Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"If I Go, I'Ll Probably End Up Dropping Out Too": College Enrollment Choices In A Free College Context, Gresham D. Collom, Ashton R. Cooper, Patrick Biddix, Alexis Hartley

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Publications and Other Works

Objective: In this qualitative study, we explored why students in a free community college environment in Tennessee chose not to enroll in college or dropped out of college shortly after enrolling. Methods: We conducted 27 in-depth interviews with individuals who were eligible for the Tennessee Promise. Perna’s (2006) conceptual model for college access and choice guided our analysis. We analyzed data using a three-tier approach, which included open/emergent coding, followed by a priori/theoretical analysis. Results: We identified 15 emergent themes common among interview participants, which we then categorized into the four constructs of Perna’s model. Conclusions: …

Brand Extension Evaluation In Esports: A Case Study Of The Nba And Nba2k League, Glynn M. Mcgehee, Beth A. Cianfrone, Jackson Sears

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Professional sport leagues have created esport leagues and teams, which serve as brand extensions (e.g., NBA and NBA 2K League). These brand extensions can benefit the professional sports team brand by reaching various audiences in a different product category. The purpose of this study was to examine a traditional sport entity’s (NBA franchise) esport brand extension (NBA 2K League team). In partnership with an NBA team and the affiliated NBA 2K esports team, a survey of 195 individuals assessed the brand extension on several variables, including extension awareness, perceived quality, image fit, categorical fit, innovativeness, and authenticity of the extension. …

Turning Insight Into Action: A Case Study Assessing The Use Of Consumer Behavior Data In Minor League Baseball Marketing And Communication Strategies, Jessica R. Braunstein-Minkove, Ari Kim

Journal of Applied Sport Management

As the usage of data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has increased in sport business operations, organizations must refine the ways in which they both obtain and use data to understand and, ideally, meet the needs of their consumers. A qualitative analysis, including eight in-depth interviews with a Minor League Baseball’s (MiLB) front office staff, was conducted. This was done in order to better understand the organization’s decision-making process and how they use various types of data, including the results of quantitative results from an academic study, when determining how best to reach their consumers. After a thematic analysis, three primary and six …

Perceived Service Quality And Overall Satisfaction: From A Segmentation Perspective Unique To Golf Spectators, Tomo Tokuyama, Chris Greenwell, Junko Deguchi, Masashi Shinjo

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The purpose of the current study is to examine differences in the relationships between specific aspects of the service encounter and customer satisfaction attributable to consumers’ viewing situation and frequency of attendance. Questionnaires were distributed to spectators attending a major women’s golf tournament in Japan, and study participants were asked to rate various service elements and their level of attendance satisfaction. Respondents were grouped by viewing situations (one location, following a specific pairing, or moving the course randomly) and past attendance frequency (new spectators, light spectators, or frequent spectators). Shuttle bus service predicted satisfaction regardless of segment. Merchandise predicted satisfaction …

Purpose Advertising And The Credibility Gap, Tyler Milfeld, Eric Haley

Purpose Project

One approach to purpose advertising is brand activism—taking a stand on a sociopolitical issue. This research compares divergent perspectives on whether and how brand activism influences brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Results from three studies, in which real-world brands and messages were used, identify a credibility gap between brands with a reputation for activism (established activist brands) and those without a reputation (emergent activist brands). Findings also reveal how personal issue knowledge moderates the credibility gap. Among other contributions, this research creates a new brand typology in the brand activism arena and empirically demonstrates a more favorable effect for established …

The Perils Of Non-State Actors In Pakistan: Assessing The Risks Of Nuclear Safety And Security, Iftikhar Ali, Muhammad Sadiq

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Pakistan is facing security problems on multiple fronts, including economic default, social fragmentation, poor civil–military relations, political polarization, and environmental degradation. However, the biggest security threat comes from non-state actors (NSAs) and terrorism. Using empirical evidence, this research paper evaluates the risk of nuclear terrorism by NSAs in Pakistan. It adopts an interpretive approach to examine international concerns regarding nuclear security in Pakistan. The study focuses on the potential for technology and weapon-usable materials to fall into the hands of violent NSAs. It concludes that, despite ongoing security challenges, Pakistan has taken steps to strengthen its legislative and institutional measures …

Assessing Nuclear Security Risks In Pakistan, Sitara Noor

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Pakistan’s nuclear program and perceived nuclear security concerns have attracted global attention. The varying concerns range from the potential theft of nuclear weapons or materials to the unauthorized use of a nuclear device to terrorist groups taking control of the Pakistani government. The enduring debate, however, has oscillated between these doomsday scenarios and some optimistic considerations, where various quarters have shared their satisfaction over Pakistan’s nuclear security regime and its ability to deal with the emerging challenges. To address the evolving nature of these threats, Pakistan is constantly improving its nuclear security infrastructure. It has established a comprehensive legislative and …

Indoctrination Into Hate: The Development Of Racial Neuroses Resulting From Racist Socialization Under White Supremacy, Aliya Kathryn Benabderrazak

Haslam Scholars Projects

Racial-ethnic socialization is critical to our unique and individual conceptualization of reality. This socialization occurs explicitly and implicitly across the lifespan and has significant implications for one’s behavior, social relationships, and ideological beliefs. Two of the most notable and impactful spheres in which racial-ethnic socialization occurs are within the family unit and schooling contexts. The treatment and teachings within these two spaces shape our social and psychological development. The first part of my project considers the neurosis of Whiteness as a psychological consequence of racist socialization within school settings and primarily White communities—as a macro example of the family unit—to …

Book Review: Under The Weather: Reimagining Mobility In The Climate Crisis., Raymond Murphy

Critical Disaster Studies

Under the Weather: Reimagining Mobility in the Climate Crisis is an insightful, important book that reports on a fine-grained investigation Sodero made of the consequences and response to the disasters resulting from Hurricane Juan in Nova Scotia in 2003 and Hurricane Igor in Newfoundland in 2010, with comparisons to Hurricane Sandy in New York, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the 1998 ice storm in northeastern North America and the Icelandic ash cloud. One original feature is the focus on mobility, how indispensable it is in modern societies, how it is disrupted by extreme weather, and …

Counselor Educators’ Engagement In Mental Health Services In Higher Education Institutions, Kristen Anne Carlosh

Doctoral Dissertations

In campuses across the U.S., and especially in the wake of the global pandemic, concern for student mental health is increasing. Descriptions of disparity between service provision and demand are making national headlines, as reports of student depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidality rise. Additionally, several marginalized groups, among them: racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities, continue to have mental health needs that go unaddressed and unmet. As the future workforce of the world, students’ mental health support remains a crucial priority. This is not to discount the wealth of campus resources that exist, but merely to advocate for the need …

The New Media Frontier: How Social Media Affects Partisan Attachments, Candidate Evaluations, And Political Emotions, Justin Allen Rose

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of individual social media use on polarization, evaluation of political candidates, and political emotions. Three separate articles are utilized to illuminate the effects of individual social media use. The first article pushes forward a theory which argues that social media is uniquely positioned to affect partisan feelings due to its propensity to lead individuals into echo chambers—online places that reinforce their existing opinions and attitudes. The second argues that social media plays into the hyper-partisan nature of the American political landscape, and by way, putting forward an atmosphere which will lead individuals to …

Assessing The Landscape Of Relationship Help And A Pilot Adaptation Of Relationship Checkups For Christian Churches, Adam W. York

Doctoral Dissertations

The health and stability of adult romantic relationships and the health of a society are deeply intertwined. This two-part dissertation aims to highlight the potential to bridge the gap between effective interventions and couples who need them most. The first section reviews the literature concerning relationship health, relationship help-seeking, and relationship assistance. A few important findings are revealed. Effective relationship help exists. People often do not seek help for their relationship. When people do seek help for their relationship, the methods they seek have varying degrees of effectiveness. People prominently seek religiously mediated help for their relationship. These findings led …

The Role Of Multiple Object Views In Early Word Learning: A Dynamic Process, Abigail Julian Dimercurio

Doctoral Dissertations

Word learning is a complex process that involves multiple interacting components. One of these components is the motor system. During the first few years of development, the onset of motor skills predicts the development of language skills such that earlier onsets of crawling and walking relate to greater vocabulary sizes. It is thought that this relationship occurs due to a developmental cascade where gaining locomotive skills allows for greater environmental exploration, thus, more opportunities to learn new words. One area of interest in this cascade is object manipulation. Moving objects in a way that creates multiple views is related to …

“Not What I Expected”: A Narrative Inquiry On The Leadership Experiences Of Women Campus Recreation Directors In The Power Five Conferences, Emily J. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

While there is an increase of women working in campus recreation, there remains an underrepresentation of women in leadership roles within campus recreation and related industries. Not only can it be challenging for women to navigate male-dominated fields to achieve their desired position, but women experience difficulties once they finally obtain leadership roles. This study built upon the limited research conducted about the experiences of women leaders within campus recreation. The purpose of the study was to gain further understanding of the experiences of women who are directors of campus recreation. Specifically examining their career development, resilience, and health in …

"I March To The Beat Of My Own Drum": A Critical Discourse Analysis On Mediated Construction Of Aaron Rodgers' Covid-19 Vaccination Disclosure, Patrick Crowe

Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought suffering throughout society and disruption throughout the sports world. In the U.S., there have been politically polarized debates about the best course of action for handling the pandemic, including vaccinations and the appropriateness of other restrictive measures. Amidst the 2021 National Football League (NFL) season, in which the league imposed differing levels of restrictions based on a player’s vaccination status, former MVP and Super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19. After his positive test, Rodgers, who had previously claimed he was “immunized” from COVID-19, revealed that his immunization protocol consisted of “alternate” drugs …

An Exploratory Study Of The Career Mobility Patterns Of African American Women Working In Public Parks And Recreation Agencies, Chermaine Cole

Doctoral Dissertations

African American (AA) women are among the most underrepresented and under-researched groups in the parks and recreation profession. The purpose of this study is to explore the career mobility patterns of AA women currently working in public parks and recreation agencies. To achieve this purpose, the study examines the career mobility patterns of 169 AA women over a five-year period. The study also examines their ascent into executive leadership positions in their profession. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What job positions and classifications are held by a sample of AA women currently working in public parks and …

Visual Working Memory Encoding And Action: An Investigation Using Fnirs And Mouse-Tracking, Kaleb Thomas Kinder

Doctoral Dissertations

Visual working memory (VWM) guides the motor system by temporarily keeping relevant information in mind. As an interface between perception and action, VWM plays a critical role in supporting goal-directed behavior. Research on the relationship between VWM and action has primarily focused on the effect of VWM on motor output. Traditional approaches index outcome responses, such as accuracy, but this practice provides limited information on underlying VWM processes. Conversely, the influence of action on VWM processes has received less attention and its neural correlates are not well understood. In this thesis, I examined VWM-action links using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) …

Serving American Veterans: A Review And Analysis Of Gaps In Service In The Needs Of Veterans, Mary Elisabeth Germann

Baker Scholar Projects

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is the agency of the federal government that is responsible for providing benefits, health care, and cemetery services to US military Veterans and their families. About a quarter of the nation’s population, approximately 70 million people, are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members, or survivors of veterans. Due to this expansive demand, the United States has developed the most comprehensive system of Veterans assistance programs in the World. But many argue that the US VA still falls short of expectations and fails to fulfill the needs …

The Eagle’S Eye On The Rising Dragon: Why The United States Has Shifted Its View Of China, Jackson Scott

Baker Scholar Projects

Since 1978, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has long been viewed as an economic trading partner of the United States of America (US). The PRC has grown to be an economic powerhouse, and the US directly helped with that process and still benefits from it. However, during the mid-2010’s, US rhetoric began to turn sour against the PRC. The American government rhetoric toward the PRC, beginning with the Obama administration, switched. As Trump’s administration came along, they bolstered this rhetoric from non-friendly to more or less hostile. Then, Biden’s administration strengthened Trump’s rhetoric. Over the past ten years or …

Climatological Analysis Of Tropical Cyclone Occurrence Dates And Landfall Characteristics In The North Atlantic And Eastern North Pacific, Nicholas Sava Grondin

Doctoral Dissertations

Tropical cyclones (TCs) are significant hazards to coastal and inland regions across the globe, especially in North America. North America is affected by TCs from two basins, the North Atlantic (NATL) and eastern North Pacific (ENP), with the former being the predominate focus of past research. In this dissertation, I present three studies that directly compare TCs in the NATL and ENP by using the same methods for each basin in studying occurrence dates and intraseasonal variability, effects of environmental parameters on occurrence dates and seasonal forecasting, and the behavior of TCs during the final 36 hours before landfall in …

Problems Of Professional Competencies And Pre-Licensed Counselors: Licensure Supervisors’ View Of Critical Incidents, Jennifer Moralejo

Doctoral Dissertations

Problems of professional competencies (PPC) and remediation have grown in awareness in the counseling profession and within the literature. Counselor education programs adopt guidelines from their accrediting bodies to identify, evaluate, and remediate PPC exhibited by counseling students. The literature indicates that students are still entering the professional field without proper remediation and are seeking licensure through licensure supervision. Manuscript one includes a review of literature regarding PPC in context of licensure supervision. The literature indicates lack of structure within licensure supervision, reports of inadequate and harmful supervision, issues of non-disclosure, and lack of observation of pre-licensure counselors’ clinical skills …

Faith Influences On Health Of Rural Appalachian Older Adults In East Tennessee: An Ethnonursing Study, Karina Elizabeth Strange

Doctoral Dissertations

As the U.S. older adult population increases and diversifies, healthcare providers need innovative, cost-effective, and culturally congruent approaches to gerontological nursing care. Decades of multidisciplinary evidence demonstrate that spirituality enhances older adult holistic health. However, although research about spirituality and nursing has become more culturally diverse, little is known about spirituality-health linkages of rural Appalachian older adults (RAOAs). This knowledge gap is significant because Appalachia leads the country in mortality related to chronic comorbidities such as heart disease, cancer, and depression. Given age, poverty, limited transportation, and health provider shortage areas, RAOAs experience severe health disparities. Moreover, spirituality is an …

Purpose In Place: Discerning And Forefronting Forgotten Landscapes Using The Methodological Lens Of Augmented Reality, Lindy Westenhoff

Doctoral Dissertations

Augmented reality (AR) is an under-studied tool that deserves more academic attention and gaze. By using the built landscape as its point of orientation, but providing a virtual interface with which to engage, the augmented landscape serves as a departure of the traditional digital-physical divide. This realm raises questions regarding purpose and intention, but also has its own limitations and issues with dynamic, complex spaces that change frequently. Each chapter of this dissertation stands alone as a “part” – they connect, however, through the use of this technology to answer questions unique to their spaces.

Part 1 explores the relationship …

Who Gave You Permission To Rearrange Me? Certainly Not Me: Examining The Racialized Nature Of Beauty Vis-A-Vis Colorism, Skin Bleaching, And Life Chance, Natasha P. Ellis

Doctoral Dissertations

Critical Race and legal scholars approach colorism as a mainstay of white supremacy. Scholars evaluate geographical consolidations of whiteness by examining white supremacy’s role in the formation of colorism and the relationship between how race leverages and regulates beauty. Colorism, also known as light supremacy, shadeism, pigmentocracy, shade stratification, and skin tone bias operate as racialized systems that stratify on the basis of complexion. Skin tone bias is a gendered, intra-racial prejudicial system implemented during slavery that prioritized whiteness. This dissertation examines how historically induced entities of racism and colonization racialize beauty and reinforce whiteness as a form of capital. …

Anthropology In A Rural Archive: A Study That Moves Along And Against The Archival Grain, Julian W. Mcdaniel

Masters Theses

Anthropologists have long engaged with archival materials in order to provide historically accurate information that might assist in the production of ethnographic projects. Archives are unique institutions where historical data can be found that contributes valuable information about particular groups of people; however, archives themselves are again and again being controlled by a higher power, particularly that of the State, and this act of ownership contributes to acts of omission that misconstrue historical narratives as well as descriptions of the people and places depicted within an archive. In this project, I engage with an archive located in a rural town …

Digital Inclusion In The Lis Literature: An Intersectional Analysis, Hannah Nichole Fountain

Masters Theses

Digital inclusion refers to the conditions and degrees of access to information and communication technologies (ICT) among individuals and communities. This includes the variable determinants and outcomes associated with ICT connectivity, as well as efforts to mitigate digital exclusion. With the proliferation of ICT in the past 30 years, digital inclusion (and related concepts like the digital divide and digital literacy) has been a major focus of policymaking and public service efforts, with libraries serving as leaders in offering free public ICT and digital skills training. Digital inclusion research has commonly relied upon sociodemographic variables to survey determinants of …

Covered Monuments And Black Erasure In Nashville, Tennessee, Kayla S. Roulhac

Masters Theses

Centennial Park is a staple of downtown Nashville, Tennessee because of its founding after the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition in 1897, and also for the urban green space it provides for contemporary residents and visitors. A family-friendly space is presented to the visitors, yet there is a history of slavery within the park boundaries and Black removal. The lack of acknowledgement of the former plantation, the later removal of an African American university nearly adjacent to Vanderbilt University, and the modern presence of a Confederate monument in this space brings about questions regarding the memory of this particular landscape …

“Knoxville Is Home Because I Have Made It That Way”: Drag Family And The Politics Of Joy In Knoxville, Tennessee, Devyn J. Kelly

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I uncover narratives of joy and love for a queer and trans drag family in Knoxville, Tennessee. Considered to be in a region that is openly hostile towards queer folk, I use documentary filmmaking to see how a family trans drag entertainers create queer space for themselves and others in the South. Current legislature is slashing rights for queer folk in Tennessee, directly affecting the lives and wellness of my participants. Through interviews I discover how this drag family, The House of Commitment, bands together to navigate their conservative surroundings, and form deep connections of home here. …

Posttraumatic Stress, Depression, And Subjective Social Status: Potential Moderating Effects Of Optimism, Resilience, And Self-Efficacy, Caterina Obenauf

Masters Theses

The present study investigated the potential moderating effects of optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy on the relationships between subjective social status and both posttraumatic stress and depression symptom severity in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 382, M = 19.4, SD = 1.6, 81.5% White, 60.9% cisgender women) who reported experiencing one or more traumatic events. Many participants reported the highest education level attained by at least one parent being beyond a college degree (69%). Participants completed measures assessing trauma history, subjective social status, PTSD and depression symptoms, and potential psychological resources of optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy. In the …

Comparison Of Male And Female Rib Sternal Ends And The Effects Of Aging Using Elliptical Fourier Analysis, Marta M. Paulson

Masters Theses

Sex and age make up two of the main tenets of the biological profile. Most anthropologists would argue that sex is one of the most important aspects of the profile. When creating a biological profile, the first step is to estimate sex of the individual because this can affect age estimation using the os coxa or estimations of stature. Past studies have noted that even though ribs carry out the same function in males and females there are morphological differences that can affect age estimation using the ribs. This study uses Elliptical Fourier analysis to compare differences in overall shape …