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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: Kavazanjian, Edward
Description
This study asks the question: does gender-based discrimination exists within Arizona State University's Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), and if so, what are the effects of such discrimination? Within this study, discrimination is defined as: the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs, rather than on individual merit. The researcher predicted that this study would show that gender-based discrimination operates within the masculine military culture of Army ROTC at ASU, resulting from women's hyper-visibility and evidenced by their lack of positive recognition and disbelief in having a voice in the program. These expectations were based on background research claiming that the token status of women in military roles causes them to be more heavily scrutinized, and they consequentially try to attain success by adapting to the masculine military culture by which they are constantly measured. For the purposes of this study, success is defined as: the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence . This study relies on exploratory interviews and an online survey conducted with male and female Army ROTC cadets of all grade levels at Arizona State University. The interviews and survey collected demographic information and perspectives on individual experiences to establish an understanding of privilege and marginalization within the program. These results do support the prediction that women in Army ROTC at ASU face discrimination based on their unique visibility and lack of positive recognition and voice in the program. Likewise, the survey results indicate that race also has a significant impact on one's experience in Army ROTC, which is discussed later in this study in regard to needs for future research. ASU Army ROTC includes approximately 100 cadets, and approximately 30-40 of those cadets participated in this study. Additionally, the University of Arizona and the Northern Arizona University Army ROTC programs were invited to participate in this study and declined to do so, which would have offered a greater sample population. Nonetheless, the results of this research will be useful for analysis and further discussion of gender-equality in Army ROTC at Arizona State University.
ContributorsAllemang, Lindsey Ann (Author) / Wood, Reed (Thesis director) / Switzer, Heather (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
While the concept of healthcare is largely respected in Arab culture, the stigma underlying mental health is particularly startling. This study examined the differences in mental health treatment-seeking behaviors using data from Arabs living in Syria (12.9%) and Arabs (25.6%) and non-Arabs (61.5%) living in the United States of ages 18-60. A Web-based survey was developed to understand how factors like religiosity, acculturation, and positive attitudes towards psychological treatment increased help-seeking behaviors. This survey was also provided in Arabic to include non-English speaking participants. It was hypothesized that Arab-American individuals will be more open to pursuing professional psychological help when suffering from mental symptomology (i.e. anxiety) than individuals who identified as Syrian-Arabs. In contrast, both Syrian-Arabs and Arab-Americans would definitely pursue professional help when suffering from physical symptomology (i.e. ankle sprain). Striking differences were found based on Western acculturation. Findings suggested that Arab-Americans were less inclined towards treatment and more trusting of an in-group physician ("Dr. Ahmed") whereas Syrian-Arabs were more inclined to pursue psychological treatment and preferred to trust an out-group physician ("Dr. Smith"). The results of this study identify main concerns regarding Arab attitudes towards seeking mental health treatment, which can better inform future research and mental health services for this minority.
ContributorsRayes, Diana S (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Cohen, Adam (Committee member) / Olive, Michael Foster (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Abstract Kicking the Habit: Reforming Mandatory Minimums for Drug Crimes Ashley Allen While mandatory minimum sentences apply to all drugs, in this paper, I primarily discuss them for marijuana, cocaine, and opiates since these drugs are the most commonly used. My paper will include an exploration of the reasons behind the implementation of mandatory minimum sentences, an analysis of the problems involved with enforcing them, and a discussion about the harms such enforcement has on communities. While mandatory minimums were introduced to prevent discrimination in sentencing as people of color often faced much harsher sentences, the minimums have not been a lasting solution; rather these sentencing techniques have become a major component of the problems communities face associated with drug use. They enforce negative stereotypes and cycles of drug use, do not promote rehabilitation, and unnecessarily burden the judicial and prison systems. I will discuss both successful and failed attempts to reform these laws, and finally offer possible solutions for rethinking mandatory minimum laws, including harm reduction, sentencing restructuring, and the reform of federal laws.
ContributorsAllen, Ashely (Author) / Henderson, Deborah (Thesis director) / Espino, Rodolfo (Committee member) / Walker, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05
Description
The purpose of this study was to examine the lasting effects of repealed discriminatory laws on African Americans' college attendance rates and experiences. It examined the way that laws that targeted African Americans specifically created a lasting environment long after being declared unconstitutional. These persist to this day and affect their ability to attend higher education. To study the long reaching effects of these laws, I conducted semi-structured interviews with African-Americans, some of whom attended higher education, while others did not. Common important themes were identified through these interviews, including: Environmental and Institutional Factors, Support Systems, and Role Models, the dynamics of which showed lasting effects attributable to discriminatory laws.
ContributorsWest, Myles (Author) / Gaughan, Monica (Thesis director) / McGuire, Keon (Committee member) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
In this research paper I combine statistics from various reports and studies with around 20 different interviews with female journalists to understand how women are faring in national and local television newsrooms in 2019. I explore issues such as the pay gap, sexual assault, the importance of appearance, balancing work and family life and obstacles that women of color uniquely face. I spoke with women from various cultural backgrounds, experience levels, and in different positions within their newsrooms. Through my scholarly research and 19 interviews with women who either currently work at NBC News in New York City and women who currently or recently worked at 12News, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, I conclude they share similar stories of oppression, sexism and issues. However, women have made more progress in local markets and have more opportunities when compared to the national level. I also explore reasons for why this disparity is happening and why local newsrooms seem to have more women represented through their on-air talent than national newsrooms do. One of the reasons I concluded for this include, how local newsrooms have a better understanding of their audience members thus making them more able to reflect their talent to their diverse audience. Another factor that might play a role in this disparity includes, the historical factor and societal norm of seeing men in higher positions and authoritative roles, such as being an anchor, at the network level. Lastly, the idea of how family and having children impacts women’s careers more than men. This can lead to less women pursuing a job at the network since they must spend time raising a family and have the ability and flexibility to do that easier at the local level. Overall, I focused on the barriers, obstacles and stories these women have had throughout their careers all while looking at it from both a local perspective and a national one.
ContributorsBaietto, Marcella Marie (Author) / Wallace, Julia (Thesis director) / Dunn, Heather (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Higher education institutions have increasingly sought to diversify the ethnic makeup of freshmen classes (Covarrubias, Herrmann, & Fryberg, 2016) and rates of Latinx college attendance have been rising (Hall, Nishina, & Lewis, 2017). However, despite comparable levels of earned-credits, Latinx students have lower rates of college completion (Contreras & Contreras, 2015). One potential explanation may be disproportionate increases in stress, and in particular, discrimination experiences reported by Latinx students during the transition from high school to college (Hunyh & Fuligni, 2012). As such, the aim of the current study was to examine whether everyday discrimination in high school and college were associated with changes in adolescent well-being and academic adjustment over the college transition in a sample of Latinx adolescents. Study participants were 209 Latinx adolescents (85.1% Mexican descent, 62.1% 2nd generation; 35.6% male; Mage= 17.59) who completed questionnaire assessments during the spring or summer before entering college (T1) and again during the first semester of college (T2; 88.5% retention). In both high school and college, participants completed a modified version of the Everyday Discrimination Scale (T1 α=.88, T2 α=.89; Williams et al., 1997). Dependent variables included internalizing symptoms in college (depressive symptoms {α = .95}, anxiety symptoms {α = .88}, stress symptoms {α = .94}; DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and institutional records of college GPA. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted in SPSS 23 to examine associations between discrimination experiences (high school and college) and college internalizing symptoms and GPA, controlling for high school levels. Other covariates included immigrant generation status, sex, parent education (as a proxy for socioeconomic status), and whether the participant attended the focal higher education institution. Zero order correlations (Table 1) revealed that greater reports of discrimination in high school and college were associated with higher depressive symptoms, higher anxiety symptoms, higher stress, but not GPA in college (Table 1; all ps <.05). In multivariate analyses and after adjusting for covariates similar patterns emerged (Table 2). Greater reports of discrimination in college were associated with higher depressive symptoms (β = .18, p < .05), anxiety symptoms (β = .19, p <.05) and stress (β = .18, p <.05), but not GPA (β = -.04, ns). Everyday experiences of discrimination in high school were not significantly associated with college outcomes. In summary, our findings suggest that discrimination experiences among Latinx students in college, but not high school, are associated with increases in internalizing symptoms, including depression, anxiety and stress. Interestingly, discrimination experiences in high school and college were not associated with academic achievement in the first semester of college. Such findings suggest that higher education institutions should focus on global indicators of well-being during the Latinx college transition and seek to implement programs to: a) reduce stress associated with engaging in diverse college environments and b) reduce discrimination experiences on college campuses. Future research is needed for replication of these results and should also seek to further explore the trajectories of internalizing symptoms beyond the first semester of college.
ContributorsSills, Jessica (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis director) / Perez, Marisol (Committee member) / Castro, Saul (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Do more diverse teams create better outcomes, creatively and fiscally? Why do heterogeneous groups think more innovatively and create products that reach a wider audience? Diverse teams bring unique perspectives that force individuals to reimagine their world views and question what they know. This thesis focuses on the benefits of increased racial and gender diversity in the workplace. There is a dramatic difference in the number of women and people of color in tech companies generally, in STEM roles, and in leadership roles. The benefits of diverse teams (along all axis) is indisputable, yet companies still fight diversifying their employee base. Diversity in the workplace dramatically impacts the bottom line, but it is also incredibly important from a human rights perspective. The first step to reflecting the population's diversity ratio at all levels of business is educating the future leaders of America to its importance, both as a social justice initiative and a capitalistic one as well. I created and hosted a panel with local tech entrepreneurs and investors to discuss gender diversity, the struggles being a woman in business and solutions moving forward.
ContributorsRobinson, Sasha Raquel (Author) / Mokwa, Michael (Thesis director) / Eaton, John (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Currently conventional Subtitle D landfills are the primary means of disposing of our waste in the United States. While this method of waste disposal aims at protecting the environment, it does so through the use of liners and caps that effectively freeze the breakdown of waste. Because this method can keep landfills active, and thus a potential groundwater threat for over a hundred years, I take an in depth look at the ability of bioreactor landfills to quickly stabilize waste. In the thesis I detail the current state of bioreactor landfill technologies, assessing the pros and cons of anaerobic and aerobic bioreactor technologies. Finally, with an industrial perspective, I conclude that moving on to bioreactor landfills as an alternative isn't as simple as it may first appear, and that it is a contextually specific solution that must be further refined before replacing current landfills.
ContributorsWhitten, George Avery (Author) / Kavazanjian, Edward (Thesis director) / Allenby, Braden (Committee member) / Houston, Sandra (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Although discrimination is implicated in ethnic health disparities, social support may buffer against its negative effects on health. This study investigated whether prenatal maternal discrimination and social support would predict postpartum cortisol in low-income Hispanic women and infants. Among infants whose mothers reported high discrimination, low maternal social support was associated with high infant cortisol (ß= -0.293, p= 0.03). This provides evidence for the social buffering hypothesis.
ContributorsJewell, Shannon Linda (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Gonzales, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The purpose of the study was to examine the associations of protective (ethic identity, parent-child closeness) and risk (perceived discrimination, parent-child role reversal) factors with mental and behavioral health in 2nd generation Cambodian American (CA) young adults. A total of 66 participants who identified as being 2nd generation CA young adults aged 18-25 years old were recruited to participate in this cross-sectional. Reliable and valid measures were used to assess protective and risk factors and mental (depressive, anxiety, somatic symptoms) and behavioral health outcomes (alcohol and drug use). We used descriptive statistics to describe sample characteristics and study variables and conducted multiple regression analysis to examine the associations of factors with each of the 5 health outcomes. The findings suggested that peer discrimination was positively and significantly associated with depressive (β = 0.42, p = 0.023; R2 = 0.397) and somatic symptoms (β = 0.63, p = 0.000, R2 = 0.554). Father role-reversal was also found to be negatively and significantly associated with predicting CA young adults’ anxiety symptoms (β = -0.32, p = 0.005, R2 = 0.456).
Majority of the CA young adults have perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in the community. Furthermore, perceived discrimination has been positively associated with their depressive and somatic symptoms, suggesting a need to address racial/ethnic discrimination issues to promote positive mental health in this population. It is important for school/work personnel and healthcare providers to assess CA young adults’ discrimination experiences, and have the sufficient resources (e.g., education, support groups) to prevent negative consequences associated with discrimination.
Majority of the CA young adults have perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in the community. Furthermore, perceived discrimination has been positively associated with their depressive and somatic symptoms, suggesting a need to address racial/ethnic discrimination issues to promote positive mental health in this population. It is important for school/work personnel and healthcare providers to assess CA young adults’ discrimination experiences, and have the sufficient resources (e.g., education, support groups) to prevent negative consequences associated with discrimination.
ContributorsOu, Jason Heng (Author) / Chen, Angela Chia-Chia (Thesis director) / Sangalang, Cindy (Committee member) / Miroballi, Barbara (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12