Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects That War Has On Children And Child Soldiers, Breanna V. Kingsley

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The focus of this research is to help explain the effects that war has on children and child soldiers. The effects being researched include those of psychological, physical, emotional, economical, and educational effects. The type of war being analyzed in this research is civil war with case studies of countries such as the Syrian Arab Republic, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, South Sudan, and the lraqi war. These cases are among the most violent, oppressive, cases involving children and/or child soldiers. The ultimate goal of this research is to discover and better understand what these children experience and how that will …

Civil Engagement In Argentina After The Last Dictatorship, Emily Hoffer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

How has the legacy of the Argentine dictatorship affected civil engagement? This study helps understand I) dilemmas of an authoritarian regime's transition to democracy; 2) changes in the form of civic engagement, from conventional political participation to social movements; and 3) how civic engagement is influenced by the narratives and symbols that create historical memory. I will compare Argentina with similar political experiences of democratization and new social movements in Latin America since the late 1980s.

All About Dat Bass Or Linguistic Blackface: White Pop Artists And African American English, Sovoya Davis

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This work explores America's love-hate relationship with African American English (AAE). As Linguist Geneva Smitherman points out, AAE is both stigmatized and superficially celebrated in the U.S. Focusing on White pop artist Meghan Trainor, I examine the role of AAE in her music and interviews and how her use of AAE relates to her image, the content of her songs, and how she is viewed. Even though some people benefit from its commodification, AAE and its native speakers continue to be discriminated against in most contexts. This work explores AAE's status in American society through Trainor's commodification of the language …

Type Dirty To Me: An Analysis Of Sexting As A Form Of Communication In Long-Term Romantic Relationships, Catlin Cole

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This exploratory analysis creates a framework for better understanding sexting behavior within romantic long-term romantic relationships. Articles reviewed successfully laid the foundation to this study, including those regarding flirting within short-term and marital relationships. The specific reasons of this behavior, shown to occur in different relational dynamics, helped to prove the importance of flirtatious behavior for multiple purposes. Expanding upon a different dynamic of flirting as well as a previously under-studies relationship, interviews were conducted to better understand the input and output concerns of sexting behavior within the population. Eight participants were asked various questions regarding their personal experiences, reasoning, …

The Effect Of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (Pcos) On The Human Skeleton, Sarah Bruckler

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the systemic effects of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) on bone mineral density (BMD). Excessive male sex honnones, excessive insulin levels, and weight gain characterize PCOS, and are correlated to increased BMD. PCOS is also associated with symptoms and comorbid conditions, like chronic vitamin D deficiency, menstrual dysfunction, and hypothyroidism, which are all correlated with decreased BMD. Existing research on this topic reports conflicting results; some studies show a significant correlation between PCOS and increased BMD, while others suggest that no significant correlation exists. These previous studies focused on load-bearing areas of …

Juvenile Delinquency And Cause Of Death For Adolescents Between 13 And 17 Years In Detroit In 2015, Tao Lei

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The records for the cause of death of 3 8 adolescents who died near Detroit, MI in 2015 were examined from case files at the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years were more prone to being victims of violence than natural death, with a peak in violent deaths during the month of April. The majority of adolescents in this sample were Black males (58%). The manner of death among the majority of adolescents was accidental (47%), however the cause of death was all in a violent manner. The cause of death reported …

"We're Not Gonna Take It": An Examination Of Congress And Controversial Music, Elizabeth Krochmalny

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the role that the United States Congress has played in the last half century in monitoring controversial music. There has always been a strong relationship between music and politics. The music of the Civil Rights Movement and the protest songs of the Vietnam War are prime examples. A brief summary provides a backdrop to the central focus of the thesis: congressional actions and hearings about music that took place in the 1980s. A number of the questions that will be addressed include the following: What was the context in which these events …

Examining Parent Information Needs In Pediatric Cancer, Katherine Inman

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Parents of children with cancer receive information about how to care for their child's health during diagnosis, treatment, and post treatment inflation is critical to this care; however, parents are often left with information needs when their child is done with treatment. Many parents lack enough information about neurocognitive late effects (NCLE) and how to handle the psychological functioning of their child post treatment. The purpose of this study was to analyze parents' information needs post treatment using qualitative data collected from a survey. Qualitative content analysis was utilized to examine 45 parent responses. Four themes were constructed: (a} the …

Photovoice: Community-Based Research In Bluefields, Jamaica, Renee Romer

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Participatory action research (PAR) approaches to community intervention have demonstrated to be helpful in addressing and identifying community strengths and challenges, along with leading members of a community into action. Photovoice is a qualitative method of community-based participatory action research (CBPR) by which members of a community create and discuss photographs as a means of facilitating personal and community change. While much research using Photovoice has been conducted in rural areas of China and Africa, no research of this type has been found in rural Jamaica. This study implemented PAR research using the CBPR method of Photovoice in the rural …

Journal Setup Form, Gs Commons

University Libraries: Instructional Resources (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Conference Setup Form (Event Community), Gs Commons

University Libraries: Instructional Resources (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Journal Memorandum Of Understanding (Mou), Zach S. Henderson Library

University Libraries: Instructional Resources (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Applying A Cognitive-Behavioral Model To Conceptualize Burnout And Coping For Teachers In Urban Schools, Daniel Camacho

Dissertations

Teachers in urban schools, facing a myriad of daily stressors and oftentimes without sufficient knowledge and skills to manage the social and emotional needs of their students and themselves, experience stress and burnout at levels that cause them to leave the teaching profession at alarming rates. Research pertaining to teaching stress, burnout, and coping has largely been devoted to enumerating the stressors that teachers experience, the impact of burnout on teachers and their students, and relating type of coping strategies that teachers employ. This body of literature falls short of illuminating what makes the teaching profession so inherently stressful, the …

Social Support And Well-Being Among Foster Care Youth: Self-Concept As A Mediator, Anne Kathleen Fuller

Dissertations

Youth in the child welfare system frequently undergo a variety of adverse experiences, including maltreatment, living in poverty, placement changes, school changes, and relationship disruptions. As a group, these youth exhibit poorer psychosocial functioning (e.g., elevated rates of mental health difficulties, poorer social and academic competence) than their peers, yet there is also evidence that a number of youth in foster care are functioning relatively well and can be perceived as demonstrating resilience. The present study examined self-concept as a mediator of hypothesized associations between social support and four domains of psychosocial functioning: internalizing problems, externalizing problems, social competence, and …

Sleep-Wake Disturbances In Adolescents With Spina Bifida: Prevalence And Associations With Bio-Neuropsychosocial Functioning, Caitlin Beth Murray

Dissertations

Sleep is a critical component of healthy development during adolescence, and when disrupted, has been linked to difficulties with physical status, psychological health, family functioning, neuropsychological symptoms, and academic performance. The overarching goal of this project was to examine sleep-wake disturbances in association with bio-neuropsychosocial functioning in a vulnerable pediatric population of adolescents with spina bifida (SB). Specifically, this study aimed to 1) examine sleep-wake patterns in adolescents with SB using a multimodal sleep assessment, 2) identify daily temporal associations between sleep and pain as well as sleep and mood, and 3) identify the relationship between sleep-wake disturbances and bio-neuropsychosocial …

Friendship Selection Patterns Among Low Income Minority Girls/Adolescents: Links To Obesity Risk, Kimberly Anne Rosania

Dissertations

Research suggests interventions for pediatric obesity fail because they do not consider the broader social context in which adolescents spend their time: the adolescent friendship network. A critical step to address friendship network barriers to reducing child obesity is understanding contexts that promote friendship network patterns that promote healthy weight (i.e., social inclusion of overweight youth, friendship clusters that are diverse in weight status). This study sought to understand whether community-based summertime programming could facilitate healthier selection patterns for a demographic disproportionately at risk for obesity: low-income girls of color. Participants were 42 African American and Latina adolescent females (M …

Coping With Young Self-Absorbed Group Members, Nina W. Brown

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

The previous study by Kearns and Brown used 200 volunteer participants attending a community AA program to determine what variables could distinguish between newcomers to the program, chronic relapsers and endurers. The discriminant analysis produced a factor that accounted for 80% of the variance with the group deviancy score on the GSQ loading at 0.69 and age as -0.84. This factor was termed "young and self-absorbed". Presented here as a follow-up and guide for group leaders are the behavioral indicators and suggestions for coping with these behaviors to lessen their negative impact on the group, the members, the leader, and …

Effects Of Item Relatedness On Output Interference In Recognition Memory, Jennifer Sloane

Theses - ALL

In recognition memory tasks, output interference (OI) effects manifest as a decrease in performance over the course of a test list. While this interference effect has been shown in many different experimental contexts, it is unclear how it is influenced by different properties of study and test items. This work investigates the relationship between semantic similarity and OI in memory, comparing semantically related (animal names or emotion words) and unrelated items to better understand memory and decision processes. Because the related items share similar features and are more confusable, it was predicted that there would be a greater amount of …

A Study Of Danmaku Video On Attention Allocation, Social Presence, Transportation To Narrative, Cognitive Workload And Enjoyment, Yuqian Ni

Theses - ALL

Danmaku video (video with overlaid comments) is a relatively new social TV format and is getting popular in China. This study conducted a 3-condition experiment to examine Danmaku video watching experience in terms of 5 aspects: attention allocation, social presence, transportation into narrative, cognitive workload and enjoyment. 61 Chinese college students from the Northeast region of US were recruited to participate the study. Result indicated out that Danmaku distracted some attention from the initial video content but fostered a feeling of joint viewing with others. The presence of Danmaku also had some effect on the enjoyment of watching videos, but …

Good Mourning: Structured Feelings And Queering The Affective Potential Of Grief, Myles Mason

Theses - ALL

By adopting affect as a method of study, this project elucidates the structured feelings of grief to show the affective potential that comes from experiencing a death or loss. I assert that structured feelings are an epistemological process that model and reproduce how certain affective states ought to be observed in Western culture. In the first chapter of this project, I use psychological readings to trace two kinds of grief, good grief and queer grief, to show how a grief that conforms to structured feelings should be observed as well as how certain expressions of grief can escape and threaten …

Beyond Survival: Embodied Rhetoric And Resistance To Campus Sexual Violence, Logan Rae Gomez

Theses - ALL

Seeking to understand the culture of rape in the U.S., this project centers the stories of women of color on college campuses. In particular, I analyze Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance and the past, present, and future activist projects of Wagatwe Wanjuki. Positioning Sulkowicz and Wanjuki in the center of the conversation on sexual violence reminds us of the historical reality of rape for women of color. Collectively, Emma Sulkowicz and Wagatwe Wanjuki create discursive spaces for what Lisa Flores calls a “rhetoric of difference” and via Cherríe Moraga’s “theory in the flesh.” Throughout, I argue that we must analyze the …

Exploring Scale And Boundaries In Food System Assessments, Jane Christine Mulcahy

Theses - ALL

The local food movement in the U.S. has permeated popular culture and academia; it has even infiltrated non-profit work, urban and regional planning, and government entities. By its very name, the local food movement binds food activity to a scale – the local – that is nebulous and context dependent. Scale is a crucial part of the discourse and implementation of both local food movement efforts and food studies research – scale is used to conceptualize local food system (LFS) efforts as well as implement them. This thesis explores how scale is operationalized in LFS activities through food system assessments …

The Effect Of Acute Negative Affect On Approach Biases To Alcohol Cues In Coping-Motivated Drinkers, Katherine Anne Buckheit

Theses - ALL

Drinking to cope with negative affect has been linked to greater alcohol consumption and consequences of use. The combination of negative affect and implicit cognition, or unconscious processing has been theorized as a potential mechanism by which individuals become dependent on alcohol or other drugs. Literature has demonstrated stronger implicit cognitive biases toward alcohol cues in those who drink to cope but has not examined if this effect extends to approach biases to alcohol cues. 63 drinkers classified as high or low in coping motivation were randomized to either a negative affect induction group or a neutral affect control group. …

Effects Of Experimental Pain Induction On Proxies Of Alcohol Use, Dezarie Moskal

Theses - ALL

Identifying determinants of alcohol consumption remains an important approach to prevent or reduce harmful use. Recent work suggests one such determinant may be physical pain; however, current research is unable to discern causality. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test experimental pain as a determinant of self-reported urge to drink, intention to use alcohol, and alcohol demand (as proxies for ad-lib alcohol consumption). Secondarily, this study aimed to investigate negative affect as a mediator of this relation. We hypothesized that participants randomized to undergo experimental pain induction (vs. no pain) would report increases in proxies of alcohol use …

The Romantic Baby Boomer: A Successful Aging Analysis Of Romantic Comedy Film Trailers, Annette Marie Schelling Masterson

Theses - ALL

On any given Friday night, theaters across the United States are filled with teenagers and young adults, often to see the new Blockbuster that has just been released. The film industry has responded by producing content specifically targeted to this demographic. Unfortunately, this has left a major portion of the population waiting for material that is relatable. Even when there is a character over the age of 50, they are regularly for comic relief or portrayed as weak and incapable. The recent trend of romantic comedies incorporating storylines for older adults is still underrepresented in academic research. This thesis set …

A Better Calculus For Regulators: From Cost-Benefit Analysis To The Social Welfare Function, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

The “social welfare function” (SWF) is a powerful tool that originates in theoretical welfare economics and has wide application in economic scholarship, for example in optimal tax theory and environmental economics. This Article provides a comprehensive introduction to the SWF framework. It then shows how the SWF framework can be used as the basis for regulatory policy analysis, and why it improves upon cost-benefit analysis (CBA).

Two types of SWFs are especially plausible: the utilitarian SWF, which sums individual well-being numbers, and the prioritarian SWF, which gives extra weight to the well-being of the worse off. Either one of these …

Changing The Tax Code To Create Consumer-Driven Health Insurance Competition, Regina Herzlinger, Barak D. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

Because current tax laws exclude employer-paid health insurance premiums from employees’ taxable wages and income, employer-sponsored insurance remains the primary source of health insurance for most employed Americans. Economists have long blamed the employer-based insurance tax exclusion for inflating health care costs, and, more recently, for constraining income growth and exacerbating income inequality.

We execute a simulation to test the effect of permitting employees to receive their employers’ premium contribution directly and then purchase health insurance themselves, using tax-free funds. Employees could deduct for income tax purposes the amount used for insurance and, if they spend less than the amount …

N.C. Medicaid Reform: A Bipartisan Path Forward, Barak D. Richman, Allison Rice

Faculty Scholarship

The North Carolina Medicaid program currently constitutes 32% of the state budget and provides insurance coverage to 18% of the state’s population. At the same time, 13% of North Carolinians remain uninsured, and even among the insured, significant health disparities persist across income, geography, education, and race.

The Duke University Bass Connections Medicaid Reform project gathered to consider how North Carolina could use its limited Medicaid dollars more effectively to reduce the incidence of poor health, improve access to healthcare, and reduce budgetary pressures on the state’s taxpayers.

This report is submitted to North Carolina’s policymakers and citizens. It assesses …

Three Models Of Adjudicative Representation, Margaret H. Lemos

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Adjudicating Death: Professionals Or Politicians?, Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati

Faculty Scholarship

Variation exists in how death examinations take place in the United States. In some counties and states decisions about autopsies and the issuance of death certificates are made by a local coroner who often needs nothing more than a high school diploma to run for election to the job of coroner. In other counties and states, an appointed medical professional performs the death examination. We provide preliminary tests of the difference in performance between death examination offices run by appointed medical professionals compared with elected coroners. We find that death examiner offices in elected coroner states are less likely to …