Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Incarcerated Parenting: How Family Relationships Can Be Beneficial, Bailey Porter

Liberal Arts Capstones

The United States maintains one of the highest incarceration rates in the entire world. The disturbing reality of these mass incarcerations is that they do not exclusively impact the offender, but the friends, family, and most importantly, the children of these incarcerated individuals. A startling number of children in the United States are separated from their biological parents through incarcerations. The effects of separation are rarely considered in legislation.

In the past few years, there has been a rise in programs designed to help maintain relationships between families and incarcerated individuals. One of the goals of these family programs is …

Project Renew Worcester, Danni Yue, Amy Zhang, Jing Han, Omid Ashrafi, Yiming Xu

School of Professional Studies

n The client for this capstone project is RENEW Worcester which is a fledgling solar power project whose main goals are to bring renewable energy in the form of solar power into local, primarily low-income communities and are committed to the mission of making the transition off of fossil fuels to clean, renewable power. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, they are a local chapter of Co-op Power which is a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative (co-op) made up of numerous different local chapters all over the New England area as well as the state of New York. The problem that we will …

Understanding A Therapist's Way Of Being: A Modified Delphi Study, Kaity Pearl Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Research has indicated that there are certain ingredients that make therapy successful. One of these ingredients may be the actual therapist providing the therapy. The concept of a person’s way of being appears in some literature, but the concept of therapist way of being has not been well developed and explored. The purpose of this study was to form a definition of therapist way of being, to gain an understanding of how way of being influences a client’s change in therapy, and to describe and ways of being that are beneficial and detrimental to a client’s journey of change.

Data …

Understanding Men's Involvement In Marital Interventions, Thomas Jack-Esplin White

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown how personality characteristics and demographics influence the likelihood of couples and individuals participating in marital interventions. However, these studies do not focus on the factors that influence men’s participation and are limited to their respective sample frames, making them difficult to generalize to a population. A nationally representative, population-level study of newlywed males may help to provide more generalizable insights regarding the factors that influence men’s participation in marital interventions. The current study had two purposes. First, this study sought to examine the personality and demographic factors that influenced the likelihood of men participating in a …

Informing Care: Mapping The Social Organization Of Families’ Information Work In An Aging In Place Climate, Nicole K. Dalmer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Within an institutional ethnography method of inquiry, this dissertation makes visible the information work that permeates the care work of families of people living with dementia who are also aging at home. An institutional ethnography privileges people’s everyday work and acknowledges that local contexts are influenced by translocal, ruling relations. To map out the social organization of family caregivers’ information work, this dissertation details four separate, yet interrelated studies. The first study comprises two sets of interviews: one with 13 family caregivers of older adults to understand their experiences of the information work they do and a second with five …

Maternal Postpartum Depression And Father Involvement Across The Transition To Parenthood, Katie Newkirk

Doctoral Dissertations

Maternal postpartum depression is a common complication of childbirth that affects the whole family. Fathers’ greater involvement in childcare can buffer children from the negative effects of mothers’ depression, and aid in mothers’ recovery, so it is important to understand under what conditions fathers become more or less involved when mothers are depressed. Prior research has supported both a compensation hypothesis, whereby fathers compensate for the effects of mothers’ depression on mothers’ parenting by being more involved in parenting, and a spillover hypothesis, whereby mothers’ negative emotionality causes fathers to pull back from family life and be less involved in …

The Military And Incarceration: Hidden Mechanisms Of Racial Inequality In The U.S. Labor Market, 1980-2010., Joohee Han

Doctoral Dissertations

U.S. incarceration since the 1980s is increasingly concentrated among black men, reinforcing their racial inequality in the labor market. However, less attention has been paid to the fact that the military, which provided employment, income and educational opportunities to black men disproportionately, has downsized at the same time during this same period. Mass incarceration has rarely been studied in relation to military downsizing. I seek to understand how prison and the military, two crucial but often-neglected labor market institutions, have jointly influenced racial inequality in the labor market over time along with other major institutions such as higher education and …

Life Course Effects Of Polyvictimization: Associations With Depression And Crime, Richard Carbonaro

Masters Theses

Exposure to multiple forms of victimization has been shown to have increasingly negative outcomes, but their unique trajectory-setting effects have been largely unexplored. Using a life course approach, this paper examines the trajectory-setting effects of childhood polyvictimization into early adulthood. I use a nationwide sample including 3,652 respondents after cleaning and preparation. Seemingly unrelated regressions were used to predict depression and criminal behavior in childhood and adulthood. Results suggest childhood polyvictimization sets children on a negative trajectory which grows increasingly worse through the life course. Researchers and interventions should take these trajectory-setting effects into account when attempting to aid polyvictims.

“Your Biological Clock Is Ticking”: Examining Stigma Of Childless Men And Women, Kayla Tamas

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Prior research reveals that all childless individuals are negatively stigmatized, but voluntary and involuntary childless individuals are stigmatized to differing degrees. There is a little research investigating the differences in stigma associated with childless men and women. The current study examines the differences in stigma for voluntary and involuntary childless men and women by using a series of vignettes and having participants rate the childless individuals on fourteen general characteristics. Participants were recruited from psychology and sociology courses at the University of South Carolina Aiken as well as Psychological Research on the Net through Hanover College. It was hypothesized that …

Chronic Migraines And Couples: A Grounded Theory Of Adaptation To Chronic Migraines For Patients And Their Partners, Douglas P. Mcphee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was completed to better understand and treat couples wherein one partner suffers from chronic migraines. I interviewed eight couples about their experiences in dealing with migraines as a patient, as a partner, and together. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by a team of seven researchers. We developed a theory that can be used to understand how patients and their partners adapt to chronic migraines. The theory was grounded in the experiences of the patients and partners who were interviewed. We found that patients and partners alike dealt with burdens and costs associated with chronic migraines. Coping, healthcare, …

Socioeconomic Status Influence On Mothers’ Interactions With Infants: Contributions To Early Infant Development, Krista L. Gurko

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Children from different socioeconomic backgrounds often have different long-term outcomes in terms of school, language, and emotional wellbeing. At this time, no reasons for these differences have been agreed upon by experts across disciplines. Parents with different personal characteristics and life situations use different types and amounts of interactions with their infants. The social interactions infants experience during their first year of life provide the start of their developmental path in the areas of language and executive control while also guiding their expectations for interactions with people around them.

This study used previously unpublished data from a sample of 79 …

The Influence Of Family Cohesion And Relationship Maintenance Strategies On Stress During Students’ Adjustment To College, Claire C. Strutzenberg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of family cohesion and relationship maintenance behaviors on students’ experience of stress during the adjustment to college. One hundred and ninety-eight first-year college students completed measures assessing family cohesion; relationship maintenance behaviors expressed within their family systems; and academic, social, and personal-emotional stress. Results indicated that family cohesion is significantly and negatively related to students’ experiences of academic, social, and personal-emotional stress. Further, hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling provided insight to the additive influence of relationship maintenance behaviors on student stress. Analyses provided limited support for a mediation model, however, results demonstrated the importance …

Mothering In A Era Of Choice: Race And Gender In Schooling Decisions Of Homeschool And Public School Families, Mahala Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation draws from in-depth interview data to compare the schooling choices of 95 mothers living in United States. The sample is split between white and black mothers. Within each racial group, one set teaches their children at home and a second set sends them to public schools. School choice, which places the responsibility of selection on individual families, is central to current U.S. education debates. Yet homeschooling, an option that transfers labor from schools to home, is often overlooked in these debates. To date no research has compared homeschoolers to other schooling families in the same region, or examined …

Associations Among Different Types Of Prosocial Behavior Toward Friends, Friendship Quality, And Mental Health Outcomes During Adolescence, Daye Son

Theses and Dissertations

The current study used a multidimensional approach to prosocial behavior by a) exploring various types of adolescent prosocial behavior toward friends (physical helping, sharing, defending, emotional support, including) using both qualitative and quantitative data, and b) examining longitudinal associations among prosocial behavior toward friends, friendship quality, and mental health (anxiety, life satisfaction, depression). The data were taken from Waves 8, 9, and 10 of the Flourishing Families Project. Participants at Wave 8 consisted of 470 adolescents (M age = 18.4 years, SD = 1.04, 49% male, 32% high school students, 33% single-parent families) from the United States. Results revealed that …

From Homelessness Toward Self-Sufficiency: A Longitudinal Study Of Families, Elsie S. Lobo

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Family homelessness is a serious concern in the United States. Recognizing this, increased efforts have been put into housing families through various rapid rehousing initiatives. Little is known, however, about effectively supporting families to transition from these temporary housing programs to sustainable self-sufficiency (Cunningham, Gillespie, & Anderson, 2015). This dissertation is a community-engaged study that examines the needs and experiences of families over time in the No Child Left Unsheltered (NCLU) program, operated by the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino (HACSB). It uses a mixed-methods, longitudinal design to capture the experiences and needs of families over a …

A Comparison Of Qualitative And Quantitative White Matter Methods In Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury, Kacie Larae Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic resonance imaging is used to assess white matter (WM) abnormalities including total WM volumes and WM hyperintensities (WMHs). Comparisons between several qualitative and quantitative methods to assess WM that are used in research and clinical settings are lacking in pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study 1) WM methods including Scheltens ratings, manual tracings, NeuroQuant®, and FreeSurfer; (2) compared total WM volumes and WMHs to assess potentially similar reporting of WM integrity; and (3) assessed the relationship between cognitive functions (intelligence, attention, processing speed, and language) and WM in pediatric TBI.Sixty participants (65% male) between ages 8-13 years old, …

African Americans Navigating Through Relationships Towards Marriage: A Grounded Theory Study, Moosgar Yrveens Borieux

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore if and how early parent-participant relationships affect subsequent intimate relationships among African American couples. Given the clear gap between African Americans’ attitudes about marriage and the data that show them to be the least likely to be married among other racial or ethnic groups in the United States of America, a unique conceptualization [Life Course Developmental framework, Object Relations theory, Symbolic Interactionism perspective] was used to explore the role that early key figure-child social interactions potentially have in influencing young African Americans interactions with their significant others. To carry out the research …

Gendered Reproductive Negotiation And Family Formation: Latino/A Parents And Voluntarily Childless Couples In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, Jessica Lott

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation explores tensions between the empirical reality that Latino/a birth rates have been slowing in the United States since the Great Recession in 2007 and American discourse that presumes Latinos/as are a fairly homogenous group with “excessively” high fertility rates. This study is an intervention in the literature on Latino/a reproduction that assumes large family size as well as the literature on voluntarily childless couples, who are generally assumed to be Anglo in the American context. I explore these tensions with the case study of middle-class heterosexual Latino/a couples in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. I compare voluntarily childless Latinos/as with …

From Habits To Habitus: Chinese Elites Attempt To Create An Aristocratic Class Along The British Model, Karina Salomatina

Master's Projects and Capstones

Lately, new trends have appeared in the spending habits of Chinese elites, which include money spent on etiquette classes, butler service, British afternoon tea, debutante balls, education in boarding schools, and immigration to Britain. These new consumption patterns of Chinese elites signify their desire and attempt to adopt the British aristocratic lifestyle portrayed in popular TV series, classical novels and mass media. This study examines anthropological research, documentary videos, news reports and interviews with Chinese elites and applies Bourdieu’s theory of habitus as the main analytical tool in order to explain this phenomenon. Considering that forty years ago all Chinese …

Self-Employment In Later Life: Implications For Financial, Physical, And Mental Well-Being, Cal Halvorsen

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More than one in five working Americans aged 50 and older are self-employed, yet scholarship that examines the relationships between self-employment and personal health and financial well-being is limited. Using data from six biennial waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally-representative panel study of Americans past 50 years of age, this quasi-experimental dissertation documents the characteristics of self-employed older adults in comparison to wage-and-salary workers, as well as compares self-employed and wage-and-salary workers in later life on a set of financial well-being and personal health outcomes. This study incorporates inverse probability of treatment weighting (also referred to as …

“Taking The Power Away”: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Intimate Partner Violence, Social Support, And Survivorship, Darrian Pickett

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is an autoethnographic exploration of my experience with same-sex intimate partner violence, the development of the abusive relationship itself, my journey to escape the abusive relationship, and the comfort that I found among my social networks after the abusive relationship ended. First, I provide a brief overview of intimate partner violence. Second, I describe autoethnographic methodology and my rationale for using narrative inquiry as a way to make sense of my experiences and to offer a concrete portrait into the lived experience of interpersonal violence and survivorship. In the narratives, I describe my experiences as a pastor’s kid, …

Life Can Change In The Blink Of An Eye Capstone, Christopher Rutigliano, Jillian Elalaoui, Kristin Humphrey, Phillip Gates, Mohamed Ndjikam, Highness Meena, Adam Menard, Spencer Pickney

School of Professional Studies

Texting and driving is one of the most widespread and uncontrollable of epidemics that have arose to prominence in the 21st century. Texting and driving is now a global issue, that has left nations across the road scrambling to implement new laws and preventative measures to stunt the increasing rates of accidents and fatalities caused by texting and driving. The severity of the issue has lead to a multitude of different entities ranging from domestic and foreign governments, cell phone and car manufacturers, cell phone carriers, and insurance agencies to seek new methods to prevent texting and driving. Determining the …

A Guide For Hiring Mature Employees At Ascentria, Binghe Change, Calleigh Leach, Elsie Lu, Hongquiang You, Mengge Wang, Nina Mariotti

School of Professional Studies

This paper will explore existing literature on aspects of an intergenerational workplace in a nonprofit organization and provide recommendations for recruiting and retaining older employees for a human service organization, Ascentria Care Alliance, in Worcester, MA. The paper will review research on trends in the nonprofit industry, a comprehensive breakdown of generational workplace values, reasons people are returning to work and effective marketing strategies that appeal to older generations. Marketing strategies specifically will explore best practices for website design, social media usage, and job descriptions. Additionally, this paper will research case studies of nonprofits with successful intergenerational workforce initiatives, as …

Leicester Research A Study In Effective Technology In Education, Jimeshkumar Chauhan, Anna Lakomy, Li Liu, Christina Mccarthy, Scott Mccarthy, Roman Pena, Emilie Smiley

School of Professional Studies

The LPS Research Team has been tasked with researching and recommending a technology plan for a new school that Leicester Public Schools is planning to build. In this paper, we present an overview of the our goals and our client’s goals, an introduction to industry trends, and discuss our findings based on research conducted via interviews with schools that have undergone similar projects. We also outline the conclusions drawn from this research and our analysis of the data we uncovered, and make specific recommendations for technology to be utilized in Leicester’s new school. Finally, we present a 3-part framework that …

My Choice Greens, Alina Zulfikarova, Amelia Mohr, Hesi Zhang, Ruiqi Huang, Sean Tatar, Yuhao Zhou, Zijun Zhou

School of Professional Studies

My Choice Programs for Independent Living is a nonprofit in Worcester, Massachusetts that helps individuals with special needs. In 2016, My Choice Programs added a branch to their organization called My Choice Greens. My Choice Greens is committed to growing fresh produce in their hydroponic farm. The profit generated from selling their vegetables is put back into direct programming for My Choice Programs. My Choice Greens is the first hydroponic farm in Worcester, but unfortunately not many people are aware of their program. Also, since they are a small nonprofit, they do not have sufficient funding or resources to market …

Optical Heritage Museum: An Interactive Touch, Connor Guerin, Ankur Halwai, Jinzhao Liu, Qi Liu, Yangjing Wang, Yashaswini Bharti

School of Professional Studies

Optical Heritage Museum (OHM) was established in 1983 with the aim to preserve, promote and display historical artifacts of the optics industry and educate all of its vital role optics has played in societal development. Over the years, the museum has grown in its physical space along with exhibit development to engage audiences in innovative, effective methods. Clark University’s School of Professional Studies department and curator of Optical Heritage Museum, Mr. Whitney’s Whitney, have establish a collaboration that has spanned over two semesters with the goal to support and aid in improving OHM. Our capstone group was assigned the task …

Leicester Public Schools Information And Data Portal: Research And Recommendations, Yue Cen, Natalie Bonetti, Rashida Buchanan, Sathark Jain, Yuwei Wong

School of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project is to develop a strategy for the creation of a multifaceted portal to help with the organization and dissemination of information about the Leicester public school district. The functionality of this portal is to provide comparative financial, demographic, and academic data to other relative school districts in the area, both for the parents’ and for the city’s reference. It will be an examination into the best practices for creating a portal, both technological and aesthetic recommendations, as well as research into the value the publication of this data would provide for the parents of current …

Water In Worcester A Campaign For Public Fluoridation, Ryan Early, Xiao Gu, Yajing Huang, Lauren Meininger, Emma Phillips, Yao Su

School of Professional Studies

Water in Worcester: A Campaign for Public Fluoridation arose as a project from our sponsors, Chris Philbin, Vice President of Government Relations at UMass Memorial Health Care, and Joe O’Brien, former Worcester Mayor, Executive Director of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, and Clark University Adjunct Professor. Our goal has been to produce resources that will support the fight for fluoridation in the City of Worcester. Fluoridation has failed to pass in Worcester on four separate occasions, but Mr. Philbin and Mr. O’Brien believe that the time has come to try again.

In order to fluoridate Worcester’s water supply, the municipal …

Epoca House: The Implementation Strategy, Courtney Thomas, Yaffa Fain, Shuxiao Teng, Mingjun Xie

School of Professional Studies

This capstone report provides a written strategic implementation plan for EPOCA House. EPOCA, Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, is a non-profit dedicated to creating better resources and opportunities for prisoners and ex-prisoners in Worcester. The organization’s most recent initiative, EPOCA House, is a transitional facility that will provide reentry services and temporary housing to ex-offenders in and around the Worcester area. Recently, Massachusetts passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill that will dramatically reduce the number of people being incarcerated; however, little attention is focused on what will happen to individuals after they leave prison. At the same …

Canine For Disabled Kids Awareness Campaign Research And Implementation Plan, Jiamin Gu, Kendall Harcourt, Chang Liu, Kiamu Liu, Jemmie Tejada

School of Professional Studies

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) service animals are: “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities” ( ADA, 2015). On the other hand, emotional support animals are: “dogs that provide comfort and support in forms of affection and companionship for an individual suffering from various mental and emotional conditions.” In addition, an emotional support animal is not required to perform any specific tasks for a disability like service dogs are (Ibid).

The ADA limits the number of questions that can be asked to protect the privacy of utilizers. In fact, …