Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development Of A Brief Screening Measure For Depression And Problem Drinking, Chris Wera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the psychometric characteristics of a brief assessment measure for screening for depression and alcohol use on a college campus prior to primary care medical office visits. The measure was adapted from two widely used measures: the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) and the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT-C). Impulsivity, which has been associated with both depression and problematic alcohol use, was also examined through additional questions. The research study investigated the psychometric properties of the PHQ-4 and the AUDIT-C, and explored if eight impulsivity items from the UPPS-P measure could enhance screening for depression and problematic alcohol …

Quantifying Human Impacts On River Bar Morphology Using Digital Photogrammetry, Aaron Zettler-Mann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the study of fluvial geomorphology has been dominated by the field method of surveying using a level and surveying rod. Beginning in the 1980s, the use of ground based and aerial LiDAR increased in popularity as a surveying method. However, LIDAR is expensive and requires significant training to operate. In recent years there has been an increase in the applicability of digital photogrammetry in the field of fluvial geomorphology. Lower costs, streamlined training and an increased accuracy all make digital photogrammetry a promising tool for the field geomorphologist. A study of the morphologic changes of four river bars on …

Speaking With The Orishas: Divination And Propitiation In The Lukumi Religion, Kristi Marrero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Lucumi religion was born in Cuba from African and European religious systems. The enslaved Yoruba were brought to the New World through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. They were taken from their homes, family, language, and religion and brought to countries like Cuba to provide free labor to growing agricultural markets that benefited European colonizers of the Americas. The Yoruba would hold on to their religion, but in order to keep it alive, they would have to make it into a new religion. This new religion would become the religion known as Lucumi. In Cuba, Lucumi practitioners would hide their …

Cognitive Dissonance In The Classroom: The Effects Of Hypocrisy On Academic Dishonesty, Joanna Goldonowicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic dishonesty and academic entitlement plague many college campuses. This research applies the theory of cognitive dissonance to the classroom in an attempt to curb academic dishonesty. Hypocrisy, a branch of the theory of cognitive dissonance, has been induced with regards to health and pro-social causes, but has not been applied to the field of higher education. In order to apply the concept of hypocrisy to academic dishonesty, a two-part experiment was conducted. The first portion of the experiment was an in-class manipulation and the second portion was an online survey conducted one month after the manipulation. Two hundred two …

Exploring Stereotype Threat In The Workplace With Sexual Minorities, Elizabeth Sanz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minorities are the target of numerous negative stereotypes in the United States, and are sometimes perceived as deviant and devalued as compared to heterosexuals. Stereotype threat, the anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype about oneself or one's group, has been linked to perceived stress; and stress has been linked to low job satisfaction. Sexual minorities provide a unique test of stereotype threat theory because they may choose to conceal their minority status at work. Thus, this study also examines whether the visibility of the stigma is a necessary precursor to the experience of stereotype threat. Given the uniqueness of …

Substance Use And Drug Distribution At The Individual Level: A Grounded Theory Approach, Evan Thomas Stanforth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Substance use regularly occurs among individuals that distribute drugs and there is a limited amount of research that has examined both use and distribution. A grounded theory approach was used to develop a framework for analyzing relationships between use and distribution behaviors. 15 participants (five female, 10 male) that had experience selling drugs and using drugs were recruited from a residential substance abuse treatment center. Each participant was interviewed for one hour with an interview protocol aligning with the stage of analysis. A model was developed to explain Involvement and Integration in a Drug World with the codes Substance Use, …

Meaning, Resilience, And Traumatic Stress Following The Gulf Oil Spill: A Study Of Mississippi Coastal Residents Seeking Mental Health Services, Bethany Jane Aiena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In April of 2010, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Platform exploded, resulting in the release of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of three months. In addition to the ecological and economic impact of the disaster, the spill also had a significant impact on the psychological well-being of coastal residents. Following a disaster, not all affected people experience the same level of distress or long-term, negative psychological effects. Coping mechanisms such as resilience and perceived meaning in life are essential variables in understanding how people respond to a wide range of disasters. The present …

The Effects Of Anxiety On Second Language Acquisition, Jingjing Tu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety occurs in second/foreign language learning. A large body of previous research has demonstrated the effect of language anxiety on second/foreign language learning. Many studies have found anxiety has a debilitating effect on language learning. Factors associated with anxiety have also been investigated widely. This study focuses on the effects of the interlocutor(s) and communication contexts on language anxiety experienced by a group of ESL students studying at a flagship university in the Southeastern United States. A background questionnaire and an adapted instrument called Second Language Speaking Anxiety Scale were utilized in order to report the anxiety that students experienced …

#Democracy: The Internet And Support For Democracy In Central And Eastern Europe, Matthew Alan Placek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since 1989, the countries in central and eastern Europe have undergone a tremendous amount of societal and political change. While previous studies have noted the importance of citizen support for democracy in providing a base for regime stability in these new democracies, there is considerable debate in what influences these values. One possible mechanism of attitude change is mass media. Previous studies in political science have noted the importance of mass media in influencing citizen attitudes and behavior. Though this research has uncovered a plethora of effects that the media can have, the extant literature has mostly focused on this …

Understanding Strawberry Plains Through Landscape Archaeology, Leeanne Wendt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strawberry Plains is a site that is located in Marshall County, Mississippi and is comprised of Woodland, Chickasaw, antebellum, and postbellum components. The focus of this thesis was placed on the postbellum time period. The information presented here is intended to give a comprehensive view into the lives of the sharecroppers that resided and worked on Strawberry Plains during the early to mid-twentieth century and also understand the economic relationship between them and the landowner. Also of importance to this project was the placement of the houses and their dispersed pattern across the landscape and comparing this pattern to other …

Down In The Mouth: Homelessness And Oral Health, Jessica Kleinberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The burden of dental disease in American has been termed a "silent epidemic," affecting the most vulnerable populations in society. Poor oral health has been linked with general health issues, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as well as decreased mental health and impairments in social functioning. This burden weighs particularly heavy on the homeless, who are not only denied access to private systems of care, but are further rejected by an inadequately supported public safety net. Despite the recognition of social inequalities and the call for further scientific research, oral health care has not been extensively recognized within sociology. …

An Examination Of Social Physique Anxiety Among College Students: A Mixed Methodological Approach, Sara M. Rothberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hart, Leary, and Rejeski (1989) defined the anxiety and/or fear associated with one’s physique being evaluated as Social Physique Anxiety (SPA). Since then, numerous studies have examined this psychological construct (Crawford & Eklund, 1994; Focht & Hausenblas, 2004; Russell & Cox, 2003). However, little research has been found examining this phenomenon within current college students. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the association between SPA, gender, and self-efficacy levels among college-aged students experiencing physical activity courses requiring exercise. A secondary purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine specific physique qualities among those with high and low …

A Federated Architecture For Heuristics Packet Filtering In Cloud Networks, Ibrahim M. Waziri Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion in networking has provided tremendous opportunities to access an unparalleled amount of information. Everyone connects to a network to gain access and to share this information. However when someone connects to a public network, his private network and information becomes vulnerable to hackers and all kinds of security threats. Today, all networks needs to be secured, and one of the best security policies is firewall implementation.

Firewalls can be hardware or cloud based. Hardware based firewalls offer the advantage of faster response time, whereas cloud based firewalls are more flexible. In reality the best form of firewall …

Afraid To Be A Nerd: Effects Of Nerd Stereotypes On Women’S Math Performance, Jennifer Chau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine whether nerd stigma affects math performance. Specifically, it was hypothesized that women exposed to the nerd stigma would perform worse on a mathematics test than women not exposed to the nerd stigma. The current study also aimed to compare the effects of the nerd stigma on women’s math performance with the effects of gender stereotype threat. Gender identity, nerd identity, and fear of social exclusion were examined as possible mediating and moderating variables. Results did not support that nerd stigma affected math performance in either men or women, thus mediational analyses were …

Is Anchoring On Estimates Of Severity An Adaptive Heuristic?, Joy E. Losee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Decisions to either to prepare or not prepare for weather threats involve uncertainty. Uncertainty in decision making often involves the potential for making either a false positive (preparing for a storm that never arrives) or a false negative error (not preparing for a real storm). Error Management Theory (EMT; Haselton & Buss, 2000) posits that, depending on the uncertain context, people select a decision-making strategy that favors one error over the other. Related to weather, research has shown that people prefer a false positive, or an overestimation (Joslyn et al., 2011). Particularly, this overestimation appears when people receive severe information …

Kids Playing For Keeps: A Feasibility Study Of Coronary Heart Disease Intervention In A Rural African American Community, Carla Allen Noah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of Coronary heart disease (CHD) and the associated modifiable risk factors, combined with the known health disparities that exist in the African American (AA) community, increases the significance of prevention exponentially. Theories involving genetic and environmental factors and their interaction are gaining popularity as relevant influences on both modifiable and fixed risk factors for CHD. Innovative and targeted strategies of health promotion and preventative measures are needed to combat the growing trend of modifiable risk factors for heart disease within the southern rural AA population. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness …

Match-To-Sample Stroop Task: A Systematic Manipulation Of Sample And Response Option Onset, Marshall Lee Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Stroop task, in which participants identify the font color of a word which names an incongruent color, has long been used to investigate attentional processes; however, there is still debate concerning the source of the effects produced by the task. The semantic competition hypothesis posits that interference results from competing semantic processes associated with the word and color dimensions of the stimulus prior to response selection. The response competition hypothesis posits that interference results from competing responses for articulating the word versus the color dimension at the time of response execution. Sturz, Green, Locker, and Boyer (2013) designed …

Aspects Of The Self And Psychological Outcomes, Neil P. Martin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Depression ranks among the top health concerns on college campuses and impairs students’ functioning across numerous domains including academic, social, and personal areas, and there is still an urgent need for a model that can provide comprehensive understanding of the development and treatment of depression. The Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is introduced to bridge this gap. The current study aimed to make contributions to mental health literature by advancing our understanding of IFS theory (specifically, the concept of Self) in predicting depression, providing a framework for promoting a non-pathological model of depression, and adding to the body of empirical …

Adult Attachment And Emotion Identification: A Cognitive Evaluation, Jennifer F. Barron

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Whether adult or infant, attachment bonds aid in the development of beliefs about oneself and others (Collins & Read, 1990; Hazen & Shaver, 1987). Additionally, attachment seems to play a vital role in human development, communication, emotion recognition and comprehension, and the development of appropriate mental representations of emotional experiences (Denham et al., 2002; Greg & Howe, 2001; Raikes & Thompson, 2006). Because attachment is considered a somewhat stable trait, it seems logical that the importance of emotional experiences would not be limited to childhood, and would be important in establishing and maintaining healthy adult relationships (Kerr, Melley, Travea, & …

Mass School Shootings: Predicting The Usage Of Firearms In Acts Of School Violence, Melanie A. Hart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to increased media attention and associated fear, school shootings have become a major concern for the public. Attempts to predict and prevent shootings have been developed by a variety of government agencies such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A psychological profile, however, has yet to be established. This study uses demographic and behavioral characteristics of perpetrators and school characteristics to predict the likelihood of a perpetrator’s usage of firearms. A total of 345 perpetrators of mass school violence incidents are examined, including 266 who used firearms. White perpetrators and those …

The Role Of Religion In The Relationship Between Loneliness And Health Behaviors, Lindsy Jean Magee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While research has demonstrated the relationship of religion to health risk and health promoting behaviors, it has not investigated the relationship between religious coping and health risk and health promoting behaviors. In addition, while the link between loneliness and certain health risk and health promoting behaviors has been established, little research has looked at the potential effect that religion has on the relationship between loneliness, health risk, and health promoting behaviors. As such, it was the purpose of this study to investigate the relationship between religious coping and health risk and health promoting behaviors and to investigate the role of …

Maintaining Community On Hardship Island: A Case Study Of Demographic Change And Community Agency, Jamiko Vandez Deleveaux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to address how a community survives in the context of sustained population loss in an international context. Crooked Island, located in The Bahamas, has experienced a steady population decline over the last several decades. This research focused on how family networks and communication technology are used by Crooked Island residents to develop relationships and build community in the face of population loss from out-migration. The causes and effects of population loss are examined, and then community field theory and the interactional approach are used to understand the processes residents engage in to address place-relevant problems such …

Democratic Paradox: The Role Of Regime Type In Civil War Intervention Initiation And Success, Justin Marshall Burnett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: Justin M. Burnett: democratic paradox: the role of regime type in civil war intervention initiation and success. (Under the direction of Dr. Timothy Nordstrom) regime type is an important yet largely ignored factor in the likelihood of civil war intervention initiation and success. Most research related to intervention processes has analyzed these processes without questioning whether or not domestic political institutions and constraints affect the decision to intervene as well as the probability of success. Democracies have unique institutions and recognized norms that do not exist in non-democratic states. I argue that these differences matter and that domestic political …

Nationalism, Identity, And Rhetoric In Bosnia-Herzegovina: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Presidential Speeches, 2004–2012, Mary Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ethnic divisions undermine statebuilding efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina almost twenty years after the end of a war among the three main ethnic groups in the country. The political elites influence on how nationalism and identity is experienced in Bosnia-Herzegovina and offer reflections on how the country can or cannot be united. To what extent do the political elites at the level of the presidency articulate more narrow, ethnic themes or a broader national identity in pubic speeches? The rhetoric used by the political elites is explored to find occurrences of ethnic polarization or a framing of national identity. The thesis is …

Japanese American Cultural Identity: The Role Of Wwii, Internment, And The 3/11 Disaster In Japan, Carrie L. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explores the nature of Japanese American cultural identity through an examination of the historical contexts of WWII, internment, and the 3/11 disasters in Japan. Interview data was analyzed using both interpretive and critical paradigms. I then utilized the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), the corresponding concept of identity gaps, and critical-cultural hybridity. It was found that Japanese Americans construct, enact, and relate to their identities in markedly different ways despite belonging to the same cultural group. In turn, I am proposing further revision to CTI's communal frame to exemplify the shared and contested elements of a collective. This …

Phonological Working Memory Deficits In Adhd Revisited: The Role Of Lower-Level Information Processing Deficits In Impaired Working Memory Performance, Joseph Raiker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Working memory deficits in children with ADHD are well established; however, insufficient evidence exists concerning the degree to which lower-level cognitive processes contribute to these deficits. The current study dissociates lower level information processing abilities (i.e., visual registration, orthographic conversion, and response output) in children with ADHD and typically developing children and examines the unique contribution of these processes to their phonological working memory performance. Thirty-four boys between 8 and 12 years of age (20 ADHD, 14 typically developing) were administered novel information processing and phonological working memory tasks. Between-group differences were examined and bootstrap mediation analysis was used to …

Tractors And Genres: Knowledge-Making And Identity Formation In An Agricultural Community, Marcy Galbreath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the history of a small Florida agricultural community over the course of the twentieth century from a rhetorical perspective in order to understand the technological and communicative transitions that governed the development of American agricultural production. By examining archival and oral histories, this research will add to our understandings of how written and oral communications temper the relationships and social situations of an agricultural community, including the knowledge-making and technological adaptation resulting from communications within the community and with outside institutions and entities. Agricultural villages are not isolated entities, but rather sites of multiple rhetorical situations, and …

Resource Sovereignty: The Indigenous Value Of Mount Rainier Within Activities Of Traditional Resource Harvesting, Samantha Joan Nemecek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Nisqually, Puyallup, Muckleshoot, Cowlitz, and Yakama Indian Tribes historically utilized the plant resources of Mount Rainier until the National Park Service established Mount Rainier National Park in 1899. Since 1992 there have been formal, written requests by these Tribes to revitalize the harvest of these culturally significant plant resources in their original collection location. Through archival analysis, participant observation, and interviews with Indigenous consultants, I investigated the impetus for these requests and furthermore the role of Mount Rainier in tribally relevant plant harvesting. Data indicates a lack of plant resource monitoring in the United States Forest Service has resulted …

An Analysis Of The Appreciation Of The Chinese Currency And Influences On China's Economy, Lina Ma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, China's economy development has had more and more impact on the global economy. The Chinese currency continued to appreciate since 2005, which has had both positive and negative results on Chinese's economy. The Chinese government uses the monetary policy to control the inflation pressure, which could work counter to Chinese exchange rate policy. RMB appreciation also has some effects on the Chinese banking system. Through the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), a global computable general equilibrium model, we analyze how, when there is RMB appreciation, the Chinese exports and imports, and Chinese employment and income inequality react. …

Social Support And Affectionate Communication In Animal-Assisted Interventions: Toward A Typology And Rating Scheme Of Handler/Dog Messages, Amy Mccullough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) are a treatment modality that incorporates a trained animal into a person's healing and learning process in order to benefit the person physically, emotionally and/or socially (Delta Society, 1996). From an interactional perspective, two mechanisms that may contribute to these health benefits are social support and affection exchange. Although there is growing evidence of the health and well-being benefits of AAIs, there remains a need for scientific research to understand more precisely the communicative and behavioral components that constitute a therapeutic intervention involving an animal (Kazdin, 2010). Additionally, there is a need to develop a means of …