constitutionalist lens, adapting the Constitution to contemporary realities and treating the text as but one interpretive modality alongside purpose and context. The Supreme Court has rooted this living constitutionalism in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s judgment, Edwards v Attorney General of Canada, wherein Lord Sankey introduced the metaphor of the “living tree.” Justice Robert Sharpe and Professor Patricia McMahon have suggested that the “living tree metaphor remained a forgotten footnote until 1982.” Indeed, more formalist approaches towards …

The Role Of Civic Education On The Types And Causes Of Bullying In School, Besim Gollopeni, Ferdi Kamberi, William R. Henninger

Faculty Publications

Educational institutions have a responsibility to create a safe and peaceful environment, where the emotional and social well-being of students is promoted. In such an environment, students are encouraged to engage with pleasure in the learning process to develop their knowledge but also to interact constructively with their peers, strengthening their social skills and sense of belonging to the community. Such an environment is being challenged by the spread of the phenomenon of bullying, which creates deep concerns among students, parents, schools and the community. This study aims to investigate the types, causes and effects that lead to the occurrence …