Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Covid-19: The Impact On Young, Low-Wage Workers Without College Degrees, Marie A. Falcone, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet highlights select data from the Brookings Institution report “We can’t recover from coronavirus recession without helping young workers” released May 7, 2020 by Martha Ross and Nicole Bateman. In the context of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the report includes data on the long-term, near-term, and immediate-term risk for occupations held by young workers without college credentials. This Fact Sheet focuses on data pertaining to the employment demography of young workers without a college degree in Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah).

Thick As Thieves: Bringing Armenia’S Robber Barons To Justice, Nerses Kopalyan

Political Science Faculty Research

There is a certain inhumanity to stealing from the poor, from the disenfranchised, from children, and quite simply, from one’s own society. But the magnitude of such cruelty is further elevated when the theft is undertaken and brazenly justified by those in positions of political power.

It Took A Fire To Change Us, David Schwartz

Executive Vice President & Provost Faculty Research

Everyone who was in Las Vegas on the morning of November 21, 1980 remembers what they were doing when they heard that the MGM Grand was burning. It was the worst disaster in the city’s history, and, at the time, the second-worst hotel fire in the nation’s history. (The 1946 fire in Atlanta’s Winecoff Hotel, which claimed 119 lives, had that dubious honor.) All told, the MGM Grand fire would claim 87 lives. Thursday night had ended normally. At 7:15 Friday morning, a fast-moving fire erupted from the hotel’s deli, racing through the casino and sending toxic smoke through the …

The Development Of The Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale (Csbd-19): An Icd-11 Based Screening Measure Across Three Languages, Beáta Bőthe, Marc N. Potenza, Mark D. Griffiths, Shane W. Kraus, Verena Klein, Johannes Fuss, Zsolt Demetrovics

Psychology Faculty Research

Background Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is included in the eleventh edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an impulse-control disorder. AimsThe aim of the present work was to develop a scale (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale–CSBD-19) that can reliably and validly assess CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Method Four independent samples of 9,325 individuals completed self-reported measures from three countries (the United States, Hungary, and Germany). The psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 were examined in terms of factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance, and theoretically relevant correlates. A potential threshold was determined to identify individuals with an …

Validation Of A Brief Pornography Screen Across Multiple Samples, Shane W. Kraus, Mateusz Gola, Joshua B. Grubbs, Ewelina Kowalewska, Rani A. Hoff, Michał Lew-Starowicz, Steve Martino, Steven D. Shirk, Marc N. Potenza

Psychology Faculty Research

Background and Aims To address current gaps around screening for problematic pornography use (PPU), we initially developed and tested a six-item Brief Pornography Screen (BPS) that asked about PPU in the past six months. Methods and Participants We recruited five independent samples from the U.S. and Poland to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BPS. In Study 1, we evaluated the factor structure, reliability, and elements of validity using a sample of 224 U.S. veterans. One item from the BPS was dropped in Study 1 due to low item endorsement. In Studies 2 and 3, we further investigated the five-item …

Neighborhood Change In Las Vegas, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Housing & Real Estate

This Fact Sheet analyzes indicators of demographic and economic change in Las Vegas neighborhoods and suburbs, provided by “American Neighborhood Change in the 21st Century,” a study published by the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity (IMO) at the Minnesota Law School. Researchers reviewed data from the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) for the top 50 largest metros in the U.S. The study reports levels of neighborhood change, including economic growth, poverty concentration, gentrification, and low-income displacement. Data pertaining to the Las Vegas metropolitan region are synthesized to measure indicators of economic viability and housing availability.

Regional Variation In States’ Naloxone Accessibility Laws In Association With Opioid Overdose Death Rates-Observational Study (Strobe Compliant), Hyo-Sun You, Jane Ha, Cyra-Y. Kang, Leeseul Kim, Jinah Kim, Jay J. Shen, Seong-Min Park, Sung-Youn Chun, Jinwook Hwang, Takashi Yamashita, Se Won Lee, Georgia Dounis, Yong-Jae Lee, Dong-Hun Han, David Byun, Ji Won Yoo, Hee-Taik Kang

School of Public Health Faculty Research

Though overall death from opioid overdose are increasing in the United States, the death rate in some states and population groups is stabilizing or even decreasing. Several states have enacted a Naloxone Accessibility Laws to increase naloxone availability as an opioid antidote. The extent to which these laws permit layperson distribution and possession varies. The aim of this study is to investigate differences in provisions of Naloxone Accessibility Laws by states mainly in the Northeast and West regions, and the impact of naloxone availability on the rates of drug overdose deaths. This cross-sectional study was based on the National Vital …

Metro Monitor 2020: Las Vegas & Reno, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet presents changes in indicators of economic health for the State of Nevada using data provided by the Brookings Institution’s Metro Monitor analysis. Looking beyond gross domestic product (GDP) and job growth, researchers at Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program measure various indicators of economic well-being across 192 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for a 1-year period (from 2017-2018) and a 10-year period (from 2008-2018). Metro areas are classified by size: midsized metros (with populations between 250,000 and 500,000), large metros (with populations between 500,000 and 1 million), and very large metros (with populations over 1 million). For the purpose of …

Immigrants And Their Voting Power In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This Fact Sheet presents the number of both documented and undocumented immigrants in Nevada, synthesizing data provided by New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research non-profit organization. To estimate the total number of immigrants in the U.S. and across each of the 50 states, researchers reviewed various data sources including the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, the Center for Migration Studies, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Still Careless: Findings From A Cross-Sectional Study Of Young Pedestrians’ Risky Road Crossing Behaviors, Mina Hashemiparast, Manoj Sharma, Mohammad A. Jafarabadi, Zahra Hosseini

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: Pedestrian-vehicle collision is one of the most common traffic injuries worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the determinants of pedestrians’ road crossing beliefs and behaviors in potentially risky situations using the Theory of Planned Behavior among Iranian young adults. Methods: This was a population-based study on a sample of 562 young adults aged 18 to 25 years living in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected by using a self-administered validated questionnaire including constructs of the theory of planned behavior and items of perceived risk and severity. The data were analyzed using independent t-test, analysis of covariance and multivariate analysis of …

Cluster Analysis Finds Three Clinically-Relevant Subgroups Of Trait Emotional Experience In Schizophrenia Outpatients, Henry Cowan, Vijay Mittal, Daniel Allen, James Gold, Gregory Strauss

Psychology Faculty Research

Background: Previous research shows that trait emotion is more affected than state emotion in schizophrenia. This literature is also somewhat inconsistent, particularly in terms of specific links between affective traits and clinical symptoms. The current study examined whether subgroups of trait emotional experience predict symptom presentation and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, 192 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and 149 matched healthy controls completed the trait version of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale and symptom and functional outcome assessments. Cluster and discriminant function analyses identified distinct profiles of trait affect, which …

Covid-19: The Impact On Small Businesses In Nevada, Madison Frazee-Bench, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This Fact Sheet presents data on the number of small businesses (fewer than 250 employees) considered at risk due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The data collected originates from the Brookings Institution, and reports the economic effect of COVID-19 on small businesses in states and counties throughout the nation. Understanding this data can help policymakers and business owners alike make strategic decisions about navigating this crisis. This Fact Sheet focuses specifically on the State of Nevada and its 17 counties.

Spatial Analyses Of Temporary Assistance For Needy Families: Its Responsiveness To Labor Market Performance And Policies During The 2008 Recession, Vicky Albert, Jaewon Lim

Social Work Faculty Research

The major economic downturn of the Great Recession led many families with children to depend on cash assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. In order to capture TANF caseload growth rates relative to their labor market performance, we developed a responsiveness index which revealed that many of the western and midwestern states were quite responsive to the recession. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) tools, we found the presence of strong spatial clusters in unemployment rate and in TANF maximum aid. Several states in the western region were surrounded by neighboring states with higher growth in …

Older, Wiser, And Fiercer: Perspectives Of Middle-Aged And Older Men Who Have Sex With Men On Their Resilience To The Risk And Impacts Of Hiv/Aids, Renato M. Liboro, Charles Fehr, George Da Silva, Lori E. Ross, Paul A. Shuper, Francisco Ibanez-Carrasco, Andrew D. Eaton, Daniel Pugh

Psychology Faculty Research

Roughly forty years since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to be the population most at risk of, and most affected by, HIV/AIDS in Canada, the United States, and innumerable low to high income countries worldwide. Despite this, many MSM remain HIV-negative today, and among MSM living with HIV, many have not only survived the clinical and social impacts of HIV/AIDS, but have also thrived, lived full lives, and fiercely advocated for their health care and social service needs.

Review Of The Epic Of Juan Latino: Dilemmas Of Race And Religion In Renaissance Spain, By Elizabeth R. Wright, Susan Byrne

Department of World Languages Faculty Research

Elizabeth Wright begins her study of Juan Latino and his epic poem about Lepanto with a full historical-literary contextualization centered on a geographical locus, Granada, that serves to both frame and deepen the poet’s life story as well as his work. The volume is divided into two overarching sections, with the first, “From Slave to Freedman in Granada,” comprised of two chapters: one that considers Latino’s birth, education and situation in Granada, and a second that [End Page 139] concentrates on the Civil War that marked, as Wright clearly and convincingly explains, both the city and the man. Here, Wright …

Virtual Cohorts: Peer Support And Problem-Solving At A Distance, Amy Tureen, Erick Lemon, Joyce Martin, Starr Hoffman, Mindy Thuna, Willie Miller

Library Faculty Research

A common challenge for administrative leaders in academic libraries is that we often have few peers within our organizations, and those that we do have may not be able to provide the dispassionate, unbiased feedback we need. The authors of this article, library leaders from across the United States and Canada, formed a virtual cohort for peer leader support and have found it to be transformative in approaching leadership challenges at our home institutions.

Investigating Attitudes And Beliefs Of University Students Aged 18 To 24 Years That Influence Their Decision To Take Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Medication, Philip Danquah

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: Contemporary research findings affirm that young adults aged 18 to 24 years have high prevalence of new HIV infections. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication is the latest strategy in HIV prevention. Rates of PrEP uptake or use have been negligible among university students aged 18 to 24 years, especially among racial and ethnic minority students.

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the attitudes and beliefs that influence the uptake of PrEP medications and the HIV risk behaviors associated with the willingness to take PrEP medications among university students aged 18 to 24 years attending the University of …

Public Perceptions Of Police Militarization: A Nuanced Understanding Of Public Support For Police Practices, Leobardo Lopez-Cristobal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In recent years, there has been heavily publicized incidents of police use of military weapons and tactics, which has raised concerns regarding the militarization of police. More famously, in 2014, Ferguson police utilized military weapons and tactics to quell the masses after the police shooting of Michael Brown incited protests and riots. Despite an overall decrease in incidents of police use of force and deadly shootings, individual dramatic events of police militarization paint a picture of a militarized police force. This coincides with an overall increase in military equipment transfers (e.g., weapons, vehicles) to police agencies in the United States. …

Zooarchaeology Of Bone, Antler, And Ivory Technologies: A Case Study From The Central Anatolian Bronze And Iron Age Site Kaman Kalehӧyük, Sarah Raffae Macintosh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The proposed dissertation research investigates bone, antler, and ivory technologies in central Anatolia (present-day Turkey) during the Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 3000-100 Before Current Era or BCE). At this time, rural agrarian societies were transforming into more complex polities and states. This transformation was marked by a rapid increase of social complexity as documented in the archaeological record in terms of monumental administrative and religious buildings, uniform ceramic ware, and writing. The current archaeological record also informs us about the rate of technological change in pottery, architecture, and metallurgy, as typology, style, and function are widely documented and studied …

Tales Of Thriving: Identifying The Underpinnings Of Women's Success In Stem Careers, Sarah E. Thoman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Women remain underrepresented in U.S. science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Prior research enumerates many challenges that women experience in STEM and suggests interventions that enhance women’s exposure to STEM, technical acumen in STEM, or offer STEM community. Identifying what enables women to thrive in STEM is a novel approach to extending these efforts using a strengths-based approach. I thus conducted a case study focused on understanding the experiences of successful women in the STEM workforce. Findings revealed three core characteristics to women’s STEM success: synergizing self and science, science career advancement and mastery, and being a STEM change …

Organizational Symbolism And Employee Immersion, A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Organizational Socialization Efficacy In The Hotel Industry, Jeffrey Michael Yedlin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study delves into the theory of organizational socialization through a mixed methods exploratory explanatory design examining organizational symbolism and social capital to identify strategies to reduce new hire turnover in hospitality. Constructs within the study include role clarity, training, organizational and coworker support as well as future prospects. New literature was studied for developing theory. Seminal work on socialization by Van Maanen and Schein (1979), Feldman and March (1981), Jones (1986), and Taormina (1997), perceived organizational support from Eisenberger et al., (1986), self-efficacy from Bandura (1977), and organizational symbolism by Dandridge & Mitroff (1980) and Van Buskirk (1991) were …

Stress And Coping In Food-Insecure African Americans In Clark County, Nevada, Johanna Andrews

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African Americans have the highest rates of food insecurity than any other racial/ethnic group in the nation as a result of poverty, low household income, unemployment, food injustice, food mirages, and racial segregation. This consistent uncertainty in food access demonstrably results in poor mental health outcomes for food-insecure African Americans. Thus, the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping provides a theoretical framework to investigate how African Americans cope with food insecurity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate processes of coping with food insecurity and determine their impact on emotional well-being for African Americans in Clark County, Nevada. A …

Globalization: A Veto Player Perspective, Alec Brown

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Different countries have varying levels of globalization. Many features, such as size, play a part in determining the level of globalization in countries. I argue that globalization is influenced by veto players in systematically different ways. To understand these different relationships, globalization must be broken apart into three dimensions (political, economic, and social). Political globalization is negatively affected by veto players. Economic globalization is not affected by veto players directly but is influenced by related phenomena. Social globalization is positively affected by veto players. To test my arguments, I employ a Time Series Cross Section (TSCS) method to analyze a …

Examining Crime Reporting Behaviors In The Presence Of Body-Worn Cameras, Tanya Dudinskaya

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research study was designed to gain a better understanding of the potential impacts a body-worn camera can have on a witness reporting a crime to an officer. This study uses an online survey distributed through Qualtrics and asks participants to respond with their likelihood of reporting the crime they are prompted (such as property damage, DUI, drug sale, assault, and robbery) in the presence or absence of a body-camera, and the recording of their statement. The main concept that is being examined is whether there are potential negative consequences of body-cameras such as preventing witnesses from coming forward because …

The Impact Of Culturally-Tailored Education On Knowledge And Behavior Related To Screening And Lifestyle Management Of Blood Pressure In African Immigrants, Sarah Erskine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The number of African Immigrants in the United States is increasing. The prevalence of hypertension among Blacks, including African Immigrants are high. In addition to the increased susceptibility to hypertension, lack of disease awareness and unhealthy lifestyle are documented barriers to achieving adequate blood pressure control. The purpose of this project was to determine the impact of implementing a 30-minute, culturally-tailored, evidence based educational session on hypertension to promote knowledge and initiate behavior change in African Immigrants. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Blood pressures were measured and survey instruments such as the Hypertension Evaluation of Lifestyle and Management scale …

Hispanics And The War On Drugs: An Explanation For The Rise In Hispánica Imprisonment, Bryan James Haakma

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to understand racial disparities that persist throughout the criminal justice system. Since the early 1970s, the U.S. female prison population has risen at a faster rate than the male prison population (Harmon & Boppre, 2016; Morín, 2008, 2016). Overall, a plethora of research has linked the rise in imprisonment to the War on Drugs and the criminalization of drug use. This thesis examined these questions: 1) are drug crime initiatives driving the rise in Hispanic female imprisonment in comparison to Black and White females and 2) using Blalock’s (1967) theory on group threat, do …

Examining The Factor Structures Of The A-Des And Ptci To Identify Unique Predictors Of Ptsd Symptom Clusters In Maltreated Youth, Amanda Howard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research on childhood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has increased over the past decade. Youth who experience maltreatment are more likely to exhibit symptoms of PTSD. At present, the literature largely focuses on youth who have experienced general trauma or PTSD symptoms, while maltreated youth are understudied. To date, no studies have examined the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) or the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI) in a sample of maltreated youth. Predictors of childhood PTSD for maltreated youth remain unknown. The present study was the first research study to date to examine the factor structures of the …

The Relation Between Positive Stereotypes, Negative Stereotypes, And Discriminatory Behavior Toward Hispanic And White Populations, Aileen Ynez Lovitt

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Research examining positive stereotypes has suggested a possible connection between positive stereotype endorsement and prejudice. This literature, however, has not investigated the relation between positive and negative stereotypes endorsement. Additionally, the combined impact of positive and negative stereotype endorsement predicting prejudice or discrimination has not been considered. Two studies were conducted to address the limitations in past research and gain a better understanding of positive stereotypes relating to behaviors toward out-group racial groups using Hispanic and White participants. Positive stereotypes endorsement was hypothesized to be positively associated with negative stereotype endorsement and was expected to increase the predicted power of …

Shattering The Glass: Will Gen Z Bring Us Closer To Gender Equality In Us Hospitality Leadership?, Denise Holly Ramirez Molintas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The continued underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions has impaired the hospitality industry’s capacity to achieve the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality. Although the industry has initiated programs to establish gender parity, the innate gendering through traditional leadership prototypes and gender-role stratification requires investigation. Scholars have noted the limited focus on gender-aware issues in hospitality research. Further, as gender is a socialized construct, historical shifts in gender ideologies have enabled changes in gendering at the individual, interactional, and institutional dimensions of society. Grounded in gender as a social structure theory and role congruity theory, this dissertation …

An Ideological Criticism Of The Green New Deal And Media Responses, Corynn Miller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Using an ecofeminist lens, this project aims to analyze the ideologies surrounding the creation and response to the Green New Deal (GND). By completing an ideological analysis of the GND, in addition to examining some news media portrayals of the GND, this thesis analyzes the underlying motivations and ideologies surrounding female politicians, climate change, and climate policies. This thesis examines reads the GND not as a policy that was meant to be passed, but instead as an ideological statement about humans and their relationship to the environment. The news media portrayals exhibit varying coverage of the GND’s effectiveness, varying use …