Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Demographic Change In The North Atlanta Metro Area, Zachary Lloyd

Symposium of Student Scholars

The northern Atlanta suburbs are perhaps the premiere destination for migrants, both domestic and international, into the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Filled with activities, good schools, and endless dining options, these communities are not only relatively safe to raise a family in, but also offer plenty to do for married couples and retirees. The counties of Gwinnett and Cobb, along with the northern portion of Fulton County (known as North Fulton) are the traditional northside suburban destinations, but growth there has slowed because much of the land is now densely developed. Predictably, the suburbs have extended northward through the counties of …

Nurse Manager Communication Associated With Staff Nurse Satisfaction Or Retention, Svetlana Periut, Mary Dioise Ramos

Symposium of Student Scholars

Nurse Manager Communication Associated with Staff Nurse Satisfaction or Retention

Abstract

Background: Nursing communication is a significant part of a nurse's job, especially when communicating with their patients, patients' families, and the healthcare team. Communication is the center of attention of many studies, and the way nurse leaders relate massages can influence an organization’s outcomes, including nurse satisfaction and retention. This integrative study aims to analyze communication styles, behaviors, and instruments used by hospital unit nurse managers to increase staff nurse satisfaction and retention. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis were used in the literature search …

Atlanta Region Food Access: A Study Of Food Access As It Relates To Population Growth, Derek Romanek

Symposium of Student Scholars

Atlanta region food access: A study of food access as it relates to population growth

Derek Romanek (Uli Ingram), Department of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, 30144

The Atlanta region is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States of America. With a growing population there is an increase in the demand for resources including food. Food security is a global issue and does not only effect developing nations. To improve sustainability the United Nations came up with 17 Sustainable Development goals. To better understand what we can do to improve sustainability and meet the …

Adapting Applied Behavior Analysis In Autism Intervention To Improve Individualized Education For Children With Autism, Elisabeth Alonso

Symposium of Student Scholars

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) intervention for children diagnosed with autism provides detailed assessments of the clients’ abilities and guides skill acquisition with the goal of transitioning the client, often into a typical school classroom. The lack of accessible autism training and access to knowledgeable ABA professionals in school settings prevents teachers from engaging with their students on the autism spectrum. Furthermore, this gap in training does not equip teachers to follow through with the research-based interventions to improve students’ quality of life. Teachers must have an understanding of ABA in layman’s terms to improve the child’s classroom functioning. This research …

The Effects Of Youth Leadership In An Organization, Ashley Francis

Symposium of Student Scholars

The Effects of Youth Leadership in an Organization

Ashley Francis, Candidate for B.S. in Human Services with a concentration

in Nonprofit Management and Social Innovation

Department of Social Work and Human Services

Research Mentor: Dr. Jennifer A. Wade-Berg

Abstract

The field of youth work and youth leadership is becoming more widely known throughout nonprofits and organizations. Contrary to what is said about youth leadership programs, there are many benefits that these programs provide including, increased loyalty to the organization, increased awareness, and increased funding, as the research throughout this suggests (Redmond & Dolan, 2016). While these benefits are positive, many …

Parental Leave Policy And It's Impacts On Educators In Public Schools., Tahy Addison

Symposium of Student Scholars

Parental Leave and it’s impacts on educators within public schools. Tahy Addison Candidate for the B.S. in Human Services with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Social Innovation Department of Social Work and Human Services

Dr. Jennifer A. Wade-Berg, Research Mentor

Abstract

Public Law 103-3 cited as the Family and Medical leave Act of 1993, was enacted to grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was created for Americans who feel that their career takes valuable time away from their children and loved ones. FMLA allows eligible employees up to 12-weeks of …

Population And Income Differences Of Metro Atlanta, Andrew Anderson

Symposium of Student Scholars

POPULATION AND INCOME DIFFERENCES OF METRO ATLANTA

Abstract

This study examined the population and median income among Asian, Black, and White residents within the immediate Metropolitan Atlanta area. The objective of this project was to determine differences in population and income within these counties, determining if there were any notable disparities. The information studies population and income numbers from 2019 of the U.S. Census via the American Community Survey. The areas of focus are Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. The population data is represented on a Dot Density map which plots a dot for every 3,000 individuals of …

Implementing A Deliberate Neologism About The Filipino-American Identity Crisis, Gabrielle Sarah Punzalan, Rochelle Harris Cox Dr., Angela Brill

Symposium of Student Scholars

Neologisms are words that have recently entered our language but are only just beginning to be accepted as part of daily usage. As the English language evolves, new neologisms are formed while the usage of certain words may fade into relative obscurity. New words are coined to reflect the changing moods and cultural needs of the time. When it comes to critical race theory, neologisms can be used as a method of spreading awareness and addressing a problem. The Filipino American community is a marginalized group that experiences identity disturbance from the duality of both their nationality and ethnicity. Furthermore, …

Examining Student Well-Being: The Development And Initial Validation Of The Psychological Vulnerability And Hardiness Scale, Kimberly D. Gomes

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: Stress is a significant concern for undergraduate students, with some experiencing clinical levels of distress. Psychological vulnerability and hardiness are constructs that evaluate an individual’s sensitivity to stressors and protective factors related to maladaptive responses to distress. However, no measure has been developed to assess their combined effect.

Method: The present study examined the factor structure and correlates of the Psychological Vulnerability and Hardiness Scale (PVHS) in two samples (i.e., traditional university students and student veterans). Items were created through focus groups with occupational therapists who have experience assessing both constructs in university students. Factor structure and model …

Rural And Urban Influence On Intragroup Microaggressions Of Southeastern Filipino-Americans, Gabey Ramos

Symposium of Student Scholars

After considerable assessment, research has identified the significance of intragroup prejudice through the form of microaggressions. Microaggressions, in terms of intergroup dynamics, are a relatively new phenomenon, but literature on intragroup dynamics is arising alongside with it and provides a different relational perspective. By factoring in a multitude of variables, literature has suggested that the concept of intragroup microaggressions is a multidimensional behavior that varies amongst different Asian groups. By focusing even more so on the micro-level of ethnicity, most literature on the topic is based on model minority Asians in the United States’ West, Midwest, or Northeastern areas. That …

Does Cortisol Respond To A Social Perturbation In Captive Bonobos?, Tiffany Ly

Symposium of Student Scholars

All animals are influenced by their environment. For social species, this means that changes in group size or composition can have long-lasting effects on survival or reproduction. When these social species are placed in captivity and new individuals are introduced suddenly by zookeepers or researchers, these events can lead to stress by changing established dominance hierarchies. For example, these interactions can cause stress hormones—like cortisol in primates and humans—to be released in response to meeting unfamiliar individuals. We took advantage of an introduction event happening at a captive research and conservation facility to better understand how introducing a new female …

Immigration And Food Security: Assessing Levels Of Food Security Among Cabo Verdean Immigrant Households And Their Use Of Public Food Assistance Programs, Alexandria Seigler

Symposium of Student Scholars

On February 24, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security implemented the new public charge rule, which impacts new immigrants to the United States. An immigration officer must decide whether the person applying for a green card or visa will become a “public charge,” meaning that they will likely become dependent on government benefits. This project is part of a Diplomacy Lab team of KSU faculty and students sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. We are researching the experiences of new Cabo Verdean immigrants to the United States. My specific research focuses on food security and the use of public …

Implications Of Visual Social Access On The Welfare And Behavior Of Shelter Dogs, Christina M. Walthers, Madison J. Pattillo, Jessie A. Catchpole, Lauren E. Faulkner, Lauren N. Mitchell, Allison L. Martin

Symposium of Student Scholars

Animal shelter environments have many stressful factors that impact the welfare of shelter dogs, such as lack of predictability and control, and social isolation. Social isolation has been found to increase abnormal behavior and lead to poorer adoption outcomes. Providing visual access to shelter dogs is a relatively easy environmental modification that increases social opportunities and allows for more predictability and control over the environment, potentially improving welfare. To investigate the impact of visual access on the behavior of dogs, we used a within-subject design, conducting 5-min focal observations four times weekly before, during, and after visual access was provided …

Geographic Study Of Latinx Immigrant-Owned Markets In Cobb County, Georgia, Brittney Brown

Symposium of Student Scholars

Immigrant-owned businesses allow for immigrants to establish themselves in a foreign country and can also provide a sense of community to other immigrants living in the same area. Immigrants tend to settle in areas where there are others of the same nationality and speak the same languages, because it provides immigrants with a social connection. Immigrant-owned businesses can be indicative of an ethnoburb, which is defined as a notable cluster of an ethnic minority population in a suburban context. With a focus on Latinx immigrant-owned markets in Cobb County, Georgia, this study aims to find the connection between Latinx immigrant-owned …

From Displaced To Our Place: Using An Educational Narrative To Build Community In A Displaced Community, Morgan Frederick

Symposium of Student Scholars

Thomasville heights is a displacement neighborhood for people pushed out by Atlanta’s Urban Renewal projects. Thomasville Heights remains a casualty of a system of economic segregation. Under this system of segregation these neighborhoods are left in detrimental states. It is in places like Thomasville Heights where the phrase “place matters” becomes a call to action. A town of 6000 residents and only one elementary school, Thomasville heights is bordered by multiple freight yards, a cemetery, landfills, and Atlanta’s US penitentiary, just a 5-minute walk from that one elementary school. There remains a vast difference between that of low-income urban, and …

Cobb County: A Tapestry Of Diversity, Tim Willson

Symposium of Student Scholars

Named for former senator Thomas Cobb, Cobb County is a major Metro-Atlanta county. Situated north-west of Atlanta, and touched by 3 Interstates, it has become a place that many call home. With a population of 760K, it is the 3^rd most populous county in Georgia. While working on a direct applied research project about Hispanic communities in Marietta for the Marietta Museum of History, I wanted to show how Cobb County’s population has become distinct yet diverse. More than just standard demographics, ESRI has developed a tapestry to describe America’s neighborhoods and broken them down into LifeMode Groups. Each …

Ksu Student Anxiety Around Mass Shootings, Patrick Kielly, Angel Jaimes, Chris Gold, Madison Wilcox, Zach Peagler, Camari Stanley, Bailey St. Germain, Philip Williams-Jones, Nick Cotter

Symposium of Student Scholars

This research will examine the relationships among generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and fear of mass shootings, particularly for members of minority and low socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Previous research has examined the various types of mass public shootings and which ones receive more media attention. Previous research has also examined potential causes of mass shootings, ways to prevent them, and areas where mass shootings are common. There is little research on different types of anxiety (generalized and social) and how those correlate to fear of mass shootings, especially for minority groups in college. To examine this relationship, we will administer …

An Archival Study Of The Walnut Grove Plantation And The Young Family, Jennifer Billingsley

Symposium of Student Scholars

An Archival Study of the Walnut Grove Plantation and the Young Family

By Jennifer Billingsley

The Walnut Grove Plantation is situated near the confluence of the Etowah River and Pettit Creek in Cartersville, an area rich with history. The history of Walnut Grove is far-reaching into the past, beginning in the 1800s with the arrival of the family of Robert Maxwell Young from Spartanburg, South Carolina. As a location for the Kennesaw State University Archaeology Field School taught by Dr. Terry Powis, some basic knowledge about the property and family has previously been compiled with a focus on the Civil …

Make Your Wishes Known: Understanding The Challenges And Barriers For Providing Effective Ethics Consults To Low-Income African American Men, Ruth Nwefo

Symposium of Student Scholars

The distrust of the U.S. health care system is prevalent, especially within the African American (AA) community. This distrust is largely based on infamous cases such as the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment and experiments conducted by James Marion Sims on slave women without anesthesia. While these experiments along with many others further advanced medicine, they severed trust between health care institutions and the African American community, bringing upon repercussions still felt today. Although many steps have been taken to rebuild trust in the health care system by establishing effective ethical guidelines, more needs to be done in terms of rebuilding the …

A Look Into The History Of Racial Diversity In The Congregation Of The Cathedral Of Christ The King, Devlin Mcelrone

Symposium of Student Scholars

This paper aims to assess the history of the Cathedral of Christ the King, a Catholic church in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, in terms of diversity. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the diversity of the church congregation in terms of race, while also focusing to a lesser extent on socioeconomic background and age. The area the church is in is primarily composed of upper-middle-class white families and it was through this observation that I came upon this topic. To investigate this issue, the first method used was spot sampling and constant monitoring of the congregation …

Kill Zones And Their Use During The American Civil War: An Archaeological Review Of The Battle Of Pickett’S Mill, Jeremy Wolfe

Symposium of Student Scholars

While not well known in the list of battles during the Atlanta Campaign late in the American Civil War, it is marked as an overwhelming Confederate victory in the face of looming defeat in the war itself. With the Union suffering nearly two thousand casualties, the tactics and strategies used by the Confederate army no doubt aided in their victory. During the battle, Union soldiers were drawn into a ravine where Confederate soldiers could easily fire down on them. The Union men followed the ravine up into a flat area where they were then fired on again with accurate rifle …

Effects Of Essential Oils On Shelter Dog Behavior, Madison Pattillo

Symposium of Student Scholars

Shelter environments are stressful for dogs due to loud noises and unfamiliar surroundings. Dogs rely heavily on scent information, and exposure to some scents has shown reductions in activity and vocalizations in shelter dogs. We investigated the effects of two calming (lavender and vetiver) and two stimulating (lemon and rosemary) essential oils on crate position and active, resting, and stress behaviors. Observations were conducted for 5-min intervals eight times per week, with observations split between baseline and scent exposure. Our preliminary analysis using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test found that dogs exposed to lavender (n = 13), lemon (n = 9), …

A Pilot Study Investigating Adopted Children’S Cultural Identity From Adopting Parents’ Perspective, Alyssa Mcveigh

Symposium of Student Scholars

Adopted children are faced with challenges of identity and a sense of belonging within their adopted family and environments. Research regarding adopted children suggests that their cultural identity is developed by the experiences they have within their biological culture such as, participating in holidays, meeting individuals who are from the same background or visiting their biological country. The goal of this pilot study was to explore the perspectives of adopting parents on their adopted children's cultural identity development, laying a foundation for the next study that will examine adopted children’s (college students) perspective. Ten adopting parents from The United States …

Student Loan Debt Impacts On Choosing A Field Of Study, Lance Mcgonigle

Symposium of Student Scholars

Student Loan Debt Impacts on Choosing a Field of Study

Abstract

Lance McGonigle – Email: lmcgonig@students.kennesaw.edu

Student loan debt has been steadily rising over the last handful of decades, and many students who take these loans have little to no knowledge about the financial challenges that these loans can bring. This research is aimed to understand how student loan debt impacts a students’ field of study choice during their time as a college student, or if this has any affect at all. In doing a qualitative, humanistic study; exploratory research was conducted using inductive reasoning along with the use of …

Impact Of Human Presence And Visual Access On Barking Behavior In Shelter Dogs, Emily W. Dowling, Jessie A. Catchpole, Christina M. Walthers, Madison J. Pattillo

Symposium of Student Scholars

Shelters can be stressful for dogs due to lack of predictability and control, social isolation, and busy environments. Providing dogs with more social opportunities and environmental predictability may improve their welfare. Barking may indicate stress and contribute to noise levels that are harmful to dogs and people. We investigated the impact of human presence and line of sight on barking. We manipulated line of sight by partially removing a crate barrier to allow the dogs visual access to other dogs and a better view of the room. We collected data on barking on 17 focal dogs as well as overall …

Anti-Vaxxers: Parents Fighting Science, Katie West

Symposium of Student Scholars

Immunizing children helps protect the health of our community, especially those people who cannot be immunized. Yet, since 1996 after a study was released that linked autism to vaccinations, there has been a trend of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. What are the demographics of the parents who believe their children are better off without vaccines? By knowing where these parents live and what decisions they make for their children’s education, counties and medical professionals can provide education and address their concerns.

My research involves data on 116,141 kindergarten classes from 2000-2015 in California. The two vaccine exemption options …

Why Does An Ex-Offender Reoffend?, Jacob Rybak

Symposium of Student Scholars

What leads to an offender to go back to prison? Iowa has collected data tracking recidivism to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs for released offenders. This data set includes the following for all of the offenders: age groups, type of release (parole vs being discharged at the end of their sentence), race, sex, year of release, supervising district, original offense, and whether they recidivated. For the offenders who return to prison, the data set includes measures on days to return, type of recidivism (technicality or new crime), and what the specific offense was that caused their return.

In the …

On The Front Lines Of Fire: How Do We Save Their Lives?, Cathrine Jatta

Symposium of Student Scholars

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports that the United States depends on about 1.1 million firefighters to protect its citizens and property from fire. NIOSH adds that approximately 336,000 are career firefighters; 812,000 are volunteers; and 80 to 100 die in the line of duty each year. NIOSH investigates each fatality individually for the cause and prevention. In contrast, my research will look at a complete dataset of 2005 firefighter fatalities and see if any of the following variables may predict firefighter death: age, cause of death, property type, type of duty (e.g. on-duty, training), and …

Investigating The Effects Of Wording On Perceptions Of Online Dog Adoption Advertisements, Sarah Barker

Symposium of Student Scholars

Investigating the Effects of Wording on Perceptions of Online Dog Adoption Advertisements

Sarah M. Barker1, Allison L. Martin1, Angela S. Kelling2, Megan L. Wilson3 , & Suma Mallavarapu1

1 Department of Psychological Science, Kennesaw State University

2 Department of Psychology, University of Houston Clear-Lake

3 Department Psychology, Georgia State University

Abstract

Dog adoption advertisements provide important behavioral and physical information about each dog to potential adopters. As potential adopters increasingly use the internet to find their next pet (Workman & Hoffman, 2015), online adoption advertisements have become an important part of the pet adoption process. Online adoption advertisements vary considerably …

Eradicating Zebra Mussels: What Works?, Elijah Davies

Symposium of Student Scholars

The invasion of U.S lakes and rivers by the invasive species of zebra mussels called Dreissena polymorpha has caused catastrophic harm to the local ecosystem by reproducing and outcompeting native mussel species as well as harm to pipes leading into water sources by binding to surfaces and reproducing to the point that the mussels clog pipes. In addition, recreation areas must be closed due to the sharp shells making areas unusable. In the past, research has focused on individual molluscicides and their eradication of zebra mussels, as well as their effect on native flora and fauna. My research will contrast …