Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Social Support In Dementia Care Facilities: Staff Member Perspectives, Malinda K. Dokos

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this study, certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who work regularly with long-term care residents with dementia were interviewed to investigate whether they considered providing social and emotional support to people with dementia an important part of their jobs. They were given an online survey, then each participated in an in-person interview that was recorded and later transcribed and analyzed for common themes. Through data analysis, I found that the participating CNAs unanimously considered social support to be an important aspect of caring for someone with dementia, and several personal values were associated with this perspective. They also reported the trainings …

Using A Discrete Choice Experiment To Estimate Willingness To Pay For Location Based Housing Attributes, Kristopher C. Toll

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 1993, a travel study was conducted along the Wasatch front in Utah (Research Systems Group INC, 2013). The main purpose of this study was to assess travel behavior to understand the needs for future growth in Utah. Since then, the Research Service Group (RSG), conducted a new study in 2012 to understand current travel preferences in Utah. This survey, called the Residential Choice Stated Preference survey, asked respondents to make ten choice comparisons between two hypothetical homes. Each home in the choice comparison was described by different attributes, those attributes that were used are, type of neighborhood, distance from …

Coaching Parents To Use Positive Behavior Support: Function-Based Interventions For Preschool Children With Challenging Behavior, Lauren E. Pace

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Parents who have children with challenging behavior may feel stressed, overwhelmed and at a loss for solutions. Challenging behavior can cause problems with children’s relationships with others and their school success. There are many resources for schools and children with special needs; however, resources for parents for young children (ages 3 to 5) with challenging behavior are limited. This study examined the impact of a 6-week intervention to coach parents to use strategies that encouraged children to develop skills that helped them to express frustration and solve problems in positive ways. Parents were better able to understand what the children …

Dry Heat Among The Red Rocks: Risk Perceptions And Behavioral Responses To Extreme Heat Among Outdoor Recreationists In Southeastern Utah, Kirsten M. Goldstein

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Communicating the risks related to extreme heat is important and essential for saving lives. This study looks at how tourists think about extreme heat in a hot and dry environment. It looks at relationships between an individual’s local climate, their thoughts about the current weather conditions, and demographics. The results from this study are intended to help tourist agencies, emergency managers and emergency planners, and policymakers in creating and carrying out communication strategies for extreme heat.

Thoughts about and physical responses to weather are different for everyone and shaped by personal experiences. How one thinks and feels about the weather …

Konaway Nika Tillicum Native American Youth Academy: Cultural Identity, Self-Esteem, And Academic Optimism, Tamara Barrett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Through using a Positive Youth Development framework and culturally based education program, Konaway Nikka Tillicum Native American Youth Academy aspires to mentor and prepare Native youth through high school and on to higher education. This collaborative research partnership investigated cultural identity, self-esteem, and academic optimism of Native American youth attending the academy. The results of this program evaluation found that cultural identity, self-esteem, and academic optimism were all closely related to each other as well as that they increased significantly when measured before and after the academy. GPA was found to not be predictive of cultural identity, self-esteem, or academic …

Evaluation Of A Computer-Based Observer-Effect Training On Mothers' Vocal Imitation Of Their Infant, Kerry A. Shea

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Infants begin to learn important skills, such as contingency learning, social referencing, and joint attention through everyday interactions with their environment. When infants learn that their behavior produces a change in the environment (e.g., attention from others), infants engage in behavior that produces that effect (e.g., increases in smiling sustained engagement. When mothers and other caregivers respond immediately to infant behavior, they help their infant learn that the infant’s own behavior is effective, producing a change in the environment. The current investigation evaluated the effect of a computer-based training that aimed at teaching mothers to play a vocal-imitation contingency-learning game. …

Treatment Of Clinical Perfectionism Using Acceptance And Commitment Therapy, Clarissa W. Ong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Clinical perfectionism is characterized by rigidly pursuing unrealistically high standards on which self-worth is contingent and experiencing distress when these standards are not met. Because clinical perfectionism is associated with many psychological diagnoses, understanding how to treat it may help streamline available treatments. The aim of this dissertation was to test the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a cognitive-behavioral therapy, on 53 individuals with clinical perfectionism. Participants in the ACT group received 10 therapy sessions and those in the control group were on a waitlist for 14 weeks. The first study supported the effectiveness of ACT relative to …

Mental Health Awareness And Advocacy: Assessment Tool Development And An Evaluation Of A College-Based Curriculum, Ty B. Aller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students’ mental health issues are a common concern on college campuses and are often addressed via prevention programming called mental health literacy. This dissertation consists of two studies regarding mental health literacy programming for college students at a western university in the United States. In study one, the Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy Assessment Tool (MHAA-AT) was created and evaluated for its utility in assessing college students’ mental health literacy. This assessment tool is unique in that it is built upon a process-based approach to mental health literacy. The assessment tool demonstrated adequate psychometric properties and it was deemed an …

Finding The Time: Age-Depth Models In Rockshelters And Their Paleoenvironmental Implications, Caleb E. Ferbrache

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Rockshelters are capable of preserving excellent environmental records within their sediments. But the matter of interpreting an environmental record from rockshelter sediments presents a significant hurdle in the form of dating. An “age-depth model” is typically used to estimate the age of environmental information extending through the deposit. An age-depth model calculates the changes in time between direct ages (like a radiocarbon age) and can provide an estimated age for any depth. While radiocarbon dating can provide an age for organic remains, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) can provide a direct age on quartz sand deposition and is particularly effective when …

Freedom Of Speech And Sexist Tweets, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

On November 7th, 2019, Indiana University Bloomington economics professor Eric Rasmusen tweeted a link to an article titled, “Are Women Destroying Academia? Probably.” In his tweet, Rasmusen pulled out one quote in particular as worthy of special emphasis, “geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier high IQ with moderately low Agreeableness and moderately low Conscientiousness.” Among other things, the article claims that 1) the inclusion of women as students in universities has led to the deterioration of rigor in those institutions because emotion has replaced the cold, unemotional evaluation of facts and arguments, 2) women are highly prone to …

The Spillover Effect Of Marketing Discolored Beef On Consumer Preferences For Nondiscolored Beef, Ryan Feuz, F. Bailey Norwood, Ranjith Ramanathan

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

Consumers prefer bright, cherry-red retail beef. Retailers often mark down the price of discolored beef for quick sale. However, following this practice could result in a net loss of revenue if consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for nondiscolored beef is negatively affected by the presence of discolored beef in the consumer choice set. Through a hypothetical online survey and a controlled in-person experiment, we determine that marketing discolored beef together with nondiscolored beef increases most consumers’ evaluation of, but not their WTP for, nondiscolored beef.

Organizational Capacity Of Nonprofit Organizations In Rural Areas Of The United States: A Scoping Review, Jayme E. Walters

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Rural America is facing a plethora of problems related to poverty, crime, health, and education. Nonprofit organizations serve a vital role in rural communities by providing services and advocacy to residents. Yet, it is unknown if rural nonprofits have the means to effectively address the complex issues before them. This study examines the results of scoping review which characterizes the state of empirical knowledge regarding the organizational capacity of rural nonprofits in the United States. Fifteen articles from the past decade uncovered challenges and strengths related to organizational capacity, though more research is necessary to inform funders and educators.

Associations Between Perceptions About Siblings' Development And Emerging Adults' Adulthood Attainment, Jenna R. Cassinat, Shawn D. Whiteman, Alexander C. Jensen

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

Siblings shape each other's attitudes and behaviors during childhood and adolescence; however, it is less clear if siblings continue to influence each other in emerging adulthood. This study investigated the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings in domains of adulthood attainment. Participants included 1,750 emerging adults from the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 years. Data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings showed that perceptions of siblings' adulthood attainment were positively related to emerging adults' development in those same domains. Moreover, the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings enhanced these associations; neither …

Renegotiating Gender Roles And Cultivation Practices In The Nepali Mid-Hills: Unpacking The Feminization Of Agriculture, Kaitlyn Spangler, Maria Elsia Christie

Environment and Society Student Research

The feminization of agriculture narrative has been reproduced in development literature as an oversimplified metric of empowerment through changes in women’s labor and managerial roles with little attention to individuals’ heterogeneous livelihoods. Grounded in feminist political ecology (FPE), we sought to critically understand how labor and managerial feminization interact with changing agricultural practices. Working with a local NGO as part of an international, donor-funded research-for-development project, we conducted semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation with over 100 farmers in Mid-Western Nepal in 2017. Household structure and headship are dynamic in the context of male out-migration, pushing women to …

Justice And Rodney Reed: Evidence, Sentencing, And Appeal, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

On the morning of April 23rd, 1996, the body of 19-year-old Stacey Stites was found in a wooded area just off of a road in rural Texas. Stacey had been raped and strangled to death with her own belt. Seven months later, Rodney Reed was arrested for her murder. Reed was convicted of the crime in 1998 and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. The execution was scheduled to take place on November 20th, 2019. On November 15th, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued Reed an indefinite stay of execution. The stay was issued in a climate …

Identifying Faculty And Peer Interaction Patterns Of First-Year Biology Doctoral Students: A Latent Class Analysis, Soojeong Jeong, Jennifer M. Blaney, David F. Feldon

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Faculty and peer interactions play a key role in shaping graduate student socialization. Yet, within the literature on graduate student socialization, researchers have primarily focused on understanding the nature and impact of faculty alone, and much less is known about how peer interactions also contribute to graduate student outcomes. Using a national sample of first-year biology doctoral students, this study reveals distinct categories that classify patterns of faculty and peer interaction. Further, we document inequities such that certain groups (e.g., underrepresented minority students) report constrained types of interactions with faculty and peers. Finally, we connect faculty and peer interaction patterns …

Pathways To Retention: Job Satisfaction, Burnout, & Organizational Commitment Among Social Workers, Aaron R. Brown, Jayme E. Walters, Aubrey E. Jones

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Purpose: Job satisfaction, burnout, and organizational commitment remain concerns for human service organizations. Few studies have utilized a large sample of social workers to investigate these factors while also considering practice setting. In the present study, work-related burnout, satisfaction with workload, and satisfaction with organizational environment are examined as factors contributing to organizational commitment while comparing the measurement and predictive strength of these factors based on practice setting. Method: Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling were used to estimate and compare factors related to organizational commitment with a sample of 1,786 social workers practicing in the United States. Results: …

Is The “Preventing Animal Cruelty And Torture Act” A Step In The Right Direction?, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

On October 22nd, Congress unanimously passed the “Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.” The law makes certain acts of cruelty against animals federal crimes. Before the federal law was passed, legislation protecting animals was largely a matter reserved for state legislatures. The law was met with praise from both private citizens and animal welfare organizations like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Early Adolescent Substance Use In A National Sample Of Mexican Youths: Demographic Characteristics That Predict Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Others Drugs, Alejandro L. Vázquez, Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez, Sarah E. Schwartz, Nancy G. Amador Buenabad, Marycarmen N. Bustos Gamiño, María De Lourdes Gutierrez López, Jorge A. Villatoro Velázquez

Psychology Faculty Publications

The United States and Mexico have seen significant increases in the prevalence of substance use among Latinx adolescents in the last 20 years. Research is needed to address rising national rates of substances use to inform the development of policies and intervention programs targeting Latinx youth. Our primary aim was to identify demographic factors associated with substance initiation and use among elementary age Latinx youth. Data for the present study include 52,171 elementary students in 5th and 6th grades, who participated in the National Survey of Drug Use Among Students (ENCODE) in Mexico. Youths reported demographic information, rates of substance …

Racial Stratification In Self-Rated Health Among Black Mexicans And White Mexicans, Guadalupe Marquez-Velarde, Nicole E. Jones, Verna M. Keith

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

How do Mexicans of distinct racial backgrounds fit into the recognized patterns of racial health disparities? We conduct regression analyses using data from the 2000-2017 National Health Interview Survey to determine if Mexicans who self-identify as White or Black have a relative advantage or disadvantage in self-rated health in relation to Non-Hispanic (NH) Whites and Blacks in the U.S. Our results indicate that both Black Mexicans and White Mexicans have a significant disadvantage in relation to NH-Whites while White Mexicans have a slight advantage in relation to both NH-Blacks and Black Mexicans. Overall, our results suggest that studying health outcomes …

California’S “Deep Fakes” Ban, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In 2018, actor and filmmaker Jordan Peele partnered with Buzzfeed to create a warning video. The video appears to feature President Barak Obama advising viewers not to trust everything that they see on the Internet. After the President says some things that are out of character for him, Peele reveals that the speaker is not actually President Obama, but is, instead, Peele himself. The video was a “deepfake.” Peele’s face had been altered using digital technology to look and move just like the face of the president.

How Will Climate Change Shape Climate Opinion?, Peter D. Howe, Jennifer R. Marlon, Matto Mildenberger, Brittany S. Shield

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

As climate change intensifies, global publics will experience more unusual weather and extreme weather events. How will individual experiences with these weather trends shape climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors? In this article, we review 73 papers that have studied the relationship between climate change experiences and public opinion. Overall, we find mixed evidence that weather shapes climate opinions. Although there is some support for a weak effect of local temperature and extreme weather events on climate opinion, the heterogeneity of independent variables, dependent variables, study populations, and research designs complicate systematic comparison. To advance research on this critical topic, …

Gov Docs Are Special Too! Primary Source Instruction Using Government Information Collections, Jen P. Kirk, Megan Graewingholt, Sarah Dobransky

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

• Introduction - 3 Presenters
• Case Studies and Lesson Plans
• Discussion Questions

1. Selecting Sources
2. Addressing Challenges
3. Outcomes

• Recommended Resources
• Questions/Discussion

Multidecadal Climate Variability And The Florescence Of Fremont Societies In Eastern Utah, Judson Byrd Finley, Erick Robinson, R. Justin Derose, Elizabeth Hora

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Fremont societies of the Uinta Basin incorporated domesticates into a foraging lifeway over a 1,000-year period from AD 300 to 1300. Fremont research provides a unique opportunity to critically examine the social and ecological processes behind the adoption and abandonment of domesticates by hunter-gatherers. We develop and integrate a 2,115-year precipitation reconstruction with a Bayesian chronological model for the growth of Fremont societies in the Cub Creek reach of Dinosaur National Monument. Comparison of the archaeological chronology with the precipitation record suggests that the florescence of Fremont societies was an adaptation to multidecadal precipitation variability with an approximately 30-plus-year periodicity …

Research Data Management At Usu, Betty Rozum, Andrea Payant

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

A presentation given as part of a panel at the UALC Professional Development Retreat focusing on research data management. In addition to USU’s presentation, Emily Durowski at Brigham Young University and Shirley Zhao and Daureen Nesdill from University of Utah all presented similar content with respect to their institutions.

Older Adolescents’ Understanding Of Participant Rights In The Blackberry Project, A Longitudinal Ambulatory Assessment Study, Diana J. Meter, Samuel E. Ehrenreich, Christopher Carker, Elinor Flynn, Marion K. Underwood

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

For a long‐term, longitudinal study that used BlackBerry smartphones for passive ambulatory assessment among older adolescents, this study focused on three areas of ethical concern: (1) adolescents’ competence to give assent; (2) understanding of confidentiality, the protection of information, and project goals; and (3) awareness of procedures and benefits, and comfort with the research design. One hundred and seventy‐eight participants were 17 and 18 years old (84 girls). Results suggested that participants freely gave consent and understood most, but not all of the informed consent information. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction. Participants showed less understanding of when their …

When Is Comedy Over The Line? The Departure Of Shane Gillis From Snl., Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Earlier this month, the famous sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live announced that Shane Gillis would be joining the troupe. The comedian was allegedly cast in an attempt to appeal to more conservative potential viewers. In recent years, the show has been perceived by many to have a liberal bias, and its creators wanted to draw more politically diverse viewership. Several days later, however, SNL announced that Gillis would not be joining the cast after all. The show’s representatives acknowledged that they cast Gillis on the basis of the strength of his audition, but failed to adequately vet him before …

Gov Docs Are Special Too!: Incorporating Historic Government Documents Into Instruction And Outreach Programs, Jen P. Kirk

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

• Introduction & unpack terminology
• Details about the Regional FDLP Collection and access points
• Primary Sources in Government Documents
• Online Resources
• Outreach with Primary Sources
• "Government Information Network"
• Let's work together!

Review Of Digital Preservation In Libraries: Preparing For A Sustainable Future, Lara Michels

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Digital Preservation in Libraries: Preparing for a Sustainable Future, edited by Jeremy Myntti and Jessalyn Zoom.

A Typology Of Ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) Architecture From Angamuco, Michoacán, Mexico, Christopher T. Fisher, Anna S. Cohen, Rodrigo Solinis-Casparius, Florencia L. Pezzutti, Jason Bush, Marion Forest, Andrea Torvinen

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The morphological study of architectural features, the building arrangement within urban spaces, and multiscalar variation are critical for understanding urbanism as a process. Building types and architectural typologies form the foundational blocks of urban morphology and are essential for identifying architectural patterning. We use a process-typological approach to present an architectural typology from the ancient Purépecha (Tarascan) city of Angamuco, located in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico. Using archaeological survey, lidar analysis, and excavation, we analyze building foundations from houses and public structures; storage facilities; monumental architecture such as pyramids, altars, and public buildings; and landscape features such as …