Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Way Of Eldering: Spiritual Maturation Across The Lifespan, Kineret Yardena

Social Work Theses - Archive

Background and Objectives

People in midlife are often encumbered with uncertainty about how to transition toward later life without regret. Many sense the need to spiritually mature as they age, but lack practical guidance. Elders are those in later life who have made this transition and who have become sources of wisdom, nurturance and guidance for those younger than they. This phenomenological study explores the spiritual maturation journey of eldering.

Research Design and Methods

Ten people who were identified as elders took part in intuitive life story interviews. Using Story Method, this phenomenological study sought to identify key themes in …

A Neuroscience-Based Curriculum For Addiction Prevention For Fourth-Grade Students, Paola Andrea Benitez

Social Work Theses - Archive

Substance use is one of the main problems affecting adolescents and young adults. While the consumption of alcohol has decreased, the consumption of marijuana has increased rampantly due to youth's positive perception after being legalized in 24 states with no clear message of the many adverse effects this drug causes. Different approaches to prevention have been used throughout the years: scare-led tactics, socio-emotional learning skills, and neuroscience-based curriculums. Since substance use results from the conjunction of different biopsychosocial factors that lead to this relapsing brain disease, the solution should integrate different preventive solutions as well. Public policy, schools, social workers, …

Documented Outcomes Of Informal Caregivers Delivering Home-Based Interventions To Persons Living With Dementia: A Scoping Review, Andrea H. Meller

Social Work Theses - Archive

Most people living with dementia in the United States reside at home with informal caregivers. Yet research regarding non-pharmacological interventions for persons living with dementia is mainly conducted in institutional settings. Also, research into the impacts of interventions for persons with dementia on informal caregivers is scarce. This scoping review aims to map the breadth of literature on outcomes of informal caregivers delivering home-based interventions to people with dementia through the lens of the stress process model. Using the Arskey & O’Malley framework, an initial database search yielded 3,977 studies of which 22 were included in this review. Results revealed …

Is The Virtual Therapy Experience A Sufficient Means For Person-Centered Therapy? A Systematic Review, Aaron Feibush

Social Work Theses - Archive

Background: American psychologist Carl Rogers is considered the main originator of person-centered therapy (PCT), a psychotherapeutic approach which focuses on self-actualizing abilities of the client which emerge when engaged in an environment of three core conditions established by the therapist: unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence. Over the last several decades there have been thousands of studies that demonstrate support for these three core conditions as necessary features of effective therapy. However, with the emergence of psychotherapy being conducted via telehealth in the last several years, in particular since the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it remains unknown …

Exploring The Process Of Seeking Informal Social Support For Intimate Partner Violence Among African Immigrants Residing In The United States, Ricka Olga Mammah

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Intimate partner violence against women is a pervasive global issue. For African immigrants in the United States, IPV continues to be a social problem, with many survivors seeking support from their informal networks. Informal networks refer to the social connections and relationships that individuals have outside of formal or professional settings, such as family members, friends, and acquaintances who provide emotional, practical, and social support. However, various cultural, religious, social, and legal barriers can make seeking informal social support for IPV challenging. To improve interventions designed to reach this vulnerable population, more inquiry is needed into how African immigrant survivors …

Trauma Exposure’S Influence On How Black Superwomen Cope And Perceive Stress, Latisha Thomas

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Black women in the United States experience high levels of lifetime trauma exposure, which significantly affects their perceived stress and coping mechanisms. The lifetime trauma experienced by Black women in the United States is a large and intricate issue shaped by numerous historical, cultural, and structural elements that affect their perceived stress and coping mechanisms. Lifetime trauma encompasses a wide range of painful events or experiences that transpire throughout an individual's life, significantly and persistently affecting their mental, emotional, and physical health (National Institute of Mental Health, 2020). These traumatic occurrences can encompass a broad range of experiences, including physical …

Dentists’ Accounts Of Interpersonal Interactions Three Decades After The Postmortem Identification Of The Branch Davidians, Melissa Izuagbe

Psychology Theses - Archive

Despite extensive research on the psychological effects of mass disasters on survivors, the positive outcomes for volunteers and forensic workers, along with coping strategies to alleviate job-related stress, remain understudied. Self-disclosure and social support play pivotal roles in mitigating stress and fostering positive outcomes. This study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis to describe dentists’ experiences of self-disclosure and social support through the 31 years since conducting the postmortem identifications following the Branch Davidian Tragedy. The study was preregistered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) to promote transparency in research. We interviewed a subset (N = 14) out of the 50 dentists …

Spanish On Bulletin Boards In Baltimore Public Libraries, Francisco Martínez Ibarra

International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest

Public libraries provide not only a safe space to access information but to interact with other members of the local community as well. The purpose of my paper is to study communication practices derived from posting messages on analog bulletin boards in Baltimore, Maryland. A few of the questions that guide my exploration are: who uses the bulletin board and how is it structured linguistically? Are Spanish and English used any differently regarding the author and the topic of the message? Does language use align with the demographics of the community?

I collected 488 texts from a total of 36 …

“Because I Said So”: How National Leaders Use Rhetoric To Frame The Issues Of National Security And The War On Drugs, Saul Valle

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

In the preamble of the 2024 presidential election seasons in both the United States and Mexico, there has been an increase in aggressive outspoken expression by national leaders regarding how to best handle the issue of drugs and drug use across the Western hemisphere. These types of sweeping policies are often credited to President Richard Nixon, who on June 18th, 1971, initiated his “War on Drugs,” a global policy campaign intended to address the production, distribution, and consumption of the illicit drug trade. Existing scholarship on this topic has extensively analyzed the early years of the American war on drugs …

War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

The Influence Of Ecoregions And Land Use/Land Cover On Fish Assemblages In Southern Minnesota, Masaki Hara

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Level III ecoregions of the conterminous United States provide a framework for facilitating environmental understanding and aiding environmental management practices. In southern Minnesota near Mankato, there are two level III ecoregions: to the east is North Central Hardwood Forest (NCHF) and to the west are Western Corn Belt Plains (WCBP). They contained a combined 104 fish species in local lakes. However, little is known about how land use and land cover affect fish assemblages in these lakes, which are indicator fish species, and if any invasive fish species are adversely impacting native fish populations. This study addresses these issues through …

Who Can You Count On? Banking While Female: Money, Community, And Self-Help, Leena Haider

Gaines Fellow Senior Theses

This ethnohistorical study explores how women’s creation and participation in financial systems allow them to find the economic prosperity and build community ties which they are entitled to. Because when facts or figures may not appeal to everyone, stories can. This paper is divided into four sections: In the first section, "Contextual Background," I delve into the historical and anthropological context of ROSCAs, exploring their origins, cultural significance, and economic functions across diverse societies in the Global South, before focusing on the diasporic usage of ROSCAs among immigrant communities. The second section, "Portraits of Women from Oral Histories," presents written …

Changes In Criminal Thinking Among Homeless Veterans Receiving Housing First Services, Deirdra Robinson

Theses and Dissertations--Social Work

Homelessness is a social problem that has plagued the United States for decades. as early as 1987, veterans were identified has making up a large proportion of people living unhoused. This dissertation is a retrospective exploratory, quantitative study exploring the relationship between criminal thinking and specific characteristics (mental health symptoms, social connectedness, perception of seriousness of legal issues, and housing) of veterans who received services from a Housing First program. Using Survival Mode Theory as a framework for organizing and understanding the context of the study, and the utility of the findings, this dissertation aimed at improving practice and theoretical …

Differential Impacts Of Weather Anomalies On Household Energy Expenditure Shares: A Comparison Of Clustered Panel Analysis Methods, Jordan Champion

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Recent emphasis on environmental justice has highlighted deficiencies in our energy system that produce disparities in accessibility and affordability for the most vulnerable. Meanwhile, the realities of a gradually warming climate and the onset of a global energy crisis (IEA 2022) have coincidently contributed to spikes in both energy prices and demand. These implications threaten to further exacerbate existing disparities for income-constrained and vulnerable populations, enhancing their risk of falling into prolonged insecurity. To ensure our transition to a just, sustainable future, we must first ensure equitable access to affordable and reliable energy for everyone. Combining household-level panel and state-level …

From Bushels To Barrels: A Descriptive Analysis Of The U.S. Whiskey Industry, Ryan Murphy

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the U.S. whiskey industry, emphasizing distilleries' geographic distribution, operational characteristics, and the agricultural landscapes surrounding them. Particular attention is given to the feasibility of U.S. distilleries locally sourcing grains used in production. Grain demand ranges were estimated for the 1,485 distilleries analyzed within this study. Using cropland and yield data from the USDA, local grain availability was approximated for comparison. Results indicate that a distillery's local sourcing feasibility is significantly impacted by its production capacity and geographic location.

Additionally, this research documents the development of an interactive web application designed to evaluate the …

Nourishing Connections: Chinese Immigrant Identity In Tokyo Through Commensality And Hospitality, Sarai Brown

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

This paper explores how Chinese immigrants in Tokyo, Japan preserve their cultural identity through practices of commensality and hospitality in stark contrast to Japanese culture. In Chinese culture, hospitality – mainly acts of food sharing – is how kinship relations are built and maintained, eventually growing into an important hierarchy network that ultimately builds a fully realized identity created out of communal belonging. Japanese culture in this sense is not as hospitable, deeming food-sharing as an extremely private and high-risk affair that is considered low-risk in Chinese contexts.

Blame In The North Korean Famine, 1994-1998, Zoe Ngan

BYU Asian Studies Student Journal

This paper intends to analyse blame for the North Korean famine through Amartya Sen’s entitlement theory, which suggests that the North Korean state was largely to blame. The collapse of the public distribution system (PDS), as well as the North Korean government’s misallocation of aid, were most significant in obstructing North Koreans’ ability to access food, and can be interpreted as severe entitlement ‘failures’ that were directly facilitated by the state.

Two Perspectives On Immigrants In The Labor Market: The Immigration Act Of 1990, Shria Holla

Gaines Fellow Senior Theses

When evaluating the impact of immigration, extant economic literature has overwhelmingly focused on natives and men. The widely accepted methodology in the literature usually segments by education and by experience. Segmenting by education has been found to not be viable for immigrants due to immigrant downgrading, and experience is not conducive for women since it is calculated based on age. Through both an empirical analysis and an ethnography, this study takes the initial steps to include existent immigrants and women in the discussion. The economic empirical analysis evaluates the impact of immigration on existent immigrants, a growing portion of the …

Emotional Cues Pertaining To Social Media Usage Impact On College Students, A'Maya Tatum, April Rico, Elizabeth Ann Godfrey, Scovs Majors

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Discussions about the effects of social media continue to grow in recent years, more people have become invested in how our previously exposed perceptions have influenced our perceptions of social media. Priming is the idea that implicit content can explicitly impact our perception of later topics and experiences. Priming has played a major role in how we perceive several aspects of our lives, and social media is no different. In this study, we investigate how priming with positive or negative words related to social media affects the individual’s view of social media and their perceived usage. We hypothesize that there …

Locus Of Control And Mental Health, Sisi F. Costa, Katherine Visner, Solaris Bell, A'Maya Tatum

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

The concept of Locus of Control has had significant psychological implications for decades. The two sides of internal and external locus of control have been conceptualized as the degree to which people attribute events to internal (e.g., motivation, hard work) or external (e.g., luck) causes. Despite research focusing on the implications that Locus of Control has in academics, it is not well-researched on college students, a demographic highly impacted by mental health issues. Based on previous research, we aim to validate a new scale that accurately measures locus of control, specifically regarding one's mental health. We hypothesized that our scale …

Effect Of Family-Centered Care Interventions On Well-Being Of Caregivers Of Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review, Deepalaxmi Paresh Poojari, Shashikiran Umakanth, G. Arun Maiya, Bhamini Krishna Rao, Sonia Khurana, Senthil Kumaran D., Radhika Attal, Marie Brien

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Caring for a child with long-term functional limitations can have a negative impact on the physical and psychological well-being of the caregiver. Family-centered care (FCC) interventions have the potential to empower caregivers and contribute to their well-being. This systematic review aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the effectiveness of FCC interventions in improving the well-being of caregivers of children with cerebral palsy (CP), and identify the key components of such interventions that are most commonly practiced and deemed effective.

Methods: This review systematically searched seven databases for randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effectiveness of any FCC intervention on …

Effect Of Relationship Motivation On Cnm Relationship Satisfaction, Keigan Clark

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This paper explored the impact relationship formation motivation had on the satisfaction of consensual non-monogamous (CNM) relationships. Using the Self Determination Theory (SDT) concept of autonomy this study tested if more intrinsically motivated open and polyamorous relationships had higher levels of relationship satisfaction compared to more extrinsically motivated relationships. A total of 564 participants completed a web survey distributed through social media and snowball sampling. Participants filled out basic demographical data as well as completing the Couples Satisfaction Index and the Couples Motivation Questionnaire. There was no difference found in relationship satisfaction in polyamorous or open relationships based on intrinsic …

"And I / Am The Arrow": The Narrative, Personae Construction, And Language Ideology Of Confessional Poets' Identity Performance, Madison Fuchs

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This thesis argues for consideration of linguistic features in service of raising the postmodern confessionalist poet identity as an utterance and an act of loyalty to performance. The embodiment of the confessionalist identity, attributed to the features used to adhere to the confessional mode, is realized through the invention of confessional personae. These confessional personae merge the responsibilities of the speaker and the narrator to convey a pseudo-autobiographical utterance to a designated audience. In this thesis, I analyze a sequence of poems that either possess taboo subjects or utilize linguistic functions, like indexicality and audience design, that mark its mode. …

The Death Of Slim Shady: Eminem’S Lyrical Life Course Trajectory, Anthony Raul Rosales, Anthony R. Rosales

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Eminem's lyrical life course trajectory helps provide insight into hip-hop and rap music's arguably criminal social stigma. Previous studies have examined Eminem's songs, but these topics focused on singular songs and themes rather than a lyrical life course. This study fills the gap by providing a content analysis of Eminem's solo studio albums, where it identifies themes and patterns that appear in the album's lyrics. The purpose of this study was to use research questions based on theory and previous research to examine Eminem's lyrics and personas. Using Eminem's thirteen solo studio albums consisting of two-hundred-nine songs, this study focused …

Content Moderation On Social Media: Social And Computational Standards And Implications, Mohit Singhal

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Social media has become a powerful tool that reflects human communication's best and worst aspects. They allow individuals to freely express opinions, communicate with others, and learn about new stories. On the other hand, they have become fertile grounds for several forms of abuse, harassment, and the dissemination of misinformation. Social media platforms have established and employed content moderation to counteract the spread of abuse and misinformation.

Some critical challenges hinder the understanding of the social media content moderation ecosystem. This dissertation investigates various aspects of content moderation, including their coverage, fairness, and effectiveness. Firstly, it investigates how, in practice, …

Outpatient Fall Prevention In Ambulatory Adults 65 Years Old And Over, Dorothy L. Osborne-White

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: In the United States (U.S.), falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and over, resulting in 36 million falls yearly (Moreland et al., 2020). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2023), one in four older adults experiences a fall each year. Falls are the world's second most prominent cause of accidental deaths (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults (Moreland et al., 2020).

Methods: A quality improvement project that included a fall bundle was implemented in a primary clinic. A …

Gaps And Overlaps In Conversation: Analyses Of Differentiating Factors, David W. Edwards

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

Human social behavior relies on communication, and much of that communication occurs in conversation. A crucial feature of conversation is turn-taking, the (usually) orderly pattern of listening and speaking that humans employ in conversation. In analyzing details of actual conversations, Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson (1974) launched the field of Conversation Analysis by outlining a set of observations of turn-taking behavior and by proposing a list of rules to explain that behavior. They noted that the vast majority of transitions from one speaker to another happen with very little gap or overlap (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson 1974: 700–701). More recently, researchers …

Attraction Effects In Referential Dependencies, Emily Graham

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation explores the differences in the real-time processing of long-distance dependencies and how the processing of these dependencies functions within a cue-based retrieval model. During subject-verb agreement (SVA) comprehension, the processing of the verb is influenced by attractor noun phrases (NPs) that cannot control agreement. Referential dependencies, however, are less susceptible to such attraction effects. Many studies examining ungrammatical sentences in which a reflexive or pronoun mismatches with its antecedent in number/gender have indicated that the processing of these referentially dependent elements is largely uninfluenced by grammatically unavailable attractor NPs. These disparities have been taken to indicate that SVA …

“Criticize The Way You Fly”: Negotiations Of Femininity And Motherhood Among Young Disabled Women, Alicia Leon Luna

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

Disabled women are often excluded from the reproductive rights movement based on the wrongful assumption that women’s disability makes them unfit for motherhood. The social proscription of parenting by disabled women creates reproduction rights issues as it blocks pathways to parenthood while simultaneously ignoring the ever present influence mothering ideology (i.e., the motherhood mandate) has on the gender identity of these women. Research on disabled motherhood is sparse; thus, this study seeks to add to it by examining the intersection of disability, femininity, and motherhood through the lens of young childless disabled women. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 disabled …

Differentially Unwell: On Mimi Khúc's "Dear Elia", Seo-Young J. Chu

Publications and Research

[...] Inviting readers to reclaim the stigma of unwellness and collectively to "tend to our unwellness, together," Khúc approaches unwellness as a crucial resource for subverting the "wellness and unwellness" dichotomy entirely. After all, the opposite of "wellness" is not "unwellness"; the opposite of "wellness" does not exist. The opposition itself is an artificial framework, one that reductively harms more than it dialogically helps. We need to move away from these simplistic dualisms, Khúc suggests, and towards more generous, trauma-informed epistemologies. [...]