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Perceived Enablers And Barriers To The Implementation Of Pbis In A Rural Elementary School, Katherine Mechele Woodall

Theses and Dissertations

Embedded within the 1990 amendment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was a mandate stipulating all school systems incorporate some form of PBIS. Elected officials thought it was necessary to implement positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS) into school systems behavior plans due to the ever-increasing number of students with mild to severe behavioral issues. Behavior issues include truancy, verbal and physical abuse of teachers and peers, and depression, to name a few. These behavior issues negatively impact a student’s ability to make satisfactory academic progress as well as negatively impacting the learning of their peers.

Yet, despite …

Intimate Partner Violence And Revictimization: Factors Involved In Occurrence And Severity, Dunia Sarwary

Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a growing, complex, and silent social problem across the United States. Victims of IPV are known to be at a greater risk for revictimization. However, the relationship between revictimization and IPV has not been extensively studied. There have been few attempts to synthesize, compare, and contrast findings regarding the factors involved in IPV victimization and revictimization. This study utilized data from existing research involving 250 females seeking civil legal services from Iowa Legal Aid. The archival data explored the long-term influence of civil legal services on female victims of IPV. This study identified the relationships …

Gangs, Victim/Offender Overlap And Informal Settlements: Their Role In The Portmore Homicide Crisis, Jason Andre Mckay

Theses and Dissertations

Escalating murder rates have been a pervasive reality in Jamaican inner cities and slums since the early 1970’s; however the post independence housing development of Portmore was never envisaged to be classified as an inner city community, nor slum. This qualitative study seeks to explain the uncharacteristic cycle of murder that has afflicted this community by employing the approach of examining the victims of homicide, with an aim to determining the possible reasons that could explain the consistently high rate of murders that have been committed.

During the period January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2018, 381 souls were lost …

Job Stress Effects On Job Satisfaction And Attrition In 9-1-1 Call Centers, Damarys Jaile Gilligan

Theses and Dissertations

In 9-1-1 call centers across the nation the personnel shortage has become a crisis. The nature of the job of a 9-1-1 telecommunicator is stressful due to the high volume of emergency calls. This applied dissertation was designed to learn if there is a relationship between job stress, burnout levels, and job satisfaction in 9-1-1 telecommunicators. This was a nonexperimental quantitative survey research with a correlational approach. The population was a nonprobability convenience sample recruited through the Survey Monkey Audience platform. Data was collected at one point in time. A total of 37 participants took part in the study. All …

Status Of Women’S Leadership In The Instructional Technology Field, 2014-2018, Kerrian A. Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the leadership status of women in the instructional technology field during the period 2014-2018. Five areas of leadership were examined (a) faculty rank in instructional technology programs, (b) positions on editorial boards of leading instructional technology journals, (c) publications in leading instructional technology journals, (d) presentations at leading conferences in the instructional technology field, and (e) leadership of four leading professional organizations in the field.

The study utilized a quantitative content analysis research method. A code sheet was developed for the five areas of leadership. Research Question 1: What was the leadership …

Capitalizing On Healthy Lawyers: The Business Case For Law Firms To Promote And Prioritize Lawyer Well-Being, Jarrod F. Reich

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is the first to make the business case for firms to promote and prioritize lawyer well-being. For more than three decades, quantitative research has demonstrated that lawyers suffer from depression, anxiety, and addiction far in excess of the general population. Since that time, there have been many calls within and outside the profession for changes to be made to promote, prioritize, and improve lawyer well-being, particularly because many aspects of the current law school and law firm models exacerbate mental health and addiction issues, as well as overall law student and lawyer distress. These calls for change, made …

The Invisible Prison: Pathways And Prevention, Margaret F. Brinig, Marsha Garrison

Journal Articles

In this paper, we propose a new strategy for curbing crime and delinquency and demonstrate the inadequacy of current reform efforts. Our analysis relies on our own, original research involving a large, multi-generational sample of unmarried fathers from a rust-belt region of the United States as well as the conclusions of earlier researchers.

Our own research data are unusual in that they are holistic and multigenerational: The Court-based record system we utilized for data collection provided detailed information on child maltreatment, juvenile status and delinquency charges, child support, parenting time, orders of protection, and residential mobility for focal children (the …

Examining Boundary Conditions To The Attitude Consistency Effect, Dylan Blaum

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research on the impact of attitudes on argument processing has found that attitudes and beliefs can impact evaluation and processing, but has not deeply explored boundary conditions to this attitude consistency effect. This dissertation investigates three types of boundary conditions to this effect: whether the quality of the argument matters (argument quality), whether the individual’s strength of that attitude matters (attitude strength), and whether the evaluative nature of the task matters (task).

In Experiment 1, I found some support for argument quality as a boundary condition to the attitude consistency effect. Attitude consistent arguments were rated as higher quality/stronger than …

Identifying Barriers Faced By Adult Learners In General Educational Development Programs, Matthew Patrick Beasland

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

It is estimated that 70% of all newly created jobs in Illinois by 2020 will need education beyond a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) diploma. In Illinois, 12% of adults 25 and older do not have a high school diploma or its equivalent. Individuals without a high school diploma or GED are twice as likely to be unemployed and if they are employed are more likely to be in a low-wage position. On average an individual without a high school diploma or GED will earn roughly $10,000 less annually. Given the increasing need for a high school …

The Fog Of Blackacre: Exploring Depression, Anxiety, And Stress Of The American Law Student, Amanda Carey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress among first-year law students and the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Surveys using the DASS–21, DREEM questionnaire, Satisfaction with Life scale and qualitative questions were administered to first-year law students at 44 randomly selected law schools across the United States. In the largest modern mental health study to date, responses totaled 5% of the first-year law student population. Results showed no significant relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress of first-year law students and the U.S. News and World Report rankings. Substantial depression, anxiety, and stress of first-year law students …

The Influence Of Student Discipline Practices On Students, School Climate And Culture, Matthew J. Clark

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The enactment of Senate Bill 100/Public Act 099-0456 (SB100) in 2016 compelled school districts throughout Illinois to evaluate student discipline policies. This dissertation examines the impact SB100 had on middle and high schools throughout the state and within a large suburban K-12 school district. This dissertation is organized into three separate papers. Paper 1 provides a historical context for disciplinary practices used for students in public schools both in Illinois and throughout the country and explores new discipline practices that have emerged since the passing of SB100. Paper 2 examines the implementation of SB100 through an SDT framework to investigate …

Investigating Achievement And Mental Health Through The Dual-Factor Model, Kelly Clark

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

School professionals are charged not only with advancing students’ content knowledge, but also with developing their social and emotional skills; however, adolescence is a period in which many individuals experience declines in academic performance and mental health. The current study investigated associations between grit, academic grit, and growth mindset with academic achievement, subjective well-being, and psychopathology. Second, this study examined the demographic makeup of mental health groups posited by the dual-factor model of mental health, as well as group-level differences in grit, academic grit, growth mindset, and academic achievement across mental health groups identified through latent profile analysis. Adolescents (N …

On The Verge Of Violence: How Bar Staff Manage Trouble Customers, Anthony Paul Cusumano

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

How do bouncers and bartenders utilize interpersonal management scripts to handle routinely encountered trouble customers? My study addresses this question and shows how bar staff remedy trouble behaviors without use of force, as well as demonstrates that bartenders play just as pivotal a role in managing those behaviors as bouncers. The data from in-depth interviewing was analyzed through a framework of trouble sociology and the dramaturgical perspective. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded into thematic categories based on frameworks and emergent themes. From the data, bar staff identified three major types of trouble customers (entitled, inebriated, creepy) and described …

Harsh Parenting And Familism: Examining The Influence Of Cultural Schemata On Parental Reactions To Child Transgressions, America Lizbeth Davila

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Milner’s (1993, 2000) Social Information Processing (SIP) model of child physical abuse proposes that pre-existing schemata (e.g., belief structures, scripts) influence how parents process information during parent-child interactions, which in turn influences parental responses (e.g., corporal punishment). The purpose of the present study was to examine attitudinal familism (beliefs about unity and commitment/duty towards family) as a pre-existing schema that influences parents’ interpretations, attributions, affective, and behavioral responses to child transgressions. Parents (N = 106) were asked to read vignettes describing child transgressions and report their anticipated cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses. In addition, parents reported on their perceived social …

Writing And Well-Being: Comparing Varied Expressive Writing Tasks On Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms And Life Satisfaction, Zena Dadouch

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Frontline treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been extensively researched, and there is significant support for their efficacy in decreasing PTSD symptomatology and improving life quality. However, the treatments seem to be burdensome, as a significant minority does not improve or drops out before the continuation of treatment. This pattern could be explained partially by the time commitment, cost of and access to treatment, and the resulting emotional overload. Therefore, it is useful to explore other avenues that could lead to improvements in symptomatology and well-being and that are more accessible and manageable. One possible direction is expressive writing …

The Roles Of Rumination And Social Support In Victimization And Depression, Nicole Dorio

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Unfortunately, bullying is a common phenomenon many adolescent students experience during middle school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Given the negative outcomes often associated with experiencing victimization, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in these associations as well as potential protective factors (Nakamoto & Schwartz, 2010). Using 89 students in grades 5 through 8, the current study focused on the negative outcome of depression and it explored rumination as a mediator in this association. Additionally, the roles of gender and social support (from parents, teachers, and close friends) were explored within this mediation model as moderators. …

Experiences Of Southeast Asians At A Community College In The Midwest, Emmanuel Canlas Esperanza Jr.

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explored what contributed to Southeast Asian students’ persistence in an urban community college in the Midwest. A qualitative case study was used to reveal how Southeast Asian students perceived personal and educational experiences and how those experiences created an impact on their persistence. This project addressed the lack of research on Southeast Asians and their challenges attaining academic success in higher education. This study is critical, as there is a lack of research on Southeast Asian students’ experiences within higher education institutions, particularly within community college settings. The majority of research has focused on Asian American or international …

A Comparison Of Bdsm Sadism And Everyday Sadism In Multiple Adult Populations, Jennifer Erickson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research has begun to investigate subclinical levels of sadism including “everyday sadism:” an enjoyment of cruelty in normal, everyday situations. Thus far, subclinical sadism has been conceptualized as inherently antisocial, as with Internet trolls. I examined a potentially prosocial manifestation of sadism: self-identified sadists in the BDSM community who cause pain only to consenting partners. 532 BDSM practitioners and nonpractitioners completed measures of everyday sadism with consent explicit, nonconsent explicit, or consent ambiguous, and known correlates of everyday sadism (empathy, HEXACO traits, and Dark Triad traits). Consistent with hypotheses, the general adult sample demonstrated negative correlations between everyday sadism and …

From Mcinnis To Adequacy: The Relationship Between School Funding Litigation And Illinois K-12 Public Education Funding Policy, Joel Filas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Illinois K-12 public school funding has long been characterized by large inter-district disparities in per-pupil expenditures. A primary reason for this characterization was the Illinois legislature’s heavy reliance on local property tax within the various school funding formulas historically used to determine school revenues. The heavy reliance on local property taxes as the primary source of funding for Illinois schools has contributed to one of the largest funding gaps between the state’s highest and lowest property wealth school districts in the United States. The heavy reliance on local property taxes has led to low property wealth school districts receiving a …

The Emotions Of Science: Using Social Media To Gauge Public Emotions Toward Research Topics, Cole C. Freeman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Online and in the real world, communities are bonded together by emotional consensus around core issues. Emotional responses to scientific findings often play a pivotal role in these core issues. When there is too much diversity of opinion on topics of science, emotions flare up and give rise to conflict. This conflict threatens positive outcomes for research. Emotions have the power to shape how people process new information. They can color the public's understanding of science, motivate policy positions, even change lives. And yet little work has been done to evaluate the public's emotional response to science using quantitative methods. …

Vulnerability, Trauma, And Testimony In American Women’S Literature: A Long History, Jennifer L. Fife

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the effects of vulnerability and trauma in American women’s literature across the intersections of genre, race, and time. In this dissertation I have applied a feminist long history approach to examine women’s literature from the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries together inspired by Mary Beard’s theory that compartmentalizing women’s history ignores long-range patterns and contributions. I have assembled the beginnings of a canon of women’s trauma literature that allows women writers to form a multi-century discourse community wherein trauma and recovery may occur. This analysis applies twentieth century medical research about trauma and recovery, particularly that of Judith …

The Influence Of The Type Of Supernatural And Paranormal Media On The Belief In The Various Forms Of Supernatural And Paranormal Phenomena, Mellissa Halsey

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis compares the consumption of the three different types of media: reality, live action fictional, and animated fictional, and the belief in the different types of supernatural and paranormal belief. The various phenomena addressed in this thesis were angels, demons, ghosts, psychics, aliens/UFOS, zombies, and Bigfoot. Models were created to test the belief level of each specific phenomena type against each of the three types of media, if enough media examples existed of each phenomena type. This type of analysis was used so that each media could be considered separately and then compared to each other. The hypotheses were …

In The Know Or Out Of The Loop: Examining The Impact Of (Not) Knowing High Potential Designation, Elizabeth A. Hanrahan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The cultivation and development of high potential employees has been a main focus of most talent management sectors of organizations, regardless of field or context. While practitioners have been moving in this space for quite a while, academicians are only recently starting to conduct investigations on high potential employees. There are many critical aspects of best in class high potential programs – the accurate identification of high potential employees being one of the first pivotal steps.

High potential identification can be tricky for several reasons: the very definition of potential is oftentimes unclear, traditional selection decisions made for high potential …

Temporal Contiguity And Verbal Redundancy In Online Instruction: Examining Boundary Conditions For Multimedia Learning, Hal Hinderliter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning has enjoyed a prominent role in guiding the development of online instruction, but recent research has proposed boundary conditions for some of its key principles. Moreno and Mayer advanced the possibility of a reverse redundancy effect when narration and fully redundant on-screen text are presented in a temporally contiguous manner. The current study investigated the interaction and main effects of temporal contiguity and verbal redundancy by randomly assigning university students to one of four narrated text-only online lectures. Existing knowledge of the topic of instruction, information literacy, was assessed using a 15-question selected-response instrument …

Liberalism And The Problem Of Compassion In Rousseau, Smith, And Tocqueville, Lewis Hoss

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Liberal democracy has historically owed its attractiveness to the promise of a more compassionate society structured around pluralistic and tolerant principles. Yet recent events in western democracies seem to indicate a lack of compassionate social bonds. Why has a politics of compassion failed to materialize and what must be done to make good on the original promise of liberal democracy? To answer these questions, I provide a historically and theoretically grounded account of compassion as a principle of liberalism, with special attention to the political thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, and Alexis de Tocqueville. In particular, I seek to …

Perceived Dissimilarity And Meeting Interpersonal Engagement: A Within-Person Investigation, Ruth Aniekan Imose

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

I tested a new model of perceived dissimilarity on meeting interpersonal engagement drawing from models of diversity and emotional labor and conceptualizations of interpersonal engagement in the literature. In doing so, this investigation merged the burgeoning meeting science field with more recent focuses and methods from the emotional labor literature to advance our understanding of how diversity impacts the individual experience of dissimilarity in the workplace. Furthering the notion of dynamism in diversity’s effects, the current study investigated meetings as a context that may affect shifts in one’s perception of dissimilarity due to variable attendee composition.

The perception of dissimilarity …

S.I.S. (Suffering In Silence): The Influence Of Educational Attainment On Black Women’S Health, Quiana Chakeena Jones

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, narrative inquiry study was to explore the influence of educational attainment on Black women’s perceptions of their health. Empirical research indicates the causes of stress and other health concerns pertaining to Black women are often rooted in racism and discrimination. Within the literature, the barriers that many African American women face within the educational system on all levels are discussed. However, there are few studies that have specifically researched the connection between educational attainment regarding receiving bachelorette degrees or higher and how or if that has an influence on Black women’s health. As such, the …

Depression And Anxiety In A Female Adolescent Population With Sources Of Social Support Latent Profiles, Kathleen Kelly

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Social support is associated with various outcomes such as depression and anxiety. Less work has investigated how support received from various sources cumulatively is associated with internalizing symptoms. Research suggests that above other sources, parents and peers are the most strongly associated with internalizing outcomes. Looking at female adolescents specifically, the current study explored 1) what patterns of social support across sources emerge in a female adolescent sample, and 2) how do depressive and anxiety symptoms vary based on those patterns of social support? The study utilized Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) on data collected from a female high school sample …

Relative Deprivation And Xenophobia: Patterns Of Anti-Vietnamese Radicalism Among Cambodia's Opposition Parties From 1993 - Present, Ratanak Khun

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Anti-Vietnamese sentiment has been the most highly displayed rhetoric by generations of Cambodian politicians. In contemporary Cambodia, the opposition parties have actively engaged in tirades aimed at the Vietnamese and the ruling CPP which came to power with Vietnamese military support in 1979. How are we to explain the hatred against the Vietnamese in Cambodia? From the examination of the activities of the BLDP, the royalist FUNCINPEC, and the CNRP, we conclude that relative deprivation of a role of power on the political stage emerges as a potential factor that explains why members of Cambodian opposition parties have taken a …

Remodeled Classrooms: Experiential Learning And Its Impact, Mindy Kinnaman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examined how faculty learn how to host and facilitate experiential learning activities for their classes and how the faculty are impacted by the work. Findings based upon nine semi-structured interviews indicated that fewer than half of participants had been formally trained to host experiential learning activities and some received no training at all. Findings also indicated that faculty experienced several personal benefits to hosting experiential learning activities, as did their students. Recommendations that emerged from this project include training programs for faculty, mentoring programs, and funding of experiential learning programs.