Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Beauty Is Precious, Knowledge Is Power, And Innovation Is Progress: Widely Held Beliefs In Policy Narratives About Oil Spills, Brenda Gale Mason

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scholars from diverse perspectives have sought to understand the features and mechanisms that influence the design and implementation of public policy. Some (realists) have emphasized the role that material interests have played while others (idealists) have emphasized the influence of subjective ideas on ‘how policy means’ (Yanow 1996). Recently, observers in both camps have demonstrated curiosity in the influence of culture on policymaking and its consequences. Regrettably, this shared concern has not resulted in much collaboration across epistemological divides.

I argue that narrative analysis provides a way to bridge the divides by specifying an interpretive approach that identifies culture as …

Documenting Perceived Effectiveness Of Community-Based Health Promotion Coalitions: A Grounded Theory Approach, Alyssa Brooke Mayer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Community coalitions with public health-related missions are formal, semi-permanent, action-oriented partnerships comprised of community members, representatives of government agencies, policymakers, and academic partners. Despite their potential to promote sustainable change, coalitions have had mixed success in effecting long-term improvements in community health. There is a need to assist them in developing strategies for improving and sustaining their functionality. The purpose of this study was to improve understanding of the elements of coalition success and sustainability that are vital to health-related community-based participatory research.

Methods: Although the literature describes coalition functions for effecting sustainable programs and policies, most research reports …

Fear Conditioning And Extinction In Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Joseph F. Mcguire

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fear conditioning and extinction are central in the cognitive behavioral model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which underlies exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Youth with OCD may have impairments in conditioning and extinction that carries treatment implications. The present study examined these processes using a differential conditioning paradigm. Forty-one youth (19 OCD, 22 community controls) and their parents completed a battery of clinical interviews, rating scales, and a differential conditioning task. Skin conductance response (SCR) served as the primary dependent measure across all three phases of the conditioning procedure (habituation, acquisition, and extinction). During habituation, no meaningful differences were observed between …

Evaluating The Social Control Of Banking Crimes: An Examination Of Anti-Money Laundering Deficiencies And Industry Success, Erin M. Mulligan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Money laundering is a serious crime with potentially wide ranging consequences that have numerous implications for criminological research. However, criminology rarely explores this crime, nor its potential impact on other more central crimes of interest (e.g. drug trafficking or organized crime). The present study adds to a limited body of literature examining money laundering from a criminological perspective, evaluating aspects of its regulation and social control within the banking industry. Several aspects of regulatory oversight and company dynamics such as fine/settlement size, company size, and the likelihood of non-AML/OFAC violations to predict future AML/OFAC violations were evaluated. These analyses largely …

Effects Of Nicotine Withdrawal On Motivation, Reward Sensitivity And Reward-Learning, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on addictive behavior has traditionally emphasized the role that primary reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse plays in the development and maintenance of dependence. However, contemporary behavioral economic theory and animal models of nicotine dependence suggest the need for greater attention to the impact that response to alternative rewards may have on smoking behavior. The present study sought to investigate the impact of nicotine withdrawal on self-report, behavioral and neural indices of motivation, immediate response to rewards and the capacity to learn and modify behavior in response to positive and negative feedback. Heavy smokers (n = 48) completed two …

Individual Differences In The Dopaminergic Reward System: The Effect Of Genetic Risk On Neural Reward Sensitivity And Risky Choice, Heather E. Soder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When making decisions, individuals evaluate several possible outcomes of their choice; however, some display heightened reward sensitivity, despite the potential for future negative consequences, which can lead one to make risky choices. Rewards are processed in the mesolimbic dopamine reward system, and this system is in part modulated by genetic polymorphisms that are associated with dopamine transmission. The current study tested if genetic polymorphisms that are associated with enhanced dopamine neurotransmission will be more neurally reward sensitive, score higher on self-reported impulsivity, and make riskier choices. In a sample of 85 participants, five genetic polymorphisms were genotyped and used to …

Personality As A Predictor Of Occupational Safety: Does It Really Matter?, Stephanie Anne Andel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past research demonstrates the high prevalence of occupational accidents and injuries, and therefore much work has gone into examining potential antecedents to such incidences. However, while some research has examined personality as a potential antecedent, results suggesting personality as a significant predictor of occupational safety remain inconclusive. Therefore, the purpose of the current work is to conduct a cross-sectional multi-source survey study that will take a closer look at the relationships between various personality variables and occupational safety. Essentially, the purpose of the current study is threefold: (1) to examine the relationships between two Big Five personality factors, safety locus …

Genetic Moderation Of Phenotypic And Neural Indicators Of Peer Influenced Risk-Taking Behavior: An Experimental Investigation, Troy Alan Webber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Risk-taking behavior (RTB) is defined as behavior involving the probability of reward with concurrent probability of some negative outcome. Peer influence is among the most robust predictors of RTB, such that greater peer influence, particularly deviant or delinquent peer influence, is associated with increased RTB. Evidence suggests that those with genetic predispositions for RTB may also be more susceptible to peer influence as a function of genotype. Given that genetic polymorphisms within the dopaminergic system have evidenced associations with various forms of RTB and delinquent peer affiliation, it is possible that these genes may interact with peer influence to predict …

The Role Of Social Support In The Disclosure And Recovery Process Of Rape Victims, Jessica Nicole Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women disproportionately account for a majority of all completed and attempted rape victimizations each year in the U.S. relative to men. Female college students, in particular, have been noted as a group with the highest risk for rape. Rape among women not only has a substantial public health impact, but has been linked to a number of individual mental health and substance use problems. Despite the fact that service utilization (formal help-seeking with a counselor, mental health professional, rape crisis center, and police reporting) has been shown to deter negative sequelae of rape, few victims of rape receive assistance from …

Interleaved Effects In Inductive Category Learning: The Role Of Memory Retention, Alex Mackendrick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interleaved effects are widely documented. Research demonstrates that interleaved presentation orders, as opposed to blocked orders typically benefit inductive category learning. What drives interleaved effects is less straightforward. Interleaved presentations provide both the opportunity to compare and contrast between different types of category exemplars, which are temporally juxtaposed, and the opportunity to space study of the same type of category exemplars, which are temporally separated within the presentation span. Accordingly, interleaved effects might be driven by enhanced discrimination, enhanced memory retention, or both in some measure. Though recent studies have largely endorsed enhanced discrimination as the critical mechanism driving interleaved …

Glaciological Applications Of Terrestrial Radar Interferometry, Denis Voytenko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrestrial Radar Interferometry (TRI) is a relatively new ground-based technique that combines the precision and spatial resolution of satellite interferometry with the temporal resolution of GPS. Although TRI has been applied to a variety of fields including bridge and landslide monitoring, it is ideal for studies of the highly-dynamic terminal zones of marine-terminating glaciers, some of which are known to have variable velocities related to calving and/or ocean-forced melting. My TRI instrument is the Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer, which operates at 17.2 GHz (1.74 cm wavelength), has two receiving antennas for DEM (digital elevation model) generation, and images the scenes …

A Composite Spatial Model Incorporating Groundwater Vulnerability And Environmental Disturbance To Guide Land Management, Johanna L. Kovarik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has long recognized and studied the dynamics of groundwater processes. More recently, groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) are being recognized for their diversity and vulnerability to anthropogenic impact. Groundwater in karst landscapes presents a distinctive situation where flow through the subsurface often moves rapidly on the scale of days and weeks as opposed to years or millennia in other systems. This distinctive situation of karst systems and their vulnerability to human impacts necessitate an integrated and multifaceted approach for the management of these important resources. However, development of such an approach is complicated by the difficulty of obtaining detailed data …

Pathogenic Policy: Health-Related Consequences Of Immigrant Policing In Atlanta, Ga, Nolan Sean Kline

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Multilayered immigration enforcement regimes comprising state and federal statutes and local police practices demand research on their social and health-related consequences. This dissertation explores the multiple impacts of immigrant policing: sets of laws and police activities that make undocumented immigrants more visible to authorities and increase their risk of deportation. Examining immigrant policing through a multi-sited framework and drawing from principles of engaged anthropology, findings from this dissertation suggest how immigrant policing impacts undocumented immigrants' overall wellbeing, health providers' professional practice, and reveals troubles with safety net medical care. Interviews and participant observation experiences suggest how immigrant policing perpetuates a …

Quantifying The Interaction Of Wildlife And Roads: A Habitat And Movement Approach, Rebecca Whitehead Loraamm

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a growing need to address the effects of roadway presence on wildlife. Not only do roads directly impact gene dispersal from a movement perspective, but they limit movement of the individual animal from a habitat perspective by presenting an artificial barrier between one area of viable habitat and another. For this reason it is becoming increasingly important to quantify contact between humans and wildlife and to develop better methods for mitigating these types of conflicts. Studying habitat connectivity and animal mobility in the context of roads can provide actionable information on how, where, and when these encounters might …

How Do Personal Connections Play A Role In Risk Perception Of Climate Change And Sea Level Rise?, Katelyn Sheeley

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

The threat of sea level rise is unknown to many coastal residents living in the United States, including Virginians. Climate Central, a nonprofit research-based organization, has created the Risk Finder tool to help inform the public about the potential dangers posed by sea level rise. Risk Finder is an interactive, online mapping tool intended to inform residents of useful data concerning sea level rise. Dr. Daniel Richards and Mrs. Megan Mckittrick from Old Dominion University acted as primary investigators for a study of the Risk Finder tool, serving client Dan Rizza of Climate Central. Students of ENGL 231C served as …

Self-Reported Experiences Of Climate Change In Nigeria: The Role Of Personal And Socio-Environmental, Idowu Ajibade, Frederick Ato Armah, Vincent Kuuire, Isaac Luginaah, Gordon Mcbean

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, we examined the individual and socio-environmental factors that mediate differential self-reported experiences of climate change in coastal communities in Lagos, Nigeria. Binary complementary log-log multivariate regression was used to model residents’ experiences of changing rainfall patterns, ocean surges, and flood events. An analysis of both compositional and contextual factors showed that there were urban communities where vulnerability to flooding tends to be clustered, and that this was not fully explained by the characteristics of the people of whom the community was composed. This study, thus, underscores the importance and complex nature of the interaction between personal and …

Discourses Of Deflection: The Politics Of Framing China’S South North Water Transfer Project, Britt Crow-Miller

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite significant financial, ecological and social trade-offs, China has moved forward with constructing and operationalising the world’s largest interbasin water transfer project to date, the South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). While it is fundamentally linked to broader political-economic goals within the context of China’s post-Mao development agenda, the SNWTP is frequently discussed in apolitical terms. Based on extensive discourse analysis and interviews with government officials across North China, I argue that the Chinese government is using "discourses of deflection" to present the project as politically neutral in order to serve its ultimate goal of maintaining the high economic growth rates …

Economic Self-Help Group Programs For Improving Women’S Empowerment: A Systematic Review, Carinne M. Brody, Thomas De Hoop, Martina Vojtkova, Ruby Warnock, Megan Dunbar, Padmini Murthy, Shari Dworkin

Motivation: Self-help groups (SHGs) are implemented around the world to empower women, supported by many developing country governments and agencies. A relatively large number of studies purport to demonstrate the effectiveness of SHGs. This is the first systematic review of that evidence.

Approach: We conducted a systematic review of the effectiveness of women’s economic SHG programs, incorporating evidence from quantitative and qualitative studies. We systematically searched for published and unpublished literature, and applied inclusion criteria based on the study protocol. We critically appraised all included studies and used a combination of statistical meta-analysis and meta-ethnography to synthesize the …

Perceptions Of Social Mobility: Development Of A New Psychosocial Indicator Associated With Adolescent Risk Behaviors, Miranda Lucia Ritterman Weintraub, Lia C. H. Fernald, Nancy Adler, Stefano Bertozzi, S. Leonard Syme

Social class gradients have been explored in adults and children, but not extensively during adolescence. The first objective of this study was to examine the association between adolescent risk behaviors and a new indicator of adolescent relative social position, adolescent “perceived social mobility.” Second, it investigated potential underlying demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial determinants of this indicator. Data were taken from the 2004 urban adolescent module of Oportunidades, a cross-sectional study of Mexican adolescents living in poverty. Perceived social mobility was calculated for each subject by taking the difference between their rankings on two 10-rung ladder scales that …

The Gravely House: A Case Study In Twentieth Century Archaeology And Material Culture, Jessica L. Clark

Theses & Honors Papers

Material culture is the domain of the archaeologist. Like any science, the methods used and the answers sought in archaeology have changed, and continue to change, constantly adapting to the world in which they operate. Every century has its own legacy to be uncovered. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries are no exception to this, but their archaeological resources are only just beginning to be investigated. Through this research I sought to examine and represent the home of the Gravely family as a case study in archaeology of the early twentieth century. I first studied the historical record of the family …

An Incredible Legacy, Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Explore The Relationship Among Lung Cancer Stigma, Social Support, And Psychosocial Distress, Lisa Maggio

Theses and Dissertations--Nursing

There is longstanding causal relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Smoke-free policies and anti-smoking campaigns have been linked to the decline in smoking acceptance and contribute to the unintended consequence of stigmatizing smokers. Lung cancer is viewed as a self-inflicted disease and patients’ feel judged in a manner different from other cancers affecting social interactions between family, friends, and healthcare professionals. Lung cancer stigma contributes to depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, guilt, shame, blame, threatens a person’s social identity, and limits social support that deeply affects patients and their support persons.

This dissertation contains a review of the literature related …

Embedding Arête: Core Skills, Department Culture And Whole-Student Development, Richard K. Olsen, David E. Weber

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In this article the authors summarize how an academic department designed and now enacts the “core skills,” a template the unit operationalized to facilitate their goal of wholestudent development. First, the authors present a brief summary of contemporary literature—including Rich’s (2008) Megaskills, plus key principles and perspectives (e.g., rhetoric, arête, culture, dialectical tension, communicative construction of organization) of the communication studies discipline—relevant to the articulation of the core skills as both a heuristic and praxis. Next, we delineate concerns and critical incidents that inspired unit personnel to decide whole-student development was mission-critical. Then we describe key challenges in of cultivating …

Copper Box, Wku Cherry Statue Committee

2015: Cherry Statue Time Capsule

Photo of the copper box used to store duplicate items in the Kentucky Museum. The box measures 15 1/4 inches in length, 10 inches in width and is 4 3/4 inches high.

Truth In Public: Chelsea Manning, Gender Identity, And The Politics Of Truth-Telling, Lida Maxwell

Faculty Scholarship

This paper examines Chelsea Manning’s self-narration of her leaking of government documents. The press has classified her as a would-be whistleblower whose confusion over her sexuality and gender identity keep her from being an authentic truth-teller. I dispute this reading and argue for seeing Manning as an exemplar of what I call “transformative truth-telling”: a practice of truth-telling that challenges and seeks to transform dominant public/private distinctions that structure who counts as a proper truth-teller. I argue that reading Manning’s act in this way reveals the democratic promise and riskiness of truth-tellingand alerts democratic actors and theorists to the importance …

Fp-15-06 Religiosity In U.S. Families: Single, Cohabiting, And Married Mothers, Annette Mahoney, Esther Lamidi, Krista K. Payne

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-15-08 The Remarriage Rate: Geographic Variation, 2013, Krista K. Payne

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-15-10 Remarriage & Stepfamilies, Bart Stykes, Karen Benjamin Guzzo

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-15-07 The Role Of Same-Sex Marriage In The Declining U.S. Marriage Rate, Wendy D. Manning, Krista K. Payne, Bart Stykes, Susan L. Brown

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-15-12 Generation X And Millennials: Attitudes Toward Marriage & Divorce, Kasey J. Eickmeyer

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.