Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fostering Awe To Enhance Public Well-Being: Proposed Interventions For A Nature And Science Museum Setting, Zach Calo

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Several scholars consider awe to be a universally experienced emotion that is associated with a variety of well-being outcomes. In the last two decades, research has revealed the many complicated, and often beneficial, effects of this self-transcendent emotion. In this paper, a review of the current theoretical and empirical understanding of awe is first discussed. This review is meant to provide context for the next section and primary aim of this paper, which is to propose a pilot study for implementing and evaluating awe-inducing interventions in a museum setting. The primary research question of this proposed pilot study is to …

Don't Let It Get To You: The Role Of Internalization Racism In The Organization, Carolyn T. Pham

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Internalized racism is seldom studied in a workplace context. Extant literature demonstrates its deleterious effects on individuals, but little is known about the mechanisms that affect it in adulthood or how it operates in an organizational context. Using a multi-wave survey design, this study examined the racial composition of one’s coworkers and organizational inclusion climate as potential antecedents of internalized racism and psychological well-being and identity management behaviors as outcomes. Results suggest that organizational inclusion climate significantly affects racial/ethnic minority employees’ levels of internalized racism and subsequent well-being. Additionally, internalized racism predicted engagement in identity concealment behaviors. This suggests the …

Chicago’S Migrant Serving Ecosystem: Perspectives From Providers On The Frontline, Safa S. Asad

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Global destabilization has resulted in nearly 110 million people forcibly displaced from their homes. Sanctuary cities like Chicago have become “migrant hubs,” seeing thousands of migrants enter the city to access shelter and resources. City officials have called for more support, as the number of migrants has outweighed the number of migrant service providers.

Migrant service organizations play an integral role in the resettlement journey of migrants. These organizations provide direct and indirect services to support their clients. However, as the migrant crisis continues to worsen, it threatens the social safety net established by governments and immigrant serving nonprofit agencies …

The Joint Impact Of Parent Health Efficacy And Child Temperament On Child Health Outcomes, Emma F. Kruis

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Children and adolescents in the United States have high rates of obesity due to several factors including low rates of physical exercise. Parents greatly impact children's short and long-term health behaviors through multiple mechanisms. The role of parental factors such as health self-efficacy in interaction with child temperament is underexplored. This present study had two primary aims: 1) to examine the main effects of parent health efficacy on child physical activity and body mass index (BMI) percentile; 2) to explore the impact of parent health efficacy as a function of child temperament and the main effects of temperament on children's …

Therapist Self-Disclosure With Children And Adolescents: A Guide, Katia Goga

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Therapist self-disclosure is a multifaceted aspect of psychotherapy that holds significant implications for therapeutic rapport, alliance, and client outcomes. The use of self-disclosure by therapists in working with children and adolescents has received little attention in the literature. This paper examines the theoretical underpinnings and therapeutic rationale behind therapist self-disclosure, highlighting its potential benefits and risks in the context of child and adolescent therapy. It delves into developmental considerations, exploring different factors that may influence the appropriateness and effectiveness of self-disclosure interventions. Building upon this foundation, the paper offers a practical guide to assist clinicians in judiciously incorporating self-disclosure into …

Experiences Of Dungeons & Dragons Players, Tim Daniel

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

This was a qualitative study of the experiences of Dungeons & Dragons players at the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) club at a private university in the Western United States. Previous research has shown that the benefits of playing Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) include developing social skills, developing empathy, and finding respite from reality. The goal of this research was to identify how role-players perceive they are affected by TTRPGs and what is appealing about TTRPGs. The participants in this study identified that, as a result of playing TTRPGs, they learned to develop better social skills and empathy. Their top reasons …

Considerations For Interviewing And Intervening With Suicidal Gender Expansive Individuals, Abigail Herrold

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

It has been well documented that transgender individuals are at a higher risk for death by suicide compared to their cisgender peers. However, limited consideration has been given to studying suicidality in individuals who identify outside of the gender binary (non-binary, gender queer, gender fluid, etc.). Additionally, while there is considerable evidence for risk factors for suicide and protective factors against suicide, there is a lack of guidance on how to implement this information. The aim of this paper is to expand upon the literature of research that is inclusive of all gender identities and propose guidelines working with gender …

Stress & Self-Regulation In Law Enforcement, Cecilia R. Mercado

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-reported stress and self-regulation skills in a sample of 57 law enforcement officers from the Chicago Police Department (patrol officers, detectives, sergeants, lieutenants, specialized units). Participants completed an anonymous survey that included the 31-item The Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ) and only the stress items of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Item (DASS-21). We hypothesized that law enforcement officers high stress job results in poor self-regulation skills. Results suggest there is a significant negative correlation between stress and self-regulation. There was no difference for officers with and without dependents.

A Longitudinal Study Assessing The Influence Of Salivary Cortisol, Alpha Amylase, And Interleukin-1Β Levels On Sleep And Physical Activity Among Emerging Adults, Bernardo Loiacono

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood can be marked by psychological disorders and distress. Stress exposure activates several bodily responses involving the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) and autonomic nervous system (ANS). Research into these systems involves the examination of several biomarkers including cortisol and alpha amylase. Basal values of these biomarkers have been linked to well-being and health outcomes. Also, stress biomarkers have been shown to influence physical activity (PA) which is salient because it is linked to chronic illness and disease (e.g., obesity, cancer, depression, diabetes). The present study aimed to explore the bidirectional relationships between basal stress biomarkers and daily PA in …

Address The Mess: The Role Of Fear Of Covid-19, Indecision, And Reactance In Decluttering Projects, Devki Patel

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

At the start of the pandemic in the United States, government-imposed behavioral restrictions were enacted to reduce transmission of COVID-19. Mandated time at home motivated many to engage in organizing or decluttering projects. For some, restrictions may have increased the experience of psychological reactance, a negative motivational state evoked by a perceived threat to freedom. The proposed research studied decluttering behavior in a community-based sample, yielding insights on what influences disposal decisions in individuals who have clutter but do not consider themselves as having a hoarding problem. Three previously unexplored variables, fear of COVID-19, reactance, and family composition are considered …

Finding The Silver Lining: The Role Of Supportive Social Environments, Keturah Platt

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Experiencing a significant loss can be one of the most challenging life experiences. The adverse effects of bereavement can disrupt a person’s overall health and well-being. While it is essential to fully acknowledge the negative outcomes of bereavement, it is equally important to recognize the potential for posttraumatic growth (PTG) following such experiences. PTG has been consistently observed in adults who have experienced various traumas, yet there is still much to learn about PTG among adolescents. Given that death is one of the most stressful life events for youth, bereaved adolescents are a crucial population for examining PTG. Those living …

Effects Of Receiving Peer-Status Feedback On Chinese Adolescents, Mingqi Li

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the negative impacts of social status insecurity on adolescents’ behavior and mental health. Hence, there is an urgency in exploring mechanisms that may alleviate adolescents’ concerns about their peer status. The present study is the first to 1) use an experimental design to examine the effect of providing feedback on adolescents’ peer status in an attempt to reduce or induce their social status insecurity and 2) investigate how these changes would influence adolescents’ immediate outcomes such as present mood, behavior intentions, and social status goals. Participants were 465 high school students (253 boys; M_age = …

Optimizing Remote Work Engagement And Performance, Jessica Chackoria

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Remote work prevalence continues to remain higher than pre-pandemic levels and hybrid structures are increasingly becoming the norm. Therefore, it is important for researchers and organizations to understand how to optimize important employee outcomes, such as engagement and performance, in a remote work context. In this study, I addressed this need by investigating whether factors that have been found to enhance engagement and performance in traditional contexts—specifically, job design characteristics (task identity, task significance, autonomy, skill variety, and feedback) and microbreaks or small breaks during the workday—were positively linked with better remote work engagement and performance (task and contextual). The …

Impact Of Passive Second Language Exposure On Word Segmentation And Word Mapping, Amiya S. Aggarwal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research in statistical learning using artificial languages has suggested that passive exposure to linguistic patterns can guide word segmentation and word mapping. It is unknown whether this type of unsupervised learning can scale up to support these aspects of learning in a natural language. Our study exposed monolingual English speakers to either English or Italian podcasts for an hour daily for 21 days, collecting behavioural and EEG data during both the pre- and post-exposure period. Our behavioural measure tested if L2 exposure would lead to improved word mapping for words with high phonotactic probabilities. Our EEG measure tested whether the …

Sexual Assault History And Alcohol-Aggression Expectancies As Barriers To Sexual Refusal Assertiveness In College Women, Madison Kristine Firkey

Dissertations - ALL

Background: Alcohol-related sexual assault is a pressing health concern on U.S. college campuses. The unrelenting prevalence of campus sexual assault has led to a greater focus on how to empower college women to resist unwanted sexual advances within alcohol-infused contexts. Alcohol-aggression expectancies have emerged as one potential barrier to women’s utilization of sexual refusal strategies. The present study sought to test this hypothesized barrier using a vignette-based experimental design. Specifically, the proposed model examined the relationships between perceived perpetrator intoxication level, expectations of perpetrator reaction to sexual refusal, and willingness to refuse unwanted sexual advances. The moderating effects of prior …

Me, Myself, And High: Momentary Precipitants And Consequences Of Solitary Cannabis Use Among Emerging Adults, Amelia Wedel

Dissertations - ALL

Objective: Social discomfort, including loneliness and adverse interpersonal experiences, is associated with greater solitary cannabis use, and in turn with worse cannabis consequences, among emerging adults. Temporality of this relationship, however, remains unknown due to largely cross-sectional findings. This 15-day experience sampling study tested the relationship of (a) social discomfort with proximal solitary cannabis use, (b) solitary cannabis use with next-day cannabis consequences, and (c) solitary cannabis use as a potential mediator for the relationship of social discomfort with cannabis consequences. Methods: Momentary assessment data were drawn from 59 emerging adult solitary cannabis users (Mage= 22.88 [SD=1.79]; 61% female; 66% …

Dimensional Attention Shift During Human Semi-Supervised Category Learning, Osung Seo

Dissertations - ALL

Category learning, a fundamental aspect of human cognition, enables individuals to organize and interpret the vast array of stimuli in their environment. While traditionally studied under supervised and unsupervised learning frameworks, semi-supervised learning – combining small amounts of labeled data with larger pools of unlabeled data – has emerged as a promising area of research. This study investigates the mechanisms of human semi-supervised category learning, addressing the underexplored question of how unlabeled instances influence the learning process. Motivated by inconsistent findings in prior research, I explore the types of information people extract from unlabeled instances and whether this information can …

Leadership Coaching In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Ray Forbes

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Today’s world of extraordinary change follows a long history of technology-driven industrial revolutions. Author Alvin Toffler eloquently identified, categorized, and named the first three of them: Agricultural, Industrial, and Informational. Likening these revolutions to major waves of change, Toffler also described their impact on the social, political, economic and environmental ethos of the times in which they occurred. Recently, a number of knowledgeable commentators have suggested that we are now on the cusp of a fourth industrial wave. This large-scale transformational groundswell is being propelled by a dramatic acceleration in the rate of change itself. It is characterized by major …

Reimagining The Faculty Role In Community Engagement, Nadine Dolby

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

In this Forum commentary, I discuss my experience as a faculty member starting a community-based nonprofit organization, Animal Advocates of Greater Lafayette. Since founding the organization in 2019, I have moved between the roles of faculty and organization president, finding ways to create new pedagogical spaces that lead to community-based social change. I suggest that establishing nonprofit organizations are one avenue for faculty community engagement to address social injustices and inequities

Making Sense Of The Borderlands: Short-Term Immersions And Communicating Upon Returning, Joseph B. Johnston

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Educational immersions provide opportunities for students to experience a lot in a short time. How do instructors aid students in processing and meaningfully reflecting on their experiences? I describe the development of an immersion—and an accompanying pre- and post-trip class—to sites along the U.S.–Mexico border. Then, I analyze student reflective writing assignments to see if and how the students were able to communicate their learning.

University Students Pilot A Community Survey At Ciclovia, Joseph Herzog, William Crawley, Erin A. King

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Social work students at a southeastern university piloted a community perception and attachment survey during a local Ciclovia event. Results indicated that a majority of participants held a generally positive view of the community (91%), while perceptions of specific aspects of the community and neighborhoods varied depending on individual items. Implications for use of students in community surveys are explored in addition to a presentation of the overall results of the survey.

Utility Of The Global Engagement Survey (Ges) To Quantitatively Evaluate A Unique Undergraduate Community-Based Global Learning Program, Mathew H. Gendle, Amanda Tapler

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

In this preliminary study, the Global Engagement Survey (GES) was used to assess developmental outcomes in undergraduate students enrolled in a multi-year community-based global learning program. Statistically significant growth was observed on the Civic Efficacy (CE) scale of the GES (p = 0.01). The GES appears to have significant utility in the quantitative assessment of undergraduate community-based global learning programs, even when small sample sizes and pretest ceiling effects exist.

Virtual Service Learning: An Exploration Into How Physical Therapy Students Make Meaning Of Professional Skill Development Online, Pamela Donlan, Ann Golub-Victor

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study explores the perceived effect of a virtual service-learning (SL) experience upon the development of professional skills among physical therapist students. A qualitative case study approach was used to analyze reflection papers through the lens of the constructivist learning theory. Data revealed that virtual SL strengthens communication, fosters adaptability, and cultivates leadership practices. Findings suggest that virtual SL may be less likely to enhance certain affective skills that are crucial to patient-centered care.

Reflections On A Faculty Learning Community In Service Learning, Catherine Stemmans Paterson

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This editorial focuses on a Faculty Learning Community in Service Learning at Indiana State University. The learning community was a result from a partnership between The Center for Community Engagement and the Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence.

Improving Students’ Mineral And Rock Identification Skills Through Service-Learning, Josphine Chaumba, Jeff Chaumba

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper reports on a service-learning component introduced in an upper-level undergraduate geology course. Students identified rock types used by a local countertop manufacturing company and made fliers describing their mode of formation. Students then completed a final rock identification exam. To assess the effect of participating in the service-learning on students’ rockidentification abilities, an Independent Samples t-test was used to compare scores of students that completed the course to those from previous semesters who did not participate in service-learning. Students who participated in service-learning achieved higher final rock identification exam test scores (M = 91.71, SD = 1.59) in …

Mapping Moral Development: A Case Study Of Service Learning In The Midwest, Daniel Casebeer, Jessica Mann

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study explores the relationship between service learning and moral development. During a phenomenographic examination of a service-learning project in the Midwest, researchers identified ways that participants conceived of justice. These conceptions were analyzed with a Neo- Kohlbergian approach to post-conventional moral thinking and mapped using social cartography. Findings indicate that immersion programs can provide participants with nominal opportunities for moral development and that there is a need for additional supports and future research on the longitudinal effects of service learning.

Exploring The Impact Of Community-Engaged Programs On Undergraduate Students’ Attitudes Toward Intellectual Disability, Jennifer L. Jones, Kami L. Gallus, Amber Manning-Ouellette

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Positive outcomes for students have motivated educators to identify effective strategies for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in people with intellectual disability (ID), a minoritized population often excluded from DEI efforts. The current study investigated undergraduate student attitudes toward ID and compared changes in attitudes following participation in one of two community-engaged programs alongside adults with ID. Findings indicate both programs were effective in changing all three components of students’ attitudes: affect, cognition, and behaviors.

Writing And Publishing Community-Engaged Scholarship: Advice For Junior Faculty On Promotion, Publishing, And Craft, John Forester, Anna Sims Bartel

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article offers research-based advice on how to write and publish community-engaged scholarship (CES), with special emphasis on success in career-building and academic publishing contexts. It further offers a snapshot of a program designed to build a faculty community of practice for advancing publication of CES. Publishing CES throws into stark relief the tensions between what’s accessible and valuable to communities and what’s recognizable and admirable to academics who hold power over community-engaged scholars’ careers.

Assessing Outcomes Of Service Learning: Student, Instructor, And Community Reflections, Emily Feuerherm, Kazuko Hiramatsu, Nathaniel S. Miller, Kenneth Williams

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study investigated the impact of service learning using quantitative and qualitative methods. Forty-one First Year Experience and capstone students completed the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire (CASQ) at the term’s beginning and end. Although the CASQ total and subscores did not differ, capstone students scored higher on CASQ measures, suggesting better civic attitudes and skills. Community partners completed an impact survey, reporting overall benefits. Instructors’ journals revealed benefits and challenges to implementing service learning.

Dissonance During International Service-Learning: “You Can’T Go Back To The Way You Were Before”, Diane Ceo-Difrancesco, Leah S. Dunn, Maggie Truitt

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study investigated pre-occupational therapy students’ descriptions of dissonance during a twoweek service-learning immersion program in Guatemala. Thirty-one students participated in studentled group reflections during two program iterations. Qualitative analysis of transcripts yielded three themes: context, experience, and outcome. The interconnectedness of all three themes illustrates the interdependence of intense, international service-learning experiences, critical reflection, and transformation. Findings suggest the impact of international service-learning experiences on student development.