Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Integrated Health Care In Reducing Stigma Around Seeking Psychological Help Among International Students, Brinda Prabhakar-Gippert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intention of this study was to better understand the international student experience. The present study examined the relationships between acculturative stress, stigma, and behavioral healthcare, using Berry's Theory of Acculturation. A sample (N = 135) of international students completed measures of acculturative stress, perceived social support, self-stigma for seeking help, and perceived stigma by others for seeking help . Results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that acculturative stress is a statistically significant predictor of perceived stigma by others for seeking help, and that acculturative stress is not a statistically significant predictor of self-stigma for seeking help. Moderation …

Quantile Regression Analyses Of The Component Skills In Various Comprehension Tests, Anh Ngoc Hua

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many studies to date have examined cognitive factors that drive individual differences in reading comprehension. However, these studies often focused on typical readers, and it is not clear whether their findings apply similarly to readers performing in the extreme ends of the distribution, i.e., poor and good readers. In this dissertation, we used quantile regression on a sample of 834 children (age 8-18) to advance our understanding of the relative importance of different component processes of comprehension not just for the typical but also for poor and skilled readers. In Study 1, we examined how the relative importance of components …

The Moderating Effects Of Positive And Negative Automatic Thoughts On The Relationship Between Positive Emotions And Resilience, Michael W. Judd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resilience is generally characterized as the ability to recover and grow following adversity (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and is considered an integral factor in the promotion of overall physical and psychological health (Masten & Reed, 2002). One factor thought to be associated with resilience is more frequent positive emotions, but the relationship between positive emotions and resilience varies (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman-Barrett, 2004), suggesting moderating factors may be involved. Cognitive factors may be involved in determining the parameters that define when and to what degree this relationship occurs (Troy & Mauss, 2011). The current study was designed to further elucidate …

Daily Hassles Among College Students: The Role Of Spirituality On Risky Behaviors And Emotional Distress Indices, Kristen N. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stressful life events are correlated with a higher likelihood of engaging in maladaptive coping techniques (Boden et al., 2014; Kohn, Lafreniere, & Gurevich, 1990; Park, Armell, & Tennen, 2004). One type of maladaptive coping technique is engagement in risky behaviors (e.g., high-risk sports, risky sexual behaviors, illicit drug use; Fromme, Katz, & Rivet, 1997). College students are at an increased risk of engaging in these behaviors. Research demonstrates that stressful life events are also correlated with higher levels of depression and anxiety (Kohn, Lafreniere, & Gurevich, 1990). As college students are exposed to a more stressful environment, they are at …

Understanding Workday Ego Depletion And The Role Of Gratitude Recovery Techniques, Alexandria Steele

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Everyday activities require the use of self-control resources to regulate behaviors. Ego depletion is the idea that the use of self-control resources on one task results in reduced self-control resources for subsequent tasks. The current study aims to examine ego depletion as a result of a simulated workplace task, design a gratitude recovery technique for workplace ego depletion, and observe child punishment as a potential outcome of workplace ego depletion. A dual-task procedure in which participants completed a complex logic assessment while also listening to a background narrative mimicked workplace environments. Gratitude recovery consisted of recalling people, items, or events, …

Assessing The Feasibility Of The Employer As A Health Advisor For Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, Siddhartha Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes has become a serious issue affecting millions of Americans, especially in the southern United States. Georgia is one southern state where diabetes rates are high. Diabetes is exacerbated in rural areas where many communities are medically underserved. Therefore, diabetes prevention interventions that target rural communities in the South are needed to address this issue. Traditional methods of addressing diabetes in the South have not been effective. Innovative methods, such as worksite prevention programs, must be developed to combat the problem. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of the employer as a health advisor …

Further Exploring Processing Differences Between Geometric Shapes And Shape Words, Chelsea V. Scordas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study sought to expand upon the research of geometric shape processing in relation to theories of domain specificity and modularity. Sturz, Edwards, and Boyer (2014) presented results for possible processing differences between geometric shapes and geometric shape words. The authors found that when processing a bi-dimensional sample (i.e., a shape word transposed inside either the same or a different picture of a shape), there was asymmetric interference. Shape words would interfere with identifying the correct shape in a delayed match-to-sample (DMTS) task but there was no such interference from geometric shapes when identifying shape words. It was concluded …

Leadership Styles In Military Settings And Their Influences On Program Satisfaction, Jilian Gonzales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to investigate the presence and prominence of transactional and transformational leadership styles among US Army ROTC cadets in authority positions. The second purpose was to see whether these leadership styles had a significant influence on the program satisfaction of US Army ROTC cadets who are not in leadership positions. Those in leadership positions were predicted to rate themselves as being more transformational than those in subordinate positions would rate them. Transformational leadership was expected to be more positively associated with program satisfaction, while transactional leadership was expected to be …

The Perspectives Of School Resource Officers On Job Responsibilities And Training, Sarah Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As school security measures are increasing, including the use of school resource officers (SRO) throughout the United States, there is a concern that these officers are being used as disciplinarians rather than being in the schools to ensure student safety. There is very little research that looks at the job expectations for SROs and if the training they receive reflects what is required of them. To address this issue, this study will provide the perspectives that SROs have on their job responsibilities, what they believe their responsibilities should be, and if the training they received reflects those responsibilities. This study …

Analyzing Predictors Of Drinking And Driving Among Gender Cohorts Within A College Sample, Justin Hoyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study focuses on predominant predictors associated with each gender cohort’s engagement in driving under the influence (DUI). Aker’s social learning theory, Gottfredson and Hirshi’s low self-control theory, and Agnew’s strain theory are utilized to explore differences within two separate step-wise logistic regressions; one set of regressions contain a male only sample (n = 855), while the other model contains a female only sample (n = 968). This study uses self-report measures of DUI from a survey administered at a large Southeastern university focusing on risk-taking behaviors. Results indicate that social learning variables differential association and imitation are significant …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Needs Of Mothers In College In The Rural Southeast, Danielle N. Bostick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to understand student mothers that attended college in the rural southeast by using an ecological framework to examine the barriers and challenges that they encounter on college campuses. Additionally, the study identified support and the lack of support that the mothers received. The theoretical concepts of intensive mothering, role strain, and role conflict were also used to comprehend how parental obligations can conflict with the expectations of being a college student. In total, 14 participants that attended a mid-size university in the rural southeast agreed to be a part of the study. The criteria …

The Influence Of Normative Feedback And Expectancy Violation On Attitudes Related To Sexual Assault, Stephanie Chastang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault is a complex problem, and there is no set of best practices for sexual assault prevention and education programs. Social norms marketing and expectancy violations, however, have been proposed to be influential factors that may aid in increasing prosocial attitudes related to sexual assault. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential effect of social norm feedback and expectancy violations on attitudes related to sexual assault and bystander intervention. Participants in the study included 244 undergraduate and graduate students who completed an experiment embedded in an online survey. Results indicated that there were no significant …

Akratic Homo Economicus: Does The Neoclassical Economic Theory "Rational Agent" Assumption Accurately Depict Human Nature?, Marina Logachev

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neoclassical economic theory has long been scrutinized for its failure to be congruent with reality, often lacking generality and tractability due to, what many critics argue to be, unrealistic assumptions. One of the theory's core suppositions is a representative "rational agent" or homo economicus, whose self-interest and optimal choices, which are in state of equilibrium and efficiency are rooted in utility maximization of his well-being. Even though neoclassical economics claims to accurately depict human nature, from its very inception it has failed to incorporate human psychology and sociology into its foundations. As the behavioral and biological research became more …

Invisible Effects Of Partner Psychological Aggression, Galana Tennille Chookolingo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Partner psychological aggression has been shown to be positively correlated with psychological distress and low self-esteem for women. This study adds to the existing literature by including research on men since very little research had been done on the effects of partner psychological aggression and the self-esteem of men. However, there were a limited number of men who participated in this study and who endorsed experiencing partner psychological aggression. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with data from 153 males and females (N = 153) from national colleges and community samples to explore the relationship amongst partner psychological aggression, psychological …

The Oil Blessing: Reexamining Conflict In The Muslim World, Kumail Wasif

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An influential conventional wisdom holds that oil causes intrastate conflict and that oil in particular explains the prevalence of domestic political violence in the Muslim world. I show that the relationship between oil and intrastate conflict in the empirical literature is more ambiguous than commonly assumed. I test to see if the various measures of the oil resource predict any dimension of intrastate conflict in the Muslim world. My results show oil resources are associated with lower levels of civil conflict, repression and terrorism in Muslim-majority countries. This supports the 'rentier state' perspective which states that regimes with significant oil …

The Online Dating Preferences Of Chinese American Older Adults, Lin Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recently years, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of online dating websites among adults over age 50. Nevertheless, samples collected in existing literature are mainly centered on White/Caucasian Americans. Furthermore, the only theoretical guide has been sexual strategies theory. This study fills the gap by using sexual strategies theory and acculturation theory to test Chinese American older adults dating preferences.

The sexual strategies theory discusses how males and females use different mating strategies in short-term and long-term contexts. Acculturation theory describes changes in which individuals or groups adopt another culture when it makes contact with their …

Esperanto: A Diachronic Study Of Language Word Order, Daniel Seth Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Media And Cultural Identity In Hispanic Families In Mississippi, Marlen Polito

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative thesis with in-depth interviews with three children and one parent or caretaker of Hispanic descent. These interviews were conducted to find a connection between media use and cultural identity. By doing a qualitative project the researcher was able to do a video documentary with a written portion explaining the methods and findings. The researcher interviethree students with at least one parent or primary caretaker of Hispanic descent seventh through twelfth grade child, who serves as the main child for the study. This research investigated the relationship between the media and cultural identity among Hispanic children in …

A Comparison Of Shovel Testing And Surface Collection As Archaeological Site Discovery Methods: A Case Study Using Mississippian Farmsteads, Cameron Smith Howell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shovel testing and controlled surface collection are commethods of archaeological site investigation that are generally approved by state and federal agencies as well as the academic community for cultural resource management projects and research. While both techniques are equally utilized, little research has been conducted on how equivalent these techniques are in terms of their efficacy for finding site. This thesis seeks to find a way to compare these techniques by creating mathematical models to describe how well the methods behave when tested on known datasets generated from Mississippian period farmsteads. The predicted performance can then be compared to real …

Outsourcing And The Pupil Transportation Industry In Minnesota: An Economic Evaluation, Conrad Yelsong Puozaa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Private participation in the provision of public services is often promoted as a means to reducing production costs in the public sector. In this study, I test this result using a twelve-year panel dataset of 343 public school districts in Minnesota. The voting behavior of residents in the state’s House elections and school districts’ prior experience with contractors are used as instruments to control for the endogenous decision to outsource. The first stage results from fixed-effects two stage least squares (2SLS) regression show that the two instruments, population density and the number of school days increase the likelihood of outsourcing …

Professionals Knowledge Of Standards Required For Leed Certification Of Indoor Recreation Facilities At Four Year Public Universities, William Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bryant (1995), found that students “were at least 20% more likely to take part in recreational activity than in any other listed campus activity”. Campus recreation facilities (CRF)s promote “healthy living” programs and services for students. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a certification program housed within the United States Green Building Council and a LEED certification indicates the facility has a “green” status. LEED certification standard measures include Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. Interestingly, southeastern states have the fewest LEED certified CRFs (Kiernan, 2015). The purpose of this …

Investigating The Relation Between Self-Compassion And Romantic Relationships, Emily Jacobson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Self-compassion has recently emerged as a component of psychological health. Research on self-compassion processes has grown in recent years, and shows that self-compassion is related to lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of positive affect. The current study examined the extent to which self-compassion is related to the quality of romantic relationships. Undergraduates at the University of Mississippi (N=261) completed online self-report questionnaires assessing self-compassion and relationship quality. Correlational and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to assess the relation between self-compassion and relationship quality. Results indicated that self-compassion was positively and significantly correlated with relationship …

Passive Unaccusatives In L2 English, Chad Tyler Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Passive unaccusativity refers to a phenomenon whereby L2 English speakers produce unaccusative verbs in passive constructions. Since unaccusative verbs are a subset of intransitive verbs and thus generally do not passivize, the question of how learners recognize unaccusatives without any overt input distinguishing subsets of intransitives has piqued the interest of many researchers since the late 1970's. Oshita's (2000) claim that passive unaccusatives are NP-movement markers is now a widely accepted claim; however, studies of more general characteristics of intransitivity have revealed close parallels between passive unaccusatives and other well-documented phenomena. The aim of this paper is to show that …

Preliminary Investigation Into Biological Sex Estimation Using Trace Element Analysis In Human Hair, Abigail Woltering

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In forensic anthropology the estimation of biological sex of unidentified human remains is critical, as it essentially halves the number of potential identities. Sex estimation is also important in bioarchaeology, because the creation of the biological profile is critical to the interpretation of different sociocultural aspects of past populations. Furthermore, certain aspects of the biological profile are sex specific, so it is important to be able to accurately determine biological sex (France 1998). Typically, biological sex is estimated by assessing sexually dimorphic differences within the pelvis and skull. However, because sexually dimorphic differences arise during puberty it is difficult, and …

The Relationship Among Post-Traumatic Growth, Religious Commitment, And Optimism In Adult Liberian Former Refugees And Internally Displaced Persons Traumatized By War-Related Events, Hannah Acquaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the myriad consequences of war is displacement and refugee-ism. People become refugees when they no longer feel safe in their country of origin. Before, during, and after the journey towards safety, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) endure several challenging circumstances which stretch their normal abilities to cope. In their efforts to cope, these people report several mental health challenges like sleeplessness, hypervigilance, anxiety, and depression. The reported mental health challenges are normal in this population; however, when they persist, they result in posttraumatic stress disorder. Surprisingly, some also report obtaining psychological growth due to their challenging circumstances. …

An Ethnographic Study Of The Culture Of Twelfth Grade Upward Bound Students In The Midwest, Neffisatu Dambo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the culture of an Upward Bound College Preparatory Program in the Midwest and how it interacted with the culture of 12th-grade UB participants. In particular, the study examined how UB and the cultures that 12th graders belonged influenced students' decisions, progression, and adult transitions. UB serves at-promise high school students who are highly susceptible to academic, career, financial, and psychological challenges during their 12th-grade progression and transition. Therefore, the researcher conducted an ethnographic study that included observations, documents, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups with (N = 70) participants in the Midwest. …

The Missing Middle: Understanding The Effects Of Social Enterprise On Nonprofit Performance, Angela White-Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 2008 financial recession has seen increased poverty, job loss, and homelessness as well as decreased spending in health care, education, sanitation, and housing. These factors can lead to tensions across a number of sectors and underscore the need for innovation in for-profit, nonprofit and government organizations. One area of innovation in the nonprofit sector to supplement revenues is by adding social enterprise activity. Social enterprise is the pursuit of earned income activities for an organization that is driven by a community mission or value. Because financial and social problems are becoming increasingly intertwined, this study seeks to understand the …

Emergency Room Utilization Disparities Among Older Adults Treated By Rural Health Clinics, Matt Bagwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Examining the persistence of disparities over time is an important obligation in terms of rectifying, maintaining, and improving community health and social well-being for all. This study analyzed the individual factors of (a) race/ ethnicity and (b) dual eligibility, as a proxy measure of socioeconomic status, as well as the environmental factor of (c) place of residence, and the organizational factor of (d) Rural Health Clinic (RHC) type on emergency room (ER) utilization of older adult Medicare patients treated by RHCs within the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Region 4. A prospective, multi-level, longitudinal design was employed to …

Women With Influence: Creating A Powerful Woman Leader Identity Through Impression Management, Alex Rister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women hold few leadership roles in the workplace, and even though research indicates the positive benefits of more women in top positions, leadership has a longstanding association with masculine qualities. If a woman seeks a position of power, she may find herself negotiating between a conflicting "woman" identity and "leader" role performance. Previous literature on the subject offers two opposing perspectives. While the first school of thought emphasizes the importance of a woman assuming masculine characteristics to successfully assume leadership positions, a second body of research points to gender equality in leadership by driving industries and organizations to change. The …

Devising Strategies, Managing Needs: A Multi-Level Study Of Homelessness In Central Florida, Rebecca Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The homeless are a marginalized population vulnerable to structural forces and policy decisions, including lack of affordable housing, systemic inequalities, and lack of adequate social safety net. Homelessness is commonly medicalized (linked to individual deviancy and mental illness) by service administrators and policymakers, causing structural causes to be overlooked. A "vertical slice" approach is particularly useful to show perspectives and strategies that affect homelessness from multiple levels. Using ethnographic research methods, this project explores homelessness in Central Florida from three distinct but interrelated angles: (1) the perspective of homeless persons, (2) the perspective of staff members at Hope Helps, a …