Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prairie restoration is important for reversing the loss of biodiversity and repairing ecosystem functions humanity is dependent on diverse ecosystems. This study looks at the impact of the beginning phases of prairie restoration on groundwater geochemistry and microbial communities the relationship between them. This research project studied the geochemistry and microbial communities in five wells before, during, and after the beginning phases of the first year of a prairie restoration on the Northern Illinois University campus. Water samples were collected bimonthly for a year and analyzed on an Ion Chromatograph. Microbial samples were collected monthly and underwent DNA extraction, amplification, …

Effect Of Cash Transfer On Household Fertility Choice And Children's Human Capital Accumulation In Uganda, Shaila Ahmed

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This analysis examines the effects of conditional and unconditional cash transfer on household fertility decisions and other indicators of human capital accumulation. To test my hypotheses, I rely on the UCT and CCT sub-arms of the Cash-Plus Program recently implemented in Uganda. The design of the Cash-Plus Program follows randomized control trials for intervention. My empirical findings show that the Cash-Plus Program have no discernible impact on beneficiary households' pregnancy incidence. The only effect on the primary outcomes of interest is a marginally significant effect for household heads aged 25 to 49, who received unconditional treatments. The results also show …

Understanding The Impact Of Collective Efficacy And Race/Ethnicity On Child Internalizing And Externalizing Symptomatology, Demy Alfonso

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Neighborhood collective efficacy has emerged as an important predictor of mental health problems, specifically internalizing and externalizing behaviors, among adolescents. Existing research has shown that the association between collective efficacy and mental health problems may differ according to the child’s racial or ethnic background. The present study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the direct associations between collective efficacy at age 9 and internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 15, while controlling for several demographic variables. Subsequently, a multigroup SEM approach was utilized to explore whether associations between neighborhood collective efficacy at age 9 and externalizing and internalizing symptoms …

Representations And Perceptions Of Sexual Pleasure In Undergraduate Anatomy And Physiology (A&P) Courses, Brenda Kucha Anak Ganeng

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The World Health Organization defines sexual pleasure as an important part of positive sexual experiences and sexual health. Despite its importance, sexual pleasure is often omitted from sexual health programming and curricula. Undergraduate human anatomy and physiology (A&P) courses serve as avenues where students who intend to go into health care learn foundational knowledge about human body systems and health; however, to our knowledge, there has been no documentation of if and how A&P students learn about sexual pleasure. A&P textbooks serve as an important resource for curriculum design and learning. I sought to answer the following research question: How …

Transgenerational Effects Of Chronic Preconception Stress On Developmental And Health Outcomes In Prairie Vole Offspring: Potential Mediation By Parental Emotionality, Mother-Father Bond, Or Parental Care Quality, W. Tang Watanasriyakul

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Background: A positive rearing environment is important for the health and well-being of growing offspring. Chronic parental stress can create a toxic rearing environment, which may impair developmental and sociobehavioral outcomes of the offspring. Specifically, parental stress is linked to unstable parental emotionality, tension between mother and father, and poor parenting quality, although the inter-relatedness of these factors and the mechanisms through which they contribute to the outcomes of the offspring need further investigation. The current study investigated developmental and sociobehavioral outcomes in prairie vole offspring exposed to chronic preconception stress, with parental emotionality, strength of mother-father bond, and parental …

When Sanctions Can Benefit The Target: State Strategic Adjustment To Multilateral Sanctions In Russia And Beyond, Anna Marie Zapolska

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The study analyzes how external threats in the face of multilateral sanctions can contribute to the sanctioned (target) state’s strategic adjustment in Russia and beyond. In 2014, the United States and the European Union, along with other Western allies, imposed severe economic sanctions in response to Russia’s military intrusion into Ukraine. In the Russian case, the sanctions failed to achieve their objectives and change the target state’s behavior. As a result, the country could strategically adjust its domestic and foreign policies to mitigate the damage. The key mechanisms that help explain Russia’s strategic adjustment to sanctions are an elite coalition, …

The Suburbanization Of The Assyrian Refugees And Migrant Families And Its Implications On The Assyrian Ethnic Identity, Saidouri Zomaya

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis argues that living in Albany Park, Chicago, is a personal and unique experience for Assyrian refugees and migrant families despite mutual feelings of belonging that residents may experience while living in the neighborhood. Along with the social and political factors that impact one’s experience of mobility and integration, “agency” plays an instrumental role in deciding whether to remain connected to one's community, potentially impacting one’s Assyrian identity and future generations. I utilize a qualitative research approach by interviewing Assyrian refugees and migrant families to shed light on the stories of the Assyrian community in Chicago. This research demonstrates …

An Examination Of Observed Maternal Social Coaching Strategies And Early Adolescents' Social Adjustment, Natalie Low

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This observational investigation had two aims. The first aim was to examine the direct associations between maternal social coaching strategies and adolescents’ social outcomes. The second aim was to assess whether adolescents’ trait perspective taking and empathic concern are moderators of the relationship between maternal social coaching strategies and adolescents’ social outcomes. Sixty-four early adolescents (Mage=12.38 years old) and their primary female caregiver participated in the study. The majority of caregivers were biological mothers (n = 61). The sample consisted of 41 girls (64.1%) and 23 boys (35.9%). Mothers and their early adolescents were video recorded discussing typical hypothetical peer-related …

Assessment Of Adolescent Anxiety, Anna E. Martinez-Snyder

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of any group of disorders among adolescents. Further, the prevalence of anxiety disorders has been shown to increase from adolescence to young adulthood, underscoring the importance of researching adolescent anxiety. Screening for anxiety in adolescents is necessary to identify and treat these disorders, which requires measures with good psychometric properties. One aim of the present study was to examine and compare the psychometric properties of the separation anxiety, social anxiety, panic, and generalized anxiety scales of the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and the Youth Anxiety …

Not A Good Fit For The Job: An Intersectional Study Of Occupational Stereotypes In The Field Of Technology, Jesus Jose Martinez

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Occupational stereotypes are preconceived notions about specific occupations, the people in those occupations, or one’s fit with an occupation (Lipton et al., 1991). Previous studies of occupational stereotyping have been useful to understand the impact of single demographic characteristics (e.g., gender; King et al., 2006) and multiple demographic characteristics (i.e., race-gender interaction; Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004) on hiring preferences. A set of three studies were conducted to expand the field’s understanding of fit with occupational stereotypes as a mechanism of discrimination toward multiple combinations of social groups in the technology field.

The goal of the first study was to establish …

Comparison Of Topsoil Moisture In E3sm Model Simulations And In-Situ Observations Over Illinois, Jacinda Lee Mayer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Soil moisture stimulates land-atmosphere interactions by modifying energy and water fluxes in the boundary layer and it plays an important role in climate change studies. The objective of this research is to quantify the spatial and temporal variations of the Illinois Climate Network’s (ICN) observed topsoil moisture, as well as evaluate how accurately the new climate model, E3SM, is simulating soil moisture compared to the observed data during 2003-2014. Observed topsoil moisture averaged over growing season during the 12-year period indicates a general dry-north and wet-south pattern in Illinois, and northeast and southwest become drier with the progression of the …

An Observational Study Of Maternal Parenting Behavior And Adolescent Social Anxiety, Cassandra R. Mick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parenting behaviors, especially maternal parenting behaviors, have been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder and its symptoms for decades. Following calls from meta-analyses and literature reviews for observational measurement of parenting behaviors and preliminary results from a pilot study reviewed here, this investigation sought to evaluate the utility of the undermining autonomous relatedness (UAR) index of the Autonomy and Relatedness Coding System as a path through which maternal social anxiety symptoms are transmitted to adolescents. A racially and socioeconomically diverse sample of 64 early adolescents (Mage = 12.37; 53.1% White; 64.1% female) and their mothers …

Merely Mortal: A Quantitative Examination Of The Dehumanization Of First Responders, Kari M. Mika-Lude

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Background: While understaffing and work-related stress are not unusual within first responder professions, the past few years have added additional strain. COVID-19, political and civil unrest, and economic downturn have stretched the first responder workforce thinner than ever, contributing to a reduction in the workforce through death, early retirement, attrition, or decreased vocational effectiveness. Unfortunately, public stereotypes coupled with the tenets of first responder culture have done little to support those who serve. Public perception often involves polarized stereotypes about first responders (e.g., good guys or bad guys, heroes or villains), and first responder culture encourages a machine-like demeanor. The …

Stories Of Teaching On A Conceal And Carry Stage: A Dramaturgical Narrative Inquiry, Christopher J. Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The story of a mass shooting occurring on the place of school seems to be a common one in contemporary American cultural narrative. One of the more controversial solutions offered within this narrative is allowing citizens to protect themselves through the practice of conceal and carry. The practice of legally allowing individuals to conceal and carry a firearm while at the place of school and in the place of class is at the cornerstone of this research inquiry.

This qualitative research study employs a dramaturgical narrative approach to explore the daily lives of full-time community college faculty members. In figuratively …

Facilitating Equal Access For Disabled Students Who Are Incarcerated: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Community Colleges' Disability Services In For-Credit Correctional Education Programs, Jenifer K. Montag

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Issues regarding the provision of accommodations for students with disabilities exist in both traditional college environments and nonstandard settings such as medical and legal education settings. While the situation is less than optimal for disabled students seeking degrees in the general population, who are unfettered in their academic pursuits, little is known about accommodations for disabled students who are incarcerated and enrolled in for-credit courses through community colleges that have partnerships with local prisons. This mixed methods study is focused on exploring the current state of accommodation service provision by public community college disability service providers for disabled students’ who …

“If I Had Felt Comfortable Or Accepted, I Would Have Made More Progress”: A Phenomenological Investigation Into The Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Persons In Clinical Professional Counseling, Valerie Moreno-Tucker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The counseling literature has indicated that LGBTQ+ persons have experienced fewer positive mental health outcomes than cisgender heterosexual persons. Professional counselors, despite their requirement to provide culturally sensitive counseling services for all communities, must learn how to better need the needs of LGBTQ+ persons and communities. This dissertation elevates LGBTQ+ persons’ voices by examining the experiences of LGBTQ+ persons in clinical professional counseling. Specifically, the IPA approach was utilized in analyzing data from six individuals who each participated in two interviews lasting 45-90 minutes each. This investigation found commonalities between each participant regarding both their helpful and unhelpful experiences in …

How Principals Influence, Facilitate, And Support Instructional Coaching Programs, Nadine Y. Norris

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative, multicase study examined how principals perceived the role of instructional coaches and how they facilitated, influenced, and supported teachers’ professional learning through the instructional coaching program. Including the researcher as a participant, 16 participants from three suburban school districts—including district-level administrators, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers—engaged in semistructured interviews. This study was framed by Desimone’s core conceptual framework for professional development and Spillane’s distributed leadership model. Data analysis revealed principals viewed instructional coaches as their partners in instructional leadership and professional learning facilitators. Principals facilitated and influenced the instructional coaching program by empowering teachers, promoting collaboration, and establishing …

Considering Construct Strength And Personality Differences On Susceptibility To Context Effects, Joy Samini Pawirosetiko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite researchers’ best efforts, it still is unclear whether researchers and practitioners can feel comfortable randomizing survey items because of its inconsistent impact on psychometric properties. Using moderated non-linear factor analysis, the present study explored whether randomization, construct strength, and differences in conscientiousness and neuroticism affected respondents’ survey responding behavior to randomized and grouped versions of a communication anxiety measure. Randomization did not affect how respondents interpreted the measure’s content but did affect how they responded to matrix items that appeared next to repeated response scales. Construct strength positively predicted factor level differences, with respondents who reported feeling more certain …

The Effects Of Rater Training On Rater Effects And Validity Of Direct Behavior Ratings, Abigail E. Pruitt

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Educators have a responsibility to accurately measure student behavior in order to identify students in need of additional behavioral support. Current behavior screening tools can be lengthy or difficult to complete, and Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs) offer a solution. However, DBRs are rater-mediated assessments, prone to rater effects. Rater training methods can be used to mitigate these rater effects, but previous research has not investigated the best training method for reduction of rater effects. Additionally, Many Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) provides an opportunity to adjust student ratings in response to individual rater tendencies of severity and leniency. Therefore, the primary …

The Role Of Social Support In The Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Academic Outcomes For Early Adolescents, Yoonsun Pyun

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Students’ experiences in school, specifically experiences of academic success, have a lasting impact on their future outcomes, such as future academic achievement, employment and financial stability, and reduced risk of substance use in adolescence and psychopathology in adulthood. However, there are a number of risk factors that affect students’ academic outcomes, such as low socioeconomic status (SES). The literature consistently demonstrates discrepancy in academic outcomes for students from different SES backgrounds, such as students from lower SES background entering high school with lower reading skills and having higher high school dropout rates in comparison to students from higher SES background. …

Modeling And Visualization Of Long-Term Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccine, Ashiqur Rahman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The coronavirus pandemic created significant dependence on social media. While the social web was crucial in spreading timely information and informing the public, misinformation has also spread with little to no oversight. Several works have focused on identifying misinformation and topic analysis in COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) tweets. While most of the previous studies focus on a shorter time frame, we analyzed a larger dataset starting from the beginning of the pandemic until the end of December 2021. Our work focuses on a novel area that identifies the motivating and demotivating topics of COVID-19 vaccination and analyzes these topics based on time, …

Exploratory Study Of Practicum Counselor Strategies Of Connection And Disconnection, Ashley S. Roberts

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There is an urge within professional counseling to provide socially just and multiculturally competent care. Relational Culture Theory (RCT) aligns with these goal as included its core components is theory about how people develop in stratified cultural contexts. Although there is increasing empirical support for RCT, there is a gap in understanding of how professional counselors implement RCT strategies of connection and disconnection. Therefore, the researcher in this study implemented instrumental case study design and directed content analysis to understand practicum counselor responses to clients. Findings of this study are applied to clinical practice, counseling education, and supervision.

Qommunities: A Characterization Of Qanon Support In The Us, Alexa Rogalla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The far-right, pro-Trump conspiracy movement QAnon has gained popularity in recent years for their outlandish conspiratorial claims and has even been implicated in motivating some participants in the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol as well as violent extremist events. The current state of research into conspiracy theories is lacking, especially within the field of sociology, where the social dimensions of conspiracy theories are poorly understood. This research contributes to the literature on conspiracy theories by addressing gaps in the literature through an analysis of internet searches related to QAnon, using geo-coded Google searches for QAnon related terms as …

Quarantine And Isolation Experiences Of College Students: A Narrative, Brooke Gibson

Masters Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unanticipated phenomenon, with a lack of information surrounding quarantine and isolation experiences in college students and how this impacts their sense of belonging. This qualitative narrative study utilized semi-structured interviews to understand the participants’ experience of isolation at a rural mid-sized university in the Midwest. The research shared the students experiences and showed that participants lacked some sense of belonging whether it was with friends, family, or their institution.

Q/A: A Semiotic Deconstruction Of Narrative Transportation On Episodic Television, Josh Grube

Masters Theses

Narrative transportation is a captivating phenomenon in which an audience member psychologically departs from material reality and immerses into the narrative world (Gerrig, 1993). Existing literature on narrative transportation mostly consists of audience-level studies, primarily focused on the phenomenon’s persuasive effects and audience attributes that mediate their ability to be transported. From a theoretical media perspective, transportation is conceived as an aspect of the larger audience cultivation process (Gerbner, 1998) due to its persuasive influence, revealing the importance of viewing it from the textual level. This thesis fills a significant gap in narrative transportation theory by examining television narratives through …

Crime, Crisis And Economic Growth: An Investigation Of Socio-Economic Determinants Of Crimes In The Indian States, Ankita Thapa

Masters Theses

This paper investigates the impact of socio-economic conditions on five major crime heads from 2001-2019 using a panel data set for the Indian states. The paper focus on the great recession of 2008-09, economic growth of the states, and deterrence variables. The paper employed two estimation procedures: panel Fixed-Effect and two-stage least square-fixed effect (2SLS-FE). The 2SLS-FE is preferred over the fixed effect method, where poverty is treated as an endogenous variable with higher education and social sector expenditure as instrumental variables. A dummy variable is used for the period of the great recession. A square of state GDP per …

The Influence Of Institutional Social Media And College Students' Choice, Anna Fishbein

Masters Theses

Social media has become a way of personal communication as well as a way for brands and businesses to connect with consumers. In the past twenty years, the expansion of technology into everyday life has impacted the way we interact and communication. There is a lack of information surrounding how social media is influencing prospective students’ college choice. There are studies focused on student college choice, and studies focused on how social media impacts consumers, but there is limited research focused on bridging the two concepts. This quantitative study utilized a causal-comparative survey to explore the influence of institutional social …

Development Of Phase Change Thermal Storage Medium: Cooking With More Power And Versatility, Martin Osei

Masters Theses

With an Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC), a 100 W solar panel directly cooks food while providing 5W off-grid electricity access; but it cooks slowly. Storing the day’s energy with phase change thermal storage allows ISEC to cook more rapidly as well as cook after sunset. The ISEC is made by sticking a 3ohm resistive to an aluminum pot (inner phase change assembly PCA) where another cooking pot fits. The resistive heater is surrounded by a bigger pot (outer PCA) that contains the PCM and is tightly sealed. The solar panel is connected to the resistive heater with a thermal …

Social Validity And Feasibility Of The Five In 20 Classroom Management Observation Tool, Kaylee Hampton

Masters Theses

The present study aimed to assess the social validity and feasibility of a standardized classroom observation tool intended to assess teachers’ current use of the five features critical to effective classroom management. Forty-three observers who regularly conducted classroom observations (e.g., school psychologists) were recruited to complete 20-min observations in kindergarten through twelfth grade classrooms, and then complete an adapted behavior intervention rating scale to assess their social validity ratings of the tool. Due to COVID-19, observers could either complete a live observation or recall a previously completed observation. Of the 43 observations, 15 were live and 28 were recalled. To …

Investigating The Impacts Of Monetary Policy On Income Inequality In Developed Nations: Case Study Of The Euro Area, Japan And The United States, Hector Martinez Garcia

Masters Theses

This paper tries to evaluate the effect that unconventional monetary policy has had on income inequality for the set of Eurozone countries, the United States and Japan using an unbalanced panel data model over the period from 1980 to 2021, first jointly and then individually, using different regressions for each case. Based on the regression model analyzed, the study attempts to analyze the relationship between money supply and income inequality as measured by the Gini index using fixed effects and random effects for our panel data model. The study reveals the importance of the money supply variable in reducing inequality …