Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Phytoremediation Performing Plant Species That Can Be Utilized In The Improvement Of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils, Ashley Clark*, Samuel Mutiti

Graduate Research Showcase

Heavy metal pollution is a problem associated with industrialization and development. Two major metals that are commonly mined and can enter the environment, which can jeopardize communities’ health, are copper (Cu) and lead (Pb). There are different options for reducing heavy metal pollution in the environment via remediation efforts, including physical, chemical, and biological methods. However, physical and chemical remediation can be costly and labor-intensive, making them unsuitable for regions that do not have the funds to utilize these practices. Biological remediation is a more cost-conservative practice that has been shown in many studies to be effective in the gradual …

The Influence Of Cultural Factors On Health-Seeking Behaviors Regarding Prostate Cancer Among African Immigrant Men In The United States., Kaitlin Van Voorhis, Ernest Kaninjing, Rae Walker, M E. Ogunsanya, G Asiedu, A Kokayi, M E. Young, F T. Odedina

Graduate Research Showcase

Background: African immigrants represent a rapidly growing segment of the United States immigrant population reshaping the rich diversity of US Blacks. Despite this growth, there is a dearth of research examining the impact of immigration on this subpopulation, particularly regarding chronic diseases like cancer. Little is published about whether SSAIs adapt to health behaviors more common in their new setting or remain immersed in the values, beliefs, and practices reflective of their culture of origin. To better understand drivers of health disparities in prostate cancer outcomes among Blacks, this study explored cultural factors among SSAIs to illuminate the health …

Program Evaluation Of The Macon Area Habitat For Humanity, Eric Rice

Graduate Research Showcase

Established in 1986 as a response to the urgent demand for affordable homeownership in Macon, the Macon Area Habitat for Humanity (Macon Area HFH) has achieved notable progress by constructing 98 houses to date. This comprehensive study delineates a program evaluation with the primary objective of assessing the effectiveness of Macon Area HFH in positively impacting the lower-class population and fostering an overall increase in homeownership rates within Macon-Bibb.

Specifically, the evaluation examines the organization's influence on the lower-class population through the provision of affordable housing and elucidates its role in contributing to the broader homeownership landscape in Macon-Bibb. Additionally, …

The Assessment Of The Program Theory And Processes Of Books For Keeps’ Literacy Mentoring Program, Allison Shaw

Graduate Research Showcase

The significance of reading proficiency is frequently emphasized by the time a student reaches the third grade. Third-grade reading proficiency serves as a crucial indicator of a student's potential success in high school and beyond, including college. Research indicates that a failure to attain grade-level reading proficiency by the third grade correlates with increased challenges in comprehending educational requirements and meeting the demands necessary for graduation.

This study focuses on the Books for Keeps Literacy Mentoring Program in Athens, Georgia, which is designed to cultivate supportive relationships between mentors and students, fostering enthusiasm for reading. The examination of the program …

The Overture! Then Is Here-And-Now: Hindsight Is Twenty, Twenty?, Elena Kydd

Music Therapy Theses

My existence and presence as a Black woman and graduate scholar in music therapy have allowed me to share my experience of racial trauma and oppression in the hallways of GCSU’s music therapy program. Autoethnography is the method I use to write my thesis on the relationships between Blackness, pedagogy, and music therapy. Thus, I perform an evocative autoethnographic study that allows me to share my personal experience of racial trauma and oppression within the culture of music therapy and to critique the larger social structures of whiteness that disenfranchise and dominate me and other Black student music therapists (SMTs). …

The Correlation Between Perceived Discrimination And Social Anxiety In College Students Who Identify As Lgbtq, Aleasha Chaw

Undergraduate Research

Discrimination can have many adverse effects on a college student. Stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideology, and social motivation are some of the negative impacts to the psychological well-being of those exposed to discrimination. Social interaction anxiety in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity may impact social motivation in college students. The motivation to engage in socialization on campus may be hindered by an individual’s experience with discrimination. Though a diverse student body may help lower instances of discrimination, students may still be influenced by stigmas within these groups which may impact physical and psychological behaviors. The author of the …

Contending With Covid: Examining Levels Of Anxiety Among College-Aged Adults In The Wake Of The Pandemic, Madison C. Harris

Undergraduate Research

Much is unknown about the impact of pandemics, as well as their corollary effects. Paying particular attention to the demographic characteristics of participants (gender, race/ethnicity, and familial income), this quantitative study examines differences in levels of anxiety in separate, unmatched samples of college students before and after social distancing due to COVID-19. Via an online survey platform, participants (N = 156) completed self-report measures which gathered demographic characteristics and levels of anxiety. A four-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) did not show significant differences in levels of anxiety among participants across gender, race, familial income, or social distancing status. Implications for …

Measuring The Relationship Between The Big Five Personality Traits And Time Spent On Social Media, Jenna Kaitlyn Cordaro

Undergraduate Research

This study examined the effects of personality on social media usage. Ninety-seven participants completed a Social Media Survey that asked them to use the iPhone “Screen Time” settings to record the time spent on social media applications in a given week. They then completed the 44-item Big Five Inventory to measure their personality based on openness, contentiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. It was hypothesized that people with higher levels of all big five traits will have higher social media usage. Similarly, it was hypothesized that people who score higher on openness, agreeableness, and extraversion will use Snapchat the most. It …

The Impact Of A Human Trafficking Educational Module On Nurse Practitioner Students Awareness, Knowledge, And Confidence In Responding To Human Trafficking, Casey Elliott

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if a human trafficking education module increased master level nursing students’ awareness, knowledge, and confidence in responding to human trafficking (HT) victims. Background: HT in the United States and worldwide is a growing problem. Millions of men, women, and children are victims of HT each year. Victims of human trafficking are often vulnerable due to several factors, including emotional problems, social instability, and economic difficulties. Studies have found up to 88% of victims of HT are seen by a healthcare provider during their captivity. Improving the awareness, knowledge, and confidence of …

An Asynchronous, Virtual Lab Course Model Using The Framework To Reshape Student Responses To Media Narratives, Jonathan H. Harwell, Deborah Prosser

Library Faculty Scholarship

This chapter describes a lab course redesigned by two librarians in a small liberal arts college. The course is tied to an undergraduate methods course, "Research, Media, Culture," in a Critical Media & Cultural Studies program. The lab had previously been taught as a synchronous course over three weeks. As a response to lower enrollments in the major, as well as the virtual teaching mode for the main course, we adapted the lab component into a six-week asynchronous course pilot with a goal of delving more deeply into information literacy pedagogy than the previous course format allowed. We also embedded …

Fitness Of Interspecific Hybrids In The Genus Cyprinella: An Evaluation Of Swimming Performance In North American Stream Fishes, Jessica Wilks

Biology Theses

Due to anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are being rapidly destroyed worldwide. Accordingly, human impacts have also resulted in the loss of native aquatic biodiversity. In particular, the introduction of non-native species to aquatic habitats is of great concern. Historically, the introductions of many non-native freshwater fishes are the result of commercial baitfish aquaculture, food industries, and private aquarium release. The red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) is a small stream fish that is endemic to the Central U.S., and its natural range is restricted to East of the Mississippi River. Since the 1950’s, red shiner have been commercially raised and transported …

Drawing The Invisible: Comics As A Way Of Depicting Pscyhological Responses To The Pandemic, Edward Whatley

Library Faculty Scholarship

This graphic article explores the sensory world in the context of pandemic-related mental health issues. While comic artists work in abstract and impressionistic styles to varying degrees, most comic art has been representational. While many artists are adept at rendering facial expressions and body language, these are merely outward manifestations of a character’s mood or emotions. This article explores conveying states of mind less literally, using my own psychological reaction to the pandemic as its subject. I employ visual metaphors, icons, symbols, abstraction, and simplification rather than realistic or highly rendered images in the hopes of better relaying thoughts and …

The Implementation Of A Validated Csec Screening Tool For Youth Age 11 - 17 In A Pediatric Emergency Room, Julie Clark, Josie Doss, Krystal E. Canady, Yameika Head Md

Graduate Research Showcase

Abuse of children is a public health issue covering a range of inflicted harm from neglect to physical to sexual abuse. A severe form of child sexual abuse is the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). This phenomenon involves sexual crimes against children, including exploitation for gain. High-risk indicators are noted throughout the literature to aid in identification, but some children are vulnerable because of their young age. Perpetrators can be family, friends, or acquaintances and choose their potential victims by recognizing a child’s vulnerabilities. Inevitable physical and mental health consequences are associated with CSEC involvement; hence these youth seek …

Ann Allen Shockley: An Activist-­Librarian For Black Special Collections, Shaundra Walker

Library Faculty Scholarship

While Ann Allen Shockley’s literary career has received a wealth of critique, her work as a librarian and her writings about Black Special Collections have not received as much analysis. When viewed through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Shockley emerges as an activist- librarian, one worthy of further study and consideration. Her writing and instruction on Black special collections highlight the liberatory potential of collection building to address the marginalization that traditional cataloging and classification systems impose on materials about the experiences of Black people. When applied to collection building practices, CRT reveals the ways in which Shockley’s …

Defeat But Not Ignominy: The New Orleans Afro-Creoles Behind Plessy V. Ferguson, Paul Kinny

Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Parental Relationship Quality, Shyness, And College Academic Success, Nathan M. Fields

Undergraduate Research

The goal of this study was to investigate how positive parental relationships and shyness affect the academic performance of college students. A total of 123 first year college students reported on the quality of their relationships with a father and mother figure and their shyness during the fall of their first year. The students’ cumulative grade point average (GPA) and retention information (graduated versus not graduated) was provided by the college registrar’s office five years later. Positive relationships with fathers predicted higher GPA and greater likelihood of graduation. In contrast, shyness and positive relationships with mothers did not significantly predict …

Adapting An Hbcu-Inspired Framework For Black Student Success In U.S. Lis Education, Ana Ndumu, Shaundra Walker

Library Faculty Scholarship

This perspective essay explores Gasman & Arroyo’s (2014) HBCU-inspired framework for Black student success as a prism for re-envisioning LIS education. In response to calls for anti-hegemonic LIS education, the authors discuss a potential tool for Black student success and suggest its benefits to LIS education. The framework can introduce non-white, anti-racist educational practices to the work of educating the U.S. library workforce; it is relevant in light of ongoing racial and political strife in U.S. society.

Long-Term Outcomes Of Chronic, Recreational Marijuana Use, Celia G. Imhoff

The Corinthian

As numerous variations of cannabis become increasingly legalized in the United States, a growing body of research is emerging that reveals the adverse effects of chronic, recreational, and long-term marijuana use on human mental, emotional, and social development, general cognition, and academic and career performance. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the nation and its potency continues to rise (Atkinson, 2016; Beaver, 2010; Gilman, 2015). Addiction scientists have found an association between chronic cannabis use and slowed neurocognitive function and information processing, measurable deficits in memory, learning, motivation, attention, persistent irritability, paranoia, insomnia, anxiety disorders, depression, general …

Sex Education In The United States: Implications For Sexual Health And Health Policy, Eliana R. Johnson

The Corinthian

There is much disagreement over what constitutes effective sex education in the United States. There are several reasons why America’s sex education system is outdated and problematic. First, it often advocates only for abstinence, which leaves people unprepared and unable to protect themselves if/when they choose to have sex, leading to higher rates of unintended pregnancies, abortions, and sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. than in any other developed nation in the world. In addition, the culture of fear surrounding sex education leads to negative attitudes among young people about sex. This can not only cause sexual dysfunction and strife …

Effect Of An Intervention To Improve Smoking Cessation Treatment In A Federally Qualified Healthcare Clinic, Shirley A. Camp

The Corinthian

Abstract

Significant progress has been made in the reduction of tobacco use in the United States, but the smoking prevalence among the socially and economically disadvantaged populations (i.e. individuals who are homeless, uninsured, LGBT, and living with HIV) is significantly higher than the general population (CDC, 2018b). As a result, these vulnerable populations carry a disproportionate burden of tobacco-related mortality and morbidity (CDC, 2018b). There is a cost-effective and evidence-based treatment for tobacco use dependence (Fiore et al, 2008), but the delivery by primary care providers to this population is inconsistent (Tyman, Bonevski, Paul, & Bryant, 2014). This study focused …

Does Bitcoin Use Affect Crime Rates?, Kevin Keane

The Corinthian

Bitcoin is the most widely used cryptocurrency in the world because of its decentralized network that completes user-to-user transactions, eliminating the need for intermediaries. During 2017, the volume of Bitcoin transactions totaled $94.3 trillion. Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a public database called the blockchain. Although the blockchain can keep track of how many transactions there are, it can’t identify the people involved in transactions. The lack of identity increases the anonymity of Bitcoin transactions, making it less detectable when used for crime. Using the Uniform Crime Reporting’s state-level crime rate data and blockchain’s Bitcoin transaction information, I estimate the …

The Relationship Between Children’S Misbehavior And Parental Discipline, Hannah Buggs, Emma Smith

Georgia College Student Research Events

The way parents perceive behaviors in children as to whether they are harmful would influence how they choose to deal with that behavior. When employing ineffective disciplinary styles consistently throughout children’s development, behavioral issues may continue to arise. Researchers oftentimes study how parenting discipline styles affect a child’s behavior. However, researchers often fail to study how parental perception of children’s behaviors concerning parenting disciplinary styles. In terms of behaviors, the frequency of children’s positive and negative behaviors may be related to how parents choose to regulate the child. For example, if the child demonstrates a higher frequency of misbehavior, it …

Political Ideology And Media Consumption, Andrew Robinson

Georgia College Student Research Events

Politics is a far reaching phenomenon that, in essence, controls everything that we do in our daily lives without us even realizing it most of the time, and it is constantly evolving and changing to fit the narrative of the age. In this modern world, we see an increase in political radicalization, especially in the United States. Politics has become more of a social experience than a set of beliefs, with some going so far as to incorporate it into their personal identity and seek and find the ideas that best fit them. This research analyzes the effect that a …

The Ingredients Of Scientific Illiteracy, Marghuerite Crowell

Georgia College Student Research Events

As technology and medicine flourish in 21st century America through science, so does fear and opposition. This fear and opposition stems from the lack of an individuals understanding or education in the scientific field; simply called “Scientific Illiteracy”. Pressing issues involved with scientific illiteracy include vaccination, climate change, and evolution. Through extensive research in reading scientific papers, political pieces, statistics, and referencing other’s expertise, the culprits of this phenomenon prove to surpass just a lack of scientific education. Scientific Illiteracy forms from people’s religion, politics, core beliefs, and emotions. “Anti-vaxxers” lack of education of the chemical makeup of vaccines, prompts …

Mindfulness And Food Selfies: A Naturalistic Investigation Of Healthy Eating, Alishea Hight, Mariah Isbell

Georgia College Student Research Events

Mindfulness is increasingly linked to effective self-regulation including regulation of health behaviors. Eating is an important behavior for health, and mindfulness has been linked to healthier eating choices in self-report, cross-sectional studies, and in laboratory eating paradigms (e.g., Jordan et al., 2014). In contrast, impulsivity is linked to poor self-regulation such as purchasing behavior (Baumeister, 2002), and impulsivity scores have been shown to be related to weight (Price, Lee, & Higgs, 2013). Along these lines, we sought to examine the links between trait mindfulness and impulsivity and eating behaviors. However, instead of examining eating behaviors through global self-report or forced …

Supercavitation Capabilities On A Submarine, Adam Vu

Georgia College Student Research Events

Submarines have shaped the way wars have been fought and have been influential in our understanding of fluid dynamics. In the past, supercavitation has been implemented to an idea that has been used to significantly increase the velocity of torpedoes in Chinese and Russian submarines. An example of this is the Russian VA-111 Shkval torpedo. The idea being that if your torpedo is expelling a gas out of the nose cone region, creating a boundary layer between the water and the torpedo, the torpedo will be facing much less resistance relative to when it was traveling in water alone. This …

The Relationship Between Child’S Toy Selection And Anger: Then And Now, Rebecca Groeneveld, Julia Gottenberg, Taylor Logue, Kaylee Finlay

Georgia College Student Research Events

The Relationship Between Child’s Toy Selection and Anger: Then and Now

Female expression of anger has long been stigmatized due to historically, and still presently, strict gender roles. Anger is considered a “masculine” emotion, and women have often been discouraged from crossing that gender line. In a study done by Salerno et al. (2018), undergraduate students rated the effectiveness of both male and female attorneys who presented identical closing arguments. When the closing argument was spoken in an angry tone, the male attorneys were seen as significantly more effective than the women attorneys. When the students described the attorneys after …

The Art Of The Real: Fact Checking As Information Literacy Instruction, Jamie Addy

Library Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how academic librarians tasked with research instruction can use connections between digital, civic and information literacy to combat polarization and misinformation through skill-based instruction.

Pedagogical Perspectives Of The Adp Digital Polarization Initiative, Jamie Addy, Jeff Dowdy

Library Faculty Scholarship

A presentation of assessment data generated by librarian led sections of GC1Y to teach students fact checking skills and other techniques to combat polarization in civic and digital life. Presented at the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Conference 2019, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

The Relationship Between Rock Climbing And Total Body Strength And Endurance, Madison Gamma, Alexa Bruce, Madison Massey, Ashlee Cordero

The Corinthian

Purpose: The purpose of our study was to assess the relationship between muscular strength and endurance and time to complete a rock wall climb.

Methods: The researchers of this study tested 22 participants ranging from 19-25 years of age. An informed consent and a Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PARQ+) form were completed by each individual before being cleared to participate in this study. Data collection was completed on two separate days. On the first day, participants completed four fitness tests which consisted of a hand grip strength assessment, a 10-repetition maximum (RM) leg press, a flexed arm hang test, and …