Sociology Commons^™

Fear Of Becoming A Victim Of Crime On A College Campus: A Visual And Factorial Experimental Design Survey Analysis Of Location And Demographic Factors., Nancy Steinmetz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vanessa LoBue (2013) states that the emotion of fear, “a signal of impending threat” (p. 38) is common among mammals. For over five decades, there has been substantial research into what in society, or our communities, makes us fearful. It is this author’s intention to examine how college students’ fear of crime or fear of victimization may be heightened or intensified by specific factors that are commonplace on college campuses and areas adjacent to those campuses. Nicole Rader (2004) argues that the fear of crime discourse needs to be expanded to a larger “construct” called “the threat of victimization” (p. …

The Questionable Death Of Jim Crow: How Systemic Racism Impacts Voting Accessibility By Ways Of Wait Times, Icarus Laduke-Lott

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Racial identity and perception thereof are consistent themes throughout the history of the United States. Countless studies have attempted to measure the impact of this factor on everyday life, with present research finding the lives of non-white individuals to be needlessly burdened due to systemic and individual prejudice. But how does this extend to the realm of political accessibility? And if the impact is great, can we truly claim that the era of Jim Crow is over? To address this question, I utilized the data collected by the Cooperative Election Study in 2020, working to emphasize the impact of systemic …

Behavior Determined By Biological Processes, Alyss Kerl

Honor’s College Freeman Research Journal

The paper is about the condition known as Human Colony Collapse Disorder (HCCD), which has been seen in several communities around the world, is characterized by a sharp fall in population, social cohesion, and economic stability. This study seeks to investigate the root causes and potential remedies for HCCD. The well-known Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which affects honeybee populations and causes entire hives to collapse owing to a confluence of variables including environmental stressors, illness, and inadequate nutrition, is comparable to HCCD in certain ways. This project's goal is to look at probable HCCD causes and contributing variables, as well …

Telecontraception: An Evaluative Research Study On Birth Control Accessibility Via Smart Phone Applications, Salma Yazmin Atiya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Birth control accessibility in the United States continues to be a growing issue. Studies have shown that barriers such as transportation to clinics, ability to obtain an appointment at a clinic, having time off work or school, cost, lack of insurance, and residing in contraceptive deserts prevents women from obtaining birth control. However, with telemedicine on the rise, new technologies are becoming available, such as telecontraceptionâ??a recent innovation, where people can obtain birth control through a website or an app on smart phone devices. Telecontraception could potentially serve as a tool to narrow the birth control accessibility gap for uninsured …

Effects Of Witnessing Terrorist Attacks On Perceived Causes Of Terrorism And Support For Security Measures, Austin Trevor Sullivan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The following research aims to understand how individuals who were aware of, and affected by, terrorist attacks at the time they took place perceive the causes of terrorism and support security measures. It is hypothesized that the extent to which one â??witnessedâ?? attacks characterized by more traditional forms of terrorism, such as bombings and religiously motivated and affiliated perpetrators (Wave four), versus new forms of terrorism, such as shootings and lone wolves (Wave five), would be affected by the age of the witness. This research proposes an indirect pathway from age to "witnessing" terrorist attacks to attributions for the attacks …

Exploring The Experiences Of Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Students Seeking Healthcare At Gallaudet University, Shane Carrizales

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Currently, there is not much known about the Deaf/Hard of Hearing (HH) college student population's experience of learning about and navigating the healthcare system both as young adults and as college students. When a student starts college, especially further away from their home, they will get less support from their family which leaves them to rely on their health literacy. As an added challenge, Deaf/HH individuals often experience additional communication barriers. The purpose of this project was to explore the experiences of Deaf/hard of hearing students seeking healthcare at Gallaudet University. This researcher facilitated two workshops that provided education in …

The Myth Of Perfection: Charting The Rhetoric Of Veteran Disability For A Course To Stability, Nicholas Rader

All Dissertations

This dissertation rhetorically analyzes discrimination in Western institutional discourses and documentation procedures, such as architectural texts and procedures, through a historiographic lens. An analytical methodology will be offered to show how discrimination of intersectional bodies is historically informed and reaffirmed by the manipulation of Western myths and mythos. Specifically, by mapping navigational mathematics and cartographic methods over rhetorical, architectural, and historiographic theory, it will be shown how the manipulation of Western myths establishes and reifies patriarchal discrimination that eventually fissions into eugenicist logics in nineteenth and twentieth century France, England, and the United States. In modernity, the practice of manipulating …

Transforming The Volunteer Experience In The Social Service Sector, Dalvin Sidhu, Weng Lin Ng, Thilanga Dilum Wewalaarachchi

Lien Centre for Social Innovation: Research

Transforming the Volunteer Experience in the Social Service Sector is the first analysis report of its kind that focuses on investigating and enhancing volunteerism in Singapore. Through the perspectives of volunteers and volunteer managers via surveys and in-depth interviews, this report reveals a framework depicting five key features that contribute towards a quality volunteering experience. The study also makes recommendations on the actionable steps and strategies that Social Service Agencies can adopt to engage their volunteers more strategically, so that they can play a more significant role in delivering enhanced quality services to service users.

Asset-Rich And Cash-Poor: Which Older Adults Value Reverse Mortgages?, Joelle H. Fong, Olivia S. Mitchell, Benedict S. K. Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Home equity represents a substantial share of retirement wealth for many older persons, particularly in Asia where national housing policies have encouraged home-ownership. This paper explored the potential for reverse mortgages to help 'asset-rich and cash-poor' older Singaporeans unlock their home equity while ageing in place. The empirical analysis was based on a nationally representative survey of home-owners age 50+ in the 2018 Singapore Life Panel (N = 6,258). Our analyses showed that the average older home-owner holds some 60 per cent of total net wealth in housing equity, suggestive of high demand potential for reverse mortgage products. Nevertheless, actual …

Argentine Women’S Narratives Of Leadership, Ileana Andrea Mocciola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated and examined the narratives of Argentine women leaders while obtaining and exercising leadership positions. This research was based on narrative theory and the feminist standpoint theory. Argentine female participants (N = 10) were subject to interviews that overall lasted 600 minutes and were conducted through the Zoom platform. Fifty-five pages of single-spaced transcripts were analyzed and studied. The results of this study revealed that Argentine women face major challenges when it comes to tokenism, exclusion, mentorship, and stereotypes that prevent and limit them from reaching and succeeding in leadership positions.

Forming And Maintaining Intimate Friendships As A Twentysomething, Molly S. Burke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a life stage of great change, and often instability in relationships and attachment (Demir et al., 2015; Lane et al., 2017; Shulman & Connolly, 2013). Intimate friendships can be a moderating factor and assistance in gaining stability and increasing life satisfaction (Demir, 2021; Demir et al., 2015; Sanchez et al., 2020). This study used grounded theory methodology (Creswell & Poth, 2018) to develop a model of the process which Twentysomethings undergo while forming and maintaining intimate, or best, friendships. Through interviews with best friend pairs, this study found three main phases of the best friend process: forming …

Daughters Of Depression : A Critical-Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination Of Adult Black Women’S Experiences With Strong Black Woman’S Role When Mothered By Women With Perceived Depression, Christin D. Haynes

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Black American women are experiencing chronic depression at alarming rates. Major racial/sex disparities in disease prevalence indicates Black American women are at increased risk for depression onset due to exposure to poverty and traumatic life events. With the rise of single, female-headed households, children are at increased risk for exposure to maternal mental illness which is defined as an adverse childhood experience impacting their development through adulthood. Black American mothers have the additional burden of racially socializing all children to learn how to manage systematic racist structures embedded in American society, yet daughters require the additional socialization for gender biases. …

The Influence Of Community Trauma And The Behaviors Of Gang Members, Leshelle Franklin

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Although there is an abundance of research done on gang members, gang activity, and gang activity in low-income neighborhoods, there is not much research that focuses on the community trauma in low-income neighborhoods; and any relations it may have on or to gang members. Research pertaining to gang members usually focuses on how gang activity affects the lives of non-gang members living in the community. This research study aims to explore community trauma and the behaviors of gang members, from a gang member’s perspective. This research study gives insight into the minds of 10 male African American gang members, as …

Whose Nation Is It? A Critical Analysis Of The Impacts Of Conservative Nationalism And Migration Security On Marginalized Groups In America, Joshua Jackson

International Studies (MA) Theses

This research aims to examine the effects of migration securitization on marginalized citizens in the United States of America by examining it through a conservative nationalist lens. While the securitization of migration is “the process through which the phenomenon of migration is framed as a threat to the survival of a certain referent object” (von Rosen, 2019, p. 36), the byproduct of that framing extends beyond the initially constructed threat (von Rosen, 2019). The framing of immigration and migrants as a threat to the United States is not a new occurrence and has served to bolster conservative politicians and construct …

Aging In Westborough: A Community Needs Assessment, Ceara Somerville, Caitlin Coyle, Mary Krebs, Holly Stockdale

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Town of Westborough. The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Westborough’s residents age 55 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the Council on Aging’s (COA’s) objective to identify and serve the needs of all Westborough citizens 55 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Town of Westborough, the Westborough COA, …

Judicial Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: How Do Diverse Judges Affect Sentencing Guidelines In The State Of Minnesota, Morgan Bausman

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Equal representation within the judicial system is very important. The state of Minnesota has four-hundred-forty-one judges, all different. When the legal system was created, the stereotypical judge was a white male. The legal system that represents the country should grow and diversify along with society. The issue of diversified judicial representation, with a focus on the race and gender of such judges, is a contentious debate across the country. Prior research has studied judges at the federal level and showed that diversity matters, but there have been no studies done at the state level, specifically in Minnesota. I gather data …

Undocumented Young Adults Navigating Liminal Space To Carve Their Futures In The U.S., Ismat Abbas

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative interview study focuses on the challenges and barriers of 1.5 generations of undocumented young adults with their liminal status in carving their present and curating their future lives in the United States. The study focuses on how these 1.5 young emerging adults navigate their lives to pursue their life goals with the limitations attached to their impermanence status. The study used a qualitative in-depth, and constant comparative methodology to approach empirical findings. In addition, the life-course theory was utilized as a theoretical framework to study different milestones in the lives of these 1.5 undocumented young adults (Elder,1998). The …

“It Was Like Double Damage” : An Exploration Of Clergy-Perpetrated Sexual Abuse, Institutional Response, And Posttraumatic Growth, Krystal Lynne Woolston

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examines the relationship between institutional responses to reports of clergy- perpetrated sexual abuse of adult women and the survivor’s level of posttraumatic growth, current spirituality, current religious commitment, well-being, and flourishing. The experience of adult women abused by clergy is not well-researched; this study seeks to highlight those experiences to the extent possible. This study utilized a mixed methods approach wherein surveys were collected from 108 participants, and follow up interviews were conducted with ten participants to further illustrate their experiences. All participants experienced some level of institutional betrayal which left lasting impacts on their ability to achieve …

Intergenerationality : The Making And Consequences Of Parental Intervention In Children’S Marriage In China, Shichao Du

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The mosaic family theory posits that Chinese families are a combination of the tradition of parental control and the neoliberal rhetoric of individualism. This theory is also used to explain the low speed of marriage modernization in China. However, how to empirically examine this “mosaic” is ambiguous. This dissertation research uses parental intervention in children’s marriage as a case of “mosaic” to unravel how the intergenerational axis and the conjugal axis interact in mate selection. Employing the mixed-method approach, this dissertation research finds three levels of intergenerationality involved in the making and consequences of parental intervention in children’s marriage in …

Public Opinion On Compensating Different Types Of Wrongful Convictions, Sishi Wu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

People who are wrongfully convicted are a unique vulnerable group. However, not all exonerees get compensated for their time in prison. This research explores public opinion on compensating wrongful convictions from erroneously rejected affirmative defenses and from false guilty pleas. Using a randomized survey experiment of 1,000 US adults, this research found that (1) most respondents supported wrongful conviction compensation, regardless of wrongful conviction types and plea status. (2) Wrongful conviction types matter. People supported compensating exonerees in the self-defense case as much as in the wrong person case. The amount of compensation people gave in the mistaken self-defense case …

Cultural Lag Does Not Exist: An Exposition And Critical Evaluation Of W.F. Ogburn’S Hypothesis, Heather L. Osborne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite a century of scholarly critique, William Fielding Ogburn’s cultural lag hypothesis (CLH) endures. The inclusion of Ogburn’s hypothesis in introductory sociology textbooks, reference books, and histories of technology lends an unwarranted authority to its scientific credibility. I critically assess Ogburn’s CLH and find that it is neither scientifically nor theoretically sound. Specifically, I discover presumptions of cultural integration and normative progressivism, the fallacy of ambiguity, problems of causal explanation, operationalization, and selective bias, which renders the CLH unmeasurable, unfalsifiable, and non-replicable. Finally, I briefly discuss the implications and make suggestions for future research.

Understanding The Evolution Of Enforcement Systems In Resource Dilemmas, Devin M. Flener

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The effective management of resources on Earth is a pressing global social dilemma. An alternative solution to the traditional managing methods of these common pool resources is communal self-management facilitated through principles of restorative justice and developed through exploratory learning. We examined how communication, restorative justice techniques, and opportunity for exploratory learning impacted groups’ ability to develop a strong conceptual understanding of enforcement as well as an enforcement system in order to maintain an effective conservation strategy. Participants (N=288) were randomly assigned to 72 four-person groups in six separate conditions. Each group played nine rounds of a computer-simulated foraging task …

Does Family Size Moderate The Relation Between Resource Transfers And Intimate Partner Violence Rates?, Paul Gramling

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) refers to physical, sexual, or psychological abuse within an intimate relationship. It is a global issue, particularly for women in developing countries where data show higher rates of IPV for these women than in developed countries. IPV can lead to physical harm, chronic health problems, and even death. It also has negative effects on mental health, economic stability, and the overall well-being of the woman and their children. Family size has been shown to be a predictor of IPV risk; women from larger families face a higher risk. Cash transfer programs in developing countries have been …

How Lgbtqia+ Citizenship Transcends The Nation- State Paradigm: An Argument For Supranational Queer Citizenship, Marcus Cantrell

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Current conceptions of citizenship, which are heteronormative and tie citizenship to membership in a nation-state, do not account for the quotidian experiences of LGBTQ people across the globe. Seeing as the queer community is a relatively small one, many queer people feel a sense of shared fate with LGBTQ people across the diaspora and feel helpless when they see their queer siblings being persecuted in egregious ways. Thus, the need for a new type of uniquely queer citizenship becomes salient. This thesis posits that a supranational queer citizenship would be the most effective conception of citizenship for queer people because …

Immediate Response Of Bats To Prescribed Fire And Impact Of Experiences On Women's Self-Image In Natural Resources Professions, Zebria Hicks

All Theses

To inform use of prescribed fire management practice in the southeastern US, we studied its impact on bats, which are important and at-risk species. We evaluated if prescribed fire had a positive, neutral, or negative effect on bat activity in the two weeks following the burns. We recorded bat activity after prescribed burns in February and March 2022 in northwestern South Carolina in select hardwood and pine stands and control sites ≥ 500 m from burn boundaries. We measured insect abundance, canopy cover, basal area, and understory density at each site. We recorded 687 passes during our 45-day study period. …

Unidentified Deceased Persons: Who Are At-Risk?, Sarah Duncan

All Theses

This study explores the silent mass disaster of unidentified deceased persons that is occurring across the United States and identifies the individual and community level characteristics that make a person “at-risk” of becoming an unidentified deceased person within the United States. This study identifies trends-based hotspots by using data reported on the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and comparing those trends to the gender United States population. It finds that males, and age of death between 20-64 are overrepresented and White persons are underrepresented in the unidentified deceased person sample when compared the general population. Social and human …

Living And Dying In 'Cancer Alley': Using Human Rights Law And Environmental Justice To Create A Litigation Framework For Marginalized Communities, Neeharika Sistu

Honors Scholar Theses

Cancer Alley, Louisiana is a poignant example of the intersection between environmental justice, legal harm, and human rights abuses. This thesis dissects the laws and policies underpinning the creation of Cancer Alley with special attention to how they constitute human rights abuses under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Then, by performing a comprehensive analysis of litigation surrounding environmental justice in Louisiana, this thesis scrutinizes the efficacy of environmental law in creating environmental justice and suggests the integration of international human rights law and environmental …

Brutality Behind Bars: A Look At Prison Violence In Ecuador, Zulema Alejandra Palacios Jaramillo

Graduate Masters Theses

Prisons are frequently perceived as spaces where those unwanted by society are placed. Thus, they are often purposefully ignored and left under-served. This is the reality of prisons and inmates in Ecuador, where violence has reached unprecedented levels, raising concerns about its causes. As this thesis shows, violence inside prisons is not an isolated incident only provoked by the restrictive nature of detention centers, or the character of inmates, but rather a manifestation of a complex mix of institutional, organizational, criminological, and social factors at play in the country. This thesis aims at understanding, from a conflict resolution perspective, what …

Community Engagement Newsletter, May 2023, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- Award Recipients
--- PROJECT HERE
--- Iowa Nonprofit Alliance Launching in the Cedar Valley
--- Community Transit Survey
--- Summer Opportunities with Campus Compact
--- UNI Engaged Podcast
--- See you next fall, but in the meantime…

The Philosophy Of Activism And Its Paradox., Omar Arar

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Activist organizations have been at the forefront of countless progressive efforts, seeking to ameliorate social injustices, expand the rights of marginalized people, and strengthen democratic institutions. However, the efforts of activists always seem to lead to incremental victories or a minimal change to the status quo. In this paper, I argue that the primary cause of this largely stagnant social justice landscape is the professionalization of activism. Activism in its professional form, as people who make a living out of their activist efforts, brings with it numerous issues, the most problematic among them is the manifestation a paradox. Namely, professional …