Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Masculinity-The Next Generation: Millennials, The Mrni, And Measurement Invariance, Charlotte Maria Shanaver

Theses and Dissertations

Socialization is, “the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). It is inescapable and pervasive. One of the most socialized constructs is gender. Gender roles, norms, expectations, shape how male and female identified folx move through the world and expect others to move through the world. However, this can become problematic when such norms become rigid and insurmountable. Adherence to traditional or hegemonic masculine norms, has been correlated with worse mental health outcomes (Gerdes & Levant, 2018). For decades, psychologists have utilized the Male Role Norms Inventory (Levant et al., 1992; Levant …

Stand Up Eight: Adversity, Resilience, And Career Adaptability, Samantha Schams

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by examining the relationship between adversity and career adaptability. The objectives of this study are: 1) to better understand the relationship between adversity and career adaptability. 2) to examine whether race, gender, socioeconomic status, or resilience moderate this relationship. 3) to compare career adaptability and resilience. These objectives were addressed in a quantitative analysis of survey results gathered of adults living in the United States who speak English. To test for a curvilinear relationship between adversity and career adaptability, we completed a regression analysis of the data using adversity, squared …

Gender And Ptsd: An Examination Of Socialized Masculinity As Moderator Of Ptsd Symptom Development, Kirsten Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to explain observed gender differences in PTSD risk and protective factors and subsequent PTSD symptoms by use of a Masculine Heuristic moderator variable. Drawing from heuristic and gender role theories, this study utilizes a sample of male and female trauma survivors to examine the interaction between a Masculine Heuristic style and trauma exposure in the development of PTSD symptoms. Structural Equation Modeling and moderation analysis were used to explore these constructs. Results are discussed and incorporated into current literature, while limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are explored.

Resting State Functional Connectivity In The Default Mode Network: Relationships Between Cannabis Use, Gender, And Cognition In Adolescents And Young Adults, Megan Ritchay

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States, and nearly 1 in 4 young adults are current cannabis users. The psychoactive component of cannabis, THC, is active at cannabinoid receptors, type 1, or CB1 receptors. CB1 receptors play a critical role in neural development, and chronic cannabis use causes desensitization and downregulation of these receptors. Chronic cannabis use is associated with changes in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the default mode network (DMN) in adolescents and young adults, although results are somewhat inconsistent across studies, likely due to differing methodologies. Additionally, cannabis effects appear …

“Mirrors Can Give Us Space To Imagine…” Representations Of Gender And Sexuality In Bbc’S Dracula (2020), Riana S. Slyter

Theses and Dissertations

What follows discusses how BBC’s Dracula uses character representations, scripted dialogue, and narrative to challenge and perpetuate the dominant ideologies of our society. Dracula exposes the tensions in the growing cultural acceptance of, but also increased resistance to, the fluidity of gender and sexuality in contemporary western culture. I contextualize representations of women and queer characters in Dracula with the broader issues of gender and sexuality in our current socio-political environment. Queer horror looks at Dracula as a text that arouses cultural anxieties concerning sexuality, while also attempting to illustrate fear within queer communities and subcultures. In many ways, the …

Joan Rivers: Comedy And Identity On The Road To Fashion Police, Melanie Gaw

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how Joan Rivers’ comedy content and style changed during the first 30 years of her career and how these changes impacted Rivers’ presentation of her identity as a Jewish female comedian. This project focuses on Joan Rivers’ career in two sections: her early career with its reliance on a self-deprecatory style of humor spanning roughly from her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1965 to the early 1980s, and a transitional period in her career that saw a shift toward a celebrity gossip style of humor during the 1980s. I perform textual analyses of some of …

Head Strong: Gendered Analysis Of Human Representations In Western And Central Continental European Iron Age Iconography, Christopher R. Allen

Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology

This preliminary study examines potential links between gender and sex representations in Iron Age Continental European iconography. Drawing from multiple examples such as the Glauberg statue, the statue of Bourey, and the Gundestrup Cauldron, this article reviews the different anthropomorphic images in Western European Iron Age contexts to create a method for understanding the role of gender and the human head in anthropomorphic representations. This article will form a foundation for future studies.

Facing The Past: Engendering The Study Of Iron Age Celtic Human Imagery In Continental Europe, Christopher Ray Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Iconography is an important tool in understanding the past because it may express apeople’s understanding of the world through representations of stories or figures, including human beings. The continental early Iron Age Celts left behind no written sources but did leave iconographic representations of humans in the form of full bodies as well as heads. How the Celts saw their world and how they perceived and gendered other humans or anthropomorphic beings can be partially accessed via these representations. This thesis examines a representative sample of statues and figures from Iberia, Gaul, and Central Europe from an intersectional perspective focused …

Archaeological Representation In Speculative Fiction: The Image Of The Archaeologist In Star Wars, Karissa A. Annis

Theses and Dissertations

The public presentation of archaeology in various media, especially fictional representations in print, film, TV, and video games, is a complex and slippery subject that has been an issue since the field’s inception. This thesis compares analyses of popular representations of archaeology in conventional media such as feature films to new examples of such representations that have not yet been studied. The focus of the analysis is how archaeology and archaeologists are represented in the Star Wars franchise in products that were published or released on or after 2014. These texts and images are analyzed through the multiple lenses of …

The Effects Of Instagram User Weight And Health Orientation On Perceptions Of Food Posts, Alese M. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that social factors, such as social facilitation, influence what and how much people eat (Zajonc, 1965). One key factor seems to be others’ weights; people have a tendency to dissociate themselves with obese eaters (Barthomeuf, Rousset, & Droit-Volet, 2012; McFerran, Dahl, Fitzsimons, & Morales, 2010). A pilot study was completed to assess how people viewed food photos posted to Instagram, as well as their social media habits. These findings were used in the design of the present study; the purpose of the present study is to determine whether social factors involved in eating, like others’ weight, …

German-American Wpa Murals At The Milwaukee Public Museum And National Socialist Schultafeln: A Comparative Analysis, Katherine J. Santell

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis was to systematically examine and compare the themes and styles present in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) paintings housed in the Milwaukee Public Museum to a selection of National Socialist Schultafeln in Germany. The research conducted on the WPA paintings concentrated on pieces from the A.O. Tiemann collection and other works by painters who emigrated from Germany in the early 20th century or were of German descent. This was further narrowed to an in-depth analysis of pieces that depict lake dwelling sites of the European Neolithic and Bronze Ages in both US Museums and selected …

Situating Worker Cooperatives: The Urban, Racial And Gendered Geographies Of Cooperative Development In New York City’S Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, Rebecca Wolfe

Theses and Dissertations

Worker cooperatives are gaining increased traction as an urban economic development strategy aimed to better support low-income women, immigrants and communities of color. Worker cooperatives are businesses that are owned and managed by its workers, and their supporters see them as a more equitable form of development that facilitates enhanced economic agency and access to ownership and wealth building. Reflecting and reinforcing growing cooperative momentum, New York City developed the nation’s first municipal-sponsored cooperative development initiative in 2014. The Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative (WCBDI) brings together policy makers, city administrators and nonprofit community-based organizations to provide educational programming, cooperative …

An Intersectional Analysis Of The Role Race And Gender Play In Welfare Recipients’ And Case Manager Experiences, Stephanie Baran

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of food insecurity in Milwaukee and how people receiving benefit assistance understand themselves, others and how they thought others understand them. This frame was duplicated for social workers and poverty organizations in the Milwaukee area. Using a series of theoretical viewpoints, the study utilizes racial theories, as well as, symbolic violence and annihilation to discuss how various aspects of recipients, social workers and poverty organizations interact within the theoretical margins. Taking place over one and a half years and including 350 observation hours at a local food pantry, the study found that respondents feel …

Marriage Maintenance, Miscategorization, And New Manifestations: How People Are Reinforcing And Disrupting Gender And Sexual Inequalities In Married Life, Daniel John Bartholomay

Theses and Dissertations

This research positions marriage as an institution that has historically served to privilege men, masculinity and heterosexuality. Overall, this project is intended to advance our understanding of gender and sexual inequalities in the realms of marriage and family by examining the lived experiences of married people. It draws on data from 41 in-depth interviews conducted with married people living in Wisconsin, many of whom identify as part of the LGBT+ community. Using qualitative social science methods, this research speaks to unanswered questions regarding the capacity of a more gender-fluid society to reshape key social institutions (like marriage) in ways that …

Cw Is Open To All: Post-Difference Representation And Hegemonic Time-Travel Narratives In Dc's Legends Of Tomorrow, Claire Elizabeth Hackett

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis examines how a post-difference perspective, where diversity is shallowly embraced, can influence the characters and narratives of a television show, with DC’s Legends of Tomorrow as the prime example. Legends is a great example of this because it is an ensemble show that features characters who are from different races, religions, sexualities, ages, genders and historical time periods. A post-difference lens myopically pushes the narrative that everyone in society is equal, and the discrimination faced by marginalized communities is no longer relevant. This perspective is problematic because it reinforces how whiteness is the norm in society, and the …

Partisans And Soldiers: Themes Of Gender And The Commemoration Of Jewish Resistance In The Soviet Union During World War Ii, Taylor Marie Dews

Theses and Dissertations

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, thousands of Red Army soldiers, peasants, and Jewish men, women, and children escaped imprisonment and certain death by fleeing into the vast forests of Belorussia. Using oral histories, archival websites, and survivor testimony, this thesis explores the Soviet partisan units and the Jewish partisan units and family camps that were organized in the forests and raises questions including: How do the experiences of Jewish women in the partisans compare with Jewish women who fought in the Red Army? How are the Jewish partisans remembered around the world today? What postwar …

Conformity Among College Students: The Effect Of Gender On Sexually Violent Beliefs, Hanna Christine Klecka

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual violence continues to be a global issue that yields startling statistics of victimhood among collegiate populations. This study explores relationships between gender, social influence, conformity, and gender role orientation, in addition to the impact these factors have on perceptions of sexual violence. Undergraduate students (N = 210) evaluated a vignette detailing a case of possible sexual assault after reading about decisions indicating victim blaming made by previous groups of students. The results showed one’s predisposition to conform and endorse traditional gender roles predicted the likelihood to victim blame and endorse rape myths. Additionally, results revealed that the gender of …

"Don't Be Such A Girl, I'M Only Joking!" Post-Alternative Comedy, British Panel Shows, And Masculine Spaces, Lindsay Anne Weber

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the gender disparity in British panel shows. In February 2014 the BBC’s Director of Television enforced a quota stating panel shows needed to include one woman per episode. This quota did not fully address the ways in which the gender imbalance was created. This thesis argues that the gender imbalance stems from post-feminist sensibilities and masculine-centric trends in British comedy and culture. This work demonstrates this through a discourse analysis of the opinions expressed about panel shows by the British popular press and media personalities from 2002 to 2017. The discourse analysis exposes patterns where British producers …

Which Activities Count? Gender And Socioeconomic Differences In The Conceptualization Of Physical Activity: The Role Of Leisure, Housework And Dependent Care, And Paid Work, Rachel N. Cusatis

Theses and Dissertations

Survey research on the overall health and physical activity of the United States has relied on self-reports from questions that ask about leisure-only activity. Leisure activity patterns are known to be plagued by social forces that inhibit access and opportunity for women, compared to men, and for lower-socioeconomic individuals, compared to higher-socioeconomic individuals, making the further unpacking of leisure and other time use patterns imperative. To address this, the objective of this dissertation is to assess the different pathways individuals take to engage in health-benefiting physical activity and investigate the reliability and validity of physical activity survey questions as they …

'Mother Bring The Henna': Kına Gecesi And Fragmented Imaginations Of The Nation-State, Alexandra Catrina Vieux Frankel

Theses and Dissertations

This research articulates kına gecesi (henna night) as a critical site for the production and reproduction of gendered politics in Turkey. Kına gecesi, as a women’s pre-wedding ritual, is situated at the margins of civil wedding ceremonies, and thereby intersects with wedding’s politicization in pronatalist discourses. Tropes of fertility in this ritual in concert with its proximity to marriage show it to be salient to biological, cultural, and national reproduction. I argue that women’s discourses on kına gecesi engender frangemented imaginations of the nation-state. This notion of fragmentation follows Dipesh Chakrabarty’s understanding of “provincializing” which advocates direct translation of experience …

Examining The Processes Of Social Construction On Decision-Making In Domestic Violence Probation Review Hearings, Danielle M. Romain

Theses and Dissertations

In domestic violence courts, judges and other court actors are often trained on one particular model of understanding domestic violence: the Duluth model of violence as power and control. There are, however, different theories and discourses about the causes and nature of domestic violence. Further, specialized domestic violence courts, which have become more prevalent since the 1990s, employ a problem-solving approach to domestic violence, focusing on offender accountability, rehabilitation, and victim safety. Whether these courts reduce violence and increase safety is less clear. Further, limited research exists on how offenders are processed through these courts, including post-sentencing decision-making. Given the …

The Cycle Of Exclusion In Local Print News: How News Content Reflects And Reinforces Patriarchy, Emily Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Print news has been relied upon as a source of information for centuries. Despite recent strides towards gender equality, women are persistently marginalized in news content and newsrooms. This thesis analyzed over 950 staff-written Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stories and conducted 19 interviews with both men and women staff reporters and editors to examine how patriarchy might infiltrate local print news. I analyzed how women and men authors, sources and subjects are included or excluded from the news. Furthermore, this thesis examines the gendered division of labor within the newsroom.

Gender Reflections: A Reconsideration Of Pictish Mirror And Comb Symbols, Traci N. Billings

Theses and Dissertations

The interpretation of prehistoric iconography is complicated by the tendency to project

contemporary male/female gender dichotomies into the past. Pictish monumental stone sculpture

in Scotland has been studied over the last 100 years. Traditionally, mirror and comb symbols

found on some stones produced in Scotland between AD 400 and AD 900 have been interpreted

as being associated exclusively with women and/or the female gender. This thesis re-examines

this assumption in light of more recent work to offer a new interpretation of Pictish mirror and

comb symbols and to suggest a larger context for their possible meaning. Utilizing the Canmore

database, …

Queer Literary Criticism And The Biographical Fallacy, Shawna Lipton

Theses and Dissertations

“Queer Literary Criticism and the Biographical Fallacy” engages with three fields of inquiry within literary studies: queer literary criticism, modernist studies, and author theory. By looking at the critical reception of four iconic queer modernist authors – Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Radclyffe Hall, and Virginia Woolf– this dissertation reinvestigates the relation between criticism and the figure of the author. Queer criticism-- despite its fundamental critique of identity—relies on the identity of the author when it blurs the distinction between the literary text and the author’s biography. Ultimately this work provides a deeper understanding of the queer relation to the modernist …

Head And Shoulders Above The Rest: Birch-Bark Hats And Elite Status In Iron Age Europe, Cara Melissa Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

As competition between Celtic elites increased in Iron Age continental Europe (c. 800-25/15 BC), ornamentation of the head figured prominently in status displays across the Celtic world. Mortuary and iconographic contexts reveal that headgear made of both metal and organic materials marked elite status, but materials varied regionally by gender and age throughout the Iron Age. The purpose of this project was to capitalize on the rare opportunity provided by birch-bark hats from west-central European elite burials to investigate organic headgear and the possibility that different types of headgear may have marked different social positions within the elite class. Birch-bark …

"I Know I Can't Be The Only Lesbian Out There:" An Inductive Thematic Analysis Of A Virtual Community Of Lesbian Breast Cancer Survivors, Rachael Lynn Wandrey

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority women are at a significantly greater risk for developing breast cancer (BC) than heterosexual women. Little is known about the unique BC experiences of lesbian women. The present thesis describes the findings of an inductive thematic analysis of messages posted to a large lesbian-specific discussion forum found on breastcancer.org. Fifteen themes were identified, including privileging sensation over appearance, experiencing heterosexism in medical contexts, believing others perceive a lack of distress over breast loss because of patient’s lesbian sexual orientation, feeling pressure from surgeons to get reconstructive surgery, and viewing the BC journey as a sexual-identity disclosure crisis. In …

Sardanapalus And Gender: Examining Gender In The Works Of Byron And Delacroix, Stacey Schmiesing

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the gender standards as portrayed in Lord Byron's play Sardanapalus (1824) and Eugène Delacroix's painting Death of Sardanapalus (1828). These Romantic artists were part of a movement that changed gender rules forever. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries brought about a culture that was more visual than ever and symbols of gender identity were everywhere. Rules of masculinity evolved from valuing raw power to including middle class virtues like moderation. Women continued to be objects of male desire but also began to represent the nation and its history. To explore the specific gender relationships within Byron's play and …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Levels Of Food Security And Depression, Erica K. Svojse

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has identified a variety of common correlates between food security and depression but oftentimes the data used in these analyses are not representative of the US or do not consider multiple categorical levels of the focal variables. Using data from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES), this study sought to examine the relationship between four levels of food security - full, marginal, low and very low - and depression. The findings indicate low and very low food security are significantly related to an increased risk of depression, while marginal food security is not significantly different from …

Ethnic Socialization And Ethnic Identity: Examining Intergenerational Conflict As A Moderator Among Hmong American Adolescents, Mylou Moua

Theses and Dissertations

Working from a cultural-ecological perspective, this study focused on ethnic socialization, the socialization messages that parents convey to teach children about their ethnic background in relation to ethnic identity. In this study, ethnic socialization is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that is separate from racial socialization. Six ethnic socialization subscales (e.g., Cultural Values, Ethnic Pride, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Embeddedness, Cultural History, and Preparation for Marriage) from parents' and adolescents' perspectives were examined in association with ethnic identity for 116 Hmong American parents and their adolescents. In addition, intergenerational conflict, one aspect of the nature of the parent-child relationship, was examined …

Predictors Of Perceived Belonging Among U.S. Military Men And Women, Heidi M. Pfeiffer

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to identify predictors of perceived belonging within the military unit, a factor which has been shown to promote effectiveness, satisfaction, and mental health. Online survey responses from service members, veterans, and trainees were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. It was found that perceptions of positive military leadership, larger unit size, older age, and active duty (rather than reserve/guard) service were associated with higher perceived belonging, together explaining a significant portion of variance in scores. Male gender was also found to be associated with higher perceived belonging, but the increase in variance explained by the addition of this …