Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Figure Rating Scales: A Novel Measure Of Weight Bias, Joseph Mitchell Magness

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The obesity epidemic in the United States has grown in epic proportions over past decades. People who are obese experience weight bias, which is defined as any attitude that negatively influences obese individuals. Weight bias has also been documented in many areas of life. Furthermore, cultural differences in attitudes toward weight are salient in the conceptualization and maintenance of this phenomenon. Body dissatisfaction has also been linked to excess weight through negative views of fatness. One traditional measure of body dissatisfaction is figure rating scales. For this study, it was hypothesized that figure ratings presented with pictures of obese individuals …

Identifying Values: Comparing Four Methods Of Values Identification, Emmie Hebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Values have been described, from a behavioral perspective, as “freely chosen, verbally constructed consequences of ongoing, dynamic, evolving patterns of activity, which establish predominant reinforcers for that activity that are intrinsic in engagement in the valued behavioral pattern itself “ (Wilson & DuFrene, 2009). Emerging research supports the psychological benefits of interventions with a values component. However, there has been little experimental research that explores systematic methods of getting participants and psychotherapy clients to identify their values. This study evaluated four methods of identifying values by comparing within-subject ratings of participant-generated values stimuli. Participants were undergraduate students at the University …

Scrupulosity, Trauma And Disgust, Oh My! Assessing The Potential Relation Between Religiosity, Trauma Symptoms And Disgust, Brooklee Lightsey Tynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lifetime prevalence rates for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are estimated to be 6% in the general population. In the United States alone, an estimated 5.2 million adults will experience PTSD within the year (National Comorbidity Survey, 2005). However, a much larger number of the population will experience some form of trauma over the course of their lifetime. Research has demonstrated that the development of PTSD may be attributed to some factors (e.g., temperamental vulnerabilities, social ecological factors), which may predispose individuals to the development of the disorder. The purpose of this study was to test the association of moral disgust …

Examination Of The Relationship Between Religiosity And Psychological Well-Being: A Multiple Mediation Analysis, Tara Katrina Luchkiw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Survivors Of Pediatric Brain Tumors: Psychosocial Outcomes And Executive Function, Lauren Elizabeth Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children treated with CNS-directed therapy for brain tumor (BT) are at significant risk for developing late effects secondary to both disease and treatment. Executive functions (EF) encompass those skills necessary for appropriate problem solving and other goal-directed behaviors. Although no homogenous neuropsychological profile exists in patients with brain tumors, the most affected cognitive domains include EF and related processes, with the magnitude of effect increasing over time. Deficits in EF have been implicated in the etiology of internalizing, externalizing, and social disorders suggesting that EF is a foundational cognitive process. With a growing population of pediatric BT survivors at risk …

The Role Of Loneliness And Resilience In Psychosocial Health For Victims Of Cyberbullying In A College Population, Alicia Luscomb Autry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that bullying, especially chronic levels of bullying, during childhood may lead to negative outcomes, such as anxiety and depression in adulthood. Cyberbullying, or bullying through electronic media, is a recent phenomenon that has sparked interest in examining bullying with young adults, as early research suggests cyberbullying is becoming increasingly problematic within the young adult population and has the potential for negative psychosocial outcomes. Data indicate a relationship between loneliness and negative psychosocial outcomes, suggesting loneliness may be a key factor in the relationship between stress resulting from cyberbullying victimization and psychological distress. Moreover, although cyberbullying may lead …

Testing A Brief Directive Intervention To Reduce Symptoms Associated With Trauma, Fernando Trivelli Alessandri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the relative efficacy of a brief directive protocol (DP) aimed at reducing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and an expressive writing protocol (EW), which has more than a 30-year history (Pennebaker & Chung, 2011) of research showing mostly positive effects. The DP included components with research support from studies of expressive writing, prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy, and mindfulness-based therapies. Participants were primarily undergraduate students at a large public university in the southern United States who endorsed at least one traumatic experience and who manifested a minimal level of PTSD symptoms. The …

Parenting Under Stress: Examining The Protective Role Of Parenting Self-Efficacy In A High-Risk Environment, Lindsy Jean Magee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that risk factors such as poverty, neighborhoods that are lacking in resources and high in danger, and experiences with racism can compromise a parent’s ability to engage in parenting behavior that results in the most favorable child outcomes. It has also demonstrated that African American mothers are much more likely to face these risk factors. While research has demonstrated the protective effect of parenting self-efficacy against poverty’s influence on parenting behaviors, it has not examined whether or not parenting self-efficacy serves as a buffer against other risk factors. As such, it is the purpose of this study …

The Effects Of Racial Stereotypes On False Recall, Melissa Jane Loria

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prejudiced behavior based on racial stereotypes has been found to negatively impact young, black offenders in the juvenile probation system. One issue that may contribute to this is the creation of false memories. In fact, false memories have been linked to many wrongful convictions in the U.S. legal system. It is well known that memories are malleable and are often reconstructed. As a result, it has been theorized that suggestive law enforcement interrogations can cause people to misremember events or even generate false memories. Such mistakes can lead to disastrous consequences, including incarceration of innocent people. At present, there is …

Gender, Genre, And “Quality” Television: The Field Of Television Production In America From 1951 - 2013, Joseph Andrew Hoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender has a major impact on how society is organized. Societal processes taking place within fields continually shape and recreate our concepts of man and woman. Within television this is no difierent. Although a field closely tied to capitalistic economic interests, television has been afiorded a slight amount of autonomy that has allocertain shows in certain genres to be engaged with by audiences much like literature that is rich in symbolism and open to multiple interpretations. This study addresses how gender has structured the field over three distinct time periods as it expanded and provided men with opportunities and resources …

Is Your Parenting Style Hindering Your Child’S Chances At Succeeding In Their Post-Seconday Education? A Pilot Study Of Parent Gender And Parenting Style Effects On College Student Adjustment, Natya Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research was conducted on parent gender and parenting style effects on college student adjustment. Literature suggest that an authoritative parenting style is most optimal for adolescent outcomes contributing to adjustment in the following ways: social, attachment, personal emotional and academic. The current study utilized a convenience sample of 52 participants that examined the associations of parent gender and perceive parenting styles on college student adjustment. Significant relations were found among the differences between maternal and paternal permissive parenting on overall student adjustment.

How Does Place Affect Access To "What Works?": Knowledge Usage In Urban And Rural Ngo Intervention Design, Caitlin Brooking

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a state often ranked last in health rankings of note, Mississippi stands to benefit greatly from health interventions developed and implemented by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs depend on governmental and private foundation support, and, precipitated by recent legislation, these funding sources increasingly require “evidence-based practices” (EBPs). NGOs must cope with and adapt to the added expertise, data collection, and evaluation necessary to meet these requirements, tapping into their social networks to gain access to capital across ties. However, urban and rural environments present different concentrations of institutions and organizations, perhaps resulting in unequal abilities for urban and rural NGOs …

Project Meshnet And The Politics Of Scientific Practice, Garreth Blake Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I seek to demonstrate that innovative, socially circumscribed use of networking technology is changing the possibilities and practices of grassroots political movements, and conversely, that a politics of resistance aimed against real and perceived sociopolitical circumstances is shaping the use of technology. I examine the Project Meshnet community’s endeavor to create a decentralized alternative to the current, global Internet infrastructure as residing both in the context of decentralized but still institutionally-guided technology production and in the context of recent social movements characterized by de- centralized, non-hierarchical power structures, mutual aid, and other features. I conducted this research using the participant-observation …

The Influence Of Perceived Barriers, Perceived Social Support, And Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy On High School Juniors' And Seniors' Postsecondary Plans, Denise Antwainette Gilstrap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

National emphasis on postsecondary education highlights the importance of studies that investigate students’ college and career readiness, specifically how self-efficacy and contextual factors may affect their postsecondary aspirations. The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the influence of perceived barriers, perceived social support, and career decision-making self-efficacy on high school juniors’ and seniors’ postsecondary plans. High school juniors and seniors (n = 124) were surveyed to determine the influence of three predictors on their short-term and long-term postsecondary plans. The first predictor, perceptions of educational barriers, consisted of the following barrier groups: efficacy and motivation, support system, …

Order Behavior In High Frequency Markets, Brian Roseman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Part 1, I study the characteristics of short orders in stock markets. Fleeting orders are quick limit orders that remain on the limit order book for only a few seconds before being canceled, and are significantly different than more patient, static, limit orders that are added to the limit order book and await execution. I investigate the impact that fleeting orders have on spread and depth measures of market quality, and how fleeting orders differ from static orders. Attention is also given to the extent that total depth can be decomposed into the two components of fleeting and static …

State Of Mississippi Crisis Communications: Examining Mswin Preparedness, Michael Knox Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the Mississippi Wireless Information Network (MSWIN) and its level of preparedness to avert the communication problems for the State of Mississippi that were seen during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in the event of a similar crisis. It explores the technical workings of the network and the makeup of the Mississippi Wireless Communication Commission (WCC) who oversees MSWIN. It also takes a look at similar networks in Louisiana and Arkansas to compare and contrast those to what is in Mississippi. Primary interviews with the WCC, State of Mississippi officials, and others on the Mississippi Gulf Coast paint a …

The Relationship Between Media And Cultural Identity In Hispanic Families In Mississippi, Marlen Polito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative thesis with in-depth interviews with three children and one parent or caretaker of Hispanic descent. These interviews were conducted to find a connection between media use and cultural identity. By doing a qualitative project the researcher was able to do a video documentary with a written portion explaining the methods and findings. The researcher interviethree students with at least one parent or primary caretaker of Hispanic descent seventh through twelfth grade child, who serves as the main child for the study. This research investigated the relationship between the media and cultural identity among Hispanic children in …

Kiezdeutsch: Perceptions Of A Metropolitan Dialect Of German, Emily Claire Krauter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I explain perceptions of the German dialect Kiezdeutsch. The basis for the research came from four recorded interviews of male and female Kiezdeutsch speakers. I used the Kiezdeutsch recordings to perform research at the University of Mississippi by interviewing nine different German students who were studying abroad for the semester. The interviewees were separated into three different focus groups. I then performed a pilot study of perceptual dialectology folloby an open discussion. Although my sample size proved to be too small and limited to yield any statistically significant results, the data was regardless intriguing. This study focuses …

Professionals Knowledge Of Standards Required For Leed Certification Of Indoor Recreation Facilities At Four Year Public Universities, William Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bryant (1995), found that students “were at least 20% more likely to take part in recreational activity than in any other listed campus activity”. Campus recreation facilities (CRF)s promote “healthy living” programs and services for students. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a certification program housed within the United States Green Building Council and a LEED certification indicates the facility has a “green” status. LEED certification standard measures include Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. Interestingly, southeastern states have the fewest LEED certified CRFs (Kiernan, 2015). The purpose of this …

The Impact Of French Camp Academy On Child Abuse And Neglect, Ji Hoon Heo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the last few decades, child abuse and neglect has not improved in the United States. Government services provides facilities and licensed families for abused and neglected children, but children often do not adjust due to negative past experiences. However, there are other non-governmental programs that help counter child abuse and neglect. This research focuses on one student attending French Camp Academy, a Christian-based boarding school in central Mississippi, in order to shed light on possible ways to stop the vicious cycle that children go through. When children receive the acknowledgment and support from a parental figure, they are more …

Community Newspapers In The Digital Age A Case Study: The Pass Christian, Mississippi Gazebo Gazette, Jace R. Ponder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Print newspapers in the 21st century America exist in a diverse media landscape. Radio, television and online media all compete with newspapers to reach news consumers. With 24-hour cable news and the widespread adoption of the internet, information is available to viewers and readers anytime and anywhere. Much of that information is available free of charge. Traditionally, advertising revenue has carried the costs of print news production. But as the media pie gets cut smaller and smaller, that traditional model is failing to support print newspapers. In the five years since 2010, America has seen a net loss of 331 …

Exaggerated News Headlines And The Continued Influence Effect, Heather Nicole Bliss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Professional Responsibility, Matthew Sprong, James Soldner, Michele Dent

School for Global Inclusion and Social Development Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Asian American Studies Praxis And The Educational Power Of Boston's Public Chinese Burial Grounds, Peter Kiang

Asian American Studies Faculty Publication Series

Asian American Studies Praxis and the Educational Power of Boston’s Public Chinese Burial Grounds This article explores the educational significance of the historic Chinese immigrant burial grounds located within Mount Hope Cemetery – the public cemetery of the City of Boston. Approximately 1500 gravestones, most of which are marked principally with Chinese characters displaying names and village origins (predominantly males from Taishan), are clustered in three notable, contiguous, sections of one corner of the cemetery. With years of death ranging mainly from the 1930s through 1960s and years of birth reaching as early as the 1870s, the Mt. Hope Chinese …

Effects Of Relative Prices On Contributions To The Level And Growth Of Real Gdp, Jesus C. Dumagan

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Existing procedures for GDP in chained or in constant prices ignore relative prices – ratios of industry GDP deflators to the economy’s GDP deflator – and, consequently, yield economically misleading results by understating (overstating) level contributions of industries with above (below) average relative prices, at the same time understating (overstating) growth contributions of industries with rising (falling) relative prices. These are illustrated by US GDP in chained prices and Philippine GDP in constant prices. However, the above misleading results could be mitigated by this paper’s general formulas for level and growth contributions applied to the same GDP. While allowing for …

The King Sitting Backward In His Chariot, Lisa Sabbahy Dr.

Faculty Journal Articles

Ramesside Period kings covered temple walls with decorative relief detailing their military expeditions and subsequent victories, included in these reliefs were new types of scenes with new details , including one scene in which the king sits backward in his chariot , receiving live captives and cut off body parts as proof of his victory. This article presents the evidence for this particular chariot scene , and discusses the meaning and use of it as an icon of victory.

Filial Responsibility In The Family Of Origin Experiences Of Social Workers, Aphrodite Easton

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This exploratory quantitative study examined social workers’ family of origin experiences of filial responsibility, including emotional and instrumental caregiving. Additionally, this investigation explored the relationship between social workers’ past and current caregiving experiences, reported coping strategies, and the perceived fairness of their families of origin. This research was carried out through an anonymous, online survey of 46 part- and full-time MSW students and MSW graduates using self-report measures including a demographic survey, the Filial Responsibility Scale-Adult, and the Proactive Coping Inventory.

In support of the study’s main hypothesis, participants’ childhood experiences of filial responsibility were significantly correlated with adulthood experiences …

Social Workers' Experiences Related To Online Dating : A Descriptive Study, Miriam B. Stevens

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This descriptive, mixed methods study was undertaken to explore social workers' experiences related to online dating. This study aimed to describe social workers' attitudes and approaches to online dating, determine the type and frequency of ethical and clinical issues that social workers may encounter in the course of online dating, learn how social workers are addressing these issues, and determine the extent to which there is a need for guidance and policies related to online dating as a social worker.

Using availability and snowball sampling, data was collected from 577 social workers and social work students using an online survey …

Slavery In Rhode Island: Awakening A Forgotten Past (Brochure), Abudu Adeboye, Cassandra Caggiano, Cassandra M. Chisolm, Marisa Delfarno, Brian Nicholas

Black Studies Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Impacts Of The Biomedical Careers Program – Just-A-Start Corporation Of Cambridge, Ma, Brandynn Holgate, Françoise Carré, Michael Mccormack, Wendel Mirbel

Center for Social Policy Publications

In 2015, Just-a-Start Corporation (JAS) of Cambridge, MA asked the UMass Boston Center for Social Policy to conduct an assessment of the impacts of the Biomedical Careers Program on the region and state, examining individual impacts for graduates as well as the economic contributions of program graduates to the biomedical industry.

The Biomedical Careers Program (hereafter “BioMed”) is described by JAS as an eight month program designed to enable local residents to complete “a Certificate in Biomedical Sciences to prepare them for entry level jobs at local biotechnology companies, universities, research institutions, clinical laboratories and hospitals. The program includes a …