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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Anger In The Overlooked: A Gendered Analysis Of The January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill Breach, Elizabeth Bender May 2022

Anger In The Overlooked: A Gendered Analysis Of The January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill Breach, Elizabeth Bender

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The violence seen at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 has sparked concern at the threat of domestic violent extremism (DVE) within the United States. Over 700 individuals have been federally charged in connection with the events of January 6 including almost 100 women. Women’s involvement in DVE is underestimated and understudied. This project utilized a corpus of over 1,000 court documents to content code variables relating to violence and DVE affiliation for the individuals who have been federally charged in relation to January 6th. The results of the coding process were then used to compare the rates …


Diets, Detoxes, And Dysmorphia: Health, Wellness, And Misinformation On Tiktok, Courtney Kilroy May 2022

Diets, Detoxes, And Dysmorphia: Health, Wellness, And Misinformation On Tiktok, Courtney Kilroy

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The worlds of social media and wellness have been similarly categorized as “Wild West” industries. Innovation in science and technology are growing exponentially and are increasingly a part of most people’s everyday lives. TikTok began in 2016 and has since accumulated 78.7 million users in the United States. The wellness industry was valued at $4.37 trillion worldwide in 2020, likely due in no small part to the concept’s proliferation across social media platforms like TikTok. This rapid growth has come with unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative. A negative consequence that has been more frequently discussed and researched in the …


Hate In The Heartland: Examining Hate Groups In Nebraska’S Past And Present, Grant Van Robays May 2022

Hate In The Heartland: Examining Hate Groups In Nebraska’S Past And Present, Grant Van Robays

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Hate groups that malign entire classes of people based on race, religion, sexuality, gender, or other characteristic appear in every U.S. state. Nebraska is home to nine such groups, one of the highest figures in the country on a per capita basis. While notoriously secretive, previous research and watchdog reporting has pulled back the curtain on hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazi organizations, positing theories on how and why groups form. Minimal research has described in depth hate groups in a single state, let alone a quaint state like Nebraska. This case study of hate …


The Impact Of Stimulus Age On Emotional Face Recognition, Morgan Goslar May 2022

The Impact Of Stimulus Age On Emotional Face Recognition, Morgan Goslar

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Research supports the theory that stimuli, including experiences, words, and faces, with an emotional connotation are more easily remembered than stimuli with a more neutral connotation. The scientific community has expanded this theory by manipulating a variety of variables, including participant age, time between encoding and retrieval, and “taboo” words in comparison to more neutral categories, to name a few. The current study seeks to expand upon the previous findings by examining emotional and neutral facial stimuli while manipulating the age of the stimulus face. To do this, participants were shown 10 photos in each of the following categories: young …


Helicopter Parenting And Young Adult Well-Being: Differences By Immigration Status, Gender, And Race, Miriam Marcus May 2022

Helicopter Parenting And Young Adult Well-Being: Differences By Immigration Status, Gender, And Race, Miriam Marcus

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Helicopter parenting is a relatively new phenomenon that involves parental overinvolvement in their kids’ lives. It can manifest in the form of overcontrol of their kids’ decisions, for example, so helicopter parents may contact their children’s professors about changing their grades, or they may control who their children spend time with. Research has shown that helicopter parenting has overall negative effects on young adults, especially regarding their well-being and autonomy. The effects of helicopter parenting on people who come from varying backgrounds can differ, though, and this is something that should be studied. This study was completed through the administration …


Redeveloping Homeless History And Chronicity Documentation: A Study For Heartland Family Service, Rachel Riede May 2022

Redeveloping Homeless History And Chronicity Documentation: A Study For Heartland Family Service, Rachel Riede

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

In recent months, the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program at Heartland Family Service (HFS) has seen substantial delays during their intake process, specifically when it comes to verifying a client’s HUD-required homeless history. This has led to an increase in program vacancies, fewer clients served, and an underutilization of the program’s budget, which could also induce more permanent defunding in the future. While the agency is working to address this problem by retraining all of their case managers on how to collect homeless histories, this project seeks to instead identify and address the problem through the case managers’ perspective. Through …


The Representation Of Women In Disney Animated Films, Sharik Jimenez May 2022

The Representation Of Women In Disney Animated Films, Sharik Jimenez

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Disney animated feature film is a big global entertainment arena. This paper analyzes multiple animated Disney classic movies based on the subject of women’s representation. These films are interesting to study because the targeted audience is children, and the stereotypical patterns that these Disney classic films portray may play an important role in their lives. It was found that the character development in the Disney animation films, focuses on giving the primary or the central character more pervasive roles, especially in cases where they are considered the female gender. However, they are gender role concerns in the Disney films that …


A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Research Motivations At The University Of Nebraska Omaha (Uno), Afrah F. Rasheed Dec 2021

A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Research Motivations At The University Of Nebraska Omaha (Uno), Afrah F. Rasheed

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Undergraduate research provides unique experiences and skill sets that are applicable in various careers. However, there has been an increasing need for greater diversity among researchers, namely undergraduate researchers, and the motivations behind undergraduate research participation need to be further explored. The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic information of undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and what motivations were the most prevalent in undergraduate research at UNO. A mixed-methods approach was utilized through a quantitative portion and a qualitative portion. The quantitative portion was a web-based survey which gauged for 22 independent …


Gender Differences In The Effects Of Complementary Versus Competitive Gender Stereotypes On System Justification And Tolerance Of Sexism, Jordyn Bingham May 2021

Gender Differences In The Effects Of Complementary Versus Competitive Gender Stereotypes On System Justification And Tolerance Of Sexism, Jordyn Bingham

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Research has shown that people often support social systems that are not in their best interests (Kay & Jost, 2003). One way that people may justify support for such social systems is by focusing on beneficial characteristics. For example, people exhibit greater system justification when people are described as poor but happy (complementary attributes) as opposed to poor and unhappy (non-complementary attributes) (Kay & Jost, 2003). The present study examined the effects of complementary (i.e., that women and men fulfill different career roles) versus competitive (i.e., that women and men compete for the same career roles) gender stereotypes on women’s …


Getting Started: Training Modules For New Employees Of The Uno Bookstore, Abigail Kane May 2021

Getting Started: Training Modules For New Employees Of The Uno Bookstore, Abigail Kane

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) Bookstore does not currently have an established training program to help new employees integrate into the organization. Inconsistency in training can cause unnecessary stress on employees and management. This capstone project aimed to alleviate some of this stress by creating four training modules specifically tailored to the needs of the organization. A needs assessment was conducted with input from the management team and employees to identify module topics that meet the UNO Bookstore’s exact needs. The following topics were identified: Onboarding Information, Conflict in the Workplace, Inter-organizational Communication, and Use of Technologically Mediated Communication. …


“Because I Said So”: The Effect Of Parenting Practices On Adolescent Adjustment, Brittany Sullivan May 2021

“Because I Said So”: The Effect Of Parenting Practices On Adolescent Adjustment, Brittany Sullivan

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This study aimed to examine the relationship between specific parenting practices (i.e., psychological control, behavioral control, and parental expectations) and adolescent adjustment outcomes (i.e., internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and self-worth). It was hypothesized that psychological control would have a positive relationship with internalizing behaviors and a negative relationship with self-worth. It was also hypothesized that behavioral control would have a negative relationship with externalizing behaviors and a positive relationship with self-worth. The study was longitudinal as data collection occurred over a 5-year period in order to determine if parenting practices not only affect adolescent adjustment outcomes, but if they do …


Covid-19’S Impact Of Social Isolation On Seniors In An Assisted Living Facility, Mary Mclaughlin May 2021

Covid-19’S Impact Of Social Isolation On Seniors In An Assisted Living Facility, Mary Mclaughlin

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This study explores the impact of social distancing precautions in response to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic by resident seniors in an assisted living facility. Previous studies describe how social distancing regulations can amplify feelings of loneliness in all age groups. However, pandemic-related lockdowns and social distancing measures disproportionately affect vulnerable older populations. Resident seniors in an assisted living facility in Omaha, NE participated in a semi-structured interview focused on the perceived impact of COVID-19 safety precautions. Participants reported a temporal dimension of impact, specifically, an increased level of loneliness in the evening, but also discussed the importance of encouragement …


Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Measuring Anti-Fat Bias Among Social Work Students, Dalton Meister May 2021

Undergraduate Honors Thesis: Measuring Anti-Fat Bias Among Social Work Students, Dalton Meister

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This undergraduate honors thesis engaged in basic research, utilizing a cross-sectional survey design, to measure the prevalence of explicit anti-fat bias across educational groups in social work student populations. Data was analyzed to examine differences between professional social work education levels and students’ self-reported level of explicit anti-fat bias. Overall, participants endorsed relatively low levels of anti-fat bias, especially in the domains of Adverse Judgement, Social Distance, and Equal Rights. However, participants endorsed higher levels of anti-fat bias in the domain of Attraction. There was no statistically significant relationship between level of social work education and anti-fat bias. There was …


Self-Continuity In Adolescence: A Buffer Against Decreases In Self-Esteem Due To Vicitmization, Gabriela Alvarez May 2021

Self-Continuity In Adolescence: A Buffer Against Decreases In Self-Esteem Due To Vicitmization, Gabriela Alvarez

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The purpose of this research was to explore how components of self-esteem, such as social, cognitive and physical competence, can explain the buffering effect of self-continuity. Self-continuity explains the associations between individuals themselves in both past and present and perceived sameness, despite growth and development of the self. As self-continuity becomes more complex throughout adolescence, children may find themselves lacking a sense of identity. Previous research shows that negative views of the self may later represent themselves in adulthood. There is evidence that suggests self-continuity protects against the negative effects of peer victimization by providing positive connections between one another. …


The Relationships Of Perceived Parental Social Support To Vigilance And Resilience Among Lgbtq And Straight Cisgender Adults, Brady Dodds May 2021

The Relationships Of Perceived Parental Social Support To Vigilance And Resilience Among Lgbtq And Straight Cisgender Adults, Brady Dodds

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of parental support to resilience and vigilance in LGBTQ and straight, cisgender adults as the majority of research has examined these relationships in LGBTQ and straight, cisgender children and teens. It was hypothesized that greater parental support would be correlated with higher resilience and lower vigilance. Also, it was hypothesized that the relationships would be stronger for LGBTQ participants than for straight, cisgender participants. Participants who were recruited via Prolific Academic completed an online questionnaire that included measures of maternal and paternal support, resilience, and vigilance. Results indicated that participants …


Effect Of The Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic On Assistive And Interactive Technology Use: In- Person Versus Distanced Communication, Alexandra Swanson May 2021

Effect Of The Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic On Assistive And Interactive Technology Use: In- Person Versus Distanced Communication, Alexandra Swanson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

COVID-19 risk-reduction efforts have protected high-risk individuals but have significantly altered life; persons now face reduced socialization. Advancing technologies (e.g., video-chat) may be useful in alleviating consequences of these efforts, potentially mitigating loneliness, and isolation by improving access to alternative communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between communicative technology use and individual characteristics, as technology use may contribute to well-being among adults during COVID-19 and future isolating events. This is especially relevant to older populations. Participants (N=645) aged 19+ completed a questionnaire via Amazon Mechanical Turk; demographic, socialization, and technology-use data were collected. Data were …


The Impact Of Service-Learning On General Chemistry Ii Students At The University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Kayla Rud May 2021

The Impact Of Service-Learning On General Chemistry Ii Students At The University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Kayla Rud

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Service-learning has been shown to enhance academic and leadership skills while promoting community engagement and exposing students to different career opportunities (Esson et al., 2005). While the benefits of service-learning courses are clear, few STEM courses include service-learning components (Esson et al., 2005). Here, students in a totally online 2nd semester UNO chemistry course completed a service-learning project where they remotely led a live, inquiry-based STEM activity for Girl Scouts. To quantify the impact of service-learning on professional development, future career plans, and future volunteerism, a series of pre and post surveys were administered. Paired-sample t-tests revealed a statistically significant …


Genetic Counselors’ Attitudes Towards Telegenetics: The Good, The Bad, The In-Between, Madison Badje May 2021

Genetic Counselors’ Attitudes Towards Telegenetics: The Good, The Bad, The In-Between, Madison Badje

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Given that the global coronavirus pandemic has necessitated a quick and vast transition to telehealth, the purpose of this study is to explore these changes in the field of genetic counseling. To examine the perceived effectiveness of telegenetics from the perspective of genetic counselors, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with two genetic counselors in which each participant was asked six questions. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed using standard thematic analysis techniques for qualitative data analysis. The analysis revealed two main themes: benefits and drawbacks of telegenetics, with two sub-themes under each. The major benefits are increased patient …


A Study Of Young American Women, Conservatism, And Feminism, Laurel Lux May 2021

A Study Of Young American Women, Conservatism, And Feminism, Laurel Lux

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

As of June 2020, only 31% of self-identified conservatives in the United States were women. Modern political conservatism is known for rejecting modern feminism as well, which is often stereotyped as a women’s issue. With such a small percentage of women identifying as conservative, the question arises as to why young American women reject modern feminism and identify with modern political conservatism. In this study I examined the literature comparing modern conservatism, conservative women’s movements, and modern feminism, and conducted a small questionnaire of conservative women 18-24. I concluded by describing three generalized schools of thought regarding conservative women’s views …


Disparities In Oral Health: Socioeconomic Status And Policies To Increase Access To Primary Dental Care, Mckenzie Nutter Dec 2020

Disparities In Oral Health: Socioeconomic Status And Policies To Increase Access To Primary Dental Care, Mckenzie Nutter

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Primary dental care is a patient-centered service consisting of routine dental checkups. The oral cavity is the first point of entrance to the body for many harmful pathogens. Therefore, primary dental care is essential to not only prevent and treat conditions in the mouth, but to also reduce the number of systemic diseases in the rest of the body. However, people with higher incomes or wealth have increased access to primary dental care. People with low socioeconomic status have decreased access to primary dental care, at least in part due to difficulties in paying for separate dental insurance. Disparities in …


The Effects Of White-Nose Syndrome On Cave-Dwelling Bats During Their Pre-Hibernation Season In Eastern Nebraska, Maggie Bockart Dec 2020

The Effects Of White-Nose Syndrome On Cave-Dwelling Bats During Their Pre-Hibernation Season In Eastern Nebraska, Maggie Bockart

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is currently the leading cause of death to North American bats and was first documented in the United States in 2006 on the East Coast. Infection with the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) causes bats to arise from hibernation with unnecessary frequency, leading to depletion of fat reserves that are imperative for extended periods of torpor. In October 2014, biologists surveyed the activity levels of bats at Fontenelle Forest in eastern Nebraska using acoustic detectors and determined what species of bats were present and their relative abundance before being exposed to WNS. By returning to the …


Benevolence Toward Men And Political Conservatism Among Married And Never-Married Women, Tara Goering Dec 2020

Benevolence Toward Men And Political Conservatism Among Married And Never-Married Women, Tara Goering

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Research indicates that sexism allows women to justify men’s privileged status; indeed, sexism has predicted women’s conservative vote choice (Cassese & Barnes, 2018). Benevolent attitudes toward men (BM) are based in beliefs about women and men’s interdependence (Glick & Fiske, 1999). Married women may experience greater interdependence and may desire to preserve beneficial structural power systems. The present research examined the relationship of BM to political conservatism among married and never-married women. Married and never-married women recruited from Prolific Academic completed a measure of political conservatism and the 10-item BM scale (Glick & Fiske, 1999). The results indicated that, as …


The Violence Against Women's Act: From The Criminalization Of Domestic Violence Through Modern Political Challenges, Carrie Anderson May 2020

The Violence Against Women's Act: From The Criminalization Of Domestic Violence Through Modern Political Challenges, Carrie Anderson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The Violence Against Women’s Act, or VAWA, is a landmark piece of federal legislation to combat domestic violence in the United States. It passed in 1994 following various state efforts to stop intimate partner violence. Broad federal legislation was needed to end domestic violence because of the unique nature of the crime including the strong connection between victims and perpetrators, the vast scale of the problem, and the reoccurring nature of domestic violence (Fagan, p. 28-29, 1996). VAWA has been expanded through reauthorization efforts in 2000, 2005, and 2013. Reform efforts have focused on increasing protections for victims especially focusing …


Predictors Of Loneliness Among College Students: Evidence For The Necessity Of Early Childhood Interventions, Yazmin Ramos May 2020

Predictors Of Loneliness Among College Students: Evidence For The Necessity Of Early Childhood Interventions, Yazmin Ramos

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Chronic loneliness is associated with negative health consequences. Those that suffer from chronic loneliness typically exhibit bad health behaviors, such as excessive alcohol and drug consumption, which can lead to physical ailments, such as heart disease or even death (Steptoe et. al., 2013; Shoevestul et. al., 2020). Additionally, chronic loneliness is associated with mental health; higher reported feelings of loneliness has been associated with higher rates of depression (Shovestul et. al., 2020). As loneliness varies by socio-demographics, such as sex, women report higher rates of loneliness than men (Maes et. al., 2019). To better understand the factors associated with loneliness, …


Exploring Connections Between Social Anxiety And Social Media Use In College Students, Alexandra Deman May 2020

Exploring Connections Between Social Anxiety And Social Media Use In College Students, Alexandra Deman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

When young adults enter college their identity and self-esteem are tested in a novel environment. Interacting, forming new relationships, having some sense of independence for the first time, and often living in a new area can take a toll on someone who has not sufficiently developed a stable identity. This, in-turn, may create a negative outlook on one’s self and the individual’s capabilities to participate in social interaction, or ultimately a desire to avoid them altogether. If such a negative view further intensifies and remains present, it may develop into social anxiety disorder. Social media can either alleviate or escalate …


Planning And Navigating In An Unfamiliar Location: Effects Of Outsourcing On Memory, Bailey Hoffer May 2020

Planning And Navigating In An Unfamiliar Location: Effects Of Outsourcing On Memory, Bailey Hoffer

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Outsourcing is the process of using some external tool as a memory aid. There are a whole host of tools to outsource information that we want to remember. The purpose of this study was to better understand how outsourcing impacts memory for information outsourced and the information not outsourced. This study used different methods of navigation: simulated GPS as well as a self-generated route to involve the generation effect—generating the to-be-remembered information by oneself. Route accuracy and route tasks were measured by participants’ memory. The independent variables in the study are navigation source (GPS determined versus self-generated) and test instruction …


Factors Influencing Participation In Liberal Student Organizations On College Campuses, Nathan Johnson May 2020

Factors Influencing Participation In Liberal Student Organizations On College Campuses, Nathan Johnson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Despite a long history of student organizations on college campuses there is relatively little research on participation and student experiences in such groups, especially on what factors motivate students to become involved. This study sought to examine factors that influence participation in political organizations on college campuses through dependent variables of attendance and holding a leadership role. The sample focused on groups understood to be “liberal” such as the College Democrats, environmental groups, and others. Respondents were reached through personal connections, social media, and distributing the survey to student organizations. The examined factors accounted for less than a fifth of …


The Role Of Culture In Engaging The Senior Population In Omaha, Ne, Jamie Bish May 2020

The Role Of Culture In Engaging The Senior Population In Omaha, Ne, Jamie Bish

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

In recent years, the senior care industry has become the focus of many public health initiatives as we have come to better understand the significance of our aging population (Olivari et al., 2020). Between the years 2010 and 2050, the population of the United States over 65 years is expected to more than double, from 40.5 to 89 million (Dall et al., 2013). While this data provides a national outlook, further research is needed to determine local impacts. This project centers on developing a better understanding of the demographics of seniors in the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Statistical Area and how …


Perspective Driven Behavior: The Effects Of Classroom Climate On A Student's Personality And Willingness To Communicate, Nicholas Weber May 2020

Perspective Driven Behavior: The Effects Of Classroom Climate On A Student's Personality And Willingness To Communicate, Nicholas Weber

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Modern students are experiencing problems novel to the college environment. Much emphasis has been placed on learning in the classroom and the interactions with other students and professors, but this research has neglected features intrinsic to the student in question. The current study evaluates the student’s communication climate (or Connected Communication Climate Inventory (CCCI) score) within their classrooms as it relates to the relationship between key personality traits (i.e. Extraversion, Intellect/ Imagination, and Neuroticism) and their willingness to communicate (WTC) in those settings. College students have been given assessments to evaluate the prevalence of distinct personality traits and their relationships …


Art And The Pursuit Of Happiness: How Artists Use Art To Promote Their Emotional Well-Being, August Namuth, Bruce Chase May 2020

Art And The Pursuit Of Happiness: How Artists Use Art To Promote Their Emotional Well-Being, August Namuth, Bruce Chase

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Artists have used art’s positive mental and physical health effects for as long as art has been around. Art is known to have many therapeutic and mood benefiting effects, from reduced anxiety and stress levels, to increased confidence and a sense of purpose. Many different clinical studies have found art to be beneficial to people who have suffered from PTSD, bipolar disorder, strokes, and cancer pain. Despite the clearly beneficial effects of creativity associated with art, artists suffer from disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia at a much higher rate than the general population. This study sought to …