Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining Consensual Non-Monogamy Among Emerging Adult Samples: A Collection Of Studies, Kayla Marie Sizemore

Doctoral Dissertations

Using multiple methodologies, this collection of manuscripts examined various components of CNM during the period of emerging adulthood. Manuscript one presents a systematic review and critique of the methodology used in research on CNM attitudes and desire among emerging adults between 1974 and 2016. Several methodological characteristics were reviewed across 18 empirical articles, including sample characteristics, recruitment and sampling strategy, measurement, and overall methodology and focus. Despite general commentary among researchers in this field, this review concludes that CNM research has shown little improvement with regard to its methodological limitations since the 1970’s.

The second manuscript contributes to the extant …

Investigating The Role Of Testosterone Signaling At Androgen Receptors In Resiliency To Social Stress, Catherine Tucker Clinard

Doctoral Dissertations

Social experience can alter how individuals cope with stressful events and contribute to individual differences in stress vulnerability. We have previously tested dominant and subordinate male Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) in a conditioned defeat model and found that dominant individuals show reduced defeat-induced changes in behavior compared to subordinates. Dominant hamsters also show increased neural activation following social defeat stress in brain regions that regulate social behavior and coping with stress, including the medial amygdala (MeA). Because winning aggressive encounters generates a surge in plasma testosterone and androgen receptors are abundant in the MeA, we tested whether testosterone …

“Invisible Citizens To Visible Subjects”: Multicultural Counseling Competence With The Arab American Population, Dareen Basma

Doctoral Dissertations

The Arab American experience entwines with politics, world affairs, race issues and more recently, in coping with refugee status. The counseling field has been increasing focus on multicultural competence, advocacy, and inclusion of marginalized populations, emphasizing it as a critical component in counselor training and education (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001). Multicultural counseling competence requires demonstrated competence in the areas of multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills when working with diverse populations (Sue et al., 1992). Despite the significant mental health implications identified among the Arab American population, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the multicultural training, education and practice of counselor …

Developing And Implementing A Lgbt Family Studies Course: A Pre-Post Evaluation, Kathryn Alexandra Conrad

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the pre- and post-course knowledge and attitudes regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and families. An upper-level, Child and Family Studies undergraduate course, Modern Families, was constructed and piloted during the Spring 2016 semester to provide students with empirically-based information on contemporary families with a heavy emphasis on LGBT individuals and families. Participants (N = 19), who were enrolled in the course, participated in a series of open- and close-ended surveys at the beginning (Time 1 [T1]) and end (Time 2 [T2]) of the semester that assessed their knowledge and attitudes towards diverse …

Therapy Dogs In The College Classroom: The Effect Of Dogs On Stress, Anxiety, And Spanish L2 Phonological Learning And Performance, Elaine Maralee Henry

Doctoral Dissertations

Anxiety and stress invoked by the second language classroom setting has the ability to cause numerous detrimental physiological changes which impair the learning process. A more natural, “immersion” type atmosphere is often desired when teaching a second language; however, this is not typically possible with college classes. Therefore, the addition of therapy dogs to college second language classes may be a beneficial solution since therapy dogs are frequently cited as having the ability to lower stress and anxiety in many different settings. Stroking and interacting with a dog may reduce many markers of stress, including blood pressure, heart rate, and …

Public Support For Social Welfare Policies: A Cross-National Examination, Andrew Lee Morelock

Doctoral Dissertations

What explains public support for social welfare policies? The extant literature on this topic suggests that people’s attitudes are mainly a reflection of their political ideology and economic self-interest. However, this explanation fails to recognize the role that the public sector plays in influencing individuals’ social welfare policy preferences. The literature, with few exceptions, also does not thoroughly acknowledge how national context alters people’s attitudes. Data from 23 national samples in Europe, North America, Eastern Asia, and Oceania taken from the 2006 ISSP are examined using multilevel regression. The dependent variable is a measure of individual’s views of governmental responsibility, …

Suicide Response Preparedness In Counseling Students: A Study Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Simulated Behavior, Breanna Paige Banks

Doctoral Dissertations

Suicide, or “death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with (sic) intent to die as a result of the behavior,” is a major public health concern in the United States. Professional counselors are likely to encounter a suicidal client even before completing their educational training. Due to the frequency of counselor trainees’ encounters with suicidal clients, these students are likely to face this challenge as early as their first practicum experience. Due to the complexity of assessing and treating persons at risk for suicide, student counselors not explicitly trained in these practices are at risk for not identifying and adequately managing …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

Burnout In Young Adult Performing Artists, Benjamin Hyun Stocking

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of burnout in adolescent/young adult performing arts (i.e. a World-Class junior drum & bugle corps) at the beginning of their competitive training season. Specifically, this study took particular interest in investigating the predictive influence of psychological variables such as performance anxiety, psychological coping skills, and coping functions in predicting who was more prone to burnout as well as who returned or dropped out after the competitive season.

Data were drawn from an archive of 144 drum corps performers, representing one world class drum and bugle corps at the beginning of …

Ethnic Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Middle Eastern/Arab Americans: The Roles Of Religiosity, Coping, Ethnic Identity, And Family Connectedness, Ayse Selin Ikizler

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite increased public attention in the past decade towards the Middle East and Arab world, only a small but growing body of research literature investigating the mental health of individuals with ethnic background originating in these countries exists. Given the major stigma associated with being Middle Eastern/Arab (MEA) in the United States, the mental health-related implications for MEA Americans is of particular interest in the present study. Specifically, we investigated (1) the moderating role of religiosity in the link between religious affiliation and ethnic discrimination and (2) potential mediators (coping via internalization, detachment, and drugs/alcohol) and moderators (ethnic identity and …

Native American Young Adults In Their Transition To College, And Persistence Through The First Year, Adrian Alexander Rodriguez

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation study focused on a mixed-methods exploration of Native American students’ perceptions of risks and protective factors as they transitioned to college at a predominately White institution (PWI), and navigated through their first year. Due to low numbers of Native Americans at PWIs, individuals have described feeling invisible, which negatively impacts their ethnic identity development, sense of belonging, wellbeing, and retention in college. Factors involving respect, positive relationships, cultural affirmation, and resiliency are associated with success and retention for Native American students.

A mixed-methods model, guided by grounded theory and principles of social justice advocacy provided a reflection on …

Internalized Heterosexism, Religious Coping, And Psychache In Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Young Adults, Jon Raymond Bourn

Doctoral Dissertations

Psychache, or unbearable psychological pain (Shneidman, 1993, 1999), has been found to be the most proximal predictor of suicidality. There is evidence that heterosexism (Crain-Gully, 2011), including internalized heterosexism (IH; Bourn & Miles, 2015), is related to psychache among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. The current study sought to further examine the relationship between IH and psychache, by identifying potential factors that moderate and mediate the relationship between IH and psychache. It was hypothesized that, in a sample of religiously-identified LGB young adults, (a) IH would be significantly, negatively correlated with positive religious coping (PRC) and significantly, positively correlated …

The Effects Of The Color Wheel System On Disruptive Behavior And Classroom Climate: Validating The Color Wheel In Kindergarten Classrooms, Tiffany Lynn Watson

Doctoral Dissertations

The current study was initiated by a principal who was interested in implementing the Color Wheel System in her school. The purpose of the current study was to empirically validate the classroom management system for kindergarten students. Although there is some evidence that the procedure may be effective with kindergarten students, no scientific procedures have been applied to evaluate the Color Wheel System in kindergarten classrooms. Analyses were conducted on the average inappropriate vocalizations and out-of-seat behavior of the entire class (i.e., 16-17 students) across three classrooms. We also evaluated the effect of the Color Wheel System on students’ perception …

Conformity To Masculine Norms: A Case-Based Time-Series Analysis Of Men In Intergroup Dialogue, Isaac Curtiss Brandt

Doctoral Dissertations

There is an established and growing body of research associating poor health outcomes among men with conformity to socialized masculine gender norms (Bonar et al., 2011; Borsari, Murphy, & Barnett, 2007; Courtenay, 2011). This study explored whether this socialization is subject to change in four individual male participants in a multi-week, small group learning environment called Intergroup Dialogue (IGD). Participants in IGD “closely examine the socially constructed norms and ideologies that guide their (often unconscious) beliefs” (Dessel & Rogge, 2008 p.213). IGD groups met for eight sessions. Pre- and Post-group scores on the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-46 (CMNI) were …

Relationship Qualities: Investigating The Nature Of Self-Identified Couple Strengths And Language Use During A Strengths Interview, Katie Cassandra Wischkaemper

Doctoral Dissertations

Research and practice in couple therapy has been influenced by positive psychology, and other factors, to create a nuanced viewed of relationship health. Relationship strengths are thought to be informative of overall relationship health, possibly even more so than relationship concerns (Gable, Gonzaga, & Strachman, 2006; Sullivan, Pasch, Johnson, & Bradbury, 2010). The present project explored the association between self-identified relationship strengths and couple satisfaction. Then, the study examined the association between self and partner pronoun use and level of couple satisfaction during an interview about relationship strengths.

Aim 1 replicated Gray and colleagues’ (under review) project which examined the …

Purchase Decision Type Influences On Consumers’ Reliance: Brand-Related User-Generated Content, Hyuk Jun Cheong

Doctoral Dissertations

Consumers use brand-related user-generated content (UGC), such as online consumer reviews, for their pre-purchase information seeking. However, previous research on consumer information seeking has scarcely explored how purchase situations and product type influence consumers’ use of brand-related UGC. The purpose of this dissertation is to shed light on this area of research. In the first part of the study, Vaughn’s (1980; 1986) Foote, Cone, and Belding (FCB) grid, a popular product classification theory in advertising and consumer research, was updated based on a set of online surveys (N=1,104) that measured three purchase dimensions [i.e., purchase decision involvement (PDI), think/feel purchase, …

College Adjustment, Discrimination, And Social Support Among Students Of Color, Daniela Andrea Recabarren

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite efforts to increase underrepresented student enrollment, Students of Color continue to have significantly lower college retention rates compared to their White counterparts on many U.S.college campuses. This study investigated associations between general ethnic discrimination, emotional adjustment to college, and attachment to college in Students of Color at one predominantly White public institution in theSoutheastern U.S. Students who were the first in their immediate family to attend college were compared to those with a parent who attended college. Social support from family and friends at home, as well as social integration in school were investigated as buffers of the impact …

Perceiving Sexual Consent: The Effects Of Gender And Alcohol Use On Perceptions Of Sexual Consent, Sarah Elizabeth Mauck

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding sexual assault hinges on a firm conceptualization of sexual consent; however, few studies have investigated sexual consent, and much research related to sexual consent relies on traditional sexual script theory rather than a communicative model of sexual consent. The current study addressed gaps in the literature by employing a vignette technique to examine effects of vignette character gender and alcohol use and observer gender on observers’ perceptions of sexual consent for characters presented in a nonconsensual sexual scenario. Participants (N=387) were recruited via MTurk and were administered 1 of 4 randomly assigned vignettes. Participants then responded to items related …

Experiences Of Anti-Bisexual Prejudice In A Bisexual Adult Sample And The Impact On Mental And Physical Health, James Edward Arnett

Doctoral Dissertations

This cross-sectional study examined the relationships between minority stress (e.g. anti-bisexual experiences and internalized biphobia), trauma and depressive symptoms, and self-reported physical health for a sample of online-recruited, bisexual adults. Using a minority stress framework that included physical health and conceptualizing experiences of discrimination/prejudice as a type of trauma, a model was hypothesized in which experiences of anti-bisexual discrimination would uniquely relate to trauma-related symptoms (as would exposure to other, general traumatic events) and indirectly impact physical health through these trauma symptoms. Also, it was predicted that anti-bisexual experiences would directly relate to internalized biphobia, with internalized biphobia, then, associating …

Predictors Of Musical Performance: Personality, Performance Anxiety, And Flow, Whitney Jean Statham

Doctoral Dissertations

There is evidence to suggest that many university schools of music struggle with student retention. In many music programs, a significant factor in students being able to matriculate in their areas of study is based on quality of performance under “high-stakes” or high-pressure performances in the form of jury performances. The importance placed on these jury performances makes the ability to predict a student’s success in this area highly valuable to students and music educators. Using the Big Five Model of personality, and a measure of narrow personality traits, this study used a stepwise multiple regression to examine the relationship …

The Dynamic Effects Of Political Parties And Economic Hardship On Voter Turnout, Allan M. Wilford

Doctoral Dissertations

In the last 50 or so years, observers have noted with concern declining rates of voter turnout in many democracies. Explanations for these declines have often focused upon institutional factors that explain differences in turnout between countries but do little to explain declines within countries. However, the suspicion remains that more dynamic factors such as the make-up of party systems or economic effects - factors which vary within countries over time – have greater potential to better explain these declines. The first substantive chapter of this dissertation considers number of parties and polarization jointly to identify the conditions under which …

The On-Screen Water Cooler: Effects Of Televised User-Generated Comments On Cognitive Processing, Social Presence, And Viewing Experience., Jaclyn Ann Cameron

Doctoral Dissertations

Social television combines traditional television viewing and interactions with social media to create a phenomenon that connects otherwise autonomous viewers through a shared viewing experience. This dissertation explores one type of social television: on-screen user-generated comments. Although the practice spans multiple television genres, little is known about its effect on viewers’ cognitive processing of the media, perceptions of the social presence of other viewers, or the viewers’ experience of the media. Two experimental studies explored the effects of on-screen user-generated comments on cognitive processing of the media message, the effect of manipulating the content of on-screen user-generated comments and individual …

Does Political Giving Impact Shareholder Wealth? Evidence From State Campaign Finance Reforms, Douglas Brian Blank Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

Does corporate political giving actually affect shareholder wealth? While firms value political participation, some lawmakers oppose corporate involvement in politics. Yet, the existing literature has established a correlation between campaign finance and corporate outcomes without fully documenting a causal relation. I use an innovative database of political giving to exploit changes in state campaign finance laws as an exogenous shock to political giving. Specifically, I use the staggered adoption of externally imposed legal limits to political giving across U.S. states to expose how shareholder wealth responds. I find shareholder wealth declines following legally imposed reductions in political giving. The causal …

Investigating The Effects Of Commonly Implemented School Safety Strategies On School Social Work Practitioners, Matthew James Cuellar

Doctoral Dissertations

A primary objective of the school social work profession is to maintain equality and empower students while promoting educational achievement for troubled and disadvantaged youth in schools. They are among the leading mental health care providers for youth in United States schools today. As school social workers are increasingly being used in United States schools, many find themselves working within practice contexts with complex security environments. These environments can introduce a number of complexities to their practice as well as the students they serve; however, the relationship between school safety strategies and school social work practice, and the role school …

Development Of The Coach Autonomy Support Beliefs Scale, Johannes Jakob Raabe

Doctoral Dissertations

Coaches’ autonomy support is one of the most meaningful influences on the satisfaction of athletes’ basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Mageau & Vallerand, 2003). Fostering these needs cultivates self-determined motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), which has been found to positively affect individuals’ effort, persistence when faced with adversity, performance, performance-related anxiety, and well-being (Gillet, Berjot, & Gobance, 2009; Mack et al., 2011; Podlog & Dionigi, 2010; Vallerand & Losier, 1999). The reasoned action approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) suggests that coaches’ attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived norm toward autonomy support influences their use of autonomysupportive behaviors. …

Influences On Self-Regulated Learning In Low-Income Children: Examining The Role Of Private And Social Speech As Self-Regulation Tools, Lisa Ann Connor

Doctoral Dissertations

Self-regulated learning (SRL) allows children to become autonomous learners through facilitating their active planning, monitoring, and evaluation of their performance in the classroom. Low-income children have been found to exhibit lower SRL abilities compared to middle-class children. SRL is linked to a number of long-term academic outcomes, and thus, understanding what contributes to this ability is essential for intervention. One potential mediator of children’s emerging SRL abilities is language. Social Constructivist Theory provides a lens to view this relationship between language and SRL, denoting the importance of both the physical and social dimensions of the classroom when examining cognitive development. …

Evaluating Differential Nuclear Dna Yield Rates Among Human Bone Tissue Types: A Synchrotron Micro-Ct Approach, Janna Michelle Andronowski

Doctoral Dissertations

Molecular human identification has conventionally focused on DNA sampling from dense, weight-bearing cortical bone tissue from femora or tibiae. A comparison of skeletal elements from three contemporary individuals demonstrated that elements with high quantities of cancellous bone yielded nuclear DNA at the highest rates, suggesting that preferentially sampling cortical bone is suboptimal (Mundorff & Davoren, 2014). Despite these findings, the reason for the differential DNA yields between cortical and cancellous bone tissues remains unknown.

The primary goal of this research is to ascertain whether differences in bone microstructure can be used to explain differential nuclear DNA yield among bone tissue …

The Effect Of Social And Environmental Stresses Among The Historic Arikara Native Americans, Jocelyn Diana Minsky-Rowland

Doctoral Dissertations

The Arikara Native Americans from the Anton Rygh, Mobridge, Larson and Leavenworth sites, inhabited the Great Plains of western North America (AD 1600-1832). The Arikara experienced climatic changes, warfare, interactions with novel groups of people and disease epidemics and therefore represent an opportunity to assess differential risk of death in a stressful context. The overarching question of this project is, in the historic context of environmental and social stresses, do these environmental and social stresses (as indicated by specific skeletal markers that occur during childhood) increase the risk of death from later infectious disease or warfare related trauma experienced in …

Development And Validation Of A Crisis Self-Efficacy Scale, Sejin Park

Doctoral Dissertations

This study develops a valid and reliable self-efficacy scale specific to the crisis context. The rationale for developing the scale is first to provide a tool for crisis communication researchers to better understand behavioral aspects of crisis. Second, as people have different levels of crisis self-efficacy, it is difficult for crisis managers to develop audience-specific messages and create crisis preparedness programs. A crisis self-efficacy scale enables crisis managers to develop more effective message strategies to protect publics and minimize crisis damage. The scale also provides practitioners a useful longitudinal index of progress in crisis preparedness programs to track changes in …

Examining The Writing Motivation And Achievement Of At-Risk Elementary-Aged Students, Melissa Sue Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing achievement of students in the United States is weak. Approximately 75% of 12th graders are not proficient writers (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2012) and performance of students in poverty lags behind that of more affluent peers. Because writing is complex (Torrance & Galbraith, 2006) and often viewed as aversive to students (Boscolo & Gelati, 2013), motivation is an important consideration for teachers. However, little research exists examining writing motivation.

A correlational research design was employed to examine writing achievement and motivation (i.e., self-efficacy and attributions) of at-risk elementary-aged students (N = 61). Participants, who attended Title 1 …