Sociology Commons^™

The Relational Good Life: Entrepreneurship Education And Grounded Sumak Kawsay In Otavalo, Ecuador, Vanessa I. Lozano Hardman

Theses and Dissertations

Indigenous Kichwa communities in Ecuador’s Otavalo region have long participated in local and transnational markets, historically as mindalaes, specialized traders of the northern Andes. Yet in recent years, international development-oriented NGOs have framed entrepreneurship education as newly necessary for economic development. These approaches emphasize individualized narratives of vision, self-reliance, and growth, often characterizing Indigenous peoples as lacking entrepreneurial skills or the appropriate mindset. Drawing on ethnographic research with youth, mothers, and teachers at Saminay–El Legado, an agro- technical, intercultural bilingual secondary school (UECIB) in the parish of San José de Quichinche, this article examines how entrepreneurship education intersects with grounded …

Self-Concept Clarity And Relationship Satisfaction: The Mediating Role Of Approach And Avoidance Motives For Sacrifice Among Heterosexual Couples, Hannah F. Hatch

Theses and Dissertations

While individuals often engage in relational sacrifice to promote positive outcomes like connection (approach motives), they may also sacrifice for a partner to avoid negative outcomes like conflict (avoidance motives). These distinct motives for sacrifice have been repeatedly linked with divergent couple outcomes, yet little is known about the personal and relational factors which shape them. The current study addressed this gap using dyadic data from 289 mixed-gender couples to examine how self-concept clarity (SCC) predicted changes in relationship satisfaction via approach and avoidance motives for sacrifice. Participants represented diverse ethnic and sociodemographic backgrounds across all demographic regions of the …

The Artificial Maintenance Of Relationship Satisfaction: Romantic Ai Companion Usage Sustains Emerging Adults' Human Romantic Relationship Satisfaction While Eroding Relationship Stability, Rebekah M. Hakala

Theses and Dissertations

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly sophisticated, romantic AI companions--AI systems designed to simulate romantic, emotional, or sexual relationships--have emerged as a novel relational phenomenon. Nearly one in four emerging adults now engage with romantic AI companions, yet little is known about how this usage affects their romantic human relationships. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory and the Investment Model of Commitment, and employing structural equation modeling, this thesis uses data from 2,431 emerging adults in romantic relationships to examine whether romantic AI companion usage influences relationship satisfaction and relationship stability among emerging adults in the United States (ages 18-30), and whether …

Shame On You! The Socialization Of Self-Conscious Emotions In Early Childhood, Ashton K. Allen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how parents and children discuss self-conscious emotions across early childhood. Self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride play a critical role in children's social and emotional development. Although prior research has demonstrated links between parent and child emotion talk about basic emotions such as happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, less is known about how parents and children talk about self-conscious emotions. Participants for the current study were 247 parent-child dyads. The dyads completed a wordless storybook task designed to elicit discussion of five self-conscious emotions (shame, guilt, embarrassment, awe, and pride) annually across three …

Family Processes As A Protective Factor Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Adolescent Delinquency, Tessa Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores whether family processes (i.e., parental attachment and parental discipline/monitoring) serve as protective factors between the relationship of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent delinquency. Prior research has established an association between ACEs and many negative life outcomes, including delinquent behavior, while strong parental attachment and parental discipline/monitoring are linked to lower rates of delinquency. However, the interplay of these three factors has been understudied. Drawing on data from the 2024 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) (N=22,016), this study examines the relationship between ACEs, family processes, and delinquency using negative binomial regression models. Results indicate that parental …

Empirical Benchmarks For Interpreting Effect Sizes In Violent Crime Interventions, Kohta James Matsukawa Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Criminal justice researchers apply Cohen’s (1988) benchmarks to classify effect sizes as small, medium, or large, despite these standards never being meant for broad, decontextualized use (Cohen, 1988; Gies et al., 2024; Goulet-Pelletier & Cousineau, 2018; Lakens, 2013; Milner et al., 2023). Repeatedly doing so may weaken statistical validity, distort findings, and impede effective policymaking. This study introduces the first effect size benchmarks specifically designed for violent crime interventions.

Using a quasi-meta-analysis framework, 1,605 effect sizes from 104 violent crime intervention studies from the CrimeSolutions clearinghouse were converted to Cohen’s d. Three new discrete benchmarking methods were created using a …

An Ethnographic Exploration Of The Lived Experiences With Gynecologic Cancers, Norma Naser Aldeen

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis stays close to conversations with nine women who spoke about living with and through gynecologic cancers, from moments of finding out, through treatment, and into what follows. These encounters unfolded primarily through digitally mediated exchanges across Baalbek, Beirut, and other translocal settings shaped by distance and movement. Rather than approaching illness as a bounded biomedical event, this thesis attends to how gynecologic cancer is narrated as something that lingers—pressing into everyday life through bodily sensations, altered rhythms, and ongoing recalibrations of care, responsibility, and what remains possible.

Across these encounters, care rarely appears as a stable system …

Under The Guardianship: Experiences Of Mothers In Egypt’S El Nayaba El Hesbaya, Hana Khayry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersectional lived experience of El Nayaba El Hesbaya in Egypt. El Nayaba El Hesbaya, operating under Law 119/1952, is the administrative and judicial body responsible for overseeing the financial and legal affairs of minors whose father or mother had passed. Hundreds of thousands of mothers in Egypt have (had) children under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya. This research delves into the experience of mothers whose children are or were under the guardianship of El Nayaba El Hesbaya, examining how it shape(s/d) their everyday life as women, mothers, widows or ex-wives, citizens, and legal subjects. …

Journeys Of Emancipation, Struggle, Or Both? Accounts From Professional Egyptian Migrant Women In Germany, Adam Eddouss

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the migration experiences of a group of professional Egyptian migrant women living in Germany. By employing a qualitative approach, primarily through semi-structured interviews, and guided by migration literature, this research attempts to move away from the oversimplistic approach that migration is an ‘either or’ reality. Mainstream migration scholarship, specifically that focusing on migrant women, tends to focus on depicting migration within an emancipation-struggle binary, presenting migrant women either as victims or as heroines. This work, antithetically, describes how migrant women experiences can be complex, highlighting, both instances of strength and struggle. Grounded in the words of the …

In Her Words: The Silent Battles Of Egyptian Women With Breast Cancer, Nada Mohamed Ahmed Hassan Nh

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the emotional, social, and economic difficulties encountered by Egyptian women from middle- to working-class origins after a breast cancer diagnosis. Despite being a worldwide health concern, local cultural, institutional, and economic circumstances have a significant impact on the lived consequences of breast cancer. Women's post-diagnosis experiences in Egypt are greatly exacerbated by deeply ingrained gender stereotypes, stigma associated with cancer, and systemic injustices in the healthcare system. This research emphasizes women's situated knowledge and views their bodily experiences as crucial sources of insight into larger societal power relations. It is based on feminist perspective theory, especially the …

Gender, Integration, And Labor Market Access: The Case Of Syrian Refugees In Germany, Feras Al-Mekhlafy

Theses and Dissertations

Germany hosts one of the largest populations of Syrian refugees in Europe, making their successful labor market integration critical for social and economic stability. This study investigates the gender gap among Syrian refugees in Germany within the broader refugee–native labor market gap. Using cross-sectional data from the 2022 SOEP refugee survey, it applies a Heckman two-step selection model to jointly analyze employment and wage outcomes while correcting for selection bias. Results reveal that structural barriers (e.g.: legal and bureaucratic) and compositional factors (e.g.: human capital) rather than wage discrimination drive most observed disparities. Female refugees face significantly lower employment probabilities, …

Navigating Radical Indeterminacy In The Struggle For A Global Collective Consciousness: The Question Of Eco-Justice And Law Or Universalize The Pluriverse: A Manifesto, More Or Less, Omar Auf

Theses and Dissertations

The processes of interpretation, communication, and re-interpretation leads to the emergence of an approximated collective consciousness, for which it may be struggled and contested by hegemonic. The dominant forces of this contest, capitalism and nationalism, lead to an interdivided world: one that possesses the tools to empathize with each other but is instead leading people to keep their heads down and focus on surviving their own contexts, perceived as existing within different historical times on the same timeline. This leads to legal and justice systems that fail their claim to universality and/or impartiality. Incorporating an ecological lens to justice within …

Egyptian Feminist Critiques Of Neoliberalism, Asmaa Elmalky

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines Egyptian feminist critiques of neoliberal economic policies through a Third World feminist and feminist political economy framework. It argues that neoliberalism in Egypt has produced controlling power dynamics through restructuring labor markets, social reproduction, and legal systems in ways that disproportionately impoverish women, particularly working-class women. The research maps diverse feminist engagements with neoliberal reforms, including structural adjustment programs, privatization, labor reduction, and legal liberalization. These critiques were influenced by the debates between Third World and transnational feminism, the thesis emphasizes the importance of national specific analysis in understanding how global neoliberal policies are mediated through national …

Keeping It Together: Assessing The Wellbeing Of Project-Based Development Practitioners In Egypt, Amira Ahmed Abdallah Fekry Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the wellbeing of project-based development practitioners in Egypt, revealing how systemic pressures—bureaucracy, job insecurity, and fragmented workloads—undermine both wellbeing and productivity. The study employed a mixed-approach, combining 10 in-depth interviews with subject matter experts and practitioners and 75 surveys with development practitioners in Egypt. Data revealed that while many practitioners are driven by purpose, structural challenges erode resilience and motivation over time. Social support networks and personal coping strategies help but cannot replace institutional protections. The study argues that wellbeing must shift from being treated as an individual concern to a structural responsibility. Reframing organizational models around …

Investigating The Risk Factors Affecting The Control Of Diabetes And Hypertension In The Refugees Living In Egypt, Noura Seada

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) account for 74% of global deaths, with high prevalence of Diabetes and Hypertension worldwide. Egypt hosts over 1 million registered refugees and asylum seekers, often lacking inclusion in social protection or insurance schemes. This study aimed to assess the factors affecting the control of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and Hypertension (HTN) among Syrian and Sudanese refugees in Egypt, focusing on healthcare access, sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and health behaviours.

Methods: This study employed a cross-sectional design using a self-administered questionnaire and BMI measurement. Data were collected from 246 refugees diagnosed with type T2D and/or HTN in the …

Emergency At The Borders: Response To Refugees In Sallum Camp, Shaimaa Hy Hassanein

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the emergency humanitarian response at Sallum camp at the Egyptian border upon the Lybian crisis between 2011 and 2014. By positioning the lived experiences and perspectives of humanitarian aid workers at the center, this research argues that the camp constituted a distinct and dynamic space shaped by shifting geopolitical conditions, state sovereignty concerns, and bureaucratic ambiguity. Drawing on qualitative interviews with frontline humanitarian aid workers who operated and lived in the camp over extended periods, the study explores how humanitarian interventions were negotiated, adapted, and implemented within a highly constrained environment.

The thesis highlights the Egyptian state’s …

Assessing Abuse And Neglect In U.S. Nursing Homes: A Comparative Analysis Across Pre-, During, And Post-Pandemic Periods, Katherine Gane

Theses and Dissertations

Nursing homes are among the most closely regulated providers in the U.S. healthcare system, with both federal and state agencies working together to monitor care and help protect residents. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, introduced unprecedented challenges for facilities and survey agencies alike, disrupting normal operations, limiting in-person visits, and temporarily shifting regulatory priorities. The purpose of this study was to examine how these pandemic-related disruptions were reflected in the severity and reporting patterns of substantiated abuse and neglect deficiencies in U.S. nursing homes. Using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this study analyzed 39,607 …

Police Supervisor Selection Process And The Need For Uniformity In Practices To Improve Police Leadership In The Usa, Catrina M. Rhatigan

Theses and Dissertations

Effective police leadership is crucial to sustaining the culture shift in law enforcement. Leaders need to lead, and how the executive staff assess their leadership capabilities will determine whether they are up to the task. Police executives need to determine first what their motives are: to fill open supervisory spots? Promote the best leaders? This study and the results highlight the need to focus on the latter, identify the leadership qualities that best fit your department's needs, and work from there. A lack of oversight and inconsistent standards for police supervisors leads to poor policing and inadequate responses to significant …

Commercial Off-The-Shelf Electronic Warfare Threats To Global Positioning System Receivers, Matthew P. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates the feasibility of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware developed into an electronic warfare (EW) system used to degrade or deny Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. All 16 critical infrastructure sectors rely on GPS signals to operate safely and effectively. Millions of Americans rely on GPS signals and the services they provide in their daily lives, so the loss of these vital services would dramatically impact our society. Our nation’s reliance on the GPS network makes it a potential target for COTS EW threats. The ways and means to develop COTS hardware into EW systems to interfere with GPS receivers …

The Role Of White Racial Identity Development In Leadership Practices: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study In White Educational Leaders, Kaitlyn Ryan

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined how white educational leaders experience and make meaning of their racial identity development as they lead adult professional learning focused on racial equity and culturally responsive practice. Grounded in Helms’s White Racial Identity Development (WRID) model and guided by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study explored the lived experiences of ten white leaders across PK–12 and Institution of Higher Education (IHE). Data were collected through three semi‑structured interviews per participant and analyzed using IPA’s six‑step process. Five major themes emerged: transformational experiences that shifted leaders’ understanding of race and privilege; the critical role of white affinity …

Understanding Workplace Psychological Safety Among Latina Professionals: An Exploration Of Intersectional Experiences, Michal Tapia

Theses and Dissertations

Latina professionals represent one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. workforce, yet they remain disproportionately underrepresented in executive and C-suite roles. This disparity reflects structural conditions that shape access to voice, support, advancement, and decision-making authority.

This mixed-methods study examined psychological safety among 145 Latina professionals across the United States, defined as the belief that one can speak up, ask for help, disagree, or raise concerns without fear of negative consequences (Edmondson, 1999, 2019). The study explored how identity, relationships, leadership, workplace support, inclusion, mentorship, and structural barriers shape psychological safety at work.

Quantitative analyses showed that workplace support …

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Domestic Intelligence Implications Of Travel-To-Target Distances In Domestic Violent Extremist Attacks, Kyle W. Mcdonnell

Theses and Dissertations

Domestic violent extremist (DVE) attacks in the U.S. present a fluid and dynamic threat to national security. While past research has extensively examined the ideological drivers of DVE violence, relatively little focus has been placed on their geographic mobility, particularly how far DVE actors travel from their hometowns to attack sites and what insights this provides for intelligence and law enforcement. This dissertation explores how geographic proximity, ideological motivation, and logistical constraints shape DVE travel patterns. Using a comprehensive dataset covering U.S.-based DVE incidents from 2001 to 2025, this study employs a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative geospatial analysis with qualitative …

Exploratory Research Into U.S.-Based College/University Population Perceptions And Security Responses To On-Campus Active Shooter Incidents, Donald E. Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

On-campus active shooter incidents challenge U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) as they are usually only identifiable after the first shot. My mixed-methods, exploratory study was conducted to fill gaps in the limited research regarding on-campus active shooter incidents. Using purposive sampling, I identified two IHL security directors for the initial qualitative phase of my research. I conducted separate virtual interviews to discuss active shooter-specific responses, policies, procedures, security measures, potential active shooter-specific security systems, and their views on the importance of open-campus learning and social environments. We also discussed their active shooter response postures and whether they believed their …

Follow The Cyclists: Everyday Navigation Of Richmond's Bike Infrastructure, Emily E. Schreer

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the embodied experience of cycling in Richmond, emphasizing the importance of centering firsthand, lived experience in cycling research and urban planning. While traditional transportation planning can often myopically prioritize efficiency and safety metrics to evaluate infrastructure, this project argues that such approaches overlook essential experiential, sensory, and emotional dimensions of cycling that determine how infrastructure is perceived, used, and ultimately succeeds or fails.

Through an ethnographic approach combining field observation of cyclist behavior and mental mapping sessions with Richmond cyclists, this study positions people who bike in Richmond as expert knowledge holders. Participant contributions, combined with observations …

Social Media, Masculine Body Ideals, And The Drive For Muscularity: A Serial Mediation Model Across Sexual Identities, Sean P. Mcdaniel

Theses and Dissertations

Body image concerns among men are increasingly prevalent yet remain understudied compared to women’s experiences. Drawing on objectification theory, the present study examines the relationship between social media influence and men’s drive for muscularity through a serial mediation model. Specifically, the present study investigates whether the internalization of masculine body ideals and engagement in body surveillance behaviors mediate the link between social media influence and the drive for muscularity. Furthermore, the present study model attempts to explore how these processes differ across sexual identities, given evidence that sexual minority men face distinct sociocultural pressures regarding appearance. Adult male-identifying social media …

Trajectories Of Egyptian Women In The Us, Sageda A. Tagen

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aimed at studying and analyzing the experiences of highly skilled Egyptian migrant women living in the US both who migrated as adults and those who migrated as children with their families. It analyzed their backgrounds prior to the migration decision, the migration decision and their legal status, the role of the family in their journey and their challenges within the social context of their workplaces. The study utilized a qualitative ethnographic lens. The study is based on ethnographic interviews with 15 highly skilled women living in the US, most of whom are concentrated in Indiana and Michigan. The …

Informing Policies: Examining Socio-Cultural Factors Influencing The Prevalence Of Gender-Based Violence, Patricia M. Ebubechukwu

Theses and Dissertations

Despite growing policy attention and legal reforms, Intimate partner violence (IPV) remains a persistent public health and human rights concern in Nigeria. This study examines the socio-cultural influences on the prevalence of gender-based violence among ever-married women in Nigeria using data from the 2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Drawing on a nationally representative sample of 19,863 women aged 15 to 49, the research investigates how geopolitical zone, internalized gender norms, religious affiliation, educational attainment, and household wealth shape women’s experiences of physical, sexual, and emotional IPV. Guided by social norms theory and the ecological model of violence, the …

"Aren't You Old Enough To Know Better?": Judgments Surrounding Infidelity As A Function Of Age And Gender, Josephine Kirby

Theses and Dissertations

Relationships are often deeply affected by infidelity on several indicators such as marital satisfaction, forgiveness, and relationship longevity. With older adults often stereotyped as being asexual and women often being judged more harshly due to a sexual double standard, how do people perceive these groups in the context of infidelity? The purpose of my study was to investigate whether perceptions and judgments surrounding infidelity are affected by the age and gender of the person who committed infidelity. Using an experimental vignette method, participants were randomly assigned one version of a hypothetical couples’ counseling intake assessment form that, in part, described …

Constructing And Deconstructing Homelessness: Challenging The Stigmatization Of The Unhoused Through Lived Experience, Brenna Jones

Theses and Dissertations

As homelessness rises across the United States, public discourse plays an important role in shaping how the housing crisis is understood and addressed. This study examines how homelessness is constructed through local media narratives and how these constructions shape the experiences of unhoused individuals. Using a case study of Greater Bangor, Maine, this research combines a critical content analysis of 315 news articles from the Bangor Daily News (2020-2025) with in-depth interviews with 18 unhoused and precariously housed individuals. The findings demonstrate how media portrayals construct homelessness as a stigmatized identity associated with disorder, addiction, and danger. These narratives contribute …

First- And Second-Generation Immigrant Emerging Adults’ Career Aspirations, Laura A. Botros

Theses and Dissertations

Despite first- and second-generation immigrants making up 19.6% of the U.S. workforce (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024), research exploring their career aspirations is scarce. Studies show that individuals’ cultural backgrounds significantly shape first- and second-generation immigrants' career aspirations, values, and professional goals (Kao, 2004; Polenova et al., 2017). The purpose of the study is to examine how first- and second-generation immigrant emerging adults' cultural backgrounds inform their career aspirations. I utilized a qualitative approach by asking participants about their cultural background, career aspirations, and what influenced their career aspirations. Interviews and a cognitive map activity were conducted to investigate …