Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of Lake Water Quality Indicators On Small Lakes, Lake Bloomington And Evergreen Lake In Central Illinois, Using Satellite Remote Sensing, Gare Ambrose-Igho

Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the use of Sentinel-2 satellite to determine the spatiotemporal patterns of lake water quality indicators (e.g. chlorophyll a) in Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake. Lake water quality issues related to algal blooms is a serious problem in basins with abundant agricultural lands causing harmful effects to freshwater ecosystems such as pollution of beaches, taste and odor problems in drinking water, depletion of oxygen levels causing fish kills and the issue of water exceeding safe drinking water standards. Developing monitoring techniques using various water quality indicators of algal blooms is crucial. In this project, remote sensing and field …

Prominence Of Slut Shaming Connected With Sexual Objectification: Boys Will Be Boys And Girls Will Be Sluts, Christina M. Whitaker

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research was to develop a psychometric for slut shaming that would serve as a reliable and valid measure. The secondary purpose was to look at the relation between slut shaming and sexual objectification as it pertains to gender and race. Participants (n = 200) were recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and asked to complete survey questions. Research analyses found the Slut Shaming Scale to be a reliable and valid measure without having to exclude any of the original items on the psychometric. Additional analyses showed that men reported victim blaming significantly more often than …

Exploring The Relationship Between Members Of Lifelong Learning Institutes And Host Institutions, Jon Charles Neidy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between an individual’s involvement in Lifelong Learning Institutes (LLIs) and his or her propensity for philanthropic giving to the institute or its hosting college or university. The dataset was acquired through a survey administered to eleven Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLIs) in the United States. Data analysis was conducted on seven research questions which explored how the length, type, and frequency of participation, as well as the level satisfaction, commitment, and feelings of community may relate to an LLI participant’s inclination to donate. The findings of this study reveal these …

Need Fulfillment And Happiness In Botswana, Carolyn Moe

Theses and Dissertations

Happiness has been an important aspect of people’s lives spanning centuries and continents; as such, it is a widely researched area. A current prominent theory in happiness research is Needs Theory which has the premise that there are universal human needs and having these needs met would lead to a person’s happiness. Most often, the needs referenced are those presented by Abraham Maslow including needs of physiology, safety and security, love and belonging, esteem, knowing and understanding, aesthetics, self-actualization and transcendence. However, some studies have found that there are individuals who do not fit this theory either through having their …

Toward A Theory Of Procedural Rhetorical Systems: Demonstrations Of Player Agency In Uptake Of Rules In Video Games, Sydney A. Klem

Theses and Dissertations

This paper expands Ian Bogost’s (2007) procedural rhetoric by broadening the rhetorical view of games to encompass the arguments that they make not just about the material, but about themselves. The theory of procedural rhetorical systems (PRSes) views game systems as arguing toward how players should be following their rules, and like in any form of rhetoric, players possess agency in how they take up these arguments and how closely they follow rules. To demonstrate this, this paper analyzes a specific game, the 1996 platformer Super Mario 64, alongside various digital artifacts demonstrating how players have taken it up, including …

Parent And Teacher Perceptions Of The Importance Of Social-Emotional Learning In The Schools, Heather Mae Calkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a research project that examined the differences between parent and teacher perceptions of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the schools. This project also examined how parents and teachers rank social-emotional goals with respect to academic goals for their children. Results indicate that teachers rate the importance of SEL more highly compared to parents; however, there was no difference in how parents and teachers ranked the items overall. Qualitative analyses revealed differences in the reasoning for parent and teacher support for SEL in the schools as well as concerns for the inclusion of SEL. Future research should further investigate …

An Intersectional Examination Of Criminally Involved Women Of Color With Mental Illness, Cailin Rosemary Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

Women, people of color, and people with mental illness are fast growing populations in the criminal justice system. However, research tends to overlook the women of color with mental illness who exist at the intersection of these statuses. The current thesis attempts to apply an intersectional framework to the analysis of the narratives of these multifaceted women to explore the ways that their varying positions in society interact to shape unique life experiences. I analyzed a secondary data set of semi-structured life-course interviews with 65 women on a Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) probation caseload. Implementing a grounded-inspired approach, the interviews …

Suicide Literacy And Laypersons’ Ability To Accurately Recognize Suicide Warning Signs And Risk Factors, Salman Ibrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is considered a public health crisis in the United States due to the large number of individuals attempting and completing suicide each year. Oftentimes, the first line of defense or “gatekeepers” against suicide is non-mental health professionals. The body of literature on suicide risk assessment has not explored the efficacy of non-mental health professionals’ ability to accurately recognize various levels of suicide risk. This study focused on examining whether non-mental health professionals ability to accurately recognize suicide risk in others is influenced by their level of suicide literacy (knowledge regarding the various aspects of suicide). This study also examined …

Social Learning In The Digital Age: The Impact Of Technoference On Mother-Child Attachment And Social Skills, Danielle N. Zayia

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown links between parenting practice and children’s social development. However, there is little research examining the role of parental technology use or technoference, which is the disruption caused by technology. In this study, parental technology use, child attachment style, maternal insularity, and children’s development of social skills were examined. Rating scales examining theses variables were completed by 80 mothers-child dyads between the ages of 18 and 50 with children between 6 and 10 years old. Confirmatory factor and measurement invariance analyses were conducted to examine and confirm the psychometric properties of each scale used in this study. Linear …

Self-Affirmation Theory And The Change Of Perception Of Self And Threats, Isaac Wicker

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s American culture, people experience high rates of distress and depression (Kessler et al., 2005). Self-affirmation theory has been shown to help people reduce stress and defensiveness in the face of a wide variety of stressors. A shortcoming of self-affirmation exercises is that there are barriers to using them in naturalistic settings. One such barrier is that the affirmation content needs to be regulated so that it is not closely related to the salient stressor or else the effects of the affirmation could be counteracted. The current study sought to use a prompt-guided value selection for the self-affirmation exercise …

Let’S Be Perfectly Clear About Ambiguity: Exploring Instructor Use Of Strategic Ambiguity To Enhance Student Work And Learning Outcomes, Anna M. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Instructors often desire to be clear in their teaching. However, a new area of research raises the possibility that instructors can use ambiguity strategically in courses and assignments to foster improved learning outcomes in students. This study uses quantitative research methods to explore how student characteristics affect learning outcomes when presented with varying levels of instructor messaging regarding clear and ambiguous assignments. Specifically, the measured student’s tolerance for ambiguity, mindset, as well as learning orientation and grade orientation as well as the impact instructor messaging regarding assignments has on student’s learner empowerment and affective learning. Findings suggest that instructor messaging …

Teachers' Perceptions Of English Learners: A Multidimensional Scaling Approach, Cyndy Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

With an influx in immigration across the United States our educational policies have needed to change to meet the instructional needs of our students, especially our English Learners (Koyama, 2004; Mantero & McVicker, 2006). Historically, these educational language policies were an outcome of court cases that highlighted discrimination and racist practices against our English Learners. These cases, such as the Chicano civil rights movements or East L.A. “walkouts” in 1968, Lau v. Nichols (1974), Serna v. Portales Municipal Schools (1974), Rios v. Read (1978), and U.S. v. Texas (1981), Plyver v. Doe (1982), Castaneda v. Pickard (1981), have resulted in …

The Relationship Between Childhood Sexual Abuse, Attachment Style, Rejection, And Risk Recognition, Jordan E. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to better understand the relationship between experiencing childhood sexual abuse, attachment, rejection, and risk recognition (risk appraisal and risk response). Participants consisted of 223 undergraduate women attending Illinois State University. A history of childhood abuse was reported by 37.7% of the participants. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire, the Hot Topics Survey, the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) questionnaire, and the Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire, Adult version (A-RSQ). Participants were under the impression that information was being gathered for an online dating application algorithm and were randomly assigned to either a rejection condition or a non-rejection …

Influence Of Authority And Message Framing On Compliance With Mental Health Treatment Recommendations, Morgan A. Ess

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of source authority and message framing on compliance with mental health treatment recommendations. The current study used measures of attitudes and intentions to seek psychological help as well as the likelihood that an individual will request initial counseling information as proxies for observing help-seeking behavior. A pretest and posttest experimental design was implemented. Participants were 273 students at Illinois State University. At pretest, participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Kessler K6+, the Mental Help Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS), the Mental Help Seeking Intentions Scale (MHSIS), and indicated engagement in past …

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Personality, And Risk Recognition, Emily M. Harms

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and personality in predicting risk recognition among college-aged women. Participants included 223 female undergraduate students at Illinois State University. Students were presented the opportunity to receive extra credit for participating in the study. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire, the Big Five Inventory, and the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 – Brief Form. Participants then read through a risk recognition vignette that was divided into 13 scenes and were asked to indicate when they were no longer comfortable in the situation and when they would leave …

The Association Between Attachment And Conflict Resolution During Friendship Conflict Among College Students, Alison Hamlet

Theses and Dissertations

This study is about college students' attachment to friends and how conflict resolution is related to the level of attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance. Studies have found low attachment anxiety and low attachment avoidance to be related to effective coping strategies and to the compromising conflict resolution style. Many studies have focused on how participants generally resolve conflict. The current study is focused on how participants have actually resolved conflict and how they believe they would resolve conflict in a hypothetical situation. Participants answered if they could think of a conflict with a friend in the past 6 months and …

Yerba Mate: National Project To Emerging Superfood, Ana Fochesatto

Theses and Dissertations

Yerba mate, Ilex paranguariensis, is a shrub commonly found in the Atlantic Forest of South

America which covers part of northeast Argentina, eastern Paraguay, and southern Brazil. The

dried leaves and stem of the tree are used to make an infusion, called mate, used first by indigenous

Guaraní people. Today, yerba mate is widely consumed in the Southern Cone region and is

regarded as the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. I argue that yerba mate has

entered the U.S. as a “superfood,” marketed as a product with nutritional and symbolic medicinal

values.

In this thesis, I trace yerba …

Examining The Relationship Between Media Consumption And Kenya's Political Culture, Gilbert Kipkoech

Theses and Dissertations

Using data collected from 206 participants, this country-specific study examines the relationship between media consumption and Kenya’s political culture. Political scientists and communicators contend that political culture encompasses several aspects. In this study, only four aspects of a country’s political orientations (culture) and its relationship with the media are examined (a) Political participation, (b) political trust, (c) patriotism, and (d) inter-ethnic attitudes. Drawing on past research, the study establishes a link between media use and political attitudes and behaviors of the Kenyan people, operationalized in the study as the political culture. While the literature is divided on whether the media …

The Differential Effects Of An Interspersing Procedure Among Students At Different Instructional Levels, Samantha Dehaan Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports the results of a research project that examined the effects of varying rates of reinforcement on students’ math performance and assignment preference. The relationship between students’ instructional level and the rate of reinforcement threshold for influencing assignment preference was also explored. Participants were fourth and fifth grade elementary students who were receiving remedial math services through the school’s Response to Intervention program.

Twenty elementary students (12 females, 8 males) completed all parts of the study and were included in the analyses. All participants completed a series of control-experimental assignment pairs with varying rates of interspersing at each …

Joint Attention And Imitation: How Early Social Skills Relate To Language, Social Behavior, And Overall Responsiveness To Early Intervention In Children With Autism, Claire E. Karlen

Theses and Dissertations

Joint attention, the ability to coordinate one’s attention with that of another person (Dawson et al., 2004), and imitation, the ability to copy another person’s behavior (Sevlever & Gillis, 2010), are two of the initial methods by which children learn from and interact with the world around them (Trevarthan, 1979). These two skills are related to the development of language, social skills, and play. Further, they seem to come naturally in typically developing children. For children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, these skills are often delayed or entirely absent, thereby potentially leading to significant impediments in the acquisition of …

Examination Of Student-Athletes' Developmental Transition From Youth Sport To College Sport, Coleman Childers

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of research in developmental sport psychology has targeted the youth and adolescent age groups (aged five to 18) and has tended to avoid athletes in organized and highly competitive environment such as major college athletics. The transition from high school to college brings many challenges. Academically and socially, students encounter increased course rigor, decreased in-class time, and adjustment to new social groups. Additionally, student-athletes encounter scrutiny from the public, extensive time commitments, changing social dynamics, and physical and mental demands as they combine athletic and academic pursuits. This on-going study explores student-athletes’ perspectives of the developmental transition from …

Should States Adopt Overdose Immunity Laws?, Jordan Norton

Theses and Dissertations

From 2014-2015, the CDC saw a 72.2% increase in death rates related to synthetic opioids other than methadone, and a 20.6% increase in heroin related death rates. States have looked to one another for policy examples that would bring these numbers down. One of the earliest of these policies came out of 2001 in New Mexico with the first Naloxone Access Laws (NALs) followed by Drug Overdose Immunity Laws (DOILs) in 2007. These laws sought to remove barriers to people administering Naloxone and calling emergency responders due to overdoses, granting immunity to callers and overdose sufferers. This study looked at …

Exploring The Influence Of Relational Frame Theory On The Treatment Acceptability Of Noncontingent Reinforcement, Amanda R. Rohan

Theses and Dissertations

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), delivered on a fixed-time schedule, is a behavioral and evidence-based intervention recommended by school psychologists that may be underutilized due to resistance to behaviorally-orientated strategies, which often conflict with the child-centered training philosophies of teachers (Bear, 2013). Due to training rooted different learning philosophies, the language and verbal repertoires amongst these professionals may not always be consistent, presenting a barrier to effective communication. Relational Frame Theory (RFT) holds that the core of human language and cognition is the ability to learn to relate terms and ideas and has been effectively used to alleviate communication barriers by expanding …

The Role Of Religious Reformist Discourse In Regime Resilience In Iran, Fatemeh Jamali

Theses and Dissertations

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has been seen as the primary bastion of radical Shi‘a Islam and a force which fosters the Middle East instability. The Iranian regime has often been labeled as a theocracy, which often overshadowed the attention to nuances about its polity and its mechanisms of survival. The main purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the political system of Iran and its survival mechanism while situating it in the hybrid regime category. Hybrid regime framework is especially useful since it allows us to better understand the resilience of the hybrid political structure …

Beyond The Sentimental Cliche: How Local Communities Impact Residents And Shape Public Opinion, Kate Brunk

Theses and Dissertations

The Trump administration has recently established a rule that will prohibit abortion services providers from receiving Title X funds for the non-abortion family planning services they provide. Little public opinion research has focused on family planning and reproductive health topics outside of abortion. I find statistically significant experimental evidence that increasing perceptions of local need for a local reproductive health clinic caused subjects to be more supportive of federal reproductive health funding for local clinics. I did not find statistically significant correlational evidence that objective measures of poor reproductive health at the county level influence public opinion on federal reproductive …

Police Body-Worn Camera Perceptions Pre/Post Deployment, Aaron Veerman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if officers’ perceptions of Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) changed over the course of a six-month pilot program. Officers from a Midwest police department were surveyed prior to or shortly after receiving their BWCs (Pre-Test) and again approximately six months later (Post-Test). Once completed, independent samples t-tests, mean comparisons, and Pearson’s correlations were used to analyze the data. This study did not produce many significant differences in officers’ perceptions over the course of the study, according to t-test results. However, several significant differences were found after each shift was analyzed separately. Overall, less than …

Inked Bodies, Blank Pages; A Study Of Amazigh Tattooing, Hannah Mesouani

Theses and Dissertations

The tradition of Moroccan Amazigh tattooing reflects the values and lived experiences of the communities that partake in this sacred practice. Adorning their fellow women with symbols of protection, tribe alliances and fertility, Amazigh women display their core values on face and body that come to represent their community. The power of these images and the women that wear them have stood the test of time, even in a newly male-dominated, Islamic Morocco that frowns upon body modification and promotes a nationalism that leaves little room for Amazigh tradition. In a corner of the world where literacy rates are low, …

"We Need To Stop Temporarily Caring: "Pulse, Spoken Word Poetry, And Audience Counter-Narrative Creation, Hannah G. Trew

Theses and Dissertations

On June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed, and 53 people were injured in a shooting at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, Florida. The Pulse Nightclub shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States at that time and the deadliest violent act against the LGBTQ+ community in the United States (Hancock & Haldeman, 2017; Jackson, 2017; Walter, Billard, & Murphy, 2017). The media were divided in labeling the shooting a terrorist attack or a hate crime, creating a master narrative surrounding the shooting. However, LGBTQ+ spoken word poets rejected the media’s storylines, developing counter-narratives, and instead …

The Impact Of Community-Based Training Outreach In Improving Water Quality, Health, And Sanitation In Kenya, Lavender Matuyia Ntaoti

Theses and Dissertations

Water is an important component of the human body. A greater percentage of the body comprises of water. Digestion, brain function, movement, and sweating among others are the basic functions of the human body that require water. Often, water quality is neglected in developing countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Many individuals in these countries understand the importance of having accessible water but do not prioritize the quality and the sources of the water available to them. Public health scholars endorse education, training, and sanitary infrastructure to promote awareness and importance of water quality. To address an existing waterborne …

Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior And Organizational Identification: Exploring The Moderating Effects Of Conscientiousness And Neuroticism, Conrad Niederhauser

Theses and Dissertations

Little research in the field of industrial and organizational psychology has focused on unethical behavior intended to help the organizations and its members or the factors that may predict the prevalence of these behaviors. The purpose of this study was to further this research and examine possible moderating effects of conscientiousness and neuroticism on the relationship between organizational identification (OID) and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). While no support was found to suggest higher levels of neuroticism or conscientiousness moderate the relationship between UPB and OID. This study contributed to the literature through investigating the role of individual-level differences on the …