Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Klon Pronouns In Their Typological And Linguistic Context Within Wallacea, Eastern Indonesia, Johnny Marshel Banamtuan

Theses and Dissertations

Klon is a typologically SOV Timor-Alor-Pantar (Papuan) language, spoken by around 10,000 people on the islands of Alor and Pantar in eastern Indonesia. Like most SOV languages, Klon has postpositions, possessor before possessed, and sentence-final question particles. NPs are left-headed, with attributive modifiers, numerals, quantifiers, relative clauses, and demonstratives following the head noun. Klon has both pre-verbal and post-predicate verb modifiers. Preverbal modifiers can only modify verbal predicates. The language is aspect-prominent, with no grammatical tense. Like many SOV languages, Klon has clause-final standard negation, often occurring as bipartite negation.

Klon syntax pivots around the Undergoer. Only Undergoers are indexed …

Investigating Information Structure And Word Order In Latin Poetry: An Analysis Of Epigrams, Justin Riley Soderholm

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the epigrammatic verses of the Latin poet Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial). The emphasis is on the order of basic constituents and information structure, in particular, the concepts of sentence articulation and focus structure as modelled by Lambrecht (1994).

I categorize clauses from roughly 200 lines of epigrammatic verse by the sentence articulations topic-comment, in which propositions have predicate focus, identificational, in which propositions have argument focus, and thetic, in which whole propositions are in focus. For each articulation, I also present various examples demonstrating the variety of word orders in each. Additionally, this study examines some patterns …

The Iconicity And Non-Arbitrariness Of Body Locations In Four Unrelated Sign Languages, John Samson

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I show that universally, there is a strong tendency for signs located on the body to have an iconic or non-arbitrary motivation, especially in their original form. I analyze sign language dictionaries from four unrelated sign languages and establish an iconic or non-arbitrary link between the form of the signs and their meaning, and classify those links according to 8 categories of body location iconicity and 3 categories of non-arbitrariness. The strength of this tendency depends on the percentage of signs that are shown to have an iconic or non-arbitrary link. For the data analyzed here this …

Complex Predicates In Southern Turkmen: A Role And Reference Grammar Analysis, Nathaniel Andrew Shaver

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the concepts of nexus and juncture, as articulated by Role and Reference Grammar, to examine complex verbal constructions found in four collected texts. These texts were collected from four Southern Turkmen (or Turkmen of Afghanistan) speakers. Through transcribing, glossing, and analyzing these texts, a number of complex predicates were identified. These were then described according to their various nexus juncture types. Three nexus juncture varieties were represented in the collected texts. These include clausal coordination, clausal subordination, and core cosubordination. Although not represented in the texts, it was possible to elicit three other provisional nexus juncture varieties. …

Shared Leadership Emergence: The Role Of Leader Identity And Leadership Structure Schema, Erica Medrano

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing popularity of self-managing teams has sparked interest in the impact of shared leadership structures on team outcomes. Yet, it is unclear how shared leadership structures form or why they vary across teams. While research suggests that leadership claiming and granting are essential to the social construction of shared leadership in teams, the latter has received little attention. Therefore, this study aimed to address the fundamental questions “what factors determine who is granted leadership by individuals in a team?” and “what factors determine how many others are granted leadership by individuals in a team?” I proposed that leader identity …

Teacher Choice-Allocation Of Delayed Treatment Outcomes Based On Severity Of Student Problem Behavior, Natalia Victoria Colón

Theses and Dissertations

Delay discounting is the systematic preference for smaller, sooner rewards over larger, later rewards, particularly as the delay to the larger, later reward is increased. It is used to explain impulsivity. Monetary rewards have been most frequently studied; however, impulsivity has also been represented with behavioral treatment outcomes for maladaptive behavior where a caregiver is responsible for its implementation (Call et al., 2015; Scheithauer et al., 2020). Maladaptive behavior is a common concern among families with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Long-term improvements are not uncommon in behavior analysis. It may be detrimental to client gains if caregivers discount longer acting …

Perceptions Of Naloxone Training And Administration Among Law Enforcement Officers, Katelyn Rae Goodall

Theses and Dissertations

The opioid epidemic was officially declared a public health emergency in 2017 when the rate of deaths per day from opioid overdoses was steadily increasing (CMS, n.d.). As of 2019 – 2020, 61,297 of the 83,544 reported drug overdose deaths were attributed to opioids in general, with 48,729 accounted for by synthetic opioids (CDC, 2021). Due to the significant impact on public health and safety, law enforcement departments have been tasked with developing and implementing naloxone policies and trainings. Law enforcement officers are often the first on the scene of an overdose outnumber fire rescue and emergency medical responders across …

Better Safe Than Sorry? Examining The Effectiveness Of Defensive Impression Management And Supplication Techniques In Attracting Minority Applicants To Public Safety Careers, Temitayo Opeyemi Lawal

Theses and Dissertations

The recent media coverage of fatal interactions between police officers and unarmed Black citizens has led to increased calls for law enforcement agencies to diversify their departments. However, many agencies struggle to attract qualified minority candidates due to the negative history between law enforcement and minority communities. This study examined whether the use targeted defensive impression management techniques, such as apologizing for past transgressions, and supplicative recruiting messages can influence attraction and job pursuit intentions for minority applicants. This study also explored whether applicant perceptions of an organization’s sincerity and value of diversity mediates the relationship between diversity recruiting messages …

Brevity Vs. Breadth: Can Memory Disorders Be Diagnosed Using Fewer Neuropsychological Assessments?, Analise Roccaforte

Theses and Dissertations

Object: The present study examines the clinical utility of combining a cognitive screener, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), with a measure of adaptive functioning, Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS), to diagnose memory disorders when differentiating between cognition within normal limits (WNL), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Method: A total of 207 Health First Memory Disorder Clinic patients, ages 64-94, were included in the study. Participants were screened using the MoCA and then they completed a brief neuropsychological evaluation, which included the TFLS. Participants were only included if they received a diagnosis of cognition WNL, MCI, or AD. They …

Utilizing The Radsm Process: Developing An Unobtrusive Measure Of Cohesion, Zachary Lee Rahner

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, verbal indicators produced following the RADSM process were used to code transcript data collected from 62 three-person teams playing a cooperative bridge crew simulator. A training dataset, consisting of 88 mission transcripts, and a testing dataset, consisting of 39 mission transcripts, were created from the data. Multilevel modeling was employed to develop a linear-regression algorithm to predict/measure team task and social cohesion. The findings revealed that task cohesion perceptions are linked to the proportion of speech dedicated to information requests and instructions, whereas social cohesion perceptions are associated with the proportion of speech dedicated to amusing and …

Beyond Resource Depletion: An Examination Of Sleepiness, Self-Regulation, And Goal Progress, Kauyer Lor

Theses and Dissertations

Research on employee sleepiness and self-regulation has primarily adopted a resource depletion perspective. However, other theoretical frameworks suggest additional processes may be involved. The current study explored this idea by examining the relationship between sleepiness, self-regulation, and goal progress within an integrative self-control theoretical framework (Kotabe & Hofmann, 2015). This study included a sample of 127 employees recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and a snowball method through social media. Participants completed seven signal surveys within a single workday assessing sleepiness, desire, higher-order goal, control capacity, control motivation, self-control enactment, desire enactment, and goal progress. Results from multilevel modeling indicated that …

Measuring Cross-Cultural Engagement Of Those Using The Growing Participator Approach, Cheryl Lea Cross

Theses and Dissertations

The Growing Participator Approach (GPA) is a language-learning approach used among global professionals living cross-culturally. Developer Greg Thomson claims that through the GPA, learners grow as active participants in their new culture by learning language primarily in relationship. Because cultural participation is central to GPA, measuring social engagement is the most appropriate form of evaluation. This research seeks to answer the questions: (1) Does focused language learning using the GPA correspond with a high degree of social integration in the host community? (2) Does the use of scales from other academic fields help evaluate social engagement for language learners?

For …

Best Friends Forever And Family Ties: Continuity And Change In Closeness With Parents And Friends Among Australian Adolescents, Mckell A. Jorgensen-Wells

Theses and Dissertations

During adolescence, the need for social connection increases. Yet, fostering emotional closeness in relationships becomes more complex, as the need for autonomy also increases and social environments must adapt to become conducive to these seemingly competing needs. This complexity necessitates more research on what happens to close relationships during adolescence, so parents, scholars, and practitioners are better equipped to help individuals navigate the unique social atmosphere of adolescence. The current study draws upon multi-level modeling techniques to estimate growth models of Australian adolescents' closeness to parents and closeness to friends from ages 12-17 and examine predictors of these trajectories. Findings …

Growing During A Global Crisis, Ahmad E. Shahin

Theses and Dissertations

Employing the data from the World Bank Enterprise surveys, we examine how the first shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected firm dynamics across the world. Our first group of robust models have tested the effect of internal firms’ managerial decisions and other external factors on the sales’ growth, where we found that the most important decisions are related to preserving and increasing liquidity levels, in addition to utilizing the workforce in giving more input to maintain and grow the firms’ sales. Our second group of robust models have tested the firms’ financial decisions and other external factors on the …

A Latent Class Approach To The Utilization Effects Of The Aca, Dennis Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The dependent coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act raised eligibility for young adults to remain eligible their parents’ health care up to the age of 26. This study uses a combination of latent class analysis and difference-in-difference regression to examine the effect the intervention had on health care utilization.

Operationalizing And Measuring High-Quality Instructional Practice – A Theoretical And Empirical Perspective, Genine L. Blue

Theses and Dissertations

This multiple manuscript dissertation offers a cohesive set of research studies curated to address three topics related to how high-quality instructional practice (HQIP) is defined, measured and ultimately connected to student engagement and achievement. Grounded in Benson’s (1998) framework of construct validation, this line of inquiry outlines (i) a well-articulated theoretical domain to make clear the substantive nature of HQIP as a multidimensional latent construct (e.g., substantive stage); (ii) the initial phases of an ongoing, iterative process consisting of empirical analyses designed to continuously build understanding around the structural nature of the observed variables selected to define construct’s empirical domain …

“Before The World Gets Them”: The Impact Of Racialized Parenting On Black Mothers, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the distinct practices Black women implement to protect their children from both actualized and anticipatory experiences of racism, as well as its effects on their mothering experiences, health and well-being, as well as how they manage the emotional and mental toll of their children’s experiences. Race plays an integral role in shaping mothering practices. More specifically, motherwork examines how Black mothers ensure the physical, mental, and emotional survival of their children in the face of micro-and macro-level structures that perpetuate racism and inequality. However, much is left to explore regarding the interconnectedness between Black women’s motherwork, linked …

The Criminalization Of Hiv And Hiv Stigma, Deanna Cann

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to contain the HIV epidemic, lawmakers implemented various pieces of legislation across the United States, including laws that prohibit people living with HIV (PLHIV) from engaging in various behaviors without first disclosing their HIV-status. Public health scholars claim that this criminalization of HIV serves to increase stigma toward PLHIV, rather than prevent its transmission. Limited research has supported a connection between HIV exposure laws and increased stigma toward PLHIV. Still, researchers have yet to establish a causal relationship, and we know little regarding the mechanisms through which these laws serve to reproduce stigma. This study aims to …

The Impact Of The Teacher-Student Relationship On Students’ Educational Expectations, Amanda Lynn Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Students benefit both academically and psychosocially from close, supportive relationships with their teachers. Students who have close relationships with their teachers tend to adjust better to school, perform better academically, and engage in fewer problem behaviors. These benefits begin as early as preschool and mitigate several barriers to educational success for students from low-resource environments. However, it is unclear how changes in these relationships over time differentially influence positive outcomes. In this study, I test how changes in relationship closeness between students and teachers influence students’ expectations about future educational achievement. I also test how the strength of this association …

Interpersonal Discrimination And Older Latinx Adults In The United States, Adrianne Dues

Theses and Dissertations

Discrimination is a chronic source of stress among Latinx adults in the United States (Lopez et al. 2017; Williams 2012). Limited research, however, considers differences within ethnicity-nativity, the influence of important psychosocial mechanisms such as sense of control, and the ways interpersonal discrimination may extend beyond the individual, known as vicarious effects (Wofford et al. 2019). For my chapters, public data comes from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal study of Americans aged 50 and older. My three dissertation chapters proceed in the following manner: Chapter 1 provides information to better understand Latinx adults beyond the …

Let’S Be Friends: Examining Consumer Brand Relationships Through The Lens Of Brand Personality, Engagement, And Reciprocal Altruism, Daniel D. Haun

Theses and Dissertations

Brands have always exuded personality and status to consumers in order to promote a competent impression and induce positive perceptions and behaviors (Griskevicius, et al., 2007). In order for individuals to identify with brands, the brands must become more personable by consciously embodying a specific personality trait. Research has found that when a brand embodies a personality, there is an associated increase in consumer preference and usage (Sirgy, 1982), purchase choices for that brand (Ha & Janda, 2014; Gordon et al., 2016; Guèvremont & Grohmann, 2013; Swaminathan et al., 2009), and consumer preference and brand loyalty (Louis & Lombart, 2010; …

Satellite Observations And Spatiotemporal Assessment Of Salt Marsh /Dieback Along Coastal South Carolina (1990-2019), Huixuan Li

Theses and Dissertations

Coastal wetland mapping is often difficult because of the heterogeneous vegetation compositions and associated tidal effects. Past studies in the Gulf/Atlantic coast states have reported acute marsh dieback events in which marsh rapidly browned and thinned, leaving stubble of dead stems or mudflad with damaged ecosystem services. Reported marsh dieback in South Carolina (SC), USA, however, have been limited. Previous studies have suggested a suite of possibly abiotic and biotic attributes responsible for salt marsh dieback. However, there are no consensus answers in current literature explaining what led to marsh dieback in past decades, especially from the spatiotemporal perspective. In …

Assessing Longitudinal Impacts Of Mentor Role On Student Outcomes, Jody Lanza-Gregory

Theses and Dissertations

Most youth form relationships with extra-familial adults, sometimes called natural mentoring relationships, and these connections appear to benefit youth in several ways. Previous research demonstrates that the presence of a mentor can positively impact student outcomes including educational expectation, educational attainment, and social success. However, little research has considered how the impact of a natural mentorship may differ based upon the role of the adult in the youth’s life. Using data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study investigates if the role of a mentor (i.e. teacher, coach, religious leader) influences the types of …

Three Essays On Agency Costs In Corporate Finance, Eyad Alhudhaif

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation attempts to explain several firm corporate choices under the classical framework of contractual agency problems in corporate finance. Essay 1 examine firms’ debt maturity structure following exogenous changes in growth opportunities due to the COVID-19 shock. I Find companies experiencing an increase in growth options choose longer-term debt, a result that supports the arguments presented by Diamond and He, 2014 and Childs et al., 2005. Essay 2 examine the effect of firm’s risk exposure concentration on debt maturity choices. We find shortterm debt is preferred over covenants in mitigating debt-related agency problems of risk-shifting. These results indicate that …

Family Structure Variables As Proxies For Socialization And Their Effect On Cognitive Decline: An Empirical Analysis, Peter Amato

Theses and Dissertations

The risk of several common diseases causing dramatic cognitive decline (Alzheimer’s, dementia, anterograde memory loss) and short-term memory impairment are all common, even inevitable ailments as one continues to age. There is a body of literature that suggests stronger social networks reduce the chance of cognitive decline through mentally stimulating activities or socializing. This study examines the rates of cognitive decline in people with larger families by using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and a cox hazard proportion hazards model to examine the protective effects of different family structures on the rates of cognitive decline using the American Community Supplement …

Composition, Context, And Community Integration: Evaluating The Relative Strength Of Environmental Factors On Mental Health Outcomes Using A Social Ecology Model, Douglas John Archie Iii

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between environmental factors and individual health outcomes has historically been a major area of interest for multiple scientific disciplines. However, the specific environmental factors relevant for describing this relationship and effective measuring methods are unclear. One approach that may assist in addressing these issues is by analyzing this relationship using a comprehensive theoretical framework. This study used a social-ecological model first proposed by Moos and colleagues (Insel & Moos, 1974: Moos & Moos, 1976) to investigate connections between environmental factors and mental health recovery outcomes of psychiatric distress, management of mental health symptoms, and recovery-oriented behavior. A series …

Social-Motivational Influences On Physical Activity Engagement For Adolescent Girls, Mariajosé Jhamira Paton

Theses and Dissertations

Rates of youth physical activity (PA) drastically decrease during adolescence, with a steeper decline for adolescent girls (Belcher et al., 2010; CDC, 2010). Although afterschool programs (ASPs) have been identified as an ideal context for promoting youth PA, ASPs vary in quality with girls having the highest rates of inactivity (Zarrett et al., 2018). Theory and previous studies have identified social-motivational climate-based factors within ASPs that are critical for promoting adolescents’ PA (Basch, 2011; Eccles et al., 2002; Zarrett et al., 2013, 2015). The present study first examines gender differences in the social-motivational quality of middle school ASPs for promoting …

The Spatial Variability Of Crime: A Review Of Methodological Choice, Proposed Models, And Methods For Illustrating The Phenomenon, Matthew D. Spencer

Theses and Dissertations

The spatial analysis of crime has occurred for nearly two centuries. Within criminology, research interests that have developed from the use of spatial methodologies seek to identify the spatial variability and concentration of crime. The first focus utilizes spatial statistics and mapping to describe and illustrate spatial variability. The second focus uses statistical techniques to describe levels of concentration such as the percentage of crime attributed to a unit. Due to the larger breadth of work and multiple analytical components the former will be the focus of this research.

This multi-study dissertation explores the methods currently used to study the …

Vaping, Smoking, Dual Use, And Stealth Vaping/Smoking Among First Responders: Law Enforcement, Firefighters, And Paramedics/Emergency Medical Technicians (Emt), Shifra Leah Gross

Theses and Dissertations

First Responders to emergencies, such as those within the fields of law enforcement, firefighting, and/or emergency medical services, have a higher use of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS)than the population in general due to the intense job-related stressors they often encounter as part of their work and the well documented relationship between stress and use of these products. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of First Responders who utilize ENDS and engage in stealth vaping, and the association between these behaviors and self-perceived level of job stress, health risk perceptions, and other factors. A total of …

Development Of A Correction For Defensiveness In The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Second Edition-Restructured Form (Mmpi-2-Rf) Profiles Of Adult Male Sex Offenders, Katie Marie Glauner

Theses and Dissertations

Clinical and forensic psychologists often evaluate sex offenders to determine the level of risk they pose to the community and identify their treatment needs to reduce the risk of future recidivism. Personality assessments are administered in sex offender evaluations to aid in answering these referral questions, while also providing information regarding the evaluees’ response style to the test and descriptions of their personality functioning. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and its revisions have been the most widely used personality assessments in sex offender evaluations, with previous research demonstrating that sex offenders often respond defensively to the test by minimizing …