Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Sex: An Analysis Of U.S. Attitudes Toward Climate Change, Chloe Riggs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the intersection of sex, environmental risk perception of climate change, and feminism. More specifically, with a sample size of 8,280 respondents from the American National Election Studies (ANES) 2020 Times Series Study, this research examines the relationship between pro-environmental attitudes and sympathy for feminism, controlling for sex, as well as if a measure of sympathy for feminism influences pro-environmental attitudes, controlling for demographic (age, education, race, sex, and income) and political preference (political ideology and party affiliation) variables. Previous literature strongly supports a sex gap in risk perception, a pattern known as the White Male Effect (WME) …

Cultural Impact On Identity And How It Is Expressed Through Dress, Jenifer Thao

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examined how students at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Arkansas incorporate their cultural background into their clothing as a form of self-expression. The study included an online survey platform, Qualtrics, created with a series of Likert-type and open-ended response questions to gather data regarding student opinions on clothing impacts. Results indicated that there were no significant associations when it comes to cultural influences on identity and how it is expressed through dress.

Cross-State Differences In The Processes Generating Black–White Disparities In Neonatal Mortality, Benjamin Sosnaud

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

The U.S. Black neonatal mortality rate is more than twice the White rate. This dramatic disparity can be decomposed into two components: (1) disparities due to differences in the distribution of birth weights, and (2) disparities due to differences in birth weight–specific mortality. I utilize this distinction to explore how the social context into which infants are born contributes to gaps in mortality between Black and White neonates. I analyze variation in Black–White differences in neonatal mortality across 33 states using 1995–2010 data. For each state, I calculate the contribution of differences in birth weight distribution versus differences in birth …

Sexual Minority Rights Are Not Just For The West: Health And Safety Considerations In Africa, Robert Scott Stewart Ph.D., Dionne Van Reenen Ph.D., Richard Watuwa Ph.D.

Journal of Health Ethics

In a recent article, C.O. Akpan argues that it is “unnatural for a man to sleep with a man as with a woman, and the idea of marriage in this sense is an abomination” (“The morality of same-sex marriage: How not to globalize a cultural anomie,” Online Journal of Health Ethics, 13(1), 2017, p. 9). Arguments in favor of same sex marriage, he claims, are “driven and motivated by the human right fad” (p. 9) that is inappropriate for African countries.

We argue that the specific arguments Akpan employs against the morality of homosexuality and same-sex marriage are flawed. Our …

The Influence Of Youth And Parent Reports Of Parental Knowledge And Monitoring And Reporting Discrepancy On High Risk Youth Offending, Leana A. Bouffard, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Introduction

Positive parenting practices are known to be related to lower levels of youth offending. Questions remain as to the overlap between youth and parent perceptions of parenting practices, and the relationship of perception discrepancies with youth offending. This study examines the concordance of parenting behaviors reports, the relationship between parent and youth perceptions of parenting measures with youth offending, and whether discordant youth and parent reports are related to heterogeneity in youth offending.

Methods

Survey data from 818 high risk U.S. youth averaging 16 years old who participated in the Pathways to Desistance study and his or her parent …

Dreamers: Stories Of Daca Recipients In Higher Education During The 2018-2021 Political Climate, Alicia Billini

Dissertations

Immigration has been a longstanding conversation, or debate, in American politics and society throughout history. Whether, or how much, to embrace immigrant populations into U.S. society has been a source of polarization over time, specifically as related to the handling or treatment of undocumented immigrants. A particularly acute dimension of this issue in the United States is the question of undocumented immigrants who were brought into this country as children illegally by their parents (Council on Foreign Relations, 2021). Efforts to address the needs of this unique population of immigrants have been caught between the historically and widely divergent values …

How Immigrant English Language Learners Used Internal Fortitude To Utilize Supports And Overcome Obstacles To Graduate From High School, Mark C. Peterson

Dissertations

Immigrants and English Language Learners (ELL) continue to receive attention in the research literature due in part to the continued immigration of families to the U.S. and the continued increasing number of students enrolled in U.S. schools under the ELL designation. The robust influx of immigrant’s school enrollment is reflected in schools across the country as classrooms are transformed from predominantly mono-cultural and mono-lingual environments to multi-cultural and multi-lingual ones. Unfortunately, the national average graduation rate for ELLs is a much lower than native-born students. The economic, social, and mental health ramifications for failing to graduate high school are dramatic; …

Gender Quotas And Women's Substantive Representation In The National And Local Governments Of The Dominican Republic, Marcial Amaury Pineda Moquete

Dissertations

Although women's political representation has increased during the first part of the twenty-first century, the number of female politicians in legislative assemblies worldwide remains low. When well-designed and enforced, gender quota laws can increase women's representation. In tum, the election of female politicians brings about better outcomes for women. Further, female politicians elected by quota are likely to feel more committed to representing women than counterparts elected without quotas. This study tests whether and how quota-elected women can represent women's interests better than men and women elected without quotas. Using the rare natural experiment of the Dominican Republic's Congress and …

Refugee Social Relations: The Development Of Social Ties Among Burmese And Congolese Refugees In West Michigan, Diane M. Roushangar

Dissertations

Refugee resettlement has been studied extensively in the academic realm. Yet, an area that is less understood is among Burmese and Congolese refugees and their adaptation processes in the United States. This study focuses on the development of social relations within these two groups as they navigate interactions within their ethnic group and with the native-born community. Examining the process of how social relations are constructed, this study reveals the nuances of how Burmese and Congolese form close social ties by focusing on four distinct social domains. Illuminating how social relations are formed and maintained within the ethnic community, church …

Is It A Boy Or A Girl? Constructing A Gendered Identity For Our Companion Animals, Jennifer Ann Wellman

Sociology & Anthropology Theses

A qualitative study of the differences in how we gender our cats and our dogs. Fifty women between the ages of 18 and 50 were interviewed, who kept cats, dogs, or both cats and dogs. Differences were found in how naming cats, with cats being given less humanized gendered names. It was found that cats are treated more as an extension of the self while dogs were given more of a gendered identity of their own.

Wood City: Timberizing The City’S Building Blocks, Stephen Luoni

Community Design Center Faculty Publications and Presentations

"Wood City" applies mass timber engineering to the 19 building categories that essentially shape our built environments, otherwise financialized as real estate products by Wall Street. Suburban offices, fast-food restaurants, metal warehouses, big-box grocers, garden apartments, single-family houses, hotels, self-storage facilities, assisted living facilities, strip-shopping centers, etc. constitute 75% of the built environment. Given that the US will double its built environment in just one generation coupled with the urgency to develop low-carbon futures, what if cities were built from the only construction system sequestering carbon and engineered to be “energy positive” – wood? Real estate value chains are undergoing …

Effects Of Abstinence-Based Sexual Education Compared To Evidence-Based Sexual Education In K-12 Schools, Lily Probst

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background: Historically, sexual education in the United States has been abstinence-based (ABSE), meaning that sexual education is centered around encouraging adolescents to abstain from sexual activity outside of wedlock. On the other hand, evidence-based sexual education (EBSE) includes abstinence in its curriculum but does not emphasize it, instead highlighting contraception and prevention strategies. Additionally, EBSE teaches adolescents about healthy relationships, attitudes towards sexuality, gender roles, and provides resources for sexual and reproductive health services. Supplying adolescents in K-12 schools with access to evidence-based sexual education may not only decrease teen pregnancy rates and incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) but …

Implementing 2nd Milk’S Use Of The World Health Organization Standardized Growth Charts To Better Track The Growth And Development Of The Malnourished And Orphaned Infants In Their Supplemental Nutrition Program In Malawi, Allie Wycoff

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

This article considers the history and implications of the World Health Organization (WHO) standardized growth charts as well as the significant impact that growth chart utilization may have on 2^ndMilk’s ability to understand and track the nutritional status of the malnourished orphaned infants in their formula program. Specifically, this literature review examines whether or not the WHO growth charts are a meaningful tool for 2^ndMilk to adopt into their monthly baby assessments. The WHO growth charts are calibrated to express an accepted international “norm” for what an adequately nourished child looks like. In a recent service-learning …

Evaluation Of Essential Oil Products On Performance, Intestinal Permeability, Bone Mineralization, And Oxidative Stress Parameters On Broiler Chickens Under Heat Stress Conditions, Jared Ruff

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The goal of this study was to show how dietary supplementation of three different formulations of essential oils (EO) affected the performance of broiler chickens during heat stress (HS). Day-of-hatch Cobb 500 chicks (n = 500) were randomly divided into four groups: 1. HS control + control diets; 2. HS + control meals supplemented with 37 ppm EO of Lippia origanoides (LO); 3. HS + control diets supplemented with 45 ppm LO + 45 ppm EO of Rosmarinus officinalis (RO) + 300 ppm red beetroot; 4. HS + 45 ppm LO + 45 ppm RO + 300 ppm natural betaine. …

Pets And Problems: Exploring Community Patterns In Calls For Animal Services, Paige Dejarnett

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pets have historically been viewed as family members, children, property, or economic resources. However, research surrounding animal maltreatment has expressed this issue as an individually-based problem, rather than a community-based phenomenon. Correlations have been found between animal cruelty, antisocial behaviors, and future interpersonal violence, whether this correlation be a predictive relationship, or a resultant relationship. Past research has also found correlations between animal treatment practices and the rural/urban differences of this behavior. However, there are many community-based indicators that have not been explored to understand the distribution of animal maltreatment. This study aims to explore these ideas by analyzing the …

The Relationship Of Hospital Ceo Gender And The Patient Experience: The Role Of The Mediating Effects Of Hospital Characteristics, Lanean M. Lang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this quantitative study, I investigated CEO gender and the patient experience in acute care hospitals in Texas for 2019. As the patient-experience has been the metric for quality patient care and hospital reimbursements, hospital CEOs play an important role in promoting positive patient experience as they lead the organization in strategic goals. The study is relevant as a shortage of experienced and qualified healthcare leaders is expected as baby-boomers retire. The lack of women leaders remains a challenging issue. The purpose of the study was to assess the gender differences of the CEO on the impact of patient experience …

Students' Evaluations Of Black Faculty At Historically White Institutions: A Causal- Comparative Study, Kathleen Carter Gentry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With a call for greater accountability, institutions of higher education have focused upon student evaluations to measure teacher effectiveness to ensure that students are learning. Education researchers have revealed that Black faculty reported negative experiences within academe such as microaggressions, insults, and not being regarded as credible scholars by students and other faculty. Very little research examines the role that race plays in students’ evaluations of Black faculty from the viewpoints of students. This quantitative, nonexperimental, causal-comparative dissertation investigates 210 students’ evaluation scores of actual university faculty as measured by academic competence, sensitivity to students, instructional effectiveness, and their viewpoints …

Older Adult Employment Status And Well‐Being: A Longitudinal Bidirectional Analysis, Jonathan Louis Jie Sheng Chia, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Mixed findings in the literature on the effects of older adult employment on well-being and the reciprocal influence of well-being on employment suggest the need for more careful methodology in teasing out this relationship. Moreover, as previous research has shown that different domains of well-being relate to constructs differently, more nuanced definitions of well-being may be appropriate. The present study examined the longitudinal bidirectional associations of employment and different domains of well-being, controlling for stable within-person variables. The present study sampled older adults from the Midlife Development in the US study at three timepoints on employment status and well-being, specifically …

“Coronavirus Changed The Rules On Everything”: Parent Perspectives On How The Covid‐19 Pandemic Influenced Family Routines, Relationships And Technology Use In Families With Infants, Rebecca Hood, Juliana Zabatiero, Desiree Silva, Stephen R. Zubrick, Leon Straker

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study explores how the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic influenced family routines, relationships and technology use (smartphones and tablet computers) among families with infants. Infancy is known to be an important period for attachment security and future child development, and a time of being susceptible to changes within and outside of the family unit. A qualitative design using convenience sampling was employed. A total of 30 mothers in Perth, Western Australia participated in semi‐structured interviews by audio or video call. All mothers were parents of infants aged 9 to 15 months old. Interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed, and …

Intimate Partner Violence In The Rio Grande Valley: The Role Of Culture, Tania Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

Mexican culture along the border towns of the Rio Grande dominates views towards women and men experiencing violence in intimate relationships. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies relating to intimate partner violence in the Rio Grande Valley. This study addresses the dynamics of abusive relationship in a Hispanic community that can be influenced by cultural concepts such as familism and marianismo. The author utilized a mixed methods approach for this study that included a sample of (n = 513) surveys and (n = 13) interviews that were analyzed separately. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess …

Blue Lives Matter: Public Perception In Texas, Nohely Karyme Lozano

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Blue Lives Matter, a pro-policing movement, was established across the United States. The movement sheds light on the attacks and killings of police officers while on the line of duty. Also, it raises awareness of the dangers and risks law enforcement agents face while on duty and off duty. Throughout the years, the movement has gained many supporters across the nation. However, it has been controversial, and many considered it as a countermovement to Black Lives Matter. To bridge the gap in the literature, the researcher investigated the perception of Texans towards the movement. Moreover, the research …

Black Feminism And Me/Maine Webinar, University Of Maine Alumni Association

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Video of the University of Maine Alumni Association's Black Feminism and Me/Maine Webinar.

The conversation was facilitated by Laren Babb who pursued a graduate degree in chemistry from the University of Maine. Around the table will be: Dr. Samaa Abdurraqib, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council; Dr. Lori Banks, Assistant Professor of Biology, Bates College; Dr. Leslie Hill, Professor Emerita of Politics, Bates College; Amara Ifeji, Director of Youth Engagement and Policy, Maine Environmental Association and National Geographic Young Explorer; and Kosi Ifeji, Bangor High School student and Youth Hub Coordinator, Maine Environmental Education Association.

The event was made possible with …

Increasing Mental Health Awareness In The Homeless Youth Community, Kelly Joyce

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Mental illness within the homeless community is a pressing issue, which requires an increase in awareness throughout the community in order for it to be properly addressed. A lack of funding for low-cost or free mental health care, difficulty accessing existing programs by the homeless, and few options for care have contributed to the issue of mental illness and poor mental health among the homeless youth community. This can lead to various severe consequences, such as declining mental state for those within the community, prolonged homelessness, and an increased risk of developing a substance abuse disorder.

The Youth Homeless Response …

Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy & Support Among Secondary Early-Career Teachers And Their Principals During The Covid-19 Pandemic, James A. Martinez, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Frances E. Anderson, Frederick L. Uy

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

In response to challenges faced by middle and high school educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study was conducted in the Spring of 2021 involving 33 early-career mathematics teachers and eight supervising school principals in the State of California. These participants completed detailed surveys which provided demographic information, as well as perceptions of support, efficacy and job satisfaction. Findings show a variety of associations among teacher perceptions of support and their efficacy and job satisfaction in the face of challenging circumstances. As it related to principal support and recognition, principal participants expressed confidence in their ability to support teachers as …

Coding Human-Animal Interactions In Homes Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Caitlin Lisk, Lisa Ann Mische Lawson

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder characterized by differences in social functioning, communication, sensory preferences, and behavior. These differences invite an effort to understand the human-animal bond and its impact on families and children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE) coding tool can be utilized in a home-based setting to code human-animal interactions in children with ASD. The OHAIRE is a coding tool developed to quantify the behavior of children when interacting with social partners and animals in naturalistic settings. The tool has been tested …

From Pandemic Response To Portable Population Health: A Formative Evaluation Of The Detroit Mobile Health Unit Program, Phillip Levy, Erin Mcglynn, Alex B. Hill, Liying Zhang, Steven J. Korzeniewski, Bethany Foster, Jasmine Criswell, Caitlin O'Brien, Katee Dawood, Lauren Baird, Charles J. Shanley

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

This article describes our experience developing a novel mobile health unit (MHU) program in the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area. Our main objectives were to improve healthcare accessibility, quality and equity in our community during the novel coronavirus pandemic. While initially focused on SARS-CoV-2 testing, our program quickly evolved to include preventive health services. The MHU program began as a location-based SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy coordinated with local and state public health agencies. Community needs motivated further program expansion to include additional preventive healthcare and social services. MHU deployment was targeted to disease “hotspots” based on publicly available SARS-CoV-2 testing data and …

Consistent Snap Participation Increases Preventative Health Care Visits For Infants, Colleen Heflin, Irma A. Arteaga, Julia Stafford

Population Health Research Brief Series

Food insecurity in families with children has increased dramatically during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Not only is food insecurity a problem on its own, but it is linked to receiving less preventative medical care in the first year of life—including well-child visits and recommended vaccinations. This brief summarizes findings from research examining the connection between SNAP participation and preventative care in an infant’s first year of life in Missouri. Findings show that infants in households that receive unstable SNAP benefits have a lower likelihood of attending all their well-child visits and receiving routine immunizations. Policymakers should consider interventions to simplify …

Behind The Steel Bars Of History: The Post-Civil Rights Era Radical Prison Movement, Stephen Perez Jr.

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

The resistance and political action taken by the incarcerated in prisons like Attica Correctional Facility during the post-civil rights era (1968 -1972) faced an unprecedented state-led, counterinsurgent force. The socio-historical context of this suppression is a time of crisis for the U.S. as it struggled to maintain capitalist hegemony in the face of anti-systemic movements from the New Left. The post-civil rights era was a moment in US history that saw the strongest and most radical challenge to racial capitalism to date in the form of a social movement led by prisoners, yet the historical legacy of radical prison organizing …

Culture And Social Change In Mothers’ And Fathers’ Individualism, Collectivism And Parenting Attitudes, Jennifer E. Lansford, Susannah Zietz, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Dario Bacchini, Marc H. Bornstein, Lei Chang, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Laura Di Giunta, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sevtap Gurdal, Qin Liu, Qian Long, Paul Oburu, Concetta Pastorelli, Ann T. Skinner, Emma Sorbing, Sombat Tapanya, Laurence Steinberg, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Saengduean Yotanyamaneewong, Liane Peña Alampay

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Cultures and families are not static over time but evolve in response to social transformations, such as changing gender roles, urbanization, globalization, and technology uptake. Historically, individualism and collectivism have been widely used heuristics guiding cross-cultural comparisons, yet these orientations may evolve over time, and individuals within cultures and cultures themselves can have both individualist and collectivist orientations. Historical shifts in parents’ attitudes also have occurred within families in several cultures. As a way of understanding mothers’ and fathers’ individualism, collectivism, and parenting attitudes at this point in history, we examined parents in nine countries that varied widely in country-level …

Taking Next Steps: Exploring The Fight Against Human Trafficking & Our Nation's Capitol, Maddie Bailey

Honors Colloquium

This is the flyer for Maddie Bailey's Honors Colloquium.