Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Academic Libraries And Writing Centers: Collaborations At Us Public Research Universities, Mary Bolin

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The websites of 71 US research universities were the source of data on the relationship of academic libraries and campus writing centers, which provide support for developing written communication skills. All 71 institutions have writing centers, generally administered by the academic success operation, the English department, or a college such as arts and sciences. Just under half (n=35) of the institutions have a writing center located in the library. In 16 of those institutions, the library is the only location of the writing center. The general issues of academic success and “library as place,” as well as the space that …

Future States Of The Research Library, Claire Stewart

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

What can be said about the year 2021 that hasn’t already been said? Challenging, unprecedented, extraordinary in almost every way, 2021 even surpassed the previous annus horribilis, 2020. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to ripple humanity-wide, ceaselessly rebounding off, and cruelly amplifying, almost every kind of inequity and social challenge. A long overdue reckoning with the legacies of racism in the United States did not materialize in any truly transformative way, political discord worsened, and anti-science voices grew to dominate what should have been rational conversations about a coherent and collective response to a profound global health threat. It …

Circling The Drain: The Extinction Crisis And The Future Of Humanity, Rodolfo Dirzo, Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Humanity has triggered the sixth mass extinction episode since the beginning of the Phanerozoic. The complexity of this extinction crisis is centered on the intersection of two complex adaptive systems: human culture and ecosystem functioning, although the significance of this intersection is not properly appreciated. Human beings are part of biodiversity and elements in a global ecosystem. Civilization, and perhaps even the fate of our species, is utterly dependent on that ecosystem’s proper functioning, which society is increasingly degrading. The crisis seems rooted in three factors. First, relatively few people globally are aware of its existence. Second, most people who …

A Qualitative Comparison Of Parent And Childcare Provider Perceptions Of Communication And Family Engagement In Children's Healthy Eating And Physical Activity, Danae Dinkel, Maggie Rasmussen, John P. Rech, Kailey Snyder, Dipti Dev

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Parents and childcare providers play a substantial role in the development of health behaviors among the children they care for. In order to ensure the optimal growth and development of children, communication and family engagement in childcare is critical. Previous studies examining parent or provider perceptions about healthy eating or physical activity have explored these concepts individually and/or have only included only parents or providers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare childcare provider and parent perceptions of communication regarding healthy eating and physical activity as well as use of best practice strategies on family engagement for …

Promising Findings That The Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators’ Program (Chime) Strengthens Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Resources: An Iterative Study, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Caron Clark, Gilbert R. Parra, Jessica L. Calvi, Michael Yellow Bird, Pearl Avari, Jaclynn Foged, John Smith

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Findings suggest that an eight-week mindfulness compassion-based program, Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME), is a feasible professional development intervention for early childhood (EC) teachers to support their emotion regulation and psychological and workplace well-being. We offer preliminary evidence that learning about mindfulness, self-compassion, and social-emotional learning supports EC teachers in strengthening their knowledge and application of practices to be more mindful and less emotionally reactive and emotionally exhausted at work. In analyzing both EC teacher feedback and survey data from two pilot studies, there was promising evidence that participating in CHIME enhanced awareness of emotions and the development of …

Investigating Moderators Of Daily Marital To Parent–Child Spillover: Individual And Family Systems Approaches, Patty X. Kuo, Kejin Lee, Victoria J. Johnson, Emily J. Starr

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: We tested whether cognitive reappraisal and coparenting quality moderate marital to parent–child spillover in mothers and fathers.

Background: The influence of marital relationship quality on parent–child relationships, referred to as the spillover effect, is well documented. Factors that may attenuate the occurrence of spillover, however, remain unclear. Cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy that promotes the reframing of emotional situations as neutral or positive, and coparenting—the intermediate subsystem between the marital and parent–child relationships—may buffer the effects of marital to parent–child spillover.

Method: Using daily diary data from mother–father couples (N = 96) of young children (M_age = …

The Development Of Social Competence In Children With Disabilities, Soo-Young Hong, Elizabeth A. Steed, Lori E. Meyer, İbrahim H. Acar

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Children with disabilities experience unique challenges in developing social skills critical to achieve their social goals. Although there are individual differences, children with delays and disabilities may struggle to communicate with others, understand gestures, and take other people’s viewpoints. These differences may prevent children with disabilities from initiating and sustaining social interactions and, in turn, from developing high levels of social competence (Hebbeler & Spiker, 2016).

To support social development of children with disabilities, it is important to promote positive relationships within the family system as well as the teaching of social skills in inclusive early learning environments (Mahoney et …

Rural Parent's Experiences Of Stress And Resilience During The Covid-19 Pandemic And School Closure, Emily Wilson, Jungwon Eum, Yuenjung Joo, Martinique A. Sealy, Jentry Stoneman Barrett, Gwen C. Nugent, Joan M. Carraher, Angela G. Hinrichs

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated social and economic disruptions, resulting in cascading effects on the health and well- being of global citizens. However, little research has focused on how COVID-19 has affected rural regions, despite rurality being a critical factor for understanding community impact and response to the pandemic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of rural Nebraskan parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown, and the strategies they used to support their families during that time. We conducted individual and group interviews with 22 white, non-Hispanic mothers living in rural …

Paths To Positivity: Relational Trajectories And Interaction In Positive Stepparent-Stepchild Dyads, Vincent R. Waldron, Dawn O. Braithwaite, Bailey M. Oliver-Blackburn, Brianna L. Avalos

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Stepfamilies are inherently complex family systems, marked by change, flexible boundaries, and early conflict. But the developmental pathways by which long-term stepparent relationships become positive require more study. We interviewed 38 stepchildren who had reached adulthood, to understand how their relationships with a stepparent became positive. Four relational trajectories defined these positive relationships: punctuated, consistent positive, progressive incline, and modulated turbulent. Distinctive communicative practices were associated with each trajectory, such as communicating assurances, “siding,” or revelations of character. In addition, the trajectories shared three common processes: responsiveness to stepchild vulnerability, stepparent “adding value” to the family, and maturation/ reframing of …

Death Scene Insect Succession In Nebraska: A Guidebook, Erin Bauer, Larry Barksdale, Emma Sidel, Justine Laviolette

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Insect behavior can be helpful to law enforcement in determining time of death, manner of death, location, and environment related to human or other animal victims found at a death scene. They may also provide clues about other aspects associated with an investigation (i.e., fly specks, suspect DNA). The study of how insects and related arthropods can aid in legal investigations is known as forensic entomology. Although this includes both civil applications, such as urban (i.e., maggots in mortuaries or insect structural damage) or stored product (i.e., illness from food contamination) entomology, this manual focuses on criminal applications, such as …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Exacerbate The Association Between Day-To-Day Discrimination And Mental Health Symptomatology In Undergraduate Students, Emily C. Helminen, Jillian R. Scheer, Katie Edwards, Joshua C. Felver

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Background: Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and day-to-day discrimination (hereafter, “discrimination”) both contribute to mental health symptomatology in young adulthood, but how these constructs interact and whether they are associated with mental health remains unclear. This study evaluated whether the relation between discrimination in young adulthood and mental health symptomatology varied as a function of ACEs exposure.

Methods: Undergraduates (n = 251) completed self-report measures related to ACEs, discrimination, and mental health symptomatology (i.e., depression, anxiety, somatization, and psychological distress). Linear and logistic regression models were implemented to test for potential exacerbation effects of ACEs on the relation between …

Youth Perceptions Of Prevention Norms And Peer Violence Perpetration And Victimization: A Prospective Analysis, Emily A. Waterman, Victoria L. Banyard, Katie Edwards, Victoria Mauer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of the current study is to prospectively examine the extent to which social norms perceptions regarding commitment to ending sexual violence are associated with subsequent peer victimization and perpetration experiences. Two types of social norms perceptions were examined: 1) peer norms (perceptions of norms among other students in their city), and 2) adult norms (perceptions of norms among adults in their city). Participants were 1,259 middle and high school youth from a single school district (three high schools and five middle schools) who completed online surveys at two‐time points, 6 months apart. Adolescents for whom perceptions of peer …

Improving Social Norms And Actions To Prevent Sexual And Intimate Partner Violence: A Pilot Study Of The Impact Of Green Dot Community On Youth, Victoria L. Banyard, Katie M. Edwards, Andrew J. Rizzo, Emily F. Rothman, Patricia Greenberg, Megan C. Kearns

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV), which often cooccur with bullying, are serious public health issues underscoring the need for primary prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a community-building SV and IPV prevention program, Green Dot Community, on adolescents’ perceptions of community social norms and their propensity to intervene as helpful actionists using two independent data sources. Green Dot Community takes place in towns and aims to influence all town members to prevent SV and IPV by addressing protective factors (i.e., collective efficacy, positive prevention social norms, and bystander helping, or actionism). …

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study Of Atheist Women In The United States, Dena Abbott, Elyxcus Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Using a critical, grounded theory approach, we interviewed 31 atheist-identified women to ascertain the ways in which women develop and navigate an atheist identity and how their experience is influenced by patriarchal, hegemonic Christianity in the United States using a concealable stigmatized identity framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in six core categories: (1) Embracing Atheism as Liberation, (2) Escaping Christian Patriarchy, Challenging Atheist Patriarchy, (3) Low Identity Salience Provides Protection from Anti-Atheist Discrimination, (4) Expectations to Conform to Christian Norms, (5) Disclosure Requires Thoughtfulness and Purpose, and (6) Connecting with Other Atheists is Valuable and Elusive. Although atheist women experienced sexism …

Hidden In Plain Sight: Working Class And Low-Income Atheists, Dena M. Abbott, Debra Mollen, Jessica A. Boyles, Elyxcus J. Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current study sought to qualitatively examine the role of social class in the development of atheist identity, the experience of atheism-related minority stress, and relationships between atheists. Using a critical phenomenological design, we captured the experiences of 15 working-class and the low-income U.S. American atheists and identified five themes: Early Doubts and Establishment of Atheist Values; Diverse Experiences of Antiatheist and Class-Based Stigma; Expecting Indifference, Exercising Caution; Strategies of Concealment and Disclosure; and Atheism as an Individual, Rather Than Collective, Experience. Results suggested working-class and low-income atheists engaged in strategic outness to manage risk, and their atheist identities developed …

Using Political Psychology To Understand Populism, Intellectual Virtues, And Democratic Backsliding, Ingrid J. Haas

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Political scientists have argued that populism is an ideology that can occur on both the left and right, whereby people begin to see politics as a battle between the people and a powerful elite that fails to represent the people’s interest and are attracted to political candidates who vow to fight corruption. In this chapter, I examine how research in political psychology may help to explain the motivations underlying citizens’ attraction to populist ideologies and political candidates. I argue that the same cognitive processes driving people toward populism are those that undermine the intellectual virtues, which in turn, decreases support …

The Appointment Of Women To Authoritarian Cabinets In Africa, Alex Kroeger, Alice J. Kang

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

What explains variation in the inclusion of women in authoritarian cabinets? We theorize that leaders of electoral autocracies are affected by changing international norms of democracy and women’s rights to appoint women ministers. We propose two hypotheses. First, increasing dependence on aid from democratic donors encourages leaders of electoral autocracies to appoint more women ministers. Second, electoral autocrats uprooting democratic traits appoint more women ministers to minimize the reputational costs of their autocratization. Using data from authoritarian regimes in 38 African countries between 1973 and 2013, we find that increases in aid from democracies are associated with modest increases in …

The Evolution Of Quantitative Sensitivity, Margaret A H Bryer, Sarah E. Koopman, Jessica F. Cantlon, Steven T. Piantadosi, Evan L. Maclean, Joseph M. Baker, Michael J. Beran, Sarah M. Jones, Kerry E. Jordan, Salif Mahamane, Andreas Nieder, Bonnie M. Perdue, Friederike Range, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Masaki Tomonaga, Dorottya Ujfalussy, Jennifer Vonk

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny …

Revisiting The Complexity Of Racial Understandings And Subjective Experiences Of Race Among Students Of Color In Stem Higher Education: Toward A Racial Reappraisal Framework, Elvira Abrica

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Despite significant investment in expanding post-secondary access and success for racially minori­tized populations within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, persistent educational disparities remain. While the literature has importantly identified and described the myri­ad ways in which students of color experience exclusion within STEM fields on the basis of race (and, perhaps, other social identity statuses), this area of scholarship is not always theoretically grounded in an understanding of racial hierarchies, processes of racialization, or theories of race and racism. That is, despite the abundant literature on students of color in STEM, there is comparatively limited theo­retical attention to …

Monitoring Environmental Policy Process: Indicators To Evaluate Performance, Stella Namanji, Charles A. Francis, Charles Ssekyewa, Geir Hofgaard Lieblein

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The complexity of environmental policy development was examined in relation to sustainability, holistic and systems-thinking perspectives. We studied potential application of systems principles of coordination, representation, collaboration, participation and teamwork to improve policy effectiveness at formulation, communication, implementation, and operationalisation of the environment policy in Uganda. The research unveiled the ineffectiveness of the Uganda National Environment Management Policy. We applied systems theory to develop a mechanism for monitoring effectiveness of environmental policies at national level, with the goal to identify key monitoring indicators. We used the soft systems methodology to identify occurring environmental problems causing forest loss. Results suggest that …

Co-Use Among Confidants: An Examination Of Polysubstance Use And Personal Relationships In Southeastern Nebraska, G. Robin Gauthier, Kelly Markowski, Jeffrey A. Smith, Sela R. Harcey, Bergen Johnston

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examines the relationship between personal networks and polysubstance use among people who use drugs (PWUD) in a medium sized city in the Midwest. A large body of work has demonstrated that personal relationships have an ambivalent association with substance use. On the one hand, a supportive network is associated with safer drug use practices and dramatically improves the outlook for recovery. However, individuals whose personal networks are composed of co-drug use partners are more likely to engage in risky practices. We argue that this notion of “supportive” social contacts and “risky” social contacts is ultimately incomplete: risky behaviors …

Why Neighborhoods (And How We Study Them) Matter For Adolescent Development, T.D. Warner, R.A. Settersten

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period marked by significant changes that unfold across multiple contexts. As a central context of development, neighborhoods capture—in both physical and social space—the stratification of life chances and differential distribution of resources and risks. For some youth, neighborhoods are springboards to opportunities; for others, they are snares that constrain progress and limit the ability to avoid risks. Despite abundant research on “neighborhood effects,” scant attention has been paid to how neighborhoods are a product of social stratification forces that operate simultaneously to affect human development. Neighborhoods in the United States are the manifestation of three …

Replicating Or Franchising A Stem Afterschool Program Model: Core Elements Of Programmatic Integrity, Nikolaus Stevenson, Amie S. Sommers, Neal Grandgenett, William Tapprich, Julia Mcquillan, Michelle Phillips, Rachael Jensen, Christine Cutucache

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background: Designed in 2012 with a first implementation in 2013, NE STEM 4U is a professional development program for post-secondary students/undergraduates, and serves as a source of outreach, content knowledge generation, and STEM literacy for youth in grades kindergarten through 8th grade (ages 5–14). The model empowers post-secondary students as facilitators of inquiry-based learning within the context of an out-of-school time program. This study investigated the potential for replicating or ‘franchising’ this model by evaluating on the following: (1) Is the model replicable? And, if so, (2) what core elements are necessary for program fidelity? And (3) is there …

Is Perceived Inability To Procreate Associated With Life Satisfaction? Evidence From A German Panel Study, Julia Mcquillan, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Arthur L. Greil, Martin Bujard

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Most studies of the psychosocial consequences of infertility have focused on those who seek medical treatment, leaving a research gap regarding the psychosocial consequences of perceived inability to procreate in the general population. Moreover, most studies are cross-sectional and the results are thus likely affected by omitted variable bias. Inspired by aspects of the Theory of Conjunctural Action, this study analysed 10 waves of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) for women and men using fixed effects panel regression and including time-varying control variables suggested by theory and research. This study found that both women and men experienced lower …

Familial And Individual Risk Markers For Physical And Psychological Dating Violence Perpetration And Victimization Among College Students, Meagan Kunitzer, Kimberly Tyler, Leslie Gordon Simons

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Dating violence (DV) is a prominent problem among college students that can result in harmful physical and mental health outcomes. Though much research has focused on physical DV, fewer studies have examined psychological DV. As such, the current paper compared early/familial risk markers (e.g., child physical abuse, witnessing parental violence, and maternal relationship quality) and individual risk markers (e.g., alcohol use, marijuana and prescription drug use) for physical and psychological DV among college students. Data were gathered at two large public universities using pencil and paper surveys (N = 1,482). Bivariate results revealed more risk markers for men (e.g., …

Family Violence, Personality Traits, And Risk Behaviors: Links To Dating Violence Victimization And Perpetration Among College Students, Kimberly A. Tyler, Douglas A. Brownridge

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though dating violence (DV) is prevalent on college campuses, few studies have examined a multitude of risk factors that may better explain this process. As such, we examined the role of family violence (i.e., childhood physical abuse, witnessing parental violence), personality traits (i.e., entitlement, antisocial personality [ASP] and borderline personality [BP]) and risk behaviors (i.e., risky sexual behaviors, heavy drinking, marijuana use, illicit drug use) on DV victimization and perpetration among 783 college students. Path analysis revealed that witnessing parental violence was linked to DV perpetration while experiencing more physical abuse was positively correlated with entitlement (females only), ASP traits, …

“Are You …”: An Examination Of Incomplete Question Stems In Self-Administered Surveys, Nestor Hernandez, Kristen Olson, Jolene D. Smyth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Questionnaire designers are encouraged to write questions as complete sentences. In self-administered surveys, incomplete question stems may reduce visual clutter but may also increase burden when respondents need to scan the response options to fully complete the question. We experimentally examine the effects of three categories of incomplete question stems (incomplete conversational, incomplete ordinal, and incomplete nominal questions) versus complete question stems on 53 items in a probability webmail survey. We examine item nonresponse, response time, selection of the first and last response options, and response distributions. We find that incomplete question stems take slightly longer to answer and slightly …

Examining The Influence Of Political Affiliation And Orientation On Political Tolerance, Christopher R. H Garneau, Philip Schwadel

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Political identities are strongly associated with political tolerance. Specifically, previous research shows that American liberals report higher levels of tolerance toward marginalized groups than conservatives. Political orientation, however, varies more among Democrats than Republicans, which might mean that Democrats are relatively diverse in their levels of political tolerance. In this article, the authors ask how the association between political orientation and political tolerance varies across political parties. Using General Social Survey data, the authors find that tolerance is highest among liberals, followed by moderates and conservatives. Regression models with interactions between party and orientation demonstrate that political orientation is consequential …

Substance Use, Injection Risk Behaviors, And Fentanyl‑Related Overdose Risk Among A Sample Of Pwid Post‑Hurricane Maria, Roberto Abadie, Manuel Cano, Patrick Habecker, Camila Gelpí‑Acosta

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Background: While natural disasters like hurricanes are increasingly common, their long-term effects on people who inject drugs are not well understood. Although brief in duration, natural disasters can radically transform risk environments, increasing substance use and drug-related harms.

Methods: Based on a study of people who inject drugs (PWID) and injection risk behaviors in rural Puerto Rico, the present study uses data from two different phases of the parent study. Data for 110 participants were collected from December 2015 to January 2017, soon before Hurricane Maria landed in September 2017; the 2019 phase, in the aftermath of the hurricane, included …

Comparing Readability Measures And Computer-Assisted Question Evaluation Tools For Self-Administered Survey Questions, Rachel Stenger, Kristen Olson, Jolene Smyth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Questionnaire designers use readability measures to ensure that questions can be understood by the target population. The most common measure is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level, but other formulas exist. This article compares six different readability measures across 150 questions in a self-administered questionnaire, finding notable variation in calculated readability across measures. Some question formats, including those that are part of a battery, require important decisions that have large effects on the estimated readability of survey items. Other question evaluation tools, such as the Question Understanding Aid (QUAID) and the Survey Quality Predictor (SQP), may identify similar problems in questions, making …