Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Enhancing Peer Coach Learning Outcomes: Integrating Alumni Insights For Future Development, Kari Adams

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

My research aimed to enhance learning outcomes for the coaches participating in a peer coaching internship program. The research question was: how can I work and engage peer coach alumni to better support the professional development of future peer coaches? I incorporated the perspectives of alumni coaches to identify key areas for improvement to support the professional development of future peer coaches. I conducted three cycles: alumni reflections, workshops, and a roundtable resume discussion. A theme that emerged from alumni peer coach reflections were to provide opportunities to engage with more psychology professionals and integrate career readiness into the internship …

Improving Interconnectedness Among Student Affairs Conduct Processes On The University Of San Diego’S Campus, Oliver H. Kushen

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my research was to learn how student conduct systems within The Division of Student Affairs at the University of San Diego (USD) could be improved by staff and students learning from one another. My research involved guiding staff and students from various conduct processes across campus to learn from each other through improved communication and restorative practices, while ensuring USD’s Mission was emphasized. Research cycles included restorative justice circles, interviews, and a survey. Common themes were the importance of the restorative mission, a focus on student wellness, and a desire to learn from one another through joint …

La Cultura Cura: Implementing Culturally-Relevant Wellness Programs For Latinx College Students, Valentina Valenzuela

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Latinx college students are the fastest growing demographic on college campuses. As this population continues to rise, institutions must adapt their programming to meet their unique needs. One key factor influencing Latinx success and retention is wellness. The purpose of this action research project was to investigate the relationship between culture and wellness and use this information to implement culturally-relevant wellness initiatives for Latinx students. The main research question that guided this study was: How can I incorporate culturally-relevant wellness events into United Front Multicultural Commons’ programming for Latinx students? I conducted three cycles that included a wellness event, plática …

An Integrated Approach To Supporting Undergraduate Students Through Wellness And Community, Nicole Manning

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Students experience mounting levels of stress due to the demands of balancing academics and social relationships. These influences can cause negative effects on the mind and body. Empowering students with resources for holistic wellbeing could relieve stress, create a nurturing environment, and impact their overall success at University of San Diego (USD). My project assisted in a course where undergraduate students develop skills to thrive personally beyond their time at USD. The research question that drove my study was: How can I help develop a successful holistic wellness course to support students in relieving stress? I completed three cycles which …

Mock Juror Perceptions Of Intimate Partner Rape Victims: The Effects Of Mental Illness And Emotional Expression, Kristina Lambert

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Intimate partner rape (IPR), defined as non-consensual sexual intercourse between domestic partners, has a high prevalence rate especially among women with mental illness, yet it is highly under-convicted. This is often due to a lack of evidence in rape cases resulting in jurors relying on extralegal factors, such as a victim’s mental illness or emotional expression, in their decision making. Jurors may provide lower pro-victim judgments (e.g., guilty verdicts, victim credibility) when a victim has a mental illness, whereas jurors often expect a victim to express emotions, which can increase pro-victim judgments. The present study examined mock juror perceptions of …

The Volume Of Information, Joshua Levine

Library Staff Online Writings

Judge Roy Bean was a legendary justice of the peace in Texas, known as the “Law West of the Pecos.” However, he was not known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the law. Judge Bean “had only one law book, a copy of the Revised Statutes of Texas, printed in 1879, as authorized by the Sixteenth Texas Legislature.” He relied exclusively on that book, and “[e]ven though the legislature sent him new books every two years, reflecting new laws, he burned them. He said he liked the old book better and he like those laws better, too.”

Empoderamiento De Mujeres Negras En Cuba: Descolonialidad En La Agencia De Sus Vidas. Encuentros Entre La Interseccionalidad Y La Perspectiva Epistemológica Compleja, Elvira Edwards Vázquez

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

En el presente trabajo se estudia el tema del empoderamiento de las mujeres negras en Cuba desde una perspectiva transdisciplinar. Para ello, se establece un diálogo de saberes diversos provenientes de la Psicología, la Sociología, la Filosofía, la Teoría de la comunicación, la Historia, los Estudios culturales y el Pensamiento complejo. Esto permite una mirada a la agencia de vida y al empoderamiento, desde un posicionamiento descolonial, en medio de las transformaciones que se suceden en el país. El resultado más importante es el intercambio entre las perspectivas epistemológicas interseccionalidad y complejidad. Este orienta nuevas prácticas para docentes, investigadores y …

Environmental And Labor Exploitation In Dominican And Haitian Sugar Cane Plantations: A Failure To Achieve Sustainable Development Goals, Norah S. Mosquea

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper explores the dual issues of labor and environmental exploitation in sugar cane plantations in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, focusing on these countries' actions in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chapter 1 outlines the relevant SDGs, particularly those addressing labor conditions and pollution reduction. It discusses several types of pollution and its impact on laborers and surrounding communities, framing these impacts within the concept of environmental justice. Additionally, it explains how plantation-related pollution degrades all four types of ecosystem services, emphasizing cultural ecosystem services that affect people's overall well-being. Chapter 2 inspects the historical context, …

Jim Crow Medicine: Race In Jama, 1883-1982, Han Koehle

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Using a historical approach I examined race discourse within the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) between 1883 and 1982 to better understand how race concepts connect to the production of medical knowledge and ignorance; how they influenced the production of legal and medical policy; how they related to the production and maintenance of health injustice; and how oppressions and injustices are interrelated. I found a clear differentiation between Jim Crow era and post-Jim Crow race discourse. Jim Crow era race discourse was characterized by a nested, bio-nationalist construct of race, an explicit commitment to White supremacy, a sense …

Interest Groups And Intra-Party Conflict On Scored Votes, L. Harbridge-Young, Warren Snead

Political Science Faculty Works

While inter-party conflicts and polarization are central for understanding policymaking, salient intra-party conflicts remain. We explore one lens into these conflicts—interest groups scoring votes at odds with party leaders. We examine how often and under what conditions party-aligned interest groups oppose the positions of party leadership and whether this disagreement is associated with heightened intra-party conflict. We find that disagreement is more common for the majority party compared to the minority party and, for both parties, disagreement is associated with reduced voting cohesion. We also identify salient differences between Democrats and Republicans during this time period. Disagreement on scored votes …

Latino Voter Registration And Participation Rates In The 2016, 2020, And 2024 Presidential Elections, Laird W. Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Abstract

This report examines Latino voter participation in U.S. presidential elections from 2016 to 2024, highlighting significant increases in registration and turnout between 2016 and 2020, followed by declines in 2024.

Methods

The study is a descriptive and comparative analysis using data from the Voting and Registration Tables issued by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Discussion

In 2020, Latino voter registration and turnout reached historic highs but these gains plateaued in 2024 despite continued population growth.

Persistent disparities in Latino voter participation remained across age groups and sex. Additionally, Latino participation rates in 2024 remained lower than that of non-Hispanic white, …

A Case Of Racialized Organizations: Black-Owned Vegan Restaurants In St. Louis, Missouri, Antonia M. Roach

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

How does functioning as a racialized organization impact a restaurant’s ability to advance the goals of a social movement? This paper highlights the role organizations play in the vegan social movement. In recent years, veganism has developed into a social movement with purported health and ethics benefits, though one in which Black members are not necessarily widely represented. The research that exists on Black veganism focuses on the ideological reasonings behind why some make the decision to adopt a plant-based diet, or spell out the fact that community and culture rank as top priorities when considering what foods to eat …

Should Physicians Take The Rap? Normative Analysis Of Clinician Perspectives On Responsible Use Of 'Black Box' Ai Tools, Ben H Lang, Kristin Kostick-Quenet, Jared N Smith, Meghan Hurley, Rita Dexter, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Background: Increasing interest in deploying artificial intelligence tools in clinical contexts has raised several ethical questions of both normative and empirical interest. One such question in the literature is whether "responsibility gaps" (r-gaps) are created when clinicians utilize or rely on such tools for providing care, and if so, what to do about them. These gaps are particularly likely to arise when using opaque, "black box" AI tools. Compared to normative and legal analysis of AI-generated responsibility gaps in health care, little is known, empirically, about health care providers views on this issue. The present study examines clinician perspectives on …

Gender Differences In Factors Influencing Problematic Sexuality: A Comparative Analysis Using The Midsa Assessment, Brandon Andrew Lozano

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Problematic sexuality among college students is a complex and understudied issue, particularly regarding gender-based differences in affective instability and sexual compulsivity. While prior research has focused mainly on male populations, limited evidence exists about how these factors manifest among female students or whether gender moderates these relationships. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study is to examine whether gender moderates the relationship between factors affecting sexual compulsivity as measured by the Multidimensional Inventory of Development, Sex, and Aggression (MIDSA). The MIDSA, originally developed for male sexual offenders, has since been administered to both male and female populations. Findings from hierarchical …

Decoding Symbolic Influence On Youtube Engagement, Emotion Resonance And Trust In Information Campaigns, Diwash Poudel

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how symbolic images in YouTube videos influences viewers’ emotions, trust, and engagement with political content online. Approximately 2,000 videos were collected and analyzed, with a focus on both thumbnails and standout frames. The findings revealed that cultural symbols were particularly effective at capturing attention and evoking strong emotional reactions—especially anger and disgust. Notably, these same symbols also enhanced viewer trust, making audiences less susceptible to misinformation. Statistical tests confirmed that these effects were consistent and significant. To ensure the validity of these results, additional analyses were conducted to assess potential biases in YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, as well …

Institutions, Indigenous Peoples, And The Structure Of Power In Columbia River Basin Salmon Governance, Christopher Michael Page

Dissertations and Theses

As broad patterns of behavior influenced by norms and rules, institutions structure many aspects of modern society through coordination and the distribution of power. Due to the importance of common-pool natural resources to many aspects of society, they usually involve competition and lie at the intersection of multiple institutions. This combination of institutions, power disparities, and a competitive interest is what scholars have referred to as a "field." Fields can be complex, and the coordination among interests is generally done through a form of governance involving a wide array of laws, regulations, and actors. When at least one of these …

A Movement In Process: The Effects Of Post-Dictatorship Politics On The Legalization Of Abortion In Argentina, Corinne J. Robbins

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Access to abortion is an inherently critical aspect of sexual and reproductive rights. That is to say that access to safe abortions is of equal importance to guaranteeing a person’s right to safety during the pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum period. This research primarily focuses on the trajectory of the legalization of abortion in Argentina after the end of the last military Dictatorship (1976-1983), the factors that impacted the movement, and how the movement is received in Argentina today. Argentina’s current administration has been unsupportive of the current abortion law, but past successes demonstrate that abortion rights activists in Argentina are …

Climate Change Behind Prison Walls: Environmental Justice, Prison Abolition, And Social Welfare, Mia Moody

Student Theses 2015-Present

Unbeknownst to many, human rights violations occur on a large scale behind prison walls. This paper examines some of these violations, especially those exacerbated by climate change, through an environmental lense in order to emphasize the need for social welfare-based solutions in the abolition of the prison industrial complex. It also seeks to illustrate the connection between the environmental justice movement and the prison abolition movement so that marginalized peoples may be free from shouldering disproportionate effects of environmental hazards and imprisonment. This paper is introduced with a brief overview of the human rights violations occurring in prisons. Using quantitative …

Investigating Cross-Modal Temporal Dynamics And Semantic Incongruency In Multisensory Integration, Xiaoxiao Chen

Theses - ALL

Multisensory integration is a pervasive phenomenon in daily life, where our senses (commonly visual and auditory) demonstrate a high degree of interdependence in information processing. This integration is often regarded as automatic and pre-attentional. The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential (ERP) component that captures the difference between novel stimuli (deviant, unexpected trials with low frequency) and regularly occurring stimuli (standard, expected trials with high frequency). MMN can detect unexpected sensory inputs and provide information about the timing of how the brain processes information from different modalities. However, limited research has explored MMN’s application in multisensory processing, with most …

An Examination Of Writing Attitudes And Writing Proficiency Throughout A Performance Feedback Writing Intervention, Sophia Victoria Alderman

Theses - ALL

Writing attitudes, defined as self-assessments of liking or disliking writing (Ekholm et al., 2017), are important motivational factors that can impact writing development. A review of the literature on writing attitudes found that attitudes positively predicted writing achievement and that writing interventions can increase writing attitudes (Ekholm et al., 2017). Existing empirical literature has primarily focused on examining writing attitudes before and after implementing writing interventions, which vary in empirical support (Boscolo et al., 2012; ; Knudson, 1991b, 1992; Seban, 2012). However, no studies have dynamically assessed writing attitudes throughout the course of an evidence-based writing intervention with emerging writers. …

Avatars In Virtual Live Streaming: Identity, Authenticity And Interaction, Yifan Wu

Theses - ALL

With the advancement and development of technology, people now have more and more choices for entertainment. Virtual live streaming, as a rapidly growing form of entertainment, is receiving increasing attention. As an intersection of emerging technology and traditional entertainment modes, virtual live streamers interact with audiences through virtual avatars, bringing a new entertainment experience while also raising many interesting research questions. This thesis focuses on virtual avatars, discussing how virtual live streamers and audiences perceive virtual avatars and how these avatars influence both streamers and the audience. More importantly, this thesis explores the role that virtual avatars play in the …

The Media Coverage Of The Israel And Gaza War: A Comparative Study Of Cnn And Al Jazeera, Fuhaid Alajmi

Theses - ALL

The Israel-Gaza War, which officially started on October 7, 2023, caused immense loss in the Middle East and attracted the international media's eyes. This study discusses the media’s framing in its reporting on the Israel-Gaza War, particularly as disseminated on two prominent global news providers’ online websites: CNN and Al Jazeera. The research explores the differences and similarities in framing the war using framing theory. The study examines how these news outlets covered these current events online in a period ranging from October 7, 2023, to April 7, 2024, using quantitative content analysis. It investigates the main framing of news …

Foraging Connections: Exploring The Relationship Between Optimal Foraging And Phonological Fluency Performance, Kimberly Savika Arjune

Theses - ALL

The semantic fluency task is a timed listing of as many words as possible within a certain category (Bousfield & Sedgewick, 1944). Optimal search requires traversing resource-rich clusters (groups of consecutive responses with shared characteristics) and weighing the benefit of staying in the current cluster, decreasing the rate of return, or switching to a new cluster with more easily accessible resources, but with the cost of search time (Charnov, 1976). According to the marginal value theorem, a switch to a new cluster should occur when the rate of finding words in the current cluster drops below the average rate for …

Express Yourself! Biculturalism, Ethnic Identity & Expression Through Instagram, Zanira Ghulamhussain

Theses - ALL

This qualitative study examines the relationship between biculturalism, ethnic identity, and Instagram use among second-generation Pakistani-Americans. To answer the research questions for this cross-sectional study, the method of virtual, semi structured in-depth interviews was utilized to collect data. Through interviews with second-generation Pakistani-Americans, the researcher explored how Instagram use intersects with ethnic identity and bicultural experiences. Interview data was collected, transcribed, analyzed, and categorized into various themes. Results suggest that Instagram plays a significant role in shaping and expressing ethnic identity, providing a platform for connection, cultural exchange, and personal exploration. This study contributes to understanding the role of social …

Developing Art Resources To Reduce Stress And Increase Well-Being For Healthcare Professionals, Elisabeth Ruth Baird

Theses - ALL

This study explored how art-based wellness resources can support healthcare professionals who provide direct patient care in hospital settings. A focus group of these providers shared their experiences with stress and burnout, identifying key challenges and needs. Based on their feedback, a Mini Wellness Manual was developed with practical, research-based art activities designed to help reduce stress and promote well-being. In a second focus group, participants reviewed the manual and provided feedback on its usefulness and accessibility. Findings showed that self-care interventions often place the burden on individuals rather than addressing the larger systemic issues that contribute to burnout, highlighting …

Encrypted Eroticism: Encoding And Decoding Strategies Against Censorship In Chinese Slash Fandom, Xiyin Li

Theses - ALL

This study examines how Chinese slash fans circumvent censorship through coding and decoding strategies (Hall, 1980). Based on online ethnography and participant observation of a 20-year slash fandom of a popular online novel, DMBJ, I find that fans employ linguistic wordplay across morphological, phonetic, and semantic dimensions with their linguistic literacy in Chinese. Fans actively extract scenes or descriptions from the original novel that align with erotic contexts and collage them into new slash fiction. This form of creation is not entirely original but involves poaching and recombining canonical texts to assign new sexual meanings. At the same time, fans …

Investigating The Impact Of Contextual Semantic Information On L2 Garden Path Sentence Comprehension, Jiaxing Lin

Theses - ALL

This study investigates whether contextual information aids syntactic reanalysis in garden-path sentences and whether native (L1) English speakers and L1 Chinese learners of English (L2) differ in using such cues. Using a self-paced reading paradigm, 29 participants (5 L1, 24 L2) read sentences varying in syntactic ambiguity and contextual plausibility. Reading times in key disambiguation regions (e.g., auxiliary verb, participles) and comprehension accuracy were analyzed. L1 participants showed longer reading times when context mismatched syntax, indicating context-sensitive online processing consistent with constraint-based models. In contrast, L2 participants showed no significant context effects, suggesting difficulty using context in real-time parsing. No …

Reckoning With An Icon: Exploring The Activism Of Mĩcere Githae Mũgo, Erica Charles Kiduko

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines the activism of Mĩcere Gīthae Mũgo, a distinguished Kenyan literary scholar, playwright, and feminist, whose works remain a vital part of twentieth and twenty-first century liberational struggles across Africa and the diaspora. Through a critical analysis of her literary projects, academic work, and political engagements, this study explores how Mũgo’s intellectual interventions challenged colonial, postcolonial, and patriarchal structures. It draws on feminist, Pan-Africanist, and decolonial theoretical frameworks, to situate career struggles for intellectual freedom, gender justice, and cultural reclamation. The thesis investigates foundational elements of Mugo activism, employing a multi-method qualitative approach: that includes textual analysis, oral …

Logging On To Act Out: Understanding Aggressive Personality Traits In Cyberbullies And Cyberbully-Victims, Joy R. Burton

Theses - ALL

Cyberbullying and harassment are pervasive issues online. Certain personality characteristics may make some individuals more inclined to cyberbully than others. This study explores whether aggressive personality characteristics and factors like gender and social media habits are predictive of whether a person cyberbullies, and to what extent. Responses from an online survey of adults distributed via MTurk (n = 189) found a majority of participants (81.5%) report being ridiculed online to some extent in the past year, though most report low levels of cyberbullying. There is a positive relationship between cyberbullying and aggression among adults; physical aggression was by far the …

Decisions From Experience: Beyond The Gap, Nicholas Ryan Pappas

Dissertations - ALL

Across the risk and uncertainty literature, a particular focus has been made on the description-experience gap (DE Gap). The DE Gap creates figurative and literal gaps between description and experience-based choices. Researchers claim that these DE Gaps are problematic for classic models in decision-making research, such as Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT; Kahneman & Tversky, 1992). This has led to a focus on experience-based models instead. However, following a literature review on CPT and the DE Gap, I aimed to test these claims. In fact, throughout three experiments, I demonstrate that the description-based theories need not be tossed away wholly. Instead, …