Digital Commons Network^™

A World Without Roe: The Constitutional Future Of Unwanted Pregnancy, Julie C. Suk

Faculty Scholarship

With the demise of Roe v. Wade, the survival of abortion access in America will depend on new legal paths. In the same moment that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has constrained access to abortion in the United States, other constitutional democracies have moved in the opposite direction, expanding access to safe, legal, and free abortions. They have done so without reasoning from Roe’s vision of the private zone of unwanted pregnancy. The development of abortion law outside the United States provides critical insights that can inform future efforts to vindicate the constitutional rights of women facing unwanted pregnancies. …

Spanish-Speaking Caregivers’ Use Of Referential Labels With Toddlers Is A Better Predictor Of Later Vocabulary Than Their Use Of Referential Gestures, Janet Y. Bang, Manuel Bohn, Joel Ramírez, Virginia A. Marchman, Anne Fernald

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Variation in how frequently caregivers engage with their children is associated with variation in children's later language outcomes. One explanation for this link is that caregivers use both verbal behaviors, such as labels, and non-verbal behaviors, such as gestures, to help children establish reference to objects or events in the world. However, few studies have directly explored whether language outcomes are more strongly associated with referential behaviors that are expressed verbally, such as labels, or non-verbally, such as gestures, or whether both are equally predictive. Here, we observed caregivers from 42 Spanish-speaking families in the US engage with their 18-month-old …

Science-Based Recommendations For The Collection Of Eyewitness Identification Evidence, Margaret Bull Kovera, Jacqueline Katzman, Jennifer M. Jones, Melanie B. Fessinger

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

For almost 70% of the wrongfully convicted defendants who have been exonerated by new DNA evidence, one or more mistaken eyewitness identifications played a role in their wrongful convictions.¹ In recognition of the significant role that mistaken identifications play in miscarriages of justice, social scientists have spent the last 40 years studying which police practices can be improved to increase the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence, including instructions to witnesses,² selecting fillers (i.e., known innocent persons) for lineups or photo arrays who do not cause the suspect to stand out,³ and eliminating possible feedback from administrators who …

Assessing Credibility: The Impact Of A Motive To Lie And The Embellishment Of Evidence — The Canadian Approach, Wayne K. Gorman

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

In R. v. Bowers, the Alberta Court of Appeal suggested that it has been “recognized that the process of assessing credibility cannot be reduced to or confined by legal rules . . . [and] there is no fixed set of rules to use in assessing the credibility of a witness.” 2022 ABCA 149, paras. 39-40 (Can.).

Two exceptions to this general rule involve a witness having a motive to lie and the embellishment of evidence by a witness. In both instances, a witness’s credibility will general be negatively impacted. However, what if the opposite occurs? What if a trial …

Twenty-Five Years Of The Adoption And Safe Families Act, Eve M. Brank

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

The year 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of President Clinton signing into law the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). Enacted in November of 1997, ASFA was a bipartisan federal law intended to address concerns with the foster care and adoption systems. With fiscal incentives attached, states quickly adopted complementary ASFA legislation.

At its core, ASFA changed the primary objective from family reunification to the child’s health and safety. In doing so, ASFA sought to decrease the amount of time a child spent without a permanent home by limiting how long a child could spend in foster care. Referred to …

Lateral Habenula Neurocircuits Mediate The Maternal Disruptive Effect Of Maternal Stress: A Hypothesis, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Up to 20% of women experience stress-related disorders during the postpartum period; however, little is known about the specific neural circuitry by which maternal stress exerts its negative impacts on mental health and maternal caregiving behavior. Theoretically, such a circuitry should serve as an interface between the stress response system and maternal neural network, transmitting stress signals to the neural circuitry that mediates maternal behavior. In this paper, I propose that the lateral habenula (LHb) serves this interface function. Evidence shows that the LHb plays a key role in encoding stress-induced effects and in the pathophysiology of major depression and …

Your Best Estimate Is Fine. Or Is It?, Jerry Timbrook, Kristen Olson, Jolene D. Smyth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Providing an exact answer to open-ended numeric questions can be a burdensome task for respondents. Researchers often assume that adding an invitation to estimate (e.g., “Your best estimate is fine”) to these questions reduces cognitive burden, and in turn, reduces rates of undesirable response behaviors like item nonresponse, nonsubstantive answers, and answers that must be processed into a final response (e.g., qualified answers like “about 12” and ranges). Yet there is little research investigating this claim. Additionally, explicitly inviting estimation may lead respondents to round their answers, which may affect survey estimates. In this study, we investigate the effect of …

Comparing Readability Measures And Computer-Assisted Question Evaluation Tools For Self-Administered Survey Questions, Rachel Stenger, Kristen Olson, Jolene Smyth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Questionnaire designers use readability measures to ensure that questions can be understood by the target population. The most common measure is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level, but other formulas exist. This article compares six different readability measures across 150 questions in a self-administered questionnaire, finding notable variation in calculated readability across measures. Some question formats, including those that are part of a battery, require important decisions that have large effects on the estimated readability of survey items. Other question evaluation tools, such as the Question Understanding Aid (QUAID) and the Survey Quality Predictor (SQP), may identify similar problems in questions, making …

Lessons Learned From Covid-19: Provider Suggestions For Improving Service Delivery In Sexual Violence Resource Centers And Children's Advocacy Centers In Kentucky, Whitney Cassity-Caywood, Matthew Woodward, Austin Griffiths, Alecia Hatfield

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unique challenges for human service providers, especially as face-to-face services were limited by both formal and informal efforts to protect public health. Telehealth has emerged as a main strategy to ensure continuity of care. This study explored adaptations to services in child advocacy centers (CACs) and sexual violence resource centers (SVRCs) across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, particularly using telehealth. This study highlights respondents’ suggestions about improving these service delivery systems and the particular emphasis on challenges and strengths of telehealth for reaching those in rural areas.

Pathways To Preferences For Collaborative Conflict Resolution: Disputants’ Process Goals Drive Preferences, Ashley Votruba, Jared Noetzel, Abigail L. Herzfeld

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Understanding individuals’ preferences for how to resolve conflict—specifically legal disputes—has long interested researchers, particularly those considering procedural justice. This study considers the impact of relational factors that influence individuals’ preferences for dispute resolution processes for civil legal issues. Specifically, it examines the impact of self-construal and the relationship between the parties in conflict on preferences for specific features of dispute resolution processes and considers the role of underlying resolution goals as potential mediators in a parallel mediation model. Using a novel paradigm in which the outcome variables of interest focused on specific dispute resolution process features allowed the researchers to …

Is The Risk For Sexual Revictimization Cumulative? A Prospective Examination, Anna E. Jaffe, Alexandra N. Brockdorf, Terri L. Messman, Kim L. Gratz, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Sexual abuse during childhood is associated with risk for sexual assault as an adult, known as revictimization. Although multiple experiences of sexual assault in adulthood are also common, it is unclear how risk trajectories might continue to evolve in emerging adulthood, defined as ages 18 to 25. Clarifying risk trajectories is important to inform the development of targeted risk reduction interventions. To fill this gap, we examined cumulative risk for sexual assault in emerging adult women following multiple experiences of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adulthood sexual assault (ASA).

Methods: Women (n = 447; aged 18–25 years at …

Partner Support And Connection Protect Couples During Pregnancy: A Daily Diary Investigation, Shaina A. Kumar, Rebecca L. Brock, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: The objective of the current study was to examine associations between daily subjective stress and relationship satisfaction as a function of two protective factors—partner support and connection (i.e., intimacy, passion, and commitment)—among couples during pregnancy. Background: Stress brought into the intimate relationship by each partner is often associated with relational dissatisfaction and discord, referred to as stress spillover. Although much research has focused on risk for poor relational outcomes associated with partner stress, it is equally important to focus on resilience. Method: We examined this phenomenon among 154 couples navigating pregnancy. Couples attended an initial laboratory session and then …

“Many People Have No Idea”: A Qualitative Analysis Of Healthcare Barriers Among Yazidi Refugees In The Midwestern United States, Falah N. Rashoka, Megan S. Kelley, Jeong‑Kyun Choi, Marc A. Garcia, Weiwen Chai, Hazim N. Rashawka

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has shed new light on inequities in healthcare access faced by immigrant and refugee communities. To address ongoing disparities, there is an urgent need for ecological approaches to better understand the barriers that hinder and resources that facilitate access to healthcare. This study investigates barriers to healthcare system access faced by Yazidi refugees in the Midwestern United States.

Methods: Informed by the Interpretative Phenomenological Approach, three focus group meetings with a community advisory board were conducted between September 2019 and January 2020. The nine-member focus group included social workers, healthcare providers, and members of the Yazidi …

Merit Versus Maleness: How Strategic Positioning Can Mitigate External Gender Bias, Rachel Mui, Owen Parker, Varkey K. Titus Jr.

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Despite the proactive efforts of many firms to combat gender bias within their organizations, societal prejudices still disadvantage women leaders and the firms who employ them. This external gender bias shapes outside stakeholder evaluations of women leaders’ efforts in various ways, and firms need strategies to cope with this external gender bias. We examine the conditions that might alleviate this burden of external bias and what women leaders and top executives can do to leverage these conditions—from a strategic positioning perspective—that will effectively allow female leaders to differentiate their work. To do this, we synthesize and build upon evidence that …

The Effects Of Received Grandmothers’ Affection On Adult Grandchildren’S Health Behaviors Using Affection Exchange Theory, Leslie Ramos Salzar, Priyanka Khandelwal, Yvette Castillo

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Background: Affection exchange theory (AET) explains the value of received affection for overall wellbeing in family relationships. However, this study extends prior work by investigating AET in grandmother-grandchild relationships and grandchildren’s individual well-being. This study seeks to understand the relationships between adult grandchildren’s received grandmother affection and health-related behaviors such as diet, exercise, substance abuse, and sleep.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 229 university student participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze received grandmother affection and grandchildren’s health behaviors.

Results: Using cross-sectional survey methods, it was found that grandchildren’s reports of received memories and humor, and celebratory affection influenced …

Future States Of The Research Library, Claire Stewart

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

What can be said about the year 2021 that hasn’t already been said? Challenging, unprecedented, extraordinary in almost every way, 2021 even surpassed the previous annus horribilis, 2020. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to ripple humanity-wide, ceaselessly rebounding off, and cruelly amplifying, almost every kind of inequity and social challenge. A long overdue reckoning with the legacies of racism in the United States did not materialize in any truly transformative way, political discord worsened, and anti-science voices grew to dominate what should have been rational conversations about a coherent and collective response to a profound global health threat. It …

Long-Term Analysis Of A Savings Program In Elementary School, Jennifer Davidson, William Walstad

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

The prevalence of in-school savings programs (ISSPs) for children and youth is widespread, but research on their effectiveness is limited. This study investigates the long-term effects of an ISSP conducted in one U.S. elementary school. Survey data were collected on the financial behaviors of high school students, who participated in or did not participate in an ISSP while attending the same elementary school at the same time. The results from a probit analysis of data controlling for demographic variables showed that ISSP participants compared with non-participants were more likely to have a bank account in high school. They also were …

Improving Social Norms And Actions To Prevent Sexual And Intimate Partner Violence: A Pilot Study Of The Impact Of Green Dot Community On Youth, Victoria L. Banyard, Katie M. Edwards, Andrew J. Rizzo, Emily F. Rothman, Patricia Greenberg, Megan C. Kearns

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV), which often cooccur with bullying, are serious public health issues underscoring the need for primary prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a community-building SV and IPV prevention program, Green Dot Community, on adolescents’ perceptions of community social norms and their propensity to intervene as helpful actionists using two independent data sources. Green Dot Community takes place in towns and aims to influence all town members to prevent SV and IPV by addressing protective factors (i.e., collective efficacy, positive prevention social norms, and bystander helping, or actionism). …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Exacerbate The Association Between Day-To-Day Discrimination And Mental Health Symptomatology In Undergraduate Students, Emily C. Helminen, Jillian R. Scheer, Katie Edwards, Joshua C. Felver

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Background: Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and day-to-day discrimination (hereafter, “discrimination”) both contribute to mental health symptomatology in young adulthood, but how these constructs interact and whether they are associated with mental health remains unclear. This study evaluated whether the relation between discrimination in young adulthood and mental health symptomatology varied as a function of ACEs exposure.

Methods: Undergraduates (n = 251) completed self-report measures related to ACEs, discrimination, and mental health symptomatology (i.e., depression, anxiety, somatization, and psychological distress). Linear and logistic regression models were implemented to test for potential exacerbation effects of ACEs on the relation between …

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study Of Atheist Women In The United States, Dena Abbott, Elyxcus Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Using a critical, grounded theory approach, we interviewed 31 atheist-identified women to ascertain the ways in which women develop and navigate an atheist identity and how their experience is influenced by patriarchal, hegemonic Christianity in the United States using a concealable stigmatized identity framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in six core categories: (1) Embracing Atheism as Liberation, (2) Escaping Christian Patriarchy, Challenging Atheist Patriarchy, (3) Low Identity Salience Provides Protection from Anti-Atheist Discrimination, (4) Expectations to Conform to Christian Norms, (5) Disclosure Requires Thoughtfulness and Purpose, and (6) Connecting with Other Atheists is Valuable and Elusive. Although atheist women experienced sexism …

Hidden In Plain Sight: Working Class And Low-Income Atheists, Dena M. Abbott, Debra Mollen, Jessica A. Boyles, Elyxcus J. Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current study sought to qualitatively examine the role of social class in the development of atheist identity, the experience of atheism-related minority stress, and relationships between atheists. Using a critical phenomenological design, we captured the experiences of 15 working-class and the low-income U.S. American atheists and identified five themes: Early Doubts and Establishment of Atheist Values; Diverse Experiences of Antiatheist and Class-Based Stigma; Expecting Indifference, Exercising Caution; Strategies of Concealment and Disclosure; and Atheism as an Individual, Rather Than Collective, Experience. Results suggested working-class and low-income atheists engaged in strategic outness to manage risk, and their atheist identities developed …

Examining Motivators That Influenced African American And Latinx Students To Degree Completion Of A Doctoral Program, Travis L. Stokes

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide an investigation of the motivators that influence African American and Latinx students to complete a doctoral program. There are numerous studies that show data on low enrollment and retention of this population. Further, there is ample evidence of attrition, but there is a need to hear their voices share the experiences of successful doctoral graduates from this population.

The researcher posited systemic racism in education caused low enrollment and graduation rates among African American and Latinx students. Then, an interview protocol was developed to elicit responses regarding what caused the persistence to complete …

Self-Actualized Leaders’ Relationships With Dynamic Teams, Joseph Walter Pieri

Theses and Dissertations

A recent study of 831 companies around the world found that employees on average tend to spend 54% of their time working within teams (Frey et al., 2013). Today, this number is estimated to be an additional four to six percent higher (Gallup, 2020). Despite the upward trend of increased reliance on team-based structures in effort to improve productivity and boost morale, research reveals approximately two-thirds of U.S. employees are not engaged in their workplace (Gallup, 2020). More than half (51%) of workers merely go through the motions of their job, barely meeting minimum position responsibilities. However, leadership is essential …

Using A Behavioral Skills Training Model For Instructing Educators In Functional Assessment And Intervention Procedures In The Classroom Setting, Lorne Thomas Balmer

Theses and Dissertations

Educators often manage behavior through suppression rather than working to address the root cause of problematic behavior in the classroom. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 mandates the use of functional assessment for students with varying exceptionalities to ensure students are educated in the least restrictive environment. However, functional assessment is an evidence-based strategy that could be employed by all teachers to enhance classroom management practices universally. Behavioral skills training is a research-validated approach that is often used to train professionals on a number of skills.

The present study investigated the use of a behavioral skills training …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Siblings Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adrielle Benini

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to better understand the experience of having a sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has historically focused primarily on parents of individuals with ASD and their perceptions of how siblings were impacted; however, there was a lack of adequate research where information was obtained from conducting interviews with the siblings themselves.

The researcher conducted a qualitative study with 10 neurotypical siblings, ages 10 to 17, of individuals with ASD. These siblings were interviewed to explore their individual experiences and perceptions about areas in which they found and needed support. The researcher also utilized demographic …

A Study Of A Bring Your Own Device Initiative, Myriame Delva Pierre

Theses and Dissertations

The intended purpose of this applied dissertation was to examine how teachers use student-owned technology devices for learning in the classroom and to determine how the use of these devices influence teacher planning and the classroom environment. The Bring Your Own Device initiative was an effort to prepare students by allowing them to use and leverage technology devices in the classroom to advance and enhance their learning (Greer, 2013). It is an initiative that incorporates the use of handheld technology devices into schools to better motivate student engagement. The study determined that mobile devices, as a significant part of daily …

Beyond Homogenous Decision-Making Models: Role Of Brain Areas Interaction And Heterogeneity, Mohsen Rakhshan

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Most existing mechanistic models of decision making consider microcircuits within a homogenous brain area and fail to consider the distributed nature of this cognitive process. More specifically, these models do not take into account: a) how different types of information might influence choice in different stages of the process; and b) how interactions and the heterogeneity between circuits across different brain areas might be essential for the process. In this dissertation, I present a combination of experimental and modeling approaches to study distributed nature of the decision-making by examining both the distributed processing of information as well as the interaction …

Communicating Clinic Visit Information To Family Caregivers, Reed Wr Bratches

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Statement of the Problem: Information from clinic visits is critical to family caregivers, who are the family members or friends who provide at-home care for their loved ones. However, patient’s clinic visits are infrequently attended by caregivers. While methods exist to communicate information from visits to patients, little is known about the methods used to communicate with caregivers, or their effects on caregiver outcomes. I address this gap in this dissertation through three studies.

Methods: A systematic review was used synthesize the methods used to communicate information to family caregivers and their impact on caregivers. A national survey of family …

Inequality By Unnatural Selection: The Impact Of Tax Code Bias On The Racial Wealth Gap, Phyllis C. Taite

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgments, Aviators Code Initiative

02 Acknowledgements of Contributors

The following persons are gratefully acknowledged for the suggestions, editorial comment and/or other valuable assistance they provided to one or more of the family of aviation codes of conduct, translations, supporting materials, or to the over-all project. Reviewers may not concur with all positions taken. Titles and positions may not be current. The ACI does not endorse commercial products or services. Thank you all!