Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Sleep And Social-Ecological Supports In The Association Between Racial Discrimination And Cardiometabolic Risk In Black Youth, Jelaina R. Shipman-Lacewell

Theses and Dissertations

Black youth are at an increased risk for poor short and long-term cardiometabolic health, including obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. Racial discrimination and poor sleep are theorized as key factors contributing to cardiometabolic health. While adult studies support sleep as a pathway through which discrimination is associated with health, there is a critical gap in our knowledge of this pathway in youth. Socio-ecological supports may protect Black youth against stressors, including racism. However, studies of the protective nature of these factors in Black youth have primarily focused on psychological and behavioral outcomes. Thus, the current study built upon previous …

The Influence Of Flavor On The Abuse Liability Of A Heated Tobacco Product And Its Feasibility As A Menthol Cigarette Substitute, Augustus White

Theses and Dissertations

Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) purport to expose people that use cigarettes to fewer of the harmful or potentially harmful constituents of tobacco while still delivering reinforcing amounts of nicotine (Auer, Concha-Lozano et al., 2017). An exemplar of the HTP class, IQOS, and its three varieties of “HeatSticks” have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as “Modified Risk Tobacco Products” (MRTP). However, as the FDA is planning to ban menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes, questions remain regarding whether characterizing flavors should be permitted in HTPs (FDA, 2022e). New evidence regarding HTP abuse liability (i.e., the likelihood …

Shinners, Alexis E. Mabry

Theses and Dissertations

Shinners is a project that aims to examine the position of women in subcultures and capture conversations of women in subcultural sports. Within feminism, sociological constructs, campy horror, and personal experience I am manifesting the physical and mental obstacles faced in the subcultural sport of Bicycle Motocross (BMX) through photography, painting, collage, video, and sculpture. I interpret images posted to social media of injuries obtained while riding BMX as forms of empowerment, bodily gore as extreme evidence of participation, performative violence, valorizing the understanding of both the physical and psychological pain of failure, and the use of failure as a …

Implications Of Extremity: The Digital Nexus Between Black Metal Subculture And Right-Wing Extremism, Samuel G. Crawford

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to examine and offer potential explanatory frameworks for the apparent phenomenon of right-wing and similar extreme ideologies in the context of the musical subgenre of black metal and its corresponding subculture. Using Robinson’s (2007) analysis of classical symbolic interactionist theorists (Goffman, Cooley, Mead) in the context of digital spaces, this study conducted digital ethnography and discourse analysis of various online forums dealing with black metal and its subculture. In addition to this qualitative work, descriptive quantitative analysis of frequencies and proportions of thematic variables coded for extremity indicate that black metal does appear to have high instances …

Using Natural Language Processing To Understand The Lived Experiences Of People Identifying With Adhd: What Themes Emerge In Social Media Posts?, Gabby C. Scalzo

Theses and Dissertations

Compared to the amount of research conducted on how to identify and understand children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), there has been relatively little work done to understand the lived experiences of adults with ADHD. Increased understanding of how adults with ADHD conceptualize themselves in the context of their diagnosis would help clinical experts tailor research and treatments to better serve these communities. However, there are several barriers towards conducting high-quality qualitative research, including time- and labor-intensity. This study, informed by qualitative research traditions, used innovative data sources (i.e., social media) and analytic techniques (i.e., machine learning) to reduce these …

Relations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Substance Use In Adolescents And Emerging Adults: The Moderating Role Of Exposure To Community Violence And Community Support And Community Recognition, Kiara Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Due to historical and current systemic racial inequities, African American adolescents and emerging adults living in low-income urban communities bear the burden of higher rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and exposure to community violence. Both exposure to ACEs and community violence are linked to higher levels of substance use. However, limited research exists on how exposure to community violence exacerbates the association between ACEs and higher frequencies of substance use in adolescence and emerging adulthood. There is also a need to understand how community-level protective factors may weaken the relations between ACEs and higher rates of substance use. The …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Perceptions Of Traditional And Online Degrees: Implications For Hiring Decisions And Higher Education, Heather E. Millar

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption to educational delivery across the country opened the doors to a more extensive conversation regarding employers’ perceptions of online degrees and the institution of higher education and its societal role. This is the first study, to my knowledge, to quantitatively analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceptions of traditional vs. online degrees during the hiring process and the implications of such on the institution of higher education. This study used a cross-sectional, non-experimental, closed-ended electronic survey of human resource professionals and those with influence during the hiring process.

Results from this study indicate that …

On The Rebound: Resilience And Subjective Cognitive Symptoms In Cancer, Giuliana V. Zarrella

Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown a strong connection between resilience and subjective cognitive symptoms in clinical populations. However, there is limited understanding of this relationship in cancer survivors, and no studies examine whether resilience training could alleviate subjective cognitive symptoms in these patients. This study examined the relationship between subjective cognitive function and resilience in non-CNS cancer survivors who participated in a resiliency training intervention, at baseline and from pre- to post-intervention, as well as investigated potential influences of change in subjective cognition. Adult cancer survivors (N=275) participated in the Stress Management and Resilience Training-Relaxation Response Resilience Program (SMART-3RP) …

Investigating Black Emerging Adult Health And Model Of Care Choices, Alexandra Wynn

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study aimed to analyze the health profiles of Black emerging adults (who do not seek medical care for chronic condition management) college students to identify factors influencing their use of preventive services and their choices in healthcare plans. The study revealed distinct profiles of Black emerging adults based on patterns of factors related to their engagement with healthcare, such as barriers to care, insurance access, usual source of care, self-rated health, intention to seek care, discrimination, trust in physician, medical mistrust, and sex-assigned at birth. Interviews were conducted to investigate the similarities and differences among all participants …

Disparities Between Native Americans And White Individuals In Trajectories Of Community Participation Over The 5 Years After Traumatic Brain Injury, Jack Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disproportionately affects minoritized populations within the U.S., especially Native Americans who are more likely to experience a more severe or fatal TBI than White individuals. The current study used a subsample of 63 Native Americans with TBI from the TBI Model Systems (TBIMS) database matched by age, sex, and injury severity to 63 White individuals to examine disparities in community participation, as measured by the Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools—Objective (PART-O), over the five years following TBI. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests revealed Native Americans were less likely to be employed prior to injury, …

Associations Between Childhood Trauma And Tobacco Dependence Among Latine Adults: Testing The Protective Effects Of Compassion For Self And Others, Camila Tirado

Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco dependence has posed a significant public health challenge in the United States and disproportionately affects Latine adults' risk of developing a variety of adverse health conditions. Childhood trauma is a recognized risk factor for dependence, overall health, and mental health concerns. Still, the influence of compassion for self or compassion for others in this context remains unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated the moderating effects of self-compassion and compassion for others on the relationship between childhood trauma and cigarette dependence among Latine adults. Data was collected through questionnaires assessing childhood trauma, self-compassion, cultural values and factors, compassion for others, and …

“Black Wom(B)Anhood”: An Explorative Analysis Of Black Women's Narratives Of Healthcare Encounters During And After Pregnancy, Janae A. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the intricate dynamics of patient-provider relationships within the context of prenatal care among Black women and how these experiences may affect their perinatal mental health. The study was conducted using a methodology consisting of structured interviews with 12 participants, snowball sampling facilitated recruitment. Thematic analysis revealed six prominent themes encapsulating the multifaceted interactions between Black women and their healthcare providers during the perinatal period. The findings illuminate nuanced aspects of the patient-provider relationship, shedding light on issues such as: (a) Anticipation of Low Quality Care, (b) Lack of Communication, (c) Listening, (d) Stereotype Threat, (e) Colorism, …

Online Racism And Mental Health Symptomatology Among Black Adolescents: A Longitudinal Examination, Stephen M. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Online racism (i.e., racism perpetrated and embedded within media and platforms on the Internet) is increasingly becoming a public health concern. Recent empirical evidence demonstrates that over a three year period, Black adolescents reported experiencing at least one online racial discriminatory incident, including exposure to racist images or videos within digital spaces (Tynes et al., 2020). One way in which Black adolescents are exposed to online racism is through the consumption of digital news media on the coverage of racially traumatic events (e.g., murders of Black men and women by police officers, racial hate crimes committed against Black people) and …

Fitbit Engagement In An Health Physical Activity Intervention For Young Adult Cancer Survivors: A Secondary Analysis Of The Impact Randomized Controlled Trial, Jessica Gomez Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Wearable devices allow for objective remote and real-time data collection and have been increasingly popular among the general public and in mHealth activity (PA) interventions. Despite this, our knowledge of feasibility and efficacy for using wearable devices to increase PA among a particularly vulnerable population—young adult cancer survivors age 18-39 (YACS)—is limited. Engaging in physical activity while undergoing cancer treatment contributes to reduced risk for recurrence and secondary cancers, and can also help to manage treatment side effects. However, there are a multitude of barriers to PA engagement among cancer survivors, with YACS in particular demonstrating low rates of PA. …

Development Of A Validity Scale For The Icd-11 Personality Disorder Measure (Psi-11), Rae Lutz

Theses and Dissertations

Invalid responding is a significant issue in the utilization of self-report information. Invalid responding can be assessed by stand-alone validity measures or embedded validity scales. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is one of two major diagnostic systems which provide guidance on diagnosing personality disorder, with the most recent version (ICD-11) providing a fully dimensional model for personality disorders. No existing measures aimed at assessing dimensional personality pathology have addressed the combination of PD severity and trait qualifiers that were based upon ICD-11 guidelines. To address this gap, Clark et al. (2021) developed the ICD-11 Personality Disorder Measure (PSI-11). However, …

Community Informant And Mental Health Provider Perspectives On Access To Mental Healthcare For Lgbtqia+ Communities In Virginia, Chariz Seijo

Theses and Dissertations

The existing literature on mental health disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) populations suggests members of LGBTQIA+ populations are at greater risk of mental health disorders than cisgender and heterosexual individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated mental health disparities for many, including LGBTQIA+ populations. Combined with mental health provider shortages and anti- LGBTQIA+ bills across the country, inequities in mental healthcare are a significant concern. This qualitative study was designed to gather unique perspectives of key community informants and mental health providers on their experiences with mental healthcare provision to LGBTQIA+ communities in Virginia. …

Expect: A Speculative Documentary Filmed In Vr Utilizing The Role-Playing Method To Explore Disabilities And Ableism In Science Fiction, Leilei Xia

Theses and Dissertations

Expect is a speculative documentary filmed in Virtual Reality (VR) that features Chinese actors with disabilities to explore, challenge and reimagine the conventional ableist Sci-Fi tropes and the transhumanistic tendency to “fix” or eradicate disabilities through technological enhancement. I invited people with disabilities who are interested in Sci-Fi to do a Role-Playing with me in Virtual Reality (VR), in which they imagine themselves to be living in a future civilization, an alien planet, or an alternate universe. The participants came up with their own fictional characters and built their own world views. I interacted with them by asking questions and …

Department Chairs’ Impact On The Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Of Their Departments, Nicholas R. Garcia Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Department chairs serve not only as the leaders of their departments but also as middle managers in their schools, colleges, and universities. While many department chairs see their role as having little authority, they still play an integral role in day-to-day campus operations (Hunt & Jones, 2015). As leaders of their departments, chairs can directly influence the department’s organizational culture (Schein, 2010), including the culture of diversity and inclusiveness. Departments nationwide are being held responsible for increasing the diversity of the faculty and responding to students' calls for diversity. Departmental organizational culture and the role of the chairperson are essential …

African American Adolescents' Exposure To Community Firearm Violence And Associated Factors, Colleen S. Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Firearm violence is a public health crisis in the United States that disproportionately impacts African American adolescents and families living in economically marginalized communities. The current firearm violence exposure literature includes a limited focus on the (a) the identification of risk and promotive factors that influence the likelihood of exposure to community firearm violence, (b) is cross-sectional, (c) focuses on outcomes of firearm violence exposure, and (d) does not examine bi-directional relations to determine if risk and promotive factors are causes and/or consequences of firearm violence exposure. This gap in research is further exacerbated by the limited focus on African …

The Neural Mechanisms Of Inter-Friend Aggression, Wyatt Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Decades of research concerns intimate partner aggression (IPA). While important to understand and prevent, investigations of IPA largely ignore another vital social relationship: close friendships. To investigate aggression between close friends – inter-friend aggression (IFA) – functional neuroimaging analyses enable to assessment of neural activity and mental representations of aggression in different social relationships. As such, 98 participants completed the well-validated Taylor Aggression Paradigm modified for a magnetic resonance environment against their current romantic partner, a close friend, and a stranger. Univariate analyses assessed the differences in the degree of neural activity and the role of Narcissism and negative urgency …

Associations Among Acculturative Stress, Body Ideal Internalization, Body Dissatisfaction And Disordered Eating Behaviors Among Cisgender Heterosexual And Lgbt People Of Color, Taryn Henning

Theses and Dissertations

Research supports the relation between acculturative stress and disordered eating behaviors (DEBs) across racially and ethnically diverse groups of men and women. However, there is minimal research examining factors that further explain the relation between acculturative stress and DEBs. Also, this relation has not been evaluated in racially and ethnically diverse LGBT individuals. The current study aimed to address these gaps by examining the role of thin-, muscular-, and hourglass-ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction as mediators of the relation between acculturative stress and disordered eating behaviors among cisgender heterosexual Black, Latine, Asian American, Multiracial men and women and LGBT men …

Call For Me When You Get There: I'Ll Be Among The Crows, Jessica O. Tifase

Theses and Dissertations

I've always been intrigued by the ways in which the notion of flight has been used to describe the movement of Black people, both literally and figuratively. In many instances, flight performs as a double entendre, embodying multiple meanings: to escape or to transcend. The fluidity of its definition prompts a reflection I’ve been wrestling with as I move through the world: Are Black people in a perpetual state of flight?

In my thesis exhibition, Call for Me When You Get There, I use the precarious state of flight as a means to explore the complicated choreography necessary for navigating …

Acute Effects Of An Oral Nicotine Pouch In People Who Use Smokeless Tobacco, Alisha Eversole

Theses and Dissertations

People who use smokeless tobacco (SLT) are exposed to a variety of carcinogenic toxicants, yet, despite health risks, nearly 6 million people in the US use SLT. SLT contains and delivers nicotine, a psychostimulant that causes dependence and hinders cessation efforts. An orally-administered nicotine pouch marketed as “tobacco-free” recently has become available for purchase in the US. However, there are very few non-industry-sponsored studies regarding the effects of these oral nicotine pouches.

The current study used clinical laboratory methods to determine the acute effects of an oral nicotine pouch in people who use SLT. Participants completed four sessions (within subjects, …

Mindfulness, Moral Outrage, And The Climate Crisis: A Novel Approach Toward Motivating Pro-Environmental Behaviors, Erika Blair

Theses and Dissertations

The consequences of anthropogenic climate change are severe, continuously accelerating, and pose serious threats to the human and natural world. It is imperative to address the climate crisis from a psychosocial perspective and incite lasting, individual-level behavioral change. Various theoretical models have been adapted or developed to explain pro-environmental behaviors. However, the predictive powers of the most commonly used models have proven to be limited, and the underlying psychological processes of pro-environmental behavior constitute a significant gap in the literature. The present study identifies two psychological processes that show significant promise in motivating pro-environmental behaviors: moral outrage and mindfulness. Moral …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Section 1983 Filings By Incarcerated Plaintiffs, Hollie Macdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was a “watershed moment" in human history, transcending its role as a mere health crisis to reveal deeper fissures within societies. The present retrospective longitudinal study examined COVID-19 as an “era” of complexity utilizing it as an intermediate construct that delineates “pre-COVID” and “post-COVID.” In order to understand the impact of the COVID-19 era, the design of the study and hypotheses stem from an assumption of the interconnectedness of issues related to health, social justice, racial justice, politics, and information dissemination.

This study utilized both manifest and latent content analysis to explore the most …

Effect Of Social Anxiety On Trial-By-Trial Changes In Attentional Biases To Emotional Faces, Nina Plotnikov

Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive research suggests that many anxiety disorders, including social anxiety disorder, are associated with an increased attentional bias toward potentially threat-related stimuli. However, inconsistent findings suggest the effect of anxiety on attentional bias to threat is not direct and that other factors, including emotion, perceptual load, and time on-task, impact the relationship between social anxiety and attentional biases to facial stimuli. In the present study, 157 undergraduate students completed a computerized letter search task identifying one of two target letters (N or X) from a circular arrangement of different letters (high load) or dots (low load). In 20% of trials, …

Who Is Responsible For Corporate Social Responsibility? Investigating Employees’ Roles As Agents Of Csr, Leah Alley

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be thought of as involving an interaction between two parties: one party who performs the socially good deed (i.e., the “agents” of CSR), and another party who is to receive its benefits (i.e., the “intended beneficiary” of CSR). Research on employee reactions to CSR largely focuses on employees’ reactions to CSR in general, which makes it impossible to assess how employees’ roles as agents and beneficiaries of CSR influence subsequent attitudes and behaviors. Theories of justice suggest that employee perceptions of CSR change when they are and are not the agents and beneficiaries of CSR, …

The Many Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Latinx College Students’ Mental Health: Exploring The Role Of Sleep, Social Support, And Familismo, Mayra S. Ramos

Theses and Dissertations

College students experienced a multitude of disruptions to their daily life, and changes to their physical (i.e., sleep quality) and mental health (e.g., anxiety and depressive symptoms) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the field has identified the factors that have contributed to negative physical and mental health changes, there remains much to be known about social and cultural protective factors that could buffer the negative role of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinx college students. The current study contributed to the literature on the mental health outcomes of Latinx college students by identifying a possible mediator and moderators between the …

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury In Yucatan Minipigs: Assessing Changes In Approachability And Mechanical Nociception Following Diffuse Central Fluid Percussion Injury, Mark D. Pavlichenko

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major healthcare concern affecting millions. Symptoms of TBI include sensory sensitivity and social changes that may persist long-term. Due to similarities in cytoarchitecture, metabolism, and inflammation, higher order minipig models are advantageous for translational TBI research, however, there remains a shortage of information regarding their behavioral and sensory sequelae following injury. Therefore, in this study, we assessed changes in sociability and somatosensation in adult male and female Yucatan minipigs for up to one-week following a sham or central fluid percussion injury (cFPI). Specifically, the voluntary human approach task (VHAT) and the forced human approach …

Neurodevelopmental Trajectories As An Explanatory Mechanism For Adverse Mental Health Outcomes Following Child Maltreatment, Casey Burton Corso

Theses and Dissertations

Affecting one in every seven children in the United States, child maltreatment (CM) is a major public health issue associated with a myriad of adverse outcomes (e.g., alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, interpersonal violence, sexual risk taking, etc.). While any subtype of CM (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect) increases the likelihood of subsequent psychopathology, heterogeneity in psychiatric sequelae of CM is associated with different CM subtypes. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of this heterogeneity is vital for improving intervention and treatment of CM, and research aimed at accomplishing this is a critical need. One possible explanatory …