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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Clinging To Power: Authoritarian Leaders And Coercive Effectiveness, Christian J. Wolfe Jan 2021

Clinging To Power: Authoritarian Leaders And Coercive Effectiveness, Christian J. Wolfe

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This study identifies three tactics authoritarian leaders use to attempt to effectively coerce their citizens without losing power: 1) performance legitimacy, 2) nationalist legitimacy, and 3) institutional legitimacy. To demonstrate these tactics of what I call “coercive effectiveness,” the author employs a most-different-systems analysis on the regimes of Xi Jinping (2012 2015) and Bashar al-Assad (2000-2004). The author finds that coercion is more likely to be effective under the following conditions: 1) when leaders use economic performance and institutionalist strategies rather than nationalist tactics, 2) when an authoritarian leader climbs the ladder to power rather than inheriting leadership and 3) …


The State And Cannabis : What Is Success? A Comparative Analysis Of Cannabis Policy In The United States Of America, Uruguay, And Canada, Gideon C. Cunningham Jan 2021

The State And Cannabis : What Is Success? A Comparative Analysis Of Cannabis Policy In The United States Of America, Uruguay, And Canada, Gideon C. Cunningham

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Globally, the policies that states engage in concerning the cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of recreational cannabis in the 21st century is changing rapidly. Three countries have now legalized, regulated, and implemented recreational cannabis frameworks, albeit in starkly different ways. These countries are The United States of America, Uruguay, and Canada. This research identifies the contradictory nature of cannabis policy goals and compares the similarities and differences of each countries’ recreational cannabis framework. It proposes a theory of understanding the contradictory nature of creating cannabis policies post-legalization and presents a framework from which to analyze the success of individual cannabis …


Developing A Nomological Network To Incorporate Learned Helplessness Into Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Nicholas Kovacs Jan 2021

Developing A Nomological Network To Incorporate Learned Helplessness Into Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Nicholas Kovacs

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Employees are facing personal traumas, higher stress, and work pressures that are likely to result in both short- and long-term impacts. To mitigate these negative impacts, organizations should focus on applying research related to employees’ responses to trauma and stress. Learned helplessness, which is well-established within clinical psychology and less established within the industrial-organizational literature, occurs as a direct response to perceived control over trauma and could thus relate to the ability to overcome trauma. In relation to control-related constructs, industrial-organizational researchers have focused on resilience, hardiness, and work locus of control (LOC). However, each of these constructs account for …


Investigating The Relationship Between Ethics Program Components, Individual Attributes, And Perceptions Of Ethical Climate, Aaron Buchanan Jan 2021

Investigating The Relationship Between Ethics Program Components, Individual Attributes, And Perceptions Of Ethical Climate, Aaron Buchanan

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Though research has identified common outcomes of ethical work climates, less is known regarding its antecedents. Situational components such as ethics programs and individual, moral-related variables such as moral identity and moral attentiveness may influence the way employees perceive the ethical climate of their organization. I conducted t-tests and calculated bivariate correlations to determine if there were significant relationships between ethics program components, individual moral-related variables and ethical climate dimensions. My results (N = 422 recruited from Mechanical Turk) revealed that ethics program components and individual, moral-related variables are significantly related to multiple dimensions of ethical climate. Most significant relationships …


Offensive Cyber Operations: An Examination Of Their Revolutionary Capabilities, Madelyn Wardle Jan 2021

Offensive Cyber Operations: An Examination Of Their Revolutionary Capabilities, Madelyn Wardle

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Since the cyber realm has become a prevalent area in society, states have been developing ways to use this realm to their advantage. Popular literature asserts that cyber attacks are equalizing, frequently-occurring events that make them “revolutionary” tools of warfare; however, this study hypothesizes that cyber operations are not as revolutionary as the literature asserts. This study examines the revolutionary capabilities of offensive cyber operations by studying documented cases of state-sponsored offensive cyber operations from 2005-2019. By utilizing statistical methods, first the paper examines the documented cases and analyzes which states conduct most of these operations. Then, the paper will …


Exploitation And Domination: A Marxist Analysis Of The Impact Of Class Structure On State Terrorism, Joseph J. Hammons Jan 2021

Exploitation And Domination: A Marxist Analysis Of The Impact Of Class Structure On State Terrorism, Joseph J. Hammons

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This study qualitatively examines the impact of three socio-economic inequalities on state terrorism: (1) income inequality; (2) unequal collective labor rights; and (3) land inequality. It proposes a theory of class structure and state terrorism based on the Marxist theory of exploitation and domination and uses Marxist class analysis in the comparison of two case studies, Brazil (1985-1990) and the Philippines (1986-1992), to determine which of the three socio-economic inequalities is most likely to lead to class struggle that will prompt the state to respond with terrorism. Findings from this study indicate that issues concerning land inequality may be a …


A Model Of Regime Change: The Impact Of Arab Spring Throughout The Middle East And North Africa, Omar Khalfan Bizuru Jan 2021

A Model Of Regime Change: The Impact Of Arab Spring Throughout The Middle East And North Africa, Omar Khalfan Bizuru

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This study examined the catalysts for social movements around the globe; specifically, why and how the Arab Spring uprisings led to regime change in Tunisia, why they transformed into civil war in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Syria), and why they did not lead to significant change at all in other places (Bahrain). The overall results of the study confirmed that political and socio-economic grievances caused the Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Bahrain, and Syria. Tunisian protesters succeeded in regime change because of a united and structured social movement leading to an effective transitional democracy in the …


The Effect Of Careless Responding Warnings On Construct Validity, Mark A. Roebke Jan 2021

The Effect Of Careless Responding Warnings On Construct Validity, Mark A. Roebke

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Careless responding is a problem for survey research that poses threats to both the reliability and validity of data collected. Warnings against careless responding have been proposed as a potential solution to reduce this harmful effect. The present study examines how warnings can reduce careless responding as well as examine how those warnings may influence the reliability and validity of data collected. Data was collected in a low stakes online testing format in a way similar to many psychological studies. This study included informant dyad data from people who knew the participants well to provide external criteria for analysis. A …


Promises And Pitfalls Of Machine Learning Classifiers For Inter-Rater Reliability Annotation, Lucille Dorothy Ayres Jan 2021

Promises And Pitfalls Of Machine Learning Classifiers For Inter-Rater Reliability Annotation, Lucille Dorothy Ayres

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Qualitative data result from observation, video, and dialogue. These types of data are flexible and allow us to study behavior without imposing potentially disruptive data collection methods. However, subsequent quantitative analysis requires a time consuming, labor intensive initial coding process, and a second manual coding to calculate inter-rater reliability. I examined the use of machine learning algorithms to reduce the amount of manual annotation work required to perform inter-rater reliability measures on text data. By comparing machine-human and human-human raters using Cohen’s Kappa statistic and an informal analysis of the features used in machine learning classification, I identify the promise …


Ecological Interface Design For Flexible Manufacturing Systems: An Empirical Assessment Of Direct Perception And Direct Manipulation In The Interface, Dylan G. Cravens Jan 2021

Ecological Interface Design For Flexible Manufacturing Systems: An Empirical Assessment Of Direct Perception And Direct Manipulation In The Interface, Dylan G. Cravens

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Four interfaces were developed to factorially apply two principles of ecological interface design (EID; direct perception and direct manipulation) to a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). The theoretical foundation and concepts employed during their development, with findings related to more significant issues regarding interface design for complex socio-technical systems, are discussed. Key aspects of cognitive systems engineering (CSE) and EID are also discussed. An FMS synthetic task environment was developed, and an experiment was conducted to evaluate real-time decision support during supervisory operations. Participants used all four interfaces to supervise and maintain daily part production at systematically varied levels of difficulty …


Meritocracy-Based Stickiness Measure Of Social Mobility, Curtis G. Tenney Jan 2021

Meritocracy-Based Stickiness Measure Of Social Mobility, Curtis G. Tenney

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I measure the stickiness of social mobility in terms of meritocratic assumptions through the first-known Meritocracy-Based Stickiness Measure of Mobility (MBSMoM) using mobility transition matrices and assumptions based on Full Meritocracy (FM) and Lack of Meritocracy (LM). I develop the Simple Stickiness Measure of Mobility (SSMoM) and the Weighted Stickiness Measure of Mobility (WSMoM). In addition, I create the MBSMoM which is calculated from mobility transition matrices of intragenerational, intergenerational, and multigenerational correlations using various measures of status including education, occupation, class, consumption, income, and wealth. Utilizing mobility transition matrices employed by plethora of studies, MBSMoMs are calculated as a …


Capturing Intentional Testing Of An Automated System, Abraham Haskins Jan 2021

Capturing Intentional Testing Of An Automated System, Abraham Haskins

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Users change their behavior when interacting with automated systems based upon their trust levels. Users faced with an unknown system will adjust their trust levels as they learn more about that system. Past automation trust research has implicitly assumed that users are passive recipients of information when interacting with new systems. Feedback-seeking behavior, a pattern of behavior involving actively eliciting information about one’s performance, is a well-researched concept within interpersonal research. Applying this interpersonal research to the domain of automation, I examined cases in which individuals sought feedback regarding the reliability of an unfamiliar automated system by asking for answers …


An Interaction Between Anthropomorphism And Personality On Trust In Automated Systems, Abraham Haskins Jan 2021

An Interaction Between Anthropomorphism And Personality On Trust In Automated Systems, Abraham Haskins

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Automated assistance is increasingly being implemented in domains ranging from healthcare to transportation. The reason for the tendency for certain users to trust or mistrust automated assistance has been studied to mixed effect. I examined the effect of anthropomorphism as an independent factor on user trust. In addition, I examined the potential for anthropomorphism to act as a moderator between the personality traits of a user and the trust a user demonstrates in the automated aid. Though the participants in the anthropomorphic condition did view the assistant as more human-like, the level of anthropomorphism had no effect on user behavior. …


Role Overload: Examining The Definition And Measurement Of A Common Work Stressor, Sean Becker Jan 2021

Role Overload: Examining The Definition And Measurement Of A Common Work Stressor, Sean Becker

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Researchers previously gave considerable attention to role overload as a predictor of employee health, job attitudes, and behavior. However, the validity and conceptualization of role overload measures have been questioned and show inconsistent results. In response to the issues with role overload measures, the researcher developed a new measure of total role overload, consisting of two work related dimensions, qualitative and quantitative. These dimensions were crossed with “data people and things” to provide diagnostic ability and one non-work-related dimension of family role overload to contextualize the individual’s life. The researcher conducted three studies to examine the psychometric qualities of the …


Role Overload: Examining The Definition And Measurement Of A Common Work Stressor, Sean Becker Jan 2021

Role Overload: Examining The Definition And Measurement Of A Common Work Stressor, Sean Becker

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Researchers previously gave considerable attention to role overload as a predictor of employee health, job attitudes, and behavior. However, the validity and conceptualization of role overload measures have been questioned and show inconsistent results. In response to the issues with role overload measures, the researcher developed a new measure of total role overload, consisting of two work related dimensions, qualitative and quantitative. These dimensions were crossed with “data people and things” to provide diagnostic ability and one non-work-related dimension of family role overload to contextualize the individual’s life. The researcher conducted three studies to examine the psychometric qualities of the …


Ecological Interface Design For Flexible Manufacturing Systems: An Empirical Assessment Of Direct Perception And Direct Manipulation In The Interface, Dylan G. Cravens Jan 2021

Ecological Interface Design For Flexible Manufacturing Systems: An Empirical Assessment Of Direct Perception And Direct Manipulation In The Interface, Dylan G. Cravens

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Four interfaces were developed to factorially apply two principles of ecological interface design (EID; direct perception and direct manipulation) to a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). The theoretical foundation and concepts employed during their development, with findings related to more significant issues regarding interface design for complex socio-technical systems, are discussed. Key aspects of cognitive systems engineering (CSE) and EID are also discussed. An FMS synthetic task environment was developed, and an experiment was conducted to evaluate real-time decision support during supervisory operations. Participants used all four interfaces to supervise and maintain daily part production at systematically varied levels of difficulty …


Mind Wandering As A Result Of Failed Self-Regulation: An Examination Of Novel Antecedents, Kent Etherton Jan 2021

Mind Wandering As A Result Of Failed Self-Regulation: An Examination Of Novel Antecedents, Kent Etherton

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The purpose of this study was to examine the role of self-regulatory mechanisms when predicting mind wandering. I collected data from a sample of undergraduate psychology students (N = 168) and full-time workers (N = 660). The hypothesized model did not produce acceptable fit. However, through alternative model testing, I discovered a well-fitting model of self-regulatory predictors of mind wandering. These results contributed to the literature by providing evidence that motivational mechanisms significantly predict mind wandering in both student and work contexts and raise issues relating to 1) the uni- versus multi-dimensionality of approach and avoid-motivational temperaments, 2) distinctions between …


China’S Legal Environment For Domestic Ngos: Standardized Policies For Greater Party-State Control Over Civil Society, Kelly E. Tursic Jan 2021

China’S Legal Environment For Domestic Ngos: Standardized Policies For Greater Party-State Control Over Civil Society, Kelly E. Tursic

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This thesis examines one angle of state-society relations in authoritarian states through the lens of Chinese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their legal environment. While grassroots organizations have not prompted political liberalization in China, they have not been entirely co-opted by the party-state either. Through an examination of policy changes, a study of 120 organizations, and a case study of a non-profit incubator, this thesis explores whether the political environment for China’s domestic NGOs varies by geographic region and issue area. The findings suggest there is not significant variation as the party-state has implemented standardized policies for increased control over civil …


Assessing Implicit Leadership And Followership Theories, Daniel Bashore Jan 2020

Assessing Implicit Leadership And Followership Theories, Daniel Bashore

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Implicit Leadership and Followership Theories (ILTs and IFTs, respectively) are individuals’ schemas composed of attributes that characterize leaders and followers. ILTs and IFTs are commonly measured through direct measures, however, researchers have questioned the validity of popular direct measures. With better and more parallel measures, we can examine the extent to which individuals think about leaders and followers as similar or dissimilar. Also, although substantial research has examined predictors of explicit leadership and leaders’ behavior, little research has attempted to examine antecedents of implicit leadership or followership. Using a sample of working adults (N = 243), the current study created …


What Are You Looking At? Using Eye-Tracking To Provide Insight Into Careless Responding, Cheyna Katherine Brower Jan 2020

What Are You Looking At? Using Eye-Tracking To Provide Insight Into Careless Responding, Cheyna Katherine Brower

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Careless responding (CR), also called insufficient effort responding (IER), occurs when survey participants respond to items without regard to item content. The presence of careless responding threatens the validity of inferences made from self-report data (Huang et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2015), thus careless responding must be identified and removed to trust inferences made based on self-report survey data. Using a sample of 59 undergraduate students, this study uses eye-tracking data to assess the validity of existing careless responding indices and to provide insight into the nature of careless responding. Although influenced by measurement error in the eye-tracking indices, …


Comparing Dichotomous And Polytomous Items Using Item Response Trees, Daniel Jenkins Jan 2020

Comparing Dichotomous And Polytomous Items Using Item Response Trees, Daniel Jenkins

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Research on the optimal number of response options on graphic rating scales has yielded mixed results such as that more scale points are better; there is an optimal range; or that it does not matter. The present study compared the psychometric properties of dichotomous and polytomous personality items using several methods of scoring including summed scores, item response theory (IRT), and item response trees. It was found that regression models based on dichotomous items explained similar amounts of variance in careless responding as models based on polytomous items. In addition, scores from dichotomous models were more closely related to the …


An Evaluation Of The Montgomery County Reentry Career Alliance Academy, Catherine Marliese Driver Jan 2020

An Evaluation Of The Montgomery County Reentry Career Alliance Academy, Catherine Marliese Driver

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As a result of a deterrence and incapacitation focused criminal justice system in the United States, reentry programming has become integral to both reduce criminal justice spending and mass incarceration. Reentry programming assists those released from prison with reintegration into society to prevent recidivism and allow the returning citizen to become a productive member of society. This study evaluated one such reentry program in Montgomery County Ohio. The Reentry Career Alliance Academy (RCAA) is a career focused work readiness curriculum that also includes workshops with community stakeholders. Evaluation was completed through paired T Test analysis in pre- and post-questionnaire responses. …


Game Of Survival: External Actors' Support For Separatists, Joshua C. Underwood Jan 2020

Game Of Survival: External Actors' Support For Separatists, Joshua C. Underwood

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This research develops a novel model for external actors’ support for separatists.Three variables measuring external actors’ support are identified through two case studies, Kosovo Liberation Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with an emphasis on Military Aid’s impact. The variables are then applied to a quantitative analysis of external actors’ support in a dataset of 75 observations during the years 1991-2020, utilizing the Uppsala Conflict Data Program External Support Dataset. The findings for this research show that Military Aid and Moral Support improve the probability of survival for a separatist group. A deeper analysis reveals that military aid among …


Veteran Reintegration, Joan Lee Tolliver Jan 2020

Veteran Reintegration, Joan Lee Tolliver

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Veterans are a unique population and share a common experience: reintegration. The reintegration period can be a challenging experience, and affects things such as mental health and overall adjustment to civilian life. In order to examine reintegration more closely, interviews conducted by the Wright State’s Veterans Voices Project were used to complete this study. A checklist was used and consisted of nine themes identified in the relative literature related to reintegration: intimate relationships, familial relationships, children, education, employment, physical health, mental health, coping, and identity. Of the nine categories, employment was discussed most often (59.5%). Mental health was only discussed …


Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta Jan 2020

Attitude Strength And Situational Strength As Moderators Of The Job Satisfaction – Job Performance Relationship, Joseph William Dagosta

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Workers who are satisfied with their jobs are better performers, but prior research has found a plethora of moderating variables between job satisfaction and job performance (Ostroff, 1992, Schleicher, Watt, & Greguras, 2004; Spector, 1997). Prior research has suggested that job attitude strength can strengthen the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance and that the relationships between personality variables and extra-role job performance are stronger in weak rather than strong workplace situations (Meyer et al., 2014; Shleicher et al., 2015). In the current study, I investigated the interaction between job satisfaction, job attitude strength, and situational strength on job …


The Use Of Performance Measurement And Management In Small Ohio Municipalities, Yvonne M. Christopher Jan 2020

The Use Of Performance Measurement And Management In Small Ohio Municipalities, Yvonne M. Christopher

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As the dominant public management paradigm today, performance measurement and management systems are fundamental to increasing efficiency, accountability, and service quality in the public sector. Research into the practice at all levels of government has been expanding for decades in developed countries. However, the small local governments that comprise most U.S. municipalities are frequently overlooked as a topic of academic inquiry in public administration. This study aims to shed light on the extent to which the performance measurement methods prevalent at the state and federal levels have spread to small municipalities. Using elite interviewing methods and the four-point approach to …


Discriminating Targets Among Distractors In A Virtual Shopping Environment With Different Rack Orientations: Testing A Model Of Visibility, Tyler Sinclair Whitlock Jan 2020

Discriminating Targets Among Distractors In A Virtual Shopping Environment With Different Rack Orientations: Testing A Model Of Visibility, Tyler Sinclair Whitlock

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Objective: This study measured observers’ abilities to identify letter targets distributed among number distractors in a virtual shopping environment. Head-turning behavior was also continuously recorded throughout each trial. The data were then used to test whether a model’s prediction for the duration of visibility needed for target detection in a virtual shopping environment (Parikh & Mowrey, 2014) generalize to the more realistic shopping task of identifying a target on a shelf. Currently, the model predicts the visibility of the locations of targets in traditional racks oriented 90° to the aisle (perpendicular) as well as racks oriented at 30°, 45, 135°, …


Induction And Transferral Of Flow In The Game Tetris, Kevin John O'Neill Jan 2020

Induction And Transferral Of Flow In The Game Tetris, Kevin John O'Neill

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We looked at the facilitation and transfer of a flow state in a cognitive context. Subjects played a manipulated version of the game Tetris, and we gathered data on their gameplay performance on pre- and post-tasks, as well as a set of questionnaires which measure flow and perceived task effort. The altered version of Tetris includes an artificial intelligence agent that continually assesses the participant’s skill and adapts the challenge level of the game to match the participant’s skill. An adaptive condition characterized by challenge-skill balance was hypothesized to induce flow, reduce perception of effort, and improve performance. We found …


Trust Discounting In The Multi-Arm Trust Game, Michael Collins Jan 2020

Trust Discounting In The Multi-Arm Trust Game, Michael Collins

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Social interactions are complex and constantly changing decision making environments. Prior research (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995) has found that people use their trust in others as a criterion for decision making during social interactions. Trust is not only relevant for human-human interaction, but has also been found to be important for human-machine interaction as well, which is becoming a growing feature in many work domains (De Visser et al., 2016). Prior research on trust has attempted to identify the behavioral characteristics an individual (trustor) uses to assess the trustworthiness of another (trustee) to determine the trustor's level of trust. …


Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder, Megan Creviston Jan 2020

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder, Megan Creviston

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The study examines adverse childhood experiences among individual who use illicit opioids, focusing on emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The study uses data collected from a sample of 357 individuals with opioid use disorder who were recruited in the Dayton area between May 2017 and October 2018. The study builds on the life course and social learning theories to examine the association between childhood experiences and drug use behaviors in later life. The key aims of the study are to: 1) assess the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences in the community-recruited sample of individuals with opioid use disorder; 2) analyze …