Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Feasibility Of Acceptance-Based Health Coaching Targeting Food Cravings In Pregnancy, Lauren Blau

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Excess gestational weight gain (GWG) is the leading high-risk condition in pregnancy in the United States and associated with a variety of poor delivery and health outcomes for the mother and infant. The majority of interventions addressing diet and physical activity in pregnancy have at best small effects on weight gain and pregnancy health outcomes. Past studies on weight loss in non-pregnant samples have demonstrated the utility of addressing psychological factors to modify eating behaviors. Currently, there is a lack of research to evaluate the efficacy of targeting psychological factors to improve cognitive and affective coping skills when attempting to …

Settler-Colonialism In Mexico : Mestizaje As A Project Of Elimination, Rosa Maria Navarro

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

No abstract provided.

Longitudinal Examination Of Contextual Risk, Promotive Factors, And Psychosocial Functioning Using Structural Equation Modeling With A Sample Of Serious Adolescent Offenders, Daniel J. Knauer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Mental health problems, including substance use problems, are more prevalent among adolescent criminal offenders than among the general population and are associated with an elevated risk of re-offending. It is important to understand what factors are associated with serious adolescent offenders’ future mental health and re-offending outcomes to promote their positive development. This study examined potential mechanisms behind established relationships between risk factors for mental health and criminal offending and psychosocial outcomes while integrating ecological theory and a risk and protective framework. To do this, a mediation model was examined using structural equation modeling in which contextual risk was hypothesized …

Methamphetamine-Induced Modulation Of Anxiety/Depressive-Like Behaviors And Hpa Axis Output : Contributing Factors Within Stress Associated Brain Regions, Jason Jacobskind

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Methamphetamine (MA) is a psychostimulant drug of addiction that induces a wide range ofeffects. Among its many side effects is the potentiation of cellular, physiological, and behavioral changes in the stress response system. Upon exposure, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is initiated. This process entails many factors. Receiving input from other brain regions, the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus secretes corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and arginine vasopressin into the anterior pituitary gland. These together stimulate the synthesis and release of adrenocorticotropic hormone, which circulates via the blood stream to cause the release of glucocortoicoids, the stress hormone (CORT). Binding of glucocorticoids …

Racism, Mental Health And The Role Of Racial Conflict For Multiracial People, Christina Martin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Objective: This study examined the moderating role of racial conflict among the relation between experiences of racial discrimination and mental health (psychological distress and psychological well-being) for the multiracial sub-group. Furthermore, this study was among the first to also explore how multifaceted identity choice/racial self-identification was associated with racism, racial tension, and mental health. Methods: Two hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to assess the potential moderation effect of racial conflict on the relationships between racism and mental health for 242 multiracial adults using survey design and recruitment methods through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and social media. Results: As predicted, experiences of …

Decentralized Mechanisms For Coordinating Citizen Participation, Cesar Renteria

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Decentralization has been an alternative mechanism of coordination to bureaucratic control. Although decentralization is a very old idea, we do not have enough clarity about how decentralization works and how this alternative can effectively help to overcome some of the problems attributed to traditional bureaucracies. In this dissertation, I bring further insights into the decentralization of decisions through two angles. First, by studying how and for what purposes crowdsourcing, a novel technology-based practice used to decentralize decisions and tasks towards citizens, has been used in government (Chapters 2 and 3). Second, by studying the process of decentralization of decisions within …

The Effect Of Mindfulness On Autonomic Nervous System Coordination In Individuals With Interparental Conflict Exposure, Rachel Clegg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Adverse childhood experiences, such as interparental conflict exposure, have long-term negative effects across various domains, including psychological and physiological health. Research reveals a link between interparental conflict and coordination between stress response systems, specifically sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (SNS and PNS, respectively). Despite this knowledge, much less is known about potential protective factors or intervention strategies within this area. Mindfulness interventions have been found to be useful in the treatment of psychological and physical problems, including PTSD and stress-related diseases. The present study examined the effect of a mindfulness intervention on coordination between PNS, as measured by respiratory sinus …

The Time Course And Interaction Of Emoji And Text Processing During Natural Reading : Evidence From Eye Movements, Eliza Barach

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Emojis are nonverbal elements used in text-based communication that may function like gestures in spoken communication (Feldman et al., 2017; McCulloch & Gawne, 2018). Like words, emojis can convey semantic information and support message comprehension (Lo, 2008; Riordan, 2017b). Nevertheless, the cognitive and perceptual processes involved in emoji recognition and integration during reading remain unclear. Specifically, it is unclear how early semantic processing of emojis begins as well as how emojis and text interact during reading. Such empirical questions have implications for contemporary models of eye movement control, such as E-Z Reader (Reichle et al., 1998, 2012) and SWIFT (Engbert …

Dominican Spanish In New York : Language Attitudes And Variation Of Final /ɾ/ And /L/, Gabriel Valentín Guadalupe

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The objective of this dissertation is to contribute to the growing body of research on sociolinguistic variation of final liquids in Caribbean Spanish in a language and dialectal contact situation. To achieve that objective, this study analyzes the Spanish of Dominicans in the New York Metropolitan Area. The dissertation has two main goals. The first is to describe language attitudes among Dominicans in New York. Data extracted from questionnaires are analyzed to show how Dominicans evaluate their varieties of Spanish and those of others. Additionally, the dissertation looks at whether inter- and intra-group interactions affect language attitudes. The second goal …

"Folks Like Us" : Exploring State Education Policy In New York's Rural School Districts, Nicole Lennon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Diversity has been a major topic in education in recent years. However, often missing from the conversation is consideration of geographic diversity across urban, suburban, and rural school districts. Research shows that geographic place influences educational capacity, opportunities, and trajectories, as well as social life, cultural values, and individual identity. The policy process is influenced by dominant ideologies that tend to problematize rural places and favor the interests of metropolitan places. This metro-centric ideology may continue to influence educational policymaking in the United States today, as scholars have found policymakers often reuse similar urban-favored tools and solutions in the design …

The Supervisory Working Alliance, Relational Behavior, And Supervisee Nondisclosure : Does Humility Matter?, Englann Taylor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The broad purpose of this study was to address gaps in the literature by applying the Relational Humility Model (RHM; Davis et al., 2010, 2011) to clinical supervision by testing the interpersonal variables of relational humility (RH; Davis et al., 2011), the supervisory working alliance (SWA, Bordin, 1983), and relational behavior (RB; Shaffer & Friedlander, 2017) as predictors of supervisee nondisclosure (SND; Ellis & Colvin, 2016; Siembor & Ellis, 2012), both clinically-related (CRND) and supervision-related (SRND). It was hypothesized that RH would moderate the relation between SWA and SRND and that the SWA would be a positive predictor of SND …

Cuerpos Femeninos En Concursos De Mujeres O 'Reinados' En Colombia, 1991-2018, Ernesto L. Ebratt

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Incorporando perspectivas sociológicas y feministas sobre el cuerpo e información clave obtenida durante el trabajo de campo realizado en Colombia (entrevistas cualitativas y búsqueda de archivos), esta disertación explora las dinámicas entre las experiencias de los cuerpos femininos y fuerzas sociales en el contexto de la globalización neoliberal durante el periodo de 1991 a 2018 en Colombia. Este proyecto se concentra en tres competencias de mujeres: el Reinado Nacional de Belleza, el Reinado de la Independencia y el Reinado Wayyú. Documenta las experiencias o historias individuales de las concursantes acerca de sus cuerpos dentro y fuera de las competencias, sus …

Impact Of Camouflaging On Females With Autism, Cortney Janicki-Menzie

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Females with autism spectrum disorder are an underrepresented group in the autism literature that is in need of greater understanding. Growing evidence suggests that autistic females have a unique clinical presentation of symptoms and they are more frequently camouflaging their autism characteristics to fit in with peers. While support for social camouflaging theory builds, little attention has been paid to the effects of camouflaging on outcomes for females with autism. The current study proposes that females with autism will demonstrate greater use of camouflaging behaviors and that camouflaging behaviors will predict adverse outcomes for these women. Specific outcomes addressed in …

Understanding Awol As A Crisis Response In Out-Of-Home Placement Settings, Stephen James Oby Jr

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Youth elopement from out-of-home placement settings, an act colloquially referred to as AWOL, is a frequent and extremely risky outcome for youth and a key concern for child welfare entities. AWOL is hypothesized here as a maladaptive coping response to the experience of out-of-home placement as a crisis-inducing event. Conceiving of AWOL as a response to a crisis state redefines apparent risk factors as crisis origins and enables an understanding of which youth may experience a removal and out-of-home placement event as crisis inducing. Factors related to AWOL outcomes are embedded within an ecological systems framework and the interactions between …

Supporting Highly Mobile Literacy Learners : Examining How An Elementary School Provided Support To Mobile Students In An Urban School District, Rebecca L. Benjamin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation explores the academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that impact the literacy learning of highly mobile students in an urban elementary school, utilizing interview, questionnaire, and achievement data from transient students and educational professionals who work with them. It examines a school year of highly mobile student experiences in literacy-learning across a wide range of factors and environments, considering student and educator observations, reflections, and participation, through different schools and across various settings in their current/newest school (in classrooms, at lunch, recess, rehearsals, and specials, working with social or academic service providers, etc.). This study’s theoretical framework was …

The Materiality Of Metaphor In Mayan Hieroglyphic Texts: Metaphor In Changing Political Climates, Dinkel A. Rebecca

Anthropology Theses & Dissertations

Recent research on the discursive and rhetorical forms of Mayan hieroglyphic texts has demonstrated how language and writing were used to frame, not just represent, Pre-Columbian Mayan history. Research on the role of metaphor in this framing has only just begun, and despite the well-known multimodal character of Mayan hieroglyphic texts, research on the role of metaphors in pictorial images has been even more limited. Previous research has not fully documented metaphor variation, particularly as it materializes across different modalities, media, places, and times. Doing so will allow for more subtle and elaborate interpretations of metaphor use and meaning in …

Behavioral, Endocrine, And Neural Responses To Stress In Postpartum And Nulliparous Rats : Potential Mechanisms Of Postpartum Stress Resilience, Joanna Medina

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Major depressive disorder is one of the most pervasive psychiatric illnesses in the United States. Women are at greater risk for developing depression, particularly during their childbearing years. Approximately 17% of new mothers develop postpartum depression within 4 weeks after parturition. The risk for postpartum depression is even greater in women who do not breastfeed or stop breastfeeding early. Major depressive disorder and postpartum depression share the same symptomology and common etiological bases. Dysregulated stress responses, dopamine activity, and neuroinflammation are recognized mechanisms for depression. The transition to motherhood encompasses physiological and behavioral adaptations in the brain essential for ensuring …

Black Women Social Workers : A Qualitative Exploration Of Stress And Coping, Collina D. Cooke

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Black women social workers (BWSW) represent essential workforce members. They are burdened by overlapping expectations associated with their multiple marginalized and unique identities. Their definitions of stress and creation of strategies to deal with highly stressful situations have been absent from the research literature, leaving intervention strategies to support highly stressed BWSW unknown. This study was developed to explore stress perceptions and holistic manifestations of stress. A primary focus was to highlight the coping responses used by BWSW to decrease stress levels. In addition, the researcher sought to investigate various ways organizations have created stressful situations for BWSW and identify …

Roaring Tiger Or Bounce Tigger? : Examining Corruption Seriousness Perception In China From A Socio-Cultural Perspective, Yunhan Zhao

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Recent years have witnessed a steadily increasing scholarly interest in perceptions of corruption, particularly in terms of level and prevalence. However, previous studies have largely overlooked perceived seriousness as another unique dimension of corruption perception. Furthermore, previous studies seeking causes of corruption perception have failed to consider cultural factors at either the individual or aggregate level as potential predictors. To fill the gap, the current dissertation employs the 2014 Chinese Family Panel Studies and other relevant data to explore the relationships between corruption seriousness perception and cultural factors. This dissertation strategically examines two individual cultural attachments (i.e., Confucianism and Legalism …

The Effects Of Cumulative Risk And Cross-Domain Risk On Preschooler's Executive Functioning Performance : The Buffering Role Of Parental Autonomy Support, Atara B. Siegel

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is robust evidence that early childhood adversity has wide ranging impacts on mental health, physical health and well-being in adulthood. Executive functioning (EF) deficits may partially mediate these effects, predisposing children to risky behavior and poor decision making. A growing body of research indicates that there is a link between early adversity and EF. However, more research is needed with younger children and with children at higher risk of multiple adversities. Measuring multiple adversities is complex, and researchers differ in their approaches to measuring cumulative adversity. Cumulative risk (CR) scores are an established method to capture important components of …

Perceiving Organization As An Entity : The Relationship Of Entitativity And Organizational Justice Perception, Wei Zhuang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Entitativity is an important group construct that has received little attention in the organizational psychology literature. The current study based on 343 employed individuals explores the potential role of entitativity perceptions of organizations on the relationship between justice perceptions and employees’ emotional and behavioral reactions. Results of a three-wave survey study suggest that entitativity perceptions are positively associated with employees’ experienced gratitude toward organizations but have no relationship with employees experienced anger toward organizations. In addition, this study provides evidence that positive emotions can mediate the effect of justice perceptions on positive behavioral outcomes, and negative emotions can mediate the …

What's In A Chunk? : Investigating Expertise Effects On Memory For Complex Visual Search Targets, Kinnera Savitri Maturi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Across two experiments, I examined the extent to which three predictions of the chunking and template framework of expertise generalize to the music-reading domain: 1) Experts show perceptual advantages that allow for superior performance in a domain-specific task; 2) Experts’ can identify familiar patterns, which allow them to rapidly detect relevant regions of a stimulus; and 3) Experts’ superior perceptual abilities are domain-specific. In Study 1, the eye movements of expert musicians and non-musicians were recorded while they searched for a complex visual search target (i.e., a bar of piano sheet music) that was located within a search array (i.e., …

The Impact Of Problem Behaviors, Parenting And Availability Of Supports On Aspects Of Family Life In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Celia Tam

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

It is well documented that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to exhibit more problem behaviors compared to typical peers; moreover, parents of children with ASD are more likely to report experiencing greater parental and family stress. The current study set out to shed light on the ways and degree to which problem behaviors in children with ASD may impact multiple aspects of family life. The potential moderating role of family resources and perceived support, including emotional, physical, and disability-related support, along with certain parenting behaviors, was also explored. Participants included parents/caregivers of children diagnosed with ASD between the …

El Cyborg En El Papel : Virtualidad Digital En La Novela Hispanoamericana Contemporánea (2000-2018), Jaime Mundo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

El propósito de esta disertación es explorar cómo la narrativa contemporánea hispanoamericana representa la virtualidad digital. La noción de virtualidad está influenciada por la teoría de la crítica cultural y literaria Katherine Hayles que argumenta que la virtualidad es la percepción cultural de que los objetos materiales están interpenetrados por patrones de información. La noción de virtualidad digital en esta tesis no apunta a un mundo alternativo, sino que está ligada a lo que sucede en el espacio de interacción entre el individuo y el dispositivo tecnológico. Las novelas analizadas en esta disertación crean una visión de sistemas y dispositivos …

States Of Discontent: State Crises, Party System Change, And Inclusion In South America, Samuel Handlin

Political Science Faculty Works

Latin America’s recent inclusionary turn centers on changing relationships between the popular sectors and the state. Yet the new inclusion unfolds in a region in which most states are weak and prone to severe pathologies, such as corruption, inefficiency, and particularism. The first part of the chapter outlines an argument, developed at more length elsewhere, regarding how “state crises” helped drive the consolidation of three distinct party system trajectories among the eight South American countries where the Left would eventually win power. The second part of the chapter argues that these trajectories differed in three ways that likely conditioned how …

Edgar B. Madsen. The Shoestring Letters: A Tribute To The Immigrant, Inger M. Olsen

The Bridge

Edgar Madsen’s parents, Niels and Signe Madsen, left their home and family in Denmark in 1928 to seek their fortune in the United States. For three decades after their emigration, their only contact with their loved ones back home was through letters, which inspired the name of Edgar B. Madsen’s charming, thought-provoking book, The Shoestring Letters: A Tribute to the Immigrant. After being stored in a thatched roof attic for decades, the letters Niels and Signe sent to their loved ones in Jutland came to light when the family cleared out their grandfather’s house; they made their return journey …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Transit Workers: Perceptions Of Employer Responses And Associations With Health Factors, Sean P.M. Rice, Leah S. Greenspan, Talya N. Bauer, Jarred Rimby, Todd Bodner, Ryan Olson

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on transit workers’ lives, especially among public-facing vehicle operators. The current project examined relationships between workers’ knowledge and perceptions of their employer’s COVID-19 safety responses, job attitudes, and health. We surveyed transit workers (N = 174) between July and August 2020 and followed up 3 months later. Fifty-seven workers responded to the follow-up survey. Surveys addressed workers’ knowledge and perceptions of their employer implementing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended COVID-19 safety responses, COVID-19 risk perceptions, job attitudes, and health factors. Employees reported knowledge of their employer implementing ~8 of 12 CDC-recommended responses. …

“Donuts & Downloads” Or (If Not Using Donuts) “Top Three In [The Name Of Your Ir]”, Amanda Y. Makula

Copley Library: Faculty Scholarship

This Open Access Week activity celebrates the top three most-downloaded items in the institutional repository (IR) by awarding the departments that produced the content with an official letter of recognition and a complimentary box of donuts from the library.

A Few Kind, But True Words: Using The Research Consultation To Empower Marginalized Grad Students Struggling With Imposter Syndrome, V. Dozier

Copley Library: Faculty Scholarship

Dozier, V. (2021). A few kind, but true words: Using the research consultation to empower marginalized graduate researchers struggling with impostor syndrome [Conference proceedings]. LOEX 2021.

What Happened In Harris Neck?: Racism, Resistance, And Futures, Anna Sharpe

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This project traces the history and legacy of the seizure of Harris Neck, approximately 2,600 acres on the Georgia coast, once largely composed of rice and cotton plantations. After the Civil War, freedmen and women transformed the area into a thriving Black community. The community of approximately a hundred families, a school, a church, a post office, and many small farms and businesses flourished from the late 1800’s until 1942, when the federal government seized Harris Neck for use as an Army airfield.

The procedures used by the federal government to seize and, later, reallocate Harris Neck will be examined, …