Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Power Of Protective Factors: A Framework For Mental Health Action And Education, Rich Stowell

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Mental health advocates, practitioners, and research have long used the framework of risk factors and protective factors to understand mental health. This article examines the origins of the concept of protective factors and describes how it contributes to the applications of resources in the mental health space.

Discovering Your Family In Digital Libraries, Jeremy Myntti

Faculty Publications

Presentation on using digital libraries in family history research for the BYU Family History Library webinar series.

Vanguards Of Change In The "Georgia Of The North": Youth Activism In The New Jersey Civil Rights Movement, 1935-1955, A Digital History Project, Emily Peterson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although often left out of common narratives around the civil rights movement, New Jersey provides a compelling setting to examine the Black freedom struggle and how it continues into our world today. Using primary source research focused around African American youth in Montclair, Newark, Plainfield, and Princeton, I created a digital history website designed to present the pivotal role Black youth played in shaping the civil rights struggles in the mid-nineteenth century. By highlighting how youth activism in New Jersey advanced efforts for racial justice in the state and facilitated regional and national collaboration, this website helps us understand the …

Lack Of Women In Federal Level Politics In The United States, Ellie Romans Draper

Ballard Brief

Women comprise 50.5% of the United States population, but only 28% of all officeholders in the 2023 US Congress. The scarcity of female role models in politics—caused by societal expectations, inadequate candidate recruitment, and a lack of interest in political leadership —contributes to a shortage of women in politics. Further, the double bind imposes contradictory expectations upon women, affecting their political ambition and others’ perceptions of their competence. As a result, there are policy gaps, especially in areas that affect women and their communities. Women’s underrepresentation also undermines democracy because the government is unable to reflect the interests of the …

Mass Shootings In The United States, Sydney Livingston

Ballard Brief

High rates of mass shootings are becoming a uniquely American problem; the US makes up 73% of the world’s mass shootings, yet makes up only 4.25% of the world’s population. School shootings, in particular, have increased dramatically in the US since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, an event many perpetrators have since drawn upon as inspiration. There is a strong divide of opinions in the nation regarding how firearm deaths should be reduced, which has complicated and slowed progress in identifying effective solutions. Each mass shooting causes additional shootings to occur, and each one takes a toll on …

Mental Health Challenges Among Physicians In The United States, Kase Haas

Ballard Brief

Physicians in the United States experience elevated mental health challenges compared to the general population of the US and other professional groups. Owing to the significant demands placed on their time, emotional resilience, and effectiveness, many physicians in the United States encounter mental health challenges that surpass the national average by approximately 1.5 times. Because of these challenges, physicians hesitate to seek help due to licensure complications, stigmatization, and a culture of perfectionism and independence. As a result, physicians are more likely to develop habits of substance abuse, especially alcohol. Rates of alcohol abuse are about 3 times higher among …

Key Elements Of A File Format Strategy, Tyler Thorsted

Faculty Publications

Within the Digital Preservation Community there are many references to policies on file formats, acceptable file formats, preservation policies and strategies, risk matrices, and action plans. All have the intention of defining and describing file formats and guiding decisions on which formats to preserve how, and when. My team and I originally created a File Format Action Plan, which was later migrated from OneNote to Confluence and then included more strategic plans for hundreds of file formats. This paper explores which key elements should be included in an effective file format strategy and the different ways such data can be …

Estimating Hemispheric Specialization In Autistic And Neurotypical Individuals, Madeline Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

While the brain appears to be symmetrical, macroscopic differences or asymmetries between the two hemispheres emerge through careful quantitative study. Functional asymmetries can accompany these structural asymmetries, and these can be a reflection of hemispheric specialization, or the predominant hosting of macroscale functional network and its accompanying functional properties by a given hemisphere. Prior work has identified the specialization of language to the left hemisphere, visuospatial attention to the right hemisphere, and a dual specialization of executive control to both hemispheres. However, it is largely unknown how specialization is characterized at an individual level, particularly in terms of identifying the …

Real Time Tracking Of Sleep Behaviors As A Predictor Of Suicidal Ideation For Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Social Anxiety, Yong Seuk Steven Lograsso

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide continues to be a critical concern for society as one of the leading causes of death in the United States, increasing from 10.4 to 13.5 per 100,000 from 2000 to 2016. This risk is further increased up to 8 times for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors have been difficult to predict on a moment-by-moment basis, in part due to technological challenges. Suicidal ideation has been identified as an important indicator of suicidal behavior and an important measurement for predicting suicide in both neurotypical individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder. In particular, sleep disturbances are …

Pop Gugak And E-Sang: Negotiating Traditional And Pop Genre Categories In Expressions Of Identity, Jessica Ellis

Theses and Dissertations

Korean traditional music has a popularity problem among Korea's contemporary audiences; given the choice of what to listen to, few South Koreans choose to listen to gugak. To address and overcome this popularity problem, traditional Korean musicians are negotiating and reconstructing traditional Korean music by adopting, appropriating, and altering elements of Korean and international pop music. To this end, Gugak groups recently have been incorporating western musical practices and aesthetics in their performances in digital platforms (YouTube and reality television programs) and in concerts to contemporize the genre and develop a more positive relationship between Koreans and their national music. …

Predictors Of Adherence To A Brief Sleep Extension Intervention In Emerging Adults, Isabella D. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: It is uncertain what characteristics predict adherence to a brief sleep extension intervention, like that offered in primary care settings. This study examined how mental health concerns (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress), self-control, baseline sleep characteristics, and physical activity predicted adherence to a brief sleep extension intervention. Methods: 184 young adults (ages 18-25; m = 20.96) were asked to extend their nightly sleep to eight hours for one week. Sleep was tracked using actigraphy. Baseline sleep quality, baseline daytime sleepiness, depression, anxiety, stress, self-control, and physical activity were assessed. Results: Poorer baseline sleep quality predicted better adherence (p = 0.002). …

Does Media Facilitate Parent-Child Race Discussions? A Mixed-Method Study Of White Families, Children's Media, And Implicit Bias During Early Childhood, J. Andan Sheppard

Theses and Dissertations

The study aimed to investigate through mixed methods how White parents approach race discussions with their children, the factors influencing the discussions, and the implications for promoting constructive conversations. The qualitative analysis of the race discussions revealed that White parents preferred ambiguous or scientific language and diverted the discussion to topics other than race, such as gender or general body characteristics. Discussions often involved referencing personal examples of individuals from racial minority backgrounds, even if they were not personally acquainted. The quantitative analysis expanded and clarified these findings, with parent characteristics, such as education level and the frequency of color-evasive …

Predicting The Best Birds And Bees: Parental-Efficacy As A Mediator Between Parental Factors And Parent-Child Sex Communication, Meg O. Jankovich

Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature on parent-child sex communication (PCSC) has identified optimal sex communication as being not only frequent, but also open in quality, and proactive in timing. However, no studies have sought to understand what motivates parents to participate in this type of optimal parent-child sex communication, nor assessed these relationships longitudinally. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to inform the analysis, this study investigated parent characteristics (parent's sexual self-concept and parenting dimensions) that may longitudinally predict optimal PCSC. This study further examined whether parental sex communication efficacy mediated these relationships. The sample included 607 mother-child dyads, and the father-figure when available (mother-father-child …

A Refuge And A Bridge: Native American Women's Tribal College Experiences, Morgan Duffy

Theses and Dissertations

This study, which focuses on the experiences of Native women attending a tribal college of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, responds to the call by Baird-Olson and Ward (2000) and Almeida (1997) for research that allows Native women, or the "hidden half," to tell their stories. Scant research has examined the value of tribal schools for Native American women and the experiences they have had in relation to their reservation and college lives. Providing narratives of women's experiences can illuminate how higher education in tribal college settings holds multiple values for Native women students as it acts as a refuge and …

The Generalizability Of Proposed Theoretical Factor Models For Common Assessments For Specific Learning Disability In Reading Using A Community Sample, Sean B. Vanhille

Theses and Dissertations

Specific learning disabilities (SLD) are among the most diagnosed developmental disorders in children, with specific learning disability in reading (SLDR) as the most common. SLDR typically occurs due to deficits in phonological processing that can negatively impact decoding and/or reading comprehension skills. Reading deficits are often diagnosed using formal assessments such as the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2), the Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5), the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), and the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Battery (WJ-IV-A). I did not find any research in which the theoretical factor models proposed in the technical manuals of these assessments were …

The Dialectic Of Human Liberty In Thomas Carlyle's Past And Present And J.S. Mill's On Liberty, Kyle Belanger

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis explores the divergent arguments that Thomas Carlyle and J.S. Mill make on the subject of liberty in their most influential works, Past and Present (1843) and On Liberty (1859), respectively. Whereas Carlyle presents a corporate vision of liberty, deriving from the visionary capabilities of heroic leaders, Mill defines liberty as fundamentally rooted in individual rights and, in the third chapter of his long essay, directly critiques Carlyle in a section of On Liberty, with striking evidence that Mill responds to rhetoric found in Past and Present. Understanding their theoretical divergences provides a new vantage point with which to …

"We Say No More:" The Role Of Bodily Trauma And Hybrid Spaces In The March For Our Lives Movement, Haeley Van Der Werf

Theses and Dissertations

The youth-led March For Our Lives is founded on the idea of young people forced into advocacy by unthinkable tragedy. The movement exists in a digital age where the lines between the physical and digital have become increasingly blurred. By using the work of scholars such as Manuel Castells and Henry Jenkins as a foundation to analyze this movement, we can gain a deeper understanding of why MFOL has succeeded and failed in the ways that it has. These noted digital activism academics will be used to explore how collective anger is expressed and created through the use of personal …

Shy But Not All The Same: Adolescent Profiles Of Shyness, Self-Regulation, And Benevolent Values, Christina M. Schwartz

Theses and Dissertations

While existing research has posited shyness as a risk-factor for floundering in adolescence and emerging adulthood, not all shy young people may struggle to the same extent. Characteristics such as self-regulation and benevolent values may influence the extent to which individuals with high levels of shyness will have socio-emotional challenges. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to use a person-centered analysis to explore subgroups of adolescents with distinct levels of shyness, self-regulation, and benevolent values and to examine how these groups differ on outcomes in adolescence and in emerging adulthood. The sample for this paper consisted of 682 …

Helpful Or Harmful? The Effect Of Heritage Language Use On Perceived Maternal Closeness In United States Immigrant Families, Catalina Valdez

Theses and Dissertations

Language use patterns and parent-child relationship quality in immigrant families are both subject to change over time, and past research on the impact of immigrant children's heritage language use on various measures of well-being yields mixed results. Extending scholarship on heritage language use and immigrant family dynamics, I examine the association between different language patterns in U.S. immigrant families and mother's reports of parent-child closeness. I analyze data from 1,142 mothers when their children are in kindergarten, third grade, and fifth grade using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study "“ Kindergarten Cohort of 2010-2011. I find little variation in perceived maternal …

Captain George Cannon: One Man's Role In The Conquest Of Sugar In The Transatlantic Slave Trade, Leah Brown

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Numerous scholars have examined the transatlantic slave trade in an attempt to understand the brutal system. However, there has been little research on the “Middle Passage,” the part of the trade system when the enslaved would be boarded onto slaving vessels and forced to endure months of abuse till they landed in the Americas. This paper examines the logbook of Captain George Cannon of the slave ship Iris to understand the life of one of the slaving captains and how a seemingly regular British citizen could become such a key member of the system. It came down to political, economic, …

Understanding The Causal Relationship Between State-Level Childcare Tax Credits And Female Labor Participation, Emma K. Webster

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Childcare is an expensive commodity in the United States. However, childcare allows parents the flexibility to work while having children. This paper focuses on the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), a tax-related program intended to reduce the stress of childcare costs that could indirectly increase the female labor participation rate in each state. The paper hypothesizes that states with larger CDCTC values show higher female labor participation rates. It reviews budget constraint theory and previous papers that support the hypothesis and outlines the empirical strategy used in the research. It tests how the CDCTC affects female labor supply …

Islamophobia: The Effect Of Personal Interaction And The Media On Arab Prejudice In Spain, Isabelle Stoddard

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Throughout the western world, prejudice toward Arabs continues to be a significant issue. As the migration of Arabs into Spain continues, it is important to understand the various influences on Arab prejudice. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and analyze the influence of personal interactions and media consumption on Arab prejudice in Spain. To do so, I address several questions: does personal contact significantly change attitudes and language sentiments toward Arabs in Spain? Does the type of media consumption significantly change attitudes and language sentiments toward Arabs? To what extent do personal contact and media consumption jointly affect …

Vanguards Of Change In The "Georgia Of The North": Youth Activism In The New Jersey Civil Rights Movement, 1935-1955, A Digital History Project, Emily Peterson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

By highlighting how youth activism in New Jersey advanced efforts for racial justice in the state and facilitated regional and national collaboration, this project helps us understand the mid-twentieth century's civil rights movement as a national, not just a Southern struggle, led by youth.

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the civil rights movement, with scholars looking beyond the most prominent male leaders of the national movement in the 1960s. This project builds on the work of scholars like Martha Biondi and Tomas Sugrue who have established the significance of the Black freedom struggle in the North. …

Is Costco Worth Incentivizing? An Analysis From The City’S Perspective., Mccord Lethco

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Costco stores have significant economic implications for smaller cities, often becoming pivotal points in their development. These cities eagerly invite Costco to establish stores within their borders, offering substantial financial incentives to facilitate this growth. The effects of a new Costco store can be diverse, impacting local municipalities in both positive and negative ways. This study focuses on two key aspects: changes in sales tax revenue and property values, keeping in mind the agglomeration[1] effects that Costcos bring about.

I examine three Utah cities to estimate the impact on taxable sales and analyzes Costco's influence on residential property values …

Civilizational Security: Why The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Shows That ‘National Security’ Is Not Enough To Understand Geopolitics, Greg (Grzegorz) Lewicki

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper argues that the idea of “national security” is sometimes overwritten by “civilizational security” in security-related considerations. Civilizational security, as understood in this paper, refers to a country's security stemming from its belonging to a cultural zone or a civilization. The author clarifies the terms “a civilization,” “civilizational identity,” and “civilizational security.” Citing the examples of Poland, Ukraine, and Russia when considering the parameter of civilizational security allows us to better analyze and predict some processes, including geopolitical dilemmas and civilizational trends. It is argued that prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia misunderstood its own civilizational security …

Editor's Note, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

Claude-Henri, Comte de Saint-Simon, a father of modern sociology, observed that the history of the world alternated between two poles: organic periods (in which the social and political institutions are in harmony with the state of civilization), followed by critical periods, which are transitional and marked by conflict and destructive criticism.

Rector's Welcome, Robert Kosowski Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

With immense pleasure, we welcome the beginning of cooperation of the War Studies University with the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC). As an Organizing Partner of the 2023 ISCSC annual conference entitled "Civilizational Security", we will facilitate solutions to make the conference impactful, memorable and internationally fruitful.

Here, There, And In-Between: On The Civilizing Process And Civilizational Analysis, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

This essay presents a cautionary tale about certain problems with systematization and abstraction in comparative civilizational studies. It advocates instead for the analysis of single works, limited events, or particular figures, within larger issues pertaining to what is understood as a “civilization” or “culture”. It prioritizes certain aspects of the civilizing process: the here, or the civilizing and interpretive gaze; the there, or the Other that is the object of that gaze; and the in-between. It further suggests that insights and methods from Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans-Georg Gadamer and others from the humanities, social sciences, and philosophy can …

The Applicability Of Lessons From American Society For The European Union: Tolerance, Demographic Change, And Social Structure, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

While Americans have long tended to see our society and civilization as exceptional, in fact the civilization is primarily based on European precedent. We see ourselves, in the words of one of our most significant poets, Emma Lazarus, as the new colossus, “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp cries she... I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” We claim to be an exception; that means that we are unique, different, what many, alluding to the New Testament as viewed by the Pilgrim founding fathers, have called “a shining city upon a hill.”2 And as “a beacon of hope.”

The Economic Regions Of Chinese Civilization: A Gis-Based Analysis Of Grain Markets In China, 1736-1842, Karl Ryavec, Mark Henderson, Rocco Bowman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.