Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Laja In Construction In Ancient Mesoamerica: A View From The Southern Gulf Lowlands Of Veracruz, Mexico, Lauren E. Smith

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

The archaeology of the southern Gulf lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico is notable for its research pertaining to the Olmec culture (Jaime-Riveron 2016; Loughlin 2012; Pool 2006). The region was home to the Colossal Olmec Heads: large, easily identifiable sculptures crafted from the volcanic rock of the Tuxtlas Volcanic Field. The use of volcanic resources in such grand presentations may instill a bias in the research of some archaeologists, but it is important to consider how these and other volcanic resources might have been used in everyday life (e.g., Jaime-Riveron 2016: 86). The consolidated volcanic ash in this region is referred …

Increased Feminine Self-Concept In Men Corresponds With Less Homonegativity: Exploring Gender Role Expression Relative To Homonegativity Across Genders, Kaid M. Marek, Amanda Watson Joyce, Tracey A. Garcia Mccue

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Homonegativity (i.e., prejudiced attitudes towards sexual minorities, Morrison et al., 1999) is associated with stricter gender roles (Basow & Johnson, 2000; Tornello & Matsick, 2020) mainly in men, and is less understood in women (Bosson et al., 2009; Vandello et al., 2008). This study investigates how cisgender individuals’ self-perceptions and self-concepts of gender roles relate to homonegativity. We hypothesized that men would have greater homonegativity than women, and that greater socially-expected gender role expression would predict homonegativity in both genders. Two-hundred-eighty-eight participants, predominantly white (84.7%), women (n = 227), freshman (58.7%) college students (M_age = 19.33, SD …

A Grounded Theory Study Of The Styles, Strategies, And Perceptions Of Performing Arts Leaders, Liane Weintraub, Jessica Arriaza, Stephanie Viggiano

International Journal of Regional Issues in the Arts

The responsibility of leading an arts organization is distinct from other leadership roles due to the complexity and delicate nature of balancing tactical responsibilities while also nurturing an ecosystem that encourages artistic expression. Leaders’ duties are multifarious with often conflicting aims: managing complex organizations, navigating thorny governmental policies, and addressing critical social issues to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), all while cultivating a creative environment. This study aims to identify the specific traits, characteristics, and strategies demonstrated by current arts organization leaders who are navigating the shifting demands of arts leadership. In this grounded theory study, the research team …

A Bayesian Examination Of The Effect Of A Mental Health Psychosocial Education Vignette On Stigma Toward Persons With Schizophrenia And Depression, Lainie Krumenacker

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Psychosocial education has been used to combat stigma in several settings, but familiarity with and exposure to mental illness may also be key factors in reducing stigmatizing comments and behaviors. In this study, we implemented a between-subjects design where participants were allocated into two groups: one who received psychoeducational information about mental health (i.e., the “education group”) and one who received no psychoeducational information (i.e., the “control group”). Regardless of their group, all participants then read vignettes which discussed information about the diagnosis of schizophrenia or the diagnosis of depression. Following the vignettes, all participants completed a series of questionnaires …

Women’S Representation In State Legislatures And Women-Friendly Policy Outcomes, Hoan La

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between women's representation and policy outcomes. The literature argues that female legislators are more likely than male colleagues to support policies that benefit women, children, and families. Therefore, increasing women's representation in legislative bodies will likely result in more policy outcomes that reflect women's interests. This paper employs data from 50 U.S. state legislatures in three years: 2010, 2015, and 2020 to examine the relationship between female legislators and women-friendly policies. The analysis indicates that female legislators play an important role in introducing, discussing, and debating women-friendly bills but have yet …

Disaggregating Foreign Aid: What Have We Learned From Research On Sub-National Foreign Aid?, Josiah F. Marineau

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Over the past several years, a new wave of research has mapped the location of foreign aid projects within countries to understand the causes and effects of sub-national aid allocation. This effort, affiliated with the AidData research program (albeit not exclusively), is ongoing, and new datasets on foreign aid donors and for particular countries are being released. After several years of continuing research into the correlates and effects of sub-national foreign aid on aid-recipient countries, it is worthwhile to pause and consider what this research program has uncovered and suggest directions where it might go.

The Mobilizing Effect Of Descriptive Representation? The Impact Of Representatives’ Race And Gender On Participation, Akayla Henson, Brittany Wood

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Studies on the effect of increased descriptive representation on political participation have yielded mixed results. This research explores the relationship between descriptive representation and political participation. Specifically, we are interested in understanding how the race and gender of political representatives affect electorate participation. We conduct a unique survey experiment where participants receive communication from a political representative. The treatment conditions varied based on representative race (black, white) and gender (man, woman). We hypothesized that participants who receive correspondence from a representative of the same gender and race as themselves (i.e., in-group) would be more likely to participate than a participant …

Centralizing The Selection Of Circuit Court Nominees In The George W. Bush, Obama, And Trump Administrations, Paul Foote, Austin Trantham

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Nominations to the federal judiciary are among the most important decisions made by American presidents. Provided lifetime tenure upon confirmation, judges nominated by a given president are likely to serve well past the Chief Executive’s time in office—allowing them the ability to give voice to the nominating president’s ideological views, in some cases, for decades. While shared partisanship is a key consideration in making judicial nominations, do presidents also tend to nominate individuals with common career backgrounds and life experiences? This paper employs a comparative framework to analyze the characteristics of individuals appointed at the circuit court level by Presidents …

Democracy For Some: Greek-American Institutions And The Greek Junta, 1967-1974, Olga Koulisis

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

In 1967 a military junta took over Greece, silencing the democratic process in Democracy’s birthplace with the tacit approval of Democracy’s heir apparent, the United States of America. The tolerance, if not support, of Greek-American institutions to the establishment of the Greek Junta and the U.S. government’s support for that regime offers a case study of why democratic publics accept, if not bolster, their own government’s support for anti-democratic regimes. This case offers an intriguing juxtaposition because of the historical claims that U.S., Greek, and Greek diaspora identities make on democratic practice and commitment. This study examines how junta-tolerant Greek …

Crime, Documentation Status, And Content Analysis: Evidence From American Surveys Evaluating The Public’S Perception Of Deportations, Madelyn Einhorn

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

How does the public evaluate US deportations? This paper conducts two original, experimental surveys in the United States, asking the public about their perceptions of immigrant deportations from the US. The first section of this paper utilizes an experimental design to determine how documentation status and criminality impact the public’s views of deportations. The second section of this paper asks an open-ended question about perceptions of deportations and uses automatic content analysis to determine the emotional sentiment of respondents’ answers. This paper determines that Americans view deportations as an appropriate punitive measure for undocumented immigrants and immigrants who have committed …

Inspiring Macro Practice Through Rural Social Work: Teaching Notes On Experiential Learning, Dana C. Branson

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Experiential learning is the cornerstone of social work education and has been shown to be highly beneficial to students, especially with increased self-confidence in skills, interest in similar work post-graduation, cultural humility, application of theory to practice, problem solving skills, and critical thinking. Additionally, experiential learning opportunities support the nine competencies of social work education and provides students with an opportunity to try out their budding skills with the guidance and supervision of seasoned social workers. This paper discusses an innovative course project that allowed a group of social work students to engage in macro-level social work practice and grant …

The Connection Between Body Modification And Personality, Taylor Shoemaker

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

Previous research has been inconsistent in its findings regarding the associations between body modifications (e.g., piercings, tattoos, augmentation, scarification, split tongue) and the Big Five personality traits (i.e., openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism). All traits have been found to be significantly correlated with body modification in at least one study, but their significance differed from study to study. The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between body modification and each domain of personality concurrently to add to the literature surrounding differences between modified and unmodified individuals. To participate in this study, participants were asked …

School Violence And Its Impact On Student Academic Achievement, Kewanis Kennedy

Steeplechase: An ORCA Student Journal

This study explores the occurrence of school violence and its impact on academic success and attendance. This study will encompass K-12 academic institutions in the state of Kentucky during the 2018-2019 academic school year, with an in-depth analysis of data submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education by the 171 participating school districts. The participating schools shared data in the form of disciplinary actions, attendance, graduation rates, academic achievement, and other relevant demographics. The collected data was analyzed to determine if there was a statistically significant difference among attendance rate, graduation rate, math ACT benchmark scores, and English ACT benchmark …

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.

Party Registration Deadlines And Hidden Partisanship: An Individual Analysis, Matthew Thornburg

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Many voters in states with party affiliation identify with or lean towards one political party but are not registered with it. This sort of “hidden partisanship” may be intentional be it may also result from a combination of changes in a voter’s party identification and the electoral institutions in place. In many states it is difficult to change party registration due to early deadlines intended to prevent crossover voting. Using individual-level survey data, I find that hidden partisanship in a state increases, the further in advance of the primary the deadline to change party affiliation is. This deadline affects primary …

Exploring Regional Differences In Social Work Pedagogy: Attitudes Toward Poverty, Michael L. Burford, Peter A. Kindle, Laura Brierton Granruth, Elena Delavega, David H. Johnson, Susan Peterson, Mary Caplan

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This study explores regional differences in student learning outcomes from pre and post-test surveys of undergraduate and first year graduate social work students (N = 373) enrolled in a social welfare policy class at six different CSWE accredited institutions. As expected, overall results showed a shift in student attitudes away from a personal deficiency explanation for poverty, a decline in stigmatization of poverty, and toward a more structural explanation for the causes of poverty, but significant differences were reported by geographical region. Future research should explore the instructor, pedagogical, and geographical factors that may help of hinder attitudinal preparation …

Grow Your Own: Educating Social Workers In Rural And Frontier Areas To Address The Behavioral Health Workforce Crisis, Michelle M. Levy, Christina D. Boyd

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Workforce shortages in behavioral health are a longstanding reality in most rural areas. Given the increasing impact of mental health and substance abuse in rural communities, it is critical to seek solutions to address the inadequate number of behavioral health professions in these areas. This paper focuses on a university’s efforts to prepare and support master’s level social workers for practice in their rural and frontier communities to address behavioral health workforce shortages.

Barriers To Implementation Of A Technology-Based Mental Health Intervention In A Rural Setting, Becky F. Antle, Lesley M. Harris, Jesse H. Wright, Tracy D. Eells, Amy Cappiccie, Sara M. Williams, Rebecca Katz, Ashley Logsdon, Jesse Owen

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

This study utilized qualitative focus groups with rural health providers and patients to explore barriers to implementation of a technology-based mental health intervention for the treatment of depression in a primary care setting. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was implemented in both urban and rural primary care practices to test the feasibility and effectiveness of computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) for depression. Early implementation identified lower rates of willingness to participate in the intervention by rural patients. Subsequently, focus groups were conducted with rural providers and patients to explore barriers to participation and strategies to overcome these barriers in future …

Attuning To Need: Reconceptualizing “Help” In Poor Rural Areas, Jennifer M. Frank, Laura Brierton Granruth, Brittany Leffler, Rachel Preibisch, Dawn Watson, Heather Girvin, Mary Glazier

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Social isolation is closely linked to overall health and well-being and is a serious concern for those in rural areas. Our research seeks insights into the needs experienced in poor rural areas by utilizing letter writing between students and community agency participants as a research methodology. In the letters, we observed that community participants relied upon friend and family style relationships and even viewed their agency relationships as such. This suggests that transforming "professional helping relationships" into alliances that are less impersonal might be in order. Such relationships and connections seemed conducive to the development of empowering self-efficacy. This finding …

Fictional Foreign Policy: How Madam Secretary And House Of Cards Depict United States Foreign Policy., John Heyrman

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

This paper analyzes the ways that United States foreign policy is depicted in two prominent current television programs: House of Cards and Madam Secretary. Both of these programs have had frequent plots in which the fictional foreign policy of the U.S. deals with issues very similar to those that the United States has actually confronted in recent years. Examples include nuclear proliferation negotiations with Iran and U.S. concern over anti-gay legislation in Russia. Several of these fictional stories are analyzed here to consider how processes and policies of the U.S. are portrayed. Madam Secretary does much more to demonstrate …

The Nature And Extent Of Presidential Pardon Power: An Analysis In Light Of Recent Political Developments, Max Guirguis Ph.D.

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Long recognized as the most sweeping and least checked power vested in the Chief Executive, the pardon power received renewed scholarly attention with the federal investigation of the Trump White House. President Trump’s assertion via a Twitter post that “the U.S. President has the complete power to pardon” provoked a heated national debate on the reach of his pardoning authority. This paper is an attempt to elucidate the nature of the pardon power by examining its historical contours and the constitutional principles governing its exercise.

Perceptions Of Discrimination In The Legal Profession, Sabrina Collins

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Historically, the legal profession has been dominated by white men (García-López 2008). Over time, the barriers hindering diverse participation have been somewhat lifted. In recent years, law schools enrolled equal percentages of men and women, and the number of minority students has also increased. So, how has the legal profession adapted to these changes? The hiring of women and minorities in the field of law does not reflect the increasing diversity seen in law school. Today, only 36% of lawyers are women. While existing research shows discrimination present in the field of law, few studies have examined the relationship between …

Politics At The Pulpit: Elite Religious Cues And Immigration Attitudes, Benjamin Knoll, Matthew Baker

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Previous scholarship has demonstrated a link between religiosity and immigration attitudes, often inferring the effect of cues from religious leaders as the motivating source. This study directly examines the “elite cues” linking mechanism with an experiment embedded in a nationally representative public opinion survey. We improve on previous research designs by introducing a pretest that measures immigration policy attitudes among respondents which can then be directly compared to posttest measures after the introduction of the elite cue stimulus. Multivariate analysis of the survey results reveal no support for the elite cues explanation. We discuss the implications of these findings for …

Complete Issue - Volume 5, Number 1 (2021)

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Complete Issue

Letter To The Editor, D. Grant Whaley

Journal of Agricultural Hemp Research

Letter to the editor on lending in the hemp industry

Review Of The Book Homesteading The Plains: Toward A New History, Peter A. Kindle

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Review of the book Homesteading the Plains: Toward a New History

Towards A Social Justice Agenda: Intimate Partner Violence Among Rural, African American Women, Shani Collins Woods

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The social work profession is rooted in community-based work that seeks to eradicate social injustice everywhere. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global phenomenon which impacts women from diverse socio-economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds. It involves power and control, economic abuse, and physical and sexual violence. When compared to other racial and ethnic groups, African American women are likelier to experience physical violence, rape, and homicide. Intimate partner violence among African American women is a social justice issue.

When compared to other racial and ethnic groups, rural and/or low-income African American women are likelier to experience IPV. They are also likelier …

Review Of The Book Rural Poverty In The United States, Peter A. Kindle

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Review of the book Rural Poverty in the United States

Stinky Water And Other Ills: Environmental Justice For Rural Services, Michael R. Daley

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

Environmental justice concerns affect rural communities and the people who are members of them. Social workers’ long-standing involvement in improving living conditions of the people and communities with whom they work make environmental justice an important responsibility. Yet there is a rural-urban divide on topics related to the environment, and rural and urban communities tend to establish different environmental priorities. Rural communities tend to prioritize local conditions and solutions over global and societal ones. Rural people distrust national policies especially those established by governmental as not being responsive to their interest. Some common environmental rural problems are identified. Environmental justice …

Holistic Approach To Addressing Community Needs In Rural Communities, Ebony L. Hall Lang, Stephanie J. Hamm, Nathalie P. Jones

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The purpose of this study was to assess health of a rural Texas community in efforts to better understand and develop a plan of action for developing community intervention for increasing availability of human resources. Researchers asked various questions to understand the availability and accessibility of resources within a rural community using a community needs assessment approach. Participants were recruited by the researchers directly within the community using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The sample size included 361 participants in a rural community. The overall quality of life for the rural participants was slightly lower than what researchers considered to …