Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Method And Interpretation: Gadamer And The Limits Of Methods In Qualitative Research, Jared C. Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Qualitative modes of research have been working their way into the mainstream of psychological research. Unfortunately, social psychology has largely resisted this trend, despite the particular utility of qualitative research for investigating social phenomena. Curiously, as qualitative research becomes more widely accepted in psychology, much of the discourse surrounding these approaches has revolved around the procedural dimensions of qualitative inquiry. Specifically, it has focused on developing, describing, and defending various codified approaches to qualitative data analysis. Recently, this methodological paradigm has come under some criticism, with scholars critiquing codified methods as leading to shallow, superficial, and formulaic research. Others have …

Neuroticism's Ties To Relationship Satisfaction: What Behaviors Matter?, Alexyss M. Lange

Theses and Dissertations

In multiple studies, neuroticism and romantic relationship satisfaction are negatively related to one another. Yet, the exact behaviors that link neuroticism to lower relationship satisfaction are unknown. Our seven-day daily diary study (N = 246) identified specific, everyday behaviors that might mediate this association. After establishing positive and negative factors using exploratory factor analysis, we examined whether positive or negative behaviors (and sub-categories of these dimensions) mediate the relationship between neuroticism and relationship satisfaction. Our results showed that negative behaviors mediated the relationship between neuroticism and relationship satisfaction but positive behaviors did not. A subcategory of conflict tactics mediated the …

Assessing New Wars Theory In The Post-Arab Spring Era: The Libyan And Yemeni Wars (2011-2020), Shady El-Sherif

Theses and Dissertations

Mary Kaldor’s “New Wars” theory which was first published in 1991 argues that warfare has changed after the Cold War with the growing globalization and the rise of violent non-state actors. According to the theory, globalization augmented certain problems that are considered the main causes of these “new wars” such as; state fragility/failure, identity politics, and war economy methods which all account at present for the continuation of conflicts, especially in the MENA region with more civilian casualties. To assess this theory, I am using a comparative case study methodology with a historical process-tracing approach for the Yemeni and Libyan …

Waqf In Transition: Tracing Local Institutional Change During The British Mandate In Palestine, Zachary Murray

Theses and Dissertations

The British Mandate’s actions of state-building in Palestine were informed by a Zionist-Western modernist envisioned past of Palestine. This state-building ideology was embedded within much of the bureaucracy of the Mandate’s system and infringed on numerous Palestinian institutions such as Waqf. Waqf was disenfranchised in particular through the implementation of urban development programs, like town planning and archaeological regimes, which sought to support the British-Zionist recasting of Palestine.

This thesis aims to show how the British’s ideology of Palestine informed the Mandate’s internal polices and actions which infringed on the rights of waqf. This was done through two axes of …

An Evaluation Of A School Mental Health Program For Underserved Youth In Rural South Carolina, Tristan Collier

Theses and Dissertations

School, community, and youth-serving system partnerships can support implementing comprehensive school mental health (SMH) systems including services beyond direct therapy for students (i.e., multiple tiers of support). Utilizing a comprehensive approach to SMH allows clinicians to form stronger relationships with administrators, school staff, and most importantly, students who may need services. This comprehensive approach to SMH includes incorporating the SMH clinician into the culture and daily activities of the schools (e.g., helping direct students in the bus line), to increase the visibility of the clinician and services available as well as provide opportunities for direct outreach to students. One such …

Sensory Processing In Male Children With Fragile X Syndrome And Idiopathic Autism: Implications For Maladaptive Behavior And Within-Syndrome Heterogeneity, Chandler Knott

Theses and Dissertations

Proficient sensory processing affords adaptive responses that are necessary for daily functioning. Atypical sensory processing patterns are common across neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS), two disorders with a high degree of phenotypic overlap. However, little is known about whether types of atypical sensory processing in FXS vary as a function of genetic etiology or the presence of ASD. Atypical sensory processing has been also associated with maladaptive outcomes in certain clinical populations; however, the impact of these impairments on internalizing and externalizing behavior remains unknown in FXS. Study participants included 37 male children …

Cognitive Consequences Of Covid-19 Infection And Quarantine-Induced Social Isolation: Hope For The Young And Mildly Infected, Kristin Nickole Kirchner

Theses and Dissertations

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has infected over 539 million individuals worldwide, and initial research supports the possibility that COVID-19 may damage the central nervous system either directly or indirectly. Neurological signs and noted cognitive deficits observed in even mildly infected patients are a cause for concern for those infected by COVID-19; the effect of social isolation on the central nervous system is also of interest. The present study sought to determine the extent of these potential cognitive deficits in a young and mildly infected sample of college students. Participants completed an extensive survey assessing their experience with COVID-19 and any …

Healthy Aging Beyond Sex And Gender Binaries, Nicole M. Lampe

Theses and Dissertations

An estimated 2.7 million sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults 50+ reside in the United States (US) with this number projected to increase to more than 5 million by 2060 (Flatt et al. 2022; Fredriksen-Goldsen and Kim 2017). Medical research, education, and practice in the United States (US) often erase sex and gender variation, thus ignoring the experiences of older adults living beyond Western sex and gender binary systems (e.g., female/male and women/men), particularly transgender, non-binary, and/or intersex (TNBI) populations. Such erasure stems from TNBI older adult structural incompetency or the failure to understand how macro-level systems, institutions, and structures …

Associative Learning In The Monodelphis Domestica Utilizing The Cpa Paradigm, Joseph Caleb Cantu

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to investigate associative learning in the Monodelphis domestica by utilizing the conditioned place aversion paradigm (CPA). The Monodelphis domestica has been used as an animal model for research in multiple fields; however, there is still little information regarding associative learning or utilizing a CPA paradigm. Expanding the literature of the Monodelphis domestica would be adding to the limited research concerning associative learning utilizing the CPA paradigm.

An Analysis Of Mental Health, Psychosocial Stressors, And Social Support Among Latinx Students Who Relocate For College, Lisa A. Lozano

Theses and Dissertations

Relocating for college is one facet of the college adjustment process that has been scarcely explored. Research suggests that relocated students report more severe depression symptoms (Reyes-Rodriguez et al., 2012), poorer social adjustment (Brooks & Dubois, 1995), and worse mental health overall (King et al., 2011) compared to nonrelocated students. This study hypothesized that relocated Latinx college students would experience more severe mental health concerns (depression, anxiety, and stress), psychosocial stress (acculturative stress, loneliness, and sense of belonging), and perceived social support than their nonrelocated counterparts. 159 underclassmen with permanent residence in a South Texas community were surveyed in a …

An Analysis Of Income And Healthcare Disparities Across Minority Populations By Incorporating Community Resource Collaboration In Public Policy, Ohioze O. Obadan

Theses and Dissertations

There is widespread literature on the connection between public policy, resource allocation, and income and health inequalities among minority communities. While various services are created to help communities, the distribution and allocation of these services remain elusive, without any collaboration towards a common objective among public policy leaders. This paper investigates the disparities in the access to healthcare within Florida, a state selected because of its documented problems with healthcare access. This thesis research analyzes the income and health inequalities in minority populations in Florida by integrating community resource collaboration into public policy. The study used secondary data from public …

Cities Of God Under Occupation: Settler Colonial Practices And Pacification In The Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro And The Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amanda Pimenta Da Silva

Theses and Dissertations

The 2002 film ‘City of God’ tells an anecdotal story of violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and is a reminder that the societies we tend to take for granted can actually be a luxury. The film portrays the daily life of the peripheries of Rio and its relation with drug trafficking, crime, and poverty, and how it has deteriorated into a war zone so dangerous that anyone risk being shot to death. Thousands of miles away from the Brazilian slums there is another so-called city of God, or the city chosen by God to be the home’s …

Illusory Vowels And The North Kyungsang Korean Vowel Merger In English Loanword Adaptation Into Korean, Jiyeon Song

Theses and Dissertations

Our auditory perceptual processing is optimized for the sound patterns of our native language. Consequently, when non-native segments are perceived, speech “illusions” often occur. This well-known phenomenon, known as the perception of illusory vowels, occurs when listeners of a borrowing language (BL) perceive vowels that do not exist underlyingly in the source language (SL).

Illusory vowels have often been considered to be the default vowel in a language: /ɨ/ in Korean, /u/ in Japanese, /ə/ in English, /e/ in Spanish, and /i/ in Brazilian Portuguese. This raises the question of how vowel systems affect the quality of illusory vowels. For …

Integrated Behavioral Health And Primary Care: Refining A Determinant Framework, Ariel Michelle Domlyn

Theses and Dissertations

The integration of behavioral health and primary care is a best practice to improve patient outcomes and achieve health equity. However, the process of integrating is opaque, requiring organizational change and sometimes a complete system overhaul. Implementation science offers useful ideas for helping healthcare organizations to implement care. This field has identified potential environmental conditions and determinants of successful implementation; however, much is still unknown about how these factors may be relevant for organizations seeking to integrate care. To address the limited existing knowledge in this area, this dissertation gathers practice-based evidence using exploratory methods. Results are translated into an …

The Impacts Of Ownership And Covid-19 On Firm Performance-Three Essays, Jian Xu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on finance of ownership and COVID-19. In the first essay, we investigate the effect of residual state ownership, foreign ownership, and the interaction between the two on firms' financing patterns. we find that neither firms with residual state ownership only nor firms with foreign ownership only are positively related with external finance. In comparison, firms with both state and foreign ownerships are associated with higher external finance. The increased external finance for firms with both state and foreign ownerships mainly comes from private banks and new equity. Moreover, we explore the channels through which …

Dying Of Pestilence: Gender, Stature, And Mortality From The Black Death In 14th Century Kyrgyzstan, David Wayne Hansen Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Bioarchaeological studies have provided important information about mortality patterns during the Second Pandemic of Plague, including the Black Death, but to date have focused exclusively on European contexts. This study represents a temporal and spatial expansion of plague bioarchaeology, focusing on Central Asia, the origin of the Second Pandemic. I examine the relationship between stature, gender, and plague mortality during an outbreak of plague at two fortified settlements in northern Kyrgyzstan in 1338-39, the earliest archaeological sites known to contain victims of the Black Death in Eurasia.

Stature is frequently used in bioarchaeology as a proxy for exposures to developmental …

Where The Home Fires Burn: The Heart Of Geographic Mobility In Rural Southern America, Mariah Moran

Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the recent surge of interest in domestic U.S. geographic mobility, this study presents findings on the reasons people choose to move or not move that challenge the predominant explanations of geographic mobility and responds to the need for theoretical expansion. This qualitative study is set in a rural county of Georgia, further situating the findings alongside the rural-urban continuum literature. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirty participants from the rural county that represent three different mobility decisions: people who stayed, left, and returned. The findings suggest that there are multiple connected reasons for mobility including three …

Place Identity And Gentrification-Induced Social And Cultural Displacement Among Longstanding Black American Residents: Theory, Case, And Innovating Methodology, Brittany B. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have increasingly recognized the sociocultural impacts of gentrification on Black residents. However, the gentrification literature lacks an empirically tested theoretical model on the nuanced ways gentrification may socially and culturally displace longstanding Black residents. Limited attention has also been given to factors that may moderate social and cultural displacement. Since place identity (i.e., one’s sense of belonging to a place) encompasses residents’ social and cultural connections to their neighborhoods, conceptualizing social and cultural displacement in relation to place identity helps to understand a potential moderating factor. Furthermore, although space and place dynamics of gentrification have been well-documented, gentrification research …

Quantifying Human Mobility Patterns During Disruptive Events With Geospatial Big Data, Yuqin Jiang

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding human mobility patterns is an essence for geography and geographical information science. Although existing studies have found that human mobility patterns are highly predictable, such patterns can be disrupted by events, ranging from sports games to natural hazard caused evacuations. However, traditional data collection methods that heavily rely on self-reported travel behaviors are often delayed and at a small scale, and thus are often not sufficient to reveal the disrupted human mobility patterns. Fortunately, with the development of geolocating-related technologies, multiple platforms are able to capture human mobility data in unprecedented spatiotemporal scales and granularities. These data, such as …

The Moderating Impact Of Gender And Friendship Quality On The Effects Of Interparental Conflict On Adolescent Internalizing Problems, Jessica Dandan

Theses and Dissertations

In response to escalating concerns about the increasing incidence of adolescent internalizing disorders, several mechanisms have been investigated to understand their etiology. Though genetic predisposition contributes to the risk for psychopathology, its interaction with environmental stressors such as interparental conflict appears to further increase this risk. Girls are more susceptible to stressors and twice as likely as boys to develop internalizing problems. However, friendship quality may buffer some of the adverse effects incurred from exposure to interparental conflict. A recent review of proposed mechanisms through which conflict is associated with youth psychopathology pinpointed the need for further adolescent-focused research including …

Examining The Effects Of A Well-Being Therapy Protocol On Sexual Minority Individuals’ Psychological Well-Being, Thomas M. Toomey

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals are at higher risk of mental health concerns than heterosexual individuals due to the impacts of minority stress. Previous counseling interventions for sexual minority individuals have focused on pathology and reducing negative symptoms. However, there is a need for more empirical counseling interventions that address these disparities from a positive psychology perspective. Utilizing a multiple baseline single case research design, the current study examined the impact of a wellbeing therapy protocol for improving the psychological well-being and decreasing depressive symptoms for three sexual minority individuals. There was no functional relationship observed for the Well-Being Therapy protocol on …

“When You Out In Open Spaces”: Copula Absence In Afro-Texan English And The Origins And Development Debate, Brandon Davis Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is perhaps the most studied variety of American English, and interest in its origins and development has raised enough questions to launch a thousand studies. Naturally, positions on AAVE’s origins and development have become increasingly nuanced since the debate’s inception. Increasingly, AAVE is treated less like a monolith, and interest in the dimensions of its regional diversity has grown. No position on AAVE’s origins and development can be taken seriously if it fails to consider its capacity for areal differentiation. Indeed, most positions on AAVE’s origins and development now strongly assert the likelihood of multiple …

Neighborhood Change On The Mississippi Coast After Hurricane Katrina (2006 – 2019), Margot Habets

Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane Katrina was a historic event, forever changing many lives as well as altering impacted communities in the short and long term. In the fifteen years since the storm, patterns of damage, recovery programs and dollars, and existing neighborhood change have altered demographics in coastal Mississippi. This thesis investigates how population, median age, race, and education demographics have changed at the census tract level in the fourteen years since Hurricane Katrina (2006-2019) compared to pre-Katrina trends (1990-2000). A moving average using American Community Survey data as well as interval changes measure how different neighborhoods have been altered since the storm. …

The Effects Of Presession Conditions On Behavior During A Brief Functional Analysis, Dung Haylie Le

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated that patterns of responding during a no-interaction condition of a functional analysis (FA) may predict FA outcomes. Thus, behavior analysts may use an initial no-interaction condition to identify problem behavior maintained by social reinforcement when time and resources are limited. However, in a clinic setting, most functional analyses are conducted in between or immediately after instructional sessions or structured play. Therefore, the proposed study was designed to examine the differential effects of presession conditions of naturally occurring activities (work versus play) at a clinic setting during a modified brief functional analysis. Results showed that presession conditions …

Teaching Children With Autism To Tact Private Events Based On Common Properties, Madisyn Quidort

Theses and Dissertations

Skinner (1957) proposed that people learn to talk about private events in several ways. This study sought to examine the plausibility of one of those mechanisms: common properties. Skinner asserted that children learn tacts for public stimuli through normal interaction with their caregivers. When a child experiences a private stimulus that shares some feature with a previously learned public stimulus, the child generalizes the tact to the private sensation because there is a common property between the two stimuli. Three children with autistic disorder were taught 6 to 9 sensation tacts (e.g., prickly, cozy, tight) depicted in videos (e.g., a …

An Examination Of The Effects Of The Presentation Of Preferred Items On Frequency Of Stereotypy In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Shauna Blady

Theses and Dissertations

Stereotypy is a restricted, repetitive behavior that features rigidity and invariance. Approximately 88% of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit some form of stereotypy (Chebli et al., 2016). Although it often occurs under conditions of stimulus deprivation, stereotypy may also occur under other environmental conditions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of stereotypy when preferred items are available noncontingently. Three participants were exposed to a baseline condition in which they had no access to items, followed by conditions in which high and low preferred items were delivered noncontingently to investigate whether automatically-maintained stereotypy was likely …

Comparison Of Traditional And Eye-Gaze Preference And Reinforcer Assessments, Zhihao Ou

Theses and Dissertations

A variety of preference assessments have been used to identify potential reinforcers for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related disabilities. However, during traditional selection-based assessments, participants may fail to select items or selection may be under faulty stimulus control (e.g., side bias). Previous research has evaluated the utility of eye-gaze preference assessments with individuals with profound intellectual disabilities. The purpose of this study is to compare preference assessments by eye gaze and traditional preference assessment in three participants with ASD. The results of reinforcer assessment showed that among 2 out of 3 participants, the eye gaze method was …

Assessment And Improvement Of Women’S Soccer Performance Using Precision Teaching And Frequency Building, Emily Anne Swope

Theses and Dissertations

Performance assessments may be a helpful tool to determine why performance is lacking in sports and fitness. They may also provide some examples of interventions that help improve performance. If the performance deficits are due to a lack of skill or knowledge, then one teaching procedure that may increase the performance of the skill is frequency building. The purpose of the present study was to use a sports performance assessment to identify the variables responsible for sub-standard performance on a college women’s soccer team. In addition, we used a frequency building procedure to improve the performance of three soccer players. …

The Effects Of Teaching Children To Tact Their Emotions On Problem Behavior, Haley Nicole Harber

Theses and Dissertations

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often struggle to understand and describe private events, such as emotions. When an individual cannot communicate appropriately, it can lead to various problem behaviors. Previous literature suggested that we teach children to tact their emotions (e.g., "I am sad," "I am angry") in an attempt to decrease their problem behavior. The primary purpose of the current study is to teach children with autism to tact their emotions. The secondary purpose is to evaluate the effects of empathy statements on problem behavior. Four children participated, three with problem behavior maintained by access to tangibles and …

The Effects Of Guided Notes In An Online Behavior Analysis Graduate Course, Natalya Theresa Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

Guided notes are handouts with fill-in-the-blank spots, incomplete outlines, or PowerPoint slides with blank spaces identical to those used by the instructor during class lectures (Biggers et al., 2020). This note-taking strategy was initially created for those who have difficulty in the classroom, such as students with learning disabilities (Williams et al., 2012). However, guided notes became a supplemental note-taking technique used during lectures for non-disabled college students as well. The authors examined the impact of guided notes in an online course format, counterbalancing three conditions across participants and instructional units: Guided notes, learning objectives and no notes to determine …