Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

From Fields To Fast Foods: Food Culture, Identity, And Health In Puerto Rico Under The U.S. Empire, Ivanna Morales Mercado

CMC Senior Theses

Operation Bootstrap, launched in 1947, fundamentally altered Puerto Rico’s economy, just as much as its food culture. Prioritizing manufacturing over agriculture led to the collapse of the island’s farming sector, increasing reliance on food imports and leading to a rise in diet-related diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular issues. This thesis examines the legacies of Operation Bootstrap on Puerto Rico’s food system, health outcomes, and cultural identity by emphasizing the need to value intergenerational knowledge. The oral history research in this study highlights the importance of intergenerational knowledge in reclaiming sustainable agricultural practices and healthy, culturally significant …

Trade Tensions And Consumer Decisions: Evidence From Taxable Sales During The 2018 Us-China Trade War, Eddie Wei

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the consumption response to the 2018 US-China trade war. While prior research has largely focused on economic outcomes such as export values, income, and employment, trade policies may also have salient distributional consequences for consumption. On one hand, import tariffs may boost well-being in regions with greater employment in protected sectors, such as manufacturing. On the other hand, retaliatory tariffs may raise prices overall and depress consumption in areas more reliant on the Chinese market, such as agriculture. To explore these dynamics, I construct a novel dataset of county-level taxable sales, capturing both household and business spending. …

A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Realism In U.S. Foreign Policy, Olivia M. Licata

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the influence of realist theory on U.S. foreign policy from 1776 to 2025. Through a temporal analysis of policy across three international power systems – multipolarity, bipolarity, and unipolarity – this paper determines that U.S. foreign policymakers follow realist prescriptions for state behavior given their perception of the United States’ status within the international balance of power system. As a result, the U.S. foreign policy has become rooted in realist assumptions and constrained to realism-prescribed behavior, which will ultimately lead to hegemonic decline. This paper calls for the reexamination of realist influences on foreign policy decision-making.

Batteries For Grid Stability: The Impact Of Utility-Scale Battery Installation On Electricity Price Volatility In California, Hannah Vestring

CMC Senior Theses

As renewable energy penetration increases, driven largely by solar, electricity prices have become increasingly volatile due to the intermittency of supply, increasing the need for price stabilizing interventions. This study examines the impact of cumulative additions of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) capacity on real-time market (RTM) electricity price volatility within the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) between 2020 and 2024, taking a long-term, system-wide perspective on storage deployment. Using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression framework, the analysis finds that cumulative BESS capacity is significantly associated with reduced price volatility in the benchmark model, with results remaining robust …

Equity In Education: How High School Attributes Determine An Admission Into Elite Colleges, Alexia Y. Ortiz

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to answer the question “Does the type of high school and location affect one’s admission to the three elite colleges: Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Pomona College (Pomona), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)?” I used a dataset of high schools from five counties in Southern California, San Diego, Imperial, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles, to create a regression model that determines whether students from charter, magnet, private, or public schools, and where one’s high school is located neighborhood’s income levels have different rates of admission.

This study found that attending public high school negatively …

Powering Understanding: Cultural Underpinnings Of U.S.-China Competition In The Green Energy Transition, Bryan J. Soh

CMC Senior Theses

Rejecting the structural determinism of contemporary IR theories that neglect diverging epistemic predispositions in different states, this paper traces the cultural rationalization of green transition policies in the U.S. and China, thereby paving a way towards a positive understanding of how bilateral climate diplomacy can be better adapted for cooperation, rather than antagonistic competition, on an issue that transcends borders.

Determinants Of Remote Suitability Of Jobs And Residential Distance From The Workplace After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Abizer Mamnoon

CMC Senior Theses

Immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic, workers performed 14% of their paid hours from home, but this figure increased to 38% after the pandemic (Chen et al. 2023). This thesis contributes to our understanding of the determinants of remote work and the factors affecting how far an individual lives from the workplace in the post-pandemic period.

I use 1.95 million observations of worker-specific LinkedIn data from August 2023. I construct a measure of remote suitability using Dingel and Neiman’s (2020) method to assign each job title a remote suitability score based on the associated occupation. I use a Tobit regression to …

Information Studies: Library Development Of An Undergraduate Curriculum For The Information Age, Heather A. Howard, Erla Heyns, Matthew Hannah, Dave Zwicky, Clarence Maybee

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

In today’s information-rich environment, students need to understand how to navigate information challenges such as mis/disinformation, conspiracy theories, algorithmic and information literacy, and artificial intelligence. As we have seen, such information challenges will continue to have an outsized impact on our online lives, civic health, and democratic norms. These information challenges have had a dramatic impact on democratic norms. To address these challenges, librarians at a large public university used both qualitative and quantitative methods such as an environmental scan, stakeholder analysis, focus groups, and interviews to inform the development of an Information Studies Minor designed to intervene in this …

Hireability Of Female Hispanic Applicants By Accent/Career Type And Participant First Language, Lauren R. Logue

Honors Program Theses

There has been an influx of Hispanic immigrants in the United States, and negative attitudes toward these individuals have been increasingly expressed in the current political climate. There is discrimination toward the Hispanic community, and this includes in the workplace. One factor that may impact discrimination is accents. This study examined perceptions of women with Hispanic accents in an organizational context. Most previous research in this area has examined the perceptions of male job candidates with other types of accents. 314 participants evaluated a female job candidate who either had a Hispanic accent, did not have an accent (but had …

The Relationship Between Backgrounds And The Perception Of Tones In Mandarin, Abigail Franks

Honors Program Theses

No abstract provided.

Forging Monetary Hawks: Early-Life Inflation Experiences And Government Debt In Africa, Christine Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

This study uses a novel dataset to examine the impact of early‐life inflation experiences on government debt across 30 African nations from 1980 to 2022. We propose that central bankers who encountered inflation crises during their formative years are more likely to develop preferences for hawkish monetary policies. However, for these preferences to influence fiscal outcomes, central bankers must operate within an environment of institutional independence. Indeed, our analysis reveals that past exposures to inflation crises, on their own, have no statistically significant impact on government debt. However, when central bank independence is accounted for, a significant negative relationship emerges, …

What Role Do Finance Ministers Play In Political Business Cycles? Evidence-Based On A New African Dataset, Christine Olivia Strong

Economics Faculty Publications

This study investigates how the personal characteristics of finance ministers influence political budget cycles in Africa. Using a new dataset covering 300 finance ministers across 23 countries from 1980 to 2020, we find that political budget cycles primarily take the form of increased government consumption during election years. Ministers with prior central banking experience are less likely to amplify spending in election years, effectively curbing political budget cycles. These results remain consistent after accounting for institutional quality, ministerial tenure, and other confounding factors. The findings contribute to the literature by showing that the appointment of finance ministers in African countries …

Measuring Personality And Animal Treatment Attitudes With The Pet Scale, Zackery J. Hilton

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Previous research has looked at the association between personality traits and the proclivity, or history, of committing acts that are characterized as animal abuse or animal cruelty. Much research has also found that individuals who exhibit this type of behavior towards animals also tend to exhibit similar behavior towards other individuals, mainly in the form of domestic or child abuse. Previous studies have measured animal abuse using very explicit and extreme criteria, using acts that are without question blatant abuse or torture; however, there is some grey area where many may argue whether certain acts should be considered abuse, which …

Bilingual Latinx Adolescents Experiences In A Predominantly White Institution: A Mixed Method Study, Danieli Marie Mercado Ramos

Dissertations

Extent scholarship has provided insight into how Latinx adolescents actively experience exclusion. These adolescents are often the targets of microaggressions tied to their language (Gonzalez et al., 2018), ethnicity, race, and intersecting identities--such as being bilingual Latinx students--which serve as reminders that they do not belong. However, little is known about Spanish-English bilingual Latinx adolescents and how their heritage language plays a role in predominantly white spaces and institutions. This convergent parallel mixed methods study explored how Spanish-English bilingual Latinx students in the Midwest described their experiences in a predominantly white institution (PWI). A total of 42 Spanish-English bilingual Latinx …

Reconceptualizing Christian Nationalism, Robert Stevenson

Dissertations

This thesis sets out to critically engage with existing research on Christian nationalism. It argues that current research suffers from a methodological focus that is too broad, and theoretical grounding that is too imprecise, both of which prevent researchers from grasping the full scope and intent of Christian nationalism, as imagined by Christian nationalists themselves. Drawing on data collected from X accounts (formerly Twitter) of Christian nationalist users, Christian nationalist podcasts, and Christian nationalist books, it employs qualitative content analysis, mapped to Bourdieusian field theory to provide a structured approach for the understanding complex data involving multiple spheres of power, …

What Makes A Teacher A Teacher: A Philosophical Approach Aligned With Plato, Sojung Kim Hinterkopf

Dissertations

This thesis investigates how contemporary U.S. educational accountability policies—namely No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RttT)—redefine the role of teachers through a compliance-oriented lens. Moving beyond logistical and emotional impacts, this study applies Plato’s Allegory of the Cave as a philosophical framework to uncover the intellectual and ethical constraints imposed on educators. Through qualitative document analysis of federal policy texts, three metaphorical themes—shackles, shadows, and enlightenment—emerged to represent how teachers are bound by data-driven mandates, compelled to perform surface-level success, and yet still retain the potential to guide students toward deeper intellectual engagement. The findings reveal …

Capturing Diverse Adolescents’ Social Contexts: The Development Of An Ethnic-Racial Microaffirmations Scale For Peer Interactions, Maria Radulescu

Dissertations

The development of a strong and positive sense of ethnic-racial identity (ERI) has been identified as an asset for ethnically and racially marginalized adolescents. Peer interactions during the adolescent years can support ERI development. In particular, a subtle micro-level form of peer support—microaffirmations—may be protective for ERI processes. However, the field of microaffirmations is very small, and there is no scale that captures adolescents’ experiences of ethnic-racial microaffirmations from their peers. The current study developed an ethnic-racial peer microaffirmations scale based on extant literature and feedback from 4 focus groups with 22 sophomore high school students. Findings indicated that 5 …

“What’S Happening In The Gulf Of Maine?”: Middle School Students’ Engagement In Climate Science Through Data Visual Representation And Reflections, Grace Ocular

Dissertations

This study examined how middle school students engaged with science concepts while working with data visualizations during a field trip learning experience. Fifty-one teams of 2–4 students from 35 schools participating in the LabVenture program were video- and audio-recorded. Students completed two activities: one using a frequency table of marine species illustrating threats to Maine’s lobster population, and another using maps depicting changes in Gulf of Maine sea surface temperature. After each activity, students annotated the visualization, discussed their claims, and recorded short reflections. Transcripts were coded for science-related talk, and annotations and gestures were also analyzed. Findings indicate that …

"I'M Not Having Fun Anymore": A Qualitative Analysis Of Gender And Harassment In Bars And Clubs, Phoebe Marie Jackson

Dissertations

Sexual harassment, while often spoken about in hushed tones or ignored altogether, happens frequently and often loudly. 66 percent of women who have experienced sexual harassment report that the harassment took place in a public space, such as work, school, or on the street (Kearl, 2018). Harassment is not discreet, but rather normalized, and those who experience it are expected to brush it off or take it in their stride. However, such harassment and subsequent dehumanization has a deteriorating effect on the mental well-being of those affected (Graham et. al., 2016). This study aims to hone in on the effect …

Systematic Review Examining How Black Youth In The United States Cope With Stressful And Traumatic Experiences, Marcus Aaron Flax

Dissertations

Coping is an important behavioral skillset that youth use to emotionally regulate after experiencing stress or trauma. Research has repeatedly highlighted the stressors that Black youth experience, often finding that Black youth face higher levels of stress and trauma than their White peers. However, there has been a lack of research in understanding how Black youth cope with these higher levels of stress. This systematic review includes 72 studies (N = 16,205 participants) examining the frequency and effectiveness of coping strategies used by Black youth in response to a trauma or stressor, along with the associations between utilized coping strategies …

Voices Of Chinese American Emerging Adults: Complex Racial Identities, Family Dynamics, And Mental Health Experiences, Maxwell Lou Xu

Dissertations

Although Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial minority group in the United States, they remain significantly underrepresented in mental health research. Furthermore, research on Asian American mental health often aggregates the experiences of different Asian ethnic groups, creating a limited understanding of how distinct ethnic groups may differ in their mental health experiences. This interview study with Chinese American emerging adults ages 18–25 from varied family contexts (single-race, multiracial, and adoptive households) examines how members of this population make sense of the relationships between their identity, family, and mental health. This thesis posits that Chinese Americans' nuanced experiences—particularly around …

Experiences And Perceptions Of Gaslighting In The Workplace, Lauren Flanagan

Dissertations

The topic of gaslighting has gained increasing traction over the last several years. People have begun researching it in real-world settings such as relationships, politics, and the workplace. Furthermore, researchers have looked at the effects it has on the victim. However, there has been limited research on how one might react to an instance of gaslighting. This study examines how the victim’s race and the perpetrator’s position of power influence third parties’ recommendations on how to handle a scenario of workplace gaslighting. Psychology 101 students (N = 154) were randomly assigned to a 2 (race of victim: white vs black) …

Ultramodern Racism: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Impact Of Anti-Crt Legislation On Us History Curriculums, Amelia Gernand

Dissertations

In the wake of Donald Trump’s failed 2020 bid for a second presidential term, there was a surge in anti-CRT legislation targeting how issues of race and racism could be taught in public school curricula. While proponents claim that anti-CRT laws will protect students of all races from discrimination, curriculums have historically been used as a tool by those with symbolic power to legitimize white supremacy and perpetuate anti-Black and color-evasive racism. Two states--Florida and Arkansas--recently enacted anti-CRT legislation in addition to Black history mandates. While legislators in these two states claim that their goal is to expand the teaching …

Cultivating Community-University Partnerships Within The Chicago Region Food System, Hanan Abdillahi, Vivian Cossey, Tania Schusler, Kevin Erickson, Karen Schauwecker, Sarah Ku, Ray Dybzinski

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We interviewed 22 organizations in the Chicago Regional Food System to gain insights on their current initiatives, assets, challenges, future visions, and perceived roles of universities in advancing their work. We analyzed themes to report on strong consensus or varied perspectives related to this work. This report aims to advise Loyola’s School of Environmental Sustainability's future work and collaboration activities with Chicago Food System organizations.

The Effect Of Social Hierarchy And Captivity On Behavior In Cercopithecus Petaurista, Haley Bombard

Undergraduate Scholarship and Creative Works

The social hierarchy within three Cercopithecus petaurista individuals was studied to determine how the influence of captivity affects behavior. The three individuals were monitored from August-November, and the data retained was focused on aggression and allogrooming behaviors. The group consisted of one dominant male and two females in the Central Florida Zoo, and behavioral observations were recorded at 10-minute intervals. Results showed that the dominant male infrequently engaged in allogrooming behavior but more often received it from the less dominant females. The hierarchy and social status of the females was shown and influenced by the allogrooming given and received between …

“A Bond As Strong As A Lock And Chain”: Youth Of Color In Low-Income Communities Use Photovoice To Theorize Developmentally Nurturing Processes Of Their Cross-Age Mentoring Programs, Kevin M. Miller, Katherine Tyson Mccrea, Victor Sarna, William Donnelly, Grace Ann Fitzgibbons, Jamie Kessler, Cynthia Onyeka, Chana Matthews, Maryse Richards, Elijah Daniels, Dreyce Denton

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Youth of color experiencing low-income in the United States face multiple human rights violations: over-policing, community violence, racial discrimination, and insufficient voice in the programs and policies that impact their current and future lives. To accomplish transitional justice, participatory processes are needed that elicit youths’ cultural strengths and wisdom about themselves, their social conditions, services they find helpful, and why those services are helpful. This study highlights findings from a photovoice that elicited youths’ perspectives about a crossage mentoring out-of-school-program. Responding to “What does mentoring mean to you?” 147 youth took photographs in their communities and wrote narratives about the …

Self-Efficacy Is Not Just About The Self: African American Cross-Age Youth Mentors, Amzie Moore, Maria Wathen, Katherine Tyson Mccrea, Maryse Richards

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Objective: Self-efficacy, a belief in one’s capacity to achieve specific outcomes despite obstacles, is tied to a myriad of positive outcomes in the educational, relational, mental health, and future achievement of Black youth. Black youth living in racially segregated, low-income urban communities face greater obstacles than other youth. This study examines how participation as mentors in a cross-age mentoring program influences self-efficacy, and what social and environmental factors are related to changes in self-efficacy

Method: The study employs growth-curve analyses to investigate the impact of participation on self-efficacy and to examine the effects of the strength of the mentor-mentee relationship, …

Pre-Migration Victimization And Fear Of Violent Crime Among New Arrivals In Chicago / Victimización Y Miedo Al Crimen Violento En El País De Origen De Los Migrantes Recién Llegados A Chicago, Cristian L. Paredes, Keyla Navarrete, Anna E. Bullock, Brianna Hernandez, Raymond A. Akumbilim

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This project explores the situations and experiences of new arrivals/asylum seekers who have recently arrived in Chicago. Chicago has experienced a significant increase in the number of newcomers, due to Operation Lone Star, launched by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in March 2021. Since August 2022, Governor Abbott has bused more than 30,000 migrants to Chicago. The City of Chicago has acknowledged its responsibility to welcome everyone regardless of immigration status, adopting a proactive stance toward this humanitarian emergency. However, newcomers still struggle to get access to basic needs in the city. We have conducted a face-to-face, cross-sectional survey to collect …

‘Like A 6-Year-Old Dropped On Mars Without Parents’: Faculty Members’ Intercultural Competence And Cultural Adaptation In The Uae, Mustafa Aydogan, Esra İzmir, Hana Shahin

All Works

This study examines the intercultural competence and sociocultural adaptation of international faculty members (IFMs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a highly multicultural educational setting. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study explores IFMs’ adaptation experiences and the impact of multicultural teaching training. Quantitative analysis of 167 IFMs revealed a significant relationship between intercultural competence and sociocultural adaptation, with training enhancing both. Participants from Muslim or Arab backgrounds adapted better, emphasizing the role of cultural familiarity with the host culture. Qualitative findings from 14 interviews identified five key themes: (a) UAE’s diverse environment, (b) cultural distance, (c) language and communication challenges, …

Wearing The Veil In The Web: Transformations Of Social Norms And Everyday Practices In The Digital Sphere Within The Mena Region, Cristina Greco, Massimo Leone

All Works

In the digital era, the meaning of different kinds of veil, including the hijab, undertakes significant transformations due to the interaction between laws, norms, everyday practice, and digital technologies. At the same time, the digital sphere intensifies the manifestation of diverse cultural expressions, including veiling practices, leading to new trends, meanings, and layers of complexity. Through the lens of the semiotic of culture, this contribution aims to explore how these practices, traditionally associated with certain notions of modesty and religious identity, are now subject to new translations and dynamic reinterpretations within digital spaces. The digital sphere appears as a semiotic …