Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Exploration Of Factors Associated With Perceptions Of Community Safety Among Youth In Hillsborough County, Florida: A Convergent Parallel Mixed-Methods Approach, Yingwei Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Youth perceived safety is not only linked to crime and violence in a neighborhood but is also associated with health risk behaviors and certain neighborhood characteristics. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to measure the co-occurring effects of individual and community risk factors by conducting a secondary data analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) and to explore reasons for youth feeling safe/unsafe in their community using photovoice methodology.

Methods: Syndemic theory/model served as the theoretical framework to guide this mixed-methods study with a convergent parallel design. The quantitative strand (first manuscript) utilized an existing dataset collected from middle …

Threat-Induced Alterations In Cognition And Associations With Disinhibited Behavior, Julia B. Mcdonald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When a threat is detected, brain networks associated with threat processing are activated while other processes are deprioritized. While this resource allocation is adaptive, it makes it especially difficult to effortfully direct thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (use cognitive control) during situations of high stress. Further, this threat response is most efficient in response to short-term or predictable stressors (“threats”) but loses its efficiency for ambiguous or unpredictable threats. Despite research that suggests that threat induces psychological states associated with breakdown in cognitive control processes, no study has directly examined how predictability of threat impacts neurocognitive indicators of cognitive control processes. …

People With Parkinson’S And Care Partners Of Pwps’ Uncertainty Management Through Information Strategies, Amy Haywood

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores how people with Parkinson’s (PwP) and care partners of PwP manage the uncertainty surrounding Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD causes both motor and cognitive decline in patients, which may affect each individual differently (Williamson, Simpson, & Murray, 2008). There is no-known cure or cause for PD, meaning it is shrouded in uncertainty from the first symptom to the ongoing management process. This disease also affects care partners because of its variability in symptoms and progression. For this reason, this research, which is part of a larger study, interviewed both care partners of PwP (n= 10) and those diagnosed …

The Effect Of Acute Interpersonal Racial Discrimination On Smoking Motivation And Behavior Among Black Smokers, Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In comparison to White smokers, Black smokers are more likely to report both discrimination and less success in smoking cessation. No previous study has tested the causal relationship between actual experienced racial discrimination and smoking variables associated with cessation. The goal of this study was to test the casual influence of interpersonal racial discrimination on smoking motivation (i.e., the urge to smoke cigarettes, cessation self-efficacy, and smoking behavior) using a controlled experimental design. We used a virtual ball-playing game to create a laboratory model of racial discrimination. A 2x2 between-subjects factorial design (inclusion/exclusion vs. ingroup/outgroup) was used to randomly assign …

Affect And Craving: Examining The Differential Influences Of Positive And Negative Affect On Inclinations To Approach And Avoid Alcohol Use, Jacob A. Levine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most research examining the role of affect in the etiology of alcohol craving has been limited to associations between negative affect and the desire to consume alcohol. This narrow focus has not only ignored the potential influence of positive affect on the desire to use alcohol, but has led to a failure to consider both desires to avoid using alcohol and motivational conflicts often thought to be present in alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Additionally, research investigating the influence of affect on attentional bias in favor of alcohol cues in individuals who have an AUD has been limited. Using 60 individuals …

The Role Of Influencer Endorsement In Consumer Brand Engagement On Sina Weibo, Xiaofan Wei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The strength and effectiveness of influencer advertising and influencer marketing make them becoming more and more popular on social media. Consumer online brand engagement, including consuming, contributing, and creating brand-related content, is closely related to a brand’s reputation and image. This study aims to determine how the two aspects related to influencer endorsement – influencer-follower parasocial interaction (PSI) and influencer-brand congruence -- affect three levels of consumer online brand-related activities (COBRAs) on Sina Weibo. Another purpose of the current study is to examine the mediation effect of personal identity (PI) and social identity (SI) in the relationship between influencer-follower parasocial …

Counseling Skills And Behaviors Of Genetic Counselors: A Qualitative Study, Abigail Zale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research is needed to ensure the frameworks created to ensure best clinical practice for the genetic counseling (GC) profession align with current GC clinical practice. Nineteen practicing genetic counselors in prenatal, pediatric, or cancer specialties were interviewed to elicit their session goals and the counseling skills utilized within sessions and to determine how closely responses align with the Framework for Outcomes in Clinical Communication Services (FOCUS) and Reciprocal Engagement Model (REM). As part of a qualitative content analysis guided by FOCUS, quotes extracted and coded into key themes using RQDA software demonstrated consistency with REM goals and categories within the …

Effects Of Learning A Second Language On English Academic And Low-Frequency Vocabulary Acquisition And Metalinguistic Knowledge, Hayriye Karliova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the possible effects of learning a language from the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family as a second language (L2), namely Latin and Spanish, on English academic and low-frequency vocabulary acquisition and metalinguistic knowledge of native English speaker (NES) undergraduates in their first language (L1), English.

The study sought to attain two objectives: first, it aimed to discover the effects of learning Latin and Spanish as L2s with respect to the vocabulary acquisition of NES undergraduates; second, it aimed to detect the effects these L2s in terms of metalinguistic awareness. In both cases, the focus was …

Perfectionism, Negative Life Events, And Cognitive Appraisal: A Contextual Model Of Perfectionism’S Maladaptive Nature, Ansley M. Bender

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perfectionism is highly (Grzegorek, Slaney, Franze, & Rice, 2004; Rice, Ashby, & Gilman, 2011) and increasingly (Curran & Hill, 2017) prevalent. Alarmingly, perfectionism is associated with various concerning correlates and outcomes, including suicide ideation and attempts (e.g. Smith, Sherry, et al., 2018). Whereas it is clear that perfectionism presents as a vulnerability for suicide, very little is known about when its maladaptive features may be particularly activated or by what pathway such a relationship exists. A preliminary, but underdeveloped, area of research suggests a role for negative life events in potentiating the effects of perfectionism, operating under the assumption that …

A Social Network Analysis Of Online Gamers' Friendship Networks: Structural Attributes Of Steam Friendships, And Comparison Of Offline-Online Social Ties Of Mmo Gamers, Juan G. Arroyo-Flores

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study traces the boundaries of online-based social networks and its possible extensions and intersections with offline social networks. It focuses on the Massive Multiplayer Online gaming community. Most online gaming research has only addressed one side of the equation, i.e., the online aspect of social interaction, omitting the offline context. The primary objective is to look at both offline and online social contexts of gamers. The analysis suggests that overall offline ties are slightly more important than online. Still, this does not imply that online ties are not meaningful at all. The length of their online relationships plays a …