Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Physiological And Psychological Responses To 911 Emergency Tapes, Jackie Hammelman

Theses and Dissertations

The news has become a central part of daily culture in the United States and provides up to date information regarding a vast array of topics from weather to war. A specific aspect of the news, emergency 911 tapes, and their influence on viewers' physiological and psychological health was investigated. Research regarding the relationship between physiological arousal and exposure to brief traumatic stimuli, as well as research addressing the development of pathological psychiatric symptoms are discussed in the literature review. This study examined the relationship between exposure to 911 emergency tapes, physiological arousal, and symptoms of psychopathology while considering the …

`Open' For Collective Business: The Governance Of Contemporary Economic Cooperatives In A Corporate Q'Eqchi' Maya Town, Michael Frederic Young

Theses and Dissertations

This article examines the governance of a Q'eqchi' Maya community located on multiple margins who are cooperatively managing several businesses. I do so by first situating this study within the context of Guatemalan history wherein cooperatives were first promoted in various economic and environmental zones only to be subsequently viewed as subversive and targeted by the military. The community within this study is located in the Izabal Department, a region far less affected by Guatemala's genocidal past. I argue that the cooperative businesses created by this community have allowed for a selective incorporation of market-based relations that mitigate the commonly …

Maternal Parenting Stress In Autism, Autism Associated With Fragile X, And Fragile X Alone: An Examination Of Associated Child And Maternal Factors In Three High-Risk Groups, Julie Mcelrath Kellett

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the association between specific child and maternal factors and parenting stress in three high-risk groups of mothers - mothers of boys diagnosed with idiopathic autism (IA), mothers of boys diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) associated with fragile X syndrome (AFXS), and mothers of boys diagnosed with fragile X syndrome (FXS) alone. These three groups of mothers are thought to share some degree of genetic vulnerability to stress, as well as exposure to varying levels of challenging child behavioral characteristics. Theories of parenting stress incorporate multiple components, including parent, child, and parent-child interaction factors. The current …

Using Multivariate Pattern Analysis To Identify Conceptual Knowledge Representation In The Brain, Jing Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Representation of semantic knowledge is an important aspect of cognitive function. The processing of concrete (e.g., book) and abstract (e.g., freedom) semantic concepts show systematic differences on various behavioral measures in both healthy and clinical populations. However, previous studies examining the difference in the neural substrates correlating with abstract and concrete concept representations have reached inconsistent conclusions. This dissertation used multiple novel data analyses approaches on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, to investigate representational differences of abstract and concrete concepts and to provide converging evidence that the representations of abstract and concrete semantic knowledge in the brain rely on …

Policing Alcohol And Related Crimes On Campus, Andrea Nicole Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that college students drink alcohol frequently and heavily. This can compromise their health and well-being. Student drinking is also tied to crime. While prior work explores the nature and extent of crimes involving alcohol on campus, to date no study has examined how police handle these incidents or crime generally. This study fills that gap in the literature. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by observing and interviewing campus officers at a large Southeastern university as they navigated through encounters with citizens. Findings include the following. Officers handle a variety of crimes, and do not have a single-faceted …

Assessing The Impact Of The Court Response To Domestic Violence In Two Neighboring Counties, Gillian Mira Pinchevsky

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s, there has been a proliferation of research on domestic violence (DV). The majority of research, however, has focused on the correlates of DV and far fewer studies have examined the criminal justice system's approach to addressing DV. This is particularly concerning given that historically, the criminal justice system was rooted in English Common Law and tolerant of marital discipline to maintain household stability. Through the efforts of women's rights advocates, policy makers began devising innovative strategies for responding to DV, including provisions for mandatory arrests, no-drop policies, and the establishment of specialized DV courts. Although there has …

Does Human Genetic Diversity Affect Net Productivity?, Breyon Jontae Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Quamrul Ashraf and Oded Galors' (2013) study, "The `Out of Africa' Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development", seeks to explain cross-country variations in economic development, particularly per capita income, through variations in human genetic diversity. Their analysis depends on two fundamental assumptions; genetic diversity's positive effect upon technological productivity and its negative effect upon social capital. This study tests the validity of the results presented by Ashraf and Galor. Specifically, this study seeks to test whether or not the hump-shape relationship observed between income per capita and predicted genetic diversity is validated. Our empirical work supports their findings.

Holding International Public-Private Partnership Accountable: An Analysis Of Sensitivity And Vulnerability Dynamics In Ghana's Water Sector Reform And Its Impact On The Target Population, Xi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the interaction among stakeholders involved in global public-private partnerships, using and developing the theoretical framework provided by the interdependence theory's sensitivity and vulnerability analysis, which is further supplemented by the two-level game model. Citing the case of Ghana's water sector reform, it looks into the dynamics among four categories of stakeholders involved in the partnership, namely the public and private partners, the World Bank (as the broker), and Ghanaian civil societies representing a broad spectrum of the local population. It is charged with the task of investigating the negotiation dynamics of all the listed actors in relation …

Environmental Footprints Of Violent Conflict, Swapna Pathak

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of militarized conflict pervade countless aspects of society, yet scholars have focussed very little attention on the consequences of conflict. My dissertation assesses the cost of war by examining the relationship between violent conflict and the environment. I argue that the effect of conflict on the environment is an im- portant consequence of war that is often overlooked in favor of other repercussions such as economy and health that are more politically expedient . I study this effect in the light of components of national environmental capacity and hypothesize that conflicts result in short-term and long-term impact on …

Child Sexual Abuse In The Media: Is Institutional Failure To Blame?, Jane Long Weatherred

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a longitudinal content analysis study of child sexual abuse (CSA) in the United States national news media from 2002 through 2012. It finds that the U.S. national news media have shifted their focus from individual level causes to societal level causes for CSA. This shift has implications for changes in institutional policies and child protection laws throughout the country.

Modeling Hiv-1-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders And The Therapeutic Effects Of The Phytoestrogen Metabolite S-Equol In The Hiv-1 Transgenic Rat, Landhing Mary Moran

Theses and Dissertations

HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) continue to afflict individuals with HIV-1 in the combination antiretroviral treatment (cART) era, most notably affecting executive function, as well as preattentive processing. Currently, there is no effective treatment for HAND, with only adjunctive treatment targeting symptomatic relief. There were two hypotheses in this dissertation: 1) that HIV-1 Tg rats will show disruptions in measures of executive function and preattentive processing, as well as neural network alterations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a brain region implicated in executive function, and 2) that administration of the phytoestrogen metabolite S-equol will improve performance as measured by executive …

An Analysis Of Lead Shot From Fort Motte, 2004-2012: Assessing Combat Behavior In Terms Of Agency, Stacey Renae Whitacre

Theses and Dissertations

The siege of Fort Motte took place between May 6 and 12, 1781. This battle was part of the American offensive against British posts in South Carolina during the American Revolution. During the siege, British troops were confined within the fort while American Continental forces as well as the South Carolina militia maintained a presence outside the walls. In addition to discussing the general history of the battle, I will specifically discuss the cultural variability of lead shot recovered from this site during archaeological excavation and systematic metal detection between 2004 and 2012. During the mid-eighteenth century, British troops were …

Geochemical Source Components In Seafloor Lavas In The Aleutian Back-Arc, Max Thomas Siegrist

Theses and Dissertations

Whole-rock compositions of seafloor lavas are used to constrain the processes and source characteristics contributing to the formation of geochemically distinctive, primitive magma types located in the Aleutian back-arc. Samples were dredged primarily from small volcanic cones on the seafloor, located between the emergent volcanoes and in the back-arc up to 60 km from the volcanic front. Compositions vary from basalt to dacite, with 48-70 % SiO₂ and 4-13 % MgO. Nearly 30% of the samples are primitive, with Mg/Mg+Fe >0.60. Most primitive samples are basalts, which fall into two groups, based on minor and trace element abundances. Low/med-K …

Non-Offending Mothers Of Sexually Abused Children: How They Decide Whom To Believe, Lynn Mcmillan

Theses and Dissertations

Professionals continue to study and refine their understanding of the complex dynamics of child sexual abuse and the role of the non-offending mothers. Of particular clinical and research interest is the response of the mother once she learns that her child disclosed being sexually abused and named the mother's intimate partner as the perpetrator. This qualitative study (n=20) uses in-depth interviews and constructivist grounded theory methods. The focus is how women decide about believing their children's disclosures of sexual abuse, both in terms of what happened to the children and who perpetrated the abuse. The study addresses various factors that …

Spatial And Temporal Characterization Of A Cold Seep-Hydrate System (Woolsey Mound, Deep-Water Gulf Of Mexico), Antonello Simonetti

Theses and Dissertations

Cold seeps are areas where methane is transferred from the lithosphere into the hydrosphere, accounting for the major source of hydrocarbons in seawaters. Formation of gas hydrate in cold seeps modulates the global discharge of methane to the environment. However, cold seeps are dynamic settings where hydrates dissociate on short and long time-scales triggering substantial methane fluxes to the oceans. These methane vents sustain unique ecosystems at the ocean floors and contribute to ocean acidification. Also, the methane can potentially reach the sea surface and be exchanged with the atmosphere contributing to global warming. Understanding how cold seep-hydrate systems (CSHSs) …

The Role Of Gender In Intergenerational Transmissions Of Education And Occupational Promotion, Si Wang

Theses and Dissertations

While several studies have suggested the importance of maternal schooling to children's outcomes during childhood, less is known about the role when the child is older. In the first chapter, I estimate the relationship between maternal education and children's college attendance. After developing a theoretical model to consider the transmission of education across generations, I use the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult Surveys for empirical analysis. College proximity is used as an instrument for mother's schooling. All else equal, results suggest that maternal schooling significantly increases a child's probability of attending college by about 2 to 3 percentage points. The …

Youth Citizenship, Civic Education, And Spaces Of Belonging In Tallinn, Estonia, Catherine Michelle Cottrell

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the ways that young people in Tallinn, Estonia conceptualize citizenships, identities, and belongings in national and post-national communities. Focus groups were conducted with 29 students from ethnic Estonian and Russophone backgrounds in their final year of secondary school; in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 civic education teachers from the students' schools. Theories of citizenship and nationalism, as well as civic education research, were used to explore the ways in which young people conceptualize the terms of belonging and negotiate cultural difference as they move within and through their everyday spaces, particularly in the school. The study demonstrated …

Using Multivariate Pattern Analysis To Investigate The Neural Representation Of Concepts With Visual And Haptic Features, Laura Bradshaw Baucom

Theses and Dissertations

A fundamental debate in cognitive neuroscience concerns how conceptual knowledge is represented in the brain. Over the past decade, cognitive theorists have adopted explanations that suggest cognition is rooted in perception and action. This is called the embodiment hypothesis. Theories of conceptual representation differ in the degree to which representations are embodied, from those which suggest conceptual representation requires no involvement of sensory and motor systems to those which suggest it is entirely dependent upon them. This work investigated how the brain represents concepts that are defined by their visual and haptic features using novel multivariate approaches to the analysis …

Drawing The Line: Student Reassignment Policies In South Carolina, Naomi Rachel Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the complex nature of student reassignment plans developed between 2006 and 2008 in three South Carolina school districts: York School District 3, Dorchester School District 2, and Greenville School District. The study is guided by the following research question: How are the district policies for student reassignment understood through the lens of institutional and organizational theories? To answer this question this research draws on Institutional Theory (both old and new) to develop a comprehensive model that specifically addresses the strategies a district uses to create a plan that responds to the demographic and political pressures exerted on …

The Importance Of Counseling Self-Efficacy In School Mental Health, Bryn Elizabeth Schiele

Theses and Dissertations

Clinician or counseling self-efficacy (CSE), defined as beliefs about one's ability to effectively counsel a client in the near future (Larson & Daniels, 1998), is widely accepted as an important precursor of effective clinical practice (Kozina, Grabovari, De Stefano & Drapeau, 2010). While previous research has explored the association of CSE with variables such as counselor aptitude, achievement, and level of training and experience, little attention has been paid to the self-efficacy of school mental health practitioners. The current study examines the influence of quality training and supervision on the level of counseling self-efficacy amongst school mental health practitioners, as …

Antecedent Topicality Affects The Processing Of Both Np Anaphors And Pronoun, Evgenia Borshchevskaya

Theses and Dissertations

Information structure and grammatical constraints are known to affect the salience of discourse referents and referential processing, but it is not clear whether the two types of constraints have comparable effects. We report two visual-world experiments that contrasted the effect of a grammatical constraint (subjecthood) and the effect of an information structure constraint (fronting) on processing noun and pronoun anaphors. Experiment 1 tested whether fronting a non-subject referent can eliminate the Repeated Name Penalty (RNP; Gordon et al., 1993) when referring to the subject. Experiment 2 tested whether fronting a non-subject referent can elicit the RNP. The results show that …

The Impact Of Ideology And Attorneys On Precedent Usage: An Analysis Of State High Courts, Benjamin Kassow

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on an important question in the judicial politics literature: what types of influences encourage opinion-writers to cite and use precedents in particular patterns. I address this question by using a series of innovative frameworks from social psychology, specifically systematic information processing frameworks using a theory of motivated reasoning. This theory postulates that the interplay (and shifts) between attitudinal accessibility and fear of invalidation/illegitimacy will encourage judges to cite and/or treat precedents using behavior that is consistent with top-down or bottom-up forms of motivated reasoning. Specifically, when attitudinal accessibility is high and fear of invalidation is low, precedent …

The Role Of Recovery In Attenuating The Negative Effects Of Perceived Stigmatizing Attitudes For Persons With Psychiatric Disabilities, Betsy Alison Davis

Theses and Dissertations

For many people who experience psychiatric disabilities (PD), community experiences are largely characterized by stigmatizing interactions, discrimination, and losses of opportunities for employment, housing, or relationships. Social withdrawal and loss of self-esteem can be secondary consequences of such negative experiences. However, research has also explored various mechanisms through which people in historically stigmatized social groups can minimize some of the negative effects of stigma. Many of these strategies are theorized to be similar to a mental health recovery orientation which emphasizes the empowerment, capabilities, and strengths of mental health consumers. The present investigation explores the possibility of recovery attenuating some …

Delivery System Capacities For Recovery-Oriented System Of Care (Rosc) For Substance Abuse Disorders: An Examination Of Organizational Readiness, Jonathan Peter Scaccia

Theses and Dissertations

Adopting and implementing a Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC) (innovation) requires that organizations have recovery-specific systems and features (capacities) in place. Organizations, however, may requires more than specific capacities, they require the motivation to put recovery-based innovations into place. This thesis reviews the literature to examine which capacities have been identified as integral to providing recovery-oriented services within a ROSC. Surveys were distributed electronically to delivery and support staff at organizations that provide substance abuse services under the jurisdiction of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to examine how these …

Readiness For Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports (Pbis) And School Mental Health (Smh) Interconnection: Development Of A Stakeholder Survey, Vittoria Anello

Theses and Dissertations

Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) and school mental health (SMH) are prominent initiatives in the United States to improve student behavior and promote mental health and wellness, led by education and mental health systems, respectively. Unfortunately, PBIS and SMH are often separate initiatives in districts and schools, which usually results in many missed opportunities from this failed interconnection. The current paper details a necessary first step in the process by describing the development of a measure of assessing readiness to interconnect PBIS and SMH within the schools. Relevant literature, pilot data, and methodology are discussed, in addition to psychometric …

What Can Reader Comments To News Online Contribute To Engagement And Interactivity? A Quantitative Approach, Brett A. Borton

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the relationship between journalism and computer-mediated communication by exploring the degree to which newly empowered audience members are using the reader comment forum on newspaper websites to participate in democratic discourse - a key component of civic engagement. Twenty-first century journalism has evolved from the traditional asynchronous, 'one-to-many' model into a process involving producers, content and audiences. The interactive capabilities of Internet-based news products have enabled legacy media to connect with audiences in unprecedented fashion. Perhaps more than any other interactive platform, the reader comment forum on online news sites reflects the ideal of the 'public sphere,' …

Mental Health On Youtube: Exploring The Potential Of Interactive Media To Change Knowledge, Attitudes And Behaviors About Mental Health, Caroline Belser Foster

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation first examines the mental health content on the video-sharing site YouTube as a foundation for exploring the ways the mental health community (members and associates of the National Alliance on Mental Illness) have used, and may use, YouTube in the future for information seeking, social support seeking, information providing, and social support providing. Using a content analysis of a systematic sample of YouTube videos produced by the YouTube search engine for the terms 'mental health' and 'mental illness,' this study highlights types, topics and formats of mental health related content, including types of mental illnesses, as well as …

That's News To Me: An Exploratory Study Of The Uses And Gratifications Of Current Events On Social Media Of 18-24 Year-Olds, John Vincent Karlis

Theses and Dissertations

Social media is a dominant news source among the college-age demographic (18-24). Inherent in news consumption on social media is current events, that is, news that has individual relevance, societal relevance and is time constrained. This study adds to the existing body of uses and gratification literature. This one-shot exploratory study is the first of its kind, examining the "what" or different dimensions of news and the "why" or uses and gratifications that 18-24 year-olds use current events on social media. It also looked at the factors predicting recall of current events on social media.

Using a survey of 896 …

The Corporation In The Marketplace Of Ideas: The Law And Economics Of Corporate Political Speech, Matthew W. Telleen

Theses and Dissertations

In 2010, the Supreme Court decided Citizens United v. FEC, and raised the ire of commentators around the country. The President even criticized the ruling during the State of the Union Address. But corporate political speech has existed at various levels throughout history, and the debate is often clouded by complex balancing tests and convoluted reasoning. In this dissertation, the methodology of law and economics is utilized to analyze the value of corporate political speech to the marketplace of ideas. Chapter 1 introduces Tracing the history of Supreme Court decisions dealing with corporate political speech, variables can be isolated that …

Parental Involvement During College Preparation: Differences Between First And Non-First Generation College Students, Deronta Renard Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I explore differences in parental involvement during college preparation between first and non-first generation college students. I used the theories of social, cultural, and human capital to answer this question. I also look at how first and non-first generation differ among several other variables: parent's education, socioeconomic status, religion affiliation, religious attendance, gender, birth order, family structure, high school academic success, and parent involvement during sibling college preparation. I find that first generation students receive less parental involvement during college preparation than non-first generation college students. I also find differences between first and non-first generation students in …