Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Multi-Method Analysis Of Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, And Executive Functions Among Urban Minority Girls, Amanda K. Ward

Dissertations

Recent evidence suggests that the summer months represent an especially vulnerable time of year for weight gain, inactivity, and cognitive decline, particularly among adolescent girls. To explore these issues, this study examined the relations between changes in physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI), and executive functions (EFs) among a sample of sixty-eight, 10-to 14-year-old girls participating in a four-week, community-based summer camp. Objectively measured PA data (i.e., accelerometer), BMI measurements, and EF neuropsychological assessments were conducted prior to the first week of camp and during the last week of camp. Results revealed that girls increased in all measurements of …

Profiles Of Protective Factors In Urban African American Youth Exposed To Community Violence: A Prospective Study Of Resilience, Devin Colleen Carey

Dissertations

The broad purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to community violence and adjustment in an urban sample of African American youth living in Chicago. After years of research on community violence, there has been a call to understand the influences of all levels and systems on child adjustment, as well as to use research to promote positive outcomes and prevention of future violence (Aisenberg & Herrenkohl, 2008). With this in mind, this project used latent profile analysis to create profiles of protection based on individual, family, peer, and community factors, as well as evaluate the …

Migratory Loss And Depression Among Adult Immigrants Of Chinese Descent, Christine Chih-Ting Chang

Dissertations

The immigration process does not only include the life after relocating to a new environment and settling down in the host society but also includes separation from the life before their departure and the negotiation between redeeming and closing their losses. This study was the first attempt to investigate migratory loss among adult immigrants of Chinese descent. The study developed the Migratory Loss Scale and examined the moderation effect of acculturation as well as the moderation effect of the presence of immigration-related meaning on the relationship between migratory loss and depression. The study also examined the mediation effect of the …

Comparing The Clinical Approaches Of Christian Social Workers And Secular Social Workers, Kristin Larsen

Dissertations

This mixed methods research study explores the current interface of religion and social work in clinical practice. A total of 91 National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter members and 120 North American Association of Christians in Social Work members responded to clinical vignettes via an online survey. Subsequently, a small group of Christian social workers and a small group of Secular social workers convened for focus group discussion. This study found that the approaches of Christian social workers and secular social workers were not fundamentally different; however, there was some evidence of significant differences between the groups and their …

An Examination Of Hiv/Aids Complacency, Attitudes And Sexual Risk Behavior Among Men Who Have Sex With Men: Implications For Community Based Prevention Efforts, Practitioners And Social Work Education, Michael Richard Lloyd

Dissertations

The following study examines the role of HIV/AIDS complacency and substance use on sexual risk behavior among men who have sex with men. The study analyzes data collected at a bathhouse over a seven day period beginning on June 9, 2014 and ending on June 15, 2014. The independent variables of HIV/AIDS complacency and substance use, along with the dependent variable of sexual risk behavior are examined through the lens of protection motivation theory. Protection motivation theory posits that response efficacy and threat appraisal influence how a person makes decisions. The implications and findings of the study related to direct …

Sexual Assault And Academic Achievement: Creating More Ideal College Campuses For Sexual Assault Survivors By Taking Into Account Intersectionality And Multiracial Feminism, Kelly Pinter

Dissertations

In this dissertation, the reader will learn about 28 sexual assault survivors' perceptions about educational and criminal justice responses to them after a sexual assault and how these sexual assault survivors perceived how race and ethnicity, income, and gender affect cases differently. Additionally, I explore sexual assault policies that survivors think are working, and those they feel need improvement. I also assess in depth recommendations concerning what education administrators, staff, and advocates can do to assist sexual assault survivors.

Participant Engagement In Home Visits: A Missing Piece In The Puzzle Of Evidence Based Programs And Implementation Science?, Mariel Sparr

Dissertations

Within the social services field, researchers, policy makers, and practitioners are paying increasing attention to the concept of `evidence based' home visiting program models. However, a singular focus on evidence based programs continues a tradition of limited and vague understandings of how programs are actually implemented.

The field of implementation science offers a framework for expanding this focus to more fully understand how home visiting programs are implemented. A key dimension of implementation is participant responsiveness. The field of home visiting lacks a coherent and standard conceptualization of participant responsiveness. As one might expect, it also lacks standard measurement of …

Dbt And Bereavement: A Multiple Baseline Design, Marissa Marshak

Dissertations

This is an interpretive, single-subject design study, which followed a non-concurrent multiple baseline design to understand the processes of bereavement treatment. The study comprised six groups (n=29) enrolled in the General Adult Loss Groups after the loss of a family member. The researcher used mixed methodologies to understand the bereavement process, group work process, and DBT process. The objective was to evaluate whether the timing of implementing DBT, or DBT at all, improved coping outcomes. Two groups served as control groups, and the remaining four groups received a 5-weeklong 45-minute voluntary modified intervention of DBT at staggered intervention start points. …

Contributors To Infant Sleep: Factors Influencing Sleep Consolidation In Five- To Seven-Month Olds, Amber Leigh Evenson

Dissertations

Sleep is a universal construct that receives much attention in media and science, at least partially due to its importance as an essential component in development, health, and wellbeing. While undeniably vital, infant sleep is often variable and relatedly perplexing to parents. Around five-to-seven months of age, infants enter a time of quantifiable developmental change, impacting relational, cognitive, motoric, communicative and sleep behaviors. Because adequate sleep is considered one of the most indispensable precursors for developmental gains, factors that impact the progression of sleep are of interest. The current study utilized Ecological Theory to examine what variables impact sleep consolidation, …

Mother-Infant Relationships In The Nicu: A Multiple Case Study Approach, Ilona Helin

Dissertations

Parent-child relationships consist of both external and internal components. The external component is the behavioral interaction between mother and child, while the internal components are expectations each member of the dyad has for the both the relationship and of the other partner. These expectations are called internal working models (IWMs) and are blueprints that have been developed from an individual’s childhood experience of sensitive or insensitive parenting. A mother’s IWMs influence how she perceives her child, her relationship with her child and herself as a mother, the sensitivity of her caregiving, and ultimately her child’s IWM of him or her …

Learning From The Un Preventive Deployment Mission In Macedonia: Nothing Fails Like Success?, Mary Frances Rosett Lebamoff

Dissertations

Preventive deployment as a conflict prevention tool has not recurred in the past decade-plus, despite the broadly acclaimed success of the United Nations Preventive Deployment in Macedonia (UNPREDEP 1995-1999; and its predecessor mission, UNPROFOR/Macedonia, UNPROFOR/M 1992-1995). The United Nations in particular has continued with mainly first- and second-generation peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding actions. What may best explain why has there has been no other engagement in preventive deployment missions, when there has been much emphasis placed formally and informally on early warning, detection, mitigation, and prevention of conflict? There have also been an increasing numbers of violent conflicts worldwide, so …

Military Millennials As Next Generation Leaders: Do Leadership Traits Matter?, Phillip Michael Green

Dissertations

Employers are constantly evaluating individuals to fill leadership roles within their organizations to extract the highest return from their resources and investments. Millennials, born between 1982 and 2000 (Howe and Strauss, 2000), represent the youngest and newest generation entering the workforce. A sub-population of this generation consists of military veterans returning to the United States after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This quantitative study examines the leadership traits of the military Millennials that have transitioned to civilian life and compares this population segment with Millennials without a military background. To compare the two groups of the generational cohort, a …

Marital Expectation Fulfillment And Its Relationship To Height Of Marital Expectations, Optimism, And Relationship Self-Efficacy Among Married Individuals, Kristina D. Johnson

Dissertations

Problem

The literature is clear that individuals report higher marital satisfaction when their expectations are fulfilled in marriage, but there is disagreement in the literature as to what role height of expectations plays in expectation fulfillment. Further research in this area was needed to clarify these disagreements and identify variables that interact with height of expectations to determine marital satisfaction.

Method

Participants completed surveys that measured their a) martial satisfaction, b) optimism, c) relationship self-efficacy, d) height of marital expectations, and e) the extent to which participants felt their marital expectations were being met. Structural equation modeling was used to …

Examining The Relationship Between Student Engagement And Stem Persistence At An Hbcu, Saundra Yates Evans

Dissertations

A growing imbalance in the demand for a science and technology workforce and the declining availability of a science and technology talent pool is challenging America’s world dominance in research and innovation, economic performance, and quality of life. Contributing to this imbalance is flatness in the trend of students selecting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors coupled with decreasing rates of retention in STEM disciplines. Many research studies and reports emphasize that incorporating the untapped talents of Americans who are underrepresented in STEM disciplines--African-Americans, Hispanics, and women--is necessary to increase the pipeline of STEM graduates. A synthesis of college …

Predictors And Profiles Of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among African-American Adolescents And Young Adult Males Behaviorally-Infected With Hiv: A Classification Tree Analysis Approach, Israel Moses Gross

Dissertations

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy is crucial for thwarting disease progression and reducing secondary transmission, yet HIV+ youth struggle with adherence. The highest rates of new HIV infections occur in young African American men (YAAM), thus understanding reasons for non-adherence in this group is critical. Reasons for non-adherence can be complex and multifactorial, and innovative methods of exploration are needed for advancing prevention and treatment efforts. A sample of 387 HIV+ YAAM who reported currently taking HIV medications were selected from a cross-sectional assessment of 2,226 HIV+ youth from sites within the Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) from 2009-2012 …

Investigating The Role Of Cognitive Biases As A Risk Factor For Depression, Daniel Aaron Dickson

Dissertations

Consistent with the combined cognitive bias hypothesis (Hirsch, Clark, & Mathews, 2006), cognitive biases in attention, memory, and interpretation have been posited as an underlying vulnerability to the maintenance and recurrence of depressive episodes. While research supports the presence of these biases during current depressive episodes, there is limited evidence that these biases persist following the remission of depression symptoms. However, there is some initial data that suggest that these biases persist in remitted depressed individuals, indicating that these biases may serve as a vulnerability factor for subsequent depressive episodes. In addition, there is little research that has evaluated these …

Surviving The Presidency: Presidential Failures In South America, Christopher A. Martinez

Dissertations

Since 1979, one out of six South American presidents have failed to complete their terms of office. These "failed presidencies" occur when democratically elected presidents are forced to leave office early, but without compromising the democratic order. This dissertation seeks to solve the puzzle of what drives presidents out of office. Previous studies have found that institutional and political factors, economic issues, and social mobilizations are powerful forces affecting presidential failures. In this research, I examine the impact these factors have on the likelihood of presidential failures.

Additionally, I argue that previous works have failed to find a significant relation …

Factors Impacting Student Outcomes In Multicultural Counseling Courses, Kathleen Kordesh

Dissertations

This study explored how complex factors related to student characteristics (e.g., demographics, levels of racism) and instructor characteristics (e.g., demographics, level of multicultural competence, teaching strategies) are related to student outcomes in multicultural counseling courses (e.g., levels of racism and levels of multicultural competence at the end of the semester). Data collection yielded a sample of 21 students and six instructors. Findings suggest that instructors are a significant factor in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural knowledge, but not in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural awareness. Multivariate analysis of student responses suggest that …

Gender-Homogenous Mentoring, Spiritual Wellbeing, And Self-Efficacy Beliefs In African American Male Adolescents: A Test Of Three Models, Toussaint David Whetstone

Dissertations

Many African American male adolescents mature without the influence of an adequate social model, or a positive, same sex (or gender-homogenous) mentor. Thus, it may be difficult for African American male adolescents to reach adulthood having developed the perceived capability to be successful within specific domains that American society commonly associates with a healthy life course trajectory. A large body of research has suggested that vicarious experience or role modeling is a primary source of efficacy information in a variety of life domains. Research has also suggested that modeling effects are enhanced if the subject and model are similar, especially …

The Role Of Cultural Climate, Racial Identity, And Mentoring Relationships On African American College Success, Kia-Rai Michelle Prewitt

Dissertations

African American undergraduate students face numerous challenges in higher education including adjusting to college-level work, a new environment, increased responsibilities, building new relationships, and experiences with discrimination. The dissertation study examined whether cultural climate, racial identity, and mentoring relationships predicted academic success for African American undergraduate sophomores attending four-year colleges and universities. The researcher analyzed these constructs using data from the 2012 national data set of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) survey, an instrument containing over 400 items and scales measuring student demographic information, pre-college knowledge and experiences, college experiences, and educational outcomes. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression …

Emergent Literacy Skills In Print And Electronic Contexts: The Influence Of Book Type, Narration Style, And Attention, Kathryn Joyce O'Toole

Dissertations

Preschoolers can learn words and story content from traditional print books, but there has been no direct comparison of their learning from print and e-books while controlling for narration style. Additionally, very little empirical work has utilized a tablet e-book as the majority of research has examined learning from computer e-books. The current project examined how 4-year-olds (N = 100) learned words and story content from four different book reading contexts: a print book read aloud by a live adult, a print book narrated by an audio device, a tablet e-book read aloud by a live adult, or a tablet …

California Community Colleges Child Development Laboratory Schools, Shari Yates

Dissertations

Community colleges in California are the primary source for preparing the early childhood care and education (ECE) workforce. The California child development lab school mission is to prepare ECE practitioners, provide a laboratory where college students can study and research child development/education, and offer a service to children and families. There are many benefits that are derived from laboratory schools but many community college lab schools have been reduced and/or closed over the past three years. The purposes of this Delphi study were (a) to examine the most pressing issues, problems and barriers facing California community colleges child development labs …

Impact Of The Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism On Emotion Identification In Healthy Older Adults, Staci Erin Scott

Dissertations

Older adults exhibit reduced accuracy and efficiency for identifying facial emotion expressions yet it is unclear how genetic or cognitive variables influence these findings. This study examined the impact of serotonin transporter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR on patterns of explicit emotion identification accuracy and reaction time (RT) in healthy older adults. The impact of 5-HTTLPR on measures of processing speed, attention, and executive function as well as correlations between cognitive measures and emotion identification measures were also examined. Methods: Forty-one individuals over the age of 50 were genotyped for bi-allelic and tri-allelic variants of 5-HTTLPR and administered an emotion recognition paradigm and …

Women In Kazakhstan: A Multifaceted Approach To Female Political Representation, Ashley Gaile Benedict

Dissertations

This investigation focuses on two competing theories (historical institutionalism and social constructivism) and their explanatory value in regards to female political representation in Kazakhstan. Historical Institutionalism maintains that current institutional dynamics are constrained by past institutional formations, even when these past institutions are no longer relevant. Social Constructivism challenges this theory by upholding that institutions are culturally situated and a reflection of shared ideas rather than material forces as argued by historical institutionalism. Based on Hanna Pitkin’s (1967) four dimensions of representation (formal, descriptive, substantive, and symbolic), I examine how Kazakhstan’s Soviet past and its creation of a Kazakh ethnic-national …

Who Decides? A Study Of The Effects On Decision Unit Dynamics In Crisis And Crisis Transition, Janet Leigh Drake

Dissertations

Foreign policy decision-making is often an obscured process, particularly when it involves threats to national security or national interests. Despite the lack of transparency, though sometimes necessary, foreign policy decisions can have far-reaching consequences. Policymakers establish and affect relationships with other governments, and can commit state resources for cooperation or for conflict. The purpose of this study is to determine what types of decision units make foreign policy decisions and what factors influence the dynamics of the unit. I employ the decision units (DU) framework developed by Margaret Hermann to decisions made by the United States and Israel during the …

The Role Of Violence Within And Across Self-Identified Gang Youth, J. Michael Vecchio

Dissertations

Whether actual (i.e., direct and vicarious victimization) or anticipated (i.e., fear of crime and perceived risk of victimization) violence, gang youth commonly discuss violence in terms of having an important role in both their gang experiences and daily lives. In particular, violence can play an important role within the specific stages of the gang experience – 1) joining, 2) active membership, and 3) leaving. This includes the importance of protection from violence as a common motivator for joining, the utility of violence as a means of building cohesion between active gang members, as well as the importance of exposure to …

Motivated To Adapt: Applying Goal-Setting Theory, Primed Subconscious Goal, And Implementation Intention, Graham Benjamin Wohler

Dissertations

This study investigated the effects that several motivational interventions have on transition and reacquisition adaptability. Goal-setting, whether assigned or self-set, had no effect on either form of adaptability; however, the two goal-setting conditions differed from each other once goal commitment was taken into consideration. High commitment was negatively associated to transition adaptability for assigned goals, but positively related for self-set goals; this trend was marginally significant in reacquisition adaptability as well. Primed subconscious goals were found to have no effect on either form of adaptability. An implementation intention was found to negatively relate to transition adaptability and to have no …

Does Video Game Use Exacerbate The Relation Between Neurophysiological Deficits And Adhd Symptoms In Children And Adolescents?, James Kenneth Goodlad Iii

Dissertations

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed based on behavioral symptoms but is thought to have a significant heritable neurological basis, and several brain structures have been implicated. Recent research has focused on the role of environmental factors that may influence the behavioral expression of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity in children and teens, particularly when a biological predisposition exists. This study sought to broaden the literature base by examining the extent to which one environmental factor—video game use—moderated the relation between neuropsychological deficits in attention and inhibition and the behavioral symptoms of ADHD. It was hypothesized that gaming frequency and duration as well …

The Effect Of Stress And Perceived Social Support On Job Satisfaction: A Comparison Between U.S Born And Foreign-Born Faculty, Lisa Owen

Dissertations

Research indicates that academic work-stress is a significant and growing problem for faculty members. General work-stress studies suggest that social support may buffer the negative impact of stress on faculty job satisfaction. To date, little research has been conducted in this area. Even fewer studies have examined the potential differences between U.S.-born and foreign-born faculty members regarding these variables. This quantitative, non-experimental multivariate study utilized a survey to assess academic stressors, perceived departmental social support, and job satisfaction at a large U.S. university. The surveyed institution consisted of 807 full-time faculty members. The three-week survey yielded a response rate of …

The Natural Resource Curse In Sub-Saharan Africa: Transparency And International Initiatives, Meaza Zerihun Demissie

Dissertations

The Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region has become a classic case of the resource-curse phenomenon characterized by the abundance of natural resources, low economic development, and misuse of natural resources. Economic-development experts debate ways to overcome or avoid the resource curse to advance SSA countries into developed countries. Only one natural resource-rich country in the region, Botswana, has succeeded in becoming an upper middle-income country using its natural resources, making the possibility of replication of this achievement difficult. The literature aligns in the belief that the economic and political well-being of resource-rich nations depends highly on the actors involved. National and …