Sociology Commons^™

How Activated Self-Concepts Influence Selection And Processing Of Body-Positive Narratives, Melissa J. Robinson, Megan A. Vendemia

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Guided by the self- and affect–management (SESAM) model, the current study employed a selective exposure quasi-experimental design in which women (N = 381; M_age = 31.50, SD = 4.89) chose a narrative genre (romance or career) they would like to read, featuring a thin or large character with low or high body esteem, to examine individual differences that influence story selections and subsequent impacts on their self-concepts. Results indicated participants’ salient self-concepts pertaining to romance and career predicted story genre selection. Participants with higher BMI were more inclined to read narratives featuring a large character. Those who read …

Associations Between Tiktok Use, Mental Health, And Body Image Among College Students, Alexz Carpenter

Honors Theses

Background. Social media use continues to increase globally, and there is a large field of research examining the relationships between social media use with anxiety, depression, and body image. College-aged students are particularly vulnerable to these associations because they are at a unique developmental point of their life. College-aged students also use social media more frequently than almost any other age group, which may put them at increased risk for negative mental health and body image outcomes related to their social media use. TikTok is a relatively new social media app that has exponentially risen in popularity, especially among younger …

Gender Disparities Present Within The Legal Profession, Olivia M. Sanders

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the problem of gender disparities present within the legal profession in order to discover their causes and ways to mitigate them. Currently, there are a variety of gender disparities in the legal profession. Women are paid less than their male counterparts, are exposed to sexual harassment and violence more often, and receive fewer leadership opportunities, to name just a few of these disparities. While these disparities are documented in larger firms, little data exists on the extent of such issues in smaller firms, especially in the southeastern United States. Accordingly, I interviewed eight individuals with their juris …

Key Barriers To University-Enrolled Student Parents Enhanced By The Covid-19 Pandemic, Khadeejah Franklin, Alexa Saval

Honors Theses

Student parents, both undergraduate and graduate, already face the difficult task of balancing their studies and raising children. The COVID-19 pandemic enhanced already present issues student parents face, such as virtual-schooling, daycare costs and closings, staying home with sick children, and potentially not having a local support system, among others. Further, students who are performing laboratory research to fulfill their STEM educational requirements had their
research progress come to a halt when the country locked down. This study aims to identify the struggles student parents faced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, what issues the pandemic exacerbated, and what new problems …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

Train Travel As An Adventure, Stormy Kara

Honors Capstones

The train is often seen as a slow, old, and antiquated mode of transportation, and the prevalence of train travel in the modern-day United States is nowhere near where it once was. Other methods of transportation, such as the airplane or the automobile, have taken over as primary choices for travelers in the country. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2022) reported approximately 80,400,000 trips were taken by airplane in July 2022, compared with just 2,500,000 trips taken via intercity rail in the same time period. However, more than 300 intercity trains operate daily via the quasi-public corporation Amtrak and serve …

The “Afro In Afrolatinidad”: Examining Afrolatinx Experiences Of Blackness Through And Afrolatin Critical Theory Of Race, Celine Maria Ayala Ph.D

Sociology ETDs

Scholars of Afrolatinidad across disciplines often use their work to highlight the diversity of the Latinx community (Cahuas, 2019). Those who highlight Blackness in Latinidad tend to do so by merging Chicanx, and other Latinx theories with theories of Blackness that are centered on African American experiences. Although important, these works only tell one side of a multivariant story. Using a critical, diasporic, intersectional theoretical approach, which I call an Afrolatin Critical Theory of Race (ACTR), along with 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews, I find that Afrolatinx folk navigate Blackness, educational attainment and language in ways that debunk the myth of …

The Gayborhood Was Never Here For Some Of Us! Health Consequences Of Racialized Exclusion Among U.S. Sexual Minorities Across The Lifecourse, Kasim Ortiz

Sociology ETDs

Sexual minorities exhibit elevated rates of cigarette smoking, although disparate patterns exist when examining racial/ethnic differences among sexual minorities in the United States. Evidence suggests examining differing neighborhood contexts may help illuminate drivers of tobacco-related outcomes among sexual minorities, especially with respect to racial/ethnic variations among this understudied population. Adapting a framework of whiteness and health, the current project examined the role of racial residential segregation and neighborhood disadvantage as neighborhood contexts significantly associated with cigarette smoking across the adult lifespan. Using data from the 2010 Social Justice Sexual Project, merged with U.S. Census data, I find that residing in …

My Path To Advanced Practice, Hannah Oiselle Knisley

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

The Evolving Role Of Women In The Sinaloa Cartel: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Drug Trafficking Organizations, Female Agency, And Economic Mobility, Catherine Page, Kennady Leigh Hertz

Honors Theses

Exploring the role of women in Mexican drug trafficking organizations is a topic that has gained significant traction in the past 30 years. Despite the increase of literature on the topic, few papers theorize as to why women participate. This product sought to explore the various reasons why women participate in Mexican drug trafficking organizations, either willingly, or against their wishes. We hypothesized that women join drug trafficking organizations for two primary reasons: a) they are coerced by male figures in their life, and b.) they participate willingly in an effort to gain economic mobility. To test our hypothesis, we …

Impact Of Nutritional Knowledge On Student Purchase Intention Of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Mary Claire Ford

Honors Theses

The college years are a critical time in an individual’s life in which dietary habits are developed and will likely carry on for years to come. Mississippi has been ranked highly in health issues such as obesity for years; dietary decisions are one factor that can influence a person’s obesity risk. Therefore, it is imperative that changes be made to dietary decisions at a young age. With the proper adjustments made, preventable issues such as obesity can be avoided. Thus, research investigating how nutritional information affects college students’ purchase intention at the University of Mississippi is warranted. In this study, …

The Genome, Genetic Genealogy Database (3g Database), Salma Obaid Alotaibi

Online Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative research paper that used the content analysis method. Thirty-one sources which include journal articles, credible websites, and books were used to discuss the importance of having national and global genetic databases. DNA phenotyping is the technology used in criminal justice to identify crime suspects through observable traits in their DNA. This can play a key role in convicting the right crime perpetrators and avoiding future court appeals. It also helps during disaster recovery, where the victims are identified based on their DNA samples. Law enforcement agencies frequently use DNA to identify victims and solve high-profile cases …

Post-Racism As Ideology: Character Construction And Placement, & Narrative Structure In Dear White People, Mphatso Kaufulu

Dissertations

My project looks at post-racism as ideology. Through my chosen text – the Netflix streamed television series called Dear White People – I examine the ways in which post-racism is persists through representational abstractions which reformulate race as largely sets of interpersonal and intercultural, person-to-person social problems rather that a more general condition rooted in institutional or structural social, political and economic arrangements which organize society and produce its cultural dispensation.

To do this, I applied some of Stuart Hall’s ideas – on identity, ideology and commodification – and Bonilla-Silva – specifically in the area of obfuscations or abstractions of …

21st Century Political Agronomy: Between Collapse And Apocalypse In The Capitalist World System, Harrison Raskin

Honors Scholar Theses

Examinations of the causal chain between ecological impacts and food shortages reveal significant impending global disturbances. This paper draws a causal link between ecological impacts and low food productivity which will lead to food insecurity and economic crises in the near term. Further, this paper argues that food insecurity may lead to the collapse of the capitalist world system. This threat is contrasted with “business as usual” climate models which, rather than depicting the collapse of the capitalist world system, depict its persistence throughout the collapse of the world ecology.

Race, Gender, And Inheritance: The Experience Of Black Farmers In Mississippi, Gbenga Idowu Elufisan

Theses and Dissertations

The population of Black farmers in the U.S. has declined to 2% of farmers in the U.S. because of institutional racism, land dispossession, heir’s property, and youth’s disinterest in farming. Most works on Black farmers have focused on racism, and heirs’ property, but little is known about the influence of race, gender, and inheritance on Black farmers’ experience. To understand this, I asked: what are the contemporary challenges associated with farming among Black farmers in Mississippi? How do race, gender, and inheritance influence the experiences of Black farmers? And how do Black farmers cope with their farming challenges? Twenty farmers …

Examining Food Insecurity Among Mississippi Community College Students, Laura Jean Kerr

Theses and Dissertations

Food insecurity among postsecondary students and especially community colleges is a persistent social problem, but the prevalence continues despite much research. Postsecondary students experience food insecurity slightly differently from the general population and they are held to different rules to qualify for food support such as the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP). In this research I examine the prevalence, frequency, and duration of food insecurity experiences among Mississippi community college students. I begin with a discussion of the literature of food insecurity and policy used to address food insecurity. I draw upon Bourdieu’s theory of social fields, capital, and habitus …

Mill's Harm Principle: A Study In The Application Of 'On Liberty', Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

English philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill argued that people learn by choosing: this is how they become creative and productive individuals. For this reason, and because he felt that individuals are typically the most capable people to make their own choices, Mill was highly skeptical of restrictions on choice placed by a third party, such as the state.

Mill famously separated actions into two categories: (1) self-regarding actions that do not affect others; and (2) other-regarding actions that do affect, and may harm, others. In the former category he placed thought and discussion, tastes and pursuits, and association, …

America Without A Minimum Wage: Why The Federal Minimum Wage Should Be Abolished, Zachary Cary

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Minimum wage policy may be the greatest economic policy issue where the common man has a strong opinion. Nearly every person has a view of how minimum wage policy should be enacted, whether it be in raising the federal minimum wage, changing the scope of authority in the federal government, or another policy. However, in discussing any kind of policy, the key details of the policy must be discussed in the framework of both how it would be affected and how it would impact its stakeholders. In this policy analysis, the Iron Triangle of Public Policy – the key executive …

Political Compromise In America: Why Are Americans So Politically Divided And What Can Be Done To Prevent A Fractured Nation, Zachary Cary

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Ask anyone who is politically active what they believe to be the biggest problem in politics today. More often than not, Americans tend to blame the failing parts of society on the stubbornness of the opposing political party. This generally opens up the floor to asking questions about whether individuals are willing to listen to members of the opposing party discuss their points of view, and unfortunately, many will choose not to listen at all, having already decided that they are wrong and there is no possibility of coming to a middle ground between the two points of view. People …

A Critical Analysis Of Political And Media Discourse On Immigration During The Trump Era, Daleana Phillips

Dissertations

This research examines political and media discourse on Immigration through four studies: Trump’s immigration reform speech, newspaper coverage of DACA, a Saturday Night Live episode, and social media via #ColoradoBorderWall memes. Various critical cultural theoretical frameworks are used within critical discourse and textual analysis is to examine media and political rhetoric about immigrants and immigration policy during a period of drastic institutional political change evidenced by Trump’s administration. As a collective, these narratives examine how Trump’s rhetoric and populist style of communication demonstrate a return to restrictive immigration rhetoric not witnessed in a presidential administration since the 1920s. This research …

Searching For Nonbinary And Trans Inclusion: A Call To Action For Leadership Studies, Jody Condit Fagan, Ari Emilia Short

Libraries

Academic studies of leadership have historically taken a binary view of gender. A literature review was conducted to search for any scholarly work inclusive of trans and nonbinary identities. Across three academic databases and five leadership journals, only 11 such sources were found. These results were reviewed to explore themes across their findings as well as suggestions for future research. The analysis of the 11 sources’ findings and recommendations offer guidance for expanding conceptions of gender in leadership; for enhancing leadership education; and for developing a more complete research agenda for gender and leadership studies. Suggestions are also offered for …

The Last Of Us In Therapy: How Mind-Controlling Fungi And Gut Bacteria Affect Your Mental Health, Anastasia Lyon

Journal of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences

The "psilocybiome" represents the mutually beneficial relationship between ourselves, our bacteria, and psychedelic drugs. This short review briefly discusses the benefits and limitations surrounding the potential for psychedelic therapy to synergize with gut bacteria to help regulate and maintain proper balance in the immune system, diet, and stress levels. Psychedelic therapy is a novel treatment strategy that has the potential to improve patient mental health, and, by identifying the types of gut bacteria present in patients, it can aid in personalizing medicine by determining how well their "psilocybiome" may respond.

Cultural Considerations For Working With Young Adults Who Have Experienced Childhood Trauma, Yasmine Rodriguez

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Childhood trauma can create effects that show up throughout the lifespan. Young adulthood is the first stage of life after adolescence and involves working through more advanced developmental challenges. This offers an important reason to examine the possible outcomes early life has on young adulthood, especially for those who have experienced trauma. This knowledge can be pivotal in different professional sectors such as the mental health and educational fields. The work presented explores common childhood trauma experiences, signs of childhood trauma within both children and young adults, and cultural considerations. Recommendations such as possible interventions and training for professionals …

Representation Is Everything: The Impact Of Diversity In Literature On The Racial Identity And Psychological Safety Of Black Youth, Zaakirah B. Fulani

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This study addresses the issue of U.S. schools often acting replicating the same racist/discriminatory practices that play out on a national level, resulting in school being an unsafe environment for Black and other REM students. A lack of psychological safety in schools, according to research, can lead to decreased academic achievement and engagement, feelings of stress and anxiety, and a negative school experience. This study proposes that using culturally relevant texts in curriculums can enhance psychological safety for Black students in order to cultivate safe school environments for REM students. Using an analysis of qualitative data from focus group discussions …

Retaining Residents Is Important To New Hampshire's Future: Why Do People Stay?, Kristine Bundschuh, Kenneth M. Johnson

Carsey Publications

A key factor impacting New Hampshire’s demographic and economic success is retaining and growing its population. What motivates people to move to New Hampshire is important to the state’s future and garners considerable policy attention. Much less consideration is given to retaining current residents. Yet on average, nearly 1.3 million New Hampshire residents do not migrate into or out of the state in a given year. Understanding why those residents stay in New Hampshire can be an important element of the state’s comprehensive development strategy.

In this brief, authors Kristine Bundschuh and Kenneth Johnson discuss the results of NH Granite …

“I Like People… Who Are Like Me:” Attitudes Of Southern White Conservative Males On Diversity, Kevin Patrick Schell Jr.

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In America, racism, discrimination, and white supremacy are systemic. In the South, this is seen more prominently given its history of intolerance. Leading to diversity training being ineffective towards Southern white conservative men in society and at the workplace. This research study aims to understand Southern white conservative men’s attitudes toward diversity to inform diversity training practitioners on better training methods. It also sought entry points and a path forward in diversity training for this demographic. Focus group studies were done with four individuals in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Data was collected and analyzed. It was found that their …

Identifying And Transforming Sites Of Power In Collaborative Community-Based Research, Jessa Dickinson

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

For this dissertation, I analyzed collaboration practices and power structures within three community-based participatory research (CBPR) studies I conducted for my Ph.D. I ask: 1) How do dominant power structures, epistemologies, and narratives manifest in HCI research and praxis? 2) How can we structure research to support our community partners' goals while resisting dominating and extractive practices in academic research? To respond to these questions, I conducted member checking interviews with my collaborators and a duoethnography with my dissertation advisor, Dr. Sheena Erete, about our experiences in the studies as a Black female professor and a white female graduate student. …

Meqtl Mapping In The Genoa Study Reveals Genetic Determinants Of Dna Methylation In African Americans, Lulu Shang, Wei Zhao, Yi Zhe Wang, Zheng Li, Jerome J Choi, Thomas H Mosley, Jennifer A Smith, Xiang Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Identifying genetic variants that are associated with variation in DNA methylation, an analysis commonly referred to as methylation quantitative trait locus (meQTL) mapping, is an important first step towards understanding the genetic architecture underlying epigenetic variation. Most existing meQTL mapping studies have focused on individuals of European ancestry and are underrepresented in other populations, with a particular absence of large studies in populations with African ancestry. We fill this critical knowledge gap by performing a large-scale cis-meQTL mapping study in 961 African Americans from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study. We identify a total of 4,565,687 cis-acting meQTLs …

A New World Order?: Considering Slaughter’S Notion Of The Disaggregated And Networked State, Darlene N. Moorman

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

This paper briefly explains Slaughter's (2004) argument for the emergence of a new world order defined by a disaggregated and networked state where the relevance of soft power has become all the more critical in conversations of politics and corresponding theory. This transformation (arising in the face of the so-called 'globalization paradox') is considered, exploring (a) what this means for the world system and (b) what concerns it may consequently bring.

Giglio Feds: The Void Of Ethical Leadership Within Federal Law Enforcement, Christopher J. Boosey

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.