Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceptions Of Soring In Tennessee Walking Horses, Hannah Medford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of soring in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry. Although a limited amount of research has focused on the practice, this is the first known study to utilize a criminological lens to better understand the perceptions and motivations of its use. The study relies upon data collected from Tennessee Walking Horse trainers, event attendees, and Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs), which are analyzed via a mixed-methods approach. Agnew’s (1998) theory on the causes of animal abuse serves as the theoretical framework for this analysis. Results provide a moderate amount of support for …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Homeless Chronicity, And Age At Onset Of Homelessness, Joseph T. Tucciarone Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Childhood adversity is associated with numerous negative outcomes across multiple domains, including mental and physical health, interrelationships, and social functioning. Notably, research suggests that childhood adversity has a dose-response relationship with these outcomes; that is, greater numbers of adverse experiences in childhood are associated with worse outcomes. These outcomes overlap with many risk factors of homelessness. This study sought to address two questions: 1) Does a dose-response relationship exist between childhood adversity and chronic homelessness? 2) Does childhood adversity negatively predict the age at which homelessness first occurs? Adults experiencing homeless who are accessing homeless services in the Tri-Cities area …

Exposure To Suicide Within College Students: A Replication Study, Ryan Woodzell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. College students have increased exposure to suicidal ideation and deaths by suicide and may experience suicidal ideation as a means of escape from emotional pain or from severe psychopathology. There are a number of risk factors that are present which make a person more susceptible to dying by suicide. One of those risk factors is past exposure to suicide. The present study is an analysis of the exposure to suicide that is present on a college campus. This report includes an in-depth review of the literature on suicide exposure, …

Children Of A One-Eyed God: Impairment In The Myth And Memory Of Medieval Scandinavia, Michael David Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using the lives of impaired individuals catalogued in the Íslendingasögur as a narrative framework, this study examines medieval Scandinavian social views regarding impairment from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Beginning with the myths and legends of the eddic poetry and prose of Iceland, it investigates impairment in Norse pre-Christian belief; demonstrating how myth and memory informed medieval conceptualizations of the body. This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference, in the Norse world, was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that …

The Ill Man: An Exploration Of Chronic Illness Disclosure Within Masculine Culture, Matthew Daggett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Masculine culture is known for teaching men to be strong, independent, and in control; however, the presence of chronic illness creates challenges for men when attempting to uphold a dominant masculine identity and make disclosure decisions about sharing illness information. This study explores the intersection between illness related self-disclosure and masculine culture. Utilizing qualitative methods, it examines the challenges chronically ill men face when making decisions about self-disclosure. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five men (N=5) who have one or more chronic illnesses. Transcripts were analyzed and coded using grounded theory to identify emergent themes. The analysis revealed three primary …

Introducing A New Prevention Of True Self And Cognitive Dissonance Intervention To Improve Help-Seeking For Female College Students With A Risk Of An Eating Disorder, Margaret A. Hance

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, eating disorders affect approximately 20 million women annually (National Institutes of Health, 2011). With such a high prevalence, ensuring help-seeking in individuals with eating disorders is critical. A previously-supported eating disorder prevention approach includes cognitive dissonance intervention (CDI). CDI’s purpose is to change a person’s behavior to reflect their attitude or cognition. While true self intervention has not been with previously been applied to eating disorders, it has been efficacious in improving psychological risk factors associated with eating disorder risk. The current study combined true self and CDI to test a more holistic prevention tool (i.e. …

Religiosity, Parental Support, And Formal Volunteering Among Teenagers, Isaac Paintsil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Few countries can boast of having the culture of formal volunteering seen in the United States. In explaining this phenomenon, many empirical studies have found religiosity significant in predicting behaviors among young adults, adults, and the elderly. However, teens (13 – 17 years) have not attracted much attention from researchers, though they possess the time and resources most needed to volunteer. Using data from the National Study on Youth and Religion (NSYR) Wave 1, this study examines the relationship between formal volunteering and teens’ individual (religious salience and religious experience) and collective religiosity (religious tradition, church attendance, and religious youth …

The Unsung Hero Character: A Harbinger Device Of Misfortune, Eutimio Talavera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis introduces an obscure storytelling device, The Unsung Hero character, as one way of examining how movies function as stories. This character is often overlooked, as it frequently cloaks its idiosyncrasies, thus it lacks any apparent signs of internal conflict. This analysis foregrounds the character’s overall functionality, found only in rare instances and typically in the story of a movie. With effective implementation in a story, as a functional harbinger device, brief appearances of The Unsung Hero character demonstrate flashpoints or disclosures of a forthcoming misfortune in the story. This movie analysis shows how The Unsung Hero character functions …

A Better Predictor Of Nfl Success: Collegiate Performance Or The Nfl Draft Combine?, Michael Gallagher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

NFL teams spend massive sums to ensure they are prepared for the future, but how should they determine whom that future includes? This study set out to find what predicts NFL success more accurately – collegiate in-game performance or the NFL Draft Combine. In the sample of 2007-2012 first-round picks, 191 athletes were measured in three NFL Draft Combine drills, two physical components, and a varying amount of ingame collegiate and NFL performance statistical categories, dependent on position. Secondarily, this work examined Power 5 and non-Power 5 players to determine if attending a more prolific program was predictive of NFL …

A Systematic Assessment Of Socio-Economic Impacts Of Prolonged Episodic Volcano Crises, Justin Peers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Uncertainty surrounding volcanic activity can lead to socio-economic crises with or without an eruption as demonstrated by the post-1978 response to unrest of Long Valley Caldera (LVC), CA. Extensive research in physical sciences provides a foundation on which to assess direct impacts of hazards, but fewer resources have been dedicated towards understanding human responses to volcanic risk. To evaluate natural hazard risk issues at LVC, a multi-hazard, mail-based, household survey was conducted to compare perceptions of volcanic, seismic, and wildfire hazards. Impacts of volcanic activity on housing prices and businesses were examined at the county-level for three volcanoes with a …

Correlates Between Childhood Trauma And Reproductive Health Behaviors Among Women In Appalachia, Haley Metcalf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The lasting effects of childhood trauma into adulthood have been well corroborated by research from a variety of sources. Previous research has found a vast number of psychological, behavioral, and health related outcomes that are negatively affected by victimization in childhood. This piece strives to assess the correlates between childhood trauma and adult reproductive behavior and well-being for women living in Appalachia. The NCIPC has found that residents of Appalachia are at higher risks for both experiencing childhood traumas and poor health outcomes (2017). To create long-term positive reproductive health behaviors among Appalachian women, it is essential to examine how …

Cooking Lessons: Oral Recipe Sharing In The Southern Kitchen, Alana Claxton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes oral recipe sharing practices as they emerge in Southern cooking. Researcher and participants were immersed in cooking recipes together in a qualitative research method that combined interactive interviewing with sensory ethnography. Findings revealed a category of oral recipe sharing practices that is missing from the literature: cooking lessons. This study identified cooking lessons as a distinct recipe sharing practice and worked to further operationalize and concretize such practices in hopes of spurring further research.

Pocket Ace: Neglect Of Child Sexual Abuse Survivors In The Aces Study Questionnaire, Robyn Dolson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1998, a seminal study on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and subsequent health risks catapulted ACEs and the study questionnaire into the zeitgeist. However, its childhood sexual abuse (CSA) item is problematic as it requires the perpetrator have been 5-years or older than the victim. To assess whether some survivors’ CSA is not identified by the current item, whether their exclusion prevents access to services requiring a four-threshold ACE score, and how their health outcomes compared to other CSA groups and controls, an international sample of 974 women completed an online survey assessing their current health and CSA history using …

Game, Set, And Match: A Content Analysis On The Commentating Of Tennis Broadcasters For The 2018 Us Open Championship Weekend, Ana Gerbasi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown a difference on the athletes’ portrayal based on gendered language use on television broadcasting of sporting events. A content analysis on the 2018 Tennis US Open Championship Weekend for both men’s and women’s tennis matches explains the structure of the broadcasting commentating done by the network that has the rights to this tournament. The study looks at different categories of the content of the comments and the descriptors that are used to refer to both female and male athletes. Framing and priming theories were the theoretical frameworks for this study. Findings revealed no significant change was …

Pyschosocial Well-Being And Efforts To Quit Smoking In Pregnant Women Of South-Central Appalachia, Brittney Stubbs

Undergraduate Honors Theses

A sample of 1,031 pregnant women from five prenatal practices participated in Tennessee Intervention for Pregnant Smokers (TIPS), an expanded 5A’s (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) program. Stress, self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and disordered eating were hypothesized to differ among three groups: pregnant women who never smoked, pregnant women who smoked but quit prior to birth, and pregnant women who smoked and did not quit prior to birth. Smokers who quit were lower in stress and higher in self-esteem than those who did not quit. Non-smokers were lowest in stress and depression, and highest in self-esteem. These findings may lead to …

Trauma-Informed Care: Implementation Efforts In Northeast Tennessee, Kaelyn E. Bishop, Andrea D. Clements, Valerie Hoots

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Trauma has been found to be highly prevalent and associated with many negative health and social outcomes (i.e., heart disease, higher suicide risk, high-risk behaviors) in the general population. Despite these associations, trauma detection is relatively rare in service-providing organizations. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a proposed solution that encourages trauma detection, understanding the symptoms associated with trauma, and treating trauma while actively avoiding re-traumatization to the service user. Although research about TIC efficacy has been fairly limited, there are some promising potential benefits of the practice to the client, provider, and the population as a whole. For this study, we …

Self-Rated Health, Healthcare Satisfaction, Healthcare Adherence, And Medical Mistrust: The Moderating Role Of Rurality, Stephanie Alu

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study is part of a broader study called the Women’s Reproductive Health Survey (WRHS) which aimed to examine various aspects of women’s life experiences. This study examined the moderating effect of rurality on several factors of healthcare in a sample of women between the ages of 18 and 50. Self-rated health (SRH) was hypothesized to predict healthcare satisfaction, healthcare adherence, and medical mistrust. Furthermore, rurality was hypothesized to weaken the relationships between SRH and healthcare satisfaction and adherence; it was further hypothesized to exacerbate the relationship between SRH and medical mistrust. A survey containing a single-item measure of …

Coercive And Deceptive Predictors Of Sexual Risk: The Moderating Role Of Self-Esteem, Morgan Barker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Risky sexual practices can lead to concerning public health issues, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy. Coercive or deceptive behaviors by one’s partner to engage in risky practices may be one factor contributing to sexual risk. This study examined experiences of sexual risk coercion and deception, including partner sexual infidelity, coerced condom nonuse, and fear of negative partner reaction to condom request, as predictors of engagement in sexual risk behaviors, including condom use, safer sex communication, and lifetime number of sexual partners. Self-esteem was examined as a moderator. College students (N = 216) were recruited through the …

Mindfulness And Religiosity/Spirituality As Protecting Factors For Internalizing Symptoms Associated With Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Moderated Moderation Model, Kayla Heineken, Diana Morelen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events during a person’s early life that can influence their later mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. Internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression are common mental health outcomes associated with these events. Two factors, religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and mindfulness, are possible protecting factors to help lessen the effect of traumatic experiences on later mental health. This study examined whether R/S and mindfulness are protective factors in the relationship between ACEs and future internalizing symptoms. Further, this study examined whether the impact of R/S was influenced by an individual’s mindfulness (moderated moderation). Participants (N = …

Trans Stories, Trans Voices: How The Internet Empowers Transgender Creators To Have Agency In Trans Fiction, Pepper J. Heifner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Although many advocates believe that the increased representation of transgender people in mainstream fiction will lead to more understanding for the transgender community, many transgender scholars (Page, Richards) are critical of representation that is created without any involvement of actual transgender people. Some fear that the more radical perspectives of trans lives are being erased and replaced with a homogenous idea of the kinds of trans people who are “acceptable” (cárdenas). To avoid this homogeneity, it is important to allow for a multiplicity of trans perspectives and empower transgender people to have agency over their own narratives.

The goal of …

The Function Of Internet Memes In Helping Ems Providers Cope With Stress And Burnout, Caroline Drury

Undergraduate Honors Theses

EMS personnel tend to face higher burnout rates than those in similar professions, which makes them more likely to make mistakes, engage in safety-compromising behaviors, and get injured. This project examines humor used in the form of Internet memes as a coping mechanism. Internet memes are modifiable, replicable units of cultural transmission that are passed and gain influence through the Internet. I applied the Maslach Burnout Inventory to EMS related memes on the website Reddit. I found that memes that dealt with burnout typically referenced non-traumatic factors as being the source of burnout, and that these memes would often lead …

Relationship Between Joint Attention And Language In Multiparous And Uniparous Households, Hannah C. Manis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The present study was designed to examine differences in the effect of the number of children in the household (also known as “parity”) on the relationship between initiating joint attention (IJA) and language development. We reasoned that infants who are only children (i.e., in uniparous homes), relative to infants who have one or more siblings (i.e., in multiparous homes), would have more opportunity to engage in IJA, and would, therefore, acquire a larger number of object labels. We tested the hypotheses that: 1) there would be a positive correlation between the number of IJA bids and language overall, and 2) …

The Effects Of Two Novel Anti-Inflammatory Compounds On Prepulse Inhibition And Neural Microglia Cell Activation In A Rodent Model Of Schizophrenia, Heath W. Shelton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown elevated neuroinflammation in a large subset of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. A pro-inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), has been directly linked to this neuroinflammation. This study examined the effects of two TNFα modulators (PD2024 and PD340) produced by our collaborators at P2D Bioscience, Inc., to alleviate auditory sensorimotor gating deficits and reduce microglial cell activation present in the polyinosinic:polycytidylic (Poly I:C) rodent model of schizophrenia. Auditory sensorimotor gating was assessed using prepulse inhibition and microglial activation was examined and quantified using immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy, respectively. Both PD2024 and PD340 alleviated auditory sensorimotor gating deficits …

Effects Of An Electronic Visual Activity Schedule On Independence For A Student With Severe Disability, Ashwag Alghamdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of an electronic visual activity schedule (eVAS; i.e., FIRST THEN Visual Schedule application) paired with the system of least prompts on the latency period and level of independence that a fifth-grade student with Intellectual Disability needed to transition throughout the day. Also investigated were the value that the teacher and student placed on the use of an eVAS to teach daily life and school routines instead of typical instruction (e.g., traditional visual schedule) and the student’s ability to generalize the use of the eVAS across instructors and materials (display). An ABAB single case design was …

Becoming A Master Manager: An Analysis Of Snap Recipient Stories Of Navigating Government Assistance, Kallie Gay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines experiences of utilizing government assistance in the United States. It focuses on the ways in which persons participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) communicatively managed their lives in relation to their role in the program. Specifically, the research reveals that SNAP recipients are master managers. After synthesizing the pre-existing body of research concerning social assistance in the U.S. and its effects on those who utilize it, the author argues that sharing the stories of marginalized groups can serve to reduce stigma surrounding government assistance participation. Employing a Feminist Standpoint Theory sensibility to elicit such stories, …

Religious Attendance, Surrender To God, And Suicide Risk: Mediating Pathways Of Feeling Forgiven By God And Psychopathology, Kelley Pugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is a national public health concern, and college students may be at increased risk. Symptoms of psychopathology (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depression) may contribute to risk, whereas religiosity (i.e., religious attendance, surrendering to God, and feeling forgiven by God) may reduce risk. Students from a rural southeastern university (N=249) completed self-report measures. Serial mediation analyses indicate that attendance and surrender to God are inversely- predictive of suicide risk, both directly and through the indirect pathways of feeling forgiven by God (1st order mediator) and psychopathology (2nd order mediators). In all models, specific indirect effects occurred through feeling forgiven by …

An Investigation Into The Structure Of Self-Control, Parker A. Dreves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-control has been measured using a variety of methods including self-report measures, cognitive inhibition tasks, delay discounting and delay of gratification tasks, and persistence and willpower tasks. Although these are all theoretically linked to processes involved in self-control, recent evidence has shown that these diverse measurement techniques relate only minimally to one another. Assuming that self-control is a reflective construct, this would indicate that many of these tasks are poor indicators of self-control. The present research challenges the common assumption that self-control is a reflective construct and instead proposes that self-control is a formative construct. Conceptualizing self-control as a formative …

Factionalism In The Democratic Party 1936-1964, Seth Manning

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The period of 1936-1964 in the Democratic Party was one of intense factional conflict between the rising Northern liberals, buoyed by FDR’s presidency, and the Southern conservatives who had dominated the party for a half-century. Intertwined prominently with the struggle for civil rights, this period illustrates the complex battles that held the fate of other issues such as labor, foreign policy, and economic ideology in the balance. This thesis aims to explain how and why the Northern liberal faction came to defeat the Southern conservatives in the Democratic Party through a multi-faceted approach examining organizations, strategy, arenas of competition, and …