Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development And Validation Of A State-Based Measure Of Emotion Dysregulation: The State Difficulties In Emotion Regulation Scale (S-Ders), Jason M. Lavender, Matthew T. Tull, David Dilillo, Terri Messman-Moore, Kim L. Gratz

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Existing measures of emotion dysregulation typically assess dispositional tendencies and are therefore not well suited for study designs that require repeated assessments over brief intervals. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a state-based multidimensional measure of emotion dysregulation. Psychometric properties of the State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS) were examined in a large representative community sample of young adult women drawn from four sites (N = 484). Exploratory factor analysis suggested a four-factor solution, with results supporting the internal consistency, construct validity, and predictive validity of the total scale and the four subscales: Nonacceptance (i.e., …

Examining The Role Of Antisocial Personality Disorder In Intimate Partner Violence Among Substance Use Disorder Treatment Seekers With Clinically Significant Trauma Histories, Rita E. Dykstra, Julie A. Schumacher, Natalie Mota, Scott F. Coffey

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the associations among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) diagnosis, and intimate partner violence (IPV) in a sample of 145 substance abuse treatment-seeking men and women with positive trauma histories; sex was examined as a moderator. ASPD diagnosis significantly predicted both verbal and physical aggression; sex moderated the association between ASPD diagnosis and physical violence. PTSD symptom severity significantly predicted engaging in verbal, but not physical, aggression. Overall, these results suggest that an ASPD diagnosis may be an important risk factor for engaging in IPV among women seeking treatment for a substance use …

Borderline Personality Disorder And Axis I Psychiatric And Substance Use Disorders Among Women Experiencing Homelessness In Three U.S. Cities, Leslie B. Whitbeck, Brian E. Armenta, Melissa L. Welch-Lazoritz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Purpose—In this study we report prevalence rates of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Axis I psychiatric and substance use disorders among randomly selected women who were experiencing episodes of homelessness in three U.S. cities.

Methods—The sample consists of 156 women, 79 from Omaha, NE, 39 from Pittsburgh, PA, and 38 from Portland, OR. It included 140 women from shelters and 16 women from meal locations. Latent class analysis was used to evaluate BPD symptoms.

Results—A large majority of the women (84.6%) met criteria for at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder, about three-fourths (73.1%) met criteria for a …

Illness Narratives Of Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus And Family Communication: A Mixed Methods Study, Katherine M. Castle

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prominent, yet under-studied autoimmune condition that is both life limiting and potentially life threatening and affects more than one million Americans, primarily women. Despite this, the disease continues to go undiagnosed and unmanaged, leading to more severe outcomes of the disease process. Though there is growing recognition of the importance of social behaviors in improving health outcomes, particularly family communication and sense-making, there is a paucity of research aimed at understanding the experience of SLE and how women make sense of the disease in family contexts. This exploratory sequential mixed methods project is framed …

Agave Chewing And Dental Wear: Evidence From Quids, Emily E. Hammerl, Melissa A. Baier, Karl Reinhard

Karl Reinhard Publications

Agave quid chewing is examined as a potential contributing behavior to hunter-gatherer dental wear. It has previously been hypothesized that the contribution of Agave quid chewing to dental wear would be observed in communities wherever phytolith-rich desert succulents were part of subsistence. Previous analysis of coprolites from a prehistoric agricultural site, La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos in Durango, Mexico, showed that Agave was a consistent part of a diverse diet. Therefore, quids recovered at this site ought to be useful materials to test the hypothesis that dental wear was related to desert succulent consumption. The quids recovered from the …

Competing Infant Feeding Information In Mothers’ Networks: Advice That Supports V. Undermines Clinical Recommendations, Sato Ashida, Freda B. Lynn, Natalie A. Williams

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

Objective: To identify the social contextual factors, specifically the presence of information that supports v. undermines clinical recommendations, associated with infant feeding behaviours among mothers in low-income areas.

Design: Cross-sectional survey evaluating social support networks and social relationships involved in providing care to the infant along with feeding beliefs and practices.

Setting: Out-patient paediatric and government-funded (Women, Infants, and Children) clinics in an urban, low-income area of the south-eastern USA.

Subjects: Eighty-one low-income mothers of infants between 0 and 12 months old.

Results: Most mothers reported receiving both supportive and undermining advice. The presence of …

Competing Infant Feeding Information In Mothers’ Networks: Advice That Supports V. Undermines Clinical Recommendations, Sato Ashida, Freda B. Lynn, Natalie A. Williams, Ellen J. Schafer

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

Objective: To identify the social contextual factors, specifically the presence of information that supports v. undermines clinical recommendations, associated with infant feeding behaviours among mothers in low-income areas.

Design: Cross-sectional survey evaluating social support networks and social relationships involved in providing care to the infant along with feeding beliefs and practices.

Setting: Out-patient paediatric and government-funded (Women, Infants, and Children) clinics in an urban, low-income area of the south-eastern USA.

Subjects: Eighty-one low-income mothers of infants between 0 and 12 months old.

Results: Most mothers reported receiving both supportive and undermining advice. The presence …

Does The Nebraska Livestock Friendly County Program Affect Livestock Expansion In The State?, Brian E. Mills

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Livestock production in Nebraska is a very essential part of the state’s economy with cash receipts from all livestock and products valued at $11.9 billion in 2013 (NDA 2015b). The Livestock Friendly County Program (LFCP) was instituted by the Nebraska Legislature in 2003 to further promote livestock development in the state. This thesis examines whether the program has had its intended impact for both cattle and hog farms. The analysis draws on the theory of long-run competitive equilibrium as a guide for the specification of the cattle and hog models. Three alternative specifications of the models using different sets of …

The Impact Of Marital Quality And Parent-Child Relationships On Peer Relationships At School: A Brazilian Study, Brandon P. Eddy

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the impact that marital quality and parent-child relationships have on peer relationships at school in a Brazilian population. Despite the fact that Brazil is the fifth most populated country in the world, it is very underrepresented in the literature and little information is known about how marital quality and the parent-child bond impact children socially. Sixty-five mothers and their children participated in this study. Marital quality was assessed using the Portuguese version of the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The parent-child relationship was assessed using the Parental Bonding Instrument and peer relationships at …

An Examination Of Sources Of Error In Exit Polls: Nonresponse And Measurement Error, René Bautista

Survey Research and Methodology Program: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation focuses on understudied aspects of nonresponse in a context where limited information is available from refusals. In particular, this study examines social and psychological predictors of nonresponse in fast-paced face-to-face surveys; namely, election day surveys —popularly known as exit polls. Exit polls present unique challenges to study nonresponse since the population being sampled is fleeting and several conditions are beyond the researcher’s control.

If sample voters choose not participate, there is no practical way of contacting them to collect information in a timely manner. Using a proof-of-concept approach, this study explores a unique dataset that links information of …

Interviewer Voice Characteristics And Data Quality, Nuttirudee Charoenruk

Survey Research and Methodology Program: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As an aural mode, interviewer voices play an important part in telephone surveys. Telephone interviewers are typically instructed to read questions with a proper phrasing and inflection and to read questions at a speech rate of 2 words per second (wps). However, there is no study that examines whether these interviewer voices affect data quality. In this dissertation, I examine how interviewer voice characteristics are associated with data quality in socially desirable, undesirable, and complex questions.

Data for this study come from the Work and Leisure Today Survey (NSF SES-1132015). I examined the first turn that interviewers read a survey …

Response Bias On Self-Report Measures Of Sexual Fantasies Among Sexual Offenders, Kindra Seifert, Jenna Boulas, Matthew T. Huss, Mario J. Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The impact of sexual fantasies in future risk and treatment response among sexual offenders has long been known. However, as we develop objective self-report measures of sexual fantasies, response bias is becoming an increasing concern. In examining a sample of institutionalized sex offenders, the present study suggests that offenders’ responses on these measures are prone to response bias, the bias does not negate their associations with other self-report measures of sexual deviance, and relationship of their sexual fantasies does not appear to relate to actual behavioral indications. Clinical and research implications for these findings are discussed.

Container Vegetable Gardening, Terri James, David Lott

Nebraska Cooperative Extension: Faculty and Staff Publications

If well-managed, vegetables grown in containers can provide high-quality produce in a small space.

Container vegetable gardening is a wonderful option for people who have limited space, impaired physical mobility, or conditions that interfere with in-ground gardening, such as poor garden soil. It also can help avoid problems with soilborne diseases and nematode pests that can exist in the soil in traditional, in-ground gardens. People who do not have access to a garden space, or simply do not want to grow a full-scale garden, may choose container vegetable gardening to provide them with enjoyment and produce. Containers are available in …

Wpa News 97 (2015), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Summer 2015), number 97

Published by the World Pheasant Association

A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Leadership Development Experiences Of Academic Research Library Leaders, Beth Mcneil

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This phenomenological study describes the leadership development experiences of academic librarians currently working in leadership roles in academic research libraries to discover their experiences of being a library leader and to explore how they describe their own leadership development. Study participants identified as having experienced positive leadership development experiences during their careers as academic research library leaders and were, at the time of this study, employed and actively working in leadership positions reporting directly to the head of their academic research library. The goal of this exploration was to understand what the academic library leaders had experienced, with regard to …

Tradtional Alcohol Use Among Rural Yi Minority In China: An Application Of Theory Of Planned Behavior, Yonghua Feng

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

It is estimated that 25% of the alcohol consumed in China as traditional alcohol. This study explored the drinking patterns and the motives to use traditional alcohol among a sample of the Yi minority in southern China. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used to explore motives.

Based on initial fieldwork among the Yi a questionnaire was developed to provide data to describe traditional alcohol use and to assess the constructs of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control as expressed the Theory of Planned Behavior. The questionnaire was refined and the results served as an adequate measurement to explore …

Predictors Of Preschool Children's Body Mass Index: Breastfeeding Duration, Child Eating Behaviors, And Parental Feeding Practices, Amy J. Encinger

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study examined how breastfeeding duration, child eating behaviors (Satiety and Food Responsiveness), and parental feeding practices (Environment and Parental Control over Food) are related to body mass index (BMI) among preschool-aged children. Participants were 224 primary caregivers (M age = 30.36; 90% mothers) of preschool-aged children (M age = 4.22 years, 55% male) from three Midwestern preschools serving low-income children. Mediated multiple regression analyses examined the effects of the various child eating behaviors and parental feeding practices as mediators of the relation between breastfeeding duration and child BMI. Three main findings emerged. There was a significant …

Capturing The Gendiverse: A Test Of The Gender Self-Perception Scale, With Implications For Survey Data And Labor Market Measures, Alian Kasabian

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation assesses a new measure of gender. In doing so, it addresses a glaring inconsistency between how sociologists conceptualize gender and how we measure it (i.e., with sex categories) in most quantitative sociological literature. Research that only measures sex effectively hides the variability in individual social identities that is related to sociological outcomes of interest. Unfortunately, most existing quantitative gender scales are impractical for use in large scale data collection. In this work, I investigated the Gender Self-perception Scale (GSPS) as an alternative survey measure of gender using three projects. For the first project (chapter 2), I used the …

Avoidance As An Explanatory Mechanism For Poor Outcomes In Treatment For Substance Use Disorders, Andrew Oakland

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are prevalent and lead to significant impairments in people's lives in a variety of ways. One area which has gained attention is that of SUDs and their high comorbidity with mood and anxiety disorders. Many theories exist as to why these conditions often occur together, and the self-medication hypothesis is one that has perhaps the most research and general support behind it. The self-medication hypothesis states that individuals use substances to reduce negative affect which creates a feedback loop of negative reinforcement. Individuals then develop problematic substance use in addition to emotional dysregulation. One recent theory …

A Comparison Between Telehealth And Face-To-Face Brief Alcohol Interventions For College Students, Sarah Christine King

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Problematic alcohol use is a common occurrence among college students. While empirically supported interventions exist, their access is typically limited to those who attend large universities. In the health care field there has been an expansion of services provided via telehealth to increase client access to treatment. However, the evidence is mixed regarding the effectiveness of face-to-face versus telehealth interventions and there is a gap in the literature regarding the use of telehealth interventions for brief alcohol interventions in college students. As such, the purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a well-validated brief alcohol screening and …

Mixed-Effects Location-Scale Models For Conditionally Normally Distributed Repeated-Measures Data, Ryan Walters

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Hypotheses about psychological processes are most frequently dedicated to individual mean differences, but individual differences in variability are likely to be important as well. The mixed-effects location-scale model estimates individual differences in both mean level and variability in a single model, and represents an important advance in testing variability-related hypotheses. However, the mixed-effects location-scale model remains relatively novel to empirical scientists as statistical software is often handicapped by more complex models and a paucity of methodological studies exist examining the statistical properties of this model.

This dissertation investigates the mixed-effects location-scale model through the development of open-source software for its …

Reflective Liberals And Intuitive Conservatives: A Look At The Cognitive Reflection Test And Ideology, Kristen D. Deppe, Frank J. Gonzalez, Jayme Neiman, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Jackson Pahlke, Kevin Smith, John R. Hibbing

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Prior research finds that liberals and conservatives process information differently. Predispositions toward intuitive versus reflective thinking may help explain this individual level variation. There have been few direct tests of this hypothesis and the results from the handful of studies that do exist are contradictory. Here we report the results of a series of studies using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) to investigate inclinations to be reflective and political orientation. We find a relationship between thinking style and political orientation and that these effects are particularly concentrated on social attitudes. We also find it harder to manipulate intuitive and reflective …

Effects Of Abusive Parenting, Caretaker Arrests, And Deviant Behavior On Dating Violence Among Homeless Young Adults., Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel Schmitz

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Though dating violence is widespread among young adult homeless populations, its risk factors are poorly understood by scholars. To address this gap, the current study uses a social learning theory to examine the effects of abusive parenting and caretaker arrests on dating violence among 172 homeless young adults. Results from path analyses revealed that child physical abuse and caretaker arrests were positively associated with engaging in a greater number of school fights, which, in turn, was strongly and positively correlated with participating in more deviant subsistence strategies (e.g., stealing) since being on the street. Young people who participated in a …

Perceived Discrimination And Markers Of Cardiovascular Risk Among Low-Income African American Youth, Bridget J. Goosby, Sarah Malone, Elizabeth A. Richardson, Jacob Cheadle, Deadric T. Williams

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Objectives: Our study examines the relationship between perceived discrimination and levels of C-reactive protein and blood pressure in low-income youth ages 10215 years old.

Methods: Data were collected from 10 to 15 year old focal children and their mothers. Face-to-face interviews were implemented to collect data on stressors including experiences of everyday discrimination from youth. High sensitivity CRP in dried blood spot samples and diastolic and systolic blood pressure were also collected at the time of the interview.

Results: Perceived discrimination among youth was significantly associated with higher levels of CRP, systolic, and diastolic blood pressure. CRP, systolic, and diastolic …

Behavioral And Pharmacological Investigation Of Anxiety And Maternal Responsiveness Of Postpartum Female Rats In A Pup Elevated Plus Maze, Yu Yang, Jingxue Qin, Weihai Chen, Hong Chen, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study investigated the validity of a novel pup-based repeated elevated plus maze task to detect reduced anxiety and increased maternal responsiveness in postpartum female rats and explored the roles of dopamine D2, serotonin transporter and GABA/benzodiazepine receptors in the mediation of these processes. Sprague–Dawley postpartum or nulliparous female rats were tested 4 times every other day on postpartum days 4, 6 and 8 in an elevated plus maze with 4 pups or 4 pup-size erasers placed on each end of the two open arms. When tested with erasers, untreated postpartum mother rats entered the open arms proportionally more …

Embracing Multiple Definitions Of Learning, Andrew B. Barron, Eileen A. Hebets, Thomas A. Cleland, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Mark E. Hauber, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Eileen Hebets Publications

Definitions of learning vary widely across disciplines, driven largely by different approaches used to assess its occurrence. These definitions can be better reconciled with each other if each is recognized as coherent with a common conceptualization of learning, while appreciating the practical utility of different learning definitions in different contexts.

Learning is a major focus of research in psychology, neuro- science, behavioral ecology, evolutionary theory, and computer science, as well as in many other disciplines. Despite its conceptual prevalence, definitions of learning differ enormously both within and between these disciplines, and new definitions continue to be proposed [1]. Ongoing disputes …

Impaired Synaptic Development In A Maternal Immune Activation Mouse Model Of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Pierluca Coiro, Ragunathan Padmashri, Anand Suresh, Elizabeth Spartz, Gurudutt Pendyala, Shinnyi Chou, Yoosun Jung, Brittney Meays, Shreya Roy, Nagsen Gautam, Yazen Alnouti, Ming Li, Anna Dunaevsky

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Both genetic and environmental factors are thought to contribute to neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders with maternal immune activation (MIA) being a risk factor for both autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Although MIA mouse offspring exhibit behavioral impairments, the synaptic alterations in vivo that mediate these behaviors are not known. Here we employed in vivo multiphoton imaging to determine that in the cortex of young MIA offspring there is a reduction in number and turnover rates of dendritic spines, sites of majority of excitatory synaptic inputs. Significantly, spine impairments persisted into adulthood and correlated with increased repetitive behavior, an ASD relevant …

Current Knowledge And Considerations Regarding Survey Refusals: Executive Summary Of The Aapor Task Force Report On Survey Refusals, David Dutwin, John D. Loft, Jill E. Darling, Allyson L. Holbrook, Timothy P. Johnson, Ronald E. Langley, Paul J. Lavrakas, Kristen Olson, Emilia Peytcheva, Jeffery A. Stec, Timothy Triplett, Andrew Zukerberg

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The landscape of survey research has arguably changed more significantly in the past decade than at any other time in its relatively brief history. In that short time, landline telephone ownership has dropped from some 98 percent of all households to less than 60 percent; cell-phone interviewing went from a novelty to a mainstay; address-based designs quickly became an accepted method of sampling the general population; and surveys via Internet panels became ubiquitous in many sectors of social and market research, even as they continue to raise concerns given their lack of random selection.

Among these widespread changes, it is …

United States Veteran's Affairs Agency (Va) Response To The Office Of Science And Technology Policy Memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (July 2015)

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

VA response to OSTP memo, 2013: Public Access Plan (July 2015)

The Once And Future Publishing Library, Ann Okerson, Alex Holzman

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Once upon a time, the world was simpler. Publishers published and libraries collected a lot of what publishers published. Nothing is so simple any more. Now everybody’s a publisher—including librarians. Large-scale initiatives such as HighWire Press and Project Muse have had libraries in attendance at their births, and substantial continuing projects such as Euclid are still housed in libraries. A whirl of buzz and excitement surrounds a growing assumption that publishing is in some way and to some extent a critical function for the library of the future.

We have studied the topic of libraries as publishers, with investigations mainly …