Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Aiding Families With Children With Disabilities In A Refugee Crisis: Kosovo Case Study, Benson Gunther, Dr. Blake Hansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Families that have children with disabilities, specifically emotional/psychological/social disabilities (i.e. Autism, Down Syndrome, and other cognitive/neurodevelopmental disorders), encounter seemingly insurmountable distresses on a day-to-day basis in times of peace, let alone in times of emergency. These families depend heavily upon a consistent, well-established home environment with a precisely-calculated daily routine and access to key resources that keep their family unit intact. When rising political turmoil or threats of domestic violence culminate to jeopardize the safety of the population at-large, these families are compelled to abandon their homes and all the security that their homes provide. And while packing-up and fleeing …

The Architecture Of Belief: Developing Personal Convictions And Preserving Tradition, Kalli Abbott, Dr. Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Hmong people are a diasporic, highland ethnic minority group spread throughout Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. Contenders of Christianity have penetrated their communities with religious change to a significant extent. Hmong traditional religious practices include a repertoire of ancestral and spiritual rituals influenced by Taoist and Confucian ritual systems. Challenging these traditional systems today is the influx of conversions to Protestant Christianity in Thailand (about 10% from community surveys). Beginning in the 1960s, the war in Laos began to cause major disruption in the life of Hmong people. Escaping as refugees to Thailand and eventually to …

Investigating The Gender Gap In Grade Sensitivity For Economics Majors, Brittany Farnsworth Russell, Dr. Eric Eide

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For my research I used institutional data from Brigham Young University as well as survey data from students to investigate the effect of gender and grade in Econ 110 on the probability of choosing economics as a major. This topic is of interest because the percentage of female economics majors at BYU is 16%, well below the national average. The aim of this project was to determine whether female students react differently to grades than male students. Previous research has documented a gender gap in grade sensitivity that leads women with lower grades to drop out of economics while men …

Study, Test, Test: A Formula To Distinguish Memory Specificity In Declarative Memory, Jordan Clark, Dr. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to increase our understanding of how human memory works. Specifically, we wanted to investigate what happens in the brain when we make memory mistakes, and to see if there are regions of the brain whose relative activation levels could be predictive as to whether a memory mistake will be perpetuated or corrected. In response to the first part of that research question, we hypothesized that when a memory mistake is made, the memory trace from the mistake is encoded separately from the original memory, rather than overwriting the original memory. For the second part …

Context Dependent Memory Specificity, Todd Winn, Leila Lesueur, Dr. Brock Kirwan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In current literature, researchers have proposed that the relationshipbetween objects and the context they are found in is integral to long-term declarative memory, and converges at hippocampal processes. In order to explore the effect of visual context on memory, our experiment was designed to evaluate the behavioral performance of subjects completing a contextual memory task intended to tax the pattern separation process in the hippocampus. Pattern separation is the computational process performed in the hippocampus with the goal of making similar patterns of neural activity as dissimilar as possible, thereby allowing us to distinguish between two objects that appear similar. …

Psychological Effects Of Parental Divorce In Adulthood, Alexander Wambach, Dr. Kevin Shafer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The United States has experienced a greying of divorce over the last 25 years. During this period, the divorce rate among couples aged 50 and older doubled, and almost 25 percent of divorces that took place in 2010 involved someone 50 years of age or older (Brown and Lin 2013). Many of these older divorcing couples are likely to have children who are already adults at the time the divorce takes place. Qualitative evidence indicates the adult children of late-life divorce are negatively impacted in some way (Greenwood 2012). I hypothesized that adults who have a parent that is recently …

Self-Regulation, Inhibition Response, And Perceived Parental Support: An Fmri Investigation Of Adolescents With Adhd, Erin Kaseda, Dr. Wendy Birmingham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It is estimated that between 5-10% of children and adolescents in the United States have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For adolescents with ADHD, parent-child relationships and peer relationships may experience increased conflict. Interpersonal difficulties among family members put children with ADHD at risk for comorbid disorders, including depression and anxiety. Very little research has been done on children’s own perception of the quality of parental support and its role in self-control behaviors. Understanding which parental supportive behaviors are perceived as the most helpful may allow clinicians to target interventions to best improve the resilience of adolescents with ADHD.

Goal Setting And Goal Achievement In Marathon And Half-Marathon Runners, Jared Richardson, Dr. Benjamin Ogles

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Goal setting provides multiple benefits in the realm of athletics. These include overcoming fear of failure (Wikman, Stelter, Melzer, Hauge, & Elbe, 2014), performing at a higher level in both training and competition (Filby, Maynard, & Graydon, 1999), and increasing motivation (Sullivan & Strode, 2010). Marathon runners and halfmarathon runners are included among the benefactors of goal setting.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: The Influence Of Han And Heung On Korean Culture, Bryce Mangelson, Dr. Greg Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Current scholarship about Korea recognizes the importance that han has on Korean culture. Han is a feeling of melancholy and sadness that stems from constant suppression and opposition. Han is discussed within a historical context of political oppression from foreign countries such as China and Japan.

In my ethnographic study, I found an additional concept called heung that plays a pivotal role in the Korean culture. Heung is the collective energy and joy that motivates celebrations and builds solidarity within the community. Heung is underrepresented in the literature sounding Korean culture even though it is a critical Korean concept. These …

Parental Knowledge, Attitudes, And Intentions Regarding Hpv Vaccination In Religious Populations, Kristina Hall, Dr. Wendy Birmingham

Journal of Undergraduate Research

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 79 million Americans are currently infected with HPV (“Human Papillomavirus (HPV)”, 2016). In fact, it is so common that most sexually active adults will be infected at some point in their life (“Human Papillomavirus (HPV)”, 2016). While HPV is in many cases innocuous, if it persists, certain strains may cause genital warts or several types of cancer. Nearly all cervical cancers are caused by HPV, along with many vulvar, vaginal, penile, anal, mouth and throat cancers (“HPV and Cancer”, 2016). Cervical cancer in particular is one of the most deadly …

Understanding Biracial Women's Identity Formation, Tinesha Zandamela

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This qualitative study study seeks to identify themes and patterns concerning biracial women’s experiences in the U.S. It is intended to help expand what researchers currently know about what it means to be biracial in the U.S. If society at large has not dictated a script for multiracial persons because they are not even fully recognized as a racial group throughout the US, what can the experiences of these biracial women tell us about the current sociological theories of identity construction? Utilizing six interviews with half-black women and three sociological theories, this paper seeks to answer that question. Ultimately, this …

Nabataean Seashell Trade, Emma Collett, Dr. David Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Petra, Jordan the ancient civilization of the Nabataeans has been studied for hundreds of years. Even with these years of archaeological research and discovery some aspects of the Nabataean culture have not yet been extensively studied. This past Spring term the BYU archaeology department held a field school in Petra. During this field school, Dr. Johnson and I were able to more closely study and gather information on one such aspect of the Nabataean culture not yet studied—Seashell trade.

Converting Gendered Expectations: Emerging Feminist Discourse Among Protestant And Seventh-Day Adventist Hmong, Stephanie Parsons, Dr. Jacob Hickman

Journal of Undergraduate Research

During my second week living in a Hmong village outside of Chiang Mai, I sat down with a middle-aged woman while she was working on her embroidery. She is a Protestant Christian who has been married twice, once to an old culture Hmong man, and currently to a Thai Buddhist. I was surprised to hear that she didn’t follow the Hmong traditional expectation of converting to either of her husband’s belief systems. When I asked her why she never relinquished her faith in Christianity, she said that she was afraid to follow her first husband in old culture traditions. Her …

Redefining The Measurement Of Pornography Consumption, Stephen Hatch, Dr. Scott Braithwaite

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pornography consumption has grown over the past decade with the industry’s leading providers reporting billions of more views with each passing year (Pornhub.com, 2015). The Internet has facilitated the social acceptance and spread of pornographic material, and it is believed that approximately 40 million Americans view pornography regularly. With such a large number of Americans viewing pornography, and providers reporting more video views, it is unsurprising to learn that the pornography industry generates more income than professional basketball, football, and baseball combined (Cooper, 1998; Ropelato, 2006).

How Is Perfectionism Related To Neural Indices Of Error Processing And Negative Feedback?, Jayden Goodwin, Dr. Michael Larson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Perfectionism, or the pursuit of error-free performance, is often associated with shame, guilt, failure, and low self-esteem (Kilbert, Langhinrichsen-Rohling, & Saito, 2005; Stahl, Acharki, Kresimon, Völler, & Gibbons, 2015). Individuals with psychiatric disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), eating disorders, and anxiety disorders often display these maladaptive traits of perfectionism (Fairburn et al., 1999; Fairburn et al., 1997; Hewitt & Flett, 1991; Steele, Corsini, & Wade, 2007). These traits could be due in part to a maladaptive response system, or an inability to respond to errors and adjust subsequent behavior (Clayson & Larson, 2011; Schrijvers, De Bruijn, Destoop, Hulstijn, & …

How Drug Treatment Availability Affects Child Abuse, Michael Ricks, Dr. Lars Lefgren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The consumption of illicit drugs is on the rise. In 2013 the number of people in the United States who admitted that they had used an illegal drug in the last month rose to an all-time high of 24.6 million (NIDA). As drug use spreads across the nation, so do efforts and initiatives to curb its rampant negative effects, ranging from stricter law enforcement, more comprehensive treatment, and broader inoculation efforts. While it seems that few of these interventions have proven to be effective—let alone cost effective—Swensen (2015) demonstrated that more available significantly reduces the number of drug related deaths …

A Study Of Nonverbal Communication Decoding And Its Relation To Marital Satisfaction, Christopher Neu, Trevor Alder, Dr. Spencer James

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Improving communication within the family can lead to more satisfying marriage and family relationships. Communication includes interaction through words, tone of voice, and our focus in the study, body language. Body language is a key form of communication, because of its honest demonstration of feelings, and it therefore has the potential to influence a couple’s relationship. Although this link has not been explicitly studied, previous literature suggests that the ability to understand body language and how satisfied an individual is in marriage are related. First, we examined if this relationship exists. Then, we studied some factors that can be used …

The Effects Of Dual Citizenship On Civic Duty Perceptions, National Identity, And The Global Community, Daniel Cottam, Dr. Christ Karpowitz

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In America alone, the number of dual citizens is estimated between one to five million. In this age of globalization, this number is expected to increase as more and more families consist of parents from two different countries. Despite the everincreasing number of dual citizens, and even as researchers continue to study how citizenship affects an individual’s perspective of their civic duties, identity, and views of others, there have been virtually no studies conducted to better understand the growing role of those who have legal ties to more than one nation-state. This results in a drought of information about this …

The Mediation Between Intrinsic Religiousness And Positive Mental Health, Mason Ming, Scott Richards

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Religiousness has gained more attention in psychological research and literature in the past few decades (Allen & Heppner, 2011; Cervantes & Parham, 2005; Worthington et al., 2003). Richards and Bergin (1997) noticed a spiritual energy in the United States that has “created a powerful cultural demand for psychotherapists to be more aware of and sensitive to religious and spiritual issues” (p. 6). The burgeoning interest in religiousness has resulted in psychological researchers studying the effects of religiousness on mental health (Oldham, 2009), and have found varying results across time. Early research on the topic of religiousness and mental health, conducted …

Ethnographic Perspectives On Female Pornography Use And Disuse, Andrea Rane, Dr. Davide Crandall

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In my research, I explore pornography use among a group of women in Utah, as well as attitudes about pornography held by people in the research location. For both the people in this study who use pornography and those who do not, the concept of pornography as the focus of an addiction exists via people creating meanings about what pornography is, how humans can engage with it, and what pornography will do to you if you use it. This, in turn, cycles back into existing as the context in which some of the women in this study have used pornography. …

The Great Plans Of The Eternal God, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

The concept that God had a plan from the beginning was clearly taught by the first generation of Nephite prophets in the sixth century BCE as it provided both them and their successors over the next thousand years with the background or context they could use to preach and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ to their people. The plan of salvation they taught made the relevance of the gospel of Jesus Christ for every individual born into this world perfectly clear. It explained the great blessings that would come to those who would repent and embrace all elements of …

The Effects Of Media On Ambivalent Sexism And Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence Victims, Liam Lavelle, Niwako Yamawaki

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The impact of media on behaviour has long been studied and debated in the field of psychology. Research on the effects of media have primarily focused on the relationship between violent media and real life acts of physical violence. In recent years studies have shown that there is indeed a link between violent media and actual violent behaviours (Anderson and Bushman, 2001). However, little research has been conducted on the effect that other media without violent themes might have. Further, there is relatively no research on the non-behavioural effects of media, that is, how media may influence attitudes and or …

Shyness And Relationship Expectations, Stephanie Richardson, Larry Nelson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Emerging work suggests that socially withdrawn individuals are at risk for a variety of problems during emerging adulthood (Luster, Nelson, & Busby, 2013; Tackett, Nelson, & Busby, 2013). In particular, a variety of studies link relationship difficulties to shy individuals within the context of romantic relationships (Nelson et al., 2008; Luster et al., 2013). Those who are shy tend to enter into their first romantic relationship later than non-shy individuals (Asendorpf & Denissen, 2008). Even once shy individuals are romantically involved, Nelson et al. (2008) found that shy individuals report lower relationship quality than non-shy individuals. There have been some …

Toward Understanding Posttraumatic Stress And Depression Among Trauma-Affected Widows In Sri Lanka, Jessica E. Lambert, Alyssa Banford Witting, Spencer James, Lakmal Ponnamperuma, Thulitha Wickrama

Faculty Publications

Objective: In this study, we applied conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to explain high rates of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among war- and disaster-affected Tamil widows in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. We hypothesized exposure to potentially traumatic events and severity of current contextual problems would influence PTSS and depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through loss of psychological (view of self), environmental (sense of community), and energy (physical health) resources. Method: Trained research assistants interviewed a convenience sample (N = 381) of women, using established measures of the constructs of interest. Data were analyzed using …

Misinterpretations​ ​Of​ ​Hmong​ ​Culture: Complementary​ ​Medical​ ​Frameworks, Telisha Tausinga, Madison Harmer

Student Works

Current social science literature outside of anthropology has attributed Hmong difficulties adapting to Western health care to their traditional healing practices, claiming that successful integration only occurs as the younger generation discards traditional beliefs (Franzen-Castle & Smith 2013). Ethnographic research conducted in France and Thailand refutes these claims; Hmong of younger and older generations utilize both the state medical system and traditional healing, integrating these systems instead of treating them as ontologically distinct (and thus in competition with each other). Many researchers and medical personnel studying or working with Hmong populations have ignored models of ontological holism because of the …

Mdma-Assisted Psychotherapy For Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Review Of The Literature, Erin Solomon

Student Works

A growing number of people suffer chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Amoroso & Workman, 2016; Buoso, Doblin, Farré, Alcázar, & Gómez-Jarabo, 2008; Mithoefer, Wagner, Mithoefer, Jerome, & Doblin, 2011; Oehen, Traber, Widmer, & Schnyder, 2013). The most popular treatments, including exposure therapy, may not be effective for some people (Amoroso & Workman, 2016; Mithoefer et al., 2011). Treatment dropout and suicidality are high among people for whom therapy is minimally effective (Amoroso, 2015; Amoroso & Workman, 2016; Mithoefer et al., 2011; Oehen et al., 2013). Researchers have begun to investigate 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy as a possible treatment for PTSD …

A New Medical Malpractice Tort System: It's Time To Prioritize The Patient, Jaden Cowdin, Tyler Lindley

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The current medical malpractice tort system often promotes inefficiency and perverse incentives for doctors. Attempts at reform, to date, have been largely ineffective or harmful to the patient. A total overhaul—including a state-run medical review board, a centralized no-fault compensation fund, and a publicly accessible black mark database—should be tailored and enacted by each state.

Combatting Labor Exploitation In The United States By Modifying Visas For Migrant Workers, Paige Herrmann

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The current statutes addressing labor trafficking in the United States are insufficient in protecting migrant workers from labor exploitation. A solution to this often overlooked problem is to introduce flexible visas which allow migrant workers who have been victims of labor exploitation to seek new employment in the United States while remaining in valid legal status, affording them freedom from abusive employers.

Children's Role In Termination Of Parental Rights Proceedings, Makayla Okamura, Michael Kummerman

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

People often argue that young children - especially vulnerable children - cannot gauge their best interests very well. But it turns out that there is success when courts allow children to have a voice in matters of child welfare cases. Various cultures and ideologies see child accountability in different ways. Considering those cultures and values and then factoring in the experiences of judges reveals that child are more capable of determining there best interests than currently policy acknowledges. Though the decision should not rest solely on the child's input, it should be heavily weighted when a judge makes a child …

Revisiting Refugee Caps: A Legislative Proposal For Executive-Congressional Compromise, Jason Gardiner, Tyler Day

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

The current system for setting the annual refugee admissions cap calls for consultation between the president and Congress; however, that consultation is not happening to the extent prescribed by the Refugee Act of 1980, an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act (the INA). We propose that the INA be modified such that the Committees on the Judiciary in the Senate and the House of Representatives must approve the president's proposed refugee cap by a two-thirds majority. Given the steadily worsening refugee crisis, this legislation is both timely and important. Our proposal will foster compromises between the executive and legislative …