Digital Commons Network^™

A Pilot Study Investigating Comprehension Of Driving Vocabulary In Adolescents With Language Impairment, Jessica M. Pandolfe

Master's Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate if adolescents with LI are at increased risk relative to unimpaired peers at struggling to comprehend driving-related vocabulary found in driving preparation material.

Method: This study included 11 adolescents with LI and 11 adolescent controls with typical language development. Participants completed a self-developed receptive vocabulary measure, the Driving-Related Picture Vocabulary Task, which consisted of simple noun, compound noun, and simple verb driving terminology.

Results: The Driving-Related Picture Vocabulary Task was found to have strong convergent validity with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007). Strong positive correlation was …

Effects Of Reading Ability On Lexically-Informed Letter Perception, Alexandra T. Bohner

Master's Theses

Research on perceptual learning for speech shows that lexical information can be used to modify phonological representations. Recent findings suggest that lexically-informed perceptual learning is a domain-general learning mechanism such that lexically-guided learning is also observed in the processing of printed text. The literature on lexically-informed perceptual learning has extensively investigated the nature of the change to the prelexical representation. What this literature has yet to examine, however, is how varying levels of lexical recruitment influence this learning mechanism. Here we examine this question by comparing performance on lexically-guided letter perception between two groups of readers, average readers and advanced …

The Relationship Between Drug Use And Depressive Symptoms Among High School Students, Andrea Huntley

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Partner Support And Relationship Satisfaction In Health Behavior Change: A Self-Determination Theory Framework, Katelyn M. Gettens

Master's Theses

Weight-related health behavior change can be difficult to initiate, and perhaps even more challenging to sustain long-term. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) allows for a more nuanced exploration of the role that motivation and existing support systems play in weight management. Recently, studies have focused on coequal support relationships rather than hierarchical relationships in health behavior change. The present study used a longitudinal design to assess support style (needs support vs. directive), relationship satisfaction, motivation (autonomous versus controlled), and weight loss over a 6-week period in college students with overweight or obesity, using a SDT framework. Students enrolled in Introduction to Psychology …

Analysis And Design Of A Frame-Membrane Habitat Subjected To Extreme Temperatures On The Lunar Surface, Kevin M. Brown

Master's Theses

During the era of the Apollo missions, there was been a great deal of interest among scientists, engineers, and the general population regarding the Moon and Outer Space. That interest has cycled through the years since but still burns strongly today as evidenced by the National Space Policy of President Barack Obama in 2010. Within this document, six goals were stated dealing with advanced study of the universe, which likely leads to the necessity of lunar colonization; the focus of this thesis.

The lunar environment provides several extreme challenges that may place any long term mission and its crewmembers in …

The Effect Of Overactive Bladder Syndrome On Health-Related Quality Of Life In An Assisted-Living Community, Allison M. Berken

Master's Theses

This study investigated the effect of overactive bladder syndrome on the health-related quality of life of 32 residents (mean age 85.4) living in an assisted-living community, using widely-used and well-validated questionnaires (the OABSS and the SF-20, to assess overactive bladder and health-related quality of life, respectively). Approximately 31% of the study population satisfied the criteria for the diagnosis of overactive bladder syndrome. No significant correlation was found between the subjects’ scores on the overactive bladder and health related quality of life inventories. Nor was any association found between overactive bladder symptoms and the six component measures of the SF-20 (physical …

Domestic Violence In Low-Income Communities In Mumbai, India, Robyn M. Jennings

Master's Theses

Domestic violence is a public health problem globally and in India because of its physical and mental health consequences for victims and families. It has been shown to have an increased prevalence in populations with low socioeconomic status and strong patriarchal attitudes. This study examines qualitative (n=39) and quantitative data (n=1125) to find characteristics of women, men, and couples that are associated with violence in a low-income, patriarchal society on the outskirts of Mumbai, India. Associations were found between several variables and any violence, physical violence, sexual violence, emotional violence, and marital control. Risk factors include financial struggles, alcohol use, …

Identifying Predictors Of Treatment Outcomes In Substance-Abusing Parents In A Recovery Case Management Program In Connecticut, Staceyann Smith

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Oral Nutritional Supplement Effects On Human Hydration Indices, Lindsay A. Ellis

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

“Un Pueblo Tan Dulce”: Diabetes, Depression, And Obesity Syndemics In Puerto Rico, Shir Lerman

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Thigh Compression Wraps On Sprint Performance In A Physically Active Population 2015, Kevin Ostempowski

Master's Theses

Compression garments are widely used in sport to enhance performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of thigh compression wraps on 60 m sprint performance. Twenty-six physically active college students, seven men and nineteen women, were participants in the study. The participants completed three 60 m sprints in each of two test sessions. The second test session occurred two to seven days after the first test session. The participant’s thighs were compression wrapped in one test session, the treatment session, and not wrapped in the other test session, the control session. Whether or not the first …

An Investigation Of Aerobic Fitness, Perceived Quality Of Life And The Direct Effects Of Self-Determination Theory In College Students 2015, Alanna Darling

Master's Theses

There have been numerous studies examining the association between physical activity, motivation and quality of life. In contrast, studies focusing on aerobic fitness and its relationship with levels of motivation and perceived quality of life are lacking. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between a direct measure of aerobic fitness, behavioral regulations, and perceptions of quality of life in college-aged sample. Participants included both males (n=129; 21.1±1.8 years) and females (n=89; 20.8±1.4 years) who completed the Behavioral Regulations of Exercise Questionnaire-2 sub-scores and Perceived Quality of Life (PQoL) instruments. Participants then performed the Queen’s College Step …

The Relationship Between Motivation And Volunteer Satisfaction In Conservation Programs 2015., Raena Blumenthal

Master's Theses

Conservation leisure service organizations are relying more heavily on volunteers to sustain their services and protect natural resources (Strigas, 2006). However, research focusing on volunteer vacationers, those who spend money to volunteer, is still in its infancy. Drawing on functional theorizing (Bruyer & Rappe, 2007; Clary, Snyder, Ridge, Copeland, Stukas, Haugen, & Miene, 1998; Houle, Sagarin, & Kaplan, 2005; Katz, 1960; Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956), this study explored volunteer vacationers’ motivations and the relationships between motivations to volunteer, satisfaction with the volunteer vacation experience, and inclinations to volunteer in the future (in both local and nonlocal settings). The study …

Influence Of Sex And Sport Skill Type On Imagery Use Among Division Iii Athletes 2015, Daniel Jones

Master's Theses

There is limited research revealing the underlying trends and influences of imagery use in sports. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of imagery use among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III collegiate athletes. Additionally, the influence of athlete sex and sport skill type was examined. A sample of 337 athletes from 15 different sports participated in the study. The Sport Imagery Questionnaire (SIQ; Hall, Mack, Paivio, & Hausenblaus, 1998) was administered to assess the frequency of imagery use between males and females as well as between open-skill sport (e.g., basketball, hockey, etc) and closed-skill sport …

National Collegiate Athletic Association Head Coaches' Satisfaction With Athletic Training Services 2015, Whitney Larson

Master's Theses

Athletic trainers and coaches have a significant amount of interaction regarding the care of an athlete. This communication and cooperation is necessary to providing effective care. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of satisfaction that head coaches have with those providing athletic training services across all three NCAA Divisions. Overall satisfaction and four satisfaction categories (professionalism, communication, knowledge/ability, and accessibility) were examined. A total of 40 head coaches from NCAA Division I, II, and III schools participated in the study. The instrument used was originally developed by Beer (2004) and was modified to fit the current …

Reducing Disruptive Behavior In High School: The Good Behavior Game, William Blake Ford

Master's Theses

Disruptive behavior in the classroom setting negatively impacts the learning process in various ways, interfering with the educational process of individual students, the teacher, and/or the class as a whole. Class-wide levels of disruptive behaviors worsen these impacts and are often related to problems with a teacher’s classroom management techniques and abilities. Group contingency interventions, such as the Good Behavior Game (GBG), are often used to provide teachers with evidence based management strategies while improving student behavior in the class. Furthermore, group contingency interventions, such as the GBG, can be conceptualized as Tier I or Tier II interventions within a …

Saving Sex Slaves: The A21 Campaign And The Mobilization Of Christian Affect, Nicole Elizabeth Magee

Master's Theses

In this thesis, I argue that the A21 Campaign’s discourse mobilizes Christian affect to produce relational proximity between audience members and human trafficking victims. My study intervenes in related literature surrounding Burke’s (1969) idea of identification by acknowledging that discourse can invite audiences to feel relationally close to or empathetic with others in the absence of consubstantiation. Relying on Gould’s (2009) notion of the mobilization of affect, I contend that unconscious, Christian affective investments are mobilized within A21’s rhetoric through the covert deployment of evangelical tropes that register with Christians’ affective desires and encourage believers to act as Christ or …

Seasonal Variation In Corticosterone, Stress Responses, And Physiology In The Northern Cardinal Cardinalis Cardinalis, Benjamin Matthew Duckworth

Master's Theses

Seasonal regulation of the adrenocortical response (e.g., ‘stress response’) appears to be ubiquitous in mid- to high-latitude vertebrates. Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are a Temperate dwelling passerine of Tropical-descent with a wide species range (tropics to Northern Temperate zones). This species encounters a wide variety of environmental conditions and strong seasonality, however corticosterone (CORT, the main adrenal stress hormone) has not been studied with regards to changes in seasonal levels. I initially analyzed samples from cardinals collected between 2007-2011 from the Lake Thoreau Environmental Research and Educational Center (Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA). The data suggested seasonal differences of CORT, with higher …

College Students’ Alcohol Use And Related Problems: What Makes Religiousness A Protective Factor?, Corey Todd Brawner

Master's Theses

Excessive alcohol use has been recognized as a critical health hazard for college students, particularly for members of social fraternities and sororities. Religiousness and Spirituality (R/S) has received substantial support as a protective factor for alcohol use across many populations. The current study utilized a series of hierarchical regression models to delineate the protective influences of six R/S dimensions on alcohol consumption, harmful drinking patterns, and alcohol-related problems, as well as their moderating effect on the association between Greek membership and alcohol outcomes in a sample of 709 undergraduates from one Christian-affiliated institution and one public university. Public religious participation …

Personality And Relational Aggression In College Students: The Role Of Social Anxiety And Rejection Sensitivity, Daniel Locke Deason

Master's Theses

Relational aggression involves the intentional infliction of harm via damaging one’s relationships or sense of belonging. Previous research suggests that relational aggression among children and early adolescents is correlated with social ostracism, poor psychological adjustment, anxiety, and depression in victims, and there is increasing evidence that many of these correlates apply to relational aggression among older adolescents and emerging adults. Efforts to identify predictors of relational aggression are underway; however, many variables which have been influential in understanding other forms of aggression have not yet been examined. The Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality is one example, as it has …

Can Dolphins Cooperate To Solve A Novel Task?, Kelley Ann Winship

Master's Theses

Bottlenose dolphins cooperate in a variety of contexts, including foraging,acquiring mates, playing, and assisting distressed conspecifics. To better understand the capacity for cooperative behaviors, animals are often given tasks that require pairs of animals to coordinate their actions in order to receive a reward. This paper reports the results of an aquatic version of one such task: cooperative rope-pulling. Three groups of captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were given an apparatus that could most easily be opened by the two animals working together. Two untrained adult males at one location were successful in opening the apparatus together, sharing …

Personality, Character Strengths, Empathy, Familiarity And The Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Jessica Shanna James

Master's Theses

The stigma associated with mental illness is pervasive and detrimental. The aim of the current study was to assess individual characteristics that may be positively and negatively associated with the stigmatization of mental illness. Two-hundred fifty-nine undergraduate students from the University of Southern Mississippi completed measures of the Big Five personality traits (i.e., Agreeableness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience), Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy), selected character strengths (i.e., Open-mindedness, Perspective, Bravery, Integrity, Kindness, Social Intelligence, Fairness, Forgiveness and Mercy, and Hope), Empathy, and Familiarity with mental illness. Participants also completed measures of stigmatizing attitudes …

Physical Disability And Suicidal Desire: An Examination Of The Constructs Of The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory Of Suicide, Lauren Rachel Khazem

Master's Theses

The primary aims of this study were to examine constructs of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS) in an understudied population. Differences in levels of IPTS variables and suicidal ideation between university students with and without physical disabilities were examined. Participants were 184 students from two Southern universities who provided answers to online-based self-report questionnaires. It was hypothesized that students with physical disabilities would endorse higher levels of all IPTS constructs relative to students without physical disabilities. It was further hypothesized that disability status would exhibit an indirect effect on suicidal ideation through perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Results indicated …

The Self-(Un)Made Mother: Jungian Archetypes In Dickens's Little Dorrit, William David Love Jr.

Master's Theses

Charles Dickens’s novel Little Dorrit (1857) depicts an abundance of surrogate mothers while simultaneously revealing an absence of biological motherhood. The primary female characters become surrogate mothers in their own ways in order to bypass the legal and physical dangers associated with biological motherhood. To do this, they embrace various alternate forms of femininity—the crone, the maiden, the woman warrior, and the seductress. These women negate themselves willingly in actions that would seem to reinforce the gender norms of their time, but their self-negation actually leads to empowerment and sustainability for themselves and for others. Furthermore, a Jungian interpretation of …

Age And Iq As Potential Moderators In The Relation Among Endopheonotypes And Expressed Behaviors In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elizabeth Clara Fair

Master's Theses

The current study examined how certain endophenotypes (i.e., local processing ability, mental flexibility, planning, and disinhibition /inhibition) are related to specific expressed behaviors (i.e., acting out behaviors, social insight deficits, social contact problems, anxious/rigid behaviors, and stereotypical behaviors) that are commonly found in children with ASD. In addition, this study examined whether these associations are modified by age or IQ. Participants consisted of 29 children (ages 7 to 16 years) with ASD and their parents. Parents completed the Children’s Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) to assess their child’s variety of expressed behaviors. The children were given the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test—Second …

Clarifying The Association Between The Subtypes Of Narcissism And Suicide Risk, Stephanie Michelle Pennings

Master's Theses

Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between narcissism and suicidality. Ambiguous results yielded by past studies may be attributed to the two distinct forms of narcissism (i.e., grandiose and vulnerable). The current study aimed to examine the association between the components of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS; Joiner, 2005; i.e., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and the acquired capability for suicide) and the two subtypes of narcissism. The potential explanatory effect of emotion dysregulation, a construct linked to the development of suicide risk, on the relationship between the forms of narcissism and the components of suicide risk …

Humor Types: Replication Using Latent Profile Analysis And Associations With Maladaptive Personality Traits, Joseph Robert Finn

Master's Theses

Martin’s (2003) Humor Styles Questionnaire measures four distinct styles of humor usage. However, examining these humor styles individually fails to account for the combination with which they are used as well as how these combinations may affect the relationship between humor and personality. The present study examined relationships of the humor styles, both individually and in combination, with a broad array of maladaptive personality traits. The incremental validity of accounting for the combinations with which the humor styles are used was examined through the use of hierarchical multiple regressions. Results demonstrated that the humor styles, both individually and in combination, …

Gradient Effects Of Reading Ability On Talker-Specific Perceptual Learning, Shayna R. Marmon

Master's Theses

Abstract

The acoustic signal of speech is a complex signal that simultaneously cues the linguistic content of a talker’s message and the identity of the talker. Traditional models of speech perception proposed that the properties of the acoustic signal that cue linguistic meaning and talker identify were distinct. However, a growing body of evidence challenges this traditional view, indicating that linguistic and talker-specific phonetic information are tightly linked in language comprehension. One of these benefits is increased intelligibility of the spoken message when listening to a familiar talker compared to an unfamiliar talker. Just as experience with a talker’s voice …

Making Contact: Towards An Understanding Of The Reach Of A Peer Delivered Health Intervention To Reduce Hiv Risk Among African Americans And Hispanics Involved With Drugs In Hartford, Connecticut, Christopher Heneghan

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Theory Of Mind Without A Language Model: Effects Of Social Experience, Education And Language Exposure, Deanna L. Gagne

Master's Theses

Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, i.e., the understanding that others’ internal states differ from one’s own, and that these states guide behavior, are multiply determined. ToM abilities underlie later social and pragmatic abilities, grossly affecting later life experiences, particularly for deaf children. However, previous studies have not clearly identified the effects of language, hearing status, or other exogenous factors, such as education or executive function abilities, on ToM development. To disentangle these, we studied three understudied populations in Nicaragua: Homesigners, who have not acquired a conventional language but have developed gestural communication systems; users of Nicaraguan Sign Language, an emerging …