Digital Commons Network^™

Open Arms: Adult Faith-Based Volunteers: Expectations And Needs To Work With Youth With Disabilities, Merritt B. Vise

Honors Theses

Religious organizations can offer many benefits to society at large such as extended social groups, opportunities for physical activity and service, and emotional support. People with disabilities are often in need of these opportunities most because of the social pressures, rejection, and isolation many experience at school or home. This study was designed to assess the experiences and needs of adult religious volunteers who work with students with disabilities in order to determine expectations and knowledge needs of these volunteers. This study examined the published research about the benefits of religious organizations to students with disabilities, the rate of involvement …

Dissociating Socioeconomic Influences On Maternal Language Input And Child Language Outcomes, Klaudia Kulawska

Honors Theses

Early language development is associated with children’s socioeconomic status (SES). Specifically, children from lower SES backgrounds, on average, exhibit slower language development compared to their peers from higher-SES backgrounds. Even though SES is a multidimensional construct, research often relies on a single dimension or a composite measure when studying child language development. In this article, I investigate four dimensions of SES, including maternal education, income-to-needs ratio, financial security, and neighborhood SES. Specifically, I examine whether the quantity and quality of maternal linguistic input mediates the relationships between dimensions of SES and child receptive language skills. Mothers and their 36-40 months …

Food Insecurity At Bucknell University: A Look At Student Experiences And Contributing Factors, Emma Curtin

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the prevalence of food insecurity at Bucknell and examines the contributing factors. Two research questions frame the present study: 1) What factors contribute to food insecurity on Bucknell’s campus? And 2) How do students at Bucknell experience food insecurity? Additionally, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college student food insecurity is explored. The theoretical framework used in this thesis is Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction. This framework coupled with a phenomenological approach to analyzing the data are the most appropriate for the present study because food insecurity is a systemic phenomenon, maintained by institutions but lived …

A Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And American Cinematic Depictions Of The Female Adolescent Life Transition, Lily Li

Honors Theses

The thesis examines the representation through film of the ways social systems in Western and Eastern societies impact female adolescents’ growth. My study focuses on the transition from childhood to adolescence, from a relatively "naive" state to a reflective state of mind, filled with uncertainty about oneself and the future. In this process, there are emotions of confusion, insecurity, struggle, anxiety, and intergenerational conflicts. Some crucial factors such as friendships, family relationships, and societal pressures are influential in adolescents' formation of their personalities. This transformational process is universal across all cultures, as every adolescent experiences the transition from youth to …

"Taming Of The Shrew(S)": Explorations Of Gender And Power In Directing An Original Adaptation Of William Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew, Katharine Cognard-Black

Honors Theses

In Fall 2021, I directed my own adaptation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, entitled “Taming of the Shrew(s).” This project served as both the creative portion of my honors thesis as well as a Senior Showcase within the Bucknell Department of Theatre & Dance. From a young age, I have been fascinated by the malleability of Shakespeare’s plays, and having acted in and seen multiple productions of The Taming of the Shrew, my project began with a desire to take on the gendered complexities of this so-called “problem play.” The Taming of the Shrew is problematic in its sexist …

To Believe Or Not To Believe: Voters’ Responses To Sexual Assault Allegations In Politics, Emily Brandes

Honors Theses

Since the viral 2017 #MeToo movement, public opinion on cases of sexual misconduct has been shaped by the mainstream media coverage of high-profile stories. A shift in public attitude towards these issues has encouraged more victims to come forward and share their stories, many detailing harrowing events perpetrated by successful businessmen and politicians. Credible accusations continue to come forward, and while some end in legal action, many do not, and perpetrators face little to no consequences. I examined how individuals respond to issues of sexual misconduct and assault in politics, and based on the severity of the accusation, how they …

Autistic Personality Traits And Processing Of Ironic Language, Jaclyn Opie

Honors Theses

Whereas typically developing adults tend to show processing differences for ironic versus literal language, recent research has demonstrated that adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder do not show a difference. Building on these findings, the present study examined whether similar effects would emerge in a sample of college students who were assessed on autistic personality traits. Through an eye tracking during reading experiment, participants read sentence contexts in which factors of emotional language, ironic versus literal language, and sentence perspective were manipulated. Results showed that participants who had a low degree of autistic traits somewhat replicated the two-stage processing model of …

Designing And Implementing A Peer-To-Peer Led Behavioral And Energy Reduction Program For Low-Income Neighborhoods, Jenn Hoody

Honors Theses

Reduction in energy consumption from fossil fuels is a necessary step toward combating climate change as more and more studies are revealing the catastrophic outcomes if the current trends do not change. Residential programs generally managed by energy utilities promoting energy cost savings and reduced consumption are being enacted to decrease the greenhouse emissions. However, thus far, little to no measures have been taken to extend the reach of such programs to low-income communities. Reducing household energy consumption would be particularly beneficial for these communities as it would lower utility bills for low-income households who spend a substantially greater portion …

Implementing Askme3 Approach To Adult Learning Through The Kalamazoo Literacy Council, Hailey Beyer

Honors Theses

Background: Ask Me 3 was developed as a tool to help individuals successfully communicate with their healthcare providers (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, n.d.). This was designed to study the effectiveness of this tool in educating adult learners of Kalamazoo, MI, through the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC) Virtual Learning Center.

Objective: The objective was to determine whether learners of the Kalamazoo Literacy Council gained confidence communicating with a healthcare provider through the implementation of a distance education Ask Me 3 program.

Methods: Learners associated with the KLC were sent a pre-lesson survey asking them to assess their confidence levels with using …

Social Media Dependency And College Student Adjustment, Kylee Defrese

Honors Theses

While previous studies have looked at the effects of social media dependency on disordered eating symptoms, body image concerns, and anxiety and depression symptoms, few have looked at these effects on exclusively college students. The current study utilized a survey to examine the associations between social media dependency, disordered eating symptoms, body image concerns, and anxiety and depression symptoms. Ninety-seven college students (M_age = 18.8 years, SD = 1.51; 82.5% young women; 17.5% young males ; 75.3% White; 91.8% non-Hispanic/non-Latinx) completed established measures, and reported on their social media dependency (Xanidis & Brignell, 2016), body image concerns (Schaefer, …

Divorce, Academic Performance, And Attachment Styles In College Students, Pavllo Neco

Honors Theses

For years, social scientists have pondered the impacts of a parental divorce on the students’ academic performance, as well as their attachment style (Fomby, 2010). In the current study, it is hypothesized that students who experience a parental divorce will perform lower on academic performance and higher on the insecure attachment styles than students whose parents are still intact or remarried. Participants were 73 college students, ages ranging in age from 18-29. More than half of the study consisted of student’s ages 18-19 years. 65% of students who participated were female, and an overwhelming majority of participants were white, with …

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Guide For Caregivers, Camryn Keane

Honors Theses

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a condition that affects infants who have faced exposure to certain drugs in utero. The incidence of NAS is dramatically rising in the United States. This increase is primarily due to the growth in opioid prescribing to pregnant women. NAS has an immediate effect on four primary areas of occupation: activities of daily living (ADLs), sleep, social participation, and play. This paper aims to review the background of NAS, then describe how this condition impacts an infant’s occupational performance. Moreover, this paper identifies models of occupational therapy intervention that can guide the treatment of NAS. …

The Effect Of Closeness On Belief In Innocence, Kerri Kingsley

Honors Theses

Many people question how family and friends can stay loyal to convicted criminals or lie to throw off a police investigation; this study proposes that this belief in an accused criminal’s innocence has to do with how close a person is to the offender. Using the Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS) and a series of scenarios, this study compares how participants’ closeness to someone interacts with the participant’s belief in that person’s innocence when faced with a hypothetical criminal accusation. The study was administered as an online survey using the URCS and a series of questions about participants relationships to …

Westbound, Genevieve Nicolow

Honors Theses

Westbound is a twenty-five chapter novella that aims to demonstrate ways in which creative writers can use climate fiction to overcome psychological barriers to act on climate change. The narrative follows Cassie, a character loosely based on a relative of its author, living in a future version of the United States that has been ravaged by climate change and its indirect consequences.

In the novella, Cassie and her mother Nia set out on a cross-country road trip as a climate disaster looms. The narrative explores their relationship and that with Cassie’s estranged father, the implications of projected ecological changes under …

Out Of Mind: Undergraduate Predictors Of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms, Michael S. Lanzaro

Honors Theses

Demographic factors associated with anxiety have been studied extensively and are often characterized by interconnected relationships. These associations between variables provide insight into the predictive ability of anxiety in undergraduate populations. However, few studies if any have investigated the relationships between class level, sex, honors status, and undergraduate specialization as predictors of anxiety among an undergraduate American university sample. The results of this study provide key insight into the psychopathological development of undergraduate students and anxiety levels as it pertains to academic and demographic variables. By using a multiple linear regression analysis, demographic variables of American undergraduate students are compared …

"Foreign" Language: Examining Systemic Attitudes, Xenophobia, And Foreign Language Anxiety, Olivia Jennings

Honors Theses

With the focus on the systemic attitudes, this study examines previous background in foreign language, attitudes about language in general, and the relation of language to identity. This study stresses the defining process in the making of American as a national and cultural identity, and how it has changed over the years. It examines the role of xenophobia and xenoglossophobia in the context of American identity, and through its evolution in past and current sociopolitical believes impacting an overall disinterest in foreign language. The disinterest in foreign language is investigated to discover the reasons why foreign language programs are being …

Documenting A Personal And National History: Echoes Of The Urban-Rural Divide In The Works Of Helga Gamboa, Sonja Gelin

Honors Theses

This paper analyzes a series of vessels created by artist Helga Gamboa from 2003-2008. Gamboa, an Angolan artist, based in the United Kingdom, uses her work to recount the experiences of rural women during the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) and her own experience growing up in the capital during the final years of the Salazar-Caetano regime. Gamboa’s syncretic approach incorporates European tin-glazing and indigenous African hand-building techniques. Early Modern Portuguese and traditional Southern Angolan material culture also guide the artist. The resulting works document a lasting urban-rural divide among Angolan women, dating back to colonial policy, liberation struggles, and civil …

What's In A Name? An Assessment Of Degradation Of Women In The Name Of Climbing Routes, Raiza Barahona

Honors Theses

Gendered behavior is reinforced at an early age. In media, women are usually portrayed following gender stereotypical behaviors and are often sexualized, meaning that their worth is often determined by their body shape and clothing type and as such women are often wearing revealing clothing, following gender stereotypical behaviors, and portraying unrealistic body proportions (e.g., Gentlemen’s Quarterly Magazine; Collins, 2011). The representation of women in climbing media is similar to that of the general media. The present study focused on route names within the climbing community and presents a qualitative analysis on the sexism and other derogatory (i.e., overtly sexual) …

Envisioning Success: A Naturalistic Investigation Into Prospective Memory Performance, Reminder Use, And Memory Strategies In An Academic Context, John Whittemore

Honors Theses

Prospective memory encompasses the ability to remember to carry out future intentions. Prospective memory performance is essential for students. College students are expected to remember and complete a variety of assignments on a daily basis. In these naturalistic experiments taking place before and after COVID-19, college students were required to set academic goals for themselves for three consecutive days following specific guidelines. Each day, the participant identified a time specific academic goal and a non-time specific academic goal. Participants were randomizing assigned experimental or control condition. The experimental group performed an episodic future thinking exercise during encoding. Additionally, each time …

Rethinking Rural Homelessness: A Comparison Of The Causes, Solutions, And Services For Persons Experiencing Homelessness In Appalachia Versus Urban Areas In The United States, Casey Frommeyer

Honors Theses

Although homelessness in urban areas has been analyzed extensively, there is little research and data on homelessness in rural areas, specifically in Appalachia. The goal of this research is to shed some light on rural homeless experiences by comparing them to their urban counterparts. Four people from organizations that work with persons experiencing homelessness were interviewed using a snowball sample and asked questions which compare the causes, services, and solutions for homelessness in rural and urban areas. Based on these interviews, it can be concluded that the issues people experiencing homelessness go through, such as mental health problems and stigma, …

Lyme Disease In Kentucky: Prevalence, Awareness, And Diagnosis In A Conventionally Low-Endemic Area, Rachel L. Carden Ots

Honors Theses

Lyme Disease is the fastest-growing vector-borne illness in the United States – including in low-endemic states, such as Kentucky; given Kentucky’s low Lyme disease incidence in prior decades, it has since experienced an increase of cases despite a lack of discussion on the condition and its implications on patient health and wellbeing. To measure current levels of knowledge and awareness of Lyme disease in Kentucky residents, a survey was distributed to Microbiology and Honors Program students at Eastern Kentucky University, and its results were discussed. While Lyme disease cases do continue to rise, the general public of Kentucky lacks in …

"Relentless": The Social Identity Of Chronic Illness And Disability, Mary Boujaoude

Honors Theses

Despite the steady growth of rights and acceptance of people from other minority groups, the significance of the issues faced by people with chronic illnesses and disabilities has not enjoyed the same public endorsement. This population has experienced disproportionate disadvantages that have prohibited them from realizing their full potential as active members of society. Much of the scholarship in the area of Disability Studies and research into the social issues faced by people with chronic illnesses and disability is academic in nature, while most advocacy work is non-academic in nature. Relentless is a book of essays that blends personal narrative …

“What Did You Say To Me?” – Social Feedback, Body Image, & Eating Disorders In Modern Day Society, Caitlin N. Mehs

Honors Theses

Eating disorders are one of the most lethal psychological disorders and need further insight into how they are developed. After an extensive literature review, I am proposing that social feedback influences body image, and body image influences eating disorders. It was predicted that there will be a strong, positive correlation between body image (as measured by body dissatisfaction) and eating disorders. It was also predicted that there will be a strong, positive correlation between social feedback and body image. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the correlation between body image and eating disorders, yielding a moderately strong, positive correlation ( …

Booked Up: An Appalachian Graphic Novel, Brandi K. Mills

Honors Theses

Booked Up is a graphic novel detailing a young Appalachian girl's life as a big sister with a maternal role, escapism through books, and desire to win a writing competition that can help her reach her goal of attending college.

Beyond The Veil Of Ignorance: An Analysis Of Global Regulations For Assisted Suicide And The Guided Next Steps For America, Abigail B. Coogan

Honors Theses

The concept of assistance in dying goes back to the ancient Greco-Roman world, but it is still a topic of much debate today. This paper attempts to address this debate by completing a thorough examination of the topic of assisted dying in America. It begins with a thorough examination of assisted dying through the legal lense of the United States Constitution and court decisions, moves into an analysis and rebuttal of common objections regarding assisted dying, and examines assisted dying regulations around the world in order to examine what qualities are important in developing assisted dying regulations, along with what …

The Creation Of Nona: A Look At Fantasy Literature, Real Life Trauma, And World-Building, Collin P. Davis

Honors Theses

My Honors Thesis Project looks at the relationship between fantasy literature, real life trauma, and world-building. The scholarly portion of my thesis includes research that looks at the relationship through both literary and psychological perspectives. This research included looking at the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons, and how they both relate or have been used to cope with trauma. The works of Cathy Caruth and Bruno Bettelheim are used to look at the relationship from a psychological perspective with the introduction of trauma theory and its ties to literature. My project …

Madame Bovary Syndrome: The Female Protagonist's Plight, Audrey C. Giesler

Honors Theses

The Madame Bovary Syndrome is a phenomenon that occurs among different female protagonists of the nineteenth century. Based on Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, this syndrome was defined by French philosopher Jules De Gaultier to describe chronic affective dissatisfaction with one’s life. The Madame Bovary Syndrome can be applied to the female protagonists in George Sand’s Indiana, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. Each protagonist in these stories exemplifies chronic feelings of dissatisfaction, hopelessness, and despair due to the lack of control over their lives. With the rise of the middle class, women were now …

Treating The Trauma: Evaluating The Perceived Effectiveness Of Narrative Therapy On Individuals Who Have Experienced Trauma, Emily Faith

Honors Theses

Abstract

Narrative therapy (NT) has been utilized by many clinicians and found to be effective as an intervention with clients facing a wide range of issues. Focusing on one’s narrative has been given attention in many academic disciplines (e.g., social sciences, humanities and healthcare) and especially among popular written media and academic journals. Despite this attention and the various studies on its efficacy, there is a lack of research on client and non-client perceptions of this therapy. This ethnographic study’s purpose was to compare the perceived effectiveness of the NT between those who had previously participated in narrative therapy and …

Slipping Through The Cracks: Addressing Mental Health Needs Of Students In The K-12 Classroom, Emily H. Kerr

Honors Theses

Mental health illnesses have become more prevalent over the past 20 years. With this increase in mental health disorders, schools have failed to provide students with the necessary support and resources needed for them to be successful in the classroom. The objective of this study is to highlight the prevalence of mental health illnesses and give insight to strategies that can be implemented by the school system in order to give every child the opportunity to be successful. This study focuses on adolescents with anxiety and/or depression. Research has been conducted to identify the increase in cases of mental health …

Adding Production To High Variability Phonetic Training, Caleb Crosby

Honors Theses

The effectiveness of adding a production component to a High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) regimen to improve native Japanese speaker’s pronunciation of English [b], [v], [f], and [h] was investigated. L1 Japanese-speaking English learners were recruited as participants, and a pretest-posttest procedure was used to evaluate improvement at production of the target consonants. For the pretest and posttest, recordings were taken of participants pronouncing twelve tokens, and the recordings were rated for intelligibility by a phonetically trained native English-speaking rater. Participants were divided into two groups. Group A received only HVPT training, and group B received a regimen of half …