Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

9th Gsep Research Symposium - 2025

GSEP Research Symposium

The Ninth Annual GSEP Research Symposium, themed "Building Bridges to Elevate Humanity: Innovations and Insights in Education and Psychology", was hosted by the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) on June 19–20, 2025, at the historic Château d’Hauteville in Switzerland and virtually via Zoom.

This hybrid symposium convened a vibrant global community of students, alumni, faculty, and scholars to share research that addresses real-world challenges, advances scholarly inquiry, and builds pathways for inclusive collaboration and leadership. Spanning a wide array of topics—from artificial intelligence and mental health to trauma-informed practices, educational equity, social justice, and cross-cultural leadership—the …

Community-Based Food Program Limits In Reducing Older Adult Food Insecurity, Madonna Harrington Meyer, Colleen M. Heflin

Population Health Research Brief Series

Older adults who are grappling with food insecurity may enhance their food supply through community-based programs that provide free and subsidized food. This complicated system, categorized by group meal programs, home-delivered meals, and food provided to be eaten off-site, is complex, expensive, and may be difficult for older adults to use. Based on the book, Food for Thought: Understanding Older Adults Food Insecurity, this brief describes three key limits of community-based food programs for older adults. First, the quantity and quality of community-based food programs vary markedly by where one lives. Second, the food may be of poor nutritional …

Everyday Norms Have Become More Permissive Over Time And Vary Across Cultures, Kimmo Eriksson, Pontus Strimling, Irina Vartanova, Brent Simpson, Minna Persson, Khalid Ahmed Abdi, Neta Ad, Alisher Aldashev, Habib Mohammad Ali, Maurizio Alì, Khatai Aliyev, Yasser M. Alrefaee, Alberth Estuardo Alvarado Ortiz, Per A. Andersson, Giulia Andrighetto, Gizem Arikan, John Jamir Aruta, Christian Lutete Ayikwa, Jonatan Baños-Chaparro, Davide Barrera, Justina Barsyte, Birzhan Batkeyev, Azma Batool, Elizaveta Berezina, Stéphanie Ngandu Bimina, Marie Björnstjerna, Sheyla Blumen

Faculty Publications

Every social situation that people encounter in their daily lives comes with a set of unwritten rules about what behavior is considered appropriate or inappropriate. These everyday norms can vary across societies: some societies may have more permissive norms in general or for certain behaviors, or for certain behaviors in specific situations. In a preregistered survey of 25,422 participants across 90 societies, we map societal differences in 150 everyday norms and show that they can be explained by how societies prioritize individualizing moral foundations such as care and liberty versus binding moral foundations such as purity. Specifically, societies with more …

Nevada's Healthcare And Education Workforce Pipelines, David Damore, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Policy Briefs and Reports

With ongoing workforce shortages in K-12 education, healthcare, and mental and behavioral health—occupations central to the HEAL (health, education, administration, and literacy) economy—this brief utilizes the Nevada P-20 to Workforce Research Data System (NPWR) and data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to explore the current and projected landscape for these workforces in Nevada. Examining the demographic characteristics of those participating in focused career and technical education training and those earning relevant postsecondary credentials illuminates gender disparities in Nevada’s healthcare and education workforce pipelines. After reviewing the current state of these workforces and assessing the available NPWR data, we …

The Role Of Higher Education Attainment In Mitigating Police Misconduct, Marty Allen Hatfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Police misconduct continues to undermine public trust and strain community–law enforcement relationships in the United States. The potential role of higher education in reducing misconduct among officers remains underexamined. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine whether higher educational attainment is associated with reduced rates of documented misconduct in a large urban police department. Grounded in the social learning and organizational justice theories, the research addressed how postsecondary education influences ethical decision-making and conduct. The overarching research question concerned whether education level predicted misconduct frequency, controlling for gender, rank, and years of service. Archival personnel and disciplinary …

Native American Tribes And Federal Grant Funding In The Mountain West, Fy2023-2025, Isabelle G. Graham, Maisoon Faris, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Elections & Governance

This fact sheet presents state-level data on the impact of a federal government-wide funding freeze affecting Native American Tribes, focusing on the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The data are derived from the Brookings Institution’s “A federal grant freeze could disrupt over $24 billion to Native American communities and undermine US obligations to Tribes” brief, which reports data from USAspending. The original report provides data on the federal government’s obligations, outlays, and remaining balances owed to Native American Tribes for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

An Examination Of Successful Reentry And Recidivism For Drug-Involved Offenders In Rural Areas, Jacqueline Cottle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In rural communities, treatment and supportive resources are limited, putting ex-offenders (EXOs) at an increased risk for relapse or recidivism. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand, through semistructured interviews, the experiences of EXOs who completed the court residential treatment center, intermediate sanction facility, or substance abuse felony punishment facility, and returned to a rural county in Texas, along with the perspectives of 11 community supervision officers who worked closely with the EXOs. This study was guided by Agnew’s general strain theory, which posits that drug-involved offenders achieve successful reentry in rural areas when positive supports are present, …

Engagement By Design: Belongingness, Cultural Value Orientations, And Pathways Into Emerging Technologies, Daisuke Akiba, Michael Perrone, Caterina Almendral, Rebecca Garte

Publications and Research

This theoretical article examines how belongingness, defined as the sense that one’s participation is legitimate and valued, interacts with cultural value orientations to help explain persistent disparities in U.S. technology engagement, including emerging technologies, across racial and ethnic groups. While structural barriers (e.g., racism, poverty, linguistic bias, etc.) remain essential to understanding such inequity, we argue that engagement patterns in technology also reflect how different cultural communities may define and experience belongingness in relation to digital domains. Drawing on Triandis and Gelfand’s framework, and focusing specifically on educational contexts, we propose the Belongingness through Cultural Value Alignment (BCVA) model, whereby …

The Path Toward Spiritual Activism: Queer Latinx/A/O College Student (Muxerista) Activism As Sites Of Resistance, Hope, Joy, And Futurity, Roberto C. Orozco, J. Audra Williams

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This study examined collaborators’ engagement in activism as sites of resistance, hope, joy, and futurity. We answer the following research question: In what ways do Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), or queer Latinx/a/o college student activists, envision and act on kinship and liberation in their activism? We conceptualize our response to this question through Anzaldúa’s (2002, 2015) concept of spiritual activism. Our data analysis articulates three main components of a spiritual activism practice for Muxeristas (Revilla, 2012), which include: 1) engaging in forms of resistance through a queer and feminist world-making, 2) centering joy and love with and for each other as …

Communities Of Practice: Aging, Emergency Management, And Churches In Rural Clackamas County, Oregon, Lukas Robert Aberle

Dissertations and Theses

As the population of the United States ages, questions arise of how to best care for older adults in daily life and emergency situations. This research looks at the daily activities of churches to see how they affect everyday and emergency care practices. As a collaboration with Clackamas County government, I researched the relationship between churches and care through participant observation and interviews during the summer of 2024 to understand congregations’ support for older members, the role of church congregations in emergency management, and the implications of the decline in religious participation alongside aging in the United States. I found …

Reimagining Civic Education In The United States: Integrating Research, Policy, And Practice For Democratic Renewal, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Civic education in the United States faces persistent challenges, including inequitable access, curricular fragmentation, and reluctance to address controversial social and political issues. This paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of research, policy analysis, and practice-based case studies to reimagine civic education for the 21st century. Drawing on core scholarship supplemented with additional peer-reviewed studies on school segregation, charter school demographics, and race-conscious student assignment policies, the study examines the historical evolution of civic education, structural inequities, political avoidance, and promising innovations. Using a qualitative synthesis approach, the findings highlight five thematic areas: structural inequities, curricular misalignment, sanitized narratives, limits of …

Prosecutorial Interviewing Reform: Applying Victim-Centered Practices For Trauma-Informed Justice, Ana J. Prata

Advanced Issues in Criminal Law: Sex Offenses

No abstract provided.

Physical Activity, Cultural Tourism And Social Inclusion For Persons With Down Syndrome, Dana Ioana Cristea, Anca Cristina Pop, Corina Florina Tătar, Raluca Buhaș, Dariusz Jacek Olszewski-Strzyżowski, Mirela Ștef

Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity

Background: Individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) need customized attention. By providing an inclusive environment and tailored cultural support, meaningful and enjoyable tourism experiences can be created for them. Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the daily energy expenditure of DS individuals after undertaking a walking tour and the impact on their physical activity level. Methods: In the current study, three questionnaires were completed by the DS participants and their parents to assess the walking tour satisfaction level and social integration, the daily energy expenditure as a result of walking depending on an adapted cultural route, and the …

Anderson University Student Handbook, 2025-2026, Anderson University - South Carolina

Handbooks

The Anderson University student handbook for the 2025-2026 school year.

From Classroom To Community: ​Puh 495 Service-Learning And Park Activity Research ​, Ysabel Calderon-Wyant, Kathryn Corvey

Expo Student Presentations

2025 Fall Expo Poster Presentation

• Service-Learning

Stay Independent: Enhancing Healthy Aging In Iowa And Louisiana, Sarah L. Francis, Elizabeth Gollub, Savannah Schultz

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This evaluation study assessed the impact of Stay Independent participation on topic familiarity and the likelihood of making a recommended behavior change among community-residing older adults. Stay Independent focuses on the nutritional needs of older adults, emphasizing Whole Person Wellness and the Health Belief Model. It was initially created in Iowa for community-residing adults aged 60 and older and has been adapted for cultural appropriateness in Louisiana. Stay Independent is a healthy aging program consisting of six standalone food and health modules. It is offered both virtually and face-to-face (F2F) in Iowa and Louisiana. Participants who attended Stay Independent between …

Catalogs, 2025-2026, Anderson University - South Carolina

Catalogs

The 2025-2026 graduate & undergraduate academic catalog and introduction to the university.

Bride Abduction In Rural Ethiopia: A Multilevel Analysis Of Influences, Impact, And Intervention Strategies, Sydney Dragovich

Global Studies Senior Capstone

Bride abduction in rural Ethiopia is a harmful traditional practice that often goes unchallenged by both communities and law enforcement. This paper provides a multilevel analysis of legal frameworks, cultural influences, and socioeconomic factors sustaining the practice, and discusses the far-reaching impact on affected individuals and communities. Examining interventions that have successfully addressed gender-based violence in other contexts suggests that multicomponent community mobilization, improved procedural frameworks, and engagement with local leaders are essential to effectively addressing bride abduction in rural Ethiopia.

Zero Textbook Low Cost Syllabus For English 2100 (Writing 1), Anne Grevenitis

Open Educational Resources

In English 2100, our focus will be on autoethnography as a genre of writing. To write an autoethnography is to examine the value of the personal and use traditional modes of research to flesh out the narrative of the self. Through diverse research methods (interviews and site observation) and a multiple-step writing process (journaling, drafting and peer reviewing), your autoethnography should make a substantive contribution, have aesthetic merit, have reflexivity, make an impact, and express a reality.

Creating Intergenerational Connections: A Multilevel Approach For Enriching Lives And Addressing Vital Community Issues, Matthew S. Kaplan, Nancy Z. Henkin

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

This article presents an overview of intergenerational programs and practices as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry and practice that fosters open communication, support, and civic engagement across generations. Numerous examples of how intergenerational programs and practices harness age diversity to improve the human condition are presented. This includes initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles, reduce social isolation and loneliness, strengthen families, enrich education and lifelong learning, enhance community quality of life, and transmit cherished cultural traditions and values. This article highlights Extension’s longstanding contributions to intergenerational programming, showcasing notable examples across program areas and exploring opportunities for deeper engagement, co-leadership, and …

Overland With Ernst Heinen: A Newly Discovered 1864 Bridger Trail Diary, Caroline L. Gilson

Library Faculty publications

In 1864, Joseph Ernst Johann Heinen, age 27, travelled from Illinois to California for a work opportunity. His route and travel experiences were recorded in a diary, which has been transcribed, with footnotes. Research and work was conducted by Gilson, along with DePauw University students. This article includes the full transcription of the 1864 diary, a biography of Ernst Heinen and notes on sources consulted.

Understanding Impact Among Young Feminist Organizing/Organizations In Kenya, Chantalle Okondo, John Malkia, Ivy Kutswa, Ruth Juliet, Sar Kagendo, Stacie Akinyi, Terry Owino, Jerry Okal

Adolescents and Young People

The Nawiri Project used a core Participatory Action Research Evaluation (PARe) approach to explore the landscape of young feminist organizing/organizations (YFOs) in Kenya and Mexico. The project aimed to synthesize evidence on YFOs’ context, impact, and strengths. In Kenya, the core PARe team included nine young feminists and seven Feminist Advisory Panel (FAP) members, who collaborated with Population Council–Kenya from the project’s inception to dissemination. To define and measure impact, the team conducted five case studies with YFO leadership, nine focus group discussions with YFO beneficiaries, 31 key informant interviews with current and previous partners, and cost and benefit analysis …

It Just Means More: The Cultural Bond Between The South And Sec Football, Ryan Stinson

Senior Theses

With the success of programs like Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech in the early 1900s, college football quickly became means of establishing Southern superiority over the northern U.S. Their success continued into the 20th and 21st centuries with the creation and rise of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). During and prior to the existence of the SEC, rivalries, traditions, and pageantry developed and thrived in communities across the southeast. These aspects created a unique environment that drew in fans of college football across the region. This resulted in a unique bond between fan, university, team, and community that has thrived within all …

Data Set For Determining Causality Between Civic Engagement And Civic Agriculture, Dongkyu Kim, Mi-Son Kim, Allison Kaika

Datasets

This dataset includes opinion data from a phone and online survey for the Rio Grande Valley and an online survey.

Identifying Key Influencing Factors Of Elderly Health Information Search Based On Meta-Ethnography, Zhumei Sun, Zhibing Wang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance] Health information search is an important way for elderly people to actively cope with aging. Identifying the key factors affecting of their health information searching and exploring the correlation among these factors are of positive significance for promoting the elderly proactive health ability.

[Method/process] This paper firstly integrated the original research through a meta-ethnographic approach to form a set of factors influencing the elderly health information search. The DEMATEL method was then used to analyze the interrelationships among the influencing factors and identify the key influencing factors.

[Result/conclusion] The study finds that, the influencing factors of elderly health information …

Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention Fall 2025 Newsletter, University Of Northern Iowa. Patricia A. Tomson Center For Violence Prevention.

Patricia A. Tomson Center for Violence Prevention Newsletter

Contents:

--- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa MVP Training
--- Fall MVP Training
--- MVP Student Leadership Summit
--- Michigan MVP Partnership

Gender And Party Polarization In The Us Congress: Hypervisibility And Invisibility, Rosalyn Cooperman

Political Science & International Affairs Articles

The history and practice of party polarization in Congress is a gendered concept. Men have comprised the overwhelming majority of legislators from both parties, served as their party’s leaders, and dominated the party caucuses. As women and women of color have increased their presence in the institution, particularly among Democrats, gender and race have emerged as important themes in understanding party polarization in contemporary congresses. In an analysis of legislative activity of members in the 104th to the 117th Congresses, I find the two most distinct groups of partisans, Democratic women and Republican men, are prominently featured in the opposing …

Decolonizing Community Re-Entry: Effective Case Studies Of Community-Led Programs And Services To Support Formerly Incarcerated Individuals In Canada, Ardavan Eizadirad, Rai Reece

Education Faculty Publications

Decolonizing re-entry programs require rethinking traditional approaches in supporting formerly incarcerated individuals and challenging colonial and deficit frameworks embedded in the criminal legal system, which often has an exclusive focus on punishment. This article names the risk factors and systemic barriers faced by equity-denied individuals during reintegration with a focus on the Canadian context. Two community-led programs in Ontario are highlighted as innovative case studies for effectively supporting reintegration of individuals exiting carceral institutions. Key characteristics of these programs which are offered by the Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE) and Walls to Bridges (W2B) are outlined. …

Individuals Aging With Developmental Disabilities: Programmatic Foundations For System Improvement, Morgan D. Foster, Andrew Bronson Crocker, Beth Stalvey

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

As the population in the United States ages and grows, so does the number of older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Individuals who have lifelong disabilities experience age-related conditions, such as dementia, cancer, or arthritis, differently from those who acquire similar age-related disabilities in late life. The aging population with IDD represents a demographic shift and introduces both challenges and opportunities in various contexts, including, but not limited to, healthcare, caregiving, housing, and economic stability. Concurrently, aging caregivers, including parents of individuals with IDD, must balance their own age-related needs with the current and future plans of care …

Community Engagement Newsletter, October 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- Spring into Service: Cats Who Care
--- UNI's Day of Service
--- Events
--- Service Learning Course Designation
--- Community Engagement - Report Hours